How Did He Do It?

Although it was the first BOSS of the first dungeon... Iver had long since forgotten the name completely because it was simply too hard to remember.

Not wanting to waste his teammates' time, Iver had always skipped all the cutscenes in four-player dungeons.

He had no idea what Ademar looked like outside combat. He only remembered that he was a hunched giant with purple spiderwebs covering his skin.

They had called Ademar Little Purple back then.

Because he was the first enemy from the Path of Transcendence. Early on, players rarely saw other BOSSes or NPCs with purple visual effects, so they had given him such an obvious name.

The reason they called him Little Purple was that there was another "Big Purple" later in this dungeon. There were also enemies called "Old Purple" and "Purple Sister" in another dungeon. After version 1.2 began and enemies from the Path of Transcendence became more common, people stopped calling them that.

Along with his memories, Iver also recalled the incredibly simple mechanics of the "Villainous Bartender"—

Ademar gripped the counter with both hands. His arms visibly swelled at astonishing speed, bursting through his sleeves.

He suddenly slammed out his right hand, moving so quickly that it seemed to whip up a fierce wind.

"Steadfast Demeanor."

But even before he swung, Iver had already predicted it and issued his command from behind.

The instant she heard the order.

Hai Na's body moved on its own before her mind could react. The rings of light in her eyes suddenly began to spin. She turned her blade sideways and braced the front half with her left hand. Lowering her center of gravity, she dug in with her right leg. In the blink of an eye, she assumed a stance prepared to withstand the impact.

—Clang!

It was clearly the sound of a palm striking a rapier, yet it rang like a giant hammer crashing onto an anvil.

The blade, empowered by the Path of Authority's Law Combat Technique, solidly blocked the blow! Hai Na could clearly feel a tremendous force surging along the blade toward her.

If she had not instinctively obeyed Iver's command and used "Steadfast Demeanor," she would probably have been sent flying backward and crashed into Iver in his wheelchair!

But now, her body was like a foundation poured from stone, channeling the entire force into the ground! The instant the strike ended, she instinctively seized the opening in the enemy's attack and launched a sharp counterattack! She swung her sword backward, cutting beneath his rebounding right arm and tearing all the way to his left shoulder.

Blood sprayed out. The Villainous Bartender staggered backward in pain and slammed into the liquor cabinet behind him.

A bottle fell from the cabinet, struck the floor, and shattered with a crisp crack.

She remembered her instructor's warning not to overextend and instinctively tried to return to her original standard stance.

But Iver issued another command at exactly the right moment.

"Giant Strength Strike."

—Is that really okay?

A hesitant thought flashed through her mind.

Giant Strength Strike required charging. She could not move or block before releasing it, and she could not change her attack afterward. A nimble enemy could easily dodge it and counterattack.

According to her instructor's teachings, she was supposed to use this move only after confirming that the opponent could no longer counterattack or evade, forcing them to choose defense—and then shattering that defense.

After gaining the upper hand in the first exchange, she should use Honing Blade to temporarily sharpen her blade, or use Rebuke Spell to intimidate the opponent while taking advantage of their disadvantage, making them even less capable of fighting. She had to control the distance between herself and her opponent—not too close, not too far. The opponent had to remain within range of Charge Slash, while she also needed enough open space behind her to retreat, dodge, or block.

...Oh, right. Mr. Iver seemed to be behind her. Should she move aside first?

But if she did that, wouldn't she expose him...

While her mind raced through all those complicated thoughts, Hai Na's battle-hardened body had already moved on its own during that brief moment of distraction.

After receiving Iver's command, she took a deep breath, shifted to a two-handed grip on her short sword, and hunched her back slightly like a cat preparing to pounce.

After charging for roughly half a second, her body shot forward.

A sharp, frigid white light, shaped like a crescent moon, flashed through the air. The counter in front of the Wild Elf bartender was cleaved in two by a single stroke.

The tremendous impact left the bartender's body frozen in place.

Even the left arm he had instinctively raised to block was severed! His forearm bone ended in a ghastly fracture. His purple, severely swollen-looking left hand fell to the ground, and the bartender let out a shrill scream as the purple patterns on his body rapidly receded along their original paths.

The scream was so horrible that it startled Hai Na badly.

And seeing him in that posture, outside combat, left Hai Na unsure whether she should continue fighting him.

At that moment, Iver's stern voice sounded again.

"Hai Na, move."

She shifted her footing and lightly hopped half a step to the side.

—Then she heard a gunshot.

The bartender's left eye was pierced by a bullet, and blood burst from the back of his head. Scarlet blood blossomed across the liquor cabinet behind him.

His body slowly slid helplessly down, dragging a deep-red bloodstain behind it.

She had not even seen where Iver had hidden the gun. He was still sitting motionless in his wheelchair. Thin white smoke drifted from his black cloak, and the corners of his mouth lifted slightly beneath the hood.

From Iver's perspective, tiny white motes of light gradually emerged from the corpse and flowed into his body.

Killed a Second Level transcendent, gained 14 Free Experience

Iver revealed a delighted smile.

Let me take the kill. Thanks.

Although the direct experience from killing monsters in the Ouroboros Ring was quite low—leveling mainly relied on quests, crafting, purchasing and reading books, and the experience rewards from daily dungeons... even scraps were still meat.

Not to mention, his level was low right now. Using Free Experience to raise it was still fairly profitable.

These fourteen points of Free Experience, combined with the twenty-four points he had received for killing that Demon Scholar earlier, would be enough to raise the three skills of Demon Scholar by roughly four levels if distributed evenly.

He could also allocate some experience to the priest class, raise it to level two, and unlock a Path. Then he could raise Demon Scholar by another three levels. That was the plan with the greatest short-term benefit.

Alternatively, he could save it for a while. After learning some of the other skills of the Dedication Path—such as "Sacred Flame," "Illumination Spell," and "Blessing," which were more useful than "Prayer" but harder to level—he could spend the experience. At minimum, this experience could raise his priest level directly to five. In the long run, that was the most cost-effective way to improve.

After all, Demon Knowledge could steadily be leveled simply by reading arcane books on demonology; Basic Prayer provided stable improvement by praying at least twice a day for three minutes each time; and Demon Contract could slowly replenish his strength from the Shadow Demon without him doing anything.

Only Basic Ritual was troublesome. More precisely, the problem lay in the word "Basic."

Its rank was too low. The ritual Iver had previously used to create Shadow Blade was too advanced, so Basic Ritual could not even gain experience from it. Iver truly could not remember rituals of such a low level. A ritual worth memorizing had to at least be one he used often, or a recipe that could be posted for sale and used to fleece people.

From that perspective, Demon Scholar could level up even if left alone. Improving the priest class, however, would be much more difficult and basically required grinding away at it slowly.

If he could raise the priest class to the second tier as soon as possible, he could prove that he was a "person who loved to dedicate himself."

Otherwise, how could he have progressed so smoothly along the Dedication Path?

Is your Dedication Path level higher than mine? If it isn't, what gives you the right to say I'm not a good person?

That was an invincible life-saving card! He could also naturally become a key student and receive preferential access to the academy's resources... Then he would no longer be "the bad student who took three months off right after school started," but "a frail, frequently ill, yet devout, kindhearted genius."

But in that case, these thirty-eight points of experience seemed a little insufficient...

A hundred thoughts flashed through Iver's mind, and in an instant, he came up with a new wicked idea.

Hai Na stared at the corpse, looking somewhat dazed. Clearly, she was not actually able to calmly deliver a killing blow simply because she had "killed someone before."

Before she could recover and question why Iver had suddenly killed the man.

Iver accused her first, quickly asking, "Why didn't you behead him just now? He couldn't have blocked it."

"...Huh?"

Hai Na's mind stalled for a moment before she quietly explained, "Because he was much weaker than me. I saw that he had already lost the ability to resist, so I thought we could capture him alive..."

That was indeed the case. The man's battle instincts were quite accurate.

Iver quietly agreed with Hai Na's explanation.

If things ended there, they could simply leave with the captured Villainous Bartender, and the case would already be solved.

But Iver could not actually let the Bureau of Supervision interrogate him—what if he gave me up? Although the Moriarty Family had some influence, Iver could not say for certain whether he, as their adopted son, would be convicted if there were clear evidence.

So Iver redirected the earlier topic and said sternly, "Then did you notice his first reaction when he saw you display your Path? He resisted, and even attacked you.

"What does that represent? It means he had no intention whatsoever of admitting his guilt and submitting to arrest!"

Obviously. A vicious criminal with a life on his hands and a weapon in hand—someone who would be sentenced to death if caught—would never simply surrender upon unexpectedly encountering a cop who had come alone to arrest him. Even if he didn't fight back, he would at least try to escape.

Iver grumbled inwardly.

But his expression did not waver in the slightest.

He merely said, word by word, "You could tell at a glance—or even before fighting—that he was far weaker than you. Don't you think he would know that too? Since he knew, yet still resonated with his Path and attacked you—what does that represent?"

It means he knew he couldn't outrun you, so in his despair, he could only risk his life.

Iver thought to himself.

"...What does it represent?"

Hai Na hesitated.

Her mind felt completely blank. If she had encountered this question on a test, she believed she could have given a perfect answer after thinking carefully. But now, the fresh corpse was giving off the smell of blood, and her thoughts felt chaotic.

"Think about it." Iver suddenly changed tack. "At first, he said the food here was expensive. He was trying to drive us away. That shows he didn't want to confront the Bureau of Supervision directly..."

"Mm, I understand."

"But later, I only told you to draw your sword. I didn't even tell you to attack. Under those circumstances, he dared to attack you instead of fleeing or making excuses. Why did he dare to do that?"

"...So he must have an ability with a very high cost, making it impossible to use normally... but with immense power?"

Hai Na ventured an answer.

Iver nodded in satisfaction. "Exactly."

You know what? He really did.

This reasoning was not exactly wrong. It was also one of the reasons the Villainous Bartender had chosen to fight desperately. He really had not been without hope of victory.

The Villainous Bartender's class was the "Demon" of the Path of Transcendence. Upon entering a heavily wounded state, he could instantly recover half of his Maximum Life, then enter a demonic state that rapidly drained his health while strengthening all his attributes.

It was just that Iver's damage was too high. Two strikes had skipped him straight past that phase.

Using correct information and an incorrect line of reasoning to deduce an equally correct answer—no one could possibly notice that anything was wrong. Even after she brought the corpse back, all she would receive was the result: "Iver's judgment was correct."

"...So that's how it was!"

Hai Na was thoroughly convinced. "Thank you, Iver! You saved me!"

Iver nodded solemnly. "So when facing vicious criminals, you must never hesitate. You may want to take them alive, but your opponent may not share that wish."

See? She even has to thank me.

"Then what do we do now?" By now, she was used to asking Iver questions and obeying his commands. "Should we wrap up the corpse and take it back?"

"No rush."

Iver tugged at his cloak and said calmly, "He isn't the mastermind behind this.

"The real culprit is in the basement of this bar. She has been listening here for quite some time.

"There's no need to confront her directly. Pour strong liquor through the crack under the door, then set the place on fire."

"...Isn't that a little too wicked? What if she comes out?"

"Then you can deal with her."

After repeatedly confirming that Iver was always right, Hai Na finally stopped instinctively thinking of arguments this time.

She merely stared expectantly at the basement, tightened her grip on her drawn short sword, and looked eager to fight.

"...How surprising."

As expected, a woman's voice soon came from the direction Hai Na was watching.

She slowly pushed open the basement door.

She was a bald woman in a bright red robe, with a sturdy build and corpse-pale skin. She stood at least 1.7 meters tall. Her left arm, which had pushed open the door, was covered in muscle; her breasts rose high, and faint purple light glimmered in her eyes.

Hai Na tightened her grip on her short sword and lowered her center of gravity, preparing to charge.

But then her pupils suddenly contracted, and she stopped where she was.

Several purple runes appeared on the woman's right arm. Her five fingers curled as though gripping a ball.

Spirits that drifted like vengeful ghosts wound around her fingertips, while faintly blue-gray mist gathered together, forming an irregular sphere roughly the size of an infant's head. The frigid energy within visibly pulsed like a heartbeat, sending waves of bone-chilling gray wind rolling toward them along the floor.

Hai Na did not recognize this spell. But she could clearly feel the threat it posed.

The woman also held the long-charged spell sphere without attacking.

That was the correct choice.

If she threw the spell sphere, Hai Na might be able to dodge at this distance. If she used it to attack Iver, then she would inevitably be unable to withstand Hai Na's charge.

But Hai Na did not dare charge forward either. She did not know what the spell actually did.

If she took the spell sphere at close range, she might immediately fall into a disadvantageous position.

Thus, she stood faintly in front of Iver and to one side, without blocking the line of fire for his gun. The three of them fell into a brief standoff.

"...How did you know I was in the basement?"

The bald woman stared expressionlessly at Iver and asked, "Did I leave evidence somewhere?

"...How did you do it?"

"Experience."

Iver answered simply. Because this dungeon had more than one BOSS.

—As expected, it was deduction again!

How did he figure it out?!

Hai Na was exhilarated and restless at his side.

Another eight thousand words today!

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