One SSS Affix per Level: My Novice Club Can Slay Gods!

Zoey opened her quest panel and shared the quest in the party channel.

[SSS-Rank Class Change Scroll: Crimsonfeather Trial!]

[Objective 1: Kill 50 monsters at least 5 levels higher than you.]

[Objective 2: Kill the Boss—Shadow Archer.]

[Quest Location: Galecrest Highlands.]

[Quest Reward: Class advancement into the SSS-Rank Hidden Class—Crimsonfeather Hunter.]

After reading the quest information, John finally understood why Zoey had come to him.

Zoey had only just reached Lv.10.

Asking a Lv.10 archer to kill fifty monsters of at least Lv.15, then defeat a Boss on top of that—

The difficulty was indeed ridiculous.

Zoey crossed her arms.

"Nonoa can deal True Damage, but both of us are ranged Classes."

"The monsters are high-level and fast."

"Once they close the distance, we’re basically finished."

Nonoa had already completed her Class Change and reached Lv.11.

However, she was still a priest.

No matter how high her damage was, she lacked both reliable crowd-clearing abilities and the means to withstand attacks from the front.

The two of them had attempted the quest several times, but they had never managed to complete it.

John sent out two party invitations.

[Player "Endbringer" has invited "FireRose" to join the party.]

[Player "Endbringer" has invited "Staff of Judgment" to join the party.]

The two girls accepted one after another.

[Current Party Members: 3/5.]

Apocalypse did not prohibit other players from assisting with a Class Change Scroll.

As long as Zoey dealt damage to the targets and remained alive, John could take care of everything else for her.

"There’s no time to waste."

"Let’s go."

"We’ll deal with the Shadow Archer first and see whether we can complete the fifty-monster objective along the way."

The three of them opened the map.

Galecrest Highlands lay northeast of Sunset City.

No player had finished exploring that region yet.

The entire area was pitch-black on the map, with no teleportation points and no safe routes.

The only way to reach it was on foot.

Zoey looked at the distant quest coordinates.

"How long will it take us to run there?"

John estimated the distance.

"At full speed, around three hours."

Nonoa lowered her head and looked at her priest’s robe.

"I’m not very fast at running..."

Zoey comforted her.

"It’s fine."

"If you fall behind, we’ll come back and find you."

Nonoa nodded earnestly.

"Thank you."

John looked at the two girls—one daring enough to say it, and the other foolish enough to believe it—and suddenly wondered whether the entire party’s Wisdom attribute had somehow been transferred to him.

A moment later—

Three figures passed through Sunset City’s northeastern gate and raced toward the unexplored darkness.

On the map, the points of light representing the three of them gradually left the known region.

They entered a pitch-black world with no roads, no markers, and no traces of human exploration.

...

The three of them continued running northeast.

Less than half an hour later, Zoey discovered a serious problem.

She was an archer who primarily invested in Agility.

Yet she could not outrun some strange hybrid between a staff-wielding mage and a club-carrying warrior.

To be precise, it was not simply that she could not outrun him.

She was already struggling to keep his back within sight.

"Did you secretly activate some kind of speed hack?"

Zoey gritted her teeth as she chased after him.

John did not slow down.

"No."

"Then why is someone carrying a club faster than an archer?"

"Natural talent."

A vein throbbed on Zoey’s forehead.

Beside her, Nonoa waved her staff.

[Prayer of Haste!]

Pale-white light descended over Zoey and Nonoa.

[Movement Speed +30% for 10 minutes.]

With the buff, Zoey could finally barely keep up with John.

However, whenever [Prayer of Haste] was about to expire, she had to immediately remind Nonoa to cast it again.

Three hours later—

A town finally appeared within their field of vision.

[You have discovered a new region: Giantwood Town!]

[Map fog has been cleared!]

John stopped walking.

Zoey continued running for more than ten meters before realizing they had arrived.

Her legs went weak, and she grabbed the stone monument beside the road for support.

"Finally..."

"We’re here..."

She gasped for breath, feeling as though her lungs were about to burst out of her throat.

Nonoa was not doing much better.

She hugged her staff and crouched beside the road, breathing in small, rapid gasps.

Only John remained completely calm, without even the slightest change in his breathing.

After all his core attributes had been synchronized, both his Agility and Constitution exceeded one thousand points.

To him, traveling this distance barely counted as taking a walk outside.

Zoey raised her head and stared at him.

"Are you even human?"

John seriously considered the question.

"Technically, according to my Class."

The three rested briefly before examining Giantwood Town.

However, after looking around, Zoey quickly noticed something strange.

"Where’s the giant tree?"

Forget a giant tree.

There were barely even any normal-sized trees inside the town.

Only a few newly grown saplings stood along either side of the road, with the tallest not even reaching two meters.

They were far too unimpressive to inspire the name of an entire town.

They could barely provide enough shade for a cat.

"Isn’t this false advertising?"

Zoey pointed toward the stone monument at the town entrance.

"They should rename it Little Sapling Town."

John did not respond.

The moment he entered the town, he noticed that something about the atmosphere was wrong.

A large number of soldiers sat on both sides of the street.

Some had bandages wrapped around their arms.

Some wore shattered breastplates, with blood still seeping from their wounds.

Several priests were kneeling on the ground, casting healing spells on critically wounded soldiers.

The houses inside the town were also completely different from those found elsewhere.

Their outer walls were covered in dense claw marks.

Every door and window had been reinforced.

Crossbows had been mounted on the rooftops.

Sharpened wooden stakes lined the courtyard walls.

Almost every single house had been transformed into a small defensive fortification.

Very few ordinary residents could be seen on the streets.

Occasionally, a child would peek out from behind a window, only to be quickly pulled back by an adult.

The joking expression on Zoey’s face disappeared.

"Did this place just go through a battle?"

At that moment, a man wearing damaged armor approached with several soldiers.

A freshly stitched wound ran across the left side of his face, while his right hand remained pressed against the hilt of his sword.

"Stop."

"Who are you?"

"Where did you come from?"

John took out his Sunset City identity badge.

"Sunset City."

The moment the man saw the badge, his eyes lit up.

"Sunset City?"

"Has City Lord Raymond finally received our distress message?"

He quickly walked toward John, his expression filled with excitement.

"Is the main city preparing to send reinforcements?"

"How many soldiers are in the first group?"

Zoey looked at the three members of their party.

Then she looked at the expectant Guard Captain standing across from them.

She was about to explain when John raised a hand and stopped her.

"The reinforcements have arrived."

The Guard Captain looked behind the three of them.

There was nothing there.

No cavalry.

No mage corps.

Not even a carriage.

He hesitated.

"Where are the others?"

John pointed toward himself, Zoey, and Nonoa.

"It’s just the three of us."

The joy on the Guard Captain’s face instantly froze.

Zoey silently covered her face.

Even Nonoa felt that something about the situation seemed wrong and quietly asked,

"Can three people really be called reinforcements?"

John remained perfectly calm.

"The number doesn’t matter."

"As long as it’s enough."

The Guard Captain looked at the staff and club in John’s hands.

Then he looked at the two young girls beside him.

No matter how he examined them, they did not resemble a proper reinforcement unit.

However, the fact that Sunset City had sent anyone at all at least meant the main city had not completely abandoned them.

"Are you really enough?"

"We are."

John answered without the slightest hesitation.

The Guard Captain gritted his teeth.

"All right."

"Please follow me to meet the mayor."