Part 1: The Metronome
Day 1 of practice was a disaster.
Titan tripped over Valen's feet. Roger's bullet grazed Jax's ear because the rogue moved left instead of right. Seraphina's shield was a second too late, leaving Titan to take a full goblin club to the face.
"Stop," Elian ordered. "Again."
Day 3.
They stopped crashing into each other. But they were loud.
"Switch!" Valen shouted.
"Heal me!" Titan cried.
"Duck!" Roger yelled.
"Too noisy," Elian critiqued. "If you have to speak, you're already dead. The enemy hears you too. Again."
Day 7.
The noise began to fade.
They moved to Floor 9. The monsters were faster.
When a Wolf leaped at Seraphina, she didn't scream. She simply took a half-step back.
In that same second, a shield slammed into the space she had just occupied. Titan didn't look back; he knew she had moved.
Thud. The wolf bounced off the shield.
Swish. Jax's dagger ended it.
No words. Just breath.
Day 14.
Floor 10. The Boss Room.
The Death Knight sat on its throne of fused bones, the same monster that had nearly killed Elian weeks ago.
It rose, blue soul-fire igniting in its visor, and raised its massive zweihänder.
It charged.
Elian stood in the back, leaning against the doorframe. He didn't draw his sword. He didn't issue a single command.
Titan stepped forward. He didn't raise his shield to block; he angled it.
CLANG.
The massive sword slid off Titan's shield, the momentum carrying the Death Knight forward, exposing its back.
Lyra strummed a single, low note. [Curse: Rusted Joints].
The Knight's armor seized up. Its recovery animation slowed by 0.5 seconds.
That was all they needed.
Roger, perched on a gargoyle statue above, fired a single shot.
BANG.
The bullet hit the Knight's helmet, snapping its head back.
Valen and Jax moved in perfect unison.
Valen struck the knee. Jax struck the neck gap.
Crunch. Slash.
Seraphina didn't heal anyone—because no one took damage. Instead, she cast [Holy Smite] at the exact moment the Knight tried to roar, cancelling its skill.
The Death Knight crumbled into bone dust.
The fight lasted fifteen seconds.
Not a single word was spoken.
Elian nodded. The octopus had learned to swim.
"We're ready."
Part 2: The Broadcast
The Town Plaza of the First Floor was packed.
It was noon, the busiest time of the day. Suddenly, the massive magical screens that usually displayed the Administrator's announcements flickered.
Static cleared to reveal a live feed.
"What is that?" a player asked, pointing up.
"Is that... a dungeon run?"
Standing on a wooden crate beneath the screen was Luna. She wore a pristine alchemist's robe with the Eclipse emblem—a black sun—stitched onto the shoulder.
She held a magical amplification crystal.
"Citizens of the Starter Town," Luna announced, her voice booming across the square.
"You've heard the rumors. You've seen the Wanted posters The Dynasty put up. You think we are hiding."
In the crowd, Commander Thorne of The Dynasty scowled. He pushed his way to the front. "That witch... where are they?"
Luna smiled. It was a merchant's smile—sharp and dangerous.
"We aren't hiding," she said. "We're working."
She pointed at the screen.
"Live from Floor 12. The Boss Room."
The crowd gasped. Floor 12 was the Labyrinth. The Minotaur.
"They're insane," Thorne laughed. "A new guild? Against Asterios? They'll be slaughtered."
Part 3: The Dance of Thunder
On the screen, the massive doors of the Boss Room groaned open.
The camera—a floating magical eye managed by Caelum from the base—zoomed in.
Asterios the Storm-Burned stood in the center. Twenty feet of obsidian muscle, magma veins, and a warhammer crackling with blue lightning.
It roared, a sound that shook the camera feed.
The six members of Eclipse walked in.
Titan. Valen. Jax. Seraphina. Lyra. Roger.
And Elian.
The Minotaur charged. The ground quaked.
Thorne watched the screen, waiting for the panic. Waiting for the shouting.
But there was silence.
Asterios swung the hammer—a horizontal cleave meant to wipe out the entire frontline.
Titan didn't brace for impact. He slid forward, into the swing.
By moving closer to the handle, he reduced the momentum of the strike.
CLANG.
The hammer hit Titan's shield. The boy slid back five feet, his boots carving sparks into the stone, but he didn't break.
In the split second the hammer connected, Roger fired.
He didn't shoot the Minotaur. He shot the floor directly under its hoof.
BANG.
The bullet was an Ice-Dust round. The floor froze instantly.
The Minotaur, unbalanced by the recoil of hitting Titan, slipped on the sudden patch of ice.
Its arms flailed.
Valen and Jax were already in the air.
They didn't signal each other. They crossed paths in a blur.
Valen struck the left shoulder. Jax struck the right kidney.
Slash. Slash.
Magma sprayed.
The Minotaur roared in pain and engaged its [Thunder-Flame Spin].
It spun like a top, a vortex of fire and lightning.
In a normal party, the leader would scream "Retreat!" or "Shields!"
Eclipse didn't retreat.
Seraphina slammed her staff down. She didn't cast a shield on the party. She cast [Holy Anchor] on Lyra.
Lyra didn't run. She stood inches from the spinning vortex and strummed her lute.
[Skill: Dissonance].
The sound waves clashed with the thunder. The magical frequency of the boss's attack destabilized.
The lightning fizzled out, leaving only the fire.
Without the lightning, the attack was just physical.
Titan stepped back in.
[Skill: World Eater's Shell].
He caught the spinning hammer with his entire body.
CRUNCH.
Titan's HP bar dropped to 20%. His armor cracked. Blood sprayed from his nose.
But he stopped the spin.
The boss was stalled.
Elian moved.
He hadn't attacked yet. He had been walking in the shadow of the Minotaur, waiting for the stamina bar to deplete.
The moment Titan stopped the hammer, Elian was there.
He didn't look at his teammates. He knew Roger was reloading. He knew Seraphina was casting a heavy heal on Titan. He knew Valen was preparing a finisher.
Elian coated The Reaper's Edge in Acid.
He vaulted off Titan's back.
He drove the greatsword into the Minotaur's open mouth, straight down into the magma core in its chest.
SHIIIINK.
The Minotaur stiffened.
Elian twisted the blade.
The boss didn't even have time to scream. The light in its eyes vanished.
The massive body collapsed with a thunderous crash.
Part 4: The Warning
In the town plaza, thousands of players stood in stunned silence.
The fight had lasted less than two minutes.
No commands. No hesitation.
It looked like a machine dismantling a toy.
On the screen, Elian pulled his sword from the corpse.
He didn't celebrate. He didn't high-five Valen.
He walked over to the floating camera eye.
His face, usually masked by the stoic aura, filled the screens in the plaza.
His eyes were cold, boring into the souls of the onlookers.
"Thorne," Elian said.
The Commander of The Dynasty froze in the crowd. It felt like Elian was standing right in front of him.
"This is what happens to things that stand in our way," Elian said, his voice flat and distorted by the transmission.
"The Dynasty is a pebble. Do not make me step on you again."
The feed cut to black.
Luna lowered the crystal. She looked at the terrified, awestruck crowd.
"Guild Eclipse is open for business," Luna smiled sweetly. "We are selling Minotaur leather. Bulk orders only."
The plaza erupted into chaos.
But amidst the noise, one thing was clear.
The hierarchy of the Starter Town had just been shattered.