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Although Zane didn’t make a move in the previous battle against Rainflower, that didn’t mean he lacked strength.

Anyone who could make it onto the level rankings couldn’t possibly be a noob. At least, that was what Duskwraith believed. Just judging from that batch of Bioraptor scales alone, it was clear that Emberveil, or the person behind him, had already been strong enough to defeat Bioraptors two days ago.

Putting away the live feed, Zane asked, “What classes are your remaining three members?”

“Three of us, there’s me, my sister, and Lulu. We’re Knight, Priest, and Assassin. All level 19.”

“Can I bring someone with me?”

“Just one…? Sure!” Duskwraith nodded. “If you can beat it, you’ll have the first pick of the loot. The rest will be distributed based on need. Sounds good?”

“Deal.”

Based on the 3000 true damage seen in the video, it had already exceeded Starry’s current HP. Realistically, only Duskwraith and himself, as a Wishkeeper, could take a hit like that. But he couldn’t reveal his transformation in front of them, so that meant only Starry could move freely.

After a while, Duskwraith sent over the coordinates: Wasteland (5491, 671).

‘The Wasteland? I’d been there before and never noticed any hidden dungeons… Anyway, better head there first and ask questions later.’

***

At this hour, some players had already started logging in for early morning grinding. But the Wasteland remained mostly deserted, it wasn’t a place you could casually farm anyway. The Bioraptors in this region were brutally strong.

Zane followed the coordinates to the designated spot. All around him, there was nothing but yellow sand and scattered rubble.

‘Wait… one of the rocks appears to have a darker color.’ Zane reverted to his original form and reached out to touch it. The moment his hand made contact, a pure white light burst forth, swallowing both of them instantly.

***

‘What the hell? Two warnings right off the bat? Last time I entered the Underground Passage, the system didn’t even bother to issue a warning!’ Surveying the eerie environment, Zane instinctively pulled out a Magic Lantern. It was still charged, but the previous energy had nearly been drained.

The corridor was wide, its floor tiled with white squares bordered in red. Empty picture frames lined both sides, it was silent and ominous.

‘Did they already clear all the monsters?’ He opened the chat, “Duskwraith, I’m in. Where are you guys?”

“That fast?” Duskwraith sounded surprised.

‘Well, I have a mount… even if I was technically… riding myself.’

“I kinda slide-tackled my way here… cough, I mean, I was in Cloudshadow Valley already, so I just headed straight over.”
“No wonder. Send me your coordinates, we’ll come to you.”
“159, 277.”
“Got it. See you in 3 minutes!”

Just as promised, three minutes later, three figures emerged from the far end of the corridor.

In the middle stood the tall knight, Duskwraith, vice leader of Nether Dawn.

To the right was a short-haired girl, Lulu. Zane had seen her before, during the conflict with Rainblossom alongside Duskwraith. She was a highly skilled assassin-type player. Her ID didn’t carry the Nether Dawn prefix, so she was probably a newer recruit.

On the left was a player named Rainbow, reportedly one of the four core officers of Nether Dawn and also Duskwraith’s older sister. Her gear gave off a soft white glow, definitely no lower than Rare grade.

All three of them had faint dark circles under their eyes, clearly exhausted.

“Emberveil, you guys got here quick!”
“Eh, wasn’t too bad…”
“Okay, okay, cut the small talk. Let’s just down this boss and sleep before our faces break out in pimples,” Lulu urged impatiently.

“Still, they came to help, we ought to show our gratitude, right?” Duskwraith’s gaze shifted to the girl behind Zane. “Wait… is that… Stardust!?” His eyes widened in disbelief.

“What!” Lulu looked thrilled. “The top player on the level rankings?!”

‘Hey now, I’m the one in second place! A little recognition wouldn’t hurt, you know?’ Zane grumbled inwardly.

Even Rainbow seemed more awake now. “I saw the footage yesterday. You actually beat MrFixIt without taking a single hit!”

Starry looked puzzled. “Footage?”

“Yeah! Haven’t you checked the forums? He posted a whole ‘defeated’ thread himself, and the death match between you two was right there in the video. He even said he’s planning to challenge you again soon!” Rainbow sounded exhilarated. “So, any interest in joining Nether Dawn, oh great pro?”

Starry fell silent.

“Ah, don’t mind her, don’t mind her. My sister’s a total gaming fanatic…whenever she sees a top-tier player, she wants to recruit them.” Duskwraith waved his hand dismissively.

Zane, however, wasn’t thinking about that at all. ‘That guy… actually recorded the whole fight in secret!’

“No thanks. I feel the same way as Emberveil.”
“I see… what a pity.”

***

After that brief exchange, both parties had a basic understanding of each other. Duskwraith took the lead, while the others followed behind. Once they passed through the corridor, the space opened up into a large hall. As they entered, the torches mounted along the walls lit up on their own.

The floor was riddled with cracks and pits, and even the ceiling was full of holes. Yet, strangely, no light filtered in from above, only darkness loomed overhead. On the map, red X marks were scattered all over. Those were the trap markers Duskwraith had placed for the party. These were likely the traps they had mapped out at the cost of multiple deaths.

“There are just too many traps in this place,” Duskwraith sighed. “A bunch of our top players in the guild were taken out by them. Now we’ve made it to the final boss, and we can’t even finish the job.”

At the far end of the hall, a massive stone statue sat silently on a throne.

“I’ll explain the boss’ mechanics,” Duskwraith said. “We never managed to see its full stat panel, but as you’ve seen from the recording, that laser beam deals 3000 points of true damage. It’s incredibly fast, impossible to dodge.”

“It’s similar to the demon statues we fought earlier. Every 30 seconds, it auto-fires a purple laser that targets everyone within a 5-yard radius. For the boss, we estimate the radius to be closer to 10 yards. You’ll need to time your movement and get out of range.”

“Apart from the laser, the boss’ normal attacks also inflict magic damage. Even if you parry, you’ll only reduce a portion of the incoming damage. And the stone statue has extremely high magic resistance, mages can barely scratch it.”

“The boss definitely has other skills, but we haven’t had the chance to figure them out. Be mentally prepared.”

“Got it. What’s the plan then?” Zane nodded.
“Before that, I need to ask something…”
“What is it?”

“Emberveil, what exactly is your combat role?” Duskwraith asked seriously. “We all know about Miss Stardust. We saw the video yesterday, she’s clearly a swordsman, and with attack power strong enough to be our main DPS. I’ll tank, Lulu will roam and provide support based on the situation, and my sister will handle the healing.”

‘Combat role…? That reminds me, my class had always shown up as Beginner on the ranking board.’

Starry had already become a Mad Swordsman. That left him as the most ambiguous one in the party. Putting aside his shapeshifting ability, all he had were the Bone Shield, and the Venomfang Sword’s defense-reducing effect.

“I’m Starry’s debuff accessory,” Zane replied with a straight face, holding up the Venomfang Sword.