The sun began its ascent, casting a warm glow over our heads as we treaded through the empty streets, finally arriving at the previously abandoned factory where Zero had found them.

As they cautiously entered the factory, Helio spotted numerous monster corpses and asked, "Is this also Boss's doing? It seems he has slain many of these shepherds here. This place is one of their nests in the Block F area."

He explained further, "If most of the shepherds are wiped out here, the only place left for us to visit is their main nest."

Halting his walk, Helio turned back to look at the players. "Mister, will you be okay? The main nest is huge."

Jaeha glanced back. Taegeuk seemed unsure, but Noah's expression hinted at imminent tears out of fear.

"Could you guide us safely to their nest? We only need to kill at least one monster for the mission to complete," Jaeha requested.

"Of course I can!" Helio replied confidently, but then added, "As long as you do as I say, everything will be fine," with a laugh.

Jaeha felt a sense of unease. To think that his safety was in the hands of this cheeky infant was almost unbelievable, but he nodded nonetheless.

Helio led them to the basement floor of the factory, where dust hindered their breath, making them cough as they entered.

"Sssttt, Mister... please hold your cough. We need to be quiet or else we might alert them," Helio whispered.

They nodded, and Noah moved from the back to the middle, not wanting to be at the rear of the team.

The basement was not huge, mostly just an area used for storage, illuminated only by the faint light filtering down from the first floor.

"Mister, from this point forward, I need you to hold onto the back of my shirt. We're going to the tunnel area, just straight down in front," Helio instructed.

Jaeha, Taegeuk, and Noah were a little confused. What would they do if they were attacked in the dark?

"What are we going to do if we're attacked in the dark?" Jaeha asked.

"Don't worry, that won't happen. My senses are clear in the dark. I've been trained for this situation. Boss taught me how to adapt; he said humans have more than five senses," Helio reassured them.

"So, mister, when we're inside, try to make as little noise as possible. Although my sense of smell is good, I'm much more confident in my hearing. This will allow us to reach their nest safely," he explained with a smile.

Jaeha and the others nodded, placing their trust in the child.

They began their descent down the stairs, which weren't long before they arrived at the entrance of the tunnel. They couldn't see anything, only hearing the sound of wind blowing and water trickling from the other side.

Feeling awkward to hold each other's hands, Jaeha asked Taegeuk and Noah to grab onto each other's clothes from behind.

With Helio leading the way followed by Jaeha, Noah, and Taegeuk, they ventured into the tunnel. Surprisingly, it didn't smell like a sewer; instead, it had an earthy scent.

As they walked through the tunnel for quite some time, the end was nowhere in sight. Noah was particularly afraid, even though he was now in the middle of the group, he still felt unsafe.

Noah tried to ask as quietly as possible, "How long is it going to be? I feel like this is much longer than the distance between Eden and the abandoned factory."

Helio only answered shortly, "We're almost there. Just quiet."

Noah felt down. It felt like he was dragging the team down. On top of that, he lost his cool in front of his idol.

He continued to follow and be quiet.

The tunnel seemed longer than they expected, and they seemed to lose track of time as their senses became limited.

They kept walking and walking until a faint light appeared at the end of the tunnel along with a staircase leading upward.

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Helio sensed something was strange. He couldn't hear anything coming from above. He ran, making the players panicked.

They followed Helio as soon as they emerged above. What they saw was the aftermath of a battle. The only thing left was blood splatter on the floor and surrounding areas.

No shepherd corpses could be found. This was supposed to be their biggest nest in the area, but not even one was left.

Jaeha quickly thought this was strange as he asked Helio, "What happened? Where did they go?"

Helio was also confused; he could only respond, "I don't know, mister. This is the right place. I'm not mistaken."

Helio looked worried. Taegeuk assessed the surroundings as he spoke, "I think we need to get out of here. If this was supposed to be their nest and there's nothing left of them, it could mean another possibility."

He hinted at something, the possibility that caused the disappearance of the whole D-grade monster.

As Jaeha, Noah, and Taegeuk thought in sync, the growling sound of a monster came from above. The area was like a dome where the light from the sun came from the crack above. The dome was empty like an indoor arena.

The horrifying-looking monster, huge and slimy, hung from the dome ceiling. They didn't know what it was, as most of its body looked slimy like it was covering the main body.

Its eyes were huge, staring at them. The size of its eyes resembled that of a giant squid. It kept growling as it watched them.

Helio's legs were trembling. He had never encountered a monster of this caliber, even with boss madness training. It didn't go this far.

Jaeha and the rest planned to slowly exit the arena without alerting the monster. But before they could do so, the monster spits at them from above, shooting its disgusting liquid in their direction.

Jaeha grabbed Helio and evaded. While Taegeuk and Noah quickly move away evading the monster's disgusting liquid.

Jaeha quickly thought and brought Helio to his senses. He then asked, " Do you know what kind of monster that is?"

Helio shook his head; he didn't know the monster. He had never seen anything like it before.

Jaeha then told Helio to reassure him, as he needed Helio's help, "Helio, do you know where Zero-nim is now?"

Helio nodded.

Jaeha then smiled at him as he spoke, "I want you to inform Zero-nim about this. I don't think we could fight against that thing. We will drag the time until Zero-nim arrives. We count on you, okay?"

Helio seemed like he was going to burst into tears as he said, "Yes, mister. I'll quickly tell boss about this. Please don't die, or boss will scold me."

Jaeha just laughed it off, as he didn't think Zero would scold him for this. Helio then ran toward the tunnel.

Now it was only Jaeha, Taegeuk, and Noah in the arena. Taegeuk spoke to Jaeha, "Do you have a plan for this?"

He looked worried but felt a little excited by the adrenaline.

Noah was looking for Jaeha's decision.

Jaeha look irritated, "I don't have any plan. But running is not an option. That thing just took our target. For some reason, it makes me quite angry."

Taegeuk looked irritated too. He didn't know if he could be of help, but he also felt that running was not an option.

The monster started to attack once again. It seemed he couldn't move from the ceiling. He kept spitting his spit toward them as they evaded the attack.

Jaeha was thinking about how to reach the monster's position to attack as it was quite far. Noah was running aimlessly, trying to evade the attack.

It was not until Jaeha noticed something. The bat that Noah was holding. He had a plan as he shouted to Taegeuk, "Taegeuk-ssi, could you throw a ball?"

Taegeuk was confused as to why Jaeha suddenly became formal to him. "Why are you suddenly speaking formally?" he asked.

"Just answer first!" Jaeha dodged another attack from the monster.

"I could. Just tell me what your plan is," Taegeuk responded.

Jaeha then shouted to Noah, "Hey, Noah! Throw your bat at me!"

Noah was busy running and couldn't hear what Jaeha shouted. It was until Noah's feet got tripped; that he reflexively threw his bat forward. Jaeha ran toward the bat, leaving his wooden weapon behind. He then signaled Taegeuk to look for any rock or debris from the destroyed building.

The moment Jaeha touched the bat, a familiar feeling rushed through his body, akin to when he wielded the wooden sword. His grip tightened, and his arms felt stronger, but his agility seemed to slow down.

Suddenly, a pop-up window appeared in front of them.

[Due to a system error, a high-grade monster has appeared in a low-grade zone.

We apologize for the inconvenience.

As an apology, special buffs will applied to the players during this battle.

Special Buffs:

1. Strength up (Rank A)

Increases the player's offensive stat by 50% for the duration of the battle.

2. I'm Invincible (Rank A)

Nullifies any damage taken for one hit during the battle.

3. King of Gold (EX)

Increases the likelihood of rare item drops and increases experience gained from defeating monsters by 30%.

The special buffs would be removed after the battle ended, but King of Gold (EX) would stack with similar buffs.]

Jaeha smiled satisfied as he read the information from the system. He could feel the surge of power flowing inside his body.

Their first battle as players, Jaeha, Taegeuk, and Noah had only just begun.