Elias was actually a little confused.
He hadn't entered Eclipse of Eternity that late.
After all, he had spent the whole night playing with his two girls, then had breakfast together before finally falling asleep…
Besides, he had so many fangirls helping him in Firefly Town!
He thought he would definitely be leveling up at an impressive speed.
But to his shock, that "Shadow" from Shell Town had completely outpaced him!
Not only that, but Shadow had even gotten the world-first kill on a Gold-tier Boss!
"That guy must have abused some kind of exploit to kill a Gold-tier Boss, right?"
"A Silver-tier Boss is already so difficult—how could anyone possibly solo a Gold-tier one?"
Even so, Elias was still in a good mood overall.
With dozens of adoring fangirls supporting him, he was practically unstoppable in Eclipse of Eternity!
Even though he had only chosen a standard Mage class, he had still reached Level 6 at an incredible pace.
In Firefly Town, he had been the first player to activate the teleportation array!
"As long as I take down this Silver-tier Boss, I'll hit Level 7…"
"They say that Shadow has been stuck at Level 9 for a while now?"
"Then I just have to push through and overtake him—to become the strongest player in Eclipse of Eternity!"
With that goal in mind, Elias was determined to defeat the Two-Headed Blaze Fiend in front of him!
He led dozens of his fangirls in a coordinated assault on the Boss.
As for the other players in the area? They were just prey for his group to hunt.
At this rate, Elias' victory over the Silver-tier Boss was practically guaranteed.
However…
Just as the Two-Headed Blaze Fiend dropped to one-third HP, an unexpected change occurred!
A dark figure, clad in eerie, leather armor, suddenly appeared beside Elias—who was protected in the center of his fangirl formation.
The shadowy figure only appeared for an instant before vanishing again!
Immediately after, nine slashes of light erupted across Elias and the nearby fangirls!
-1995!
-2052!
-2009!
…
Elias barely had time to register the barrage of damage numbers before his vision went dark.
[You have been slain by "Shadow"! You have lost 1,106 tradable lifespan days! You have lost 18 years and 113 days of untradable lifespan!]
The system notification stunned Elias.
When he opened his eyes again, he found himself back in the central plaza of Firefly Town…
"I… died?!"
Elias was in complete disbelief.
Victory had been within reach—the Silver-tier Boss only had one-third HP left!
And then, out of nowhere, Shadow had appeared and stolen the kill?
"No way! Why the hell is Shadow in Firefly Town?!"
"There are so many starting towns in Riverbay City's region—why did he come to mine?! And why did I have to run into him?!"
Elias' greasy, effeminate face twisted as though he was suffering from constipation.
Behind him, five of his Mage-class fangirls had also been killed and resurrected.
All of them looked equally dumbfounded.
"Ahh… I died?"
"How could this happen?! Even big brother got killed?!"
"It was Shadow! But why did Shadow attack us and big brother?"
"He must have been after the Silver-tier Boss!"
"How despicable! Sneaking up on big brother like that—so shameless! Total shrimphead behavior!"
"Elias! Should we go back and get revenge?"
"I don't think we need to—our other fangirls will definitely avenge big brother!"
…
The five Mage-class fangirls chattered away, their eyes filled with adoration for Elias.
Elias flipped his hair in an exaggerated, dramatic motion and smirked confidently.
"Assassins may be deadly when attacking from the shadows," he said smugly, "but once they're revealed, they're just sitting ducks. Watch—our people will kill him in no time…"
That was what he said.
But very soon, Elias realized… something was wrong.
Because more and more players were reviving in the plaza—
And most of them were members of his fangirl squad!
As the number of resurrected fangirls increased, Elias started feeling uneasy.
"Wait… what?"
"You all got killed too?! This doesn't make any sense!"
"Shadow attacked once, fine—but how did he slaughter all of you like pigs?!"
Elias' expression darkened.
The resurrected fangirls looked like they were about to cry as they spoke in anxious voices:
"Elias… we're so sorry…"
"We were too weak… but that Shadow guy was just too fast!"
"I couldn't even land a hit on him!"
"Yeah! And he had some kind of evasion ability! A lot of our attacks should've struck, but the system kept saying they were dodged!"
"Even if we did hit him, it was useless! I landed an Ice Spear on him, but it only did 2 damage!"
…
The situation was getting worse and worse.
In fact, at this point, the entire battlefield near the Two-Headed Blaze Fiend had been wiped clean.
Every single one of Elias' people had been slaughtered!
They had all been sent back to town!
Meanwhile, in Wailing Gorge—
After assassinating Elias, Riven didn't leave. Instead, he stayed behind to massacre the rest of Elias' brainwashed fangirl squad, cutting them down one after another while they screamed and wailed.
Of course, there was one thing these fangirls were especially skilled at…
Trash talk.
As they died, they cursed and ranted at Shadow with all their might.
But that was all they could do—because not a single one of them could even touch Riven.
Even if they did manage to get close, Riven's 75% dodge chance meant he could ignore most attacks completely.
And most importantly…
His Gold-tier Ghostfire Leather Armor was far too tough for them to damage at their current level!
Surrounded by dozens of enraged fangirls, Riven cut them down like a wolf in a flock of sheep.
In barely a minute, he wiped them out.
Nearby, several solo players had been trying to compete with Elias' group for the Boss.
These solo players—who had already died multiple times during their struggle—were shocked speechless.
They knew firsthand just how crazy Elias' fangirl squad was.
But now…
A single Assassin had annihilated them all.
One by one, Elias' fangirls fell, screaming in frustration, before being sent back to town like helpless lambs.
"Holy crap… this is insane!"
"Who is this Assassin? Could it be Shadow?"
"It has to be! Who else could pull something like this?!"
"I knew it! But why is Shadow in Firefly Town?"
"Everyone, back off! Let the Boss go to the pro!"
The solo players were smart—they immediately backed away out of respect and admiration.
Very soon, Riven was the only player left near the Two-Headed Blaze Fiend.
Seeing this, Riven activated Shadow Step—entering stealth once again.
Just when everyone thought he was going to leave unseen—
He suddenly threw a Toxic Dagger , striking one of the Boss's two heads.
And then the Boss's HP bar instantly dropped to zero!