John Carter stared intently at those bewildered monsters, his heart racing. He was terrified that the monsters might suddenly go berserk and all charge toward the Demon King's heart.

In those few short seconds, John Carter felt as if an eternity had passed. A strong sense of unease welled up inside him, as if something dangerous was about to happen at any moment.

Where could he hide? John Carter looked around and suddenly spotted a rock crevice about ten meters away. Delighted, he immediately ran toward it. As long as he hid in the crevice, even if the monsters went berserk, he could still escape.

However, just as he started to move, he suddenly noticed something strange.

Hmm? Is that... light?

John Carter felt as if the light behind him had grown brighter. Could it be...

He spun around abruptly, and almost at the same moment, the Demon King's altar exploded with a thunderous boom!

The deafening explosion shook the world. The magma lake boiled, and towering waves of lava, several meters high, roared toward the shore, surging at John Carter with lightning speed.

Damn!

At this point, it was far too late for John Carter to reach the crevice. He no longer cared about exposing his position and, without hesitation, chose to level up. In that instant, a gentle pillar of light descended from the sky, enveloping John Carter. The unbearable heat and pain vanished instantly, all negative effects were swept away, and John Carter's health, mana, and mental strength rapidly recovered.

At that very moment, the surging wave of lava swept over John Carter's body. Yet, thanks to his rapidly recovering health and the healing light from above, John Carter miraculously survived the catastrophe.

John Carter had no time to savor the refreshing feeling brought by leveling up. He immediately reactivated his Stealth skill and dashed toward the crevice. Meanwhile, the monsters guarding the Demon King's heart finally realized what had happened. One by one, they howled at the sky and charged toward the spot where John Carter had disappeared.

In Stealth mode, John Carter sprinted for his life. Even a moment's delay would mean being trampled into mush by the enraged monsters.

After running ten meters, John Carter leapt headlong into the rock crevice, tumbling in a dizzy heap.

"Thud! Thud!" A horde of furious monsters charged toward the spot where John Carter had vanished, completely ignoring the raging magma lake behind them.

Lava splashed everywhere, and the ground trembled from the stampede of monsters. The lakeshore was left in utter chaos.

From the crevice more than ten meters away, John Carter, still shaken, watched it all unfold. He couldn't imagine what would have happened if he'd been even a second slower or hesitated for just a moment.

Damn, that was intense. This Messenger job is definitely not for humans.

Just like that, the quest was completed. The Celestial Squad, who had been desperately holding out against the final boss, suddenly felt the pressure ease, and the sound of the heart beating disappeared at the same time.

Broken Saber was overjoyed—he knew that the Shadow Blade had succeeded.

"Baldy, use Shield Bash to stun the boss. Warlocks, take the chance to recover mana. Archers, use Armor-Piercing Arrows. Rogues, get in close for attacks."

"Clang!" With a dull thud, the Demon King's minion was stunned by Baldy's Shield Bash. Shield Bash is a unique skill of heavy shield warriors, able to stun enemies for five seconds. It's one of the few skills that can stun a boss. Others include the Rogue's Blind, the Controller's Mind Pierce, and the Hunter's Binding Trap.

As soon as the five seconds were up, the Rogue immediately followed up with Blind, which controls the boss for three seconds. Although there were three Rogues in the team, the boss could only be affected by Blind's stun once in a given period, preventing the team from endlessly chaining Blinds to wear the boss down.

A total of eight seconds of control was enough time for the warlocks to recover their mana.

At this moment, John Carter also arrived. If he was too far from the boss, he wouldn't get any experience rewards.

For John Carter, the rest of the fight was just a show. There was no point in him joining the attack; watching others kill the boss and waiting to collect experience and loot was actually pretty nice.

Without the Demon King's heart, the minion could no longer recover health, so its HP dropped much faster. Earlier, after a long group assault, the boss had lost less than a tenth of its health. Now, in no time at all, it had already lost more than half.

"The boss's HP is about to turn red—watch out for berserk mode."

Last time, the team failed the dungeon because the boss went berserk and instantly killed the main heavy shield warrior, leading to a total wipe.

The nameless warlocks were all on edge, and the main heavy shield warrior was ready to use Shield Bash at any moment.

"Roar!"

The Demon King's minion let out a furious roar—berserk mode!

However, since its source of power had been cut off, this berserk was all bark and no bite.

The main tank, Baldy, took a full set of the boss's skills and still had nearly half his health left. Several warlocks took turns healing him, and they managed to get through the danger without incident.

Shield Bash, Blind—another nine seconds of continuous stun. The warlocks used this time to recover mana, and the boss was down to its last tenth of health.

Victory was in sight. Everyone was already looking forward to what loot this new dungeon boss would drop.

But just then, a sudden red flash erupted from the boss. Before anyone could react, a powerful shockwave burst from the boss, sending the three warriors and one rogue closest to it flying. The rogue with low health was instantly killed!