Damon grinned as he slashed at one of the vines he couldn't quite dodge in time. The blade of Reaper's Folly met the corrupted tendril, and instead of bouncing off like every other weapon had, it cut clean through it with a hiss, like a hot knife through rotting flesh.
A wave of fetid mist erupted from the severed vine, but Damon didn't flinch. His lungs were burning, his muscles humming, and his instincts sharper than ever. All his stats were currently at 1000%, and he was riding the high like there was no tomorrow.
Power felt good.
No—scratch that. It felt divine.
He was faster than the players, stronger than the priests, and more dangerous than the monster before him.
Damon ducked beneath a sweeping claw of bramble and bone, twisted low, and leapt upward. The dagger in his hand pulsed like it was alive, hungry. He lunged, slashing across the grotesque creature's chest, or at least the place he assumed a chest should be.
Black blood splattered in steaming arcs, and the boss howled—a sound like a thousand crows screaming all at once. Because while the dagger empowered Damon with a 1000% stat boost, it also afflicted the monster with a 1000% debuff.
The dagger was something the old man had unearthed from his cursed paddy field and hidden away, hoping to sell it for coin. What he didn't know was that the blade was the very reason his daughter had gone missing.
Reaper's Folly had been enchanted by a cultist sect—remnants of a forbidden ritual that bound despair to the soil. It had been buried like a seed, meant to blossom into a harvest of souls. But it was dug up too early... by a poor farmer just trying to survive.
The moment he touched it, the curse took root in his land—and soon after, his daughter vanished.
The dagger had a taste for innocence. It fed on grief, lured misfortune, and marked its surroundings with ruin. And now, in Damon's hands, it was doing exactly what it was forged to do: Reap.
In his past life, it had taken another player five grueling in-game days of quests to unlock this dagger. This time, Damon had simply looted it from the farmer's hut.
"What a nice weapon," he muttered, his grin widening. "Too bad its effect only lasts five seconds."
The ichor spraying from Malakar's body hissed against the cobblestones. The massive creature reeled, flailing in every direction, but Damon's movements were too precise, too fast. The pulsing aura of rot and corruption that had melted low-level players and blighted the entire plaza now flickered like a dying flame.
Every cut Damon landed shredded Malakar's resistances further. It was as if the boss were unraveling from the inside out.
On the rooftops, the surviving priest-class players stared, slack-jawed.
"He's doing it! He's actually bringing it down!"
"Who the hell is that guy?!"
Aurora didn't speak. Her eyes were locked on the man with the grin and the rusted dagger dancing through death like it was a waltz.
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