The week at the Academy, a constant performance of weakness, was over. Zack was physically tired, but the forced stagnation was worse than any physical exhaustion. His body, now fully stabilized at the D-Rank threshold, was screaming for a challenge.
He met Emily, Ben, and Maya at the pre-arranged checkpoint outside the city limits. They drove in Ben's armored transport, heading toward the mountain region where the dangerous Shattered Peak Quarry dungeon pulsed with raw magic.
The mood was determined. They weren't whispering about secrets. After the dramatic revelation in the Brood Mother's cavern, the team knew exactly who Zack was: a hidden power source wearing an E-Rank Healer's mask. They accepted the lie for the outside world, but amongst themselves, there was complete, unwavering trust.
"Final check," Emily said, turning in the passenger seat to face the back. "Ben, shield integrity?"
"Solid," Ben rumbled, patting his massive tower shield. "But I'll need more stamina than last time. That Stone Golem is a tank buster. Zack, be ready with the juice."
"Maya, daggers?"
"Sharper than the Association's audit team," Maya replied with a thin smile. "I'll focus on the joints. But if that shell holds, we're relying on the dark one." Maya looked at Zack, not with awe, but with the professional respect due a specialist.
"Understood," Zack confirmed, adjusting the thin, non-magical gloves he wore. "I'll handle the shell. My focus is on Drain and Heal efficiency. Ben, I'll try to keep your Stamina above 80%. Emily, when I open the core, hit it with everything."
He had checked his stats. He was at a perfect:
Strength: 51.0
Agility: 52.0
Stamina: 50.0
Spirit: 50.0
Defense: 50.0
He was a D-Rank (Beginner) with higher than average Agility—a lethal combination.
They reached the dungeon entrance. The open-air quarry was cold and windy, a pit of loose rock and crushed stone. After flashing their IDs, they moved straight toward the main pit.
They fought their way through several packs of D-Rank (Beginner) Stone-Husk Minions. These were simple fights, mere warm-ups. Ben would Taunt, drawing the agro. Emily would blast the formations with fire. Maya would vanish and execute the flankers. Zack moved in the middle, ready to use his power.
He used his speed to quickly execute two flanking Minions that Maya had paralyzed, securing their blue cube drops instantly into his dimension. The team didn't flinch or look surprised; they simply trusted that their "Healer" was doing his specialized job.
About two hours in, they reached the boss arena. It was a massive mining pit, littered with scaffolding and broken machinery.
In the center stood the Stone Golem.
It was a colossal humanoid construct, twenty feet tall, made entirely of dense, dark, crystalline stone. Its eyes glowed with furious red embers.
[Boss Entity Detected: Stone Golem (D-Rank High).]
"High," Ben breathed, gripping his shield. "Let's go. Stick to the plan."
The Golem roared. The sound was like two mountains grinding together. It raised its enormous, club-like arm.
"Go!" Emily shouted. "Ben, maintain distance! Maya, look for cracks! Zack, focus the Drain!"
Ben charged, but not head-on. He used his speed to circle the massive boss, planting his shield at a strategic angle to draw the Golem's attention.
The Golem brought its arm down in a crushing smash.
BOOM!
The ground erupted where Ben had been standing. Ben quickly moved out of the crater, his armor rattling.
Emily, knowing fire was weak, changed her tactics. She began casting a flurry of sharp, pointed Stone Spikes—an Earth-element spell—aiming for the Golem's knee joints. CRACK! The spikes shattered on the Golem's crystalline armor, leaving only faint scorch marks.
"No good!" Emily yelled. "Its Armor Stat is too high! We're not breaking through the damage threshold! We need more force!"
Maya was a blur, attacking the leg joints. Her daggers hit with impossible speed. Tink! Tink! Tink! Sparks flew, but the Golem barely registered the hit.
Zack watched, analyzing the fight. The Golem's Defense was easily 70+. Maya and Emily were ineffective. Ben was dancing around the massive club, but one mistake would end him.
I have to break it open, Zack thought. I have to demonstrate the destructive force of a balanced 50.0.
He channeled his power. Dark, swirling energy erupted around his right arm, covering him up to the shoulder. He sprinted forward, a black blur.
He met the Golem's massive, descending club with his own fist.
KRAK-THOOM!
The sound was not that of a human punching stone. It was the sound of a mountain cracking. Zack's entire body channeled his 51.0 Strength into the blow, using the specialized density of his body and the destructive force of his God-Eater aura.
The Golem's club was stopped dead in mid-air.
The Golem roared in pure, mechanical confusion.
Ben, Emily, and Maya—though not surprised by his power—were stunned by the scale of the destruction. They had seen him parry, but never stop a D-Rank High attack with a bare hand.
"Damage! Now!" Ben roared, snapping out of his momentary shock. "It's stunned!"
"Drain!" Zack roared back. He channeled [Energy Drain] and sent a thick, purple tether into the Golem's club arm, while simultaneously launching himself backward, avoiding the Golem's wild counter-swipe. "Its energy is freezing up the stone! Hit the arm joint!"
Maya broke out of her position and darted forward, driving both daggers into the crack Zack's punch had just created in the Golem's forearm. SHINK! She finally met soft tissue—or rather, soft crystalline energy. The Golem shrieked in pain.
Emily unleashed a powerful, concentrated [Incendiary Lance] into the Golem's shoulder joint, now exposed and weakened by the Energy Drain. The arm erupted in smoke and flame, tearing away from the Golem's body.
The Golem staggered back, crippled and roaring in absolute pain.
Just as the team was about to surge forward to finish the monster, the cavern floor began to tremble violently.
RUMBLE! RUMBLE!
From two separate, previously unseen tunnels, two massive figures burst out, their feet pounding the stone.
They were Stone Royal Guards. D-Rank (Advanced). Bigger, faster, and more armored than the Warlord from the previous run. Each carried a massive, spiked maul.
"Ambush!" Maya screamed, her voice tight with panic. "Two Elites! Flanking!"
This was the true trap. The Golem was the bait. The two Royal Guards were the killers, designed to wipe out the exhausted D-Rank team.
Emily looked at the two charging figures, her face draining of color. "We can't handle three Advanced monsters! We need to pull back!"
"No," Zack commanded, his voice cutting across the panicked air. He stood between his team and the three monsters—the crippled Golem and the two Guards. He was done being a follower. He was the most powerful person here, and they needed a general.
"Ben, Maya, Emily! Listen to me!" Zack roared, channeling his spirit to project his voice. "We don't retreat. We kill them all. You three take the Guards. Their armor is weaker than the Golem's! Concentrate on one Guard first! I will hold the Golem."
Ben stared at him, not with surprise at his power, but with shock at the sheer lunacy of the order. "You hold the Boss? Alone? While we fight two Advanced Elites?"
"I will break its core. I will not be crushed. Your job is to make sure those two Advanced monsters don't interrupt me. GO!"
The command was absolute. Ben, seeing the sheer, unbelievable confidence in Zack's eyes, charged the nearest Royal Guard without hesitation, shield raised. Emily and Maya followed, launching themselves into a desperate fight against the two new threats.
Zack turned to the crippled Golem. Its remaining arm was swinging wildly, trying to crush him.
He met the Golem's attack with a flurry of precise, dark-energy-infused punches. BOOM! BOOM! He smashed into the Golem's torso, widening the crack Maya had made.
Meanwhile, the battle behind him was brutal.
Ben was pinned down by one Royal Guard, his shield taking horrendous, shattering impacts. Maya was barely dodging the massive mauls of the second Guard, her speed pushed to its maximum.
Emily, seeing her friends in peril, unleashed a continuous stream of fire, trying to slow the Guards down.
CRACK! A Royal Guard's maul bypassed Ben's shield and slammed into his thigh armor. Ben roared, falling to one knee.
"ZACK! BEN IS DOWN! HEAL NOW!" Emily screamed, tears of fear blurring her vision.
Zack couldn't spare the time or mana for a full heal. He was fighting the Golem, and every blow took a huge toll on his 50.0 Stamina.
He needed a sacrifice. He needed energy.
He slammed his left hand onto the Golem's shoulder, avoiding the swinging arm. [ENERGY DRAIN]!
Simultaneously, he channeled a tether to the Royal Guard that had just struck Ben. The purple light shot across the cavern, invisible to the enemy, and slammed into the Guard's armored chest.
Zack instantly had three energy sources flowing into him: two Advanced D-Rank monsters.
The rush was staggering. His 50.0 Spirit reserve swelled instantly, reaching 150%, then 200%.
He funneled the massive, stolen energy into two precise [Heal] spells. One slammed into Ben, mending his broken thigh and replenishing his strength. The second hit Emily, refilling her spent mana.
"NOW!" Zack roared, turning the power from the drain into pure destructive force. He drove his right fist deep into the Golem's core.
The Golem shuddered, dissolving into dust.
Zack jumped off the disintegrating boss, landing just as Ben delivered the killing blow to the first Royal Guard, who was still paralyzed by the Drain. Emily and Maya finished the second one moments later.
The cavern fell silent. Three massive dust piles marked the positions of the dead bosses.
Zack stood there, breathing heavily, covered in sweat and grime. He was a monster, a warrior who healed by drinking the lives of his enemies.
Emily, Ben, and Maya stood staring at him. Their faces were no longer shocked, but filled with awe, respect, and a terrifying, new loyalty. They had been whole seconds away from death, and Zack had pulled them back, not with a potion, but with a display of unimaginable power.
"You..." Ben whispered, his voice hoarse. "You drained three of them at once. You healed me... from the Boss's core."
"I used what I had," Zack said, his voice cold. "I need more. You need more. We're getting the loot, and then we're going home to talk."
He walked over to the dust piles. The Golem core was massive, glowing with intense energy.
[Reader's Note: Zack's Stats ]
Rank: D (Beginner) / (System Rank: D (Beginner))
Class: Healer / God-Eater (Mythical)
Strength: 54.0(+3.0)
Agility: 54.0(+2.0)
Stamina: 54.0(+4.0)
Spirit: 54.0(+4.0)
Defense: 54.0(+4.0)
(Note: Zack gained a total of 17 points from the massive haul of the three D-Rank Advanced monsters. All stats are now at a solid 54.0, pushing him significantly above the D-Rank Beginner threshold.)