Aurora was stunned.

She hadn't expected the skeleton to attack her so decisively, raising its weapon and swinging at her without hesitation.

Instinctively sensing danger, Aurora commanded her snow monster to shield her. However, neither the snow monster nor her ice shields could withstand the skeleton's powerful strike. Aurora could only watch helplessly as the fierce sword aura shattered all her defenses and killed her instantly.

The feeling of utter helplessness gripped her heart tightly. It was the first time she had felt such intense palpitations in the game, triggering her heart condition.

Lying down to calm herself, Aurora waited until her breathing steadied before getting out of bed, opening her computer, and logging into the official forum of the "Genesis" game.

As soon as she opened it, a pinned trending topic caught her eye.

"Unidentified Boss Appears in Newbie Village Wild Zone, Extremely High Attack Power!"

Below was a firsthand account from a player named Sam, describing their experience.

"...We didn't even have time to react. That skeleton swung its sword once, and all our health bars were emptied, forcing us to log out! The attack power was insane!"

The post quickly filled with comments.

"How is that possible? It's just a level 5 undead skeleton. The lowest known wild bosses are at least level 10, and their attack power isn't high enough to one-shot over twenty players averaging level 13!"

"You're exaggerating. If it were a wild boss, wouldn't the game announce it? The first kill rewards are substantial!"

Amidst the skepticism, several new replies appeared.

"It's true. I was there and got killed before I knew what happened. I was completely dumbfounded!"

"Exactly! I even lost my only newbie sword o(╥﹏╥)o!"

"Hey, you guys, did the skeleton you encountered have golden bones on its hands and feet?"

"The one we saw had a golden sword and right arm, but the fire in its eye sockets was red!"

"Oh my god, could it be the same one we encountered?"

"Just an hour ago, we ran into Mordred. That was his summoned creature!"

"This summoned creature's attack power is ridiculous, and it didn't seem to obey Mordred. It even let us kill its master!"

"It killed James, one-shot!"

The conversation quickly shifted to the drama between Mordred and James, naturally digging into the scandalous news.

Aurora knew who "James" was—a very high-profile rich kid player in the game. Because of Mordred's boasting, the scandal had become widely known, making Sophie a topic of gossip.

No one noticed that since the incident, the newly risen genius mage Sophie hadn't logged in for a long time.

As the forum thread grew, Aurora quickly pieced together the truth. The author of the post and the skeleton that killed "James" seemed to be the same entity, very similar to the NPC named [Ares] she had encountered.

But Aurora was sure that the one she met wasn't a summoned creature!

While pondering, a [Bounty Notice] popped up, its title bold and highlighted. The author was none other than the rich kid who had been one-shot, James!

Aurora clicked on the post.

[Bounty: Kill Mordred once, reward 30,000 gold coins]

[Provide information on Mordred, reward 300 gold coins per tip]

Game gold could be exchanged 1:1 for real-world currency. Thirty thousand gold coins equaled thirty thousand dollars! For most players, that was a huge sum!

Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.

Although the reward for providing information wasn't much, it was still a nice side income, sure to tempt many players. Immediately, players began copying information from the previous post into the comments.

Whether they could earn the side income depended on James' criteria for judging the tips.

Aurora tapped her fingers lightly on the desk, hesitating before choosing to remain silent. She couldn't be sure if the NPC she encountered and the wild boss were the same; it needed verification.

But if the skeleton was specifically hunting players, more players would encounter it over time, and its information would gradually be filled in.

She just needed to wait.

With that thought, Aurora took out a notebook and recorded the information she had gathered.

Looking at the sparse notes, she exhaled deeply. For some reason, she was inexplicably intrigued by the skeleton NPC named Ares.

She had a feeling she would encounter him again.

Hopefully, next time she wouldn't be killed on sight...

Aurora smiled wryly, put away the notebook, and lay back down to rest, waiting for the twenty-four-hour cooldown to log back in.

Meanwhile, in a seaside villa, James was furiously berating his bodyguards.

"Useless fucking idiots!"

"I told you to watch Mordred's door. What were you doing? How did that bastard disappear?"

"That crappy apartment, seventh floor! Could he have jumped out the window?"

"He's just a weak necromancer! Even with my physical condition, I wouldn't dare jump from the seventh floor. Would he?"

"Even if he jumped out the window, were the people watching downstairs blind? Couldn't they see?"

"Find him! Even if you have to dig up all of Florida, find that scum!"

"I want him dead!"

The bodyguards exchanged glances, their faces bitter. They felt wronged but didn't know how to refute. Under their tight surveillance, Mordred had indeed vanished into thin air!

When James was one-shot and logged out, he was enraged, called the bodyguards, and forced his way into the fragile apartment, intending to drag Mordred to the seaside villa. But upon entering, they found only a mess, with no sign of Mordred in the empty apartment.

The bodyguards immediately pulled up all nearby surveillance footage, but after reviewing it multiple times, they saw no trace of Mordred leaving the apartment. He had truly vanished into thin air.

James refused to believe it and mobilized more people to search for Mordred.

As for the skeleton that had one-shot him, he was also concerned. He knew it was Mordred's summoned creature, and finding Mordred would lead him to the strange skeleton.

His gear was all A-grade, and the shadowless spear was A+ grade. He had spent a fortune in the real world hiring experts to grind instances for half a month to assemble the set. Losing any piece was a significant loss, but the most valuable weapon had dropped!

He had to retrieve it. Even after reaching level 30 and leaving the newbie village, the A+ grade weapon would suffice until level 50!

With the forced logout after death, James had to wait twenty-four hours to log back in. Bored, he began browsing the forum and naturally saw the updates under his bounty notice.

Following the links, he opened Sam's post. As he read, he realized something was off.

Coincidentally, Sam and his group were players he had sent to find Mordred. He had been wandering that area looking for the fierce wild boss and stumbled upon Mordred.

The report he received wasn't detailed, and he hadn't remembered the appearance of the so-called wild boss. He only knew it was a level 5 skeleton. A level 5 undead skeleton with high attack power in a level 10 wild zone was conspicuous, easily recognizable at first sight.

But the more he read Sam's description, the more he felt the unknown wild boss resembled Mordred's undead summoned creature. If Mordred hadn't logged out but was grinding with his summoned creature, a night would be enough for a level 5 undead skeleton to level up.

And coincidentally, the skeleton that one-shot him was level 6!

Except for the number of golden bones and a slight level difference, everything else matched.

James stood up abruptly. Could the wild boss really be Mordred's undead summoned creature? How was that possible?

The skeleton soldier one-shotting him was unbelievable but within reason. Some summoned creatures might have special abilities to bypass his defenses. But Sam's team had over twenty members, with various classes, including shield guards known for their defense. Yet they were all one-shot.

How high must the attack power be to one-shot even a shield guard?

Mordred's talent was only D-grade. Even with Sophie's staff, he couldn't summon such a powerful undead creature. Unless there was something wrong with the staff.

But that staff was Sophie's from the start of the game, before James was with her. It had propelled Sophie to become a genius mage in the newbie zone. He had pursued her, easily winning her over with a few Hermes bags.

But the good times didn't last. Shortly after they got together, Sophie was tricked into a trap by Mordred and raped.

In the end, even the staff was taken. Since then, Sophie hadn't entered the game again. The once-promising genius mage vanished without a trace.

James hadn't sought her out. He never lacked women, and a woman raped in the game didn't interest him.

Although nothing in the game carried over to reality, the sensations were identical. He couldn't accept it, so he broke up with her unilaterally.

Of course, breaking up was one thing, but he still wanted revenge on Mordred for raping his woman. It was a matter of male pride!

Surprisingly, Sophie was also tough. After their argument, she never called him again. They hadn't contacted each other for a week.

James frowned, took out his phone, hesitated, and dialed Sophie's number. He had to ask where the staff came from.

But the phone rang for a long time with no answer. James called three times, all with the same result. He was furious. No woman had ever dared disrespect him like this!

He immediately summoned another bodyguard. "Go, bring that bitch to me!"

The bodyguard obeyed, but half an hour later, James received a trembling phone report.

"Sir, Sophie... she's already dead..."