BAM!

A bunch of figures landed with a loud explosion of dust and sound. All of them sporting creative names, and all had the same level indicator: Level 1.

"So this is the game, Heaven’s Path..."

A bulky man whispered as he flexed his hands, landing in the large clearing of the tutorial area. The ground beneath him had cratered slightly from the impact—not from any game mechanic, but simply because the man himself was built like a small vehicle.

Not only him, but a few others that looked similar to him soon gathered around, as if acquaintances who had coordinated their arrival beforehand.

All of them gave off the same atmosphere, making the normal players nearby distance themselves naturally, drifting away without a word. It was the kind of pressure that made one feel unsafe.

The aura of a gangster.

The way they scanned the surroundings wasn’t curiosity—it was assessment. Old habits that carried over into a new world without missing a beat.

"The boss told us to play this game but... What do you think?" Another man asked.

"Think about what?" The first man snickered. "The boss already showed proof to us, didn’t she? Or are you claiming you can replicate that ability with your physical skills alone?"

"No, not that, I mean..."

"What? If there’s even the smallest chance of me getting stronger, then I’ll take it—even if it’s a scam!"

"You’re just an idiot. Don’t lump us in with your single-braincelled organism."

"What did you say?!"

"That’s enough."

Before their little quarrel could worsen, the one with the biggest body silenced them.

He hadn’t raised his voice. Hadn’t moved from where he stood. He’d simply spoken, and the weight of those two words alone was enough to cut the argument dead.

The two men who had been squaring up a moment ago both stood down, almost simultaneously, like they hadn’t even consciously decided to.

"The boss told us to play the game, so we play. Nobody is allowed to question her decisions." He clarified, his tone leaving absolutely no room for objection.

His arms crossed before his chest, causing his clothes to creak at the seams.

On these guys, the beginner equipment shirt looked almost like it would get ripped apart from their muscle volume alone, barely holding together around shoulders that clearly hadn’t been built in a gym but somewhere considerably less comfortable.

Seeing that everyone had stopped chatting, all eyes focused on him—burning with trust and excitement mixed together. The leader smiled, and for just a moment, he looked almost approachable.

"Alright, Ares. Let’s first gather in parties as per the manual stated, and proceed as planned!"

---

Immediately after Kamishiro and the girls finished the quest, a few figures stirred right in the middle of Howling Forest.

"It’s here!" A man said excitedly, staring at the previously empty cave entrance. "The dungeon’s here, as predicted!"

"Good!" 𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

Another man smiled, nodding to himself as if personally proud of their work.

"Although we got overtaken by that WhiteGod bastard and his party, we shouldn’t let them monopolize everything!"

His words carried the particular edge of someone who had been watching from behind for long enough that the view had started to feel like an insult.

They had been tracking Kamishiro’s party’s progress through the streams, compiling data, mapping out the dungeon’s layout from the broadcast footage frame by frame. But the fact of being "second" still landed on him poorly.

As gamers for a long time, it wasn’t hard to figure out that dungeons had leaderboards, and reaching certain ranks on those leaderboards granted great rewards.

"Those bastards already got their fill—the rank rewards should rightfully be mine now!"

All of them present, roughly thirty players—five full parties—cheered in unison.

Looking closer, their levels ranged from 33 to 38, making them quite powerful in the current standings.

The gear they wore didn’t look simple either, each piece exuding various colored auras—a display that only occurred when equipping Rare and above gear.

Against the backdrop of the dimly lit forest, the combined glow of thirty sets of Rare-and-above equipment made the whole group look almost ceremonial, like soldiers dressed for something more important than they were letting on.

Of course, they were the Japanese rankers within the top of the global level rankings, just below Kamishiro’s group. But unlike Kamishiro’s group, all of them had disabled their streaming options.

Nobody could watch their actions even if they wanted to. Whatever happened in that dungeon would stay between them and their ambitions.

Their plan was, of course, simple.

They would claim all the first-clear rewards from every difficulty level before Kamishiro’s team could get near them.

"Alright, to your positions!"

The leader-like figure, the man with the name of UltimateJustice, quickly moved to the entrance and placed his hand against the cave wall. As he expected, a popup window appeared, asking him to choose difficulty.

There was Easy (Lv. 30), Normal (Lv. 35), Hard (Lv. 40), and finally, Hell (Lv. 50). All within UltimateJustice’s expectations—he had already built the plan around this exact layout.

"As planned, one team will clear Easy, one to Normal, two on Hard, and two on Hell! Ensure speed over resources! We can’t be slower than WhiteGod’s team!"

"Yes! Young Master!"

"Young Master, we have already compiled a plan based on WhiteGod’s party’s pathing. We can head straight to the boss room without getting lost!"

"Good! Share the data to everyone! Let’s break that bastard WhiteGod’s long nose!"

"OOOOH!"

They were really excited, feeling as if they had finally caught up—as if the gap between themselves and the top of the board was finally about to close in their favor.

One after another, the parties disappeared into their own instance dungeons.

The level 33s and 34s went to Easy, 35s to 36s at Normal, 37s at Hard, and all 38s on Hell difficulty.

"Heh!"

UltimateJustice sneered as he confirmed entering Hell Difficulty.

"If a nameless trash like WhiteGod can do it... There’s no way I, with all my resources available, can’t do it either...!"

And then, all parties finally entered.

Not a single shadow was left in front of the dungeon’s entrance.

As for what would happen to them, to their ambitions... Nobody knew just yet.

---

"Achoo!"

"Bless you!" Miyabi quickly jabbed. "A cold?"

"Ah, no..." I shook my head slowly, scratching my itchy nose. "I think someone’s just talking behind my back. Being famous does have its downsides, hehe."

"Our little WhiteGod now knows to boast, I see~!"

Kiki teased, joining the conversation. "But if you sneeze each time someone talks about you, you’d be sneezing like a machine gun right about now."

Eri even nodded to this, as if completely of the same mind.

"Yeah, she’s right. We not only cleared the very first Unique level quest, we even got a Mythic reward, after all."

"Then it should be everyone sneezing, not just me."

Of course, despite our little banter, our legs didn’t stop.

We were jogging our way back through the middle of Howling Forest. The monsters along the way were killed as they appeared, but...

’Weird, there’s too few monsters.’

We had thinned them out on the way back earlier, but this was still way too low. The forest felt emptier than it should have. As if something or someone had already passed through and done the clearing for us.

"I think someone’s gone ahead of us toward the dungeon." Kiki frowned, noticing the same situation and finishing her analysis. "They must be a big group... I think the top players other than our party."

"Gone ahead?" I frowned. "You mean, they want to steal my first dungeon clear rewards?"

Miyabi waved her katana, slashing an incoming Shroom Boar and one-shotting it without breaking stride.

"Why do you speak as if it’s yours...? It belongs to anyone." She sighed.

"What? We cleared the quest!" I countered. "Wouldn’t it be common sense to let us get the first clear rewards too?!"

"What common sense? Are you a capitalist?"

"No, I’m a gamer!"

Just like that, while the chat and the girls were generating various guesses as to what awaited us up ahead, I quickly furrowed my brows.

"HALT!"

A voice called out—not mine, of course.

It was the voice of the man clad in shiny armor up ahead, standing square in the middle of the path like he had personally built the road and was now reconsidering public access.

This pale gold glow radiating off his equipment... Unique Grade gear? And not just one or two pieces either—all fifty-something of them wore at least one Unique piece. None of them had normal gear like ours. The lowest one was a Rare.

"What’s this? A bachelor’s party?" I scoffed as I came to a slow stop. "You’ve got quite a nice set of gears... Wait, maybe you’re here to donate those to us?"

"Shut up!"

Another man, who had flaming red hair that matched his personality perfectly, shouted from a step behind the first. "We are members of the Justice Guild! And we’re here to tell you that starting today, we shall take over the top positions in the leaderboard!"

At his aggressive words, the girls quickly reacted—stances shifting, hands moving to weapons, the easy rhythm of our jog dissolving into something considerably more alert.

Taking our spots?

Dream on.

"Justice Guild...?"

I whispered, trying to recall if any group of the same name had ever existed in my memory... Nope. Couldn’t recall them.

"Do you have Buttman too? Is he clearing the dungeon as we speak, stealing my First Clear rewards?"

"Stealing?" The redhead laughed. "That’s our line! We just let you be for a while, and you’re already getting this cocky! Today, we will be teaching you guys a proper lesson—!"

"Enough."

The man who had spoken first raised his fist and slammed the back of it into the redhead’s face without looking at him. Clean, casual, the way you’d swat a fly.

"You’re just making this more complicated, so shut up."

He glared down at the man who had crumpled to the ground, his eyes colder than absolute zero.

Then he turned his gaze over to me and spoke in a calm, clear voice—the kind of calm that didn’t come from being relaxed but from having done this enough times that urgency had long since stopped visiting him.

"Everything ahead of this spot is now under Justice Guild’s jurisdiction. Stay back, or face consequences." He warned, direct and confident.

Of course, I wasn’t one to take hits lying down.

I stepped forward, smiling from ear to ear, flag in hand.

"Justice League, Justice Guild, whatever." I said. "Everything here is mine, so don’t fucking claim it as yours. Scram or respawn in a bit—your choice!"

As if my words were the signal, the girls fixed their stances, ready to fight.

"Foolish."

But the other side remained composed.

And with a single wave of his hand, the first "guild war" had commenced.