Blue Smoke's party was taken aback when the watchman's head hit the ground. The strike had been so precise and seamless that they hadn't even heard a sound from Arsen's attack.
Still, the party pressed on with the plan—eliminating the remaining undead skeletons guarding the rear.
-
Soon, Blue Smoke's party managed to enter the area without any issues—thanks to Arsen.
"How did you do that?"
Blue Smoke couldn't stop herself from asking. To her, that move wasn't something an ordinary player could pull off so effortlessly. In fact, she was starting to wonder if Arsen was a pro.
Arsen glanced at her from the corner of his eye.
"Just a simple sneak attack. Standard for an assassin. Why?"
His tone was cold, as if he didn't care about what he had just done.
Blue Smoke noticed it, Arsen was deliberately keeping his distance from the group. She realized it was better not to push him with more questions and instead focus on their main objective: clearing the dungeon. If her assumption was right, Arsen could leave them at any moment, especially if he got irritated with the situation.
The other three party members could hardly believe what they had seen. If this was him at level 1... what would he be like at level 2?
-
To begin with, Blue Smoke managed to enter the mansion. Inside, the place was ancient and decayed—broken structures and shattered mirrors littered the area. Monsters roamed the halls, forcing the group to move carefully, doing their best to conceal their presence.
Seven undead skeletons patrolled the area, acting as guards. To proceed, Blue Smoke made the call to eliminate them. In the blink of an eye, the monsters were reduced to smoke as the party struck them down and seized their monster cores.
"Our main goal was to enter the mansion. We couldn't afford to be noticed by the monsters outside," Blue Smoke remarked, feeling the heavy pressure that filled the mansion's interior.
Arsen felt it too. More precisely, it was as if the entire mansion was shrouded in a dark aura radiating from the monsters within. What else could they expect? They were inside a dungeon set to hell difficulty.
The party continued cutting down any monsters blocking their path. They didn't stop, until a sudden explosion erupted near the front gate. All of them turned sharply toward the direction the sound had come from.
"As expected. Despite the number of monsters, they still managed to enter the dungeon," Blue Smoke said in a serious tone.
She was referring to the powerful group they had seen at the dungeon's portal—Moon Blade's party. Given the caliber of its members, it wasn't surprising they had made it as far as the mansion.
Arsen had similar thoughts, but he didn't dwell on it. They had their own problems to deal with.
"It'll be troublesome if they catch up to us. We should head inside," he said, his voice calm but firm.
Arsen wasn't making a hasty decision, and for good reason. Moon Blade's party had drawn the attention of nearby monsters, creating a perfect window of opportunity. Besides, there was nothing left for them outside. If they wanted to clear the dungeon, they had no choice but to enter, regardless of what monsters awaited inside.
No one objected to his decision.
Darium stepped forward and placed his hands on the massive metal door. With a grunt, he pushed, muscles straining as the heavy door slowly creaked open.
Everyone raised their guard, eyes fixed ahead, bracing for an ambush. The interior was cloaked in shadows, the only light coming from flickering candles scattered along the walls. It wasn't nearly enough to get a full view of their surroundings.
Blue Smoke was about to cast a spell with her staff, knowing it would be helpful in their current situation. But Arsen reached out and grabbed her wrist, shaking his head.
"If I were you, I wouldn't do that," he warned.
He knew she was about to question him, so he simply pointed ahead, toward the darkness where faint, gleaming red eyes stared back at them.
They weren't the eyes of just one monster. There were many.
In fact, they had been surrounded the moment they stepped into the mansion.
"Monsters are everywhere. The moment you use a magic spell, they'll all come for us," Arsen said quietly.
Blue Smoke gave a small nod in agreement, her mind already racing with ways they might handle the unknown threats around them.
No one dared to make a sound—or even a sudden move—that might draw the monsters' attention. In moments like this, leadership became everything. The fate of the party rested on the leader's next decision.
"This is your call, Blue Smoke," one of the party members said. "No matter what happens, we have no regrets. After all... it's just a game. We can always come back and try again."
Looking at their equipment, it was easy to see why they could casually say it was fine to die in the game, as if they could revive their characters at any time. Sure, it was a waste to lose their items upon death, but they could always buy new ones with their money. However, this reasoning didn't apply to Arsen. Unlike them, who had the funds to replenish their gear, he was just an ordinary person with nothing to fall back on.
Hearing this, Arsen felt a flicker of annoyance. It was as if they were already surrendering before the battle had even begun. Yet, at the same time, he realized there was some truth to Darium's words. With enough credits, it made sense for them to view things that way. If anyone should be annoyed, it was himself, he had no one to blame but his own situation.
Blue Smoke pointed toward a small room not too far ahead. "We need to move carefully and get to that room. If my assumption is correct, there are over twenty monsters around us, and we can't afford to fight them all at once."
Without hesitation, the party followed her lead.
Clang! Clang!
It was impossible to avoid attracting the attention of the monsters. Undead skeletons swung their swords, and Darium barely managed to block the strike in time.
The archer, quick on his feet, nocked an arrow, focusing his magic on it before releasing it toward one of the monsters.
Bang!
With a burst of magic, the arrow exploded on impact, the force shattering the monster's skull and sending bones scattering across the floor. The undead creature never stood a chance.
But the other monsters weren't so easily deterred. Their eyes locked onto Blue Smoke's position, filled with rage. With a shriek, they began charging, hurling arrows in an attempt to strike down the players.
"Run!" Blue Smoke shouted, her voice urgent.
The party deflected the incoming arrows with quick movements and defensive magic, but the onslaught was relentless. The numbers of enemies swelled suddenly, and it was clear they couldn't hold their ground much longer.
Their only option now was to retreat into the room and fight the monsters off, one by one.
As they ran, Blue Smoke couldn't help but glance at Arsen, who was calmly keeping pace beside her. What's going on inside this man's head? I can't read him at all.
They ran for about five minutes before finally reaching the massive metallic door.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Darium and the others heaved with all their strength to slam the door shut, the sound of monsters slamming against it echoing behind them.
"It's a close call," Blue Smoke said, her voice tense. "From over twenty monsters, their numbers have swelled to a hundred or more."
She quickly scanned the room they had entered. It was dark, but even in the dim light, they could tell the room was vast—much larger than they had anticipated.
[Light]
To get a better understanding of their surroundings, Blue Smoke cast a magic spell. The area around them was revealed: a large platform with a passage leading toward another door.
"Blue Smoke..." the archer said in a strained voice, tugging at her robe.
"What is it?" she asked, turning toward him.
The archer pointed a trembling finger in a certain direction, and Blue Smoke's eyes widened in shock. She hadn't expected a creature of such size to appear in this place.
"A hound?" she murmured, her voice barely above a whisper.
-
On the other side, the ground was littered with bones, remnants of countless undead skeletons that had fallen in this chaotic place. The air was thick with the clash of weapons and the release of magic skills.
"Moon Blade, it seems like the number of skeletons is decreasing," the cleric remarked, her voice filled with curiosity. She could sense something was changing.
Moon Blade charged her sword with magic energy before swinging it through the monsters. With a single, powerful strike, seven undead skeletons were cleaved in half. She glanced at the cleric and nodded. "Yes, I suspect there are thousands of undead here. But I've also noticed something strange—some of the monsters are retreating, heading back toward the mansion."
"What do you think that means? Are they afraid of us?" the cleric asked, her voice filled with confusion.
"No, they're not afraid of us," Moon Blade replied. "It's more likely that someone has already entered the mansion, which is why they're rushing to get back."
"Really? Another party is ahead of us?"
"Yes," Moon Blade confirmed. "That's why we need to finish what we're doing here and head straight to the mansion. We can't let them reach the dungeon's boss first."