The forest east of the village.
Kael slapped his forehead, realization dawning on him. Right, a key quest starts there. Might as well take out the trash while I’m at it.
With a plan set, he immediately headed out through the village’s eastern gate. Pushing through the dense crowd of players, Kael continued eastward. The farther he got from the village, the higher the monster levels became, and the fewer players he saw. About ten minutes later, he reached his destination: the Eastern Forest.
This area was home to powerful monsters ranging from level 6 to 10, like Gray Wolves, Wild Boars, and Pythons. At this stage of the game, only the top players dared to grind here, so it was far less crowded.
About a hundred yards into the woods, Kael heard a group of people laughing.
“Haha, this girl’s tough. We can’t even break her defense.”
“Hey, Ashveil, if that shield of hers drops, can I have it?”
“Why you? I’m the guild’s main tank!”
“You got the last shield drop. It’s my turn.”
“That was from a monster, this is from a player. It’s not the same thing…”
The two bickered back and forth.
“Both of you, shut the hell up!” the man who looked like their leader snapped, glaring at them. “Since when do you two get to decide loot distribution? Get over yourselves.”
The two immediately fell silent, staring at the ground.
Kael ducked behind a tree to assess the situation. A group of ten players was surrounding a single person. Their target was a young woman holding an absurdly large shield—a tower shield easily five feet tall, looking even more massive than its wielder. And the person holding it was none other than Hazel.
Four Mages and Archers were attacking her in rotation, but none could breach her defenses. Every hit dealt only the minimum 1 point of damage.
At the same time, purple numbers, ‘-8’ and ‘-9’, were constantly ticking above her head.
She was poisoned. While the damage per tick was low, it added up to over ten damage per second. If this kept up, she’d eventually burn through all her health potions.
When Kael saw the ID of the group’s leader, a faint smirk played on his lips. Heh, so it’s him.
The leader’s name was Ashveil, real name Cole, and he was from the same city as Kael. In his past life, the guy had been a constant thorn in his side.
After scanning the environment, Kael raised his bow, took aim at one of the Mages, and loosed an arrow.
Thwip.
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A flash of white light erupted from Cole’s party. A one-shot kill.
[System: You have killed the player [Black_A]. The player was in a combat state. No infamy incurred.]
Before Cole could even react, Kael sent another arrow flying. This time, his target was their Archer.
-585.
Another flash of white light. Another player down.
“Who is it?!”
Losing two people in quick succession, Cole realized they were being ambushed. The group stopped attacking Hazel and started scanning for the killer.
From his hiding spot, Kael let out a cold, internal laugh. They had no idea who they were messing with. In his past life, the player known as Dawnbreaker was ranked 998th across the entire galaxy. He’d once taken on thirty players solo in a Hidden Realm and wiped them all out.
The name ‘Dawnbreaker’ had become a legend, and a target for countless others. He might not have any skills yet, but his mechanics were light-years beyond the comprehension of these newbie players.
Kael peered through the foliage, watching the enemy frantically search for him. Locking onto the perfect moment, he loosed a third arrow.
Thwip!
Another Mage collapsed.
“Boss, the arrows are coming from over there!” someone finally shouted, pointing in Kael’s direction.
The Warrior and the Knight in the group immediately raised their shields to form a wall, advancing cautiously toward Kael’s position. Meanwhile, Kael was already crouched low, moving away from his original spot. Three consecutive hits for over 500 damage had terrified them. They didn’t dare step out from behind the tanks. To them, whatever was hiding behind that tree was the Reaper himself.
When the two tanks were just three yards from the tree, they suddenly split, charging around it from both sides. But when they got there, Kael was nowhere to be found.
He was now at a ninety-degree angle to their flank, his bow already drawn.
Thwip!
Another flash of white light! The last Mage in Cole’s group was dead.
“You bastard!” Cole was furious. He roared in Kael’s general direction, “Come on out, Dawnbreaker! I see you!”
If this were an ordinary player, hearing their name called might have actually baited them into revealing themselves. But Kael wasn’t falling for such an obvious trick. Anyone could check their combat log to see who killed them—clearly, the downed victims had messaged Cole his name.
Ignoring the taunt, Kael scanned for his next target. Four were dead. The enemy had one Archer and one Warlock left for ranged DPS. They had a general idea of his location now; he’d be exposed soon.
He drew his bow, aimed at the Warlock, and let fly. Another kill, another flash of light.
“That's him!” A Rogue spotted the target and immediately charged forward.
Cole yelled at the remaining Archer, “Shoot him! Don’t let him get away!”
The Archer frantically raised his bow, only to find he couldn’t lock on. Too far! Kael was over 30 yards away, and the Archer’s own range was only 20. He started sprinting forward, desperate to get in range before his target vanished into the trees.
This time, however, Kael didn’t move. Not far behind him were five level 8 Wild Boars. If he startled them, his small health pool wouldn’t last a second.
The Rogue was getting closer. When he was about twenty yards out, his figure blurred and then vanished completely.
Stealth.
Kael ignored the Rogue and instead aimed his bow at the final ranged threat—the Archer.
Thwip.
A direct hit. The Archer died with a look of pure frustration, one-shotted just as he was about to get Kael in his sights.
Now, Cole’s team was down to four: the stealthed Rogue, a Knight, a Protection Warrior, and Cole himself, a Swordsman.
The Rogue, thinking he was unseen, was already maneuvering behind Kael, dagger raised for a backstab. But Kael saw his every move—his level 9 Perception stat allowed him to see the level 7 Rogue’s shimmering outline from ten yards away.
Suddenly, Kael rolled to the side, creating a gap of several yards between them. As he came up from the roll, an arrow was already nocked and loosed. It flew through the air and embedded itself in the Rogue’s forehead.
“You… how did you see me…?” the Rogue stammered as his body dissolved into light.
“Heh, you’re not getting away!”
Kael looked up to see Cole already bearing down on him. He had used some kind of charge ability, closing the distance in an instant.
