After finishing their quiet talk, Zephyr and Velena finally parted ways. Both returned toward the Misty Palace dungeon with their guild members in tow. This time, they each chose the hard mode. As promised, Velena would take the first clear for this difficulty. Zephyr, keeping his word, deliberately waited until after Velena's group had entered before stepping forward with his own team.
When the Storm Life Guild and the Crimson Rose Guild once again headed into the dungeon, many players nearby couldn't hide their envy. But even as jealousy burned in their eyes, they still continued their own dungeon runs. At that moment, the dungeon portal changed its color. The shimmering gateway, which normally shifted depending on the chosen difficulty, now glowed a deep blue the mark of hard mode.
In Glory, each dungeon portal color represented its difficulty. Grey meant normal mode, yellow signified elite mode, blue meant hard mode, red stood for horror mode, purple marked nightmare mode, and black represented the highest challenge of all the king-level difficulty.
Now, as the portal before them shone with a blue light, the crowd erupted. Excited voices and heated gossip spread across the plaza like wildfire. Some players shouted in awe, thrilled to see the two strongest guilds daring to take on the hard mode so soon. Others whispered doubts, scoffing that Zephyr and Velena were arrogant for thinking they could climb so fast. "They cleared elite only once," some murmured. "Do they really think they'll also grab the first clear for hard mode? What if they fail?"
The spectacle stirred everyone. Whether cheering or doubting, no one could look away.
Even Grave mind, who had worn a calm and collected expression ever since Storm Life had announced their first clear of the elite mode, showed a flicker of unease. His face, normally controlled, shifted ever so slightly, betraying an unnatural tension.
This change came because of Rhine. Earlier, Rhine had explained everything he knew about Raen. Grave mind had listened carefully, and though he loathed to admit it, he could no longer brush Raen off as just another lucky player. Back when Raen cleared the Echoing Deep dungeon, Grave mind had assumed it was sheer luck or that Raen had stumbled on a loophole. He had dismissed the guides Raen uploaded to the forums as nothing more than simple compilations things any average player could have written down.
But after seeing it himself and also after Rhine spoke in detail about Raen and his methods, his control in combat, and his clever tactics Grave mind had grown uneasy. To make sure, he even revisited the Echoing Deep guides Raen had published. This time, he read them more carefully. And only then did he realize the truth, Raen wasn't just strong in battle, he was also an excellent strategist. Every note in those guides had been deliberate, every detail thought through. What Grave mind had once waved away as "easy" now looked like the work of someone with sharp foresight and deep understanding.
Now, watching the Storm Life Guild and the Crimson Rose Guild stride boldly into the hard mode of the Misty Palace, Grave mind clenched his jaw. In his heart, he could only pray that Raen had not given them the hard mode guide as well. Because if Rhine was right, and if these guilds had indeed been helped by Raen in clearing elite mode, then there was every chance they might succeed again.
Grave mind hated Raen with a passion. Yet even through his hatred, he could not deny the truth. Rhine's words, Raen's guides, and the results in front of his eyes all painted the same picture, Raen was not just a skilled fighter, but a dangerous mind.
But even though Grave mind wished otherwise, there was nothing he could do. Grinding his teeth, he pushed the thoughts to the back of his mind and gave the order to his guild.
"Let's go. We'll run the normal mode again."
At his command, the Everhold Dominion members moved toward the dungeon entrance in silence.
But Grave mind's voice hadn't only reached his own team. Independent players nearby had also heard his order. They exchanged looks and couldn't hide their disdain.
One passerby even muttered aloud, his tone dripping with mockery. "What a sight… Once, these three guilds stood on equal footing. Now, because of one man, Everhold Dominion has already been left in the dust."
Shaking his head, the player turned away and went back to his own business, leaving the Everhold Domnion's team to swallow the humiliation.
...
At this time, Inside the throne room of the Misty Palace, the Mist Queen Demon had prepared everything for her victory. After casting the illusion that trapped Kaito and his team, she had resurrected her Abyssal Wraith Royal Guards to stand by her side once more. Confident that the human ants would never escape the nightmare she had woven, she finally allowed herself a moment to recover.
Dark energy pulsed around her body as her healing spell flowed inward. The cracks in her flesh began knitting together, the flow of corrupted blood slowed, and for a fleeting moment, a sense of warmth spread through her body. She could feel her health slowly climbing back, reaching nearly ten percent. Relief brushed against her pride, and her crimson eyes glimmered coldly with confidence.
But just as she was about to continue, everything changed.
The moment Kaito and his team shattered the illusion, a violent backlash tore through her. The abyssal energy and the life essence she had offered as a sacrifice to strengthen the illusion now turned on her like a thousand burning knives. The warmth of healing instantly twisted into unbearable agony. Her chest convulsed as if crushed from the inside, and her breath caught in her throat.
Black blood gushed from her lips, splattering across the marble floor. Where it fell, the stone hissed and cracked, corroded by the raw abyssal energy contained within it. Veins of purple and black bulged along her arms and neck, pulsing like molten fire under her skin. She staggered, clutching her chest with clawed fingers, as her body bent under the invisible weight of the backlash.
Her health plummeted to two percent in an instant. Worse than the loss of health was the damage left behind. Her aura wavered, unstable and fragmented, and her once majestic form seemed twisted and broken. The throne room itself trembled under the violent discharge of abyssal power escaping her body.
The Queen fell to one knee, hacking and coughing, every spasm bringing out more streams of black blood. The Abyssal Wraith Royal Guards, though revived, stood silently at her front, their hollow eyes fixed forward, unaffected by her suffering.
By this time Kaito and his team emerged from the collapsing illusion, Kaito checked his Overlord's Rage timer at once. One minute still remained. He remembered that time inside the illusion flowed differently. They had spent more than an hour in there, but outside only a few minutes had passed. That was the only reason his buff was still active.
He lifted his gaze and took in the throne room. The Mist Queen Demon was on the floor in her twisted, abominable form, spasming and clutching her chest. Thick streams of black blood spilled from her mouth and hissed where they struck the marble.. Her aura flickered and tore at the edges like smoke in a storm. Her health hovered at two percent, The proud Mist Queen Demon was no longer a picture of control. She was a wounded beast, lashing out with every breath, her fury and her pain filling the throne room with a suffocating weight.
In Front of her, the Abyssal Wraith Royal Guards stood in a fresh formation, newly resurrected and silent, their eyes like black crystals fixed on Kaito and his team. Their presence pressed on the room like a wall. The pillars were cracked, the air was heavy with abyssal fumes, and the only sounds were the Queen's ragged coughs and the low thrum of corrupted energy fading in and out around her.