Translator: AtlasStudios Editor: AtlasStudios
Dark clouds shrouded the sky, followed by the darkness and chaos that descended upon the earth. The spiral stone stairwell, bloody corpses, armories, weapons — everything was so chaotic and bleak, carrying the scent of death and danger.
Rhode took a deep breath, but he wasn’t able to taste the cold and bloody air. After all, it was just a game. He shook his head and turned to look at his comrades who were sitting on the ground not far from him. Right now, they were resting quietly, restoring their own strength and repairing their own weapons. On the surface, it was no different from the usual day, but Rhode knew that this fight was clearly not as easy as before.
“How many survived?”
He asked in a low voice.
Hearing this question, his comrades looked at each other. Then a thin mage stood up.
“Guild leader, reporting! There are ninety-six people left. The Void Dragon Dungeon is even more dangerous than we imagined. A lot of our brothers are still left behind in the previous trap. Luckily we still have a diverse number of classes left.”
“That’s good.”
Rhode nodded. He did not say anything else, so the others also went silent.
If it were an ordinary guild, they would have lost their courage long ago and would have fallen into disorder. After all, what they were about to face was the most powerful, most terrible, and one of the game’s most elite bosses, the unconquered Void Dragon. It was the final boss of the Third Chapter in Dragon Soul Continent Online. At the moment, it was known as the most terrible existence. Facing such a fight, ordinary guilds needed to organize at least ten parties to challenge it. But now, Rhode’s guild was only left with ninety-six people, which was clearly not enough. Still, there was not even the slightest panic in their eyes, only calmness, confidence, and trust.
The person that they trusted with their avatars’ lives was currently standing not far from the stairwell in front of them. He looked up to the sky with a face full of fortitude. A cold scar could be found on his brow, which left people awestruck. A shining magical armor covered his mighty body as if it was a mighty bulwark that would never fall.
Of course, it was not because of his dignified outward appearance that had made others trust the man in front of them. No matter how strong he looked, it was only an avatar design, and the scar on his brow was just a cosmetic item.
The real factors were the countless achievements and prestigious titles behind him.
First player to rank top of all professional players.
First player to be acknowledged as the top player of the most difficult playable class, ‘Spirit Swordsman.’
Since the First Chapter of ‘Dragon Soul Continent Online: The Coming Darkness’, he had led the guild by solely relying on his own ability. His frightening degree of familiarity towards other classes had helped him sweep three quarterly leaderboards and defeat all the bosses in the first kill as the leader of the guild. All of his dungeon videos would be reproduced by numerous players. He was worshiped as the holy teacher, and he was the Dragon Soul Continent’s No. 1 guild leader — Rhode.
He had personally conquered ‘The Coming Darkness’, and paved the way to the Second Chapter, ‘The Turbulent Era’. Then, he conquered the ‘The Turbulent Era’, and had arrived to ‘The Void Trial’. And now, he would once again use his own hands to end ‘The Void Trial’. However, the new era would no longer be opened by him alone.
How many years has it been?
Rhode shifted his gaze from the distant shining thunderbolts in the sea of clouds and asked himself.
Since the death of his sister, he had been in the Dragon Soul Continent for seven years, and in the past seven years, in order to force himself to forget the pain of the past, he repeatedly set many impossible goals for himself and had reached it again and again. At that time, it had brought him great excitement and glory, which slowly lessened the deep pain in his heart.
However, it was going to stop here.
A month ago, Rhode’s parents had traveled abroad. Unfortunately, their plane flew into a hurricane and crashed, killing both of them instantly. Rhode had been unable to remember what the call he received was about, and how he had felt back then when he heard the news. Now, he had made the decision to leave the game and return to real life. This was not just for his own parents, but also for his own sake. He himself was very clear that it was time for him to change.
“Lea… leader?”
A timid voice sounded, interrupting his flashback. He looked up and saw that there was a timid female mage that had raised her hand from the crowd, her eyes were shining towards him.
“Are…are you really going to leave?”
“Yes.”
Rhode nodded. Then he began to control his own complicated emotions. He shook his head and looked at his companions; these were all his memories and achievements for seven years, they were comrades that had been fighting with him for the past seven years. However, soon, he would eventually leave them. Although it was only in the game, even with a small hand gesture, he could feel what others wanted to do to some extent. After removing the game helmet and going back to reality, it seemed like he would not be able to recognize them.
“My resume was sent yesterday. I hope that I can find a company that will take me in.”
“If I received the guild leader’s resume, I will arrange you directly as a manager of the department, just rest assured!”
A knight waved the sword in his hand. His words had also livened up the previous dull atmosphere and made everyone laugh.
“Thank you for your kindness. Unfortunately, I did not write my game experience on my resume. As you know, our guild has many enemies. If my resume were to be received by people from another guild, then my life would be over.”
Rhode also smiled and answered. After that, he coughed with a serious expression.
“I think we all know just how we have overcome these past years.”
Hearing him, the people that had laughed just now closed their mouths and began to listen to his words.
“We also know that in the forums, there are a lot of people who accuse us and say that we undermine the balance of the game, monopolize all the boss first kills, and made the word ‘competition’ lose its meaning… Frankly, they’re not wrong, but…”
Rhode suddenly clenched his fist and swung it forcefully.
“But this is what we do! We are the strongest guild, we are the strongest party! We have the strength! Then we have to do it, to rob it! The other guilds are not strong enough, therefore it’s their own problem for being defeated. If their strength was enough, they should’ve been able to contend with us. Us monopolizing the boss first kill is not by relying on orthodox methods, position or the flattery from the game company. What we rely on is our own strength! We never give up, we never admit defeat, we will never slack, so what we have now is what we deserve. It is just that simple.”
Rhode paused and then continued.
“I love this guild. I will also miss the time we have spent the past the seven years together, but in this world, all good things will come to an end. I need to go to find my purpose in life, but I will never forget everyone, neither will I forget the guild, which carries my most painful memories, but also my happiest ones. I will always remember Starlight forever.”
Rhode said while pointing on his head.
“A lot of people said that if I left the guild, the guild will not be able to persist on. I know that there are a lot of guilds that heard about me leaving and are now busy sharpening their weapon to break our guild after I leave. However, they have underestimated us. Dragon Soul Continent Online is not a game with only me in it. I cannot establish the guild myself. I cannot create a party myself, and it is impossible for me to take the boss first kill by myself. That is why I hope that after I leave, all of you can give those people the reason why this guild is so strong…”
“Because we have the ability — the ability to take our guild to the first rank with our own strength!”
“Yes!”
“No problem, leader!”
“Leave it to us. When the time calls for it, we will give those idiots a perfect answer!”
“Very good.”
Hearing everyone’s answer, Rhode nodded, and then he turned to the right side of the crowd.
“Old Liu.”
After hearing Rhode voice, the thin mage walked out of the crowd and came to his side. Rhode looked at the mage in front of him quietly for a moment, then took out his guild token and placed it in his hands.
[System Notice: Transferring Guild Leadership, Transferring Party Leadership]
“The next era is yours.”
Rhode let go of his hand. His voice was very calm, without the slightest change.
“No problem, Rhode.”
The mage nodded, but soon, he spoke again.
“Well, as the new guild leader and as the party leader, I order you to lead everyone one last time.”
“Old Liu?”
Hearing this answer, Rhode could not help but frown. The thin mage only smiled and patted Rhode’s shoulder.
“You are the one who started this era, and you are the one who supposed to end it too, Rhode. This is how it should be.”
“…”
Rhode went silent; he looked towards his companions who were not far away. At that moment, they were ready and were waiting for his orders as usual.
Then Rhode raised his sword, pointing it to the front.
“Get ready!!”
As expected, the Void Dragon is extremely strong
Rhode had fought against almost all the higher level BOSSES in the Dragon Soul Continent and even included the other setups in the Dragon Soul Continent, but none of them was as troublesome as the Void Dragon in front of him. Its attack pattern was more complex, almost random. Its damage was several times higher than ordinary bosses. Needless to say that its speed, response, and even defense were all S-class level.
Huff…! What a difficult opponent to conquer…
Rhode held his sword and clenched his teeth, watching the monster in front of him. The fight had reached its peak, and he was the only survivor. But even so, Rhode’s HP was almost empty; the flashing red alert on his retinas continuously reminded him that his vitality had reached the limit.
So what if it is the Void Dragon?
As they looked at each other’s HP, it can be seen that the dragon’s eyes were filled with hatred. Suddenly, Rhode had a very strange feeling; he seemed to be able to feel the dragon’s emotions. As the game’s most powerful and undefeated boss, it now actually fell into such a situation, it must have felt really bad.
Then, I’ll go with you.
Thinking of it, Rhode raised his left hand.
Accompanied by a bird’s cry, Rhode’s sword suddenly burst out a blazing flame. It morphed into a soaring Fire Bird, with its head overturned, it rushed towards the Void Dragon. Facing a head-on attack from Rhode, the Void Dragon roared menacingly. It raised its forepaws high and smashed forward.
“!!!”
Suddenly, Rhode felt his body shake violently. A strong power was building up as the Fire Bird cried out in sorrow and vanished immediately. But before it disappeared, it created a strong explosion that successfully connected with the Void Dragon. The Void Dragon that was originally waving its claw failed because of the explosion and its claw was abruptly torn apart.
After a while, an empty door opened.
Rhode bit his teeth. The flashing red alert was now in an even deeper shade of red, reminding him that the damage he suffered had reached the critical point. However, it was not within his control anymore. This was the last chance; he would either win or perish trying. He raised the sword in his hand, rushing forward. But the Void Dragon also managed to recover. It growled and once again tried to thrust down its claw. At the same time, Rhode also threw out the sword in his hand.
Thunderbolt, activate!
The sword turned into a bright light, piercing the dragon’s chest. Rhode was completely focused looking at it— looking at the light that pierced through the Void Dragon’s claw which tore through the dragon’s body scales easily.
The Void Dragon roared in agony; after that, a huge dragon claw smashed into Rhode’s body.
The red in front of him had warped his entire field of vision, Rhode could no longer anything in front of him, but in the corner, the system prompt could be seen clearly as usual.
[Congratulations to the Starlight Guild that has obtained the first BOSS kill in the Void Dragon Dungeon. An eternal evil has been wiped out.]
[The character has received fatal damage and will soon die]
It’s finally over.
As he observed the system prompt, Rhode exposed a pleasant smile.
And at this time, suddenly, a bright light beamed above him, warping him to the usual respawn platform.
At that moment, a pure white light shot up and penetrated the dark sky, dispersing the dark, lingering clouds.
The players who had already respawned quickly rushed towards the respawning platform. Even the other players around the world who were furious that Starlight had once again broken the record came. All of them stared at the platform quietly, waiting for Rhode to appear.
But at the top of their screens, a system announcement flashed.
[System Notice: Player ‘Rhode’ went offline]
A legendary player that had conquered the three eras disappeared just like that.
