After more than three straight hours of nonstop mob grinding, Kairon's experience bar hit 98% of level 5, and the Moonfeather Owlbeast Tail Feather he needed for his quest finally dropped.

  Beside him, Dreamshore had also climbed to level 4, on the very cusp of hitting level 5 and unlocking her class quest. Even so, Kairon did the math in his head. At her current experience rate, she'd need to grind here until tomorrow morning at the earliest to hit level 5.

  He'd genuinely enjoyed his time with the girl. She had a bright, likable personality, and Kairon had been happy to teach her a few combat tricks and mob grinding tips, but his time was far too valuable to waste. He said his goodbyes, then headed alone for the peak of the nest to finish the next stage of his quest.

  He rode the Shadowwood Panther deep into the nest under stealth, the Talon mobs growing denser and denser along the way. More than a few Talon Scouts, with their innate anti-stealth detection, even appeared in his path.

  He steered clear of every mob he could, and when a fight was unavoidable, he cleared the aggroed mobs as fast as he could before pushing onward.

  Nearly an hour later, he finally reached the altar at the very peak of the nest. The entire mountaintop was empty of mobs.

  Kairon stepped straight forward, ready to light the four ghostly flames at each corner of the altar, only to find that the only way to ignite them fully was to fan them with the Moonfeather Owlbeast Tail Feather.

  "Caw caw... Who dares disturb my slumber? Outsider, you have no place here. I will tear you to shreds and feed you to my children!"

  At the very center of the altar, a translucent arakkoa phantom slowly materialized, a skull-topped staff clutched in its hand. Kairon lifted his hand and cast Basic Observe, and the monster's stat panel unfolded before him instantly.

  ...

  [Phantom of the Talon Warlord]

  Level: 10

  Attack Power: 0

  Defense: 0

  Health: 1500

  Skill: [Summon Arakkoa] 120-second cast time. When health drops below 30%, the spell is cast instantly, summoning 50 to 200 random arakkoa to attack the target.

  Description: The Talon Warlord, slumbering in the rift of the void, can only spread the teachings of the Raven God to his followers in the form of a soul projection. This soul projection has no offensive power of its own, but can summon endless legions of arakkoa followers to fight for it.

  ...

  Ding! Follow-up class quest triggered: Reduce the health of [Phantom of the Talon Warlord] to 30%, then successfully flee back to the Nature Mage camp in Nature's Grove while being pursued by the arakkoa horde.

  The second he read the quest prompt, a wild thought crossed Kairon's mind. What if I just kill this Phantom of the Talon Warlord outright?

  He'd never heard of anyone ever pulling that off, but then again, no one had ever been capable of it.

  The second its health dropped below 30%, it would instantly summon at least 50 Talon Warriors. Every player who'd ever done this quest had turned and run the second that happened. Stay and fight, and you were guaranteed a swift death. No one had ever gotten the chance to even test if it was possible to kill it.

  He remembered someone had tried it once and posted about it on the forums. A high-level Nature Mage had come back to finish this class quest, only to have his level forcibly scaled down to 6 the second he stepped into the nest, his weapon's stats nerfed down to common gear. The guy had ended up dying a more humiliating death than a brand-new player.

  Kairon ran the numbers fast in his head. When its health dropped to 30%, 500 health points, he'd have a full stack of 5 Nature Energy Stars. Two back-to-back [Rip] casts, plus a full 5-star [Nature Blade], would be enough to kill the phantom outright in roughly two seconds.

  Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

  It would all come down to how the summoned mobs spawned. If he could buy himself even a split second, avoid getting surrounded instantly, he might just pull this off.

  With his plan locked in, he only let the Shadowwood Panther deal damage with basic [Claw Strike]s for now. He stood by, tracking the health down to the exact number, throwing in the occasional [Rip] to keep the health ticking down at the right pace. He needed to have a full 5 Nature Energy Stars and a full 100-point energy bar the second the phantom's health hit 50%.

  -56, -48, -105... Since the phantom had zero defense of its own, even a basic [Claw Strike] could land a crit for over 100 damage.

  Soon, the Phantom of the Talon Warlord's health dropped to 513. Kairon had the Shadowwood Panther land one final [Claw Strike]. -101!

  A blazing red critical hit number exploded across the screen. The phantom's health dropped to 412 in an instant, and it let out a shrill, enraged caw.

  Thick, dark red energy particles swirled around its body as it waved its skull-topped staff wildly, screaming at the top of its lungs. "Rise, my children! Fight for me, and you shall be granted eternal life by the Raven God!"

  With a sharp whoosh, the already dark purple sky grew even more oppressive and grim.

  Dense clusters of purple teleportation circles bloomed across the ground, and wave after wave of arakkoa poured out of them. Kairon did a quick scan and counted well over a hundred circles.

  Fuck it, we go all in!

  [Nature Blade], cast completion rating: Good! -145!

  [Rip], [Rip]!

  [Nature Blade], cast completion rating: Good! -98, -102, -65!

  The final [Nature Blade], cast with only 2 Energy Stars and a Good completion rating, still landed 65 damage.

  Two seconds had passed. The surrounding Talon Warriors were already closing in around him. The Phantom of the Talon Warlord had only 2 health points left.

  Kairon gritted his teeth and directed the Shadowwood Panther to land one final [Claw Strike].

  -2! Overkill damage: 43

  "Damned Nature Mage! I will remember your scent! Wait and see. My vengeance will come for you!"

  Ding! System Announcement...

  A system prompt popped up, but Kairon didn't have a split second to read it. He snatched up the items that had dropped on the ground, spun on his heel, and ran for his life.

  He didn't run back the way he'd come. That direction was completely sealed off by the mobs, not a single gap to slip through. Instead, he sprinted for the cliff behind him, even though it was swarming with just as many Talon Warriors.

  He'd already mapped out a route, one spot that hadn't been surrounded by mobs yet.

  But these Talon Warriors were far faster than regular mobs. Even with the movement speed boost from the Shadowwood Panther, he'd be caught if they started running at the same time.

  He sprinted for the edge of the cliff with every second counting, twisted sideways to dodge a bone blade swung by a warrior, and leaped straight off the cliff. He couldn't help but laugh bitterly and dryly. Of course, he'd be jumping off a cliff to save his life again. Fate really did have a twisted sense of humor.

  When he was 300 meters from the ground, Kairon deployed the paraglider he'd bought for 50 Silver Coins earlier.

  He adjusted his glide path, soaring straight toward Nature's Grove. He broke through the arakkoa nest's ward first, then crossed into the ward of the natural woodlands moments later.

  In the end, Kairon landed smoothly on the banks of Lake of the Moon Goddess. It had been a wild ride with more than a few close calls, but he'd pulled off a feat countless Nature Mages from his past life had never even dared to attempt. He'd killed the Phantom of the Talon Warlord.

  He opened his inventory to check the items he'd snatched up in his mad dash.

  ...

  [Staff of the Bound Dead]

  Rarity: Heroic

  Required Level: None

  Equip Requirement: 800 Intelligence

  Spell Attack: 800-1200

  Intelligence: +800

  Attached Skills:

  [Raise Undead]: Resurrect slain creatures into undead minions. Minions retain 70% of their combat power from their living state for a duration of 3 hours. Up to 10 undead minions can be active at once, and they do not count toward your summon limit. Cannot resurrect player corpses, but can destroy them. A player whose corpse is destroyed will only be able to respawn at the graveyard.

  [Life Siphon]: When dealing damage to an enemy, siphon 15% of the damage dealt as health to restore your own.

  [Scourge Descend]: Summon a meteor shower to bombard all targets within a 50x50 meter area, afflicting them with 3 seconds of stun. After the meteors land, the ground will erupt in searing flames. All creatures standing in the flames take 5% of their maximum health as fire damage every second, the effect reduced by 40% for elite creatures, 55% for rare creatures, 70% for boss creatures. Flames persist for 30 seconds.

  Skill Cooldown: 6 hours. Cast Time: 3 minutes.

  Faction Restricted: Survivor Faction

  Class Restricted: Warlock

  ...

  Fortune favors the bold; that was for damn sure.

  Even though it was only a Heroic rarity staff, its stats were on par with a full Legendary piece of equipment.

  The only catch was the 800 Intelligence requirement, which was brutally high. Even a full Intelligence build Mage would need to hit level 130 or higher to meet it, unless they tracked down a stack of Intelligence-boosting passive skill books to equip it early.

  Kairon could barely believe it himself. Killing a level 10 quest mob had dropped a piece of gear of this high-tier.

  But when he finally opened the system prompt and read the full text, all the joy of getting the staff vanished in an instant. He stared blankly at the system panel, and after a long moment, spat out a curse: "I really did this to myself."