"Bullying freshmen isn't nice, you know..."
As the team continued forward, Lenore quietly leaned closer to Kalis, her tone a mix of teasing and helplessness. "Mireya's a freshman at our university. We'll be seeing each other around all the time, cut her some slack, okay?"
"I don't want this either. I really have no choice," Kalis shrugged helplessly, briefly explaining the ins and outs of the Curse of Augustus.
"Whoa, there's actually such a ridiculous curse?" After hearing the explanation, Lenore couldn't help but exclaim in shock.
The other teammates also heard the reason.
Mireya, walking at the front, wielding a two-handed greatsword to clear the way, turned her head and gave Kalis a resentful look.
She sniffled, feeling even more wronged, so it wasn't that her aggro-pulling skills were bad, but that the opponent basically had an "aggro lock cheat"!
After that, she took all her grievances out on the wild monsters along the way.
"Charge!"
"Shield Bash!"
"Uh... Normal Attack!"
Mireya, transformed into a "Sword Knight," hacked away frantically. But despite the flashing sword light, the monsters' health bars only inched down slowly.
-67 -79 -53
Seraphina casually shot a Piercing Arrow, and a damage number of -521 popped up instantly, higher than the total damage of Mireya's five or six skills combined.
At that moment, Mireya felt even more hopeless and even had the urge to log out.
"We're almost there."
As they walked, the level of the wild monsters along the way kept rising. Before they knew it, they had arrived near the quest area.
Eira checked the map and pointed to a valley surrounded by rock walls ahead: "The quest NPC is deep in the valley. Talking to him will unlock the exclusive dungeon."
The group didn't delay any longer and rushed straight toward the valley.
This valley was called Cave Rock Lizard Gorge, inhabited by Level 48-58 Cave Rock Lizards, typical tank-type monsters with high defense and thick health.
On the way forward, Seraphina habitually pulled five lizards over with a ranged skill to grind levels.
"These are Level 53 Cave Rock Lizards with 8,500 HP each. Pulling five is too many—we can't tank them!" Mireya quickly warned.
"It's fine. Kalis has thick HP and stable aggro," Lenore said immediately, casting Blessing of Courage on Seraphina and throwing a Holy Smite at the same time.
"But..."
Mireya wanted to say something else, but seeing that everyone took it for granted that Kalis was the team's main tank, she swallowed her words.
"Damn senior..."
She gritted her teeth and activated her skills again: "Charge!"
"Shield Bash!"
"Normal Attack!"
A series of skills hit the Cave Rock Lizards, but the damage was still negligible.
Level 53 Cave Rock Lizards not only had thick health but also considerable attack power. If five are attacked at the same time, the HP loss would be quite significant. Seraphina and Eira quickly went all out to deal damage, trying to end the battle as soon as possible. But with their damage output, it would obviously take a lot of time to kill these lizards.
"Kalis, why don't you make a move? Are you really going to wait until the BOSS fight to show off your magic?" Lenore couldn't help but urge.
Throughout the journey, Kalis hadn't cast a single skill—he was just an emotionless "mobile taunt machine." He didn't need to attack before because his absence didn't affect much, but now this monster-clearing speed was clearly slowing down the progress.
"Alright, I'll make a move then. Don't get discouraged," Kalis gave a heads-up in advance.
"Why would we get discouraged?" Eira asked in confusion.
Mireya pouted, silently indicating that she was already on the verge of discouragement.
Kalis didn't explain. He just slowly raised his staff and casually cast a skill: "Thunder Chain!"
Boom!
A thunderous beam of light as thick as a bucket shot down from the sky. After hitting the first lizard, it bounced instantly, turning into chains and sweeping over the other four monsters.
-5,782,419
-5,436,721
-5,198,345
-4,987,213
-4,765,988
A series of terrifying seven-digit damage numbers flooded the screen. The five Cave Rock Lizards were instantly killed, their bodies turning to charred ashes under the thunderous power. Only a few lizard eggs survived by chance.
"..."
Seeing the shocking damage numbers, everyone's mouths dropped open, and they froze in place.
"Fi... Five million?" Eira was instantly left tongue-tied, unable to speak clearly.
After standing stunned for a moment, Lenore exclaimed, "What the hell? Five million damage? Kalis, how on earth did you do that damage output?!"
Even the usually taciturn Seraphina couldn't help but ask: "Is... Is this the exclusive skill effect of a hidden class?"
As for Mireya, she had completely lost the ability to speak. She pouted, silently hugged her rare-quality two-handed great sword, hid behind a rock in the corner, and "wept silently." How could there be such a big gap between damage dealers?
"It's nothing, just a bit of a strong output. Let's hurry up," Kalis said.
Watching his deeply shocked teammates, Kalis's vanity was greatly satisfied. But he still wore a calm expression that said "It's okay, average, nothing special" and stepped forward to continue.
The teammates followed him like robots, their minds filled with the image of that million-level damage, their moods extremely complicated.
"Millions of damage, no wonder the aggro is so stable..."
"Is this the strength of a top-tier expert? I finally understand the gap..."
"Lenore, do you think I can catch up to Kalis's damage after completing the inheritance advancement?"
"Don't even think about it. You can't even reach a fraction of his current damage..."
Amid the teammates' mixed feelings, they finally reached the quest NPC.
"Eira, unlock the dungeon," Kalis reminded.
Eira gave him a faint look, stepped forward to the NPC, and said: "Sir Ragnor, in the name of the Archbishop of Drakenspire, I have come to assist you in suppressing the abyssal monsters."
This NPC was an elderly Temple Knight, an Epic-grade boss at Level 125. His armor was covered with scratches and gaps, his face was weathered, but his eyes were still sharp.
Behind him was a one-foot-wide rift, from which faint dark energy emanated from time to time, and whispered voices could be faintly heard inside.
"Adventurer Eira, you have already failed once. You should know how powerful the monster in the rift is. With your current strength, trying to defeat it is like hitting a rock with an egg," Sir Ragnor advised earnestly, trying to make her give up temporarily.
"We are fully prepared this time and confident in defeating it!" Eira said firmly.
"But..."
The NPC wanted to persuade her further, but seeing Eira's resolute attitude, he could only sigh: "Very well. I will hold the rift open for you, and you can bring a few companions inside. But remember, you only have five challenge attempts. If you fail all of them, it means you are not destined to inherit the power of the Dragon Warrior."
"I understand. Please open it," Eira nodded.
Kalis listened from the side and nodded secretly: "Dragon Warrior—definitely a God-tier inheritance."
The main deity worshipped in Drakenspire Temple was the Dragon God. The Dragon Warrior inheritance was naturally on the same level as the War God inheritance encountered in the starting village, which was the top-tier professional inheritance on the continent.
"Hmm? Why is there a traitor who betrayed the gods in your team?" Sir Ragnor was about to chant the incantation to open the dungeon when he suddenly heard Kalis's footsteps and turned to look.
When he saw the faint curse aura lingering around Kalis, his eyes suddenly widened, and a strong hostility erupted from his body. He had already placed his hand on the hilt of his sword at his waist.
Kalis: "..."
"Kalis, what's going on?" Eira quickly asked.
"Sigh, it's that curse again," Kalis shrugged helplessly.
Sir Ragnor's hostility was undisguised; he clearly regarded him as an enemy of the gods. Eira quickly stepped forward to explain, and after talking for a full three minutes, she finally convinced the loyal Temple Knight.
"For the Archbishop's sake, I'll give you a chance to atone for your sins this time. Go in—this is your second attempt," Sir Ragnor snorted, then chanted an ancient incantation, slowly opening the rift behind him.
A temporary teleportation portal appeared in the rift, exuding a dangerous dark aura.
Kalis and the others stepped into the teleportation portal one after another. The next moment, they entered Eira's exclusive dungeon.
"Giggle..." "Poor heir of the Dragon God, coming to die again..." "This time, I will torture you slowly, making you feel the fear of death in wails and despair!"
Cold and deep voices came from all directions, filled with malice and mockery.
"Everyone, be careful! We're already in combat mode, the BOSS is in perfect stealth!" Eira immediately warned.
There were no mobs in this dungeon. The BOSS fight started right away, win and you clear it; lose, and you're directly teleported back to the main city.
"Seraphina, be careful. It will prioritize assassinating the player with the lowest HP!" Lenore added.
Seraphina nodded, slowly moved to the rock wall, stood with her back against it, and observed her surroundings vigilantly.
Upon hearing this, Kalis quickly cast Crystal Barricade on himself—with his "max aggro" constitution, there was no way the BOSS wouldn't target him first!