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Being stared at by someone of that size was still quite terrifying. Starry hurriedly gathered all the equipment that had fallen to the ground. Then—she staggered as she ducked her head.

A massive shadow swept past where her head had just been, bringing with it a gust of wind, followed by a clean “miss.”

‘That was close.’

The central countdown showed only 19 minutes remaining. And they had to defeat four Unique-tier bosses within the time limit? That was pure fantasy. Without Starry’s exceptional burst power, they would not even have finished off the mobs in an hour.

‘Wait…’ Zane suddenly thought of a possibility. ‘From start to finish, this countdown had never given a specific hint. Perhaps… the only requirement is to survive for one hour?’

The more he thought about it, the more reasonable it seemed. Hundreds of Dragon Abyss Knights, could any human truly defeat them? In the first place, the bosses wouldn’t have even acted. But by stubbornly wiping out every last Dragon Abyss Knight, they had caused the difficulty to skyrocket.

‘Well, too late to dwell on that now. What matters is taking down that raging berserker.’

So far, the skills it had displayed were: Throwing Axe, Charge, the deadly strike from earlier, and one unknown skill. This boss possessed incredible mobility. Despite its massive size, its speed was unaffected.

Running would only cause history to repeat itself. The only option was to face it head-on.

The stats of a Unique-tier boss were nothing to scoff at, and Starry was hanging on with barely a thread of health. She could not afford to take a single hit. Still, wasn’t this just another tightrope walk? She’d done it plenty of times before. The loot was already secured, so there was no reason not to throw herself into the fight.

Zane convinced himself with that thought.

Better take all the potions first.

Her agile body turned into a streak of light, shooting forward at incredible speed.

**Bang!**

Ruehl’s sturdy frame trembled slightly. As expected, the stun effect did not trigger.

‘Now’s my chance to beat him down while his axe is still out of reach!’

Normal attack + Icy Moon Slash + normal attack!

The frost energy from the Icecold Ring and Icy Moon Slash spread rapidly along Ruehl’s towering frame, and in an instant, a gigantic ice sculpture formed. He was actually frozen!

Zane’s heart leapt with joy, but his sword strikes remained steady.

‘The finishing move—Triple Frenzy Slash!’

A surging aura burst from Starry’s body, each strike carrying even greater force and momentum than before, cleaving into the enemy with unrestrained, devastating elegance.

His HP had dropped to less than 6,000! At the same time, cracks began to spread across the ice, and in the blink of an eye, Ruehl shattered it and broke free.

“Ant!” he growled lowly. “You’ve angered me!”

‘Oh no! He still has one skill left. I can’t let him use it!’

A critical hit! The boss’ HP was now hanging by the thinnest shred.

**Boom!**

Ruehl stomped down hard on the ground. This time, he controlled his strength, avoiding large-scale damage to the terrain.

Starry was caught completely off guard. The health she had just recovered was instantly slashed back down to a sliver.

She staggered, nearly falling over. When she came to her senses, the boss’ massive fist was already right in front of her.

This time, it wasn’t dodged through movement, but by the activation of her character’s innate evasion rate. Given their level difference, Ruehl should have had an accuracy bonus, yet it still resulted in a miss.

That was when Ruehl pulled back his fist, and Starry noticed the ghostly green flames coiling around him. It was the passive effect of the Wraithfire Boots, reducing Ruehl’s accuracy by 30%. At a crucial moment like this, it was a lifesaver!

‘Perfect. Time to counterattack!’ Starry immediately raised her Autumn Moon Sword and swung upward. At the same time, a familiar sensation surged through the blade, it was Autumn Strike!

This time, Starry was filled with absolute confidence and activated Frenzied Blade! Invisible sword energy, carrying an unstoppable force, roared toward Ruehl. The outcome was certain!

***

Yet, against all expectations, something absurd happened.

It was an even trade. Starry froze mid-swing in embarrassment, while Ruehl belatedly realized he had just avoided something terrifying. That didn’t stop him from going on the offensive.

“Die!” His massive fist whipped up the wind as it came crashing toward Starry again.

‘Damn it, how could this guy’s luck be so good?!’ Zane cursed inwardly.

At the last possible moment, the cooldown on Thousand Flash Step had refreshed. Combined with her Lightfooted effect, her movement speed soared, pulling her out of danger.

Yet the boss’ speed wasn’t hampered in the slightest by his low HP. In fact… it felt like his speed increased in proportion to how little health he had left. Punch after punch came without pause! Starry could only scramble to dodge each one.

Every successful dodge with Thousand Flash Step boosted her movement speed further and delayed the skill’s end by one more second, so for the moment, she didn’t need to worry about getting hit.

But this couldn’t go on forever. If that brute stomped the ground again, or if the Thousand Flash Step’s duration ran out, the result would be certain death.

There were still 16 minutes on the clock.

‘Looks like I’m out of options.’ Gritting her teeth, Starry pulled out a black long halberd, replacing the Autumn Moon Sword.

Using the last second of Thousand Flash Step, she widened the gap between them. Gripping the Thunder Halberd with both hands, she channeled its overwhelming lightning power until it thrummed with deadly energy.

Ruehl, having recently been struck by thunder once before, saw this and shuddered from head to toe, missing the best moment to interrupt her attack.

**Boom!!!!**

A terrifying surge of electricity swept through every inch of the 5-by-5 area ahead, naturally engulfing Ruehl as well.

‘Let’s see if you can survive this!’

“Enough!” A clear, cold female voice rang out—it was someone else!

A gentle breeze swept past, and a milky-white barrier rose around Ruehl’s body.

The damage was completely absorbed by the shield. And even then, the barrier’s durability had only dropped by five percent.

Not only that, the tall woman raised her hand, and a sacred radiance bloomed from her palm, bathing Ruehl’s battered body.

‘Pfft!’ Starry almost wanted to cough up blood and spray it right at her. ‘If you are going to intervene, couldn’t you have done it earlier? You just had to pick now to mess things up…are you playing with me?!’

“Ladysha… I…” Ruehl’s tone carried deep shame.

“You underestimated your opponent,” Ladysha said softly. “This young girl possesses exceptional frost power and constantly emanates an imposing presence. That aura… I fear only the commander could stand on equal footing with her.”

“Ruehl, I warned you about this long ago! Just look at you now, all battered and miserable, hahaha!” Mage Kim burst into merciless laughter.

Ruehl’s face flushed crimson, yet he couldn’t muster a single word in rebuttal. He had been defeated, and that was the truth.

“…Sigh.” Ladysha let out a barely audible sigh. “The challenge isn’t over yet. Victor, you go.”

Victor froze at her words. “Ruehl has already injured her severely. I can’t take advantage of someone in this state.”

Ladysha’s gaze shifted toward Kim.

“Tsk.” Kim clicked his tongue. If Victor wouldn’t go, then it had to be him.

“Little girl, let me keep you company for a while!” Kim snarled. As he spoke, a purple magic bullet condensed at the tip of his staff. “Fire!”

At this moment, all of Starry’s skills were on cooldown. How could she possibly dodge?

The magic projectile roared toward her with unrelenting speed, there was no stopping it!

**Bang!**

‘Huh? I didn’t feel a thing.’ When the smoke cleared, she saw that he had missed. ‘Was that on purpose?’ Starry couldn’t tell as she met the wicked smile on Kim’s face.