Ten minutes before the dungeon break.....
Inside a cozy, wooden-paneled tea shop three blocks away from the central square, a quiet celebration was taking place.
Rodrigue, known among his peers at Greymoor Academy as the Iron Shield, sat at a round corner table with his two teammates.
He was a broad-shouldered young man in his early twenties, dressed in heavy steel armor that gleamed under the warm indoor lights. Resting against the leg of his chair was a massive tower shield covered in faint runic engravings.
Opposite him sat Alex, a lean swordsman with two sharp rapiers strapped to his waist, and Sarah, a young woman wearing a clean white cleric robe with a wooden holy symbol hanging around her neck.
All three of them were in high spirits, laughing and clinking their porcelain tea cups together.
"To our victory!" Alex said, a wide grin spreading across his face. "The first One-Star Class team in our freshman year to clear a Bronze-Ranked difficulty dungeon! Even if it’s a regulated dungeon, that’s not far away from a wild one!"
"We actually pulled it off," Sarah said, letting out a soft sigh of relief as she took a sip of warm herbal tea. "When that final boss rushed us, I thought my mana pool would give out. Rodrigue’s taunt held up perfectly."
"It was a team effort," Rodrigue said, though he could not suppress the proud smile forming on his lips. "Our coordination was flawless. Most Hosts with One-Star classes take at least six months to build up the courage and stats for a Bronze dungeon. We did it in three."
They were the top talent among the new intake of Greymoor Academy. Clearing a Bronze-Ranked portal as One-Star Class Hosts was a rare achievement, one that was bound to earn them recognition from high-ranking guild recruiters once the official academic term began.
That meant they were officially qualified to run a wild IRD dungeon now!
They felt invincible, confident in their abilities and proud of the strength they had built together.
BZZZZ!
BZZZZ!
Suddenly, all three of their communication devices buzzed violently in unison.
The glowing orange light on their wristbands flickered continuously, signaling an emergency broadcast from the academy’s automated alert system.
Rodrigue tapped his wristband, bringing up a holographic text panel floating above the table.
[Emergency Priority Alert: Wild Dungeon Portal Outbreak detected at Baidu Central Plaza.]
[Difficulty: Iron-Ranked (IRD)]
[All nearby student Hosts, off-duty guards, and registered party members are requested to report immediately for containment support.]
[Reward: 50 Academy Merit Points and official government contribution credits.]
"An Iron-Ranked portal inside the city center?" Alex blinked, his tone laced with confusion. "Wild portals rarely spawn in urban zones."
"It does not matter how it happened," Sarah said, standing up immediately and adjusting her white cleric robes. "An Iron-Ranked dungeon is basic. Low-level beasts. But the civilian density in the district is huge right now."
"Fifty Merit Points each," Rodrigue said, his eyes sharpening as he grabbed his massive shield and strapped it to his left arm. "Merit points are essential for purchasing advanced Class change Books at the academy library. This is a free gift for us. With our experience clearing a Bronze dungeon, handling an Iron outbreak will be a walk in the park."
Alex drew both his rapiers with a crisp metallic slide. "Let us go show the local guards how a top-tier student party operates."
Leaving their paid bill on the wooden table, the three young Hosts sprinted out of the tea shop, heading straight toward the central plaza.
However, as they neared the market district, the atmosphere drastically changed.
The sky above the distant four-story shops was no longer glowing with a pale, murky red light. Instead, the crimson pillar of energy violently swirled and expanded, morphing into a deep, terrifying shade of dark orange.
The ground beneath their boots shook violently, cracking the stone tiles like glass.
Screams of sheer horror echoed down the wide avenues, accompanied by the brutal sound of tearing metal and collapsing stone facades.
Rodrigue stopped dead in his tracks at the edge of the intersection, his eyes widening in pure shock.
"That is not an Iron-Ranked portal..." Alex whispered, his face turning pale as he stared at the dark orange light column. "The spatial signature mutated. It evolved into a Bronze-Ranked difficulty dungeon!"
Before any of them could react, a blood-curdling scream echoed from the main road.
Fifty meters ahead, a local security guard Host was slammed onto the pavement by an eight-foot-tall, blood-muscled Feral Minotaur.
With a single swipe of its massive dark claw, the beast tore through the guard’s steel chest plate, ripping his torso apart in a spray of crimson blood.
"Ah!" Sarah gasped, covering her mouth in terror, taking a step backward.
Panic seized the trio.
Fighting a Bronze dungeon with a prepared team inside a controlled environment was completely different from facing a wild horde of Feral monsters erupting directly into a crowded civilian street.
Multiple dark silhouettes were stepping out of the orange light, their purple-veined hides radiating a suffocating aura of violence.
"Rodrigue!" Alex shouted, his voice trembling slightly as he held his rapiers. "What do we do? There are too many of them!"
"Form a defensive line!" Rodrigue roared, gritting his teeth as he forced his legs forward. "We are Greymoor students! We cannot just watch civilians die!"
Rodrigue slammed his heavy shield onto the ground, preparing to activate his One-Star Tank skill to draw the attention of the nearest beast.
He braced his body.
Then, a strange, high-pitched sound cut through the frantic air.
SHOOO!
A single dark iron bolt flew across the street with terrifying speed.
Rodrigue watched in utter disbelief as the lead Feral Minotaur, which had just butchered the security guard, suddenly froze completely mid-step.
Its pulsing purple veins instantly dimmed, its thick, rock-hard gray hide softening like wet clay.
SPLAT!
The iron bolt struck the towering creature directly in its left eye socket, punching straight through bone and shredding its brain core.
The eight-foot monster collapsed forward like a felled tree, smashing hard onto the pavement without letting out a single roar.
"What..." Alex stammered, his eyes wide open. "Did... someone just one-shot a Feral?"
Before they could process the sight, three more Feral Minotaurs burst out of the swirling orange portal, their four twisted horns dripping with dark saliva as they roared in rage.
SHOOO!
SHOOO!
SHOOO!
A continuous, rhythmic whistle filled the air.
What followed was a scene that completely shattered everything Rodrigue, Alex, and Sarah knew about combat.
Every single Feral monster that stepped out of the portal light froze in place the exact moment it walked out.
Their dark purple aura vanished, their terrifying physical defenses completely stripped away as if by an invisible force.
They stood entirely helpless, like wooden targets lined up in a shooting gallery.
Then came the bolts.
Each sharp whistle sound was instantly followed by the dull, sickening thud of an iron bolt finding its target.
Right eye socket, throat joint, heart core. Not a single shot missed. Not a single bolt strayed a millimeter off course.
One by one, the massive, eight-foot-tall Feral beasts fell to the ground, stacking up in a bloody pile right at the base of the portal.
Rodrigue stood frozen behind his heavy shield, his hands trembling slightly. He looked around the plaza, searching for the source of the devastating barrage.
High up on a broken balcony near an electric bus, a figure in a light gray coat moved with calm, mechanical efficiency, reloading and firing a simple wooden crossbow.
There was nothing extraordinary to watch, just a silent executioner wiping out a Bronze-Ranked outbreak single-handedly.
A single thought appeared in the minds of the three in that moment...
That’s a master!
A master had taken charge of the battlefield.
None of them had any idea that the man standing on the balcony, casually wiping out Feral beasts and reaping massive experience points, did not even possess a Class yet.