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“Wait, if you rush in like that, you’ll expose yourselves. Someone might start keeping tabs on you after this,” Zane warned.

“Who cares? It’s not like there aren’t already plenty of famous players around! Besides, if we don’t stop them now, with the Gray Wolves’ current stats, they won’t even survive through a single Pyrestorm!”

“…” With that, the massive black beetle and the Gray Wolf Alpha charged out side by side, followed closely by nine Gray Wolves. Looking closely, each of the nine wolves carried a player on its back.

“Vice Leader, it looks like there are players riding those Gray Wolves!”

“I see them. And that assassin just now… he looked familiar. I feel like I’ve seen him somewhere before.” Fairytale Forest pressed a finger to her temple with a troubled expression.

Suddenly, all the Gray Wolves halted. From the front of the formation, a player stepped out, holding a massive silver-white shield, it was Endless Sea.

“It’s you?” Fairytale Forest exclaimed.

“That’s right. I’m here to demand an explanation. We received a hidden quest from the Gray Wolves and, yet you people killed our teammate without even a word?”

“Hmph, that assassin attacked us first. He brought that on himself,” said a player named Wandering Soul.

“Impossible! He only went ahead to see who was approaching, there’s no way he attacked you first!” Endless Sea rejected sharply.

“Enough! There’s no point arguing now. Since that assassin dared to get close, he should’ve been prepared to die,” Fairytale Forest said coldly.

“Is that so…” Endless Sea raised his spear. It was a gleaming blue knight’s spear, freshly dropped earlier that day, an Epic-grade weapon usable at Level 22. He had always favored heavier weapons over swords, and since Zaria had given up on competing for it due to her preference for blades, the spear had ultimately fallen into his hands, a weapon he could finally take pride in.

A faint frost spiraled along the shaft, exuding a chilling aura. “Then there’s nothing left to discuss!!”

Wanderer was already dead. There was nothing more to talk about. Endless Sea only needed to find the perfect angle to strike.

At that moment, the Gray Wolves and their riders became one, their forms blurring into a streak of motion as they shot straight toward Fairytale Forest! To capture the leader first was always the strategy—after all, among them, the greatest threat was this high-ranking mage.

With the Bard’s buffs supporting him, combined with the mounted state’s double-damage charge, the attack was powerful enough to instantly kill any ordinary mage!

Yet the female mage ahead remained calm, her expression unshaken. In a clear voice, she chanted, “Fleurish! They’re coming!”

The next instant, a Pugilist known as Fleurish slid in front of Fairytale Forest. Bringing both arms together, he took a defensive stance.

‘Damn it!’ The Charge skill only moved in a straight line, and any collision along the path would redirect the target upon contact. Worse yet, the skill couldn’t be stopped manually, and they were moving at terrifying speed!

**Bang!**

Most of the damage was blocked, and Fleurish had clearly anticipated this. With a deep shout, he activated Indomitable Will, dispelling the stun from the charge. Then his right hand straightened into a blade and struck toward Endless Sea’s neck.

A rare crowd control skill for Pugilists, one that could only be learned through skill books, though none had ever dropped one so far.

Caught mid-swing, Endless Sea hadn’t yet recovered from the recoil of his charge and couldn’t dodge in time. He took the full brunt of the attack.

‘Urgh—that hurts?!’ His whole body went numb, unable to move. He’d been completely immobilized!

Endless Sea’s original plan had been to launch a surprise charge and instantly take down the mage, but his teammates had failed to keep up with his movement. Now, they were all scrambling to catch up.

Fairytale Forest waved her staff, and a sea of flames spread across the path ahead, its burning edge sweeping over Endless Sea as well. It not only blocked the enemy’s reinforcements but also continuously inflicted damage on the knight.

Since the Gray Wolves were not actual mounts, their HP pools were separate from their riders’. Under the scorching assault of the Pyrestorm, the elite Gray Wolf’s HP dropped by a quarter in an instant.

“Not bad, kid. Think you’re invincible just because you can charge?” Wandering Soul taunted, drawing an arrow from his quiver.

A gray Armor Break debuff appeared above Endless Sea’s head. To make matters worse, the others had already closed in on him.

His HP began to plummet. With his defense weakened, it took less than five seconds before his health bar was nearly empty.

Suddenly, a burst of holy light flared up, pulling his HP back from the brink.

Fairytale Forest’s eyes snapped toward the Pyrestorm. A priest stood boldly amid the blazing inferno, seemingly unfazed by the searing heat. Red and green numbers floated continuously above the flames, and then she realized there was another priest outside the Pyrestorm as well!

Meanwhile, the rest of the enemies were already circling along the Pyrestorm’s edge, closing in from both sides, while the massive black beetle crawled forward without hesitation.

Nangong drew back his bowstring, forming a glowing blue Icefeather Arrow!

Fairytale Forest frowned. Mages lacked the nimbleness of melee fighters; though she could predict some attacks in advance, this one came too fast. With no other option, she cast Flameburst!

Blistering heat clashed with freezing frost, detonating in a violent explosion! Fortunately, no one was at the heart of the Pyrestorm, so the blast hit no one.

‘They’ve got too many people on their side, we have to take down that knight first. But seriously, how much HP does this guy have? Over 5000!? The stunlock’s about to break!’

She swung her staff again, gathering mana along its length, and cast Mana Surge!

A Healing Chain struck Endless Sea just before the attack landed. The amount healed was absurd!

In Drunken Fairytale, even the top priests could only heal around 600 HP with a single-target spell, but this priest had casually restored over a thousand with one cast. ‘Could it be…?’ She recalled the world announcement from that morning.

While she was deep in thought, the stun effect had already worn off!

‘Not good!’ Instinctively, Fairytale Forest activated Blink, and five Miss indicators floated up from where she had just stood.

“Damn, that fast!?” Endless Sea exclaimed, gripping his spear in disbelief. He had timed his attack perfectly with the end of the stun, unleashing the knight spear’s special skill—Frost Pierce—but it struck nothing but air.

To his surprise, the enemy didn’t counterattack. Instead, they turned tail and fled! For a moment, he hesitated, uncertain whether to give chase or hold position.

When he glanced back, he saw Morthar had arrived, and the rest were close behind. All their cooldowns had been spent trying to take him down, yet they hadn’t claimed a single kill. Retreating was the wisest choice.

The Gray Wolf beneath him still had about a third of its HP remaining, kept alive by the Healing Chain’s recovery.

Zane had watched the entire battle unfold and called out, “Don’t chase them! Forget it. We move forward!”

“But… Wanderer was killed by them once…” Nangong said hesitantly.

“There’ll be a chance for revenge, but not now. Their coordination is tight, if we pursue, we’ll just lose more people. And the longer we stay, the worse it gets. Since someone’s shown up here, it means our location’s exposed again. We need to move—now!”