Caden Marlowe stared at the cascading stream of reports flooding his interface, his brow furrowed in grim calculation. His scouts—some of the best Assassins in the guild—were painting a terrifying picture of the surrounding wasteland.
"Massive swarm of Crimson Bats approaching from the southwest. Levels holding steady at 200. Numbers are off the charts."
"North side: The Rift Harbinger is closing in. I can feel the mental pressure from here. It’s too strong for a close-range recon; if I get any nearer, my brain will melt."
"Confirmed sighting of nearly two hundred 'Real' monsters converging on the territory."
"Undead horde spotted. They’re moving fast, less than fifty miles from the guild grounds. Sir, it looks like a high-level entity just triggered a Wraith-kin Calamity."
Caden cross-referenced the coordinates. Every report was verified. He had even ventured out personally for a quick look, nearly getting snagged by a sensory net in the process. The Skystrider Guild was barely ranked in the top hundred of Azure Prime—why the hell were they being targeted with this much firepower?
"We’ve got at least five or six hundred 'Real' monsters at our doorstep," Ash Valor remarked, his voice tight with disbelief as he reviewed the data. "They’re really rolling out the red carpet for us, aren't they?"
Ash shook his head, then a flicker of his usual opportunism returned. "Hey, if I rack up the kill counts on all these bosses, does that wipe my debt?"
Caden shot him a look. "You’re thinking about your tab now?"
"I have to! The interest on that debt is scarier than a level 200 bat swarm."
Ash wasn't just talking big. He had already slaughtered tens of thousands of mobs, catapulting a group of talented players up multiple levels in a single session. As long as his Mana held out, he was a one-man meat grinder. With his current range and AoE lethality, Ash Valor was effectively the apex predator of Azure Prime.
"Meteor Volley!"
Ash prepared to rain hell on the approaching vanguard, but he suddenly froze. His hands continued the mechanical motion of firing, but his eyes widened, tracking something the others couldn't see.
"What the hell… are they serious?"
Caden followed Ash’s gaze but saw nothing but the usual suspects. "What is it?"
"See those trash mobs? The ones that look like Abyssal Dreadworms?"
"Yeah, what about them?"
"They aren't worms," Ash muttered, his voice dropping an octave. "They’re using some high-level illusion or shapeshifting. Those 'mobs' are actually Steelspine Serpents in disguise."
If not for his Eye of Clarity, Ash would have fallen for the trap. Steelspine Serpents were notorious for their damage-reflect abilities. If he had unleashed a full-power AoE barrage on them, the reflected damage would have turned him into a pincushion instantly.
"Dirty bastards," Ash hissed. "They aren't just sending a wave; they’re trying to bait me into killing myself."
"Keep it cool, Ash," Caden whispered. "Act like you haven't noticed. Let them get closer."
Ash nodded, maintaining his rhythm and firing off standard volleys to maintain the facade. "Don’t worry. None of them are getting away. Ninety-eight Steelspine Serpents, all of them Boss-tier. They want to play dirty? I’ll bury them."
He began tagging targets, his mental reticle locking onto the eyes of ten serpents at once. He was sitting on five million points of raw attack power; once they hit his kill zone, it wouldn't matter what they were disguised as.
This wasn't just a random beast tide. Someone—something—was coordinating this. And a monster horde with a brain was infinitely more dangerous than a mindless one.
"Ash, I can’t stay inside the walls," Caden said, his posture shifting into a combat stance. "There’s a commander out there. I need to find it and put a blade through its throat." He turned to the side. "Vera Laine, get over here. I’m handing the siege defense over to you."
It was a massive responsibility—leading a ten-thousand-man defense—but Caden didn't hesitate. He trusted her.
"I won't let you down," Vera replied, her expression hardening.
"Nina, Cole, Grant—pull back," Caden barked into the team comms. "Stop the scouting. If you get cornered, use your Displacement Talismans immediately."
Caden dropped from the main raid group and joined Ash’s private party to synchronize their buffs. He glanced at Ash's level. "Your leveling efficiency is insane. You’ve already pushed the core team to Level 100?"
He felt a pang of nostalgia. He had seen so many players rise and fall, but this new batch was growing at a rate that defied logic.
"Just watch," Ash grinned. "I’m about to bag a hundred bosses. Everyone’s about to jump a few more levels."
[The Steelspine Rex, LV 180, HP: 58.36 Million]
With five million attack power and an attack speed of 13 shots per second, Ash was a literal gatling gun. It took him exactly one second to delete a boss. Even without factoring in Crushing Blows or Death Strikes, the math was terminal for the serpents.
"They're in range. Nobody's going home today."
The Steelspine Serpents crossed the four-hundred-meter mark. They thought they were safe behind their illusions. They were wrong.
"Hope the loot is worth the arrow tax," Ash muttered. "Tenfold Shot—let’s go!"
He focused entirely on his precision, ensuring every arrow hit a vital point to bypass the reflect mechanics.
Crushing Blow.
Critical Strike.
Stun.
The combat log blurred into a white noise of notifications. In less than fifteen seconds, the threat was erased.
[Kill Count +1, War Merit +1, Agility +1, Gold +180,000, Contribution Points +900,000...]
[You have obtained: Glory Greaves (Epic)]
Ash’s gold reserves surged by nearly two million in a heartbeat. "God, I love boss farming."
"Dump the gear into the Guild Vault," Caden ordered. "We need our frontliners geared up now. Every Epic piece is another life saved."
Ash nodded. His four-hundred-million-gold debt was finally starting to look manageable. "Got a bunch of Epic Viper Galls and some Skill Tomes, too. I’ll tally the value later."
Nearby, the party members were basking in golden pillars of light as they leveled up repeatedly. Empowered by the massive XP dump, they threw themselves back into the city defense with renewed vigor, their new AoE skills lighting up the battlefield.
However, two miles out, the atmosphere shifted.
Four Abyssal Sentinels—monsters that usually only haunted the deepest Void Rifts—emerged from the treeline. They weren't the main threat; they were the honor guard. Behind them loomed an Abyssal Overlord.
"Damn it," Caden hissed, his eyes narrowing. "Ash’s intel didn't mention these guys. And that Overlord… it knows he can see through the illusions."
Cleaning out 98 bosses in seconds was a feat that should have turned the tide, but the pressure only intensified.
"I need higher level targets," Ash grumbled. He had only gained one level after an hour of grinding high-tier mobs because his XP curve was getting steep.
"The density is increasing," Vera reported over the comms. "Levels are climbing. Ellis, start cycling your Mana Potions now. Don't wait for the tank to go dry."
Ash pivoted, using his superior range to provide fire support across the entire defensive line. As long as the truly high-level bosses stayed back, the walls would hold.
Then, a private message from Caden popped up.
Caden: Ash, you need to get out here. Now.
Ash: What’s the problem?
Caden: A big one. Abyssal Spider Sovereign. Level 330.
Ash nearly choked. Level 330? A Sovereign-tier widow could summon endless waves of level 300 minions. If that thing reached the walls, it wouldn't just be the guild grounds that fell—Southhaven would be wiped off the map.
Ash: Send coordinates. Now.
A beast this powerful couldn't be allowed to reach the siege lines. It had to be put down in the field. Ash looked into the distance and saw it—a mountain of chitin and malice. Then, as he watched, the creature began to shrink, compressing its massive form into a smaller, more mobile shape.
Caden: Don't just rush in. Here’s the breakdown.
[Abyssal Spider Sovereign, LV 330, HP: 1 Billion]
"One billion HP," Ash whispered. "This has to be one of the strongest world bosses in Azure Prime."
Ash: Caden, how did we pull aggro on a Sovereign?
Caden: Who knows? I’m currently stealthed right next to it. It’s got massive Willpower, so it definitely knows I’m here, but it’s playing along for now. It’s probably waiting for reinforcements.
Abyssal Widows weren't known for speed. It knew Caden was there, but it couldn't catch a high-level Assassin easily.
Caden: We have to move. Use your Random Displacement Talismans to get outside the walls. Keep burning them until you land near my coordinates.
Ash: On my way. Don't die before I get there.
Twelve hundred million health was a tall order. Even with his buffs, Ash calculated he could do about eight hundred million damage with a full Skybreaker Sequence. Caden’s opening strike could do another two hundred million. It was going to be tight.
Caden: I’m going in. You have one minute to get here before my stealth goes on cooldown and she turns me into paste.
Ash: One minute? Caden, wait! What if the RNG on the teleports is bad?
Caden: Then I die. What else do you want me to say? These bosses don't wait for a convenient time to be murdered. Either we kill it now, or the guild is gone.
Ash didn't argue. He bought two hundred Displacement Talismans in a single transaction. "Screw it. I’m coming."
This was the only way. If they stayed behind the walls, they’d be ground down by attrition. They had to cut the head off the snake. Caden and Ash were the only two players with the raw burst damage to even attempt a feat like this—something even Evan Valor’s top teams would hesitate to do.
Ash began burning through talismans, flickering across the battlefield in a series of disorienting flashes.
Meanwhile, the Abyssal Spider Sovereign—now less than two meters tall—crawled forward. It could see the shimmer of a Phantom Veil directly in its path. It smiled inwardly. This human thought he was clever.
Wait, the Sovereign thought, why is he drawing his dagger? Why isn't he running?
Caden didn't give it time to wonder.
"Shadowstep. Strike!"
-210,000,000!
It was the single highest damage number Caden had ever produced—a hit that would have deleted a level 200 boss instantly.
"Impressive," the Sovereign hissed, its voice a skittering of mandibles. "For a low-level insect, you hit hard. I can track your movements, yet I cannot catch you... but your opening burst is spent. Now, you’re just annoying."
The spider's abdomen pulsed. "Do you know what my kind does to annoyances? Venom Nova!"
A three-hundred-meter ring of toxic green gas erupted from the Sovereign.
-20,356
-21,036
Caden’s health bar began to plummet.
"You won't last a minute," the Sovereign taunted. "You’re bleeding out, human."
"A minute is all I need," Caden spat, coughing as the poison hit his lungs.
"Such confidence. Tell me, why did you come here? A tiny guild like yours shouldn't have attracted my attention. You’re only dying because you've become... inconvenient."
Caden frowned, dodging a razor-sharp leg. "Inconvenient? To who?"
"The ones building the new world," the Sovereign laughed. "You destroyed a Void Corridor. You ruined someone's plans to become a Voidlord. You made powerful people look like fools."
"Voidlord?" Caden parried a strike. "What the hell are you talking about?"
"You Azure Prime cattle know so little. Every Void Corridor leads to a potential city-state. I was to be a Voidlord myself. Azure Prime is just another Tier 1 plane to be harvested. Even a 'Boss' like me is a bottom-feeder in the true Abyss. But once this world is conquered, I’ll have a stable income. I’ll be someone."
"So you're saying you're a loser back home, and you're taking it out on us?"
The Sovereign’s eyes glowed red. "Talk all you want. Your health is at thirty percent."
Caden burnt his last Instant Recovery Potion—a measly Silver-tier brew. He was running out of options. Ash, where the hell are you?
He vanished back into stealth as his health hit critical. Ten seconds. He had ten seconds of life left.
"I have to get one more hit in," Caden whispered. "Even if it kills me."
Just as he lunged, a golden aura flared around him. A Lifesteal Aura.
"Took you long enough!" Caden roared, slamming his daggers into the spider’s joints.
From the treeline, a voice thundered: "Skybreaker Sequence!"
A barrage of shimmering, light-speed arrows slammed into the Sovereign. The Lifesteal Aura synced with the massive damage output, instantly refilling Caden’s health bar to full.
The Sovereign didn't even have time to scream. Its one-billion-point health bar evaporated.
[Planar Broadcast: Caden Marlowe has slain the Abyssal Spider Sovereign! World First Kill: Rift Sovereign! Glory to the victor!]
[Azure Prime Global Buff: All Stats +20 for all players.]
[Skystrider Guild Buff: All Stats +100.]
Gold light exploded around the two men.
"Holy shit," Ash yelled, checking his stats. "I just jumped five levels! I'm Level 193!"
[Ding! Level 190 reached. All Stats +100. Attack Range +20m. Attack +19,000. Attack Speed +0.2.]
"I hit Level 3 in one go!" Caden laughed, leaning against his knees to catch his breath. "What dropped?"
"Two Epic weapons. High level stuff. No one can even equip these yet."
"I don't care," Caden grinned. "I’m taking half the loot value. It’s going straight toward your debt."
In Peerless City, the broadcast sent shockwaves through the player base.
"A Level 330 boss? Even Evan Valor hasn't touched something that high!"
"Who the hell is Caden Marlowe? Is he a sleeper top-tier?"
On the walls of Southhaven, Evan Valor stood frozen for a second before letting out a boisterous laugh. He opened the Plane Channel and typed three words:
[Evan Valor: Caden Marlowe, GOAT!!]
Orion, watching from the Skystrider command center, was in a state of shock. Caden? Was he always this strong, or was he hiding something?
He shook himself out of it. This was a recruitment opportunity of a lifetime. He quickly followed up on the Plane Channel:
[Orion: Caden Marlowe and The Skystrider Guild are now accepting applications. Join the legends!]