The actual geographical location of Lafya Village corresponded to somewhere in upstate New York. After arriving, the faint smell of coal hung in the air, and black, oily mines stretched across every surrounding hillside.

Their group of six, Don, Diana, Dust, Lily, Kira, and Bernita, walked along the path outside the village’s south gate for roughly twenty minutes before the Anya Mine came into view.

It was the largest mine among the surrounding mountains. At its base, a huge, mirror-like surface shimmered, the dungeon entrance.

But getting in wasn’t so simple. Standing guard at the entrance was a rotting zombie, its body dripping with green, foul-smelling blood.

[Gatekeeper Bilock, Normal Boss] Level 30 | HP: 550,000 | ATK: 1,350–1,600 | PDEF: 900 | MDEF: 850]

[Skills: Corrosive Bite, Vampiric Strike, Heavy Strike

Boss Description: Anya Mine was once the largest mine serving Lafya Village, supplying coal to the Saino Kingdom’s noble class for generations. Ten years ago, a cave-in trapped and killed thousands of miners. Their corpses, infected by demonic energy, transformed into irredeemable monsters. Gatekeeper Bilock is the vengeful spirit of a low-ranking foreman from that disaster. He holds the key to enter Anya Mine.]

After days of encountering grotesque monsters, Lily had developed a decent tolerance. She wasn’t startled in the slightest, besides, she’d adjusted her visual realism to 50 percent, so Bilock looked about as threatening as a homeless thug on the street. And the boss wasn’t particularly strong either. Never mind Diana and Kira, even Don could probably withstand a few hits from this thing.

But the boss wasn’t the real complication. The real complication was the group of players who had unexpectedly arrived ahead of them.

There weren’t many, twenty or thirty people, led by two knight players. Both looked significantly younger than Don, around seventeen or eighteen. Tall, handsome, and impulsive in the way that youth always was, their IDs were displayed openly for everyone to see. The one with the buzz cut was called Madly Loving the Ninth Heaven. The one with medium-length hair was Blizzard Raging Heaven.

This was a real contender. Don’s group needed to kill this boss for their quest, without it, they couldn’t enter Anya Mine. But these two weren’t pushovers either. If Don remembered correctly, both had been in the top ten of the American region rankings at various points, and their current levels were both around 25.

In reality, Level 25 was something of a threshold. Fewer than nine thousand players in the entire American region had crossed it.

Compared to the flashy confidence of the younger players, Don’s group was understated. IDs hidden, equipment glow suppressed, they looked no different from a band of unremarkable nobodies.

Madly Loving the Ninth Heaven turned out to be a decent kid. He walked over and greeted them politely. "Hey guys, could you let us have this boss? It drops a really awesome skill book that we both desperately need."

Don smiled faintly. "Brother, this is our quest boss."

Blizzard Raging Heaven stepped forward. "How about this, the old rule of online games. We compete on DPS. You have fewer people, so you get the first three minutes. Then we jump in. Fair?"

Honestly, the proposal was genuinely fair. They weren’t trying to bully a smaller team with their numbers.

But they were underestimating one critical thing: what could happen in three minutes.

Don nodded readily. "Brother, let’s start the timer."

Blizzard said, "No rush. We’ll start counting from the moment your MT lands the first hit."

Kira simply said "Oh," and walked forward. She didn’t even activate Divine Armor. It wasn’t arrogance, she simply didn’t want to reveal her hidden class identity to strangers.

She raised her longsword and brought it down in a single clean arc. A chilling light struck the boss’s rotting skull with devastating force.

The damage number that erupted above Bilock’s head made both young knights’ jaws drop

[3,094!]

Not only was the damage high, but the boss’s physical defense had also been shredded by 20 percent from the skill effect.

Bilock winced in pain and lunged at Kira, but she had already raised her shield. The 20 percent block chance activated perfectly.

[5!]

Blizzard Raging Heaven was stunned. "Holy crap, that shield is insane."

Kira immediately followed up with a Taunt, then chained into a series of thrusts to lock aggro down tight. Meanwhile, Diana, Dust, and Don surged forward in unison, each unleashing their signature moves.

Undead bosses generally had low physical defense. Don’s Backstab tore through the zombie’s rotting flesh, and foul-smelling blood erupted outward alongside a damage number that made the onlookers flinch.

[4,908!]

Because the boss’s rank wasn’t particularly high, its in-combat regeneration was weak. With the full team engaged, attacks layered on top of Kira’s defense shred, they carved away a fifth of its HP in just one minute.

Blizzard Raging Heaven laughed helplessly. "Damn it. We let the wolves in. They were obviously hiding their strength the whole time. Look at that damage output..."

Madly Loving the Ninth Heaven stuck out his tongue. "Even the weakest one is taking over 600 HP per hit. What kind of efficiency is that?"

The weakest one was, of course, a certain fierce and beautiful girl.

Lily immediately flew into a rage, raising her gleaming crossbow overhead. "Listen up, you two brats! This crossbow in my hand is a Level 25 bronze weapon! If you two aren’t convinced, you can spar with me instead of standing around insulting my reputation!"

Blizzard wasn’t intimidated. "Oh? The weakest player’s weapon is already bronze? Then I guess the swordswoman and the rogue are carrying silver at least." 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝚠𝚎𝚋𝗻𝗼𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝚘𝐦

Ninth Heaven chimed in. "Could be gold-grade, honestly."

Lily meowed angrily. "Waaah! Don, they’re bullying me! I want to fight them!"

Don was speechless. "Lily, if you were more accurate when you shot, nobody would say a word. And that last arrow of yours almost hit my beautiful backside..."

Laughter erupted from both teams. The young players’ faces were bright, their amusement genuine and natural, a world apart from the scoundrels of the Gon Alliance.

Amid the laughter, three minutes flew by. Don’s team had taken away nearly 60 percent of the boss’s health.

Blizzard and Ninth Heaven shook their heads in disbelief. "That was absurdly fast. We should have jumped in from the start. Are you guys a professional team? You’re incredibly strong."

"Just ordinary studio players," Don said casually.

While they chatted, the gatekeeper boss wasn’t idle. Its two rows of jagged teeth clamped down hard on Kira’s shoulder. Her expression tightened with genuine pain as blood flowed down her arm, and was absorbed by the boss. She lost nearly 500 HP while Bilock recovered the same amount.

Vampiric Strike!