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“Seriously… that guy always became unreachable whenever it mattered most.”

The swordsman who had remained silent in the corner all this time finally spoke. “A counteroffensive…?”

Only then did Shiu remember him. “Forgotten Memories? Perfect timing. Our mission’s finished too, so let’s head back and turn it in first.”

He nodded. “Mm. Let’s go.”

The cave had been picked clean by now. Rare materials like Lycoris would not respawn for at least another three or four days.

Incidentally, Adventurer Party quests could be completed together with players who were not members of the party. The only drawback was that the Adventurer Party EXP awarded would be reduced. Back when Adventurer Parties were still exceedingly rare, accepting quests and selling the completion rights to other players was actually a decent way to make money.

That said, doing so would have attracted far too much attention, which went against Zane’s usual… low-profile style. For the time being, it was enough that only they knew about Starveil’s existence.

***

Meanwhile, over in Noctilune City, Zane had no time to pay attention to the world announcement. Because the battle on the arena had already become increasingly perilous.

The moment Windblossom landed after being knocked into the railing, she immediately sprang to the left. The attack missed by a hair.

This boss’ aggressiveness was on an entirely different level. Once combat began, it simply never gave its opponent a moment to breathe.

Even when they occasionally managed to land a counterattack, each hit only dealt a little under 1,000 damage. Against a total HP pool of 400,000, that amount was practically meaningless.

So this was an SS-rank quest? Soloing an Epic-tier, perhaps even Unique-tier boss, and on top of that defeating five opponents in succession. Did the developers design this quest without ever intending for anyone to complete it?

Or perhaps… they had approached it the wrong way? Unlike traditional MMORPGs, Dreamscape offered an extremely high degree of freedom in its quests. There was no rule saying they had to remain trapped on this arena.

“Haa…” Without looking back, Windblossom activated Wind Dance and sprinted straight ahead. Right now, widening the gap was the highest priority.

With the movement speed bonuses from her equipment and skills, she was still faster than the Skeleton Warlord. The distance between them steadily increased.

Suddenly, the boss came to a halt. Zane’s eyes widened. He already knew what skill the skeleton was about to use. Back in the Underground Passage, that very move had beaten him senseless, and the memory alone made his body instinctively tense.

“He’s about to Charge!” Thankfully, they could still communicate through the party chat.

Windblossom said nothing. Instead, she subtly leaned to the right, giving every impression that she intended to dodge in that direction.

Charge was a straight-line dash. Without obstacles to block it, sidestepping laterally offered the highest chance of avoiding the attack. Of course, if your intentions were too obvious, the enemy could predict your movement and counter it perfectly.

That was exactly what happened. The battle-hardened Skeleton Warlord instantly saw through Windblossom’s plan. The next moment, its skeletal body became a white blur.

The trajectory of the charge was crystal clear. Given the boss’ massive frame, its left side would clip straight across Windblossom’s shoulder.

Too late… The distance she needed to cover was simply too great. There was no way she could escape the attack’s range in time. If the charge connected, even if it failed to kill her outright, the stun alone would guarantee her death.

Zane’s thoughts raced frantically. ‘What do I do? What do I do? Should I step in?’

But it probably wouldn’t make any difference. The only thing that would change was the death count, from one person… to three. In the end, Zane abandoned the idea. At a time like this, all he could do was trust her.

Driven by the skill, the Skeleton Warlord rocketed forward, closing to within a single meter of Windblossom in the blink of an eye.

Not a trace of panic appeared on her face. Instead, a confident smile spread across her lips. With a light step backward, she slipped cleanly out of the attack’s range.

That’s right. Her earlier movement to the right had merely been a feint. She had never committed any real force in that direction. The moment she baited out the Charge, she immediately reversed her movement.

She had gambled on one thing. That the boss would try to predict her dodge.

Unable to stop its momentum, the Skeleton Warlord continued charging past her. After grazing it with a single sword slash, Windblossom retreated while switching back to her bow, casually tossing a bear trap onto the ground.

Apparently, her bow was of higher quality than her rapier, allowing her arrows to deal even more damage.

It’s worth to mention, every arrow had been coated with poison. Unfortunately, skeletons were completely immune to poison effects, making it impossible to slowly wear the boss down with poison damage.

Another arrow shot through the air and triggered a critical hit.

The boss slowly turned around. “…You have… angered… me.”

To everyone’s surprise, the young ranger wasn’t intimidated in the slightest. Instead, she placed both hands beside her face, scraped her thumbs along her chin, stuck out her tongue, and made a playful face. “Bleh~!”

“…” That single gesture completely ignited the Skeleton Warlord’s Soul Flame. The fire burning within its skull flared violently, raging higher alongside its master’s fury. The boss lunged forward with astonishing agility, its skeletal frame clattering as it sprinted toward her.

The bear trap snapped shut with perfect precision around the skeleton’s ankle bone, dealing 233 points of fixed damage.

“…” Well, that damage was rather underwhelming. On top of that, the status effect hadn’t triggered at all. The bear trap had simply clamped itself around the skeleton’s foot.

The boss stomped down heavily. The trap didn’t even deform. It remained firmly locked around its foot. No matter how hard it kicked or stomped, it simply couldn’t shake the shabby contraption off.

While the boss was preoccupied with the bear trap, Windblossom had already finished charging her attack. A Meteor Arrow howled through the air and crashed into its target!

The fully charged Meteor Arrow possessed tremendous piercing force, blasting the Skeleton Warlord backward.

“What… was that thing just now?” Inkseason asked in bewilderment.

“It looked like… a bear trap?” Zane thought for a moment before adding, “Pretty solid craftsmanship.”

“Hell, ‘pretty solid’ doesn’t even begin to describe it! You could practically wear the damn thing as a shoe!”

“…” That *shoe* would probably do quite a number on your bones.

That little gadget had bought Windblossom a considerable amount of cooldown recovery time. She continuously peppered the boss with normal attacks, shaving off another 2% of its HP.

After the boss got back to its feet, the bear trap’s effect finally expired. Gripping its spear, it prepared to attack once more. When suddenly…

Without anyone noticing when it happened, another bear trap had snapped shut around its foot.

At the same time, while the boss’ attention was diverted, a Guardbreak Arrow exploded against its forehead.

A layer of purple Armor Break debuff appeared over its body. Without a moment’s break, another arrow tore through the air.

This time, even her normal attacks had broken into four-digit damage.

The Skeleton Warlord was thoroughly enraged by the bear traps. It simply gave up trying to remove them altogether. Although its gait looked noticeably awkward, its movement speed barely decreased.

After enduring two more arrows, it closed the distance to Windblossom in the blink of an eye. Its spear trembled violently, splitting into several afterimages as it lashed forward.

Was that… Triple Strike!? The powerful skill that executed three attacks simultaneously!

Windblossom reacted even faster. The instant the boss came within range, she activated Charge, dashing diagonally toward the corner of the arena. At the very same moment, four Miss notifications floated into the air.

Damn… this was an upgraded version of Triple Strike? If that attack had connected, she would have been killed instantly.

Since she had successfully dodged it, this was the perfect opportunity to deal more damage. Taking advantage of the still-active Armor Break debuff, Windblossom fluidly nocked another arrow and fired in one seamless motion, carving another 10,000 HP off the boss.

95%

Without realizing it, Zane had clenched his fists tightly. His eyes remained fixed on every movement unfolding on the arena. ‘If this pace keeps up… she might actually be able to take this guy down!’

***

After turning in their quest and adding the EXP earned from the boss, Shiu’s level reached 30, just enough to equip the Brilliant Frostcrystal Set.

“Forgotten Memories, we’re heading off to do the current event. Want to come along?”

Although he had only filled in as a temporary tank, his ability was already on par with a top-tier expert. Having a swordsman like him on the team would make just about anything much easier.

“Sure.” Forgotten Memories nodded.

“By the way, I’ve been wondering this for a while. Your awareness and operations are incredible. Don’t you have friends to level with?” Shiu asked. Even if he was a solo player, there’s no way he could’ve reached this level completely on his own. And it wasn’t as if he was playing some hidden class either.

“They… the dungeon only allowed six people.” He paused before finishing. “So I was the extra one.”

“Pfft!” Dukeette couldn’t help laughing. “Your friends actually abandoned a future top-tier expert!”

“It’s not that bad…” Forgotten Memories smiled faintly. “Come to think of it… your party seems to be missing someone too?”

“You noticed, huh? Can’t be helped. That guy is always running off to do some weird quest.”

“…That guy you’re talking about…” He hesitated briefly. “…You mean Emberveil?”