“Take it!” An orange-tier pair of gauntlets that had tempted players to covet them was casually tossed by James Carter to Ethan Brooks to use as an experiment.

“By the way, you actually didn’t need to use that ice attribute Rune to finish him off just now, did you?” The Qi Master suddenly asked.

“No, it was necessary,” James Carter said. “Otherwise, I would have been the one to die.”

“Oh?”

“That guy wasn’t about to give up easily. His Eagle Step was about to come out. If I hadn’t used that ice attribute Rune, or even if I’d been a bit slower, I would have been the one to die.”

“I see, I’ve learned something.”

“Heh, let’s add each other as friends. Maybe we’ll get to play together in the future,” James Carter said.

“Sure, let’s play together if we get the chance.”

So, on this day, at the same time, James Carter encountered the strongest rival who would battle him for years to come, as well as the strongest ally who would stand with him at the pinnacle of Glory during the first three years of the pro league.

Desert Smoke in the Dusk.

Qi Surges Like Clouds and Water.

“Glory at Its Peak” · First friends, lifelong rivals

－END－

Chapter 3 “Please Enter the Trap”

“Team Two, stay close! Don’t stop the DPS!!!”

“Melee in Team One, spread out a bit! The ranged can’t get a shot!”

“Healers, move yourselves! What are you waiting for, someone to make room for you?”

The scene was filled with Henry Clark’s voice, and he was also sending messages in the team channel from time to time. This boss fight had reached its most critical moment, so it was no wonder that the Blue Brook Guild Master was commanding with both hands and mouth.

Weifeng City.

The lonely Lord Shanbei.

A wild boss that only respawns once a week. Its location is uncertain, its timing random—just finding it is already a rare feat. Even rarer is being able to reach the final stage without any interference or competition. Wild bosses are always fought over by all the major guilds and powers—everyone knows that the best gear and rarest materials only drop from wild bosses.

Wild bosses are hard to kill, and there are always many competitors. To have one fall into your hands so smoothly is truly a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

But precisely because of this, Henry Clark was being doubly cautious.

“Attention, attention, it’s about to hit red HP!” Henry Clark reminded the whole raid. When the boss hits red HP, it unleashes its ultimate and gets stronger—this is how Glory is designed. So many teams have hunted bosses, only to fall in the last ten percent to that final burst!

But Blue Brook’s elite team was famous in Glory. They’d tangled with the lonely Lord Shanbei more than once and were experienced, so they were already well prepared.

Seeing that all the squads were following his reminders and fully ready for the boss’s ultimate, Henry Clark finally felt a bit more at ease. But then he sent a message in his own squad’s channel: “How’s it going, what’s the situation?”

“Don’t worry, both of them are still here, neither has left,” a squad member quickly replied.

“Good, keep a close eye on them. Don’t relax for even a second until the very end,” Henry Clark said.

“Understood!” The squad members had no intention of mocking their boss’s excessive caution. Because the two people he was watching had cost Blue Brook dearly many times before.

One Autumn Leaf, Autumn Tree Su!

If you play Glory and don’t know these two names, you must be a total newbie. When it comes to the strongest players in Glory right now, these are the two names that come up the most. Others, like Blue Brook’s boss Henry Clark’s warlock, Soksar, the renowned brawler Desert Smoke in the Dusk, or the exorcist Sweeping Incense, known as “the Master,” are all famous powerhouses, but compared to these two, they always seem to fall just a bit short.

While Henry Clark was commanding the team to kill the boss, he had also assigned a squad to keep a close watch on One Autumn Leaf and Autumn Tree Su—undoubtedly because he saw them as the biggest threat.

Hearing that the two still hadn’t made a move, Henry Clark felt even more at ease. In his eyes, their threat was far greater than the boss’s red HP ultimate.

“Team One, be ready.”

“Team Two, be ready.”

“Team Three, be ready.”

……

The captains of each squad were also watching the boss’s HP. The moment the ultimate burst out, they each had their responsibilities, and were already reminding their squads to be one hundred percent ready for that moment.

Ten point two three percent;

Ten point two one percent;

Ten point two percent;

Ten point one eight percent;

……

……

Ten percent!

“Block!” The captain of Squad One roared, and the knights in the team stepped forward, bracing their shields.

Boom!!

Like rolling waves, the hard bluestone-paved ground suddenly heaved up at that moment. The stone slabs shattered, but the Lord Shanbei was nowhere to be seen.

No one was surprised—they’d seen this before. Lord Shanbei was now airborne; the shattering of the stone slabs was just the force of his leap.

The lonely Lord Shanbei’s ultimate: Shattered Stone, Rending Earth Slash!

But thanks to the knights’ protection, the surging impact, like crashing waves, was forcibly held back.