His health drain was ticking up. Kiara's Rejuvenation spell healed a fixed amount, and it could even crit! It was a steady anchor in the chaos, but the clock was still ticking.

Seeing this, Ethan frowned slightly.

This new class's so-called "Stagger" pool… if the incoming damage kept ramping up, the stored amount could get out of hand. Leo was losing health every second. In the end, a huge chunk might just disappear all at once.

"Hey, quit spectating and kill these things already!" Leo shouted, voice strained. "Their health pools are insane!" The normally unshakable tank was putting real muscle into every block, his new class being put through its paces.

"Clear them fast," Leo screamed, snapping Ethan out of his thoughts. "There's definitely someone on this level."

Right. Now wasn't the time to overthink. Clearing the path to the next entrance was priority.

"I got this," Ryan said suddenly.

Ethan had already sensed him channeling. Took him forever to finish casting, which was a major downside of his class. But the payoff was worth the wait.

Ryan raised his staff and pointed forward. A streak of fire shot out, terminating above Leo's head before exploding into a massive, intricate runic circle that slammed down.

Whoosh!

A Flamestrike erupted.

-25,691

-28,963

-66,512! (Critical)

A sea of damage numbers erupted above the Skeleton Champions. Every hit was in the tens of thousands. It was a beautiful, devastating pyre of math. Their health bars collectively plummeted by half; a few that took crits were left hanging by a thread.

"Holy hell, Ryan! Your spells always scare the crap out of me!" Leo yelped from the epicenter. He flinched, then shot out of the pack like a rocket using that ridiculous leap skill of his.

Ethan had expected the threat to switch to Ryan after that fifty-second channeled nuke. But surprisingly, Leo's new class held aggro rock-solid. All the skeletons still shambled toward him, ignoring the massive fireball that had just decimated their ranks.

"Go!" If the threat was stable, no need to hold back. Ethan dropped into Panther Form. Wild Charge launched him behind one of the healthier skeletons. Rake and Shred followed. A few swipes later, the half-health bone-pile clattered to the ground. Three seconds flat.

The others piled in. Ethan targeted the next monster. A glance showed Leeroy's greatsword was just now connecting with a skull—the guy's attack speed was glacial. But the damage? It was brutal. By the time Leeroy recovered from his first swing—a timeframe in which a Berserker could land ten hits—his single blow had already done the job.

-49,874! (Critical)

Another skeleton disintegrated. It was an absolutely insane damage.

Ethan looked at his own gear. He hadn't upgraded in ages. Half his slots were still filled with low level items, relying entirely on his +30 enhancements and sky-high level to keep up. His crew, while lacking in enhancements, were decked out in at least level-40 Silver gear, with some pieces already shining Gold. The gap was real, a quiet testament to how far he'd stretched his own early advantages.

Leo's old shield had been Dark Gold before it morphed into that giant liquor cask.

One minute later, the pack of half-health skeletons was cleared. Ryan's second big spell hadn't even finished channeling, and was forced to cancel.

Not a single coin dropped from the twenty-odd Skeleton Champions. Nothing.

Leo, ever-ready to loot, was left sputtering. "Pah! Seriously? Never seen monsters this damn broke. Have some self-respect, you cheapskates!"

The group regrouped, careful not to wander. The cavern floor was littered with pale bones that would animate into Skeleton Champions if disturbed. Their current fight had been unavoidable, but their goal was infiltration, not clearing. Ethan had insisted: avoid killing anything above the seventh layer if possible. These skeletons didn't respawn. Let the enemy alliance waste time cleaning them up.

Ethan oriented himself. This time, he shifted to Bear Form to pull aggro carefully. Navigating the uncleared area took longer, but finally, under his direction, they found another fissure.

He didn't stop, though. He quickly briefed everyone on the descent path and entry angles. Leo went first, Kiara followed, then the others.

Ethan, still holding aggro, led the skeletal parade away. He could easily have shifted to Panther, hit Swift Stride, and broken line-of-sight, letting the monsters reset. He didn't.

Instead, he kept a slow, deliberate pace, gathering every skeleton in sight, leading them deeper into the cavern. His mental map suggested the alliance from Blackridge—the conglomerate of guilds—should be around the fifth layer. They probably hadn't cleared to this point yet.

A wicked grin spread across his face. He led his bony parade in a tightening spiral around the entrance to the sixth layer, compressing the horde, minimizing the gaps between them until they were practically tripping over each other's femurs.

Good enough.

Panther Form. Swift Stride. A powerful leap.

Whoosh!

He shot away. The Skeleton Champions lurched after him for a few steps before the red light in their eye sockets dimmed. They stood confused for a moment, then collapsed into lifeless piles of bones once more.

Now, however, those bones were densely packed in a tangled heap right on the doorstep.

"Heh. Enjoy the party favor," Ethan chuckled to himself.

Once safely out of combat, he stealthed and headed back to the fissure. As he approached, he saw distant light flickering in the main cavern tunnel—the glow of countless players' lanterns and torches.

The alliance had arrived.

"Hey, what's the deal? The first half of this floor had monsters, but the back half is empty?" someone in the advancing crowd complained.

"Think someone cleared it?"

"Use your head. We've got seventy-thousand people struggling here. Who could clear ahead of us?"

"He's right. We have scouts at every layer entrance. We'd know."

"Then explain this."

"Probably a map design thing. Back half's just empty. These Skeleton Champions are tough enough as it is."

"Makes sense. We've already lost ten thousand guys to corpse runs getting here."

Seeing no immediate threat, the vanguard relaxed, their pace turning leisurely as they moved into the "cleared" zone.

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