Chapter 35: The Self-Sacrificing Strike

The crying girl's all-out strike landed squarely on Maisie's head. Already grievously wounded by the paladin leader's self-destruction, Maisie’s skull was split open by the blow, her life snuffed out on the spot.

Just as victory seemed within their grasp, Maisie's remaining left arm performed a strangely human gesture—it injected something resembling a small blue vial into her own body.

The crying girl shouted, "Careful! The boss is enraging and transforming! Last ten percent health—give it your all!"

No sooner had she spoken than Maisie, with a lunge, began to swell in size, her body morphing from a brutal raptor into an even larger, savage tyrant lizard. Weapons still protruded from her flesh, but severed forelimbs and tail started to regenerate. Most alarming was the way her mouth grew increasingly packed with razor-sharp fangs, and seven or eight rows of menacing spikes erupted along her back.

She hadn't even completed her transformation before she lunged forward, jaws agape, snapping at the crying girl.

The crying girl, now bolstered by the support of the ghostly-skulled young woman in the rear, was at her peak fighting strength. Facing Maisie's assault, she brandished her halberd and shouted,

"Only by slaying millions can one be called a hero!"

With that cry, her halberd multiplied into a thousand shadowy blades, striking from every direction toward Maisie. Though these shadowy blades seemed insubstantial, each one left a bleeding wound upon Maisie’s body.

A normal boss w