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“Zzzzzr—zzz—”

Hearing this sound, Zane, who had already fallen victim to it twice before, immediately realized what was happening.

“It’s a Sonic Wave attack! Quick, do—ugh!”

It felt as though his brain had been struck by a sledgehammer. His thoughts became sluggish, and not only his body but all three of them in the party were affected. Each clutched their head helplessly, unable to resist.

Forcing herself to focus, Starry noticed that the giant Blood Bat had already begun feasting greedily.

This is bad. Even with most of his attribute points allocated to Vitality, giving Zane an impressive 510 HP, he couldn’t withstand such frequent Life Drain attacks for long!

Even with Starry’s impressive attack power of 73-78, her strikes were only dealing less than 100 damage. And worse—no blue numbers appeared on the screen, signifying that for this massive creature, its head was no longer a weak point!

The Blood Bat, hit on the head, merely shook slightly before continuing to feast on fresh blood. In a flash, it had already recovered the HP it had lost.

Meanwhile, Zane’s HP had been drained by half in a matter of moments!

“Take this hammer strike!”

With a whooshing sound, the Fractured Hammer struck the Blood Bat squarely in its abdomen.

Although the damage was similar to Starry’s, the hammer triggered a knockback effect. The Blood Bat was finally forced away from Zane’s body and retreated into the darkness.

At some point during the chaos, the torch had been extinguished.

“Did you guys see the boss’ stats?” Endless Sea asked.

Zane didn’t reply immediately. Earlier, he had already used Starry’s perspective to inspect the boss’ stats. Without a word, he shared the boss’ information with the party:

“…” Endless Sea was at a loss for words.

This was their first time encountering a rare monster, and it was unbelievable that such a creature had appeared on the very first day of the server. To make matters worse, it was a boss, which meant its attributes were utterly absurd. With an attack range of 65-80, against players with double-digit defense stats, the damage could easily exceed 200 per hit due to level suppression. Its defense, 25 points higher than the regular Blood Bats, explained why their earlier attacks had dealt less than 100 damage.

With 2000 HP, coupled with its Sonic Wave and an enhanced version of Life Drain, it was practically invincible.

If they couldn’t output enough damage, the boss’ Life Drain skill would make their numbers irrelevant.

“What do we do now? Push forward or retreat?”

“Let’s keep going,” Zane said decisively. They had come this far, and retreating might only lead to an ambush by the boss. Moving forward might reveal something useful.

…

After walking for a while, the boss didn’t reappear.

Once out of combat, Zane’s HP began to slowly regenerate at a rate of one point per second.

“What’s going on? It feels like the scent of blood isn’t as strong anymore,” Endless Sea remarked curiously.

“It really does seem that way… Stay alert. There might be something serious waiting for us ahead,” Zane said, taking a deep breath.

The path gradually widened, and faint glimmers of light could be seen ahead. As they got closer, they realized the light was coming from glowing minerals. Unfortunately, without a secondary profession, they couldn’t mine the minerals. They had no choice but to leave them for now and focus on the quest.

As they continued down the path, the glowing minerals became more abundant, illuminating most of the road.

“Wow, so many minerals! When I leave the Beginner Village, I’m definitely switching to the miner profession and clearing this place out!” Endless Sea exclaimed in astonishment.

“If we really could clear it out, it’d probably cover our expenses for years…”

In games like this, minerals were often extremely valuable resources. Typically, mining veins were controlled by large guilds or NPC factions, making it nearly impossible for solo players to claim one for themselves.

That said, whether they could even leave this place alive was still uncertain.

While they were indulging in their dreams of riches, a cold female voice suddenly rang out from up ahead.

“Stop!”

Someone’s here? It is probably an NPC, but whether they’re friend or foe remains unclear. Better to proceed cautiously.

“We’re adventurers sent by the village chief to explore this cave. Who are you?” Zane asked.

There was no response. Zane continued, “If you don’t say anything, we’ll just head over!”

“Don’t come any closer!” the female voice said, now sounding panicked.

“Miss, don’t be afraid. We are the embodiment of justice! No matter what trouble you’re facing, we can help you solve it,” Endless Sea said, his tone full of bravado.

“Don’t… come any closer—!” Clearly, his words only made the person more agitated.

“Sea, your flirting skills are awful,” Zane couldn’t help but tease.

Endless Sea wanted to retort, but the thought of how the skilled and beautiful Starry always stuck with Zane made him swallow his frustration. He felt bitter inside, but he kept it to himself.

Starry stepped forward and said gently, “Miss, are you in trouble? We won’t hurt you, I promise.”

The female voice hesitated for a moment before replying, “A girl? Then… only you can come over.”

She only allows Starry to approach? That’s fine—after all, I am controlling Starry’s character anyway.

“Whoa, is this a reward event? Should we sneak over and take a peek too?” Endless Sea said excitedly.

“Peek at what? I’m a gentleman,” Zane said righteously.

In truth, Starry’s breathing had quickened. The thought of what might happen next made her excited. She didn’t feel much for herself, but that didn’t stop her from admiring other girls!

After rounding a corner, Starry found herself in a massive enclosed space, dozens of meters wide!

Under the glow of the minerals, she could just barely make out the layout of the space. In one corner sat a figure, huddled and hugging her knees, her face obscured from view.

This space was unexpectedly clean and tidy, even more so than Zane’s small room. The air carried a faint, pleasant fragrance, completely washing away the oppressive feeling caused by the previous scent of blood.

“Do you… have any spare clothes?” The figure in the corner raised her head, revealing a pair of vibrant green eyes.

It was only then that Starry noticed—she wasn’t wearing a single thread of clothing!

Yikes, definitely not suitable for minors!

Realizing this person might be key to their quest, Starry didn’t dare delay. Fortunately, she still had the Standard-Issue Armor they had picked up earlier, so she tossed it over.

“Thank you,” the figure in the corner said politely. She then used her foot to drag the armor closer and slipped behind a stone pillar, where the sound of rustling fabric could be heard.

At this moment, Zane felt like he was going through an intense inner battle. A girl was changing clothes right under his nose! For someone who had been single for twenty years, this was almost too much to handle. Just as he was debating whether or not to use Starry’s identity to sneak a peek, the figure emerged.

Wait, what? She changed that quickly?

As the figure approached, her information appeared.

Other than her name, there were only a series of question marks. Nothing else was revealed.

“Your companions can come over now,” said Treka, now dressed in the Standard-Issue Armor.

…

“She’s stunning, and there’s nothing underneath that armor…” Endless Sea whispered into Zane’s ear.

“…” Of course, Zane already knew that. After all, the armor was his to begin with!

“Sea, that’s enough. I’m a decent person,” Zane replied, sounding righteous.

“Tch, easy for someone who’s already had their fill to say that,” Endless Sea muttered.

“Can you tell us what’s going on?” Starry asked, breaking the awkward silence.

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