Chapter 14: The Belief of the Ant in Killing the Elephant (2)

The Skeleton Dungeon, an abandoned castle, opened its eerie gates only at night. This ominous theme lured two souls to fatefully collide, their timing and desires perfectly aligned—yet they could never meet.

The dungeon was a labyrinth, teeming with intersections. Newcomers were destined to get lost, but seasoned wanderers roamed on purpose, battling monsters to level up.

Three lord parties aimed to set a record for conquering the dungeon and took the fastest route.

Guinevere 28 had read the game guide for this section, and no one dared utter, "Lost!!!" Yet Jay screamed it, disoriented by the endless crossroads. Moving to avoid skeletal monsters only deepened their confusion.

Sagittarius, unfazed, came to level up. He incessantly attacked skeletons, exhilarated by the experience points tallying up. Determined, he hit more fervently.

Their party of three ventured into the Skeleton Dungeon, having failed to find others willing to join. It wasn't their lord status that deterred others; over three-quarters of the parties that night had vanished, distracted by the Battle of Sirius broadcast.

When they met the two girls earlier, Melon-chan swiftly dragged her loud friend away, and they didn't reveal their faction to Zhu zhu.

So they ventured with just three shots and ended up thoroughly lost.

After sixty minutes, the time limit to enter the dungeon in one instance had ended, and the system expelled the three of them from the castle.

Gwen lowered her head dejectedly, while Mewku Mewku tapped her on the back to console her. Sagittarius had lost hope in the two girls and went ahead to purchase a skeleton dungeon guide himself. After reading it thoroughly, he exclaimed, "We really need a five-member attack party if we want to conquer the two-minute time limit."

At that moment, a group walked out of the dungeon, indicating they had defeated the final boss. Sagittarius checked the dungeon status and saw that the final boss would respawn in ten minutes, and only twice more that night. They couldn't afford to waste another sixty minutes. Bosses don't respawn as frequently as regular monsters, hence the rarity which rewards good items. Without a boss, it's not considered dungeon completion.

The group waved goodbye and headed back to town. Sagittarius overheard them saying they wouldn't do anything else tonight since they had already obtained items from the final boss and planned to watch a live war broadcast instead. However, one person decided to continue leveling up a bit more, and there were two whom Sagittarius recognized by their gear, especially Melon-chan's glasses. Instead of disguising her, the glasses made her even more memorable.

Seeing Melon-chan's friend in a priest outfit, he felt even more certain and joyful. Sagittarius quickly approached and intercepted them as they were about to re-enter the dungeon, asking, "May I join your party?"

Both Melon-chan and Zhu zhu had faced many such party join requests and turned to scrutinize the voice of this default male character. Seeing he was just an ordinary mage with no harmful intentions, they accepted.

Requesting to join a dungeon party as a solo player was quite common. Delighted, Sagittarius immediately sent a party join request. Melon-chan, being the party leader, was about to accept the request when she froze upon seeing the name!

"Whoa!" Her finger stiffened.

Before Melon-chan could react, Sagittarius waved to the two of them to come over, saying they could join the party now and to hurry up this way.

Zhu zhu saw two more female players walking in and was bewildered. She had been playing this game for three to four years and had never seen more people requesting to join a party than the existing party members before.

When Melon-chan saw the names Mewku Mewku and Gwinevere 28 pop up on her window, she twitched her mouth a few times before ultimately blaming the game for having too few dungeons for level 50 players. The only option near Chandra City was the city of Grimbu. She then clicked to accept them into the party.

"Little Bear Party."

"Such a cute name," Mewku Mewku paused for a moment and then warmly linked arms with Melon-chan. "So you're my sister-in-law! No wonder Sagi-kung was calling out so loudly. giggle."

Gwenevere 28 also saw Melon-chan's name as the party leader. She linked arms on the other side, and her previous frustration from getting lost in the castle vanished. "So you're my sister! Please take care of me, giggle."

Teasing someone was really this much fun.

Sagittarius just shook his head repeatedly. He had no choice; if they wanted to break the dungeon record, they needed five players capable of making the raid. He said, "Before the final boss spawns, how about we go in and test our teamwork?"

When it came back to discussing the dungeon raid, the two stopped teasing and nodded seriously. They told Melon-chan that they were here to break the dungeon record. Melon-chan's eyes sparkled, and she too wanted to achieve it at least once. She turned excitedly to the priest and said, "Zhu zhu, let's go try..."

"Zhu zhu..."

"Zhu zhu..."

"Zhu zhu..."

Sagittarius was stunned when he saw the female priest character. He walked over and waved his hand in front of her face but got no response.

The two leaders were used to this kind of situation. Gwenevere 28 said, "The real body must be in shock, so the system cut off the signal from the capsule device. That's why the character is stiff. Relax, they'll come back soon and ask for our autographs."

Melon-chan could understand the cause of the shock. Suddenly, three lords of the metropolis joined the party out of nowhere.

During the time when Zhu zhu almost fainted and was trying to regain composure in the real world before re-entering the game, now the army of tens of millions of "pure" players had approached the walls of Sirius, which had now become a fortress.

Blazing Knight, donned in the coolest armor, atop the coolest horse, rode back and forth in front of the army with the coolest riding posture, and in the coolest voice, rallied everyone.

"As everyone knows, dwarves are all weak! Just a siege by five lords with a force of a few million, and they were utterly defeated. But we have tens of millions, nearly ten times more than the battle at Seven Lakes! How could we lose?"

"Yeah!!!!" Of course, since they wouldn't die for real—at worst, they'd only drop items and lose a level—the players, all aiming for new items from the dwarves, were raring to go.

At this moment, Blazing Knight felt something arise in his heart, a feeling so overwhelming it made his blood surge!

Blazing Knight took a deep breath, filled his lungs, and looked up at the sky with exhilaration. He had led these players for only a few hours but had managed to evoke this feeling.

The feeling of being above everyone else!

Blazing Knight lowered his head and gazed at the fortress beneath the darkness with a stern look, thinking to himself.

If he could lead this massive army to conquer this iron fortress, then, at that time, be it fame, wealth, or power—forget small cities like Camelot of that blond girl who rode as skillfully as she ate—he would be able to create a great metropolis of his own, without relying on anyone!

Blazing Knight closed his eyes and spread his arms wide, embracing the powerful sensation of authority willingly and ecstatically.

Meanwhile...

Creak... The sound of gears turning as the cannon barrel on the fortress slowly moved in the night's darkness.

Blazing Knight opened his eyes, pointed to the fortress wall, and shouted at the top of his lungs, "Attackkkkk!!!!"

The power to command an army of tens of millions of players was indeed second to none.

But this feeling didn't last long.

Before the players could shout and charge forward...

Boom!!!

Whether it was the coolest armor, the coolest horse, the coolest riding style, or the coolest voice, everything dissipated into thin air.

If someone had even a little knowledge of tactics, they would've told Blazing Knight beforehand that if you're going to attack a city at night, you should find a way for your side to see the enemy. Otherwise, you won't see the cannons aimed at you.