The two Elite infected were nothing more than corpses on the ground, their massive frames cleaved apart like paper under Tony's greatsword. The three women watched the scene unfold, each with vastly different expressions.
Jiang Yu's lips barely moved as she muttered under her breath, her voice trembling just enough for only her to hear. "So this is the man they call the future Demon King…" A ripple of awe surged through her chest, her mind reeling at the sheer disparity in power.
Wu Qianqian, on the other hand, stood frozen for a long moment, mouth slightly agape. She had always known Tony was strong—after all, you didn't casually snag several first-clear achievements without terrifying strength—but this? This was on a level she couldn't have imagined. Shock gave way to exhilaration, her pulse racing. With a boss like this carrying them, clearing this dungeon and ranking up was as good as guaranteed.
Yuqing remained the calmest of the three. In her eyes, Tony had always been a war god capable of anything. Two Elite kills? That was barely a warm-up.
As for Stone Irons… well, he was still busy getting pounded into the dirt by the remaining infected.
With a single sweeping arc of his greatsword, Tony carved through the surrounding monsters, slicing them clean in half. A circle of cleared space opened around him, the battlefield momentarily silent. Then, as if nothing had happened, he casually slung his sword over his shoulder and returned to his usual relaxed posture.
"Let's keep moving," he said simply.
"Y-Yeah!" The three women snapped to attention, nodding furiously and throwing themselves back into motion.
When Stone was finally freed and heard about Tony's feat, he had no words, only silence. The unspoken understanding hung in the air: they were all passengers on this ride, and Tony was the engine pulling them through hell.
Spurred by a mix of motivation and pride, their pace quickened drastically. None of them wanted to be dead weight, not when their powerhouse teammate could have cleared this dungeon alone if he wasn't slowing down for their sake. Even Yuqing, the weakest of them, gritted her teeth and poured everything she had into the fight. Stone and Jiang Yu, with their S- and SS-ranked talents, couldn't stomach the thought of being liabilities.
Watching them push harder, Tony's brow furrowed. This was only the first dungeon. If they burned out their energy here, what would happen later? He sighed inwardly, deciding to stop holding back entirely. Occasionally, he stepped in, his sword flashing to erase the toughest enemies in a single blow, easing the burden on his teammates.
By now, Tony had gotten a solid read on all four of them. None were difficult to get along with. Each had talents that could prove useful in future raids. It wouldn't hurt to keep them in his party for a while—at least until they couldn't keep up anymore.
With Tony occasionally stepping in, the battle flow changed. The women adjusted immediately, saving their skills and relying more on gunfire. Ammunition ticked down quickly, but they were making progress fast. The frenzied slaughter carried them forward until, finally, their target loomed ahead.
The ground shook under the grotesque bulk of the virus source—the dungeon's final boss. A mountainous mass of pulsating flesh and twisted limbs stood three stories tall, looming over them like a nightmare made real.
"Holy crap…" Yuqing whispered, face pale as she took in its sheer size.
Wu Qianqian tilted her head, completely unfazed. "That thing's… hideous," she said with a mix of disgust and fascination.
Ordinary infected still bore remnants of humanity. Even the Elites looked like oversized, muscle-bound mutants. But this? This was an abomination beyond reason, a living mound of blood and sinew. Just standing before it made the air feel heavier, more oppressive.
"Clear the ads first," Tony instructed, voice cool as ever, unfazed by the boss's grotesque size.
Around the virus source, dozens of normal infected shuffled and hissed, while seven or eight Elites prowled nearby like bodyguards.
Stone swallowed hard. If all those Elites swarmed him at once, not even his SS-ranked defenses would save him from being turned into a meat patty. This was a team dungeon for a reason—one tank couldn't shoulder everything alone. With Jiang Yu boosting his defenses and slowing the enemy, combined with everyone else's firepower, they might manage. But with Yuqing being weaker and Tony often standing by…
"I'll step in when needed," Tony said, as if reading Stone's unspoken worry. There was no point holding back at the final boss. They'd already secured enough contributions for the team to get a good evaluation.
With Tony finally unleashing his full strength, the battlefield became a slaughterhouse. Normal infected evaporated under his blade, Elites were split in two before they could take a swing. Even Stone, supposedly the team's front-liner, found himself oddly redundant, barely feeling any pressure at all.
Within minutes, the area was silent. Only the towering boss remained.
The virus source didn't react to its minions dying, not even when Stone used his talent to draw aggro. It stood still, twitching occasionally, as if it couldn't be bothered.
Bang! Wu Qianqian's rifle cracked, boosted by Jiang Yu's Absolute Edict, the bullet slamming into the boss's head and carving out a hole the size of a basketball. A fatal shot against any other foe. Yet before their eyes, the wound knitted itself closed, sealing entirely in less than a minute.
"What the hell… its regeneration's insane," Wu Qianqian muttered in disbelief.
"It's pouring all its stats into vitality and recovery," Yuqing observed, voice tight but steady. "Its defenses are garbage, though."
Tony nodded. Constitution affected defense, healing rate, and health pool. Normally, these grew together. His own stats had no glaring weaknesses. But certain talents could skew the balance. Stone's SS-ranked defensive talent, for instance, made his protection absurdly high without sacrificing health or regeneration.
The virus source, on the other hand, was flawed. It had sacrificed all other aspects of Constitution for obscene recovery and life force, leaving its defenses paper-thin.
"Time to test its attack pattern," Tony said, vanishing from sight. In a blink, he was right under the boss's shadow.
The fleshy titan stirred for the first time, a bloated arm rising high before slamming down with an earth-shaking BOOM! The ground caved in, rubble spraying outward like shrapnel.
Tony's calm voice came from several meters away, completely unharmed. "Fast strike speed. Don't get greedy or you'll eat a hit."
Another massive hand came down. This time Tony didn't dodge. His greatsword flared, meeting the impact head-on. The clash sent a shockwave tearing through the area, and the boss howled as Tony's blade carved a chunk of flesh from its palm, severing part of the hand entirely. The monstrous blow that could have pulverized a tank barely made Tony's arms tremble.
"Tell me again who's the real boss here…" Jiang Yu muttered, wide-eyed.
Moments later, Tony had its stats mapped out in his mind. Strength: 720. Agility: 650. Constitution: 850. Spirit: 250. Terrifying on paper, but flawed.
"No ranged attacks, no defense, just speed, power, and regen," he concluded aloud.
Wu Qianqian smirked, pulling the bolt on her rifle. "So it's a giant bullet sponge. We can just kite it to death."
"Not quite," Yuqing warned. "It probably has a call ability. Bring enough noise and we'll have the entire city's infected coming down on us."
Wu Qianqian blinked out and reappeared seconds later, pale as a ghost. "She's right… they're coming. Thousands of them. Maybe every damn infected in Morsea."
The thought made everyone's throats dry. No wonder no one had first-cleared this dungeon yet—not even the top teams worldwide. The only first-tier clear had been on Easy mode by Sakura Nation's Amaterasu squad, and even then, it was a one-off feat. No one had repeated it since. Easy mode's rewards were pitiful compared to Normal difficulty, too poor for the strongest Awakened to bother with. The lack of Normal clears was a stain on Blue Star's pride.
Tony's expression didn't change as he raised his sword, its edge glinting menacingly. "Then let's end this fast. Normal mode's first clear? It's ours."
Minutes later, with a final earth-shattering blow, the virus source collapsed in a heap of twitching flesh, its life force extinguished once and for all.
A clear, mechanical chime echoed in every team member's ears:
[Ding! Congratulations! Normal Difficulty – First-Tier Dungeon: First Clear Achieved!]