After a wave of dizziness passed, Ryan's surroundings abruptly shifted. The dim glow of a cavern enveloped him—it was the beginner dungeon for human players: Blood Hollow.
You could enter at level 4, but the quests didn't unlock until level 5.
Ryan took a slow, steady walk across the cavern, eventually crossing a narrow stream and positioning himself far from the pack of monsters roaming the main area.
Nearby, a human NPC in a moss-green cloak crouched in hiding. Once a player hit level 5, they could pick up two dungeon quests from him—nothing major, just a bit of experience and pocket change. Of course, skipping them was perfectly fine. They weren't tied to the main questline out of the starting zone.
Up ahead, more than a dozen monsters roamed, moving in patrol formations. Occasionally, a group would stop, nestle quietly in some corner, and wait patiently for clueless players to wander into range.
Bloodfang Wolf
Level: 5
HP: 204
Type: Beast
Dreadfang Hellwolf
Level: 5
HP: 204
Type: Demon
Both types mingled freely, green-glowing eyes sweeping the cavern with idle malice.
Ryan unequipped every piece of gear and stuffed it all into his inventory. He now stood barefoot in nothing but the mandatory system-issued undergarments, scanning the scene intently, looking for an opening.
He was about to make a break for it.
As one patrol group rounded a bend and started lying down near a wall, Ryan dashed forward. He'd barely made it a few paces before catching the attention of a nearby patrol.
He didn't stop to engage. Instead, he kept sprinting deeper into the dungeon, as the wolves howled behind him.
More and more of them joined the chase. Their howls echoed through the cavern, drawing in other packs until dozens of squads had merged into a single furious current of snapping teeth and pounding paws, flowing right behind him like a tidal wave made of wolves.
Luckily, the game had one merciful setting: in beginner zones, monsters didn't move faster than players. Even in dungeons like this one. If they had, Ryan would've been torn to pieces within seconds, his body dumped unceremoniously in some dark corner.
Weaving left and right, Ryan deliberately pulled each patrol from their route, making sure to keep just over ten yards between himself and the pursuing pack. One slip, one misstep, and he'd be shredded.
The monsters in this dungeon followed a very specific rule: as long as the player they were chasing stayed alive, they wouldn't stop. Which meant that as Ryan kept aggroing more, the horde behind him grew. By now, it had swelled to over three hundred wolves.
And only a minute had passed since he'd started.
Inside a wide, empty hall, Ryan ran in loops, drawing the massive crowd together. One useful quirk of this dungeon was mob phasing—monsters could pass through each other without collision. Hundreds of wolves had now bunched up so tightly behind him, they were crammed into a space barely larger than a basketball court.
It was almost time.
Ryan burst out of the hall and continued onward, dragging the monster tide with him. More patrols spotted him as he went and quickly joined the stampede.
Left turn, then another. Step by step, he lured the nearly one thousand wolves toward a pool of dark water—the exact spot he had planned to reach from the very beginning.
With a splash, Ryan dove into the pool and swam with everything he had, heading straight for the far edge. Behind him, the pack of wolves screeched to a halt at the water's edge, growling but refusing to follow.
The pool was toxic. The moment Ryan entered it, a red debuff icon appeared on his screen.
—
Demon's Blood: Lose 20 HP every 3 seconds. Upon death, you become a demon.
—
That was the reason the wolves avoided the water. The beasts feared death, while the demon-type monsters considered the pool sacred—none of them would step into it lightly.
Ryan glanced at his steadily dropping health bar and grinned. The wolves were staying put. That was all that mattered. He swam deeper into the center of the pool.
Every so often, Ryan cast Radiant Light, fully restoring his HP. After three casts, he finally spotted what he was looking for.
The pool ended at a stone wall, but beneath the surface was a submerged tunnel—the only path to the final boss of Blood Hollow: Dreadfang Alpha Guderian.
Ryan dove and slipped into the narrow passage.
The tunnel was long. It would take a full minute to swim through it. After about thirty seconds underwater, Ryan's screen flashed again. Another debuff.
—
Asphyxiation: Caused by oxygen deprivation. Lose 5% of max HP per second.
—
Thankfully, being low level had its perks. With only 220 max HP, 5% per second didn't sting much. Three seconds of asphyxiation meant 33 damage. Add that to the 20 from Demon's Blood, and he was only losing 53 HP total.
A single Radiant Light restored 240 HP—more than enough.
At level 4, each cast now cost him 8 MP. But with 195 MP in total, Ryan had more than enough for over 20 casts, easily enough to swim the whole way through.
On top of that, his 16 Spirit stat regenerated 10 MP every five seconds outside of combat, so by the time he reached the other end, he'd be nearly full on mana again.
He cast Radiant Light after every two ticks of damage. By the time he cast his tenth, the tunnel's exit came into view.
He surfaced on the other side of the pool—and what greeted him was a towering black wolf, monstrous and imposing. The final boss of Blood Hollow.
—
Dreadfang Alpha Guderian
Level: 5
HP: 3120
Type: Demon
Lore: Once the loyal companion of a hunter, Guderian was transformed after consuming the blood of a demon that killed its master in battle.
—
The boss lay curled at the center of a massive stone chamber, fast asleep. Ryan pressed himself against the wall and crept to a safe corner.
A winding spiral staircase curved along the chamber walls—the escape route players used after taking down the boss. But for Ryan, that stairway would be his most critical tool in soloing this fight.
The steps spiraled upward to a platform over fifty yards high. At the very top was a glowing violet portal. Stepping into it would immediately exit the dungeon and place him back at the entrance to Blood Hollow.
Enchantment – Radiant Light.
Ryan activated his weapon enchant, coating his green longsword in a faint golden glow. The effect increased his attack damage by 10%.
Gripping the sword tightly, Ryan could hardly contain the thrill pounding in his chest.
'This is it.'
He would use this world's first green-tier weapon to slay the first dungeon boss and gain the first-ever Glorious Achievement.
With a roar, Ryan charged forward, sword swinging, just as the boss opened its burning eyes.