Legendary weapons? Is he at his strongest right now? No... the golden aura is only coming from his weapons.

Martin’s equipment set and weapons were only one grade lower, but the gap between epic and legendary was tremendous. On top of that, Martin’s gear was built for Level Five, while Raze Dawg had clearly cleared the highest-level dungeon available and obtained weapons suited to his current level.

It’s not like my way of playing this game is the correct way. But at the same time, I can prove that grinding to the highest level and focusing only on the endgame isn’t the correct way either.

The game was as versatile as real life itself. Every playstyle had advantages and disadvantages. In Martin’s case, he had stubbornly stuck to the Hidden Level One Dungeon, which, in his opinion, was the most challenging dungeon precisely because he had barely any skills available there.

He had gained a lot from that.

And he would prove every hater wrong.

[Emperoar: A bruiser with two heavy greatswords. He’s slow, and he has to close the distance to attack us! Fall back toward the tunnel leading underwater and make him close the gap!]

Martin’s teammates and the entire vanguard listened, forming a staggered line that kept Martin behind the front while leaving him a clear view of the tunnel, the water, and Raze Dawg’s approach.

Raze Dawg didn’t give them much time.

He planted his feet firmly against the ground and loaded power into his legs before launching upward like a shooting star. Near the ceiling, he slammed his weapons together, locking them into one thick, massive blade. Then he shifted his body weight to the side and began spinning as he plummeted, gathering terrifying speed.

[Death Wheel]

He crashed down hard enough to rattle the nest, a cloud of dust billowing around him. His spin shredded the cloud apart before it could settle.

The wheel moved.

The combined greatsword no longer looked like two weapons joined together. It became a thick ring of black bone and golden light, wide enough to swallow the tunnel path and fast enough to blur the air around Raze Dawg. Poisoned water sprayed from the floor in broken sheets. Loose stones tore free from the nest walls and were shredded before they could finish falling. Every rotation dragged a harsh metallic howl through the chamber, as if the weapon itself were laughing with him.

The closest player, a tank, braced behind his shield, planted both feet, and activated two defensive buffs at once. A pale barrier flashed over his armor.

A second later, the golden-black wheel hit him.

Despite all the buffs and skills protecting him, the man’s shield was cut apart like paper.

"This is crazy!" he shouted, just before the blade tore through his armor and flesh, drawing out jets of hot blood and emptying his HP.

Raze Dawg did not slow down.

He rolled straight through the space the tank had occupied and slammed into the next part of the vanguard. A ranger tried to retreat, but Ashjaw snapped at his legs from the side and forced him back into the path of the spinning blade. The ranger disappeared beneath the golden arc before his scream could finish.

A duelist ducked low and tried to slip past Raze Dawg’s left side. For a moment, it looked possible. Then the wheel widened by half a step, clipped his shoulder, and ripped him off his feet. His body hit the poisoned water twice before his HP emptied.

"Back! Back!" one of the healers cried.

The warning came too late. Raze Dawg’s next rotation carved through a stone ridge jutting from the floor and sent broken rock spraying into the backline. Two poisoned players stumbled, and one healer’s cast shattered before it could land. Another tank shoved his shield forward to protect them, but the Death Wheel scraped along the shield’s face and peeled metal away in glowing strips.

Martin’s eyes moved faster than his body.

He is not chasing randomly. The spin has a wide bite, but he corrects his direction between rotations. One turn to cut, one turn to recover, one turn to steer.

Raze Dawg laughed from inside the storm of gold and black.

"Come on! You cleared the Ant Queen, didn’t you? Don’t tell me a bunch of bug killers can’t handle one dog!"

His laughter kept slipping through the metallic howl of Death Wheel, bright and ugly and full of pleasure.

"Where’s the raid spirit? Where’s the miracle teamwork? Stack tighter, little mobs. I’ll clear you faster."

[Potato Block: EMPEROAR, THAT IS NOT A SWORD! THAT IS A LAWN MOWER WITH HATE ISSUES!]

[Kill Clause: It corrects its angle after every third rotation. The second rotation has the least control.]

[NukEncore: Elder Sister is right! I hate how happy he sounds while spinning!]

Ashjaw ran beside him like a shepherd dog forcing players into the meat grinder. Whenever someone found a safe angle, the hyena’s jaws or claws stole it away. Whenever a healer tried to stabilize the line, Ashjaw lunged close enough to break their concentration. Their cooperation was top-notch, and the exhausted vanguard was being carved apart one failed step at a time.

Another shield broke, and another HP bar emptied.

Martin clenched his hands as the Death Wheel chewed deeper into their formation.

This man’s stamina and mana seem endless... but this is not endless control. He put everything into this single spinning skill and turned it into his ultimate weapon. It gives him power, reach, pressure, and fear.

Raze Dawg corrected his path again, but the movement came a fraction late. The wheel had to finish its bite before his body could fully answer.

Martin’s gaze snapped past Raze Dawg, toward the corpse sprawled across the floor.

The Ant Queen’s body lay half-submerged in poisoned water, its cracked shell rising like a broken wall from the nest floor. Its legs had curled beneath it after death, and its massive abdomen blocked part of the chamber like a fallen siege tower. Even dead, it was larger than anything the vanguard could build with shields, bodies, or courage.

Death Wheel could cut players. It could cut shields. It could cut stone.

But it still had weight. It still needed space. And every time Raze Dawg corrected his direction, the weapon dragged his body along with it.

Martin’s fingers tightened around Death Jaw.

I do not have to win against that spin head-on. I just have to make him crash into something that does not care how legendary his weapons are.

Then it clicked in Martin’s mind.

The huge mass was already here.

The Ant Queen had not dispersed yet. Its corpse was still there, waiting in Raze Dawg’s path.

Death Wheel screamed across the chamber again.

A tank crashed into the poisoned water near Martin, his shield arm gone and his HP blinking red. Behind him, a healer dragged another player away by the collar while Ashjaw snapped at their retreating feet. The vanguard was not collapsing all at once, but every second shaved another piece from it.

Martin’s anger cooled as the shape of the battlefield settled in his mind.

Raze Dawg’s spin kept eating through the formation. Ashjaw kept stealing every safe retreat. Behind Martin, the underwater tunnel waited, dark and narrow beneath the poisoned surface, while the Ant Queen’s corpse lay between them like a dead wall heavy enough to matter.

Stopping Death Wheel with shields was impossible, so the vanguard had to turn its path instead and make Raze Dawg crash into the one thing in the chamber that could take the impact.

[Emperoar: Potato Block, stop trying to block him head-on. Push his path toward the corpse.]

[Potato Block: I WAS NOT TRYING TO DIE STRAIGHT AHEAD, EMPEROAR!]

[Emperoar: Then survive at an angle.]

Potato Block barked out a laugh that sounded half mad, then raised what was left of his shield and shoved himself back into the line.

Martin stepped toward the underwater tunnel, placing himself where Raze Dawg would eventually want to go.

Poisoned water lapped against his boots. Each ripple caught the broken light from Raze Dawg’s golden aura, turning the tunnel mouth into a flickering trap instead of an escape route. Behind Martin, every exhausted player seemed to be waiting for the order that would decide who survived.

Raze Dawg still thought he was hunting them.

Martin only had to make him choose the wrong path.