The mountain road outside Donghai City was rugged and uneven.

A bus slowly made its way, jolting over the bumps.

Thick dust covered the windows, distorting the outside scenery into blurry patches of color.

Inside the bus, a suffocating silence reigned.

Thirty to forty people were squeezed into narrow seats, no one speaking.

The fervor ignited in the Task Hall had long since cooled during the long and dreary journey.

In its place was a deep sense of confusion and unease.

"Screech—"

A piercing brake sound echoed.

The bus stopped in front of a desolate forest area.

The door hissed open with a dull sound, slowly revealing the outside.

Jasmine was the first to jump off the bus; the afternoon sun was a bit dazzling, and she instinctively squinted.

Damp air, carrying the scent of humus, filled her nostrils.

She raised her hand, and a spirit eagle with grey-brown feathers flew from her palm, circling upward into the sky, quickly disappearing among the dense tree canopies.

The men on the bus gradually disembarked, looking at the gloomy dense forest before them, their confusion deepening.

"Hey, little girl." A scar-faced man couldn't help but speak, "What are you bringing us to this godforsaken place for?"

"Exactly, didn't you say we were going to the Guild's base?"

"We're almost out of Donghai City's territory, aren't we?"

Discussions rose and fell.

Yasuo, standing behind Jasmine, slowly lifted his eyelids.

His deep eyes swept over everyone, his voice calm, yet carrying an undeniable coldness.

"More words are useless; just follow."

That invisible pressure silenced everyone.

They dared not ask any more questions, only gritting their teeth /N_o_v_e_l_i_g_h_t/ and following Jasmine and Yasuo into the dark dense forest.

The forest path was muddy and difficult to traverse.

After about ten minutes of walking, the path suddenly opened up.

It was a swamp covered by giant vines.

And in the center of the swamp, a plant of indescribable size stood silently.

It had no flowers, no leaves.

Its main trunk was like a twisted human figure, covered with dense, eyeball-like black pustules.

Countless thick, dark green vines, covered with barbs, extended from the main trunk like venomous snakes, slowly writhing in mid-air.

A nauseating stench permeated the air.

【Corpse Vine Demon LV20 (Elite BOSS)】

【Health: 88000 / 88000】

The moment they saw this monster, a collective gasp swept through the crowd.

Everyone's faces changed.

A very bad premonition simultaneously rose in their hearts.

"No way..." A mage apprentice's voice trembled, "Bringing us here, it couldn't be..."

Jasmine turned around, her clear gaze sweeping over their pale faces.

She nodded, her voice soft, yet clearly reaching everyone's ears.

"That's right."

"This is your first trial."

"Kill it."

The air seemed to freeze at that moment.

After a brief, deathly silence, an uproar erupted like a volcanic explosion.

"Are you crazy! You want us to fight a BOSS?"

"A Rank 20 BOSS! What the hell are you talking about!"

The scar-faced man was the first to jump out, pointing at Jasmine's nose and cursing loudly.

"I'm Rank 10 and I struggle to fight a regular mutated wild boar! You want me to fight this? One of its vines could turn me into meat paste!"

"Exactly! We're here for work, not to die!"

"What a load of Eternal Night Guild! I'm out of here!"

The crowd completely erupted.

They were all lone adventurers who had struggled at the bottom, and they knew their own strength very well.

Asking them to challenge a Rank 20 BOSS was no different from asking them to commit suicide.

Facing the furious crowd, Jasmine's face remained unperturbed.

She simply watched them quietly, and when they had finished their tirade, she slowly spoke.

"I'm not forcing you."

Her voice was calm, even a little cold.

"I've said it before, we of Eternal Night only want madmen, not cowards."

She extended her slender finger, pointing in the direction they had come from.

"The bus is right there."

"Those who want to quit now can go back."

"I'll only say this once; this is your only chance."

The scar-faced man spat viciously.

"I don't care!"

"If I had known it was like this, I wouldn't have wasted my time!"

He finished speaking, turned without looking back, and strode towards the edge of the forest.

His departure was like pushing the first domino.

"Let's go, let's go, this Guild is crazy."

"Damn it, what a disappointment."

"Let's just go back and take on tasks honestly; at least we won't die."

Many people, after hesitating, also chose to turn and leave.

The passion ignited by Jasmine's words quickly extinguished in the face of the fear of death.

After all, life is precious, and it's not worth risking it for a vague promise.

The team of thirty to forty people dwindled at a visible rate.

Soon, fewer than fifteen people remained standing.

Their faces were filled with struggle and hesitation.

Just then.

The scrawny young man in the corner of the crowd moved.

He didn't say anything, just suddenly charged forward, like an arrow released from a bowstring, heading straight for the ferocious Corpse Vine Demon.

There was no fear in his eyes, only a cold, deathly stillness.

"That kid's crazy!"

"He actually dared to go?"

"Alone? This isn't how you look for death!"

The remaining people watched the thin figure in disbelief.

"Damn it!"

Among the crowd, the Shield Warrior who had been the first to step forward in the Task Hall suddenly let out a roar.

"I don't care anymore! If I die, I die!"

"Anyway, I've lived a pathetic enough life!"

He raised his worn round shield and, surprisingly, followed the scrawny youth, charging forward.

Immediately after.

The third!

The fourth!

The fifth!

Three more figures burst out from the hesitant crowd, charging fearlessly towards the colossal BOSS.

They no longer wanted to live lives without hope.

They wanted to change, to seize this elusive opportunity, even if the price was death.

"They're crazy! These guys are all f***ing crazy!"

Those who remained watching took a few steps back, looking at the five charging figures as if they were five dead men.

The outcome was already predetermined.

A mere five people, with the highest Rank being only thirteen.

How could they be a match for a Rank 20 BOSS?

They would be torn to shreds in an instant.

The Corpse Vine Demon seemed enraged by these audacious ants.

The eyeball-like pustules on its main trunk all rotated, locking onto the five people charging at the front.

"Hiss—!"

Dozens of vines lashed out, whistling sharply, like dozens of wildly dancing giant pythons.

"Hold on!"

The Shield Warrior roared, slamming his shield onto the ground, his body glowing with an earthy yellow light.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

The vines rained down on his shield, making dull thudding sounds.

The Shield Warrior's body swayed violently, his feet plowing two deep furrows in the muddy ground.

He clenched his teeth, veins bulging on his arms, his face flushed red.

"Pfft!"

He suddenly spat out a mouthful of blood, and the shield in his hand shattered with a crack.

The scrawny youth's movements were ghostly, weaving through the gaps in the vines, the worn dagger in his hand flashing with cold light as he fiercely stabbed the Corpse Vine Demon's vines.

"-1!"

"-2!"

"-1!"

A series of pathetic single-digit damage numbers appeared from the vines.

They couldn't even break the BOSS's defense.

"Roar!"

The Corpse Vine Demon was completely enraged, a thick vine swept out, directly knocking the other two warriors flying.

Just as the Shield Warrior was about to be impaled by several vines.

The scrawny youth's eyes narrowed, and he suddenly pounced, knocking the Shield Warrior aside.

He himself, however, was too slow to dodge and was struck by the tip of a vine, sending him flying backward, rolling several times on the ground before stopping.

His health was also reduced to a mere sliver.

"Pfft!"

More vines, like venomous snakes emerging from their holes, attacked from all directions, sealing off all their escape routes.

The shadow of death enveloped the five people.

Just at this critical moment.

A figure moved.

Yasuo, who had been standing silently beside Jasmine, appeared before the five people without warning, as if teleporting.

Screech!

A brilliant sword light, imbued with lightning, swept out like a bolt of lightning tearing through the night sky.

The incredibly tough vines were as fragile as paper in front of the sword light.

They were instantly cut down.

Green sap splattered everywhere.

Yasuo sheathed his sword, not even glancing at the enraged BOSS.

He turned around, his deep gaze falling on the five survivors collapsed on the ground, his voice cold.

"Your trial ends here."

"This fiend, I shall handle."

The Corpse Vine Demon let out a deafening roar, all its vines wildly surging towards Yasuo.

Yasuo's figure, however, turned into an afterimage on the spot.

He moved.

It was an elegance impossible to describe with words.

His movement technique was incredibly bizarre; he strolled through the onslaught of vines as if taking a walk in his own backyard.

Countless vines couldn't even touch the hem of his clothes.

"What... what kind of movement technique is that?"

"He... he's actually soloing the BOSS?"

"My God..."

Everyone's eyes widened, unable to believe what they were seeing.

This was the Vice Guild Master of the Eternal Night Guild?

His strength was too terrifying!

Jasmine's voice sounded at the right moment.

"What are you still standing there for? Get back!"

The five survivors then, as if waking from a dream, scrambled out of the battle circle.

The subsequent battle became a one-sided performance.

Yasuo's figure weaved around the BOSS, each swing of his longsword leaving a deep, bone-visible wound on the Corpse Vine Demon's body.

Electric light flickered on the wounds, constantly eroding the BOSS's vitality.

In no more than five minutes.

Accompanied by an unwilling wail, the colossal Corpse Vine Demon crashed to the ground, lifeless.

From start to finish, Yasuo's body had not been stained with a single speck of dust.

He slowly walked to the BOSS's corpse, sheathing his sword.

The entire forest was dead silent.

Whether it was the five survivors or those who remained watching, all were too stunned by this shocking scene to speak.

Jasmine walked up to the five people, a genuine smile finally appearing on her face.

"Congratulations."

"Welcome to Eternal Night."