MMORPG: Ascension of the Strongest Spirit Master
Chapter 50: It’s Time

Chapter 50: It’s Time

In the open expanse covered in thick snow, sprawled across the white field, lay the broken body of a massive centipede, its corpse stretching nearly four meters long.

The creature’s icy blue blood had splattered across the snow in wide arcs, staining the ground in hues of frost and decay. Its thick, chitinous armor, once a near-impervious shell of dark, crystalline plates, was now split and torn, deep gashes running down its side like cleaved bark.

A gaping wound at its neck, jagged and raw, as if left behind by an internal explosion, marked the final blow, the one that had killed the monster.

Around it, four figures rested in silence, surrounded by the ghostly calm of the Frostveil Expanse.

Vlad sat atop the creature’s segmented back, resting with one leg drawn up, the other hanging casually over the curve of its armored spine.

On his shoulder, Vel sat, her green eyes gleaming with joy as she held up a glowing crystal, rich green, veined with strands of violet, pulsing softly in her hand like a living gem.

Fritz and Jade sat a few meters away, leaning back against a small ridge of ice, their breaths visible in the cold. Neither spoke, but both kept glancing toward Vlad.

They had been raiding the dungeon together for nearly eleven hours now, fighting nonstop, cutting through waves of Centipede, Frostfang Wolves, and other beasts.

This was their fourth Dungeon run, and they had yet to take a break even though night had descended in the outside world.

"Jade," Vlad said without looking up, his voice low but clear, "If you are worried, I will ask you guys to do another dungeon run tonight... don’t."

"We’ll rest properly and restart tomorrow," Vlad said, and Jade blinked, caught off guard.

"Oh...Sorry," she said quickly, sitting up straighter. "Sorry about staring at you."

"I was just thinking..." she hesitated, biting her lip slightly, appearing troubled and unsure. "Sir V, If you don’t mind me asking..."

"You did say that you had just taken the famous player’s name, and you are not him," There was a pause. She glanced at Fritz, then Elisha, then back to Vlad.

"Are you not the same V that stopped a world event a few days ago?" She said, holding her breath in anticipation.

Jade felt half-relieved to have asked it and half-anxious because she knew how players like him preferred their distance. High-ranking players didn’t like being badgered or gawked at.

Vlad looked at her for a moment, then gave a small nod. "Yes. It’s me."

Fritz’s eyes widened slightly. Jade’s mouth opened, but no words came, and even Elisha, usually the calmest of the three, failed to hide her surprise.

Before any of them could speak, a soft chime echoed through the dungeon, a familiar sound from the system.

{The Second Unique Boss Monster: Frostspine Centipede has appeared in the Icethorn Cave.}

Vlad smiled in satisfaction, delighted that he didn’t have to waste another day waiting, and looked down at the three stunned faces staring up at him from the snow.

"Guys," he said calmly, "I told you. I wanted something from this dungeon."

"Now it’s time to get it." He stood and leaped down from the corpse, landing soundlessly before Elisha. Vel rose with him, floating just beside his shoulder, looking as curious as the other three.

"I need you guys to go get me the core of the Frost Wolf King," Vlad said directly. "No matter the price, buy it." He reached into his inventory and transferred five hundred gold to Elisha through their party’s shared inventory.

This was the sole reason Vlad had joined a team: after the bosses fell, the dungeon would begin to reset, and he would have very little time to collect the ores, summon the social beast, and kill it.

Vlad always planned to buy the cores because the Moon Wolf was not a fight he could take lightly.

It might not be as physically overwhelming as the Eclipseborn, but it was still a heroic-grade monster. It controlled summoned spectral packs of wolves and had deadly skills in its arsenal, so to win quickly, Vlad needed to be in his peak condition.

"Don’t worry about anyone following you," Vlad added, his voice sharp. "Just make sure you get the core and bring it to the edge of the Dead woods."

"I’ll compensate you fairly for your trouble, but for now, please hurry because we will only have minutes to do something special after the second boss monster falls,"

The three still looked stunned, trying to collect themselves and understand what was going on, but Elisha snapped back to focus first and nodded.

"Alright. We will go get the Frost Wolf King’s core and meet you on the edge of dead woods," she said. She turned to face her teammates and, without a word, began to sprint toward the wolf’s king spawn point.

Their figures quickly vanished in the distance, and Vlad also turned on his heel and broke into a sprint of his own toward the opposite end of the dungeon, where the Frostspine Centipede had appeared.

He moved fast, barely disturbing the snow beneath him as he crossed the snowy terrain, weaving through crystalline hills and ice-covered hollow pits.

The howling wind clawed at his coat, but he paid it no mind.

Just before he reached the cliffs where the centipede had spawned, a notification echoed in his mind.

"Unique Boss Monster: Frost Wolf King has been slain."

Vlad narrowed his eyes slightly and picked up speed. As he arrived at the entrance of the giant cave, the landscape shifted again, sharp perfusion and jagged shards of ice jutting out from the ground and walls.

The whole area looked like the inside of a terrible beast.

He could already hear the sounds of battle ahead, steel clashing, magic detonating, the shriek of something massive and bestial.

Following the noise, Vlad slipped through the ice-strewn path until he reached the source of the noise. There, in the dimly lit cave, a beast was clashing against a team of six.

The Frostspine Centipede. It stretched over seven meters long, a hulking abomination of segmented flesh and ice-armored plating. Its body shimmered with an unnatural sheen, smooth and cold like frozen metal.

Thick mandibles, jagged and serrated, snapped at their attackers while its countless legs stabbed into the hard floor with unnatural speed, every limb ending in sharpened points that cracked the ground beneath it.

A group of six players fought it in perfect formation. They belonged to Silverhold Blade, the only official guild that operated regularly inside the Frostveil Expanse.

Their movement was clean, coordinated, and clearly practiced. A tank at the front held the creature’s focus while two melee fighters danced along its flanks.

One archer provided cover fire from the back while a magician maintained wide-range control spells. The sixth, a healer, rotated position constantly to avoid the tail’s sweeping strikes.

The centipede was no ordinary beast, it was a menace. Even with six peak First-Rank players, the battle was brutal, and every exchange required flawless timing.

Ice explosions detonated with every limb they severed, and the creature retaliated tenfold for every wound they inflicted.

Eight minutes passed before the fight finally ended. Two of the team members were left severely wounded, bleeding, and barely alive, while their tank had unfortunately died saving one of the damage dealers.

As the Frostspine finally collapsed into the snow, its legs twitched and curled inward, making the system announce its death.

{Unique Boss Monster: Frostspine Centipede has been slain.}

{Dungeon Reset: Frostveil Expanse will reset in 20 minutes.}

The temperature seemed to drop slightly as the air responded, and the unnatural calm that always signaled the end of a dungeon cycle began to settle over the world like heavy snow.

Vlad stepped closer, and the team leader, a spear-wielding knight in gleaming white-blue armor, already aware of his presence, turned to face him.

He moved with the poise of someone used to command, and his expression bore a calm, unreadable smile.

"V," the knight said as Vlad approached, lowering his spear. "I heard about your presence in this area."

"I came hoping to see the player who did the impossible, but they said you are just an imposter, and watching you fight... well," he shrugged faintly, "I have to believe either you are not who the world thinks you are... or not as special as they claim."

He politely held out a gloved hand, but the smile remained thin and measured.

"That aside, tell me, what can I do for you?" He said, and Vlad shook his hand just so as not to disrespect the man.

"Nothing much," Vlad said evenly, "I just need the core of that beast, and I’ll be on my way."

"Don’t worry. I will pay one hundred gold, double the market rate." He moved to step past the knight, but the man shifted, blocking his path with a raised arm.

"And what if I don’t want to sell it?" the knight asked, not confrontational but firm.

"You should sell," Vlad replied, a small smile forming, "because if you don’t..." He paused, glancing briefly at the centipede’s still-warm corpse.

"Then I won’t be able to show you a hidden secret of this dungeon." The knight narrowed his eyes just slightly, but Vlad didn’t wait for a response, and he moved.

In one breath, his form blurred, his body shifting as he slipped past the knight in a single, silent motion, and in the next instant, he stood closer to the corpse.

The archers reacted immediately, bows raised, but the knight extended his arm and shook his head once, calm and sharp.

"Stand down," he said quietly, his tone had changed, less challenging now, more curious.

His eyes followed Vlad’s every movement. He wasn’t sure if Vlad was pulling a prank, but then again, why would he do such a thing? It was not like the Frostspine Centipede was the rarest thing the dungeon had to offer.