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The next moment, Lulu received an S-rank quest from Yalu.

When she saw the mission grade, she froze. She had not expected that a single trip to the Crimson Plains would bring such an extra gain. An S-rank quest! This was the first time she had ever seen one.

That alone meant the difficulty would be top-tier.

Inside the tent, the only vivid red HP bar belonged to the figure concealed beneath a cloak in front of her.

‘It’s him.’ Lulu flicked the refined steel dagger from her off-hand weapon slot in one smooth motion and launched it forward, triggering Venom Dagger as it flew.

The blade pierced through with a sharp hiss.

“…”

Not only did the throwing damage barely register, even the poison damage was laughable.

“Well, um… I was just passing by. You guys carry on.” Lulu slowly edged backward. If even this skill could not deal damage, what was the point of fighting? She would report back to the boss first.

However, things did not go that smoothly. With a cold snort, razor-sharp claws emerged from beneath the shadows. The intruder spun around in an instant, his movement speed so fast that his figure blurred, and the attack came crashing in.

**Swish!**

As their silhouettes crossed, a large MISS popped up.
“…” The enemy seemed mildly surprised by the failed strike.

Lulu, meanwhile, turned and bolted on instinct. The miss was thanks to a life-saving special-effect piece of equipment she wore. Once activated, it drastically increased her evasion rate, but it could only trigger once.

It had gone off on the very first hit. If it had not activated just now, she would already be back in town staring at the respawn screen.

“I’ve decided… I’ll start with you. Human adventurer.” A chilling voice echoed from behind her.

Hearing that, Lulu had no reason to feel happy.

‘Don’t hit me! I just lost a level yesterday. If I dropped another one today, wouldn’t yesterday’s grind be completely wasted?’

“Hey, I was just—”

“Adventurer, hold him a little longer!” Yalu shouted anxiously.

‘Don’t start making decisions on your own too!’

In her panic, Lulu activated Camouflage. But in front of a high-level enemy, it was completely useless.

A pair of blood-red eyes glared at her, and the Camouflage was instantly exposed.

Just as Lulu was about to give up resisting, a Frozen Cage slammed down with a thunderous crash, trapping the intruder inside. Not only that, Yalu held the cage in place with both hands, chanting continuously as the surrounding temperature plummeted. White snowflakes and ice elements intertwined and danced through the air.

The scene looked like something straight out of a forbidden spell.

…

After taking an unknown number of hits, the enemy’s HP bar visibly dropped to 97%.

**Drip.**

Countless shards of ice carved across the enemy’s body, dark red blood dripping onto the ground.

“Hehehe… a goblin capable of this much, huh…” The outsider trapped within the cage laughed to himself.

“Chieftain, something’s not right about him!”

“I know!” Yalu replied, bearing immense psychological pressure. The man’s utter lack of concern was far too unsettling.

Suddenly, the ice elements within the frozen cage stopped circulating. In their place, a surge of dark energy erupted wildly from the enemy’s body.

Boom!

The frozen cage shattered instantly. Yalu spat out a mouthful of blood, losing a full fifth of his HP in one blow.

The enemy tried to act again, but the ground beneath him suddenly gave way, and his entire body plunged straight down into the hollow below.

“…What was that?” Lulu was completely stunned.

“That was Morthar, the companion of another hero!”

“Huh?”

“No time to explain. Kanrel, go call the others. This time, we might be facing a real battle!”
“Understood!” The Snowfeather Goblin acknowledged the order and sprinted off at once.

***

This time, Zane did not continue spectating. Instead, he launched an attack together with Treka.

Because they had already observed the boss’ attack patterns beforehand, dodging the wind blades was not actually that difficult. Still, it left no room for error.

Getting hit even once meant dropping straight into critical HP.

Starry hurriedly activated Heart of Renewal. Combined with double potions and the life-steal from Frenzied Blade, her HP climbed back close to full.

However, the guardian spirit was airborne. Starry could barely reach it with Frenzied Blade alone, which was far from ideal. The efficiency was simply too low.

There was no need to keep hiding anymore. Zane shapeshifted into Swiftshadow Wolf form and unleashed Warcry, granting all three of them a 25% physical attack buff. Immediately after, she switched to Wishkeeper and cast Invoke: Blessing.

Feeling her body grow lighter and brimming with strength, Treka shot Zane a puzzled glance, but said nothing and continued drawing her bow and firing.

Each arrow now dealt over 4,500 damage. Efficiency had increased by at least fifty percent.

Whenever a mistake occurred, they patched it up with Invoke: Blazing Fire or Iceflow Shield.

As a result, in less than six minutes, the Wind Guardian Spirit scattered into dim, lifeless wind elements. They began drifting back toward the four pillars.

“What would happen if we dispersed those wind elements?” Zane asked curiously.

“It’s useless.” The elf shook her head. “Those wind elements won’t fully dissipate. No matter what you do, they’ll eventually return to the pillars.”

“Then… what about destroying the pillars?”

“You can try.”

Try it and die?

‘Whatever.’ Starry raised the Autumn Moon Sword, icy currents surging along the blade as she unleashed Icy Moon Slash. At the same time, a strange power flowed into her hands. Autumn Strike followed immediately.

‘In that case… Invoke: Spirit’s Heart!’

Under the dual buffs, the power of this strike rose to an entirely new level.

**Clang———— Hummmmmm———— Hummmmmm———— Hummmmmm————**

The tremendous force crashed into the pillar, but it felt like punching solid bedrock. A terrifying rebound surged back along the Autumn Moon Sword.

As pain tore through the web of her thumb and forefinger, Starry almost lost her grip on the weapon. Worse still, the enclosed space filled with the ringing echoes of metal clashing, pounding at their heads until it felt like they might split open.

Looking again at the stone pillar, there was only an extra shallow mark on its surface.

Watching the multicolored lights flicker again on the ground, Treka sighed softly. “Let’s head out first.”

***

“…” Zane’s head still felt a little dizzy.

“Do you understand now?”

“Can this challenge really dispel the illusion? Whether we time out or not, the guardian spirit only becomes stronger. That makes the whole thing meaningless.”

“…” Treka fell silent before finally speaking. “I don’t know either. I’ve been here for a long time, and this is the only place I’ve found.”

“Could it be that someone tampered with it using malicious intent?” Zane frowned.

“That possibility can’t be ruled out.”

***

After Flowerdance City fell, the players who had originally been stationed there scattered to the other four cities.

In a way, it reduced the average resources available.

Of course, this only applied to leveling areas around the cities. If someone truly wanted to level quickly and farm gear, they could always head to Silent Night City, where wandering magibeasts and decaying undead were everywhere.

Whether one would level up or lose a level was hard to say.

As a side note, today marked the birth of the first guild on the national server, Cloud Edge.

The 57 million spent to obtain the Guild Creation Token left people speechless. Because Zane was still within the illusory realm, he did not receive the world announcement.

“Guild Leader, are we really going to establish ourselves in Wynwater City?” A gentle voice carried a hint of unease as the woman spoke worriedly. “I heard there’s a terrifying god-tier player there. And… several old rivals are stationed there too.”

“All the more reason to go.” The man smiled arrogantly. “I’ve already sent Calmstep and the others to recruit members. Until the second Guild Creation Token appears, this entire period is ours to develop. I’ll show them what a guild with both name and substance truly looks like.”