With two melee fighters on him at once, Kael’s 3,000 health wouldn't last two seconds.

  Roland’s [Charge] ability was off cooldown. He was about to activate it when a figure suddenly appeared between him and Kael.

  To be precise, it was a zombie.

  He scoffed, raising his hammer to smash the feeble creature in a single blow.

  However, a number popped over the zombie’s head that made his eyes go wide:

  -1

  The zombie slapped him with its decaying hand.

  -1

  “The hell?” Roland reacted quickly, realizing it was just a delaying tactic. Ignoring the zombie, he tried to maneuver around it to charge Kael again.

  But that one-second delay was all Kael needed. In that brief window, his arrows found their mark, and Caius crumpled to the ground, dead.

  Seeing Kael so close, Roland wasn’t about to give him another chance.

  “[Charge]!”

  The moment he activated the skill, however, his body didn’t lunge toward Kael. Instead, it spun around and slammed into the little zombie.

  -1

  Roland was stunned. He couldn't figure out what had just happened. Did the game just bug out?

  The only answer he received was a swift one-two punch from Kael’s bow.

  -4619

  -1234

  “Son of a bitch…” Roland never knew why his charge had failed.

  With the three most immediate threats eliminated, Kael stopped backpedaling and began to advance. As he moved closer, however, he realized the battlefield no longer required his intervention.

  With the enemy frontline gone, Lila had free reign. She launched herself forward, activating [Earthshatter Leap].

  [Earthshatter Leap]: Leap to a target area up to 20 yards away. Upon landing, stun all enemies within a 5-yard radius for 1.5 seconds and increase the power of your next attack by 150%. Cooldown: 20 seconds.

  She soared through the air, landing in the midst of the enemy backline with the force of a meteor. The shockwave stunned everyone around her. She swung her fist, smashing it into the archer.

  -3878

  An instant kill.

  Magnus reacted immediately, launching a frost spell.

  [Frostbolt]

  -211

  Lila’s movement speed dropped by 20%. Without a shred of hesitation, she activated [Whirlwind].

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  [Whirlwind]: Increase all resistances by 200%. Deal 150% weapon damage per second to nearby enemies and increase movement speed by 10%. Lasts 3 seconds.

  The frost effect barely held for half a second before a vortex of energy erupted around Lila. She closed the distance to Magnus, whose health and mana bars both took a massive hit.

  -959 (Health Damage)

  -959 (Mana Damage)

  He’d learned Mana Shield, a spell that used mana to absorb 50% of incoming damage. Even so, he’d lost half his health in a single tick.

  “Viper, heal me!” he screamed.

  But Gorgon_Viper just stood there, motionless. He didn’t cast a spell. He didn’t even try to run.

  The next second, the second tick of [Whirlwind] landed.

  -1002 (Health Damage)

  -1002 (Mana Damage)

  Magnus’s body went limp and collapsed.

  Only a Protection Warrior and a Priest remained. Lila turned her attention to Gorgon_Viper. As she approached, he suddenly yelled out.

  “Wait!”

  Lila stopped, her fists clenched. She glared at him. “You have any last words?”

  “I surrender,” Gorgon_Viper said quickly. “I can be your team’s healer. I’ll help you clear the instance.”

  Lila paused. During the Hakkar fight, Rena’s healing had been stretched thin. Having a second healer would make things much more stable.

  Seeing her expression, Gorgon_Viper knew she was considering it. A flicker of hope ignited within him. “I’ll just heal,” he pressed on. “I’ll pass on all loot. You lose nothing.”

  Passing on all loot…

  The offer was tempting. Lila turned to look at Kael, seeking his opinion.

  Kael didn’t say a word. He simply raised his hand and drew his thumb across his throat.

  Lila nodded, her mind made up.

  She raised a fist and slammed it into Gorgon_Viper’s chest twice, killing him instantly. The last remaining player, Gideon, offered no resistance as Lila mercilessly beat him down.

  Standing amidst the corpses, Lila surveyed the silent battlefield. A light breeze caught her long hair and the hem of her skirt, making for a striking image.

  “Lila, that was so badass!” Rena exclaimed, her eyes sparkling.

  “Get a grip, fangirl,” Starbloom muttered, rolling her eyes. She walked over to Lila, and the two began looting the bodies.

  The ten players had dropped a total of six items, three of which were purple Epic-tier pieces from the Hidden Realm set. A few hours ago, gear like this would have made them ecstatic.

  But now…

  “Just a bunch of vendor trash,” Starbloom grumbled.

  Lila laughed. “If the girls back in the guild heard you say that, they’d string you up.”

  “Hee hee,” Starbloom said, sticking her tongue out.

  Kael, Hazel, and Rena walked over to join them.

  “Why did those bad guys attack us?” Hazel asked. “And how did they know we’d be here?”

  Lila didn’t answer, looking instead at Kael, who had the decency to look away and scratch his head awkwardly.

  Lila just patted Hazel’s head. “They’re bad guys, sweetie. Bad guys don’t need a reason.”

  “Oh…”

  The ever-innocent Hazel would never have guessed that the giant, glowing beacon that had given away their position was the tent pitched by Dawnbreaker.

  Afterward, the five of them sat down to rest and recover.

  “Hazel,” Kael said, “how much XP until you hit level 17?”

  Hazel checked her experience bar. “About 1.02 million left.”

  Kael nodded. The jump from 17 to 18 was 7.35 million experience, which meant killing another seventy or eighty mobs should do it. Once she hit 18, she could equip the helmet from Hakkar, a crucial upgrade before they entered the palace proper.

  A thought occurred to Lila, and she frowned. “Dawnbreaker, shouldn’t we hurry into the palace? I’m worried other teams might…”

  Kael shook his head. “There’s no need to rush.”

  “Why not?” the girls asked, confused.

  Kael didn’t explain, his mind drifting back.

  …

  In his previous life, it had taken a joint operation between six different guilds just to kill the elite guardians outside this palace and obtain the key. Later, during the final boss fight against Van Tassel, they had been so consumed by infighting and backstabbing that their raid had completely wiped.

  In the Hidden Realm, death meant permanent ejection from the instance. In the weeks that followed, a few small groups managed to get in, but none could overcome the final boss.

  It wasn’t until half a month later that Sovereign finally managed to organize a force of three full raid teams to bring Van Tassel down.

  …

  This time, Kael had just personally eliminated two of those potential rival teams. Whether the remaining four could even handle the gatekeeper elites was now a serious question.

  He really wasn’t in a hurry at all.

  Kael stood up. “Alright, let’s clear all the mobs in this area. It would be best if everyone could get a full set of the level 15 purple gear before we proceed.”

  “Okay!” the girls agreed.

  Kael decided it was time to replace his set. The [Summon Zombie] skill had served its purpose, but it would be useless against a raid boss like Van Tassel. Switching to gear that boosted his own stats and defenses was far more sensible.