Dante sat perfectly still on the thick branch. He looked down through the dense leaves.

Vargas and Thorne were marching directly below him.

They were completely oblivious to the fact that the man they murdered a few hours ago was currently perched fifteen feet above their heads.

"I am telling you, the spawn timer has to be close," Vargas said. His rat-like face twisted into an annoyed scowl.

He was kicking his way through the heavy brush. His curved daggers flashed in the dim forest light.

"The guild master said the Ironfang Alpha drops a guaranteed silver-tier weapon. If we secure it, we lock down this entire area for the guild."

"Relax, Vargas," Thorne grunted. His massive frame easily shoved through the thorny bushes.

"We have the coordinates. We have the numbers. Nobody else in this trash server even knows what an Iron-tier boss is yet. They are all busy fighting over pigs in the mud."

"I just do not like being out here this long," Vargas muttered and glanced around nervously.

"If we mess this up, Silas is going to skin us. You know how he gets. He is obsessed with maintaining the Vanguard image now."

Thorne laughed loudly. It was a deep and booming sound that echoed through the trees.

He slapped a heavy hand against his chest piece.

Embedded directly in the center of the iron armor was a pulsing and crimson gemstone.

"Silas is not going to care as long as we bring results," Thorne said confidently. "Besides, look at what he gave us. We are practically invincible in this starter zone."

Dante’s eyes narrowed. He zoomed in on the crimson gem.

He recognized it instantly. It was a [Titan’s Blood Gem].

It granted a massive passive boost to health regeneration and physical defense.

Dante had personally looted it off a raid boss in Aethelgard two months ago. It had been sitting in his personal inventory when he died.

Silas hadn’t just stolen the Aegis Blueprint.

He had completely stripped Dante’s corpse. He took all his high-tier legacy gems and distributed them to his friends to ensure they dominated the early game of Overture.

Vargas smirked and held up his right hand.

A heavy gold ring adorned his index finger. It glowed with a faint purple aura.

"You are telling me. This Mana-Leech ring makes my stamina infinite." Vargas said. "I gotta say, Vanguard really knew how to hoard the good stuff. It is a shame he had to catch a dagger."

"He was too soft," Thorne scoffed. "Always talking about protecting the weak and playing fair. Silas knows how this game works. You step on everyone else to climb to the top."

Up in the tree, Dante’s expression remained entirely blank.

The anger was there like a burning coal in his chest. But he kept it locked down tight.

Raging out and dropping an Abyssal Cleave right now would wipe them out instantly. It would be satisfying.

But it would be a waste.

In the Zenith Protocol, every player was granted one free and game-wide revive.

If they died early, they respawned at the Outpost without losing their gear.

If Dante killed them now, they would just pop back up at the village. They would learn his identity and warn Silas.

He needed to make sure their death mattered.

He needed to burn their resources, humiliate them, and take his gear back when they couldn’t afford to lose it.

Suddenly, the light in the forest shifted. The wind died down entirely.

The air grew heavy. It smelled strongly of wet fur and rusted iron.

"Formation!" Thorne barked and slammed his tower shield into the dirt. "It is spawning!"

The thirteen Syndicate members scrambled into a tight defensive circle. They raised their cheap wooden shields and drawn bows.

Thirty yards away, a massive portal of swirling gray energy ripped open in the center of a clearing.

A massive roar shattered the silence. It echoed loud enough to shake the leaves in Dante’s tree.

The Ironfang Alpha stepped out of the portal.

It was a wolf, but it was the size of a large truck.

Its fur consisted of jagged and metallic spikes that scraped against each other with a horrible screeching sound.

Its eyes burned with a sickly yellow light. Its jaws were lined with oversized and sharp iron teeth.

[World Boss Spawn: Ironfang Alpha]

[Tier: Iron]

[Level: 10]

[HP: 25,000 / 25,000]

This was an incredibly rare and early-game boss.

For a group of Level 3 and 4 players, engaging this thing was absolute suicide.

Normal players wouldn’t even attempt an Iron-tier boss until they were at least Level 15 with a full set of Bronze gear.

But Thorne and Vargas weren’t playing by normal rules. They had legacy gear.

"Aggro on me!" Thorne roared. He activated a basic taunt skill and slammed his sword against his tower shield.

The Ironfang Alpha locked its yellow eyes on Thorne.

It lowered its massive head and charged. It covered the thirty yards in less than two seconds.

The beast launched itself into the air. It brought two massive paws down directly onto Thorne’s shield.

The impact was explosive! Dust plumed into the air.

Three of the Syndicate members standing behind Thorne were knocked clean off their feet by the sheer force.

But Thorne held his ground.

His boots dug deep trenches into the mud, but he didn’t break.

The [Titan’s Blood Gem] embedded in his chest pulsed with a blinding crimson light. It instantly healed the massive chunk of health he had just lost and boosted his defense.

"It works!" Thorne yelled and laughed wildly. "The boss cannot even dent me! DPS, hit it now!"

"Light it up!" Vargas screamed from the side.

The dozen Syndicate members unloaded their attacks.

Arrows, basic fireballs, and cheap iron swords battered the side of the massive wolf.

The damage numbers popping up were pitiful. They were mostly single digits and low tens.

But there were thirteen of them, and they were attacking relentlessly.

Vargas was the main damage dealer. He danced around the hind legs of the boss while his daggers moved in a blur.

Every time he landed a hit, the purple ring on his finger flashed. It siphoned stamina from the boss and kept his own resource bar completely full.

Dante watched the fight unfold with calm focus.

It was a sloppy and uncoordinated mess.

Thorne was relying entirely on the legacy gem to survive. He made zero effort to actually block or deflect the boss’s strikes.

He was just taking the hits to the face and letting the automated healing keep him alive.

Vargas was overextending on every strike. He left his back completely exposed.

If they didn’t have Dante’s stolen gear, the Ironfang Alpha would have wiped the entire squad in thirty seconds.

But with the gems, it became a brutal war of endurance.

Ten minutes passed. The forest was torn to shreds.

Trees were uprooted, and the ground was cratered. The air was thick with smoke.

Three of the lower-level Syndicate members had died. They were crushed by the sweeping tail attacks of the boss.

They shattered into pixels, and their bodies were sent back to the Outpost spawn point.

The Ironfang Alpha was looking ragged.

Its metallic fur was chipped and dented. Its breathing sounded like a broken machine.

[Ironfang Alpha HP: 4,000 / 25,000]

"Keep pushing!" Vargas yelled and panted heavily. He wiped sweat from his eyes. "It is almost dead! Pop your health potions!"

Thorne was struggling. The [Titan’s Blood Gem] was powerful, but it wasn’t infinite.

It relied on Thorne’s base mana pool to trigger the healing. After ten minutes of constant battering, Thorne was running on fumes.

He drank a basic blue mana potion, but it barely helped.

"I cannot hold it much longer!" Thorne gritted his teeth. His knees buckled slightly under another heavy paw strike. "Finish it!"

"I am going for the eyes!" Vargas shouted.

He activated a movement skill. He leaped off a nearby rock and soared through the air toward the massive head of the wolf.

The Ironfang Alpha let out a furious and deafening howl. Its health bar flashed bright red.

It had hit its enrage phase.

The boss ignored Thorne completely. It snapped its massive jaws upward and caught Vargas mid-air.

"Ahhh!" Vargas screamed as the sharp teeth clamped down on his leg.

The wolf slammed Vargas into the dirt. It pinned him down with a massive paw.

Vargas’s health bar plummeted into the critical red zone.

The other Syndicate members panicked. They broke formation and scrambled backward.

"Get it off me! Get it off!" Vargas shrieked and stabbed wildly at the beast’s leg.

Thorne hesitated. He looked at his own blinking health bar, then looked at Vargas.

He didn’t step forward to help. He just raised his shield and protected himself.

Up in the tree, Dante slowly stood up on the branch.

He drew his Bronze broadsword. The blade glinted in the dim light.

The Syndicate had done all the heavy lifting.

They had burned through their potions and exhausted their mana. They had whittled the boss down to its final sliver of health.

They were battered, broken, and terrified.

It was the perfect time to intervene.

Dante locked his eyes on the back of the Ironfang Alpha’s neck. He didn’t say a word.

He just activated his Zenith-tier mobility skill.

[Blink Step].