Ethan brushed past the two Warriors, the speed buff from his boots already active, and he burst out of the cavern before sprinting toward the second prison chamber.

The moment he emerged, he saw that the enemy force had not fully mobilized. The seventh level was not an open arena, it was a long stone corridor with prison cells running along both sides like an old dungeon passage, and it was far too narrow to allow a large formation to surge all at once.

Ethan took one look at the terrain and made a snap decision.

"Leo, you hold them off, buy us as much time as you can. Everyone else, get into the nearest cells and look for a hidden switch or button inside, that is the key to the Golden Gate, every cell has one."

He did not stay to explain further. He darted into a cell across the hall, only to find two Archers in the opposite chamber. One of them was bent over in a strangely casual posture, studying a small lantern-like device in the corner. The Archer reached out and gave it an idle twist.

The sight made Ethan stop only long enough to register what had just happened, then he turned and walked right back out. That was the cell's gate mechanism, and the Archer had accidentally triggered it for him. If only a few more of them would be that considerate, he thought, amused and impatient at the same time.

"How many gems are lit on the main gate?" Ethan called.

"Three!" Ryan answered.

Victor, Kiara, and Evelyn, the three healers, were already rushing forward with Leo, while the rest of the group scattered into the nearest cells on both sides of the corridor.

Leeroy and Williams had been assigned to cells farther down the hall, but those rooms were already occupied by Blackridge players. Ethan, being Level 63, did not worry about being discovered. The Blackridge group had lost levels clearing the upper floors and were barely around Level 42 or 43, so his Panther Form Stealth was completely invisible to them, the twenty-level suppression hiding him as thoroughly as a shadow swallowed by the stone.

"Thunderous Leap Strike!"

The shout boomed from the direction of the Golden Gate just as Ethan stepped back into the hallway, and he recognized the voice instantly. Leeroy had charged in first, as usual.

A deafening crash followed.

From nearly a hundred yards away, Ethan saw a figure hurtle upward, wrapped in a soft, milky-white glow. That shield was Divine Aegis, the Discipline Priest's damage-reducing barrier, which meant Evelyn had cast it on Leeroy at the last possible moment, probably worried he would be shredded the instant he landed in the center of the enemy group.

Leeroy hit the ground with a heavy thud, placing himself right in the heart of the enemy formation. Ethan frowned. 'Too deep, far too deep,' he thought, since Evelyn and the others had no chance of reaching him with heals from that distance.

A burst of blue lightning crawled across the stone floor. It was Leeroy's signature ability, unique to his hidden class, a move that left ordinary Warrior skills in the dust. A normal leap was usually a clean, single-target strike used for closing distance, but Leeroy's version lived up to its name.

The moment his greatsword struck the ground, the stone cracked in a spiderweb pattern, and electric tendrils shot outward through the fissures, stunning and shocking every enemy they touched. The damage was extraordinary, brutal enough to clear the area immediately around him in an instant.

A hole opened in the enemy formation, bodies dropping or scattering as the ground sizzled beneath them.

The Blackridge players were stunned by Leeroy's sudden arrival. Their scouting party had reported nothing unusual, and they had assumed this level would be as routine as the floors above.

"Intruder, contact, contact!" someone shouted as confusion rippled down the corridor.

"Blade Storm!"

They had not even managed to organize a counterattack when Leeroy roared again. After unleashing the Thunderous Leap Strike, he jammed the immense two-handed sword into the ground, braced both hands on the hilt, and used his feet like a pivot, dragging the colossal blade in a sweeping rotation.

A Shield Tank saw the opening and charged straight at Leeroy with his shield raised, but the spinning greatsword caught the shield with a sharp crack, tore it from the Tank's hands, and split the man cleanly in half in the same motion.

Leeroy kept turning, his body spinning faster and faster, until he began moving down the corridor, the wide arc of his rotating blade creating a violent vortex that filled the entire passage. The tip scraped along both stone walls as he advanced.

Sparks skittered across the air with a harsh screech as he passed. No one who strayed into the whirlwind survived. Anyone pulled too close was instantly cut down, their bodies sliced neatly apart.

Terror spread through the Blackridge group. A few more Shield Tanks rushed in, hoping to interrupt the Blade Storm, but every one of them was stripped of their shield and cut in two before they could do anything.

"Retreat, fall back, wait out his skill, swarm him once it ends!"

They were not idiots. After watching several of their frontliners get shredded, they withdrew in tight clusters. Blade Storm allowed movement, but only at an ordinary running pace. Since most of them had similar base speed, Leeroy could not catch them once they backed off.

Their plan was solid, and even Ethan silently agreed.

"Angelic Feather!"

A bright, clear voice rang out across the hall.

A soft, milky-white glow blossomed in the darkness as a single feather drifted through the air and landed gently at Leeroy's feet. He stepped onto it without hesitation.

At that moment, the spinning figure blurred sharply, the added magic sending his movement speed soaring.

Swoosh after swoosh echoed across the corridor.

"Ah!"

"No, hold on!"

"Stay away from him!"

The shouts turned into pure panic, and their retreat meant nothing. Leeroy tore across the hundred-yard stretch in barely three seconds, carving through the scattered groups like a scythe slicing through a field of wheat, and in a heartbeat he reached Ethan.

The blade screeched as it slowed, and the storm finally stopped. The speed granted by the Angelic Feather faded at once.

"Ethan… huff… huff…" Leeroy's whole body steamed, his breath shaking after the exertion.

"Nice teamwork," Ethan said, genuinely impressed. Evelyn's timing had been perfect, so precise he had not expected it at all.

Then a thought struck him. How did Evelyn reach him? Leeroy had leapt an enormous distance, and by all rights her skills should not have been able to reach that far.

Ethan looked down the now-cleared corridor. Evelyn was vanishing into the doorway of a cell, slipping inside with the speed of someone who had barely avoided danger. Right behind her was Lyla. Lyla backed into the cell while firing off arrow after arrow, each one a clean, instant kill that kept their pursuers from stepping even a foot closer.

How did they get here so fast? He had missed it entirely, distracted by the sheer force of Leeroy's charge and the carnage left in its wake. The Blade Storm had been as overwhelming as it was thrilling to watch.

Seeing Lyla and Evelyn bottlenecked in the cell entrance, Ethan immediately prepared to move toward them.

"Two more to go!" Ryan shouted from beside the Golden Gate.

Ethan glanced back, remembering suddenly why Ryan had been left there. He was the weakest in close combat, his casting speed too slow for real PvP, and in a straight fight he could barely get a single spell off.

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