The Girls' Dormitory was no longer a building. It was a tomb wrapped in silk.
Under the pale moonlight, the five-story structure looked like it had been shrink-wrapped. Thick, white webbing covered every window and door, pulsing rhythmically as if the building itself was breathing.
"Use the shadows," Bhy Khay whispered, crouching behind a broken statue in the courtyard.
He activated the [Ring of the Void Walker].
His body dissolved into black smoke for a second, then reformed three meters ahead, bypassing a tripwire made of nearly invisible silk.
Elara followed, stepping carefully where he stepped. She gripped her goblin shank so hard her knuckles were white. "This is insane. We're walking into a nest."
"We're walking into a raid," Bhy Khay corrected. "Stay close. If you touch a web, the vibration alerts everything inside."
He activated [Sovereign Eyes].
The world turned into wireframe grids. To anyone else, the dormitory entrance was a dark, gaping maw. To Bhy Khay, it was a minefield of red data streams.
[TRAP: VIBRATION SENSOR WEB (Lvl 3)]
[TRIGGER: < 5 grams of pressure]
[CONSEQUENCE: SWARM ALERT]
"Stop," Bhy Khay hissed, holding up a hand. Elara froze mid-step.
A single, thin thread of silk was stretched across the hallway in front of them, invisible in the dark.
Bhy Khay pointed at it. "Tripwire. Crouch."
They ducked under it, moving deeper into the lobby.
The smell hit them first. Rotting meat and ammonia.
The lobby, once a place for students to hang out, was a nightmare. Cocoons hung from the ceiling like grotesque ornaments. Some of them were small—cats or dogs. Others were large. Human-sized.
Elara gagged, covering her mouth. She stared at a cocoon that was still twitching.
"Don't look up," Bhy Khay ordered, his voice devoid of emotion. "They're dead. Focus on the living."
"How can you be so... unfeeling?" Elara whispered, tears pricking her eyes. "Those were my friends, Bhy Khay."
"And if you cry, you'll join them," Bhy Khay said. He wasn't being cruel; he was being efficient. Panic was a debuff he couldn't afford.
He scanned the floor. The elevator shaft was pryed open. Thick webs spiraled down into the darkness of the basement.
[BOSS ZONE DETECTED]
[TARGET: ARACHNE BROODMOTHER (Lvl 5)]
[HP: 2500/2500]
[WARNING: LEVEL GAP > 3. DANGER: FATAL.]
"She's downstairs," Bhy Khay said. "The boiler room."
"A Level 5 boss?" Elara looked at her own stats. [Level 2]. "We can't kill that. It has ten times our health!"
"Bosses aren't just stats, Elara. They're mechanics." Bhy Khay pointed to the sprinkler system on the ceiling. "And mechanics can be broken."
The basement was hot. The boilers were still running, filling the room with steam and noise. This was their advantage—the sound masked their footsteps.
In the center of the room, suspending herself above the massive boilers, was the Broodmother.
She was hideous. A spider the size of a minivan, with a chitinous armored torso and eight legs tipped with razor-sharp spikes. Her abdomen pulsed with a sickly green light.
Around her, dozens of smaller spiders—Hatchlings (Lvl 1)—scuttled over the pipes.
"Here's the plan," Bhy Khay whispered, pulling Elara behind a generator.
He pointed to the main water pipe running directly above the Broodmother. It was old, rusted, and vibrating with pressure.
"I'm going to teleport up there and cut the pressure valve," Bhy Khay explained. "The steam explosion will scald her. While she's stunned, you cast [Freeze] on the water pooling on the floor."
"To trap her?" Elara asked.
"To ground her," Bhy Khay said. "Spiders are fast. If we take away her mobility, she's just a big target."
"What about the hatchlings?" Elara asked, eyeing the swarm.
"That's why I brought the last Frost Bomb." Bhy Khay handed her the bottle. "Don't miss."
"Ready?"
Elara took a deep breath. She looked at the monster, then at Bhy Khay. The fear was fading, replaced by the cold focus of a gamer. "Ready."
Bhy Khay touched his ring.
[SKILL: SHADOW STEP]
ZOOP.
He vanished.
He reappeared five meters in the air, crouching precariously on the rusted water pipe directly above the boss.
The Broodmother didn't notice him. Her eight eyes were scanning the floor.
Bhy Khay drew his goblin dagger. He didn't attack the spider. He attacked the environment.
[TARGET: PRESSURE VALVE (Rusted)]
[DURABILITY: 5/100]
[ACTION: DESTROY]
He stabbed the valve.
CLANG.
The metal sheared off.
HISSSSSS!
A jet of superheated steam exploded downward with the force of a cannon. It slammed directly into the Broodmother's back.
"SKREEEEE!"
The beast shrieked, thrashing wildly as the boiling steam cooked its armor. The hatchlings nearby were instantly boiled alive.
"NOW!" Bhy Khay shouted, dropping from the pipe.
Elara stepped out from cover. She didn't hesitate. She threw the Frost Bomb at the floor beneath the spider, where the condensed water was pooling.
CRASH.
"[FLASH FREEZE]!" she screamed, channeling all her mana into the spell.
The puddle of boiling water instantly turned into a sheet of jagged ice. The Broodmother's legs, thrashing in the water, were caught. The ice froze around her limbs, cementing her to the floor.
[STATUS EFFECT APPLIED: ROOTED (10s)]
[STATUS EFFECT APPLIED: ARMOR BREAK (Steam)]
Bhy Khay landed on the ground, rolling to absorb the impact.
"Hit the eyes!" he commanded.
Elara raised her hands. "[Ice Shard]!"
Three spikes of ice flew through the air, embedding themselves in the Broodmother's cluster of eyes.
[CRITICAL HIT!]
[-150 HP]
The boss roared, spitting a stream of green venom at Elara.
"Move!" Bhy Khay shoved Elara aside. The venom hit the concrete wall, dissolving it instantly.
"My mana is out!" Elara shouted, panting. "I can't cast!"
The Broodmother was breaking free. The ice around her legs was cracking. [ROOTED: 3s remaining].
She had 2000 HP left. They hadn't done enough.
"She's going to break loose!" Elara cried.
Bhy Khay looked at the boss. He looked at the code floating above her head.
[BOSS MECHANIC: ENRAGE MODE (Triggered at <50% HP)]
[CURRENT STATE: PANIC]
"I need to get closer," Bhy Khay realized.
"Are you crazy?" Elara grabbed his arm. "She'll eat you!"
"Trust me."
Bhy Khay shook her off and sprinted toward the boss.
The Broodmother saw him. She raised her two front legs, ready to impale him the moment the ice broke.
Bhy Khay didn't stop. He ran straight at her gaping maw.
Just as the spear-like leg came down to skewer him—
[SKILL: SHADOW STEP]
ZOOP.
He vanished.
The leg smashed into the concrete where he had been standing.
Bhy Khay reappeared on top of the Broodmother's head.
He grabbed the hilt of the goblin dagger with both hands. He didn't aim for the eyes. He aimed for the glowing green spot on the back of her neck—the exact spot the System had highlighted as a [GLITCH].
[ADMIN ACCESS: EXPLOIT WEAKNESS]
[MODIFY DAMAGE VALUE: CRITICAL x 5]
"System," Bhy Khay gritted his teeth, driving the blade down. "DELETE."
SQUELCH.
The dagger sank to the hilt.
For a second, nothing happened.
Then, the Broodmother went rigid. The green light in her abdomen turned a violent, unstable red.
[FATAL ERROR.]
[BOSS HP: 0/2500]
The giant spider collapsed, its legs curling inward. Bhy Khay leaped off the carcass just as it dissolved into a massive pile of data particles.
[CONGRATULATIONS!]
[RAID COMPLETE.]
[LEVEL UP! (2 -> 4)]
[Elara Vance LEVEL UP! (2 -> 3)]
Bhy Khay hit the floor, breathing hard. His stamina bar was blinking red. Using the Admin privilege drained him physically.
The silence returned to the basement.
"We... we did it," Elara whispered, staring at the empty space where the monster had been. She looked at Bhy Khay with a mix of terror and adoration. "You killed a Level 5 Boss."
Bhy Khay didn't celebrate. He walked to the center of the room where the loot was glowing.
There were three items.
* [Broodmother's Fang (Dagger - Rare)]
* [Silk Robe (Armor - Rare)]
* [GUILD CREATION TOKEN (Unique)]
He picked up the Token. It was a golden coin, heavy and warm.
"The Kingdom," Bhy Khay said, clutching the coin. "Now we build the Kingdom."
Suddenly, his phone buzzed.
>> SYSTEM ALERT: SERVER WIDE ANNOUNCEMENT.
>> PLAYER "BHY KHAY" HAS ACHIEVED "FIRST BOSS KILL".
>> REWARD: GLOBAL REPUTATION +100.
>> WARNING: PLAYER LOCATION EXPOSED FOR 1 HOUR.
Bhy Khay froze.
"Exposed?" Elara asked, looking at his phone.
Above the dormitory, a massive red beam of light shot into the sky, marking their exact location for every player and monster in the city to see.
[EVENT: THE HUNT]
[OBJECTIVE: KILL THE SOVEREIGN. STEAL THE TOKEN.]
Bhy Khay looked at Elara.
"We have to move," he said, equipping the new dagger. "Now."