Eternal Art Online

"Raaawr—!"

A guttural roar echoed from ahead. In the next instant, the earth exploded with a loud boom as a pale, bone-white arm burst from underground, its clawed fingers digging into the soil.

Amidst the flying debris, a skeleton—clad only in tattered rags—slowly emerged from the cracked earth.

Hollow eye sockets flickered with a faint green glow, locking onto Kiriya and Yuna with chilling intensity.

Kiriya's heart tensed. Instinctively, he stepped back and positioned himself in front of Yuna. Without thinking, he raised his longsword, eyes narrowed, tracking the sudden threat with full alert.

Behind him, the girl gave a soft laugh, her tone teasing.

"Not bad, Kiriya~ You've got guts."

The corner of Kiriya's mouth twitched. Guts?

Hell, I can barely keep my knees from shaking…

No time to retort—he quickly pulled up the monster's stat window:

[Skeletal Warrior] (Normal Monster)

Level: 30

Attack: 245–280

Defense: 60

HP: 1500

Attack Type: Weak Point Strike — Reduces target's defense by 25%

"Damn… attack up to 280? That's insane…" he muttered.

But Yuna just smirked knowingly. "Look again—check its HP and defense."

Kiriya blinked, then realization struck.

Of course. A classic undead-type monster—high offense, paper-thin defense, and HP. If you had the damage, you could burst it down before it even touched you.

With no hesitation, he struck.

Obsidian Sword flashed out of its sheath, slicing forward in a blur.

"Blade Wave!"

Crack!

A glowing damage number exploded over the skeleton's head—924!

Without stopping, Kiriya followed up with "Cross Slash", twin arcs of light slamming down in quick succession.

Another number flashed—1279 (CRIT!)

The Skeletal Warrior barely twitched before collapsing, limbs jerking once… then silence.

Yuna stared wide-eyed, lips parted in surprise.

"Whoa. Kiriya, your physical damage is that high?"

Her tone hovered between admiration and challenge, as if hinting that her magic wasn't to be underestimated either.

Kiriya glanced at her, the corner of his lips curving upward.

"Wanna give it a shot?"

Yuna gave a small "humph," then raised a finger. A ball of fire swirled into existence before hurtling straight into the skull of another nearby skeleton.

1894!

The blaze engulfed the bones instantly—one-shot kill.

Kiriya let out a silent whistle.

So this is why she insisted on grinding here…

Her devastating fire magic could wipe the map clean.

"Our little duo," Yuna turned toward him with a smug little smile, "is kind of brutal, huh~?"

Kiriya shook his head with a wry laugh.

Brutal? That was putting it mildly.

With firepower like theirs, even a world boss would think twice before getting close.

Somewhere deep in his chest, a surge of excitement stirred.

Maybe… they really could go far.

...

The journey became noticeably easier from that point on.

Kiriya took the lead, scouting ahead, his longsword gleaming coldly as it cut through thorns and bones alike.

Yuna followed close behind, fireballs flickering at her fingertips, trailing scorching tails of flame through the air as they struck down monsters with pinpoint precision.

Kiriya's Blazing Slash lit up again and again, each sweep of his blade carving charred lines into the earth.

Though its damage was slightly lower than Yuna's high-tier fire magic, it was still powerful enough to take down a level-30 skeletal warrior in just two swings.

The two moved in perfect sync—one in front, one behind—as if they'd been fighting side by side for years.

Their experience bars soared.

Each monster granted over a thousand XP, to the point that even Kiriya found it hard to believe.

Whenever a monster dropped a mana potion, Yuna would immediately call out with a cheerful grin.

"Kiriya! Hurry and grab the potion!"

He would slash through the last remaining enemies and glance back at her with a quiet smile.

He knew the truth—Yuna was a frugal girl at heart.

Even though she'd proudly stocked up on 24 gold's worth of potions before logging in, she always conserved her resources during battle, unwilling to waste even a single blue potion.

An hour passed, and the hillside was thoroughly cleared of monsters.

Kiriya had shot up from level 25 to 27—a staggering pace.

Yuna, meanwhile, remained at level 30, unchanged—a reminder of how steep the climb became at higher levels.

Kiriya understood that his rapid gain came at the cost of siphoning some of her experience.

As the setting sun bathed the hillside in crimson light, the two of them stood before a cave veiled in deep shadow.

Even the air here seemed to grow still, as if thick with the scent of something ominous.

Above the cave entrance, a set of black, twisted characters had been carved into the stone. Nether Hollow.

The letters were jagged and stained, like a curse etched by some lingering wraith.

Yuna pressed her lips together and smiled.

"This," she said softly, "is the place I've been looking for."

She tilted her chin toward the right. "See that pile of bones, Kiriya? Talk to it—you'll get the Nether Hollow quest. Let's see if we can clear it together."

Kiriya followed her gaze.

Sure enough, just to the right of the entrance, there lay a heap of cracked, desiccated bones, scattered haphazardly across the dirt—like the aftermath of some ancient, brutal battle.

He frowned slightly, glancing at the dark, oppressive cave.

"You know, Yuna... this place gives me the creeps. Are you sure you're not scared?"

Yuna bit her lip and gave a wry smile.

"Of course I'm scared. Didn't you notice I've been keeping my distance the whole time?"

Kiriya let out a helpless chuckle and shook his head.

He stepped toward the pile of bones, sword drawn in case of an ambush, and tapped the prompt to interact.

Ding—!

The system chime rang out loud and clear.

These bones seem to hide a secret. Investigate further?

Without hesitation, Kiriya hit "Confirm."

Ding—!

Quest accepted: [Nether Hollow]

(Current difficulty: 550)

Quest details: A royal general met his end outside this cave. Enter the fifth level and eliminate the one responsible.

...

The quest objective was deceptively simple: delve into the Nether Hollow and slay a specific monster—nothing more.

Standing to the side, Yuna asked with curiosity, "What's the difficulty rating on your end?"

Kiriya glanced at the system prompt. "550. You?"

"450," she replied with a smirk. "Heh."

It was clear that her higher level resulted in a significantly lower task difficulty.

As Kiriya rose to his feet, Yuna smiled lightly and said, "Originally, I planned to recruit one of the top ten players from the Scarlet Emperor Warzone—someone with both high attack and strong defense—for this mission. But now, it seems that won't be necessary. Kiriya, you'll do just fine."

Her eyes casually swept over Kiriya's Sword Fang armor, lingering with subtle interest. Something was calculating in her gaze.

Kiriya silently cursed inwardly. Dealing with clever women was never easy—she had almost certainly noticed the extraordinary nature of his equipment.

Feigning modesty, he muttered, "I'm just a frail swordsman… you're not seriously expecting me to tank, are you?"

Yuna shot him a look, half teasing, half scolding. "Oh, don't play dumb. That gear's defense has to be at least 150, right? I have a good eye."

Kiriya was impressed—she'd guessed it almost to the number

Without further hesitation, Yuna pulled up her equipment interface and shared her stats with the party.

In an instant, her gear lit up the screen, dazzling with fiery brilliance. Magic radiated from her armor like a heatwave.

She was clad in the full Flame Set—level 30 bronze-tier gear for mages.

Each piece granted at least a 5% bonus to fire magic damage.

The full set bonus increased fire spell power by a staggering 50%, and came with a special skill: Flame Shield, a powerful defense spell that could absorb a portion of incoming physical damage—a true lifesaver for any mage.

Kiriya couldn't help but be impressed. He'd thought his Sword Fang set was powerful, but next to Yuna's Flame Set, it paled—if only slightly.

Choosing not to hide it anymore, he shared the full stats of his Sword Fang armor, as well as the obsidian blade he carried.

Yuna's jaw dropped the moment she saw the sword's attributes.

"No way! The first silver-tier weapon in the game… and it's in your hands?! Hmph! And here you've been walking around like some poor underdog… pretending you're weak, when you're anything but!"

Kiriya gave a helpless shrug. "What can I say? Gotta stay under the radar. If people knew I had this gear, I'd be hunted constantly. I can't afford to train while watching my back 24/7."

Yuna laughed, clearly amused. "Fair enough. But now I'm feeling a lot more confident. Let's push through all five levels of Nether Hollow and finish this quest today! The rewards are going to be insane."

Kiriya nodded in agreement. A difficulty rating of 550 almost guaranteed a substantial payoff.

He took the first step into the cave. A wave of frigid air rushed past, biting through his armor like needles. He shivered involuntarily.

The interior of Nether Hollow resembled a massive circular pit, with a stairwell spiraling downward on the far side. The darkness here felt alive—thick, pressing, oppressive.

A guttural snarl echoed from the right.

"Right side—watch out!" Yuna warned sharply.

Kiriya spun around, and his breath caught.

A skeletal warrior in corroded armor was advancing, wielding a greatsword already mid-swing.

CLANG—!

The sword scraped across his shoulder, pain flaring instantly. His health plummeted by nearly 300 points.

"Damn… that thing hits hard."

He tried checking the monster's stats, but the screen returned nothing but question marks:

[Nether Warrior] (Normal Monster)

Level: ???

Attack: ???

Defense: ???

HP: ???

Yuna wasted no time, hurling a fireball that struck the skeleton square in the chest. Flames exploded outward—its HP bar dropped by nearly a quarter.

Kiriya retaliated with Blade Wave, slashing forward in a wide arc.

THOOM! — 421 damage appeared above the enemy.

It wasn't bad, but it wasn't good enough either. Yuna's fireball had landed for 600.

He quickly swapped to his Armor Breaker skill. Light flared around his blade as he struck again—this time cleaving straight through the monster's defenses.

—894!

A massive number floated above the monster's head.

Yuna followed with another fireball. —558.

With a dry hiss, the skeleton collapsed into a heap of bones.

Yuna turned to him, eyes wide. "What was that skill? That slash was brutal—nearly 900 damage in one hit!"

Kiriya allowed himself a modest grin as he explained Armor Breaker's passive: it ignored 50% of the enemy defense.

Yuna's eyes lit up. "Perfect. That'll be huge for this place. Most of the monsters down here wear heavy armor. With Armor Breaker, we've got a real advantage."

Just then, another Nether Warrior stirred to life nearby.

Kiriya couldn't see its stats again, but Yuna quickly provided them: "Level 34. Attack ranges from 250 to 320. Health's around 2400."

Kiriya frowned. He was level 27—more than 6 levels below. That explained the total information blackout.

He bent down to scoop up a few silver coins dropped by the first monster, then joined Yuna again. Together, they cut down the next Nether Warrior with two well-timed Armor Breakers.

But in that moment, without warning—

A shadow flickered behind Yuna., 

She didn't sense it at all.

Out of the gloom, a dagger flashed, its silver edge gleaming with lethal intent—headed straight for her unprotected back.