XVI - The Eldritch Bird

"There are a lot of places for cover at least," Mivangeline analyzed the ruined city.

"What's that?" Elysia pointed. "Is that a moon?"

"I don't think that's a moon!" The commander noticed the giant orb crashing down in a ball of fire. "Use the buildings for cover!"

Enshiron and the gunners picked their buildings to perch as the party split throughout the ruins. Shien stayed with Mivangeline and Elysia while Phoenicia and the medics dispersed throughout. The flaming orb hovered above the apocalyptic boss arena.

The giant metal orb opened its white wings. It was a huge, round songbird. The final boss had gray back feathers decorated with green cybernetic patterns and a white feathered belly.

Shien blinked at the giant bird that perched on a skyscraper. "That's the final boss? It looks too cute to be the final boss, don't you think?"

"Emphenix, the Eldritch Bird, Level 799 with 799,999 HP," Phoenicia reported the stats.

"799?" Elysia shuddered. "You've got to be kidding me!"

"Open fire!" Mivangeline ordered Enshiron and the gunners.

The party fired at the big songbird that fluffed its feathers. Emphenix opened its beak to vocalize its song, which the party expected to be beautiful like any bird in real life. However, that expectation was met with a nasty air raid siren.

"It hurts!" Shien screamed as everyone's ears bled. "Our HP!"

Everyone panicked when their HP dropped to one. Phoenicia tried to heal everyone, but the air raid song also inflicted Anti-Heal.

"Take cover!" Mivangeline ordered as the giant songbird landed on the battlefield. "We wait until Anti-Heal is over!"

While everyone hid in terror, they watched the big bird hop like a sparrow. Emphenix hunted the fleeing players, gulping them down its throat. It chirped emergency alert sounds as it groomed itself and rotated its head in different directions like any bird.

To better look for prey, the bird elongated its stubby neck into a long, crooked neck to peek into buildings. The sight was horrifying. An innocent puffy songbird that not only eats people, but could stretch its neck far and wide unnaturally. It was as if it came from something of cosmic horror.

Shien, Mivangeline, and Elysia hid together, watching Emphenix peck at the buildings with bird-like curiosity. It gulped anyone it spotted. Shien held his breath, wiping the sweat off his forehead.

"We need a plan," Elysia whispered to Mivangeline. "What now?"

"I still don't know much about this boss yet," Mivangeline then turned to Shien. "You okay?"

Shien grabbed his pounding heart.

"I-I'm trying to be calm. It's scary, especially since I normally like birds. This boss acts like a real bird. How can something cute suddenly have a neck like that? Sorry, I'm not good with horror movies."

Mivangeline held his hand. "I understand, Shien. Remember, this boss isn't a real bird. We can beat it!"

Elysia fist-bumped Shien. "Don't worry, tiny. I don't like horror either. We can trounce this giraffe chicken in a barbecue!"

Shien nodded until he saw the large bird stretch its neck to peek at them. They screamed as Emphenix's blood-stained beak pecked through the building like a woodpecker looking for grubs. Elysia slashed it with her machete, stinging the final boss with poison.

"Avian Form: Sandpiper Spear!" Mivangeline lunged a spear-like palm into the bird's bloody beak.

Emphenix screamed emergency alarms, tumbling onto the ground. Finally, the Anti-Heal was over.

"Phoenicia! Healers! You know what to do!" Mivangeline announced. "Everyone! Attack!"

After Phoenicia and the medics healed everyone's HP, Enshiron and the riflemen bombarded the deceptively innocent bird with their artillery. Everyone charged at the boss, damaging the final boss as much as possible. Soon, Emphenix closed itself into sphere mode.

The bird rolled like a bowling ball, wrecking everything in its path. Worst of all, it was healing itself. None of the players' attacks affected it.

"Not even my dear arrows can hurt this bowling ball!" Enshiron fired wind arrows at the rolling boss.

"So it's invincible in sphere mode and will heal itself," Mivangeline studied the boss.

She then noticed that the boss was still affected by Elysia's poison. Although Emphenix healed itself greatly, it still lost HP from poison.

"But Elysia's poison still worked. That must mean Emphenix's healing doesn't cure status effects!" Mivangeline realized. "That means the boss can still be burned, paralyzed, and maybe placed on Anti-Heal."

Emphenix perched on a skyscraper to sing its air raid again, reducing everyone's HP to one with Anti-Heal. Shien, Mivangeline, and Elysia hid together again as the players took cover. The eldritch bird was hopping across the arena, looking for players to eat.

Mivangeline tapped Shien's shoulder. "I want you to inflict Anti-Heal on Emphenix. Can you do that?"

Shien shuddered. "I can, but I only have one HP."

"I know, but if Emphenix goes back to sphere mode, we'll be going in circles if the bird keeps on healing. And Elysia! I need you to poison Emphenix so we can still deal damage even in its sphere mode!"

Elysia nodded. "O-okay, Commander."

"I'll go with you two, we can beat this boss!"

Mivangeline led Shien and Elysia toward the long-necked songbird that ate players. The Commander then announced to everyone.

"Listen! We need to keep attacking even if our HP is one! Inflict every status effect you have before Emphenix heals in sphere mode! I know it's tough, but we must win before Emphenix tires us down!"

"Interesting concept that this boss forces combatants to gamble with one HP," Phoenicia noted.

The players shuddered, for fighting with one HP left with no way to bypass Anti-Heal was frightening.

"Come on, ladies and gentlemen!" Enshiron fired his wind arrows at Emphenix. "The commander is charging head-on! Be gracious and show her our support, shall we?"

Emphenix chirped emergency alarms, stretching its neck and chomping its bloody beak at Mivangeline.

"Avian Form: Shoebill Thunderforce!" The commander hit the bird with a powerful fist. "Shien!"

"Avian Form: Pitohui Stinger Strikes!" Shien's finger strikes inflicted Anti-Heal.

"Good! Elysia, use your poison!"

"Yes, Commander!" Elysia cut the bird's talon with her machete, poisoning the boss.

Thanks to Enshiron's pep talk, the players fired their artillery at the boss. The eldritch bird was struck with burn, paralysis, poison, and Anti-Heal. Emphenix then retreated into its sphere mode again, steamrolling over unlucky players. However, its healing failed thanks to Shien's Anti-Heal. Instead, its HP was sapped by Elysia's poison and the burns everyone else inflicted.

"Good! We keep this pattern!" Mivangeline ordered. "I believe this boss repeats the same sequence!"

Emphenix sang its air raid siren again, lowering the party's HP to one with Anti-Heal. The bird landed, ready to snack on more players.

"Don't hide! Keep attacking!" Mivangeline ordered, charging at Emphenix. "Slap every status effect on the boss. Damage it before it heals!"

Shien and Elysia followed their commander's daring strategy. They charged at the boss, dodging its long, crooked neck and blood-stained beak. Elysia's machete poisoned the boss while Shien's rolling punches inflicted Anti-Heal.

Enshiron fired wind arrows as the other riflemen fired their artillery into the monstrous bird. Phoenicia resorted to her tough fists to help deal additional damage. Emphenix retreated into sphere mode and steamrolled on the players again, but couldn't heal and instead had its HP sapped.

The boss kept repeating its cycle, its air raid followed by sphere mode. It was a tiring, repetitive cycle, but Mivangeline's strategy was working. The party was challenged to gamble their one HP, to deal consistent damage and status effects before the boss heals in sphere mode.

Emphenix chirped emergency alerts, elongating its neck meters wide and gobbling up players. Its HP was within the yellow zone, but the players had to endure the fight longer. They obeyed Mivangeline's plan, ignoring their fear of one HP left and damaging Emphenix as much as they could. With everyone's status effects like Elysia's poison and Shien's Anti-Heal, Emphenix's sphere mode was rendered obsolete in self-recovery.

The party dodged the bird's hungry beak as they managed to get its HP critically low within the red zone. Emphenix pecked and ate players as the party did their best to bombard the final boss with everything they had. The monstrous bird squealed its air raid siren again, lowering the party's HP to one with Anti-Heal.

"We're almost there! We can beat it before its next sphere mode!" Mivangeline instructed.

While Enshiron and the riflemen gunned down the boss, Elysia sliced her machete at Emphenix while Shien and Mivangeline pummeled it with rolling punches. The songbird squealed emergency sirens, growing an extra head to peck the players.

"Don't panic! We got this!" Mivangeline swiped her foot to trip the bird. "Avian Form: Puffin's Foot!"

The bird tripped as its round, feathered body erupted with metallic spider legs that punctured players. Its white wings rotted into rusted iron claws that sliced anyone in its way. Emphenix kept evolving into eerie chimeric forms as the party relentlessly bombed it.

"Avian Form: Wryneck Scythe!" Shien sliced off the steel spider legs. "Mivange! Finish it!"

"We're winning this game! Avian Form: Great Titmouse Strike!" Mivangeline jumped up high, aiming three fingers at one of Emphenix's two heads.

The iron claws lunged at Mivangeline, but Enshiron shot one down while Elysia cut the other. The two heads stretched their necks and opened their hungry beaks at the commander, but Phoenicia grappled one head and choked it with her bare hands. The last head opened its beak with ten tongues as sharp as swords.

"Avian Form: Kingfisher's Axe!" Shien shoved a downswing kick onto Emphenix's last head, making it bite its coiled tongues in pain.

With everyone's help, Mivangeline landed the lethal palm strike into Emphenix's final head. The eldritch bird screamed its air raid siren, toppling dead as its HP dropped to zero. The players lifted their weary heads into the sky, watching the daylight shine brightly.

It was finished. A message tab wrote congratulations to the players. Cyanic Odyssey has been beaten, and Saitori's antiprogram was activated. The log-out buttons were finally available.

"We did it!" Shien squeezed Mivangeline tightly. "God is so good!"

The commander embraced and kissed Shien. "Yes, we did it together. The Lord gave us this victory."

"Huzzah, my dear comrades!" Enshiron gave the couple a bear hug. "We're dragonslayers!"

Elysia then joined. "We're a team!"

"Agreed, we do make an unusual yet effective team," Phoenicia wrapped her arms around her friends.

The players cried and hugged in joyful tears as they slowly logged out and thanked Mivangeline for leading them. Soon, the android NPCs and the five friends who started the party remained.

"I believe our duty as androids is finished," Phoenicia sighed. "It was our utmost pleasure to serve you all. We wish you all the best in real life!"

"Thank you, Phoenicia. Thank you, androids, for your help," Mivangeline gave Phoenicia one last hug.

"Welp, we shall see each other very soon!" Enshiron smiled. "Elysia! We must go out together in real life!"

Elysia blushed. "Alright, Enshiron. I'll keep my word. We can't have Shien and Mivangeline be the only lovebirds, right?"

The Vulpi girl fist-bumped her friends before logging out with Enshiron. Shien and Mivangeline looked at each other one last time.

"I can't wait to see you out there, Mivange," Shien grinned.

Mivangeline kissed him. "Me either. Shall we?"

Both of them nodded before logging out together. Shien, Mivangeline, Elysia, and Enshiron were finally free from Cyanic Odyssey.

Have you been alright, Mom? I'm so sorry I wasn't there for a long time. I'm coming home, Mom!