After equipping the [Solar Mantle of Apollo], Kael's stats had far surpassed the limits of ordinary players. The mantle alone provided +5,000 to both physical and magical defense, and +1,000 to Strength, Constitution, and Agility.

  As a ranged damage dealer, his defenses were now over ten thousand, his total health had hit 40,000, and his basic attacks dealt nearly 23,000 damage. In a zone of this level, he could basically walk through untouched.

  As they entered the forest east of the village, the level 8 and 9 boars, wolves, and pythons were gone, replaced by monsters in the 33-35 range.

  [Thunder Lizard]: Level 34

  HP: 800,000

  Physical Attack: 7,100

  Magical Attack: 8,105

  .....

  [Lizard Chieftain]: Level 35

  HP: 12,000,000

  Physical Attack: 12,100

  Magical Attack: 12,100

  Physical Defense: 6,020

  .....

  "You four protect Fenris. I'll take care of them," Kael said. He walked alone into the throng of monsters, ignoring the smaller lizards and heading straight for their chieftain.

  He didn't bother dodging, simply positioning his clones at a distance while his main body stood toe-to-toe with the boss, trading blows.

  Ever since he started the game, every boss fight had been a desperate struggle against a higher-level, higher-difficulty opponent. For the first time, he could just casually face-tank a boss. More than ten Thunder Lizards swarmed him, their attacks unable to even scratch him.

  -1 (Absorbed by Sacred Aegis)

  -1 (Absorbed by Sacred Aegis)

  -1 (Absorbed by Sacred Aegis)

  -2,602 (Absorbed by Sacred Aegis)

  .....

  Only the Lizard Chieftain could manage to deal a couple thousand damage per hit, all of which was soaked up by the Solar Mantle's 50,000-point shield. Kael hadn't lost a single point of actual health.

  His own damage output, however, was staggering.

  -17,313 (Main Body Normal Attack)

  -11,927 (Clone Normal Attack)

  -67,232 (Main Body Critical Hit)

  -41,855 (Clone Critical Hit)

  ...

  It took him only two minutes to burn through the boss's twelve million HP. The surrounding Thunder Lizards were wiped out as collateral damage from the passive [Splintering Arrow] effect of his Galeharrow, which was proving to be its most useful feature for clearing trash mobs.

  System: You have killed a Thunder Lizard. You have gained 80,000 EXP.

  System: You have killed a Thunder Lizard. You have gained 80,000 EXP.

  .....

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  System: You have killed a Lizard Chieftain. You have gained 800,000 EXP.

  The lizards dropped a pile of crafting materials, and the chieftain dropped a level 35 Legendary-quality robe in addition to its own materials.

  After that, Kael took the lead, striding confidently ahead of the group while Lila and the others formed a protective perimeter around the Third Chieftain, cleaning up any stray monsters that got too close. The forest, which normally took about ten minutes to cross, took them over half an hour.

  Outside the forest, the path split. The left fork led towards the Shadowcrag Mountains, the right towards The Abandoned Mine. Kael led the party to the left. They had only gone a few steps when he sensed something was wrong.

  The area between the forest and the mountains was a wide plain of tall grasses and shrubs. Like the forest, the native wildlife was gone, replaced by formidable monsters: taurens, giant tortoises, and white rhinos.

  [Minotaur Archer]: Level 37(Elite)

  HP: 4,000,000

  Physical Attack: 11,000

  .....

  [White Rhino Shaman]: Level 37(Elite)

  HP: 4,050,000

  Magical Attack: 9,100

  .....

  [Kodo Beast Soul Drummer]: Level 37 (Elite)

  HP: 4,050,000

  Physical Attack: 10,100

  .....

  [Stonerock Tortoise (Chieftain)]: Level 38 (Boss)

  HP: 30,000,000

  Physical Attack: 11,000

  Physical Defense: 14,200

  .....

  Fourteen thousand defense. It was an absurdly high number. Any other party of players would be completely stuck, forced to watch helplessly. You would need a full raid of level 35 players in a complete set of epic gear just to have a chance of breaking its defense.

  But it wasn't just the monsters' strength that seemed strange to Kael. It was their formation. It was too perfect.

  The Stonerock Tortoises and other tanks were positioned like a wall at the front, with the Minotaur Archers, Rhino Shamans, and Kodo Drummers arranged in ranks behind them like artillery and support units.

  "Hold up," Kael called out, stopping the party in its tracks.

  Lila had noticed it too. She moved to the front and stood beside him, gazing at the scene ahead. "What's with these mobs? Why are all the elites stacked up like this?"

  "Yeah," Rena said. "How are we supposed to get through that?"

  "We fight, obviously," Orion grunted.

  "I don't know," Hazel murmured. "It almost feels like… someone is controlling them."

  Hazel's offhand comment struck a chord with Kael. A possibility suddenly clicked in his mind.

  BEEP BEEP BEEP!

  A flood of messages from his friends list interrupted his thoughts. He opened the window. It was Elon. The text was flagged in red, marked urgent.

  "Boss, there's a strange quest that just popped up in Crescent. Not sure if it's related to you."

  Kael typed back. "What quest?"

  "It's called [Intercept]. The destination is the foot of the Shadowcrag Mountains."

  "What? Any other details?"

  "One of my clients accepted it. I don't know the specifics, but he said he was given a special skill called [Cooperate]."

  "Do you know how many people can take it?"

  "Ten. The quest has a ten-person limit."

  "Okay. Got it."

  Kael closed the message window, a slow smile spreading across his face. He had thought this would be a simple escort mission, but it had triggered a major system event.

  He turned his head and quickly explained a plan to Lila. She gave him a look of disbelief, her eyes questioning if he was serious about his crazy idea. Kael met her gaze and gave a firm nod.

  He switched to the party channel. "Alright, new plan. I'm going in to tank and draw aggro. Rena, you're on heals for me. Hazel, you and Orion protect the Third Chieftain."

  "What about Lila?" Rena asked.

  "Lila is going solo," Kael said. "Rena, Orion, give Lila all your buffs. Now."

  "You got it!"

  A cascade of shimmering spells enveloped Lila—Inner Fire, Ice Armor, Adamant Ward, Spirit Ward. Her physical and magical defenses shot up to nearly eight thousand.

  With the preparations complete, Kael walked to the front. The moment he stepped into range, the entire army of monsters turned to face him, unleashing a coordinated barrage of attacks.

  -1 (Absorbed by Sacred Aegis)

  -123 (Absorbed by Sacred Aegis)

  -117 (Absorbed by Sacred Aegis)

  -22 (Absorbed by Sacred Aegis)

  .....

  The Kodo Beasts in the back began to beat their massive drums, and the Rhino Shamans started placing totems. Their buffs went live, and the damage hitting Kael began to ramp up.

  -3,911 (Absorbed by Sacred Aegis)

  -2,821 (Absorbed by Sacred Aegis)

  -4,252 (Absorbed by Sacred Aegis)

  .....

  His 50,000-point shield was half-gone in seconds. As soon as their cooldowns were up, Rena and Orion threw another round of defensive buffs on Kael, managing to keep the damage he was taking below a thousand per hit.

  With the aggro of every single monster locked firmly on him, Kael activated a skill from his [Solar Mantle of Apollo], targeting Lila.

  [Divine Ward]: Protect 1 friendly unit, granting them 10,000 points of defense. Duration: 30 seconds. Cooldown: 5 minutes.

  The "10,000 points of defense" applied to both physical and magical. Instantly, Lila's defenses surpassed even Kael's. Not even the chieftain-level boss could scratch her now.

  For the next thirty seconds, Lila was invincible.

  The moment [Divine Ward] hit her, she activated a movement skill, leaping high into the air and crashing down directly into the heart of the elite enemy formation.