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Another ten minutes had passed.

Although the Snowfeather Goblins’ damage output wasn’t particularly high, their sheer numbers made up for it. The remaining Skeleton Warriors were nearly wiped out, reduced to scattered bones and dust.

It was worth noting that terrifying Mana Bolt continued to rain down on them from afar. Nine times out of ten, it had to be the boss. They definitely couldn’t let the Goblins take that head-on.

However, Zane couldn’t transform into Elna while surrounded by all these wolves, there would be no way to explain that later. In that moment of urgency, he decided to send Morthar to intercept. Perhaps that Consume skill would come in handy.

Just as he expected, after the Iceflow Shield weakened the impact, Morthar swallowed the remaining force in one gulp. No damage numbers appeared at all. Its body swelled in size before sinking back into the ground.

It seemed to have developed resistance. From then on, it didn’t even need the Iceflow Shield, Morthar could directly devour the attacks on its own. As expected of the Sacred Scarab. Nothing given by the Forgotten Tower ever disappointed!

Once the warriors fell, the next to come were the mages. And beyond the mages, there seemed to be something else, though it was too far to make out clearly.

A spell grazed past. Starry had nearly been one-shot while trying to inspect the monsters’ stats.

The level 28 Epic monster took her by surprise. The average player level wasn’t even twenty yet. Was it really fine for the game to spawn Level 28 monsters already? And worse… there might even be Level 30+ Epic or perhaps even Unique monsters ahead.

From what she could tell, their attack range was about forty yards. The Goblins’ shortbows barely reached twenty at best, completely incomparable. Kiting worked fine against melee units, but trying that against mages was nothing short of suicide.

“What do we do?” Yalu asked worriedly, his gaze fixed on the approaching monsters.
“We can’t fight them,” Starry replied, shaking her head.
“Are we… running again?” he asked, unwilling to accept it.
“Who said anything about running? We’re taking the tunnels and holding our ground!”
“…?”

***

Since yesterday, Morthar had already dug out a spacious chamber underground. There were even several interconnected tunnels branching out in all directions.

By taking advantage of the narrow openings, only a few enemies could enter at a time, allowing Starry to cut down the mages before they could even turn to aim. Area-of-effect spells bombarded the entrances repeatedly. The Goblins and Gray Wolves all hid within the pitch-black tunnels.

The experience from the Skeleton Mages far surpassed that of Level 25 monsters. Zane’s experience bar had already filled halfway, and at this rate, it wouldn’t take long before he reached Level 26.

This siege would surely create a massive gap between surviving and fallen players.

Unfortunately, dreams were always beautiful, but reality was painfully cruel. A sudden explosion echoed from the tunnel entrance, and the faint light dimmed abruptly.

‘Did they seal the entrance?’ Not only that, faint rustling noises began to rise from every direction.

Starry pulled out her Magic Lantern from her inventory. The bright magical glow illuminated the entire chamber, and what she saw made her expression freeze. Countless small black dots crawled densely across the walls.

“Ah—!” DumbCitrus screamed in fright.

Everyone else wore grim expressions. With walls crawling full of insects, no one could possibly remain calm.

These Level 30 Epic monsters didn’t have half the HP of Skeleton Mages, but they made up for it with small bodies and frightening agility.

Endless Sea stabbed forward, only to see *Miss!* flash above the creature. Worse yet, more worms were crawling across the ground. Shiu cast Pyrestorm to burn the area, which helped a little. However, anything outside the flames was in deep trouble.

A few Goblins and Gray Wolves had Rotten Worms crawl onto them, and within seconds, they were bitten to death. Some of the worms even split into new ones!

***

“Heh.” Toyin sneered coldly. ‘Petty tricks. Those fools actually went underground? How laughable! Did they truly think my forces couldn’t dig as well?’

Once the exits were sealed, the countless worms would devour every living thing inside, multiplying endlessly in the process!

Seeing the tunnels sealed off, the horde of monsters paused for a moment, then resumed their march toward Silverglow City at a steady pace.

***

“…” Zane’s feelings were complicated. If one asked why… The crisis had already been resolved. The surrounding walls were spotless, not even a trace of insect remains to be found.

Yes, it was Morthar’s doing. It was like watching a predator feast on its prey, Morthar swallowed every last worm along the walls like a living vacuum! Those things might’ve been small, but their levels and strength were very real.

Zane’s level shot up to 27, while Starry reached 28.

Not only had it evolved into a Unique-grade creature, it had entered its juvenile stage and learned a new skill, Magic Armor. Every attribute had undergone a qualitative leap.

With over seventeen thousand HP, it could likely hold its own against a Unique boss for quite some time. Even more astounding was its size, it had grown to the height of a house.

If it hadn’t dug open a new passage in time, it would’ve crushed everyone else to death by now.

“Guh…” Kanrel gulped with difficulty. “It can… grow this big?”

“Holy crap…”

Everyone was struck speechless in shock.

Just then, YoyoPink suddenly said, “Orange… stop touching me, it’s so dark, it’s scary.”

“Huh?” DumbCitrus blinked in confusion. “I didn’t touch you.”

“What?” YoyoPink’s eyes widened in disbelief as she quickly lit her lantern.

In the glow of the light, a smirking man’s figure appeared behind her without anyone noticing. “Konnichiwa~ pretty lady, we meet again.” With his right hand raised near his head, index and middle fingers pointed up, he struck a flirtatious pose.

“Ahhh—!!”
“What’s going on!?”

Starry instantly darted to YoyoPink’s side. And naturally, she saw him too. His User ID was Shade. No doubt about it, he’s a player. But how did he even get here?

She couldn’t figure it out, but…anyone who snuck around like that clearly had bad intentions. Better to cut him down first and ask questions later!

Under the glow of the lantern, the air around Starry dropped sharply in temperature. Pale blue frost gathered along the Autumn Moon Sword.

She swung her sword, her blade crossing in a sharp arc toward the enemy. Yet… there was no sensation of contact. A *Miss!* floated up, the attack had been dodged!

“Oh my, you almost scared me there! Geez, young lady, aren’t you a little too quick on the trigger?” Shade patted his chest, feigning exaggerated relief.