The quiet of the Astralis Requiem page on Syn stood in stark contrast to the chaos currently swirling behind the scenes at the major corporations.
Although the guild hadn’t made any public announcements since the profile was created, nor had it actively promoted its page, the organic phenomenon of human curiosity had done the heavy lifting.
The number of followers had already surpassed 80,000, a figure that, while not particularly significant compared to the population of tens to hundreds of billions of humans across the planets, was still a staggering number for a page with no promotion or content.
The growth rate finally began to slow after three days of frenzied accumulation, but the base of fans and detractors was already taking shape.
For other guilds, especially those funded by financial groups, remaining silent in a situation like this would be considered the most foolish and amateurish move possible.
They would be missing out on every second of opportunity to capitalize on the players’ attention, whether by selling sponsorships or recruiting players en masse. But for Astralis Requiem, that mattered little.
Lohan and Lisa knew that the true value lay not in the fleeting hype, but in the demonstration of absolute authority they could deliver.
Their return to the global spotlight after clearing Elysium’s first Level 15 dungeon, so soon after their last achievement, would cause their popularity to skyrocket in a way that traditional marketing could never replicate.
Of course, they also knew they were walking a fine line. They were essentially placing a high-stakes bet that they would be the first to complete a dungeon like this.
If another guild, with more resources and players, managed to achieve this feat before them, even at great cost, it would cause Astralis to suffer a significant loss of prestige and momentum.
To manage this risk, no one in the guild sat idly by. All members gave it their all to level up over the past few days, sacrificing several hours of sleep every night to hunt more and more monsters in the depths of Mythlorien.
This grueling effort yielded clear results.
Not only did the amount of money they accumulated grow even larger, with each player in the group earning between one thousand and two thousand credits per day in the real world by selling rare loot and coins to Lisa, thereby increasing the guild’s treasury available to purchase more supplies for the raid, but each member’s level also rose.
All players’ base level was now Level 14, a milestone that undoubtedly placed them at the very top of Elysium’s current progression pyramid. But the leaders had gone even further.
Alice, Dylan, Lisa, and Lohan had reached the incredible milestone of Level 15 during the previous early morning.
This was the secret reason behind their confidence in conquering the first Level 15 dungeon.
With Alice possessing a Rare Base, Dylan a Double Rare Base, Lisa her imposing Legendary Base, and Lohan operating with his Mythic Base, the group’s combat potential wasn’t just high at this point, it had already become an anomaly.
With so many accumulated resources and advantages, their confidence in conquering this dungeon was overflowing.
Lohan, or rather, the little blue slime known as Halon, looked ahead and realized they had finally reached the entrance to the dungeon.
The air around the cave’s entrance was heavy, laden with Mana that seemed to crackle against his skin.
Lisa, the imposing white-furred fox with two white tails who now exuded an even denser aura of authority, carried Lohan on her back with ease, no longer showing any embarrassment at acting as a mount in front of other Players.
The expression on the face of every guild member present was one of murderous determination mixed with anxiety.
From Alice’s team were Dee, Tunder, Samantha, Justin, and WyrmWood, all with repaired gear gleaming in the filtered light of the forest. From Dylan’s team were Grant, the focused-looking cleric; Richard, an assassin who seemed to blend into the shadows of the rocks; Vonb, a warrior wielding a two-handed axe; Palana, a wizard whose new staff vibrated with magic; and Ascalon, a berserker whose muscles looked ready to burst at any moment.
They stopped before the dark mouth of the cave.
The silence of the surrounding forest seemed to respect the presence of Astralis, or perhaps it simply signaled the danger lurking within that cave.
Lohan realized that everyone was waiting for a word from him or Lisa.
Without a long motivational speech that would waste everyone’s time and squander their built-up adrenaline, Lohan kept it simple and direct through the guild’s mental link.
"Let’s go, everyone. Let’s show the world why Astralis is the best guild."
Hearing the short, confidence-filled command, the players let out a muffled battle cry and entered the dungeon cave.
The transition from the forest light to the cave’s twilight was instantaneous, but to Lohan’s senses, the darkness didn’t exist.
Upon entering the cave, Lohan acted immediately to ensure the safety of his vanguard.
He drew upon the massive reservoir of biomass he had accumulated and activated his cloning ability, creating a clone to protect each player present.
However, these clones were subtly different from the previous ones. They appeared even larger, tougher, and more dangerous, with a density that suggested a profound evolution in the Slime’s molecular structure.
Lohan had not spared any biomass in recent days, spending an enormous amount to purchase evolutions in various areas for himself, which indirectly also tremendously increased the group’s combat power.
The Players felt the cold, blue slime symbiotically covering their bodies. Under Lohan’s command, the biomass expanded and hardened, forming black armor with hexagonal plates and a menacing appearance that perfectly adapted to each player’s movements.
Samantha felt the weight of the obsidian armor become a second skin, while Vonb smiled as he sensed that his axe was now connected to a network of energy pulsing with Lohan’s life force.
They grew even more confident as they felt the constant infusion of vitality and mana that the clones began pumping into their circulatory systems. Smiling with a murderous aura and ready for combat, they advanced another ten meters into the darkness.
Suddenly, the ground beneath the group’s feet vibrated violently.
BOOOOM!!
An explosion of green, acidic energy erupted beneath their feet, sending dust and rock fragments flying in all directions. The shockwave would have shattered the legs of ordinary Players, but Lohan’s armor absorbed the impact, hardening in the millisecond of contact and dissipating the kinetic energy.
Through the slowly settling dust, Lohan detected multiple thermal and rhythmic signatures.
At the site of the explosion, moss-green creatures with twisted bodies resembling human roots and eyes that glowed with an unhealthful light were emerging from hidden crevices in the ground.
They stared at the intruders with expressions of sorrow and fury, as if the mere presence of humans there were a sin against the earth.