Chapter 88: Chapter88-Stealing the Baron and Securing the First-Clear Reward

"We actually took it."

When Alan and the others heard the notification, their faces were filled with disbelief. 𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖

Only John remained completely calm.

Because he knew that as long as he made a move, claiming the fruit of victory was inevitable.

Throughout this entire journey, he had hardly been in any hurry.

After all, no matter which boss they encountered, he could one-shot it.

If he wanted to, he could have completely steamrolled this dungeon within one minute.

The only reason he had dragged things out until now was purely to let Alan and the others broaden their horizons.

"Everyone, get ready to receive the first-clear reward."

The moment John finished speaking, a server-wide announcement rang out.

[Congratulations to Zone 5 for becoming the first Zone to clear the Zone-wide Dungeon. Total clear time: 14 minutes and 14 seconds!]

[The Zone 5 first-clear team will receive first-clear rewards based on contribution value!]

[All players in the Zone will receive a one-month enhancement buff: monster-killing EXP, gold coins, and drop rates doubled!]

...

The server-wide announcements rang out one after another.

Every player on the server heard them.

In an instant, they all froze in disbelief.

What was going on?

Why was it Zone 5?

Wasn’t Zone 1 always ranked first on the progress leaderboard?

At this moment, the entire server exploded into chaos.

...

Zone 1.

Inside the Zone-wide Dungeon.

Edward was still commanding the crowd as they surrounded and attacked the final boss.

The boss only had a sliver of HP left.

He immediately ordered everyone to add more damage.

"Archers, mages, use all your skills! Remember, leave the last bit of HP to me!"

Very soon, the boss had only its final 3,000 HP remaining.

Edward confidently raised his staff, and a mage skill smashed into the boss.

[-3,000! Critical damage!]

The boss was successfully killed by Edward.

He took a deep breath, then raised both hands.

"Thank you, everyone. Our Zone 1 has successfully secured the first kill."

A confident smile appeared on Edward’s face.

After being suppressed by Zone 5 for so long, it was finally Zone 1’s turn to shine.

For the sake of this first-clear reward, they had occupied every advantage: timing, location, and manpower.

Ever since entering the dungeon, they had practically never closed their eyes.

After advancing the progress day and night without rest, Zone 1 had finally taken down the final boss.

And just at that moment—

The server-wide announcement rang out.

[Congratulations to Zone 5 for becoming the first Zone to clear the Zone-wide Dungeon. Total clear time: 14 minutes and 14 seconds!]

[The Zone 5 first-clear team will receive first-clear rewards based on contribution value!]

...

"Hahaha, everyone, enjoy this moment!

Our Zone 1 is—"

Edward had only spoken halfway when he suddenly realized something was wrong.

In disbelief, he turned to a subordinate beside him and asked, "Which Zone did the announcement just say?"

The subordinate was also completely confused.

He swallowed hard.

"Guild leader, I don’t know if there’s something wrong with the game, but... it actually announced Zone 5."

Hearing this, Edward hurriedly opened the leaderboard to check.

[Zone-wide Dungeon Leaderboard]

[Note: As the first-clear team has already appeared, the leaderboard has been closed.]

[The first-clear Zone this time is: Zone 5!]

When he saw the unbearably glaring words "Zone 5" on the panel, Edward felt as if he had been struck by lightning. With a thud, he collapsed onto the ground.

His eyes turned bloodshot, and a string of painful sobs squeezed out from his throat.

"Why... Why is heaven treating me like this?

We were clearly the first-clear team!

Where the hell did this Zone 5 come from?

Our first clear... It clearly belonged to us!"

Edward let out a series of crazed roars.

His breakdown caused all the Zone 1 players inside the dungeon to wail in pain as well.

They were the same as Edward.

For the sake of this first-clear reward, they had not rested at all.

But in the end, they discovered that the fruit of victory had been stolen by Zone 5.

That feeling of drawing water with a bamboo basket only to end up with nothing completely shattered the confidence of countless Zone 1 players.

From this day onward, they would probably never again possess the same level of organization they had today.

...

If even the players inside the dungeon were like this, then the players outside the dungeon were even more grief-stricken.

The Zone 1 players, who had originally been preparing to show off on the World Channel, instantly lost all their fire after seeing the server-wide announcement.

They looked at one another, utterly at a loss.

"How did this happen?"

"Weren’t we always ranked first in progress?"

"The first-clear reward is just gone like that?"

"Ahhh! Why is it Zone 5 again? This enhancement buff should have belonged to our Zone 1!"

"How long are those lunatics from Zone 5 going to monopolize the world announcements?"

"According to the dungeon display, the player with the highest contribution this time is John.

That bastard actually took first place again!"

"14 minutes and 14 seconds. What kind of terrifying speedrun record is that?

How exactly did John do it?"

"If this game weren’t so realistic, I’d seriously suspect he was cheating."

...

Zone 2.

Lucy, the guild leader of Thunder Guild, had also been busy for half a day. When she heard the announcement, her pretty face turned pale.

She gritted her teeth.

"John again!"

Although she had already prepared herself for the possibility of not getting the first-clear reward, she never would have expected that the one to take it would actually be Zone 5.

John’s actions at the auction had left her saddled with a debt of 6 million.

Because of that, Zone 2 had no choice but to temporarily slow down their development pace and gather funds with all their strength to prepare for repayment.

This first clear had been one of their targets.

Unexpectedly, in the end, John had once again ruined everything.

"John, don’t let me see you again in this lifetime!"

...

Zone 5 had once again appeared in a server-wide announcement.

This time, the entire server was thoroughly convinced.

There was nothing they could do.

Zone 1 had already pushed the progress to 99.9%.

And yet, they still had the Baron stolen right out from under them.

Who knew what kind of medicine Zone 5 had taken to become so fierce?

Fourteen minutes ago, their progress had clearly still been 0%.

But in the next moment, they had become the Zone that secured the first-clear reward.

Almost everyone believed that John must have carried them the entire way.

Otherwise, there was no way Zone 5 could have taken the first-clear reward in such a short time.

For a while, the World Channel was filled with messages from players of other Zones envying Zone 5.

After all, that first-clear reward would double the gold coins, EXP, and drop rates of all Zone 5 players for the next month!

If their own Zone had obtained that buff, their development pace would definitely become much faster!

"With John around, Zone 5 can basically rest easy."

"If only our Zone had a John too."

"When the Zones become interconnected, I’m definitely going to try moving to Zone 5!"

...

Zone 5.

John and the other four had all received their first-clear rewards.

[Congratulations. You have obtained the SS-grade set: Mist Battle Garment! Warrior-exclusive!]

As the player with the highest contribution, John’s reward was undoubtedly the most precious.

"An SS-grade warrior set?"

John raised his brows.

He immediately opened the attributes of the set.

[Mist Battle Garment] SS-grade

[Required Class]: Warrior

[Effect 1]: After equipping it, your defense is doubled.

[Effect 2]: Obtain the Mist Set Skill. After receiving a fatal blow, you may enter Mist State for 10 minutes.

[While in Mist State, you are immune to all non-true damage!]