Kalis's figure blurred into a streak of light, darting out of Galewind City's gates in the blink of an eye.
The forest path outside the city was dotted with a few player parties. Most of them were casual gamers with modest levels, gathered in small groups to leisurely hunt low-tier monsters. Laughter and chatter drifted through the air, carrying the carefree vibe of players who wanted nothing to do with the cutthroat competition elsewhere.
This peaceful, harmonious atmosphere was a world away from the tense, hostile grinding zones near the main cities. Even the elderly folks and children occasionally passing by wore relaxed, content smiles.
On the western outskirts of Galewind City, a clear stream meandered gently, spanned by a narrow wooden footbridge. Kalis stepped onto the bridge, ready to cross quickly, only to spot an NPC girl walking toward him from the other end.
She wore a flowing white dress, her arms filled with a bouquet of wildflowers. Her steps were as light as a deer bounding through the woods, and she hummed a melodious tune, her eyes crinkling into crescent moons—like an elf who'd wandered down from the heavens.
This fairy-tale scene was so charming that even Kalis, who'd been rushing nonstop, slowed his pace. A faint smile tugged at his lips, and the fatigue and tension from hours of monster grinding melted away a little.
But just as they were about to pass each other, disaster struck. Even though the bridge was perfectly flat, the girl suddenly lost her balance with a comical splat, tumbling to the ground hard.
"Ow! I fell over!"
Kalis: Huh? How do you trip on perfectly flat ground?
The girl's clear voice shot up an octave. Then, in a move that left Kalis utterly dumbfounded, she lunged forward with lightning speed, wrapping her arms tightly around one of his legs and yelling at the top of her lungs. "Help! An adventurer attacked me on purpose! Someone come quick! He's bullying an underage girl!"
Kalis: What the actual hell?
He stared down at the girl clinging to his thigh, her eyes streaming with fake tears, and his face twisted into pure disbelief. "What is this? A setup?"
To make matters worse, even as she wailed dramatically, her bright, clever eyes were darting around; there wasn't a single trace of genuine distress on her face.
"Let go," Kalis said flatly, annoyed.
"Waaah! You knocked me over! You have to pay for damages!" The girl clamped down harder on his leg, her voice loud enough to draw the attention of every player within earshot. "No 1,000 gold coins, no leaving this bridge!"
"Are you kidding me? This is straight-up NPC extortion!"
Kalis was utterly flabbergasted. He'd been playing games for years, killed Mythic BOSSes, survived death-defying dungeons, but this was his first time getting shaken down by an NPC!
He glanced at her character info panel out of habit:
[Denise]
Level: 73
HP: 272,400/272,400
Spell Attack: 910
Physical Defense: 45
Magic Defense: 60
Skills: Wind Slash, Wind Barrier, Levitation, Mini Tornado
Level 73, with stats that matched an Epic BOSS? This wasn't some delicate young girl—this was a ruthless con artist playing the damsel in distress!
"1,000 gold coins? Why don't you just rob a bank while you're at it!" Kalis scoffed, half-amused, half-irritated.
"Hmph! A beautiful maiden like me would never stoop to being a bandit!" Denise retorted indignantly. But her thin arms were surprisingly strong; no matter how hard Kalis tried to yank his leg free, she held on like a vice. "Quit stalling! Pay up, or I'll report you to the city guards!"
Her shamelessness lit a fuse under Kalis's short temper.
"Really? I get to deal with NPC shakedowns now?" He let out a cold laugh, a dangerous glint flickering in his eyes. "You won't let go? Fine. Today, you're gonna learn what a natural-disaster-tier Mage can do!"
She was just an NPC, for crying out loud! So what if she was pretty? Did she really think she could push Kalis around?
"[Meteor Descend]!"
His icy chant rang out as he began channeling the Legendary skill without a second's hesitation.
As a high-tier forbidden spell requiring a 10-second cast time, Meteor Descend's power was nothing short of cataclysmic once unleashed. As the incantation flowed from his lips, blazing stellar fire elements swirled violently.
The once-clear sky darkened abruptly, and a massive, blood-red ball of flame emerged from the clouds, radiating a soul-crushing aura of pressure.
"W-What are you doing? Is that… is that—!"
Denise was a Wind Mage herself, well-versed in the ways of high-tier magic. She recognized the terrifying energy signature instantly, her face draining of all color. Her grip on Kalis's leg loosened a little, and she scrambled to backtrack. "Wait, let's talk this out! No need to whip out forbidden spells over this! Think 1,000 gold is too steep? We can negotiate!"
"Let go."
Kalis's voice was cold as ice. The cast timer had 5 seconds left.
The outline of the blood-red meteor grew clearer by the second,
and waves of searing heat rolled outward, warping the air around them.
"500! 500 gold coins, take it or leave it!" Denise was on the verge of tears now, clinging to his leg for dear life as she made one last desperate bid to haggle.
Cast timer: 2 seconds.
The meteor hung in the sky, fully charged, its overwhelming aura sending waves of panic through the players along the riverbank. They all turned to stare at the source of the pressure, their faces draining of color.
"You're done for."
Kalis's voice was a low growl.
"NO NO NO! I'm not extorting you anymore, okay?!"
Denise was scared out of her wits. She didn't dare bargain another word, scrambling to release his leg and scurrying to the side, tripping over her own dress in her haste.
Almost the exact moment she let go, Kalis finished his chant.
Taking pity on her for backing down when she did, Kalis flicked his wrist, redirecting the spell's target from Denise to a giant hare nibbling on grass by the riverbank not far away.
It was just a harmless-looking low-tier monster:
[Giant Hare]
Level: 5
HP: 340/340
Skills: None
"BOOM——!!!"
The light from the sky dimmed to near-darkness in an instant. A colossal, blood-red meteor materialized overhead, then came crashing down toward the ground with the force of a world-ending cataclysm!
"Is that… a meteor?!"
Denise had just scrambled to her feet. When she looked up and saw the size of the meteor, her eyes went wide as saucers.
As a Wind Mage, she'd seen her fair share of high-tier spells—but this meteor was six times the size of a normal Meteor spell, and the fiery energy radiating from it made her soul tremble.
The players grinding outside Galewind City were jolted out of their leisure by the earth-shaking commotion. Parties that had been casually hunting monsters froze mid-attack, turning to gape at the source of the pressure. The carefree smiles on their faces vanished instantly, replaced by pure shock.
"What the hell is that? A rock?"
"No way! That's a meteor!"
"OH CRAP! RUN! We'll all be turned to ash if that hits us!"
The players closest to the impact zone were paralyzed by the suffocating aura of the spell. They didn't dare linger for a second, breaking into a mad dash away from the riverbank.
The meteor tore through the air, trailing brilliant flames in its wake.
Then—
BOOM!!!
The deafening explosion boomed like a clap of thunder, sending shockwaves rippling outward in all directions.
The walls of Galewind City trembled violently from the force of the blast, and the windowpanes of the buildings inside rattled loudly. Even the river's gentle current was churned into half-meter-high waves.
Players near the impact zone were thrown off their feet by the shockwave, and a few unlucky souls were sent flying through the air.
The meteor slammed into the grassy riverbank, gouging out a massive crater in the earth.
The circular shockwave surged outward like an invisible wall of force, uprooting shrubs and sending stones flying several meters away. The violent power didn't dissipate until it had spread 180 meters in all directions.
The entire affected area was bigger than a football field.
"Squeak——!"
A faint, terrified squeal cut through the roar of the explosion, then fell silent just as quickly. The giant hare that had been peacefully munching grass hadn't even had time to react before it was incinerated by the meteor's flames and shockwave, leaving not a single speck of ash behind.
-162,999,999
A horrifying nine-digit damage number floated slowly upward from the center of the crater, glowing like a bloodstain against the dim sky. Within the 180-meter splash radius, countless damage numbers in the tens of millions popped up like raindrops. Every low-tier monster wandering along the riverbank was wiped out instantly, leaving no corpses behind.
"Holy shit… what kind of power is that? Is it some kind of natural event in the game?" A player hiding behind a distant tree peeked out, his voice trembling.
"I thought I was gonna die! If I'd been a second slower, that shockwave would've turned me into paste! What the hell was that?!" Another player collapsed onto the ground, clutching his chest and gasping for breath, his face pale with lingering fear.
"Waaaah! My cute little bunny… it got turned to dust!" Some of the casual players stared at the empty riverbank, their eyes reddening with genuine sorrow.
The players outside the city stood rooted to the spot, gawking at the utterly devastated area, their breaths coming in careful, shallow gasps.
As the meteor's flames slowly died down and the thick smoke settled, Kalis stared in awe at the massive crater that had been carved into the earth—five meters deep, with wisps of smoke curling up from the charred bottom, the surrounding ground cracked and parched from the heat.
"It can actually alter the game's environment…" A flicker of surprise crossed Kalis's face.
"That's insane…" He muttered to himself, i
nstantly realizing that this cataclysmic display was the result of his Ultimate Amplification talent stacking with his sky-high Spell Attack.
The game's self-repair mechanism kicked in almost immediately, the edges of the crater began to shift and squirm, and grass and soil regrew at a visible rate. But the sheer shock of what had happened lingered, sending chills down everyone's spines.
"You… you scared me half to death! You owe me… compensation!"
Denise's voice came out in a shaky stutter, her face as white as a sheet, clearly terrified out of her wits by the spell's power. She blurted out her usual demand for money, then clamped her mouth shut in horror the second the words left her lips, waving her hands frantically. "I-I didn't mean that! It just slipped out! Force of habit!"
Kalis glared at her, lightning crackling at his fingertips, ready to hit her with a Lightning Bolt for good measure. But seeing how thoroughly cowed she was, he thought better of it.
"Move out of the way," he snapped, turning to leave.
"Toll! You need to pay a toll to cross—mmph!" Denise's extortionist instincts kicked in again, but she clamped her hand over her mouth mid-sentence, her eyes wide with fear as she stared at Kalis's retreating back.
"Nutcase," Kalis muttered under his breath, rolling his eyes as he strode away toward Boulder Town, too annoyed to waste another second on the eccentric NPC girl.
"Stupid adventurer!" Denise glared at his back, resentment written all over her face, then snuck a nervous glance at the slowly regenerating crater in the distance.
She picked up the wildflowers she'd dropped, brushed the dust off her dress, sniffled, and wiped her eyes—quickly reverting to her innocent, doe-eyed maiden persona. She hummed her tune again, skipping lightly down the path as if nothing had happened.
A short while later, a Level 39 female player also exited Galewind City's gates, taking the same path and crossing the narrow wooden bridge slowly.