Chapter Ten: The Ultimate Dungeon—The Skeleton Cave

“What the hell is this place!” Li Ren turned his head, surveying his surroundings. “Wait, this hall… I feel like I’ve seen it somewhere before.”

He stood up and glanced around, and after a moment, his expression grew odd. “Isn’t this the Skeleton King’s throne? How did I end up sitting here?”

Because of his point of view, he hadn’t immediately realized exactly where he was.

“No, no, let me think. This can’t be the Skeleton King’s doing. He’d never let me sit in his chair, and I arrived here in such a bizarre way…”

As he was pondering this, a screen appeared before his eyes—one that displayed a series of buttons and a map. Li Ren was intimately familiar with this screen; it was almost identical to the character status panel players used to check their attributes.

He deftly tapped through the interface for a while, and finally pieced together where he truly was.

Once he understood the situation, he couldn’t help but burst out into wild laughter, his voice echoing throughout the vast hall, reverberating endlessly.

“Everyone, stay alert. There’s something strange about this place,” said a young man in the front, who looked every inch a warrior with a massive shield in hand, his tone tinged with worry.

This was a five-person party—five young heroes who had just stepped through the archmage’s teleportation portal. All of them were about level 31, obviously elite players at the cutting edge of leveling. The man at the front was a warrior, his armor glinting even in the dim cave light—clearly no ordinary gear. The golden spider emblems on his armor marked it unmistakably as the Spider Spindle Set, a rare drop from the Spider Nest, prized by defensive warriors everywhere.

“Come on, Shieldstar, don’t be so cautious. You’re fully decked out in top-tier tank gear—even the boss in the Spider Nest needs ages to bring you down. This is just the first opening of Ultimate Mode. No matter how hard it is, it’s still a level 30 dungeon. With our gear and strength, we can handle it. Who knows, we might even get some hidden loot. This is the very first Ultimate Dungeon, after all!”

The voice came from the back of the party—a mage robed in flame-red, fire magic swirling around his sleeves. He carried a blood-red staff, its tip set with a massive gem, clearly a top-quality item.

“All right, Magestar, enough talk. Shieldstar isn’t wrong; this place is odd. Everyone, stay sharp. It’s our first time in an Ultimate Dungeon—no one knows what might happen. Caution above all,” another spoke up.

Everyone responded in agreement. Magestar tightened his grip on his staff, falling into line behind the others as they proceeded forward with care.

“Fireblast!” “Valiant Strike!” “Blessing of Light!” “Volley!” “Bulwark of Valor!”—one skill after another was unleashed, and soon another skeleton soldier collapsed before them.

“This damned place. Even a lowly skeleton soldier is this tough. Feels like it’s nearly as hard as a Spider Guardian,” Magestar muttered, pulling out a blue potion and chugging it, his nearly empty mana slowly beginning to refill.

“No kidding, the monsters here are seriously tough. Good thing we brought plenty of supplies. According to the official map, we’ve already made it through most of the Skeleton Cave. Just a little further, and the next floor is the boss room. Stay on your toes, everyone—the loot in an Ultimate Dungeon has got to be incredible. First clears always drop rare gear!”

At these words, everyone’s spirits lifted. Not just anyone could set foot in an Ultimate Dungeon!

Their entry here had only been possible after completing a series of archmage-related quests, earning the right to attempt the dungeon once. In “Realm of the Gods,” dungeons and monsters of this type were the best sources for super-rare gear. Anything that dropped was sure to be valuable and exceedingly scarce.

Take, for example, the Lucky Scales that Sauron had recently acquired—an accessory granting such a high luck stat that he’d gained countless benefits, even securing a Guild Charter ahead of everyone else. Perhaps this Ultimate Dungeon run would net them something similar; a Guild Charter would be a true windfall.

“Healstar, how much holy water do you have left?” asked a swordsman, who seemed to be the party leader.

“I’ve got five bottles left. Haven’t used any yet—saving them for the boss.” The speaker, a slender fellow dressed in pure white robes, continued, “But Swordstar, do we really need to save all the holy water for the boss? Blue-grade items like this cost a fortune outside. Shouldn’t be necessary for a minor boss, right?”

“Just be ready when I say so,” Swordstar replied firmly. “As good as it is, it has to be used at the right time. We have to take down this boss.”

Though Healstar was reluctant, he wisely chose not to argue further.

In reality, the five of them belonged to a small gaming studio. As the main force driving progression, all available resources from the studio were poured into these five, hoping they could climb even higher and bring in rich profits.

Swordstar was the studio’s operations lead, commanding four other top players, each named after their role—Shield, Sword, Mage, Healer, Hunter—the Five Stars. Their team was fairly well-known among players, both for their skill and their resource backing, allowing them to keep pace with the very front-runners in the leveling race.

This Ultimate Dungeon was a high-stakes investment for them. If they completed the final step of this quest chain, the rewards alone would be enough to make many envious, catapulting them to the very top tier. But if they failed, the penalty was a full level’s loss—a heavy price.

With that prize in mind, all five were giving it their all.

“These guys are moving so slowly. I went to the trouble of herding most of the skeleton soldiers off to side corridors to face the wall—otherwise, there’s no way they would have made it this far,” Li Ren mused, sprawled casually on the throne, watching the Five Stars’ progress from every possible angle on the screen before him.

System restrictions prevented him from leaving the hall, but in his boredom, he made full use of his authority as the final boss, finally getting a taste of what it meant to be the hidden menace.

Watching the five players struggle with each skeleton soldier left him somewhat exasperated. With his sudden 500-point stat boost, their strength hardly impressed him anymore. The vast power gap made him impatient—eager to demonstrate his own might.

Observing them up close, Li Ren found himself recalling past experiences—those dreamlike games, those various teammates, the ones who had hurt him, the ones who had helped him, those he had loved, those who had abandoned him—all of it now fading with the passage of time.

With every new game came a new crowd, but he always faced it all alone, in silence, until the inevitable end.

Lost in memories, he was abruptly jolted back to reality as the screen before him vanished, scattering his tangled thoughts. He shook his head to clear them just as the great doors of the hall swung open.

“Phew, just a blade-and-shield skeleton soldier,” Swordstar breathed a sigh of relief. Seeing Li Ren’s current form, all five relaxed a little.

Blade-and-shield skeletons were on par with skeleton archers and skeleton mages. If it had been one of those two, either they’d have done no damage at all, or they’d have been wiped out, with no middle ground.

Skeleton archers and mages boasted powerful ranged and area attacks; one hit could wipe out most of their health. A single healer would never be enough.

Encountering a blade-and-shield skeleton was a stroke of luck. With their tank holding the front line and their healer supporting from behind, the others could pour on the damage. Even with high health and defense, the enemy would eventually fall.

At their current level, blade-and-shield skeletons didn’t have any overpowered skills—no threat of a party wipe—so the players were reassured when they saw Li Ren.

“Guess we can save the holy water for later—it’ll be more useful down the line,” Healstar muttered, still loath to part with his five bottles, and this time even Swordstar didn’t object.

Li Ren sat upright on the throne, putting on a show of composure while watching the Five Stars recover their statuses at the entrance. He waited patiently, his mind itching for action, envisioning the moment he could crush these five beneath his heel—the thrill of vengeance, fierce and blazing within him.

“Heh, seeing my appearance, you’re bound to underestimate me. But you’ll pay the price for that. Let me savor, at last, what it feels like to be the boss who torments players—driving them to the brink of agony, to the edge of life and death, begging for mercy yet denied both release and reprieve!”

Li Ren fantasized endlessly, already picturing countless scenes of the five being ruthlessly trounced—it was exhilarating!

With a roar, Shieldstar activated his full defensive stance and charged forward, shield raised high. The other four followed close behind. At last, Li Ren rose to his feet, blade and shield in hand.

The world was his.