Return as a God-level Assassin

"Prepare for battle."

Marcus's face turned extremely serious as he raised his worn-out shield.

On their way here, they had taken a short break, allowing their health and mana to recover almost fully.

Originally, the beautiful girl holding a staff, Lina, was still feeling frustrated that she hadn't added Riven as a friend earlier.

"He must have found me too dirty with all this mud on me… That's why he ignored me… Waaaah…"

She was on the verge of tears.

But before she could dwell on it for long, the scene before her left her utterly shocked. She immediately tightened her grip on her staff, ready for battle.

More than ten Creepers!

In mere seconds, they had wiped out an entire six-player team!

Marcus had been preparing for a fierce battle, his expression grave.

But then…

The ten-plus Creepers turned to glance at their team. As if sensing something unusual about them, they hesitated—before turning and retreating!

Of course, before they left, they still absorbed the non-tradable lifespan that had dropped from the six slain players.

Although it took time for these monsters to digest lifespan, the absorption process itself was instant.

After finishing their grim task, the group of Creepers swiftly disappeared into the depths of the forest…

"They ran?"

Marcus and the others were dumbfounded.

These monsters…

They weren't following any standard rules!

And their speed—while not as fast as Sprint Runners—was still beyond what Garrick and his team could chase down.

"If they want to run, we really can't catch them."

"These monsters… do they actually know how to pick their fights?"

The six of them found this hard to believe.

Once again, they felt a newfound respect and fear for Eclipse of Eternity.

The creatures in this game…

They weren't like typical MMO mobs, standing still and waiting for players to farm them.

Instead, they formed hunting parties—to hunt the players instead!

They stole human lifespans!

What the monsters did with those stolen years, Marcus and his team didn't know yet. But just this fact alone was terrifying enough.

"Let's go."

Marcus led his team forward.

Soon, they came across another six-player group—three of them were already dead, while the remaining three were desperately running for their lives.

Unfortunately, they were too slow.

Five Creepers were hot on their heels, relentlessly attacking them. It was only a matter of moments before they would be killed…

"Arcane Orb!"

"Triple Shot!"

The two ranged members of Marcus's team unleashed attacks from afar.

Each of them struck a Creeper, taking down about one-tenth of its HP.

"Surround them! Don't let them escape!"

Marcus charged forward, shield raised, before slamming down with a leaping strike—crashing into the ground and stunning all five Creepers on the spot!

All across Shell Town, similar battles were unfolding.

The monsters, which should have been easy prey for players, were instead forming groups, coordinating, and turning the tables—slaughtering players instead!

At the resurrection point in the town square…

White light flashed continuously.

Players were reviving one after another, their faces grim.

"We have to reach level 3 before we can return to the real world… I thought it would be easy, but…"

"Even the monsters are teaming up! How the hell are we supposed to level up?!"

"I have a question—what if we never reach level 3? Does that mean we're stuck here forever?"

"Wouldn't that mean we become… soulless in real life?"

"No choice! We need to group up. A six-man party isn't enough—let's form two teams, three teams together!"

"That won't work! Too many people attract bosses! Just now, a forty-man raid got wiped out by some 'Curseborn'—it killed over thirty of them with just one skill!"

…

Fear spread among the players.

And then, someone noticed…

On Shell Town's Level Leaderboard, the top player—Shadow—had just reached Level 3!

"Holy crap! Shadow is that strong?"

"We're struggling to kill even basic mobs, and he's leveling up this fast?!"

"Is he soloing?! He's the only one on the board at that level!"

"Definitely soloing! That's insane!"

People were in disbelief.

By now, most players had left the safety of the town and had personally experienced how brutal the outside world was.

In this situation, for Shadow to not only survive but level up alone—how terrifying was his strength?

Meanwhile…

The girl known as Elara, codenamed "Duck Pear," had just revived at the town square with her team.

Her expression was as dark as charcoal.

Because…

This was her third death!

Her non-tradable lifespan had dropped from 80 years to just 10—a huge loss.

Even though she still wasn't sure if these lifespans were real or not…

The psychological weight alone was suffocating.

The soft-spoken long-haired girl who revived with her was trembling.

"Elara… what do we do now?"

She glanced at her experience bar with unease.

So far, their team had managed to kill four Creepers.

But with each kill only giving around 10 XP, they were still far from the 100 XP needed for Level 2, let alone Level 3!

And those four Creepers had been extremely difficult to kill.

Because…

Whenever they were low on health, they ran away!

If it weren't for Elara's hidden-class skills and longbow, they wouldn't have even secured those four kills.

"No matter what… we can't die again."

Elara's face was grim.

And then, she saw the leaderboard—Shadow had reached Level 3!

Her eyes lit up.

"Spread the word."

Elara declared, her tone resolute:

"I'll pay 1 million dollars for Shadow to power-level me to Level 3. No matter what—I need to return to the real world first."

News of this quickly spread throughout Shell Town.

A wealthy young lady was offering 1 million dollars to hire the top player, Shadow, to carry her to Level 3!

At the same time…

Riven was on his way back.

After killing the Sprinting Fiend, he had ventured deeper into the forest, slaying over ten more Creepers.

Finally, using Greedy Hand, he had looted 1 Evolution Point.

Immediately, he evolved Greedy Hand!

[You have spent 5 Evolution Points. Remaining: 0.]

[Greedy Hand (Platinum → Emerald): Assassin Skill.]

Can be used on monster corpses. Increases the chance of obtaining an extra loot drop from 110% → 160%. The extra loot now has a 20% chance to be one rank higher.

"This is insane!"

Riven's eyes gleamed.

This new effect… was ridiculously overpowered!

"If I keep evolving it… won't it eventually guarantee a rank-up every time?"

"Killing Bronze bosses could yield Silver gear…"

"Killing Silver bosses could drop Gold equipment?!"

And it just so happened…

Riven had already marked a boss's location.

The Curseborn—a withered treant-like creature that had slaughtered dozens of players—was currently lurking deep in the forest, digesting lifespans…

Soon, it would evolve into a Silver-rank boss.