Level 1 to Infinity: My Bloodline Is the Ultimate Cheat!-Chapter 862: Quest Completion

Lily’s order was sound, but Ethan knew it was only a temporary fix. The entrance tunnel narrowed to a choke point where no more than four enemies could advance side by side, and in theory that bottleneck could be held for a very long time, perhaps even indefinitely if everything went perfectly.

But nothing ever did. Attrition was the real enemy.

Mana potions for the healers and health potions for the frontline were being drained at a terrifying pace, and those were not cheap or limitless supplies. No one here had enough to sustain a prolonged siege. If this dragged on, they would lose, not to skill or tactics, but to empty belts and dry inventories. The only real solution was to end the fight quickly.

Soon, the sounds of battle thundered from the tunnel entrance. Every melee fighter and healer had been pulled into the desperate defense. With so many tanks already dead earlier, holding the line was brutal and exhausting. The cramped space eliminated any hope of ranged support, turning the fight into a close-quarters meat grinder of shields, blades, and screams. The attackers, by contrast, still had disciplined shield walls and spellcasters rotating in support.

Lily Silverwood and Emery Shaw exchanged grim looks. Neither said it aloud, but the pressure was mounting by the second.

Ethan had already run countless laps around the chamber, mapping every inch of it in his head. There were no safe kiting paths, nowhere to slowly bleed the enemy down. A few elevated ledges existed, but reaching them was one problem, and surviving once there was another. The creature’s jumping power was absurd, and its artificial intelligence was sharp enough that it would almost certainly scale the walls after him instead of waiting below like a fool.

He split his attention between observing its patterns, adjusting his positioning, and squeezing out every scrap of damage he could. Compared to him, Emery’s team barely registered. Their hits were mostly two-digit numbers, and not a single one of them had landed a triple-digit blow. Against something like this, they might as well have been scratching stone.

If the tunnel defense collapsed, thousands of players would pour into this tomb. No matter how strong he was, trapped in a sealed chamber with no escape routes, he would be overwhelmed in moments.

And yet there was no alternative. This had begun as Leo’s quest to retrieve the Orb, and now Leo’s weapon had been stolen in the process. Killing this creature was the only way to get it back. That staff was Leo’s Exclusive Weapon from his Ascension quest. Losing it would cripple his future progression. Worse, Ethan strongly suspected that when combined, the Orb, the Savage Staff, and the Cosmos Cask formed something extraordinary, possibly Divine-tier, maybe even Legendary. They felt like peers to his own Twilight War Spear and Lyla’s Frostbound Reverie.

"Ethan, fall back!" Leo’s private message flashed urgently.

Ethan saw it. He chose not to answer.

Instead, he planted his feet and raised his spear. "Enough games! Let’s have a proper fight!"

The creature froze mid-motion. It let out a furious roar and flung the combined staff high into the air. Before it could fall, the three artifacts tore themselves apart, spinning wildly as they separated, then snapped back together into a rotating metallic ring. With a shriek of displaced air, it shot toward Ethan at terrifying speed.

"What skill is that?!" Ethan shouted, even as he activated Panther’s Agility and threw himself sideways.

"I have no idea!" Leo yelled back, sounding just as shocked.

There was no time to think. Ethan accelerated, pushing his movement to the limit, but the spinning ring curved smoothly through the air, correcting its trajectory as if alive and locking onto him without hesitation.

’Damn it. It was too fast.’

Ding!

The three artifacts slammed into the ground around Ethan, detonating into a dome of dark energy that swallowed him whole.

"ETHAN!"

"BRO!"

Leo and Emery shouted at the same time.

To everyone watching, the dark light engulfed Ethan completely, and his body dissolved in the unmistakable white flash of player death, the kind that left no corpse behind. Instant disintegration.

Ethan was dead.

The Druid God. The undefeated myth. Killed in a single strike right in front of them.

"No one speaks of this, ever," Lily snapped, issuing the order across guild channels without hesitation.

"He’s not dead!" Leo suddenly said, straightening as if something had snapped into place inside him.

Lyla turned sharply. "What?"

"The monster’s gone too!"

Amid the chaos, someone else finally noticed the second absence. The creature that had risen from the coffin had vanished without a trace.

"Skyblade... you’re okay?" Emery asked slowly, staring at Leo’s steadier posture and clearer eyes.

Leo nodded. "You guys should pull out. I need to head back to our side. Not sure when Ethan will be back."

The first part made sense. The last part left Emery completely baffled.

Leo knew, though. Just like last time with the crowling god, Ethan had not died. He had been taken, dragged somewhere else by that monster.

"But your quest?" Emery pressed, worry cutting through his confusion.

"Already finished," Leo replied with a grin. He opened his hand, revealing the milky-white Orb of Spirits resting calmly on his palm.

The instant Ethan and the monster vanished, a system notification had appeared before his eyes.

[Quest Complete]

In his inventory sat all three items, the Orb, the Savage Staff, and the Cosmos Cask.

They were back.

Leo muttered under his breath, "Hope that keeps his promise and stops bugging me for drinks."

Long before this quest ever began, Ethan’s Avatar had sought Leo out personally. It guided him to the quest’s starting point and insisted that he drag the real Ethan along. When Leo had asked why the Avatar could not simply tell Ethan itself, the answer had been vague and unsettling. "We’re getting too close. I can’t intervene directly anymore." That had been the last time Leo saw it. Even then, its mannerisms had felt slightly wrong, as if something else were pulling its strings. It promised to stop haunting Leo with frequent tavern visits if he helped. Reluctantly, Leo had agreed, setting the whole scheme in motion.

He had expected a tedious excavation job. He had not expected this.

Another disappearance. Instead of dread, Leo felt a strange spark of anticipation. What change would Ethan bring back this time?

His quest rewards updated again. Only one item appeared, a pill labeled Grave King’s Ascension Elixir. There was no tier listed and no description at all. It was Soulbound, usable only by him.

’What is this?’

A theory took shape in his mind. The extreme suppression he had felt earlier, the way his body had resisted him, all of it tied back to his real-world condition. Could this... evolve him?

After a quick farewell to Emery, Leo activated the quest-granted hearthstone and vanished in a spiral of light.

Emery’s group followed shortly after, using their own recall items and abandoning the handful of brave players still holding the tunnel. One by one, the remaining defenders disappeared safely.

Moments later, Carnage faction scouts pushed through the tunnel, finding the resistance suddenly gone. They surged forward eagerly, expecting battle and spoils.

They burst into the tomb chamber, and found nothing.

The vast room stood empty. The rumored Level 95 world boss had vanished without leaving a single trace behind.