CHAPTER 38: CHAPTER 38: VICTORY IS OURS

The wind cut like a knife, snowflakes driven by the gale slapping the faces of hundreds upon hundreds of players. On any other day, they’d have squeezed their eyes shut.

But now, with that lone figure standing in the blizzard, no one dared blink for fear of missing a single detail.

Amid a crowd surging like the tide, countless wide eyes were locked on Ethan’s back.

What he’d just said rang out clear and hard even over the howling storm: "Anyone who stands in my way—dies!"

Those words, heavy with menace, paired with the calm set of Ethan’s face and that indifferent gaze, made [Overlord]—who had rushed over from the Safe Zone respawn point—freeze for a beat.

[Windchaser] actually dared to say something like that right to his face—right in front of the entire [Coffin Guild]—with every player in Safe Zone 9527 watching. It was a blatant slap in the face, as if he didn’t even exist.

The sting of his recent death, piled on top of the fury of being ignored, snapped [Overlord]’s composure. He threw caution to the wind and screamed, not caring how he looked:

"[Windchaser]! You rapist, you pedophile—how dare you strut around like this, so full of yourself! Today our [Coffin Guild] will deliver justice and kill you down to level zero!"

"All members of [Coffin Guild], listen up! Whoever takes down [Windchaser] gets a 100,000 bounty!"

Defense never even crossed [Overlord]’s mind. As far as he was concerned, [Windchaser] was just one guy—nothing to worry about.

This time, he was going to "righteously" execute that depraved freak [Windchaser] in front of every player in Safe Zone 9527. Do that, and not only would they pocket 50 Guild Reputation, they’d prove yet again that [Coffin Guild] isn’t to be messed with.

As [Overlord] kept barking, every [Coffin Guild] defender’s morale surged.

The [Winter Guild]’s Guild Leader, [EarlyToBed], stepped up beside [Lucas], took in the scene, and said flatly:

"Your friend is way too naive. If thirty Coffin Guild players rush him at once, even if he’s a class-change player, they’ll take him out on the spot."

[Lucas] didn’t even turn his head. Eyes locked on Ethan, he said:

"You’re not wrong. But ever since I met [Windchaser], he hasn’t missed once."

"I think he can pull it off."

[EarlyToBed] chuckled and added, "Pure fantasy. I don’t know how he got an NPC to kill [Overlord] inside a Safe Zone, but this time he made the wrong choice."

Only professional players who’ve successfully completed a Class Change can pull something like that off, right?

While the two were talking, Ethan—ringed by the biting wind and dozens of Coffin Guild players—just gave a faint, unhurried smile and leveled his long blade straight at [Overlord].

He didn’t waste a word. He pushed off hard, and like an arrow loosed from the string, surged forward instead of falling back, diving straight into Coffin Guild’s encirclement.

The sight made more than a few seasoned players frown. If you want to beat the odds, you split the enemy up wherever you can.

Charging headfirst into a surround like [Windchaser] just did is the fastest way to land yourself in serious trouble.

And it wasn’t only the spectators who thought so.

Even Grimmount, locked in a fight with the sheriff of Safe Zone 9527, drew his brows together for a moment.

The sheriff, Evan, noticed the tiny tell. He let out a derisive chuckle. "That’s the guy you’re helping? Just a fool."

Grimmount shot him a cold look. "Looks like a cushy post has made you shortsighted. You call others fools, but the dumbest one here is you."

"I frowned because that kid probably isn’t going to fail the way I expected."

Grimmount had meant for Ethan to stumble in this "Lone Wolf’s Revenge." But watching Ethan dive into the enemy’s ring—calm, unruffled, eyes steady and mocking—he knew the plan had fallen apart.

He hadn’t put Ethan at a disadvantage at all, if anything, he’d actually helped him.

Thinking that, Grimmount slashed out in irritation. Under Evan’s incredulous stare, the blow sent him flying back dozens of meters.

At the same moment, Ethan—surrounded by Coffin Guild—slipped past incoming strikes. The instant he reached the dead center of the ring, he pulled something from his inventory.

[Frostheart]

[Quality]: Blue (single-use)

[Requirement]: Energy 8+

[Effect]: Spend 8 Energy to create a frost field with an 8-meter radius that slows everyone’s movement and attack speed for 8 seconds. After 8 seconds, the field detonates, dealing explosive damage to all inside.

[Note]: Ready to meet death together?

In a heartbeat, Ethan poured eight points of energy into the [Frostheart]. As it burst into a brilliant blue glow in his hand, a wave of weakness washed over him.

It was the first time he’d burned that much at once—down from eleven Energy to just three.

Thankfully, the [Staying Power Necklace] kicked in and restored four.

Gritting through the drain, he funneled two more points into [Frostblade], instantly triggering its Effect 2.

[Effect 2]: Spend 2 Energy to release the blade’s frost aura, reducing the movement and attack speed of enemies within 2 meters by 10%.

Stacked together, the slowdown made anyone within two meters of Ethan feel like they were wading through sludge—both movement and attack speed bogged down.

Meanwhile, with his gear and potions boosting him, Ethan’s Speed sat at a hefty seventeen.

With everyone else hindered, his speed advantage only grew.

The Coffin Guild player closest to him—probably blinded by that 100k bounty—didn’t think to dodge or back off. He went all in on an attack.

Ethan, cool-headed and hyper-aware, whipped his long blade in a brutal arc and hacked the player’s arm clean off.

Warm blood splattered across the cold ground. Amid the piercing screams, hesitation began to creep onto a few Coffin Guild faces.

Ethan didn’t spare it a thought. The frost field from [Frostheart] was about to detonate—he had to make every second count and hit Coffin Guild as hard as possible.

Take the leader first, in a team fight, you go for the backline.

[Overlord] was his primary target. As long as [Overlord] stood, Coffin Guild’s morale would be hard to break.

So while cutting down the Coffin Guild players around him—slowed in both movement and attack—he pushed straight toward [Overlord].

In the blink of an eye, several Coffin Guild players either had their arms hacked off or their throats opened with a single stroke, left clutching at their necks in despair as blood pattered onto the ground.

Through it all, Ethan’s expression didn’t flicker. His eyes stayed flat and distant, as if he were slaughtering livestock, not people.

[Overlord] watched Ethan bearing down on him, trembling. This was nothing like what he’d imagined.

With everyone piling on, shouldn’t [Windchaser] have been chopped into paste?

So why was [Windchaser] completely unscathed while Coffin Guild had already lost a bunch of people—and the rest had shed their early hype and swagger?

Forcing himself to stay calm, [Overlord] clocked the item blazing blue on [Windchaser] and suddenly got it. He shouted:

"Spread out! Spread out!"

"It’s an AoE item—get away from [Windchaser] and wait it out!"

[Overlord] quickly pulled a pair of glasses from his [Inventory] and slipped them on.

It was a special trinket he’d picked up by chance, able to do a quick read on an enemy’s weapons, gear, and items.

With it active, [Overlord] instantly pulled up the info on [Frostheart] and bellowed:

"Stall him! Just a few more seconds and his item will explode—the win will be ours!"

"Move! What are you standing around for?!"

The Coffin Guild players looked a bit lost—[Overlord] was yelling at them to back off from [Windchaser] one moment, then to pin him down the next.

Even so, there were still plenty of them left. The quicker ones threw themselves at Ethan, attacking relentlessly and risking getting cut down just to disrupt him.

For a moment, Ethan’s advance on [Overlord] slowed.

[Overlord] let out a breath, convinced he’d uncovered all of [Windchaser]’s tricks. He sneered:

"Don’t get ahead of yourself. Bet you didn’t expect this—I can identify the item in your hand!"

"Die, [Windchaser]!"

The onlookers were still reeling from how quickly Ethan had seized the upper hand, before they could even say anything, [Overlord]’s shout cut through the chaos.

Someone blurted, "Never thought Coffin Guild had something that can ID enemy items. That’s it—[Windchaser]’s done."

Almost no one noticed the faint, disdainful smile that suddenly tugged at Ethan’s usually calm face.