Dante didn’t materialize on the ground. He appeared ten feet in the air right above the massive thrashing head of the Ironfang Alpha.

Gravity instantly took hold. As he fell, Dante gripped the hilt of his Bronze-grade broadsword with both hands and pulled the blade back over his right shoulder.

The air around the weapon violently warped. It sucked in the ambient light as pitch-black energy rapidly condensed along the metal edge.

Vargas was still pinned under the iron-clawed paw of the beast. He barely managed to look up.

He saw the blur of movement and the sudden shadow blotting out the violet sky. But his brain could not process it fast enough.

"What the..." Vargas started.

He didn’t get to finish.

Dante swung downward.

[Skill Executed: Abyssal Cleave]

The Zenith-tier spatial fracture slammed into the back of the neck of the Ironfang Alpha. There was no resistance at all.

The metallic fur, thick hide, and digitized bone structure of the boss were utterly ignored by the sheer crushing density of the black shockwave.

The blade sheared cleanly through the massive spine of the wolf. It exited through its throat and buried itself three feet deep into the cratered dirt below.

A deafening crack echoed through the forest. It sounded like a thunderbolt striking the ground at close range.

The Ironfang Alpha froze completely. Its yellow eyes widened and then immediately went dark.

For a split second, there was total silence in the clearing. Then, the massive beast burst into a spectacular fountain of blue and silver polygons!

Dante landed perfectly on his feet amid the digital ash. His broadsword rested on his shoulder.

[Ding!]

[Server-Wide Announcement: The Iron-Tier World Boss ’Ironfang Alpha’ has been slain!]

[First Boss Kill secured by Player: Dan]

[Rewarding 500 Global Fame, +2 to all base attributes, and an exclusive Boss Loot Chest!]

The blaring golden text of the global announcement flashed across the sky. It was completely unmissable for every single player currently logged into Overture.

Dante dismissed the prompt with a lazy wave of his hand.

He looked down at the spot where the boss had just been. A massive pile of glowing loot was stacked neatly on the grass.

Beside the loot, Vargas was lying flat on his back. He stared at Dante with an expression of pure and absolute shock.

Over by the tree line, Thorne lowered his tower shield. His jaw was practically touching the mud.

The remaining Syndicate members were frozen in place. Their cheap iron weapons hung loosely at their sides.

"You..." Thorne stammered. His eyes darted between Dante and the pile of boss loot. "You just kill-stole our boss."

Dante slowly rolled his shoulders. He felt the pleasant warmth of the attribute boost settling into his digital muscles.

"It looked like you guys were struggling. I thought I would lend a hand."

Vargas scrambled to his feet. His face twisted into a mask of absolute rage. He pointed a curved dagger at Dante.

"Do you have any idea who we are, you suicidal piece of trash? We are Vanguard’s Legacy! We spent thirty minutes wearing that thing down! That loot belongs to Silas!"

"Silas is not here," Dante said. His voice dropped to a flat and emotionless tone. "And honestly, neither are you."

"Kill him!" Thorne roared. His face turned an ugly shade of purple. "Strip his gear and camp his respawn! Nobody disrespects the Syndicate!"

The ten lower-level grunts snapped out of their shock and charged.

They screamed battle cries and raised their wooden clubs and rusty swords. They fully expected to overwhelm the lone player with sheer numbers.

Dante didn’t even use a skill.

He stepped directly into the path of the first charging grunt. He sidestepped a clumsy horizontal swing with effortless precision.

He brought the pommel of his broadsword up and smashed it into the faceplate of the player.

The grunt staggered backward. His HP bar flashed red.

Dante followed up with a brutal and spinning roundhouse kick to the chest. It sent the player flying into two of his friends.

"Too slow," Dante muttered.

He weaved through the mob like a ghost.

Three months of non-stop combat in Aethelgard had hardwired his reflexes. These players were moving in slow motion.

A mage in the backline started chanting. A small fireball formed in his palms.

Dante locked eyes with him. He scooped a discarded iron dagger off the dirt with his boot and kicked it up into his hand.

He threw it in a single fluid motion.

The dagger buried itself completely in the throat of the mage! The casting animation canceled instantly, and the mage shattered into pixels.

"Get out of the way!" Thorne bellowed. He shoved his own men aside.

The massive tank charged. He led with his tower shield.

The [Titan’s Blood Gem] on his chest was glowing. It pumped passive healing into his system.

Thorne activated a basic shield-bash skill. He aimed to smash Dante into the dirt.

Dante didn’t move.

He waited until the heavy iron shield was inches from his face. Then he activated [Blink Step].

He vanished.

Thorne hit nothing but empty air. He stumbled forward from his own momentum.

Dante reappeared directly behind him.

Without a word, he swung his broadsword at the back of the knees of Thorne. The blade sliced clean through the unarmored joints.

Thorne let out a loud scream of pain. He dropped to the ground with a heavy crash.

Before the tank could even attempt to roll over, Dante brought his boot down hard on the back of his neck. He pinned Thorne to the mud.

"The [Titan’s Blood Gem] is a chest-slot item," Dante said conversationally. He leaned his weight onto the neck of Thorne.

"It fortifies your upper body defense and heals surface damage. It does not do a damn thing to protect your joints."

"You would know that if you didn’t just equip whatever shiny rock Silas threw at you."

Thorne struggled wildly, but the base stats of Dante were simply too high.

With a casual flick of his wrist, Dante drove his broadsword straight down through the gap in the shoulder plates of Thorne. It pierced his heart.

[Target Eliminated: Player ’Thorne’]

The massive body of Thorne dissolved into light. It left behind a pile of silver coins and a pair of basic leather boots.

The remaining grunts stopped dead in their tracks.

They looked at the spot where their unstoppable tank had just been executed in three seconds flat. The fight instantly drained out of them.

They turned and sprinted into the woods. They fled in absolute terror.

Dante let them go. He didn’t care about the grunts.

He turned his attention to Vargas.

The rat-faced rogue was backing away slowly. His hands trembled. He looked at Dante like he was staring at a monster.

"Who... who the hell are you?" Vargas breathed. His eyes darted frantically for an escape route. "You are a Level 10. How are you moving like that?"

"I asked you guys to watch my back," Dante said softly. He took a slow step forward. "And you shoved a dagger in it instead."

Vargas froze. The color drained completely from his face.

His eyes locked onto the way Dante held his broadsword. It was a relaxed and asymmetrical grip with the blade tilted slightly inward. It was a highly specific and customized stance.

"No," Vargas whispered. He shook his head. "No, that is impossible. Silas saw you log out. The capsule overloaded. You are dead!"

"I got better," Dante said.

Vargas spun around. He activated his own dash skill and desperately tried to bolt for the tree line.

Dante didn’t chase him. He just triggered [Blink Step].

He materialized directly in the path of Vargas.

Vargas slammed into him at full speed. He bounced off the chest piece of Dante and fell onto his back in the mud.

Before Vargas could scramble away, Dante was on top of him. He slammed a heavy boot onto the right wrist of Vargas. He pinned his dagger arm to the ground.

"Listen to me, Vanguard!" Vargas screamed. Panic completely took over.

"Silas made us do it! He said if we didn’t back his play, he would have his real-world security team zero out our bank accounts! We did not have a choice!"

"Everyone has a choice, Vargas," Dante replied. He was completely unmoved. "You chose the winning side. I respect the hustle."

"But unfortunately for you, the Zenith Protocol gives every player exactly one free game-wide revive before deaths become permanent."

The eyes of Vargas went wide with pure and unfiltered terror.

"No! Do not! If you kill me now, my free revive is gone! I will be stuck in the safe zone! Silas will drop me!"

"That sounds like a personal problem," Dante said.

He didn’t use a skill. He just raised his broadsword and drove it cleanly through the chest of Vargas.

Vargas gasped. His health bar instantly zeroed out.

His avatar seized for a second before bursting into a cloud of pixels. He forcefully respawned back at Outpost 404.

His one and only safety net was gone. If Vargas died again, his VR capsule back on Veridia would scramble his brain.

Dante stood up. He shook the blood off his blade.

He walked over to the spot where Vargas had died. A small pile of loot had dropped from his inventory.

The Zenith Protocol penalized player deaths by dropping a random selection of their unequipped items.

Sitting in the dirt was a pristine and blood-red longsword with a wicked serrated edge.

Dante smiled genuinely for the first time all day. He reached down and picked it up.

The familiar and perfectly balanced weight settled into his palm. It was the [Crimson Edge], his secondary weapon from Aethelgard.

Silas must have given it to Vargas as a reward.

Next to the sword lay a glowing purple ring. It was the Mana-Leech ring Vargas had been bragging about.

Dante scooped that up too and slid it onto his finger.

He walked over to the death spot of Thorne. He sifted through the dirt until his fingers brushed against a smooth and warm stone.

He pulled out the [Titan’s Blood Gem].

"Thanks for holding onto my stuff, boys," Dante muttered. He tossed the gem into his inventory.

He finally turned his attention to the massive pile of loot the Ironfang Alpha had dropped.

The global announcement had painted a massive target on his back.

Silas would know the name ’Dan’ now. He would know someone was out there pulling world-firsts right under his nose.

Dante grabbed the Iron-tier loot chest. He ignored the low-level silver coins scattered in the grass.

He needed to get back to the Outpost, gear up, and process the drops before Vanguard’s Legacy realized they were currently at war.