Silas watched the Swift Runner blur between the trees, his eyes narrowing as he calculated the math of the encounter. Thanks to the Shadow class bonus and the Agility boost from his Corrosive Dagger, his Agility sat at a staggering 34.
In the Lands of the Forsaken, stats didn't scale linearly. At 10 Agility, a human ran at 3 meters per second. At 34, Silas's resting speed was nearly 6 meters per second, and his full sprint reached a terrifying 18 meters per second. He wasn't just fast; he was a kinetic projectile.
"I can match the Runner," Silas noted. "It won't be able to escape me."
Ahead, the boss was toyed with a six-person party. At the front was a massive man bracing a low-tier kite shield against the Runner's serrated claws. It was Titan, the man currently ranked #2 on the Shell Town leaderboard. Behind him, five Hidden Class players were frantically firing spells and arrows, but the Swift Runner was living up to its name, it was a ghost, weaving through their projectiles with ease.
Titan, a Holy Shield Warrior, was the only thing keeping the team alive. His defense was 30% higher than any standard player, but even he was bleeding out. The Runner had already shredded half his HP, and the boss was still at 90% health.
"It's too fast!" their Archer yelled, his arrows thudding uselessly into tree trunks. "We can't pin it down!"
"Hold the line!" Titan roared, his voice steady despite the blood on his shield. "Wear it down. Even if we wipe, we'll come back and finish it!"
But Titan's optimism was misplaced. The forest was reacting.
[Polluter (Level 2)]
Rank: Common
Three more biomorphs emerged from the rotted undergrowth. They were humanoid, but covered in a thick, necrotic sludge. These were artillery units. They began hurling balls of toxic mud at Titan's backline.
Splat!
A ball of sludge hit a beautiful girl clutching a priest's staff square in the chest.
-32!
"Ugh, it reeks!" she cried out, the stench of decay nearly making her gag.
The situation turned critical. If the casters moved to dodge the sludge, they'd lose their line of sight on the Boss. If they stayed, the Polluters would slowly melt them. Titan was trapped; he couldn't leave his position to clear the snipers without letting the Swift Runner butcher his team.
Silas watched from the veil. He knew Titan.
In his previous life, Silas had been a Global Top 100 legend, even as a "Basic Warrior." Titan, despite having a superior Hidden Class, had been one of Silas's biggest admirers. They had eventually become partners, Titan representing the Aurelian Republic's official government interests, while Silas provided the high-tier loot his "God-Slayer" Guild unearthed.
"I don't need a guild this time," Silas thought. "But I do need a fence."
He needed someone to buy the gear he couldn't use. Titan was reliable, and the Federation he represented had the deepest pockets in the world.
"Time to leave an impression."
Silas moved like a breeze through the trees, appearing behind the first Polluter. The biomorph was busy winding up another mud-shot, completely unaware of the reaper at its back.
The Corrosive Dagger flashed, a cold streak of Isu-blue light that severed the creature's spinal column.
-441! (Weak Point Critical)
The Polluter didn't even have time to dissolve. It simply burst into a puddle of foul-smelling slime.
[You have slain 'Polluter (Level 2)'.]
[Gained 20 XP.]
[Gained 1 Evolution Point!]
[Gained 4 Days of Tradeable Lifespan.]
Silas didn't hesitate. He immediately activated Hand of Greed.
[Hand of Greed: Success!][Gained 4 Days of Tradeable Lifespan!]
"No bonus Evolution Point this time," he mused. "But common mobs are always a gamble."
Before the mud had even settled, Silas had reactivated Shadow Cloak and vanished back into the void.
"WHO DID THAT?!" Titan shouted, his eyes wide.
His team stood paralyzed. They had seen a blur of black, heard a wet crunch, and watched a Level 2 monster, one they would have needed ten seconds of concentrated fire to kill, get erased in a single heartbeat.
"A Level 2 vanished... in one hit?" Titan's shield lowered an inch in shock. "What the hell are we looking at?"