A spectacular one-sided massacre.
The boy with golden hair and golden eyes danced amidst countless monsters, and with each flash of light, a large group of them fell.
Living in a gloomy castle that rarely saw sunlight, the creatures inside were all somewhat sensitive to “light” like beings — they were extremely sensitive.
They were like moths drawn to a flame, instinctively swarming around the light-bearing existence, tireless and frenzied.
“Bang—”
The last monster collapsed right before Beiyuan.
The boy held a Crystal Stone taken from his sword sheath. Like tossing a coin, the stone fell from above, glowing faintly in the dark castle, only to be caught and pressed by his thumb.
“Looks like this one can be saved.” Beiyuan said.
There was no other living creature standing nearby except for himself.
In the air, one could almost hear the faint, gasping breaths of the defeated monsters. The closest creature, resembling a Twin-headed Wyvern, struggled to move its membranous wings, but it was futile.
The Twin-headed Winged Beast’s eyes widened to the extreme, as if it wanted to carve the golden figure and the overwhelming terror brought by him deep into its soul forever.
It just stared as he walked toward a corner, then carved an obscure Three-Line Mark there.
The scratch carried a sharp, resonant energy, piercingly sharp, like a trace of fear left within the castle, difficult to erase.
Afterward, the boy casually chose a direction and entered a deeper corridor of the castle, his figure gradually disappearing before them.
At the same time, for Lu Luda, who existed in normal time, the devilish journey was only just beginning.
“Ah—damn it!” he screamed as he fell into the castle’s underground level.
Spitting out dust from his mouth, Lu Luda hurriedly got up, slinging Beiyuan’s body onto his back while cautiously surveying the surroundings.
Fortunately, he wasn’t the only one who had fallen into this place.
Just ahead of him landed a small team of about twenty people. Lu Luda quickly glanced over and realized the team was well-composed, with roles such as Ranged Attackers, Tanks, Healers, Assassins, and close combat fighters—a clearly professional and prepared squad.
The group was currently battling a Serpent-type Aberrant Beast that had darted out from the depths of the corridor.
The purple giant serpent flicked its tongue. With a sudden bite, the Tank immediately took the hit while the Healer behind quickly cast a single-target shield and dispelled a poison effect.
They never once glanced at Lu Luda’s direction.
Lu Luda looked left and right and then, carrying Beiyuan’s body, crouched in a corner, pondering over Beiyuan’s earlier words as he carefully searched for the Three-Line Mark.
A nearly three-meter-tall Titan crouched nearby was painfully eye-catching; a Healer from the team casually glanced at it with disdain.
Lu Luda accepted the disdain quietly, touching his cheek unconcernedly.
“Healer, give us group healing, I’m almost out of HP!”
The team’s commander was a green-haired archer, shouting orders while moving around the edges, desperately outputting damage.
Upon the healer’s command, the healing formation opened. Just as the group’s health was collectively rising, the Assassin prepared to sneak-attack the serpent’s weak spot but unexpectedly slipped.
Assassin: “…Not good!”
In an instant, the serpent bit off the Assassin’s head. Everyone immediately heard the death sound effect for that player.
The green-haired commander roared, “Damn it! Who the hell told you to go in now?!”
The next second, the serpent’s energy maxed out as it entered a berserk state.
With a swipe of its tail, the frontline Tank died instantly. The fragile damage dealers behind were like lambs exposed to a tiger—they quickly lost three more members.
How is this fight even supposed to work?? No chance at all!
“Scatter! Scatter!” the green-haired commander yelled hoarsely. “Drag out the berserk time, just survive first!”
“This is too terrifying.” Lu Luda gasped in the corner, holding his head as he watched the team suddenly lose half their members, empathizing deeply.
Then, out of the corner of his eye, Lu Luda vaguely caught sight of what looked like a fleeting Three-Line Mark at the front-left corner.
“Could that be the mark?!” Lu Luda immediately lifted Beiyuan onto his back and crouched low, cautiously weaving through the blood-soaked battlefield.
During this brief run, the team lost even more members, causing the green-haired commander to spit blood in frustration.
“Damn it, what the hell is wrong with all these races?! There’s never been a Raid Dungeon this difficult! It feels like they just don’t want us to win—what the hell!” The green-haired commander glanced sideways at Lu Luda and immediately shifted focus, shouting, “You’re a Titan, aren’t you ashamed hiding in the back? Let’s cooperate!”
Lu Luda slipped away quickly. “Goodbye, brother!”
–
Amid the chaos of flailing limbs, suddenly a giant claw smashed down from the ceiling onto the purple serpent’s head, stopping it just in time.
But the new monster that appeared was even more terrifying than the berserk serpent that had driven everyone crazy!
“Damn, another one!” The green-haired commander’s face twisted with veins bulging. “If this Raid Dungeon doesn’t get cleared, don’t give me a chance to get out or I’m…”
Meanwhile, Lu Luda had already slipped toward the front-left corner. Sure enough, it was the mark Beiyuan had spoken of! The three lines formed an arrow pointing in one direction. As Lu Luda started running, a sudden, scorching breath blew close behind him.
“…!” Beiyuan had a bad feeling and looked up, only to see a pair of cold, vertical red pupils staring at him.
A bit further away, another head with red vertical pupils was relentlessly slaughtering players attempting to flee.
—It was a Twin-headed Winged Beast!
–
Beiyuan marked the way as he went.
Although the castle seemed capable of constantly changing its layout, if Beiyuan guessed correctly, there was one absolutely correct path.
No matter how the castle transformed, this path would lead to a fixed location, very likely the exit.
As Beiyuan explored, he took down more monsters along the way. Whenever he encountered dead ends or paths with dangerous traps, he marked them differently; only the path he deemed correct was carefully marked with three lines.
Just as he was about to clear almost the entire castle, Beiyuan finally reached the end of the path.
As expected, the path led to an exit—but it was not quite what he imagined.
Passing through a door, Beiyuan took in a new sight.
“This… is an arena?”
Before him was a vast, open space—a huge circular platform elevated high, surrounded by a ring of stone pillars entwined with chains. Strange flames of various colors flickered atop each pillar.
Behind the pillars was an equally grand spectator stand.
Now, the stands were filled with people, roughly estimated at over ten thousand.
Almost as soon as Beiyuan stepped into the arena, the stands erupted in enthusiastic cheers and shouts, voices overlapping so heavily it was hard to distinguish individual words.
He only faintly caught fragments—
“…has appeared, a new challenger!”
“Is that a child? Someone we’ve never seen, but their aura is indeed…”
The vast audience wore armor like knights and waved their arms frantically, their expressions wild and passionate. Some displayed scales representing excitement on their bodies.
Beiyuan caught the scent of blood similar to that of the Dragon Clan from these people. At the same time, numerous flags bearing Dragon-shaped Emblems rose from all directions, fluttering in the wind.
At that moment, someone murmured a guess, “Could this Eternal Instance City be a civilization belonging to the Dragon Clan?”
The spectators in the stands, though resembling the Dragon Clan in aura, had far purer bloodlines—belonging to an even earlier history.
“So…” Beiyuan couldn’t help but imagine, “Did real Dragons exist in this era?”
Just as he pondered, a sharp gust of wind swept down from above. Beiyuan instinctively dodged aside.
Looking up, he saw a man clad entirely in black armor descending from the sky.
The man’s presence was as vast and immovable as a deep abyss and a towering mountain. His handsome features only added to his imposing aura; standing there, he felt like a massive mountain pressing down, making it hard to breathe.
Beiyuan noticed the once noisy audience fall completely silent, save for eyes burning with passionate intensity fixed on the man.
Before Beiyuan could speak, the man said, “Are you my last challenger? A child? Are you sure you want to face me?”
“?” Beiyuan wanted to ask in return—are you the final BOSS I need to clear?
Having cut down enemies through five stages, defeating countless small monsters, Beiyuan’s first reaction upon hearing this was, “Another fight? Fine, no need to waste time, let’s get it over with.”
Apparently, the man thought the same way.