The first encounter includes an unavoidable charge pattern, and the remaining four patterns alternate during the boss fight, with the last one being the one that was about to start now.

When the Human Butcher’s health drops below 10%, it triggers what is known as the last gasp. Seeing this pattern meant it was practically cleared.

He draws blood from his body to create bombs and hurls them towards the player; dodging them alone is enough to automatically reduce his health. Until there was exactly 1 left, that is.

When his health drops to 1, he collapses, exhausted, and just getting close and tapping him with bare hands ends the boss fight.

Of course, as they say “practically cleared,” one must never let their guard down until the end.

In Vanilla mode, rolling a few times would suffice, but in the Darkest Light Mod, it was a pattern where you had to desperately evade while running around until the last moment.

—GRAAAAAAAHH!!!!

He let out a long howl and tossed his blunt weapon to the ground. Then he marched to the center of the open space, hissing, and clawed at his own body.

Black blood gushed from the wounds he inflicted with his claws. As another howl erupted, droplets of blood began to gather, near him, forming the size of a human head.

In Vanilla, dodging around 9 to 10 projectiles was enough, but in the Darkest Light Mod, you had to evade nearly 49 to 50 of them. Even getting hit by one meant instant death.

Moreover, this couldn’t be dodged with a roll. During the brief cooldown after rolling, the bombs would hit, causing instant death.

After confirming the blood droplets had clustered into a human skull shape, I retreated to the wall, staying close to it and spinning counterclockwise, which was the surest way to evade.

The Human Butcher wailed, looking up at the sky. The round blood bombs formed from the human skull shape were shot at me in response to his howl.

Counterclockwise.

Since the bombs shot towards my left, the right side from the Human Butcher’s perspective, it was essential to turn counterclockwise to increase the impact distance.

Going clockwise could still work, but the impact distance was slightly shorter than when turning counterclockwise, so there were times I’d get hit due to sheer bad luck.

I had no intention of taking that risk.

Behind me, blood bombs thudded into the ground, causing a massive explosive impact. The black liquid spread everywhere, corroding the walls and floor. I could easily guess how the scene behind looked.

Around the time I had almost finished a lap in the open area, I suddenly noticed it had gone quiet behind me and stopped. The Human Butcher sat on the ground, completely exhausted, panting heavily.

I approached slowly without lowering my guard. There was a reason I had mentioned 9 projectiles, 10, or even 49 or 50.

Sometimes, while sitting down like this, he would launch one last blood bomb as a true last gasp. If he did, it would be 10 or 50, and if not, 9 or 49.

And just as I feared, a blood sphere shaped like a human skull emerged above his head.

Best to be careful, right?

I prepared to roll in the opposite direction of its trajectory. I could easily dodge one or two.

However, the last bomb didn’t come towards me.

The blood bomb shot high up into the sky, flying to the top floor of the prison, where it caused a huge explosion. KABOOOM! With that sound, half of the top floor was blown away.

The Human Butcher, having finished his last gasp, slumped down, completely drained, and let out a ragged breath. Now, I could approach and just lightly tap him with my bare hands to finish the boss fight.

“…What?”

But, at that moment, I had no time to think about such things. I gazed back and forth between the Human Butcher, panting on the ground, and the blasted remains of the top floor of the prison.

This was something that had never happened in the game.

As I stood there, still shocked by this unexpected turn of events, a knight in armor jumped down from the dust cloud at the top of the prison.

Clang, with a light metallic sound, the knight landed in the open space with an agile movement.

The silver armor, which should shine brilliantly, was covered in black blood, emitting smoke as it melted. It was corroded in many places, nearly losing its function as armor.

From appearance, it seemed he had been directly hit by the blood bomb, yet with all limbs intact, it had served its purpose well.

I recognized the armor, but something about its appearance felt very different. While I pondered this unease, the knight, approaching me, murmured to himself.

“I never expected the last attack to come this way. My mistake.”

A neutral voice flowed out from the heavily rusted and dirty silver helmet. Both the armor and the voice were different from what I remembered.

Something felt off. Very off.

“Did you take him down by yourself?”

When the same question from the game popped up, my mind cleared instantly. If this were the game, I would be given a choice to answer yes or no, but now, I had to open my mouth and reply directly.

“Yes, I did.”

“…Impressive.”

The knight sat on the ground, catching his breath as he observed the exhausted Human Butcher before turning to me again.

“He seems still alive. Will you not kill him? Since you took him down, finishing him off should be your responsibility.”

“Ah, yes. I will.”

I picked up the sword I had tossed to the ground. He showed no reaction even as I approached directly. The knight took a few paces back and gave me a light nod.

I plunged the blade deep into his belly. It slid in easily. The last strike sent out a dying roar from the Human Butcher, causing him to stagger and fall diagonally.

In the game, when you kill an enemy, their corpse would automatically vanish as items dropped; I wondered how that would work here, staring intently at his fallen form.

Bubble, bubble, the area around the Human Butcher’s head began to bubble and emit steam as it started to melt away. Beneath the corpse, the melted flesh and black blood began to spread.

As the flesh melted away, exposing a deep hole, I noticed something shiny inside.

So this is how it works.

I carelessly tossed aside the now useless steel sword, being careful not to touch the flesh, and grasped the shiny object tightly, pulling it with all my strength. It surprisingly came out easily.

What was in my hand was a sword with a bloody crimson blade. I felt relieved at its familiar shape.

Now I can breathe easy.

This was the weapon I absolutely needed. I worried about whether or not an item would drop, but it was an unnecessary concern.

The weapon known as the Blood-Stained Sword earns its reputation as a cheat key in the early game for a simple reason.

Although it could be found in the very first tutorial area, its damage doesn’t fall short compared to weapons obtained in the mid-game.

Due to its low stat corrections and enhancement increases, it does become less effective over time, but ironically, this characteristic made it a prominent cheat key in the early game.

After all, during the early game, I couldn’t effectively upgrade it, and the character’s stats were painfully low, so having high base damage and abilities offered significantly more benefits.

With this weapon alone, I could manage my attacks and divert my stat investments into other crucial attributes. This one factor alone greatly boosted the stability of the early-game build.

Of course, considering stability was limited to Vanilla mode, in Darkest Light Mode, where getting hit by a passing mob could lead to instant death, it didn’t really apply.

Returning to the knight in silver armor, who had witnessed the entire process while I held the Blood-Stained Sword, a neutral voice emerged again from the helmet.

“What is that weapon—?”

Before the knight could finish his sentence, a massive crack formed on the helmet that was precariously holding together, making a crack sound. It seemed to have completed its duty of saving its wearer and had reached the end of its lifespan.

This NPC’s armor breaking was something that had never happened in the game, but I didn’t care much about it. If I were to ponder that, I would have to reconsider why the last blood bomb flew elsewhere.

It appeared the main plot hadn’t changed too much, and I thought of it as adding realism, like how the Human Butcher had a self-inflicted wound on his abdomen or how the floor broke when he thrashed.

The knight clicked his tongue and seized the half-cracked helmet, tearing it off himself. The pieces of the broken helmet clanged as they rolled on the floor.

Long silver hair flowed down as it spilled out from within.

…Wait, what? Long hair?

As I was caught off guard by the unexpected sight, my eyes met with the knight’s.

With silver eyes that matched her hair and a face that was undeniably and objectively beautiful, she was looking at me.

So, the one in the armor wasn’t an older man from my memory but a young woman.