A Demonspawn Arachnid (Level 223) crawled into the dungeon from an old fireplace. It raised its clawed front legs. Demonic energy oozed from its skin in the form of black and red mist, like Pink’s aura, but monstrous and evil.

  It pounced at Sullivan with the speed of an assassin. Sullivan used [Block], and the claws met the long handle of his greataxe.

  More Demonspawn Arachnids appeared all around, falling from the ceiling, climbing from cracks in the dungeon floors, and some simply became aware of our presence as we got closer. Seven attacked at once, their average level being 220.

  Cupcake Crew’s tank player, Mochaman, used [Taunt], drawing the spiders to him, then immediately used [Block]. Five spiders attacked him ferociously. [Block] successfully defended against two with his shield, but the third hit him in the armor.

  Loud clings resounded, and I saw his health bar drop by 15%. That fell by another 10% as the next attacks came. “Eve!” he shouted.

  “Yes!” Eve called. Necromantic summons rose from the ground—three skeleton swordsmen. The skeletons had dark grey bones, as Eve’s staff turned them to Death Knights. They attacked the spiders around their tank with [Empowered Slash]. With that, they also cast [Medium Defence] to the nearest target due to Eve’s ring.

  Three [Medium Defences] were stacked onto Mochaman. Another spider claw hit, but he now only took 2% damage, which Tristamn, their healer and support mage, could easily mitigate.

  From there, the cavern filled with colors as their damage dealers cast spells and shot arrows. Pink’s aura was the brightest, weaving in the room like a sharp thread, cutting one of the spiders.

  The ranger shot three arrows at once. Two missed, but one landed directly in a spider’s head. An earth mage shot enhanced rocks. Eve continued summoning more undead, acting as a utility support. Sullivan and their melee players [Swung] around like maniacs, supported by the undead soldiers buffing their armor.

  Nobody used their ultimate attacks, and they didn’t need to. The Demonspawn Arachnids were still the basic critters of this dungeon.

  Veyra: “Looks like they’re all PvE players. They’re well leveled, but they don’t seem skilled.”

  While I was reading that, a Demonspawn Crusher (Level 251) fell from the ceiling like a chandelier crashing down, aimed at Pink. He sensed it immediately and jumped to the side.

  The crusher slammed against the ground like a wrecking ball. It was a larger and tankier variation of the basic arachnids. It slashed at Pink with its clawed hands, which were surprisingly fast for their large size.

  Pink summoned a sword with his aura and [Swung] against the attack. He used the system’s assistance, but his attacks had thought behind it. Even if he used the system, he still aimed the attacks where he wanted them.

  The crusher’s claw collided with his threads of aura, and Pink was blown back.

  Then threads caught onto the claw, and he pulled on the crusher. The crusher stayed in place, too heavy, but Pink’s momentum turned around, using the threads to swing himself around. He drove his weapon into the crusher’s side, immediately bringing its health down by 10%.

  Assassin: “He’s definitely their best fighter.”

  Veyra and I continued studying the fight. Their frontline and backline was separated by the crusher with only Pink defending the mages. Many of Eve’s mage summons cast their [Medium Defences] on him, which essentially turned him into a tank.

  Spells rained down on the crusher, slowly dwindling its health bar, while it dueled against Pink. On the opposite side, Sullivan and the tank player struggled against lesser spiders, since they were separated from the healers, surviving mostly thanks to the three skeleton summons that constantly buffed their defence.

  “So, should we get serious now?” Veyra asked out loud and lifted her staff, forming a spell.

  A dagger-shaped icicle formed, then released at the crusher with tremendous speed. It landed in its eye, causing a critical strike, followed by a slash. The crusher fell and began disintegrating. Just like that, Veyra finished the monster off.

  “Oh, wow,” Pink said. “I’ve never seen an icicle like that. It was in the shape of a dagger? What spell was that?”

  “Spell?” Veyra asked. “I just shaped the icicle on my own. It was freehanded magic.”

  Pink blinked, clearly not believing what he’d just heard. “Freehanded? Surely, you can’t freehand something that sharp.”

  Veyra demonstrated it. She moved her finger in the air, as if writing something, and a trail of ice was left behind, floating in the air. She wrote, “LoL.” After that, she closed her eyes and formed a detailed arrow.

  The arrow had a nock and all. She held it from there and pretended like she was shooting a bow. She released her fingers, and the arrow shot forth with magic force, landing in the head of one of the lesser arachnids, killing it.

  “See,” she said. “Freehanding.”

  Pink’s mouth was stuck ajar.

  And so was mine. Holy shit. This wasn’t a goddamned anime. We were in real life, playing Wonderwind. Freehanding frost magic like that was already difficult—most mages didn’t even practice it, considering how clunky it could be—but Veyra made it look like nothing.

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  But you’re not the only one who’s good at the game, I thought. I’ve also practiced for thousands of hours.

  I looked for an opening in the front lines. Sullivan slammed his axe at one of the arachnids with a heavy overhead attack. The little spider jumped back easily before dashing for a counter-attack. Sullivan was too late to [Block]. He’d receive a critical hit.

  I threw my mithril dagger, landing it straight between the spider’s four frontal eyes. It was a critical hit, though due to my low level, the spider still didn’t die instantly.

  It was staggered, however, which allowed Sullivan to finish it off, and I recalled my dagger.

  [You have assisted in killing Demonspawn Arachnid (Level 230). Experience gained 50%]

  Two more arachnids appeared from the shadowed corner, approaching Mochaman from the side. The tank didn’t see them through the spiders’ stealth.

  I could have probably activated [Shadow Dash] and planted a dagger straight through its head. But that wouldn’t have been flashy. Instead, I moved straight in front of the two spiders.

  Seeing me, they forgot their stealth and pounced, claws first. I leaned to the left, dodging the first, then held my daggers above my head, blocking the second.

  I had to duck immediately to dodge the next attack, which was followed by a straight thrust. No time to jump out of the way, but I also didn’t want to waste [Shadow Dash]; I turned sideways, dodging inches before it pierced my skin.

  I dodged the next attacks by leaving an after-image. The spiders cut it, then turned confused. That gave me an opportunity to pierce my dagger through the first spider’s head.

  A critical hit, but it didn’t die. It took 60% damage, and became enraged. Its attacks came faster now.

  I also felt warmed up. The dance continued. I weaved between attacks, dodging anything I could with movement alone, only blocking with my daggers when absolutely necessary.

  My dodging continued for ten seconds and dozens of attacks, until the spiders eventually caught me in a position where I couldn't dodge or block.

  I was forced to use [Shadow Dash]. I readied an attack and aimed it at the wounded spider’s face, where I planted it deeper into the wound. Slash.

  [You have slayed Demonspawn Arachnid (Level 234)]

  When I turned around, I saw an icicle deep in the second spider’s head. The slash death sound came, and it disintegrated. I gained full XP for the one I killed, and a little bit for the other one as a “distraction” compensation. Thanks system.

  With that, the cavern fell silent. I turned to Veyra.

  She had an amused smile on her face. “What, are you trying to show off?”

  “Of course,” I said and spun my daggers back into their holsters. “Can’t let you show off more than me.”

  She snorted. “You better speed up the pace. If it takes that long to kill one, we’ll be here forever. Nice dodging, though.”

  Something warm rose to my head at the compliment, even if half of it was an insult.

  “I’d still struggle to dodge your icicles,” I said. “Your aim is insane.”

  She just shook her head, amused.

  The Cupcake Crew studied us as if we were a crazy couple. Eve’s eyes were much more curious now.

  “Well, good work,” Pink said. “But that was just the first room. Clearing to the boss took us around five hours last time, and the monsters should be more concentrated this time, since we let them respawn for longer. We’re expecting to be done in eight. If you need to leave, feel free to log off at any moment.”

  Eight hours? I thought, and I suddenly remembered I only had three hours remaining in the game pod I’d rented.

  Glancing at Veyra, she didn’t look like she had eight hours either. I sent her a message.

  Assassin: “Let’s get this done in two and a half.”

  ***

  With me and Veyra included in Cupcake Crew’s formation, clearing the way down the crypts was much smoother.

  I positioned myself to the side, where I could both assassinate stray arachnids, and also avoid any potential ambushes the Cupcake Crew’s members could try to throw at me. They could still corner me if they wanted to, which was fine, but I couldn’t allow myself to be completely ambushed. I positioned myself in such a way that I could keep track of all of them at the same time.

  The position was also ideal for the dungeon hunt thanks to my monster avoidance stat. Enemies ignored me and attacked the shinier frontline, which gave me easy sneak kills.

  Veyra positioned cautiously as well, a bit to the side of the backline. She didn’t do anything complex. Mostly, she just shot icicles to land critical strikes on critters. She didn’t need to reveal any complex spells, and she didn’t need to use the portals once. She only used [Chronorift] once to clear a spider ambush that attacked from behind.

  [You Leveled Up!]

  That message came fifteen minutes in, and another of the same followed thirty minutes later. I was so underleveled that I could earn multiple levels here in a day, while the others could require a week for a single level-up.

  Granted, Veyra and I also killed way more than the rest. While the Cupcake Crew’s members spammed [Swing] and [Slash], their casters throwing spells using brute force, we aimed for critical strikes. We didn’t always hit—Veyra’s aim hit around eighty percent of the time, and I sometimes had to retreat with [Shadow Dash] failing to kill my enemy—but our strategy still led to much more experience.

  So much so, that we began receiving looks from the Cupcake Crew’s members. They collected all the loot drops, spider fangs and such—each kill granting around five gold on average—but we were definitely taking a lot more experience than they had anticipated. I also spotted them chatting more with private messages as the raid went on.

  Veyra: “They’re chatting a lot. Looks like you were right. They’ve gone quiet.”

  I agreed. I doubted the Cupcake Crew had gone silent just to focus. Something was up.

  Nonetheless, we continued hunting in the awkward mood for another hour. I leveled up eight times in total, bringing me to level 200. Only one more level until I could fully equip my legendary dagger, with its requirement of level 201.

  “This way!” Pink called, taking us through a more narrow tunnel. He entered first, followed by the rest of the Cupcake Crew. Veyra and I cautiously entered last.

  Veyra: “Something is up. They’re trying something.”

  The dark tunnel opened up into a large cavern filled with rocky columns and dripping red lava. Pink and the Cupcake Crew was already deep inside, everyone having gathered close together. Evelyn had her staff pointed up toward the ceiling. She cast a [Necromantic Blast], which crashed against the wall.

  Deep red eyes opened at the point of impact.

  Something rumbled behind us. I turned my head and saw that a slab of stone rising on the exit. The earth mage’s work—a wall appeared, blocking our exit.

  A large runic circle appeared below the Cupcake Crew, whose members were all grouped together. Tristamn made a prayer, his staff glowing bright. [Mass Teleport] shone active, and all of their members disappeared from the room, leaving us alone.

  The deep red eyes of the gigantic monster pointed at us. Above its head, its tag read, Broodmother Rathax (Level 300).

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