After taking a brief rest, Ruela and her party moved forward again.

The dark cave was familiar, similar to places they had visited for quests or monster hunting. However, the unfamiliar nauseating smell and damp air once again reminded them that this situation was not a game but reality.

“The air feels more humid than before. Somehow, it’s unsettling.”

Hazen sniffed the air, looking around with an uneasy expression.

Ruela, following the party from the rear, checked the new skills she had learned.

As they moved deeper inside, the cave’s width narrowed. Though there was no real need for it, they found themselves walking in a single file towards the inner part.

“Ruela, did you level up to 35 just by defeating that one earlier?”

Tien, who was right in front, turned around to check on her safety and asked.

“That’s proof that it wasn’t an easy monster. I’m sure everyone gained a lot of experience points.”

“Now, I feel like I could level up just by catching one wild animal outside.”

When Raphael made that remark, everyone chimed in with similar sentiments. Kite, who was leading the way, stopped walking.

“We seem to have come quite deep, and it’s too quiet.”

“Feels like something is not right, doesn’t it?”

Mitchell also agreed, listening carefully to the surrounding silence.

“Hazen, send Ruela to the center, and you go to the rear, summoning a defensive pet.”

“Okay!”
While exchanging positions on the narrow path, Tien spoke.

“Do you hear anything?”

“I don’t hear anything. Is this guy making nonsense again, saying he’s aged for us?”

As Hazen chuckled, Tien signaled for him to be quiet, frowning.

“No, for real, I hear something.”

After instructing everyone to be quiet, Kite asked, “Which direction? Front? Or back?”

“Neither.”

“Not front or back? But there’s no other way.”

“Just wait. It’s getting closer. It’s on the left! I hear the sound from the left wall!”

“Hazen, to the back!”

Responding to the signals exchanged between Hazen and Kite, Kite sent Ruela to his rear and took a step back.

Clearing the center, Kite, Raphael, and Ruela moved forward, while Hazen, Mitchell, and Tien stepped back.

As soon as the two groups took their positions and prepared, the left wall collapsed, revealing a large serpent-like monster.

“Wow, if it weren’t for Tien, we would’ve been in trouble.”

Hazen wagged his index finger at Tien while watching the serpent with a long, flickering tongue.

[/Due to the party splitting in opposite directions, healing doesn’t reach the other side. People on the opposite side, make the most of potions, and be careful not to attract the monster’s attention that way.]

Fearing that shouting might attract the monster’s attention, Ruela, who was afraid, posted a cautionary note in the chat window.
The criteria for a skilled healer were, first, second, and third, not drawing the monster’s attention. Kite, understanding Ruela’s intention, loudly shouted to attract the monster’s attention.

Afterward, he deliberately spoke louder.

“Get ready, and don’t attack until I give the signal.”

Good gamers seem to pick up things on their own without being explicitly taught. Kite seemed to grasp the point that he needed to be the first to attack the monster for a certain period to maintain aggro, even without anyone explicitly explaining it.

Others were quick learners as well.

Hazen, watching Kite fight the monster one-on-one, posted in the chat window.

[/Next in the party is me. Give my summon some time to draw aggro after Kite. I’ll give the signal when it’s time to attack.]

Although the team was scattered, they were fortunate that this time the mob was too easy to defeat.

Kite was handling the monster steadily, and even when there was a moment of knockback or aggro reset, Hazen’s summon immediately took over the aggro. As a result, others were not attacked at all, and they were able to cleanly clear the area.

The gleaming light of leveling up here and there illuminated the cave brightly as the serpent-like monster fell.
Without even having the chance to celebrate reaching level 40, Ruela immediately opened the bulletin board. It was quite bewildering not to check the strategy guide abruptly and encounter monsters, so she needed to confirm the strategy for the next monster before getting distracted by learning new skills.

While Ruela was checking the strategy, her teammates were busily finding and matching letter fragments.

“‘The situation was serious. He wrote that he was the first door to the Demon Realm?'”

When Rafael read aloud the content of the fragment, Hazen grumbled while applying potion to his summon’s wounds.

“It seems like quite a long letter. How can we find out the whole content like this?”

“Still, it’s fortunate that this monster is easy. Kite’s health hasn’t decreased at all.”

Ruela handed yellow energy potions and pain mitigation potions to Kite, saying, “The next monster will be tricky.”

Following her instructions, Kite grimaced as he drank the potions.

“Tricky, huh? Is it an extremely powerful demon?”