Even though the Lizard King was incredibly fast, as long as he didn’t lose track of it—and had already guessed its destination—Mysterious could still keep up.

A level 11 boss‑class monster rampaging near the BeginnerVillage… as long as it didn’t do something suicidal like charging into the village itself, there was basically nothing out here that dared—or was able—to stop it. Monsters noticed the Lizard King’s menacing aura from far away and scrambled aside in fear, opening a clear path for it. Thanks to that, even Mysterious, who was trailing right behind it, wasn’t blocked by any monsters.

At full speed, the Lizard King and Mysterious only needed a few minutes to sprint from the forest on the west side of the village all the way to the canyon on the south side.

Along this long stretch of road, the Lizard King of course ran into plenty of players. Most of them didn’t dare get in the way of this raging behemoth. It might just be a game, but watching a giant lizard bigger than a family car charge right at you, the vast majority of people had no guts to stand in front of it.

The few who did try to block it were all sent back to the BeginnerVillage—either rammed or stomped—without even slowing the Lizard King down.

Compared to the Lizard King, Mysterious, who was chasing behind it, looked downright unremarkable. Other than a few players sighing at how fast he was, he didn’t cause any other stir. Some people did connect the dots—seeing Mysterious sprinting like mad, thinking of the Lizard King ahead, they realized he was chasing the Lizard King.

A few players even tried to run along with Mysterious, but after a short chase they realized they couldn’t keep up with his speed and gave up.

But there were a lot of players, and not a shortage of smart ones. It didn’t take long for someone to realize the Lizard King was heading for Gale Canyon. The news that this monster, even stronger than the Gale Wolf King, was targeting Gale Canyon quickly hit the forums.

The forum exploded. Players spammed complaints about why BeginnerVillage No. 2 had so many special events. The other villages had their share of big news too, but compared to the crazy pace of Village No. 2, they all looked a bit dull.

Mysterious chased the Lizard King all the way to Gale Canyon before he finally caught up to the Jungle Heavy Lizard King. By the time he saw it, the Lizard King had already clashed with other players. But calling it a “fight” was generous—it was pure one‑sided slaughter.

Most players there were around level 5–6. In front of the Lizard King, they had absolutely no way to resist. Just brushing against it meant turning into white light and reviving back in town. The handful who could dodge one or two attacks still couldn’t dodge every strike from start to finish like Mysterious could, and were all obediently sent back to town.

The few dozen players who’d originally rushed in, planning to swarm and take down the Lizard King, were neatly wiped and shipped back to the respawn Altar in a matter of moments—that was the kind of overwhelming dominance a boss‑class creature was supposed to have.

“Tsk… they still saw it,” Mysterious sighed helplessly. Those players had all been wiped by the Lizard King, sure, but players could revive. Now that they’d seen it, the Lizard King’s existence was completely exposed.

…Maybe it was just his imagination, but Mysterious felt like he could see a very human, almost joyful emotion on that big lizard face—put simply, it looked… smug.

Right then, the Lizard King also noticed Mysterious charging toward it. The moment it saw him, its massive body clearly froze for an instant. That human‑like feeling vanished, and only then did it whip its tail at Mysterious.

Because the Lizard King’s tail was extremely long and flexible, Mysterious had no choice but to halt his advance and retreat a few steps to dodge that tail whip.

And while Mysterious was forced back by the tail, the Lizard King turned and bolted. Anyone who didn’t know the situation would probably think the Lizard King was afraid of Mysterious.

Seeing it flee, Mysterious could only continue the chase. He didn’t know if there was anything he could actually do to change the situation, but the Lizard King was the target of two of his quests. He couldn’t just let it run off.

So man and lizard began their chase once again.

As Mysterious and the Lizard King pushed deeper inside, the number of players they ran into kept increasing. After all, the lure of a heavily wounded level 10 boss, the Gale Wolf King, was huge. With nearly zero risk, of course tons of players wanted to be the ones to finish it off.

At first, when the Lizard King ran into those players, they all saw another boss charging straight at their faces and naturally wanted to give it a try… then, without exception, they were sent back to town.

As more and more people were shipped back by the Lizard King, and others who’d died ran back to rejoin the fight, the players still in the canyon quickly learned there was another boss‑class monster rampaging around.

Unlike the already heavily wounded Gale Wolf King, this giant lizard was nearly full HP, so the players instantly started treating it like the plague, avoiding it wherever they could.

Originally, Mysterious was just a lone player. With the Lizard King rampaging around, he was completely inconspicuous; even if he blended into a crowd, no one would think it was strange. But once players consciously started avoiding the Lizard King and the fights grew fewer and fewer, Mysterious, who was still running right behind it, suddenly became very noticeable.

Following behind a Lizard King that had already killed several hundred players, for this long, and still not dying, still sticking to its tail—someone like Mysterious naturally started to look suspicious in other people’s eyes.

Even so, everyone’s main target was still the heavily wounded Gale Wolf King. Plus they were already struggling to deal with the canyon mobs, so hardly anyone had the spare attention to focus on one suspicious player.

The Lizard King seemed to be searching for something. It just dragged Mysterious around the canyon, zigzagging everywhere, and would occasionally stop on the spot to look around.

‘Don’t tell me it’s looking for the Wolf King?’ Watching the Lizard King running nonstop ahead of him, Mysterious couldn’t help thinking that.

At a time like this, charging into the canyon with that “looking for something” attitude, “looking for the Wolf King” was obviously the most likely answer… especially since it had just fought the Wolf King earlier.

“Awooooo—” Just as that thought crossed Mysterious’s mind, a loud wolf howl suddenly echoed from the center of the canyon.

The moment it heard the howl, the Lizard King changed direction and bolted toward the canyon center, where the sound had come from… and of course, Mysterious followed right behind it.

On the way, Mysterious saw plenty of players, all apparently heading in the same direction to snipe something—clearly, they’d all heard the howl and were headed toward it.

But when those players saw the Lizard King, almost all of them chose to steer clear. It slowed them down, but if they got killed by the Lizard King, they could basically kiss the Wolf King goodbye.

Since everyone was trying to avoid the Lizard King, and both Mysterious and the Lizard King had insane movement speed, more and more players were left behind them. Some players, seeing the Lizard King also moving toward the canyon center, more or less guessed its goal. A very small number even noticed Mysterious chasing behind it and frowned thoughtfully.

But while Mysterious was trailing the Lizard King, he suddenly realized something—the Lizard King’s destination didn’t seem to be where the howl had come from.

Almost as if to prove him right, the Lizard King really didn’t head for the canyon center. Instead, it ran to a sheer cliff off to the side of the center area.

“Hissss~~” Once it reached the cliff edge, the Lizard King turned its head and let out a low, gravelly call at Mysterious, like it was forcing its voice down.

After calling out, the Lizard King simply sprawled there and stretched its neck to stare down below.

“…” Seeing that the Lizard King didn’t seem interested in attacking him, Mysterious cautiously ran over to a spot a short distance away from it and leaned forward to look over the edge.

At the bottom of the cliff—the canyon floor, directly beneath Mysterious and the Lizard King—the scene was chaos. The Gale Wolf King was there with a few remaining wolf underlings, surrounded by a sea of players, with even more still rushing over.

The reports that the Wolf King was heavily wounded hadn’t been baseless—the Gale Wolf King’s HP bar was down to about one‑tenth.

Its once‑pure white fur was matted with dust and blood, its body covered in wounds of all sizes, with multiple arrows stuck in it. The most eye‑catching of them all was the huge gash in its abdomen… and if Mysterious was guessing right, that wound had been made by the Lizard King beside him.

Around the Wolf King were its last few underlings, plus a number of Gale Demon Wolf corpses. It was obvious there had been a brutal battle.

And the ones who’d dealt all this damage were, of course, that huge mass of players. The Gale Wolf King and Gale Demon Wolves were indeed very strong compared to players at this stage, but there were just too many players.

The Gale Demon Wolves were, at the end of the day, just regular mobs, with not particularly high HP. Players could whittle them down quickly with forced damage alone.

The players’ losses were also heavy, but since they could revive, and it only took a few minutes to run from the village to here, fresh players kept joining the battlefield nonstop.

Compared to the endless wave of players, the Wolf King had no sustain at all and could only be slowly worn down. Coupled with its previous heavy injuries, the Wolf King was already on its last legs. In no time, all the Gale Demon Wolves around it were dead, and the players started focusing their attacks on the Gale Wolf King itself.

Even though it was almost done for, a starved camel was still bigger than a horse. The Wolf King was still a boss‑class monster, and even dying, it wasn’t easy to deal with.

Its tragic figure darted agilely through the player crowd. Every so often, a few white lights of player deaths would flare up, and occasionally it would spit out a wind blade, taking out a whole group of players at once.

Because everyone’s attention was locked on the low‑HP Wolf King, no one noticed Mysterious and the Lizard King watching from the cliff above.

After lying there watching for a bit, the Lizard King suddenly stood up and shook its body.

“…No way, it’s gonna…” Seeing its movements, a thought flashed through Mysterious’s mind—the Lizard King was about to steal the boss.

At first Mysterious was just reacting to its movements and muttering under his breath, but the Lizard King suddenly turned its head and called at him, like it was answering him.

“…You can understand me?” Seeing it respond, Mysterious’s mouth twitched as he asked.

This time, the Lizard King ignored him. It turned back toward the Wolf King and stared without moving, focused like a hawk locking onto its prey.

“Wait…” Seeing that, Mysterious forgot all about it being just a monster and tried to stop it.

If the Lizard King really jumped down like that, Mysterious didn’t know whether it would die or not—but he did know his quests were basically doomed…

Ignoring him, the Lizard King jumped.

“Tsk…” Watching it leap, Mysterious clicked his tongue, then followed… running down the cliff. The wall was very steep, but going down it wasn’t any real problem for him.

“Whoo—BOOM—!” The Lizard King’s massive body answered gravity’s call and fell straight down… right onto the Wolf King.

The Gale Wolf King, which had been barely hanging on, was crushed by the Jungle Heavy Lizard King’s landing. A four‑digit damage number popped over its head, and it very cleanly handed over its loot and chose death.

Among the pile of drops, two red flashes were particularly eye‑catching—rare gear! Two pieces!

But before the players could react, the Lizard King moved faster—with its mouth. It snapped up both red items in an instant.

Right then, Mysterious, who had run all the way down the cliff wall, landed perfectly on the ground, not far from the Lizard King.

“...”

Every player present, except for the few who hadn’t managed to pull back their attacks in time, just stared dumbly at the Jungle Heavy Lizard King and Mysterious dropping from the sky, looking like their brains had blue-screened.

“...”

Looking at the players around him, Mysterious suddenly regretted jumping down together with the Lizard King.

But climbing back up now… yeah, it was definitely too late for that.