The lives loss rate of this zone was 750, but it STILL wasn't enough to bother Stark.

The him from his past life would have panicked, but not this time.

Not only because of his overwhelming strength, but because he understood something most players did not.

If you were scared of a few hundred lives being shaved off, you had no chance of surviving when the real zones appeared later on.

Zones where the loss rates reached tens of thousands.

Or worse: zones of [Instant Death], where one mistake erased you instantly.

The crimson torches along the walls of the vast chamber flickered, shadows stretching across the stone like living hands.

The air here was different, heavier, sharper, as if the entire floor itself rejected intruders.

This was the [Demon's Nest]. The heart of the [Demonic Ruins].

Stark scanned the massive hall.

Compared to the earlier floors, he wasn't that familiar with this place.

His memories of his past life didn't help much, he hadn't survived here long enough to map it out properly.

The demons here were different too.

The strongest ones reached as high as level 39.

That alone made this place the main grinding spot, the central hunting ground for both players... but also for demons!

Killing demons here had its own risk-reward balance.

If a player managed to kill one, they would claim 75 lives from their kill.

But if the demon killed the player, it was the opposite: they would lose 750 lives on the spot.

Plus, the demon would get those lives!

Worse, "players" were much weaker than other races!

And the sheer bloodlust of demons who treated human players as nothing more than walking resources was there too.

Stark's lips curled into a grin as he thought of his next move.

'Next skill I evolve is [Curse Flower]. Let's see how much I can take from them…'

He stepped forward, his staff tapping lightly against the floor.

The chamber split into multiple corridors, some winding into darkness, others marked by tall doors etched with strange crimson symbols.

This was the mechanic of the floor.

By killing demons, there was a chance to acquire special keys.

These keys could open the marked doors scattered across the [Demon's Nest].

Some doors led to rewards: loot, treasure, shortcuts.

Others hid nothing but traps or terrifying monsters waiting to pounce.

It was a gamble. And players, being players, couldn't resist.

Even when most doors turned out to be bad, people still opened them.

Why? Because when the loot was good, it was worth the risk.

But loot or not, the real condition to leave this floor wasn't through a door at all.

To pass through, Stark needed to defeat the guardian of the floor: the [Demonic Wyvern].

The strongest monster until now.

Stark took a calm step forward, but just as he did, a crimson arrow whistled across the air and landed at his feet.

"…?"

His expression didn't change, but his eyes narrowed.

He had heard stories of what happened to the very first players that arrived on this floor.

Since they were the only intruders at the time, the demons didn't waste a second.

They swarmed them immediately, surrounding them before the players could even explore.

And now…

Fwish!

Dozens of figures stepped out from the shadows.

The scrape of claws and the stomp of armored feet filled the chamber as the demons formed a circle around him.

The stories were true.

"You shall perish for intruding our nest, human," one demon hissed, his blackened fangs dripping.

"Die! Die! Die!"

"We'll use your lives to fuel our power…"

The pack moved restlessly, eager to kill.

The majority of them were level 37 soldiers, and all of them bristled with hostility.

---

[Demonic Nest Demon Soldier (Level 37)]

[Rank: Rare]

[HP: 550,000]

---

And then, among them, stood something worse: a boss NPC.

Boss NPCs weren't like ordinary monsters.

They were stronger, sturdier, and most importantly, smarter.

Monsters could mimic intelligence through instinct, dodging spells or countering attacks by reflex.

But NPCs? They had actual awareness. Strategy.

The ability to outthink their enemy.

And the one standing before him was clearly built for war.

---

[Demon Nest General, Molder (Level 38)]

[Rank: Legendary (Boss NPC)]

[HP: 2,500,000]

---

Molder was enormous, his armor blood-red and scarred from countless battles.

Jagged cuts ran across his face, but his eyes burned with cunning.

He carried a long crimson spear, the weapon gleaming with demonic energy.

Compared to any boss Stark had faced so far, his HP pool was monstrous.

Two and a half million, it would take more than a few casual spells to bring him down.

Molder raised his hand, pointing straight at Stark.

"Kill the human!" his voice thundered. "He cannot defeat us all!"

"YES!"

The demon soldiers roared in unison and lunged forward.

But...

Bind of Silk!

Stark calmly lifted his staff.

Threads of silk shot out instantly, wrapping around the incoming demons like snakes.

He had always suspected [Bind of Silk] had some sort of limit: there had to be a maximum number of targets it could restrain.

But the system never gave him a number.

This was the perfect chance to test it.

Thirty demons surged toward him at once, and… All thirty were bound.

'So the limit is above thirty,' Stark thought, his eyes flashing. 'Good.'

The only one who managed to break free was Molder.

He smashed his spear against the ground with explosive force, shattering the silk around him before it could fully wrap his body.

The general scowled as he watched all his soldiers immobilized.

"Seriously? None of you dodged?!" he snapped, voice dripping with disgust. "Do I have to do everything myself?"

But it wasn't incompetence.

They had tried to resist. They had simply been too slow.

Stark's evolved silk worked in less than half a second.

By the time anyone reacted, they were already locked down.

Spear Throw!

Molder hurled his crimson spear with terrifying strength, the weapon slicing the air as it streaked toward Stark's chest.

Clang!

The spear slammed into an invisible wall and bounced off.

[Unbreakable Magic Barrier: 94,385/100,000]

Stark didn't even flinch.

The strike would have killed any normal player instantly.

But against his barrier, it was nothing but a scratch.

"…My turn."

Stark raised his staff, his neutral expression finally breaking into a faint grin.

Blazing Meteor! Vines of Fate! Storm of Lightning! Crystals of Death! Piercing Skeletal Spikes!

Five spells surged out at once, filling the chamber with chaos.

-418,080! -227,232! -250,848!

By the third spell, every bound demon soldier had already been annihilated, their HP reduced to zero.

"This is…" Molder's eyes widened, shock painted across his scarred face. "What the—?!"

He hadn't even had time to order his men, and they were already gone.

Molder himself wasn't spared completely.

He barely managed to deflect [Crystals of Death] by spinning his spear, and he leapt aside to avoid the incoming skeletal spikes.

The battlefield was silent now.

All of his soldiers lay dead, their bodies charred and pierced.

The only one left standing was Molder himself.

The Demon Nest General gripped his spear tightly, his crimson eyes glowing with hatred.

His jaw clenched, but he did not retreat.

He could feel it, the power radiating from this human.

No, not human.

Something more. Something closer to a demon than he was himself.

But Stark wasn't shaken either.

This was his first real fight against a boss NPC in thus life

Stronger, smarter, and deadlier than any boss monster.

He needed to know, could he defeat even this kind of enemy?

And so, the two stood across from each other.

Molder's crimson spear hummed with energy, sparks dancing across its edge.

Stark's staff gleamed with power, his spells ready to be unleashed again.

The nest around them burned with the crimson glow of torches, the corpses of demons littering the floor.

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