The air rippled and the walls pulsed upon the monster’s spell. Colors were inverted, and any dust stuck between ceiling bricks fell from the force. This was by far the most violent [Time Eruption] I’d seen.

  I instinctively [Shadow Dashed] back. The time eruption moved faster than my dash, and precisely thanks to that speed, the damage passed through my shadowed figure. During [Shadow Dash], my physical body turned into a shadow, letting me avoid damage. I returned to the stairs next to Veyra.

  The Lost Traveler Of Time (Level 365) prepared another spell, and I got a good look at its features. Its robe and staff were worn and dirty, but both glowed like once-legendary artifacts. The man underneath the robe’s hood had pitch black eyes and wretched skin. Its left hand was twice the size of its right with sharp claws as its fingers.

  The clawed hand glowed blue as it channeled frost magic.

  The spell activated, and suddenly, the floor froze into crystalline ice blocks. The frost spread to our feet rapidly, where icicles thrust straight from the ground at our faces.

  [Shadow Dash] was still on cooldown, and jumping backward would have been too slow. I slashed at the approaching frozen spikes.

  The tip of Cursed Lichfang met the spike, which split the frost’s growth into two. The two icicles continued growing around me, where they circled inward, attempting to trap me in a hug of frost.

  I ducked under the embrace and slashed the next spike, nearly slipping from the frosted floor. I glimpsed at Veyra.

  She cast three [Elemental Barriers] perfectly in the paths of each spike attempting to pierce her from different angles, but the barriers weren’t enough. Cracks formed, and the spikes pierced through.

  The short pause gave her time to dodge two icicles, but the third pierced her left shoulder. She gritted her teeth, and her health bar dropped from 100% to 41% in an instant.

  That’s a level 365 monster, all right! I thought. The frost floor and spikes seemed to be merely a basic spell.

  For now, we needed to survive and reassess. I activated [Curse Of The Lich] and released all of the stored damage, which was at 10,134, at the spikes attempting to kill Veyra. The blast of dark magic shattered the spikes.

  That should have given her enough time for an escape. Half a second more for [Shadow Dash], and I could escape along with—

  “Cut its throat!” Veyra shouted, and a portal appeared below me.

  I blinked. In my moment of hesitation, I dipped in, and I found myself in the room with the monster, now behind it.

  Crap, I thought. We were really fighting this.

  The good thing was that I was now behind the frost, and the floor was back to lifeless bricks. The bad thing was that the Lost Time Mage definitely sensed me regardless of my monster avoidance stat, and its staff was already glowing as it prepared a new spell.

  I threw Cursed Lichfang at its head.

  I expected it to dodge, or perhaps freeze the dagger mid-air with some overpowered time spell. What I didn’t expect was for it to swing with its staff, hitting the dagger like some baseball. The dagger rebounded off, crashing against a wall.

  Even while swinging, the monster continued casting the spell. The orb pointed straight at my heart, and a cylindrical projectile shot forth, its surface made of mirrors that inverted colors, moving at tremendous speed. That must have been [Arrow Of Time].

  No human could dodge that. I was again forced to put my only mobility spell to cooldown. I used [Shadow Dash].

  But I didn’t use it to escape. If I only dodged with it, I’d be a sitting duck afterward. I needed to do damage. I dashed through the attack and straight for the monster’s neck.

  I used [Recall Daggers] mid-dash, and I drove Lichfang through its upper traps.

  [Critical Strike!]

  A perfect hit, which did 1% damage, taking its health bar to 99%.

  I pulled back the dagger, and drove it straight back. This time, I activated [Curse Of The Lich], adding the 3540 damage I’d just dealt into the next attack.

  [Critical Strike!]

  Its health bar dropped to a whopping 96%.

  While my dagger was stuck in its neck, the monster countered by swiping up at me with its clawed left hand.

  I didn’t have many options. I held my remaining dagger to block in a panic. I moved it to just the right angle to stop the claws from gaining momentum, and the system rewarded me with a [Perfect Block].

  The claws collided, and no amount of perfect blocking could stop the force of an attack from a level 365 monster. I was blown straight up like a cannonball. My back hit the ceiling, and air escaped from my lungs.

  [You are Stunned and unable to move]

  I fell lifelessly back to the ground, where a frozen floor was rapidly spreading. Shit, shit, shit, I thought.

  A portal appeared underneath, and I fell in just as a flurry of spikes was about to kill me. I gasped a breath, and I found myself back in the dungeon’s starting room.

  Veyra leaned against the wall there, nodding to herself.

  “Nice, good job,” she said with a thoughtful expression. “We know four of its attacks now. I’m guessing it has one more ace spell.”

  “Ugh,” I said as the stun wore off, and I pushed myself back to my feet. My health bar read 6% from that one attack.

  No surprises there. A level 365 monster was 150 levels above me. Not only was its health bar be way into the hundreds of thousands, if not millions, its spells would crush even the best tank players in the game.

  The loot and experience would match—I’d probably gain multiple level-ups from just one monster—but fighting it would be the same as wrestling a bear bare-handed in real life.

  “This is possible for sure,” Veyra said. “Although, I don’t think your monster avoidance stat did anything.”

  I patted down my cloak from the dust and dirt that stuck to it from the floor. “I would be dead without it,” I said. “I landed two crits thanks to monster avoidance. You’ll see. Monster avoidance is overpowered.”

  “Mmm,” she said, but didn’t sound convinced. “Either way, you did amazing damage, considering the level difference. Your movement and dodging are really good. Can you get in one more time? I need to study its remaining attack patterns. Once we learn those, we can craft a strategy to beat it.”

  “Correct me if I’m wrong,” I said, “but I’m fairly sure we need more damage to defeat it. Your spells will do less than a percentage of its health.”

  “Nobody said we need to one-shot it,” Veyra said with a funny grin. “What we need is time. I’d say it will be dead if I spam Chronorift and icicles at it for ten minutes straight.”

  “And… how do you plan on surviving for ten minutes?”

  “By learning its attack patterns, of course,” Veyra said. “I’m a professional when it comes to defeating overleveled monsters. The first step is to figure out which attacks are most easily dodged, and which ones of its casting animations can be interrupted. Between those, we’ll pump damage. The fight should take around ten minutes.”

  The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

  I don’t think you realize just how much concentration I need to dodge its attacks, I thought with a sigh. But that had also been the first time fighting the monster. I didn’t know its attack patterns yet. She was right in saying that monsters got easier after their attacks were clear.

  “Alright, second attempt,” I said. “Wait for a moment, I’ll go fill up my dagger real quick.”

  I spent another teleportation stone to head to a lower level area outside the event.

  [You have entered Ogre Village Of Carelia]

  [The average monster level of your location is ten levels under your character.]

  For once, a clear sun blazed overhead. This area actually had flowers, and I spotted a few lower level players casually enjoying the game. They saw me, too, and noticed I had a high level cloak.

  I didn’t stay to chat. I headed out of town to murder a few low level ogres, until my dagger was filled all the way to twenty thousand damage.

  Thirty seconds later, I teleported back to the dungeon. “Apologies for the wait,” I said. “Are you ready?”

  Veyra stretched, readying herself. “Let’s focus on survival for the first attempt. The two-hour timeout would be annoying.”

  I nodded and said, “This time, I’ll show you exactly why monster avoidance is also overpowered.”

  Blood Desperation was active thanks to the damage I’d received earlier, which had regenerated to 35%. The dagger’s curse was absolutely full, and my senses felt decently sharp. I stepped back down the stairs and faced the Lost Traveler Of Time.

  This time, it started the fight with [Arrow Of Time], aimed at my heart with perfect precision.

  I ran straight at it, and just as its staff reached peak brightness, I dodged preemptively to the left. Reacting to the speed would have been impossible; I could only dodge by prediction. The time arrow missed.

  The monster didn’t sit still, however, and readied its claws for a melee attack.

  That’s when I used a skill I hadn’t in a while. [Afterimage]. My figure split into two, both attacking the monster from both sides.

  It hesitated.

  Monster avoidance didn’t just make it harder for monsters to sense me. It also made it harder for them to understand my movements. The Lost Traveler Of Time didn’t know what it was looking at. Frowning, it swiped my afterimage with its claws.

  That left its left side wide open. I drove lichfang straight in. All of my critical strike effects kicked in with Blood Desperation active. The same attack that one-shot Broodmother Rathax landed perfectly on the time mage’s neck.

  My dagger slid in with satisfying force, and the time mage’s body lost any light it may have had as the discharge of dark magic filled its body.

  Its health bar dropped straight to 38%.

  That activated a second phase, and it countered with a spell we hadn’t seen before.

  The shaft of its staff split into five smaller slices, four of which gained a sharp edge, turning to small swords. Two of the swords swung down at me like guillotines.

  I used [Shadow Dash] for an escape. I had a feeling I could not dodge against four swords all at once.

  Vision returned at the start of the stairway, where the two other blades immediately attacked me. Gritting my teeth, I barely managed to raise my daggers to block.

  [Perfect Block!]

  The blades collided with my daggers, and the system congratulated me with the best possible block I could have made, yet my footing disappeared, and I was blown back. The level difference between us was simply too high.

  I collided against the wall, and my health bar read 8%. I stumbled back to my feet.

  Then I noticed that the time mage was gone from his position.

  What? I thought, scanning the field.

  “To your right!” Veyra called.

  Before I could react, an explosion of time went off next to me. [Time Eruption] blew, and this time, I had no [Shadow Dash] to dodge. A slash echoed in my head, and I lost control of my body.

  [You have died.]

  [Experience Progress Reduced by 41%]

  [Gear Piece Lost.]

  [Character Time-out Remaining: 1:59]

  [Logging out…]

  Well… Fuck.

  ***

  I returned to the menu screen of my game-pod. Before I could wake up in the real world, I received a notification.

  Message from The Cave: “Hello. It seems you have died. Please cool down before waking up. If an issue with the game pod caused your death, please bring the issue to the front desk calmly. If you need to quell your anger, remember that the Cave offers a free licence to ‘Beat Your Boss Simulator’.”

  I sighed, and clicked the notification off.

  Virtual reality disappeared, and I was back in the real world. A puff sounded as the game pod opened the seal on its door. The smell of old carpets welcomed me back to The Cave. I blinked a few times to adjust to the change of scenery.

  Then I pulled up my phone right away, and sent a message to Veyra.

  Assassin: “So, uh, looks like I might have died.”

  Veyra: “Sorry, I couldn’t save you D;”

  Veyra: “The monster teleported right behind you. Looks like it had six spells after all lol.”

  I bit my lip. It only made sense I’d die against such a high level monster. 365 really wasn’t a level we were supposed to fight. But I was still disappointed in myself. Veyra definitely wasn’t impressed.

  Veyra: “We know its attacks now at least… That last one looked pretty much impossible to dodge. You almost one-shotted it, though.”

  Assassin: “We can beat it. The teleport caught me off guard. If I know it’s coming, I can dodge it.”

  Veyra: “hmm and the swords? Is dodging them even humanly possible? :/”

  She had a point. With my current equipment, I didn’t have any answer to the four levitating swords. I could escape from them with [Shadow Dash] and hope to run, but dancing with them would be pretty much impossible.

  The problem was that my blocks just weren’t strong enough. Even if I perfectly predicted its attacks and blocked with my daggers, I’d be crushed anyway.

  There was, however, one item I could buy to help me. An item that I had hoped to buy for a long time.

  Assassin: “I can deal with the swords. It looks doable.”

  The text chat read Veyra is typing… but she didn’t actually say anything.

  Assassin: “The swords move fast, but I can move faster. We’ll try again once my timeout ends.”

  Veyra: “You’re crazy. I was suggesting we drop this one.”

  Veyra: “But if you’re serious about that, I’ll get planning as well. We did figure out its patterns. If we can kill monsters here, that would be huge. Even one monster per day will boost our progress really fast.”

  Assassin: “I’m fully serious. I can’t promise we’ll win, but I’m positive we have a real chance.”

  I waited half a minute for the next message.

  Veyra: “Alright, let’s do this, then. We’ll continue in two hours after the timeout. I also have a few real life things to deal with. I’ll have a plan formed by then. We can defeat this thing. Oh, and what gear piece did you lose?”

  I checked my character card to see which piece was missing, then wrote, “My charm.”

  Veyra: “Lol.”

  Veyra: “Or, I mean, oh nooo! Your ten percent monster avoidance quest item!”

  Assassin: “Haha. So, we'll try again in two hours?”

  Veyra: “Yep. See you, then <3”

  She logged off, and I stared at my phone, eyes unblinking.

  A heart? She sent me a heart emoji?

  Really?

  It doesn’t mean anything, I thought. She just sent me a random emoji.

  What if, though?

  Nah, there was no way.

  I kept staring at the message, dumbfounded. My brain was utterly confused. I let out a breath I didn’t know I’d been holding.

  Then a chuckle escaped from my mouth. Two hours, then. I won’t fail again.

  I got out of the game pod, bought one of the cheap hot-dogs in The Cave. I had two hours to spend in the real world while my timeout happened. I didn’t really have anything to do, though, so I ended up just scrolling my phone.

  I checked out the messages we’d just sent each other again. She really sent me a heart emoji.

  I then did something completely unexpected that I hadn’t done in a long time.

  I did pushups.

  20 chapters ahead on ! Thanks for reading!

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