A staff member of the shrine said, “Director, should we cast a flight spell on Charlie as well?”

“No need, it’s useless.” John Brooks flatly refused.

Charlie is a warrior; he has no experience with flying at all. Even if you cast a flight spell on him, he still wouldn’t be able to catch up with the dragon, and might even give the enemy an opening.

Next came the waiting. The divine enforcer was busy gathering storm clouds in preparation for divine punishment, while the dragon continued to breathe fire everywhere without restraint.

The citizens in the city were crying and screaming, and the lord’s guard of White Cloud City shot arrows into the sky in vain. Even if they were lucky enough to hit, aside from a few sparks flying off the dragon scales, it had no effect at all.

In terms of data structure, when a lower level faces a higher level, it’s not that the higher structure can’t be damaged, but it requires repeated attacks.

For example, water is level zero, stone is level one, but water droplets can still wear through stone—it just takes a lot of time.

In real combat, this kind of structural advantage is magnified infinitely.

For instance, right now, the dragon is moving at high speed. Don’t even mention shooting a hundred or ten arrows at the same dragon scale—even landing two arrows is difficult.

Charlie was still lying in wait, head down, eyes narrowed, watching as the dragon drew closer and closer to the bell tower where he was hiding.

Another minute passed, and finally the dragon flew toward the top of the bell tower, fire flickering in its mouth. Judging by its intent, it seemed ready to attack the bell tower.

Sure enough, when the dragon was less than ten meters from the bell tower, it slowed down, the fire in its mouth blazing, about to unleash its breath.

At that very moment, after lying in wait for so long, Charlie suddenly stood up, dashed a few steps to the edge of the tower, and leapt out like an arrow. His greatsword traced an arc as he slashed at the dragon’s neck.

Charlie’s sudden attack caught the dragon completely off guard. By the time it saw him, it was already too late. Although its neck was protected by tough dragon scales, it couldn’t withstand the full force of a dragon-slaying weapon.

Both the sword and the dragon scales were level three structures. When they collided, sparks flew everywhere. The greatsword chipped, and the dragon scales were broken.

Inside the dragon scales, the dragon’s flesh wasn’t level three—only level two—so it was easily severed by the greatsword.

With a single strike, the greatsword gained several chips, the dragon was beheaded, and without even a scream, it turned into a mass of dead flesh and plummeted from the sky.

Charlie beheaded the dragon with one blow, kicked off the falling dragon corpse, used the momentum to leap back to the bell tower, then stabbed his greatsword into the stone bricks, using it to slide safely down the more than twenty-meter-high tower wall. He then slipped into an alley, hiding his achievements and fame.

This scene happened in midair, and nearly half the city witnessed it.

Some sharp-eyed guards even recognized Charlie, and immediately raised their bows and cheered, “Charlie, glory!”

“Charlie, long live!”

“Charlie, hero!”

One person shouted, then many, and soon more than half the city was excitedly chanting.

John Brooks also shouted, exclaiming, “Good! Truly worthy of a bronze-level expert—impressive!”

The company had spent a lot of money hiring this order-keeper, and now it seemed worth every penny.

The people in the shrine were also amazed. Many of them had entered the virtual world and experienced different lives, but at that time, they were just ordinary people. When big events happened, their first reaction was panic and fear.

Now, seeing it from an outsider’s perspective, without emotional interference, it felt completely different.

But the excitement only lasted a moment. As the game director, John Brooks turned to the analyst and asked, “How much did we lose this time?”

The analyst sighed, “More than a thousand people died. The game time they purchased wasn’t even up—all accidental deaths.”

“How many can we quietly resurrect?” John Brooks was silent for a moment, then asked.

Resurrection—completely refreshing the data to reset a lifeform’s state—was the only special ability game administrators had to interfere with lifeforms.

Many died in hidden places. Although they were indeed dead, no one knew, so resurrecting them was fine. Later, you could just explain that they fainted at the time.

“About eight hundred or so. The other hundred-plus—either their bodies were seen and confirmed dead by players, or they were burned to ashes. If we resurrect the former, it would shock ordinary players’ values, and the resurrected players would definitely be seen as undead. When these players’ game time ends and they leave the virtual world, they’ll file complaints.”

As for the latter, their physical data structure was completely destroyed, so there was no way to resurrect them—they could only be reborn.

“Let’s leave it at that, then.”

For the hundred-plus, they could negotiate to compensate part of their game time, and appease a few troublemakers who wanted to sue. The losses were still within an acceptable range.

But the monitor soon brought more bad news: “Director, a hero follower has died.”

“Which one?” John Brooks asked urgently, his slightly improved mood turning sour again.

“It was that warrior. He just passed through a small town. Today was market day, so it was bustling with people. He was ambushed by an assassin hidden in the crowd—a dagger pierced his heart, then another stabbed through his head. Not only did he die in the busy market, but his werewolf form was revealed, and then the local priest dragged his body away to be burned.”