Eternal Art Online

Both Dawnbreaker–Veyron and Dawnbreaker–Malic were defeated without even a hint of resistance, vanishing into twin bursts of white light.

In an instant, the tide of battle turned. The Dawnbreaker faction, once dominating the field, was reduced to a chaotic mess, as if their last veneer of power had been ripped away, revealing nothing but a hollow shell underneath.

Only one figure remained standing—Reis, the leader of Dawnbreaker.

His face was grim, a shadow clouding his expression. The once-proud commander now stood in silence, slowly drinking a health potion, his eyes locked onto his opponents with a barely contained fury simmering just beneath the surface.

Crimson Lotus–Lusk stepped forward, casually brushing the dust from his cloak. A faint, meaningful smile played at his lips.

"Reis, how've you been all these years?"

Reis let out a cold snort.

"Does it matter? It's just a game—a dream made of code and pixels. After more than a decade, nothing has changed. Grind gear, sell loot, chase girls… same old bullshit."

Kiriya, standing nearby, wiped the blood from his blade and raised an eyebrow.

"Bitter, much? Sounds like you're reciting your will. Got anything fresher—like, say, revenge?"

Lusk chuckled, amusement flickering in his eyes.

"Revenge? Please. Dawnbreaker won't lift a finger against Crimson Lotus."

"Why not?" Kiriya asked.

Lusk shrugged, voice tinged with reluctant honesty.

"Because… Dawnbreaker–Reis was my high school classmate."

"…Seriously?" Kiriya blinked, momentarily lost for words. "You've got to be kidding me."

Just then, Reis finished his potion and stepped forward, voice icy but laced with reluctant concession.

"Since Rose Yuna and Kiriya Noir are your friends… let's chalk this up as a misunderstanding. Though I'll say this—my two brothers didn't deserve to die like that."

Lusk sneered, cutting straight to the point."Didn't deserve it? You ever see how those two acted outside the battlefield? They threw their weight around just because they wore the Dawnbreaker tag. Harassing players, stirring up trouble—your guild's reputation was dragged through the mud thanks to them. Years of legacy, gone in smoke. All because of those two idiots."

Reis's face darkened further, his tone sharp with sarcasm. "And you think you're any better? The way you ditched Dawnbreaker to start your precious Crimson Lotus? Remember how the brothers cursed your name back then? All because of some girl in the game—and now what? Turns out she was a dude. Bet that feels great, huh?"

Lusk visibly winced and swore under his breath.

"Damn it… Don't bring that up again. That's ancient history! One misstep and it haunts me forever!"

Reis let out a long sigh, his voice unexpectedly heavy. "Lusk… come back. Dawnbreaker needs you now more than ever. You've seen it yourself—Veyron, Malic… they're not cut out for this. The whole guild's hanging by a thread, and I'm the only one holding it together."

Lusk was silent for a moment. Then he looked up, eyes steady.

"…I have new comrades now. Yuna, Kiriya—they're my team. I can't, and won't, abandon Crimson Lotus."

Reis blinked, taken aback. He glanced at the two standing behind Lusk, and after a long pause, gave a small nod.

"Fair enough. If you've found people worth trusting… I won't stop you. Farewell."

Kiriya was about to speak, but Lusk beat him to it.

"Hold on. The quest's not even done."

Reis's mouth twitched, half amused, half helpless.

"Both my teammates are dead. What do you expect me to do—stay here and solo it?"

With that, he pulled out a teleport scroll, tore it open without hesitation, and vanished in a shimmer of blue light.

Several members of Crimson Lotus chuckled. Ragnar cast a complicated glance at both Kiriya and Yuna, his tone laced with teasing amusement.

"Kiriya, huh? Teaming up with the number one mage—didn't think you had it in you. You're living the dream, aren't you?"

Kiriya blinked, caught off guard. Before he could say a word, Yuna had already turned her head away, trying to act composed, though the faint blush on her cheeks betrayed her.

He cleared his throat lightly and shifted the topic.

"Anyway… thank you. Really. If you hadn't shown up when you did, we'd probably be lying dead on this battlefield."

Lusk from Crimson Lotus waved his hand with a hearty laugh.

"Oh, come on! Didn't you go toe-to-toe with Conqueror yesterday for Violet's sake? If anyone should be saying thanks, it's us! Haven't seen you in what, three days? And now you've stormed your way into the top five of the Scarlet Emperor Warzone? That's seriously impressive!"

Kiriya simply smiled without elaborating. His gaze swept over the members of Crimson Lotus—most were around level 25. Slightly behind the top-tier players in terms of progress, but their coordination and skill couldn't be underestimated. Freakishly strong elites like Dawnbreaker were rare. And Yuna… she was in a league of her own.

"In that case," Kiriya said softly, "why don't we team up and finish the quest together?

You've got two tanks and a healer, which perfectly covers what we're missing."

"Sounds good!" Lusk nodded without hesitation, though a flicker of wariness passed through his eyes.

"Let's get it done fast, before Dawnbreaker's crew tracks us down again… Veyron and Malic aren't exactly the negotiating type. Oh—by the way, you two are a pair?"

The question made the atmosphere freeze for a beat. Kiriya didn't even have time to react before Yuna answered with a calm smile.

"Mm, Kiriya and I are friends."

Her tone was light, but as she spoke, her eyes flicked toward Violet, just for a moment, subtle, probing.

Violet responded with a gentle smile, her voice soft but polite.

"Kiriya and I are just acquaintances in-game, nothing more. You don't need to worry."

"I'm not worried," Yuna huffed with mock indifference, giving Kiriya a sideways glance.

"Well then, let's clear this quest together. It'll be faster that way."

And with that, Kiriya sent party invites to the four members of Crimson Lotus. He didn't say much, but there was a quiet gleam of anticipation in his eyes—for the battle they would fight side by side.

Lusk didn't insist on leading either. Instead, he looked at Yuna with genuine respect.

"Miss Yuna, what's your take on the plan? How should we approach it?"

Yuna's gaze was steady as she looked toward the Nether archers lurking in the distance.

"Stick to the standard formation—the knight and berserker up front to draw aggro.

Swordsman focuses on DPS. Mage supports from range. Healer stays locked on the frontline, keeping the knight and berserker's HP stable."

"Got it." Lusk nodded, then turned to Ragnar with a grin.

"Alright, brother—let's get to work!"

Ragnar nodded eagerly, and the two heavy-armored members of Crimson Lotus immediately stepped forward, drawing the attention of several Nether Archers.

Unsurprisingly, the archers' attacks posed little threat to them.

Both Lusk and Ragnar were equipped with at least two pieces of bronze-tier armor—each arrow that landed only shaved off a bit more than a hundred HP, and Violet had no trouble keeping their health topped up with a few quick healing spells.

Kiriya and Yuna, serving as the team's main damage dealers, wasted no time diving into the fight. Ziven wasn't idle either. With a short chant, a black fireball burst forth, howling through the air before slamming into a Nether Archer's chest, dealing a precise 457 points of damage.

Yuna immediately followed with a devastating fireball, crashing into another archer and erupting in a brilliant 724-point damage explosion.

Kiriya's longsword glowed with searing heat. With a powerful downward swing of Blazing Slash, a sharp "whoosh" cut the air—one of the archers collapsed on the spot, taking an impressive 845 points of damage.

Ziven stood frozen, eyes wide as saucers. "Are you two serious? That kind of firepower is insane! You're making the rest of us look useless…"

Yuna chuckled lightly, her tone calm and effortless. "That was just standard output."

Ziven gulped, clearly overwhelmed and starting to lose morale.

Violet offered a gentle smile. "Ziven, maybe check the rankings. Rose Yuna is number one in the Scarlet Emperor Warzone. Kiriya's number three. You think you get that far on luck?"

That finally reassured him, and he let out a sheepish laugh. "Good point. With these two around, we'll breeze through this quest."

Just then, Yuna spoke again, her voice a touch impatient. "Let's speed this up a little, shall we?"

Lusk blinked. "Speed up? We're already pulling five mobs at once!"

Yuna pressed her lips together in a soft smile, though her eyes held a sharp edge. "Why not pull more? Round them up—I can wipe them all out in ten seconds. The only question is... can you tank them long enough?"

Lusk wasn't a rookie. He nodded immediately. "Alright. Let's give it a shot."

Before the words had even fully left his mouth, he was off, charging forward to draw the aggro of more than a dozen Nether Archers.

Once he had them chasing him, he turned and sprinted back, carefully kiting them along a specific path until they clustered together.

Then he stopped, pulled a red potion from his bag, and chugged it in one go.

Violet was ready, her hands glowing as two healing spells landed cleanly on Lusk, holding his HP steady under the incoming barrage.

At the same time, Yuna began casting a large-scale spell. Flames surged into the air, and a storm of fire rained down from above, engulfing the entire mob cluster.

Damage numbers exploded in the air—bright, dense, and beautiful, like a fireworks display.

As her second True-fire Tide erupted, the field was littered with defeated Nether Archers. Their EXP bars rocketed upward, and smiles of surprise spread across everyone's faces.

Ragnar's eyes gleamed with excitement. "This is awesome! The EXP is coming in so fast—at this rate, I'll level up in no time!"

The Nether Archers were nearly ten levels above them, and the experience bonus for punching up was tremendous. In less than twenty minutes, the members of Crimson Lotus had all gained at least one level.

With two tanks and a healer in the mix, the party's efficiency had soared. In just half an hour, they'd cleared out every mob on the third floor.

No gear had dropped, but they had picked up a good amount of silver coins.

After cleaning up the battlefield, Lusk returned and handed 25 gold coins to Kiriya. "Total drop was 30. You and Yuna burned through more potions than the rest of us, so take a little extra."

Kiriya looked surprised and hesitated. "Are you sure? There are only two of us. We shouldn't take that much…"

Lusk grinned, unconcerned. "Just take it. If you two hadn't shown up, we'd still be slugging it out with the first wave."

Kiriya thought for a moment, then nodded and accepted the gold, only to immediately trade it all to Yuna.

She was the one who needed the extra supplies. As a swordsman, Kiriya's MP consumption was minimal.

For example, his Armor Breaker only used 10 MP per cast, whereas Yuna's True-fire Tide burned a whopping 100 MP in a single use. They weren't even in the same league.

No wonder Yuna had complained about being broke when she saw him—she was under pressure.

With the third floor cleared, Lusk and Ragnar led the way toward the staircase to the fourth level.

Ziven quickly followed. Kiriya turned to glance at the two ladies still behind him. They were both looking at him.

He smiled playfully. "Ladies first?"

Yuna rolled her eyes. "Don't flatter yourself. Cannon fodder goes first."

Kiriya sighed and flipped his eyes toward the ceiling. Figures… I'm still the damn cannon fodder.

Violet giggled quietly behind her hand and gracefully walked alongside Yuna. Together, the two of them followed behind Kiriya, stepping onto the fourth floor of the Nether Hollow.