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When they opened the dungeon clear-time rankings, they had no choice but to believe it. The team led by BesideStillWaters had claimed first place with a completion time of 19 minutes and 47 seconds. They were a full five minutes ahead of the second-place team.

Still, they had already grown somewhat accustomed to this sort of thing. After throwing out a few sour remarks, they obediently went back to grinding their own runs.

…

“So, are we doing normal mode next?” Since they had already cleared the Easy difficulty once, farming it again would probably tank the drop rate to a pitiful level. Rather than wasting time, they might as well explore new content.

“Hmm…” Shiu opened the Normal mode difficulty clear records.

“Right now, only two teams have cleared it. First place is a team led by Trickling Stream, with a time of 85 minutes and 36 seconds. Second place is… Savagebone… with a time of 167 minutes and 16 seconds. That name sounds kind of familiar…”

He pondered for a moment before opening a search engine. A short while later, his eyes widened in surprise. “This guy’s a Beastman player!”

“Beastman? But inter-racial teleportation hasn’t even been unlocked yet, has it?” Zane asked in confusion.

“That’s true… maybe he traveled here on foot? If I remember correctly, even the human cities are separated by several massive maps, let alone territories belonging to different races. Whatever, it’s none of our business anyway.”

Shiu shook his head. “Normal mode is completely different from Easy. Right at the start, there’s a high-damage AoE attack. If you can’t survive it, you’re basically dead on arrival.”

“Even knights can’t tank it?”

“They can if they activate Guardian Shield, but there’s no point if the rest of the party gets wiped out. Anyway, let’s give it a try first.”

“Alright.” Everyone nodded.

***

Inside the Black Flag Club. A group of people sat upright in a hall, their expressions solemn. The multimedia projection displayed footage from Dreamscape. It was a Death Match duel.

**Knock.**

The man standing silently in the corner straightened his posture and lightly tapped the wall. The projected footage immediately froze in sync. The image stopped precisely at the moment of the second Blink.

“This is the battle recording of Emberveil. Does anyone have anything to say?” he asked indifferently.

“There’s nothing worth discussing. He’s just a clown bullying weaker players with superior gear,” a cold voice mocked.

“Raven, put away your arrogance. Dreamscape is no longer a place where we alone dominate everything,” another man said calmly.

“Hmph.” Raven snorted coldly and fell silent.

The man continued, “Boss, there’s something very strange about this Emberveil. Since the server launched, he still hasn’t changed classes, yet from the combat footage, he clearly possesses the ability to use consecutive Blinks. On top of that, his combat awareness is far from that of a newbie. I suspect…”

Seeing that nobody interrupted him, he continued. “He may possess a true hidden class.”

“What do you mean? The rankings clearly show him as a Beginner,” someone questioned.

“But what if… I’m only saying what if… there’s a class capable of disguising itself as Beginner?”

“None of that is important. If you ask me, that Stardust girl is far more dangerous than he is. What we should be thinking about now is how to deal with them. As independent players, their growth speed is far too fast. If this keeps up, they might start interfering with our development.”

At that moment, the man standing in the corner spoke again. “Wynne is right. We’ve remained at the top for far too long. We need to keep a close eye on the changes happening around us. Someone must monitor Wynwater City.” He paused for a moment before suddenly calling out, “Morris!”

“Ah!? I-I’m here, Boss!” A timid-looking young boy immediately sprang to his feet, trembling nervously.
“There’s no need to be so tense. I think… you’re probably the most suitable candidate.”
“N-No way, I’m too stupid… I’ll definitely mess it up.”
“Heh.” The man could not help but laugh. “Then it’s decided, you’re the one!”

***

**Clang!**

With a single slash, Zane cut down the Deep Frostcrystal Soul. Looking at his nearly depleted HP bar, his heart pounded with lingering fear.

Unlike Easy difficulty, the moment the entire party entered, a wave of Frost Breath blasted straight at them. Four of his teammates were instantly wiped out, and even Starry had been left with less than 1,000 HP.

‘What kind of inhuman welcoming ceremony is this!?’

Then Starry got clipped by the following barrage of arrows and collapsed as well. Left alone, Zane’s HP recovery simply could not keep up, and he was eventually worn down to death by the mobs.

It was obvious the dungeon had been designed with the intention of forcing players to first farm the Frostcrystal set from Easy difficulty, greatly boosting their survivability before attempting Normal.

This was already their second attempt. This time, Zane had learned his lesson. The instant they entered, he invoked Blazing Fire, then before the wall of flames shattered, he immediately used the Elemental Horn to cast another one.

It was just enough to withstand the Frost Breath.

After that, the process was mostly the same as Easy difficulty, except the Deep Frostcrystal Souls had slightly enhanced stats. Though for Zane, it still amounted to effortless slaughter.

One more thing, Frost Breath was unleashed once every minute. Which also meant that under the Wishkeeper state, both MP and SP drained at an alarming rate. He finally began to understand why the completion records had taken so ridiculously long.

After walking out of the cave, the surroundings looked similar to before, yet subtly different. At the center stood an enormous Frostcrystal Ore vein, faintly glowing as streams of icy mist continuously seeped out from it.

“The Frost Breath should be coming from that thing… though I wonder if it can be mined?” Zane asked as he turned back.

“Don’t even think about it. Frostcrystal Ore supposedly requires a Level 3 Miner to extract in the first place. And something this massive… honestly, one swing of the pickaxe would probably break the tool before the ore.”

“Fair enough. Shiu, try casting Pyrestorm on it? See if we can burn this thing away. Otherwise, if this keeps dragging on, we’ll get wiped sooner or later.”

“Alright.” Shiu nodded. Flames spread across the ground, and the instant they touched the Frostcrystal Ore, a long durability bar suddenly appeared above it.

‘That’s good. As long as we can get rid of the Frost Breath ambushes, the rest of the dungeon will become far easier.’ Just as that thought crossed his mind…

“ROOOAR—!!” A familiar sound echoed out. The massive blue Frostcrystal Giant charged toward them with earth-shaking momentum. Everywhere it passed froze solid, and while running atop the ice, the boss’ speed skyrocketed.

‘Good lord, is this thing ice skating!?’

“Fall back first! Hurry!” Zane shouted anxiously. If that monster smashed them head-on with a single punch, they’d be finished!

Stupid Orange had been standing at the rear and immediately turned pale with fright before fleeing back at once. Yoyo and Dukeette quickly followed behind her, while Shiu also spun around to retreat.

“Invoke: Mire!”

A swampy bog spread across the ground, but the boss’ freezing effect clearly had higher priority. Ice formed over the surface, leaving it completely unaffected. The Frostcrystal Giant closed the distance in the blink of an eye, raising its iron fist high into the air as power gathered within it.

“Ughhh—” Judging from the difference in their stats, taking the hit head-on probably would not instantly kill them. But… attacks with this much destructive force usually came with knockback effects. Once they were sent into stagger, the boss would absolutely be capable of finishing them off instantly.

Of the thirty-six stratagems, retreat was supreme! Getting back into the cave came first!

**Crack!**

‘Wait… why did it suddenly feel so hard to lift my legs?’ Zane forced himself to move. “Ngh—” But they wouldn’t budge at all.

‘What the hell is going on?’ Zane lowered his head. One look nearly scared the soul out of him. The spreading ice had already reached his feet, freezing everything below his calves solid.

Starry was in the same state.

A terrifying shadow rapidly descended overhead. Looking at the grayed-out Blink icon, Zane stood there completely at a loss.