"Val, SWITCH!" Warlord roared as he ran forward.

The guardian grunted and pulled away from the boss, half an hour into the fight, the priests had already fully exhausted their mana. They were nothing more than two puppets now. The boss was ground to one-third of his total HP, while the rest of the Devastator party was in a sorry condition.

The assassins and hunters had already died, leaving only the Valentine, a half dying Satan Slayer and Warlord who was the only one who could tank a few of the boss's hits.

The fight was not as bad as it looked for the Devastators. Due to the long period of the fight, they had understood the boss's patterns. They knew how he would act and how they would react. Mostly, they dodged his skills and kited him whenever they could. And only giving up defense when there was a good opportunity to land a powerful hit.

Valentin's Legacy skill proved to be immensely helpful as he tanked the boss better than an army of players. Guiding his hits and peeling for his allies.

The Guk-Drasiel released a wave of thorns that spread around it, showering the party in pointed sharp thorns. Satan Slayer pulled himself away dodging the hits, while the rest managed to tank the damage.

Dave was thinking about how to join the battle when Singund spoke.

"Is it just me, or do you smell incense?" His orcish nose was twitching.

"Incense?" Dave mumbled and turned, right behind them, a smiling bald man was standing tall. A staff, no longer cracked was strapped to his back.

The monk had one hand in prayer while the other was folded behind him.

"Amitabha," he spoke. "Children of the dead world, give thein lives and be freed from your coils. For that in pain, salvation could be obtained."

Dave grinned, "It's you again."

"It is indeed I, little thief." The monk spoke, his words sounding calm, but the tone had a hint of anger.

Dave looked behind him at the battle and smiled, this was going better than expected.

"You're still looking for this?" Dave said as he pulled up the Node of Power that was in his inventory for a long time now.

"Tis but one of mine goals. Hand over the Vulkan's Creation and your death shall be swifter than the gust of wind." The monk spoke as he moved toward Dave.

"You know, I'm not the same as last time."

"Nor am I, your deity had aided you. But I knew you shall come back for the last Node, and I had waited. Now, tis but you and I."

"Lord, what is this badly talking about?" Singund spoke.

"Don't worry about this. if He wants a fight I'm gonna give him one," Dave said smiling.

"You sound confident," the monk spoke.

"Guys back away," Dave said.

His undead spread out leaving a clear path for the monk.

Dave rubbed his beard a few more times and did a beckoning gesture to the monk, "Come at me."

The monk frowned, giving Dave a moment to inspect him once again.

***

Name: Cha-Zhen

Race: Half-Divinity

Level: 650

Tier: Mythic

Base damage: 250,000-350,000

Danger Level: ☠☠☠☠

HP: 300,000,000

PD: 350,000

MD: 350,000

Skills: ???

Lore: Cha-Zhen was once a man, known to his people by a steadfast faith in peace and inner calmness. Cha-Zhen gained Divinity by becoming one with the world itself. He spent ages preaching the people and guiding humanity to the right path. However, to become what he is today meant that he had seen the worse of mankind, and most likely, he was a part of it also.

***

Cha-Zen's level was now perceivable to Dave. But his skills were still hidden. Dave needed to level up more to know more about the monk's secrets. However, what bothered Dave the most was the monk's low HP compared to other bosses of the area. Even his base damage was not that great. Yet, it was soon revealed to Dave, that what the boss lacked in damage, he compensated in speed.

The monk didn't disappoint Dave, his speed was as usual immensely great. The ground underneath his leg broke as he burst forward.

Dave had a fraction of a second to pull his shield up and at the same time jump.

Cha-Zen's staff struck wide on the shield. Sending the jumping Dave flying like a meteor into the battle of the devastators against the Guk-Drasiel.

Dave tumbled several times thanks to the attack from the Monk and rose back to his leg. Right in between the devastator team and the massive hulking boss.

The creature, unwelcoming to the new guest struck down with his hand.

Dave held his shield up, this time, he used the shield's [Absorption] consuming the power of the attack.

"Skeletal! This is our prey! Get the fuck off!" Warlord roared.

Dave ignored him and moved away from the boss. The monk had appeared in a downward striking position, a fraction of a second after Dave had moved.

The ground blew up, creating huge amounts of dust and debris.

"What the fuck is going on?" Satan Slayer shouted. They were barely able to withstand the powerful area boss, and now Dave had just brought them a new variable. The monk was a boss much higher level than the Guk-Drasiel.

"You're breaking the contract!" Warlord said.

"Na'm'not," Dave grinned and dodged away, "If I was, Albert would have already come here," Dave said and moved aside. The two bosses were intent on taking him down. Dave wasn't going to let that happen anyway.

The monk struck once again at Dave, to which Dave pulled his shield up, absorbing the monk staff strike.

Thinking that they were safe, the Devastators took a breath from the tight battle. Dave was being focused and they were ignored. Yet Dave wasn't going to give them any peace. He purposefully led the bosses toward the devastators.

"Hey, why are you bringing them here!" Satan Slayer complained.

"What do you expect me to do, you wanted to fight the area boss, here, it's all yours," Dave said grinning as he ran toward the devastators.

"Come here thief!" the monk shouted.

Dave ignored the bosses and ran toward the party, who groaned. They couldn't shamelessly run away from the boss, they needed to kill it to get the Node. But with two bosses at the same time, it would be suicidal to face them off with their numbers.

"Fuck you skelly!" Warlord cursed and went ahead, he was close to obtaining the Node, if the fight kept going, if they were given just another ten minutes, they could have taken away the boss and probably set a firm foot in the underworld. And now all was crumbling thanks to Skeletal's intervention.

In his rage, Warlord held his ax up and swung it at Dave.

Dave's smile didn't fade, it even grew inhumanly wider. This was better than expected.

"NO!" Valentine's words came too late for Warlord to recognize. The ax was already coming down and Dave took it head-on.

-352,000.

The attack struck Dave in the chest and sent him rolling back.

The monk arrived at Dave's fallen body and struck down. Only to have Dave hold his shield up and use [Reject] ejecting the Guk-Drasiel's attack to clash against his own attack. The monk was caught off guard and was blasted away but without taking any damage.

The Guk-Drasiel ignored Dave as he was already fighting the monk and headed to the Devastators.

Yet warlord's own avatar began fading.

"What's going on?" he asked as he was looking at his avatar.

"You attacked skelly man. You'll be kicked out of the Underworld," Valentine said in a defeated tone.

Once the idea downed on Warlord, regret soon overcame him. But before his avatar fully disappeared. He threw a small paper at Valentine.

"You'll regret this, Skelly, mark my words!" The words spoken out of Warlord's mouth were comparable to a third rate movie villain. It only made Dave giggle.

Warlord's avatar disappeared immediately afterward.

"What are we gonna do now?" Satan Slayer asked. He was already too low on HP and the Guk-Drasiel was already upon them.

"Fuck, we can't win without Warlord's DPS."

"And I can't tank anymore without healers," Valentine said.

"Skelly did us good," Satan Slayer spoke.

Valentine laughed, "Yeah, technically, he didn't break any rules. I should have expected that."

"Yeah, so, let's see if we can do anything about this," Satan Slayer said as he dodged one of the boss's swings.

"Yeah, but let me try this first," Valentine said and tore the paper that Warlord had left him.

Dave's vision was hindered for a moment due to a notification.

***

A forbidden chapter has been used on you

Lockdown

You have been lockdown in the Fourth Raid Zone, Drow Kingdom.

You cannot leave the area for 72 hours game time.

The use of teleportation scrolls and teleportation gates has been disabled.

***

Dave didn't comment on the notification, he only waved it away and turned to the two devastator members left.

"How does it feel being locked in here with us," Satan Slayer said.

"Me? Locked in here with you? I think you got this wrong." Dave's grin turned to a full rotten smile.

"It's you who is locked here with me! Boyz! Come out!"