CHAPTER 60: CHAPTER 60: IMMUNITY SHIELD, NIGHT WALK IS OVERPOWERED!

[Oblivion: Where were you when this happened?]

Stark needed the location fast.

If he didn’t know where to go, he’d lose precious minutes.

Ghost was already dead, but she had more than enough lives to revive. That wasn’t the problem.

She would revive in the square of the [Ruined City].

That process would take around thirty minutes.

By then, who knew what SoulsGod’s team might pull?

’Unknown number of opponents. And they’ve got an item that stuns...’

Stark’s expression didn’t change. He wasn’t worried.

It didn’t matter how many they had, or what kind of items they used.

If they dared to pull this kind of stunt, he would kill them all.

Ghost and Starfall weren’t exactly his "friends."

They were closer to useful connections, people worth keeping alive for the future.

And of course, he didn’t any of the people close to him to be killed.

Ding!

[Starfall: Near the edge of the "Ruined City", I’m hiding behind a building, but I can hear them laughing.]

[Oblivion: Alright.]

"Go."

The spectral beast sprinted.

Its paws left faint trails of mist in the air, ignoring every monster that crossed its path. None of them mattered.

They didn’t slow. Not once.

And in less than half an hour, the jagged outline of the [First Ruined City] came into view.

Stark narrowed his eyes. Ghost would revive soon.

He knew her personality.

She would come back furious, filled with hatred, and she’d probably try to wipe them all out herself.

But even then, he couldn’t just sit back and let her handle it.

He had to be sure.

Fwiiiish!

The wind cut past his ears as he leaned forward, staff in hand, ready to unleash hell the instant he entered.

And then, he saw them.

A cluster of players, forty in total, standing in one of the broken squares near the barrier of the [First Ruined City].

Just like Starfall had said, they were laughing.

"We got Ghost!" one of them grinned. "Isn’t that good?"

"It is," SoulsGod nodded, his expression smug. "That means even the top players don’t stand a chance if we gang up on them."

Of course, they all knew the truth. Killing top players outright was impossible.

Ghost, Oblivion, others like them, they had too many lives to burn through.

But that didn’t matter to this crowd.

This wasn’t about winning permanently. It was about proving they could.

"Good thing you found that necklace, boss," a mage in the group smirked.

"Agreed," another added. "Ghost was terrifying. But with that thing..."

"Yeah, with it we stunned her like she was nothing."

"We should find her teammate though. That orange-haired mage!"

"No need." SoulsGod smirked wider. "She’ll come to us. Ghost values her teammates. She’ll show up again. And when she does..."

His voice lowered, a dark edge creeping into it.

"We’ll kill her again. And again. Until she’s out of lives and gone forever. That’s when we’ll dominate this game."

"YES!"

"Let’s go!"

"The [Souls] team is going strong!"

Creating a [Guild] require 5,000 Lives, which was far too expensive for anyone right now.

So groups like this were just "teams."

But forty members in a single team? That was no small feat.

For so many players to follow one man meant they trusted him.

Or maybe they were just greedy, wanting to leech power from him.

Either way, it was impressive.

"Once we confirm our strength," SoulsGod raised his fist high, "we’ll even get rid of Oblivion too!"

His team roared in agreement.

SoulsGod smirked. He hadn’t even met Oblivion, and yet the hatred in his voice was sharp, personal.

"And before he even realizes how outmatched he is, he’ll already be—"

CRACK!

SoulsGod didn’t have the time to finish his sentence.

Storm of Lightning!

Stark had arrived.

His [Ghost Wolf] charged into the city, and he cast the spell without hesitation.

The air burned. The entire area was lit up by streaks of white-blue lightning.

Zap! Zap! Zap!

-74,700! -74,700! -74,700! Blocked!

"GAHHHH—!"

"OBLIVION IS HERE!"

"SHIT!"

The players screamed, but it was already too late.

Thirty-nine of them evaporated on the spot, their health bars shredded to zero in an instant.

The only survivor stood at the center of the square: SoulsGod.

"Haha!" SoulsGod didn’t flinch. His grin widened. "Perfect! He came himself! Now I can test it earlier than expected!"

A faint glow surrounded him.

A shimmering barrier of light, the unmistakable shimmer of an [Immunity Shield].

That was why he survived.

[Immunity Shields] could come from rare skills or items.

No matter how strong the attack, they blocked one strike completely.

"It’s my win," SoulsGod declared, raising his necklace high into the air.

The very necklace that stunned Ghost.

He pointed it forward, ready to activate its power.

But then—

"Huh?"

His smirk faded. He couldn’t see anyone.

"What the...? Where is he?"

The perk required line of sight. That was how they stunned Ghost before.

He had to target someone directly.

But Oblivion? He wasn’t anywhere.

SoulsGod’s eyes darted left and right. Panic began to crawl up his spine.

And then—

Fire Meteor!

A blazing inferno appeared in the sky.

A colossal meteor ignited, descending directly toward him.

"DAMN IT!" SoulsGod roared, eyes going wide as he realized the attack too late, ’I can’t use my passive on this...!’

BOOM!

The explosion swallowed the square.

-93,375!

SoulsGod’s health bar hit zero instantly. His eyes widened in disbelief as he fell.

’Impossible...’

His final thought screamed in his skull.

Even with his sword, he couldn’t do more than 10,000 damage in one strike.

Yet Oblivion’s spell had almost hit ten times that.

How? How could a player already be this strong?

But he never got an answer.

And there, still mounted on the [Ghost Wolf], Stark appeared, calm and steady.

The reason SoulsGod couldn’t see him was simple.

The [Ghost Wolf]’s active skill: [Night Walk].

When activated, the rider and the wolf turned transparent to all others.

Stark could see everything clearly, but to everyone else, he wasn’t there.

SoulsGod never stood a chance.

’Perfect,’ Stark thought. ’But... I’m above 50 kills now, that means it’s about to happen.’

He dismounted from the ghost wolf and walked toward the corpse.

The bodies of the other players had already vanished.

Only SoulsGod remained, thanks to the five-second window.

Stark raised his staff.

Curse Flower!

He planted the flower directly on SoulsGod’s corpse.

Ding!

[The "Curse Flower" has been planted on "SoulsGod’s" corpse.]

[Curse Flower: 100 HP]

The bud rooted itself into the dead man’s chest.

Slowly, it began to pulse, draining faint sparks of life.

’Fifty lives isn’t much. Not enough to shake him. But... once I evolve [Curse Flower], this will get interesting.’

Thirty seconds later, the flower bloomed.

Its petals opened, and glowing particles rushed into Stark’s chest.

Ding!

[Your "Curse Flower" has taken 30 Lives from SoulsGod.]

That wasn’t all.

They were in the [Outskirts]. Which meant the [Lives Loss Rate] was 20.

Multiplying the numbers... In total, Stark gained 830 Lives from this battle alone.

’Not bad.’

But as he stood there victorious, the system’s weight pressed down on him.

He knew exactly what was about to happen.

Counting Max, Seren, the group from the [Shadow Forest] back in the novice town, the ambushers in the [Ruined City], and now these forty players

That was more than fifty players dead by his hands.

And that meant...

Ding!

[You have received the "Slayer I" status effect.]

"Here we go." Stark let out a quiet sigh.