The cavern, found after nearly three days of wandering around the general area the map suggested, was quickly identified from the flowing inscriptions and runes on the wall. Killuen had said that these were the defining feature of the underground chambers, described in detail to him by Ororil. So, thirsting for battle, the large group hurriedly entered.

Everything was soon found not to be as it seemed, however, when the moment the last adventurer entered heralded the arrival of a screen of darkness, blocking them from the outside and plunging them into levels of light to low for anything to be seen.

This being a game, though, the adventurers quickly got over it, to Yi Qiang's surprise. From his perspective, they were cowards playing at being brave, and it was quite strange to him for them to get over this new ambience this quickly. They did, though, and a few of the mages summoned bright balls of light, like dim, miniature suns, that illuminated the cavern.

Unimpeded by the unexpected complication, the group continued on, weapons at the ready.

For around ten minutes, they travelled in silence. The aura of the cave was too dark and gloomy to allow lighthearted conversation, and suppressed any sparks of talking that rose up. Yi Qiang didn't mind, but from the dimly-lit look on the adventurers' faces, not all of them shared his feelings about it. Little could be done to combat the suppression of the cavern, the menacing feeling of the protruding stalactites and stalagmites.

This effect doubled, multiple particularly weak-willed players stumbling when they heard a groan and a creak, before reaffirming themselves, tightening their grip on their weapons and glancing around quickly to check if anyone had noticed their falter(Yi Qiang did, of course, but he didn't show it on the surface, and only marked those people as weak links in the 20-man party).

The party stopped for around ten seconds, a response which proved wise when the ground began to shake, a deafening rumble sounding out.

The terrain shifted beneath their feet. Earthen fangs trembled. Nineteen adventurers watched in terror as thick trunks of legs formed, the torso rising up from the base and expanding further. A roughly humanoid golem, of stone and dirt, reared its head, yelling out. The loud roar only got halfway out, though, before an arrow sliced right through its neck, quickly followed by four arrows through each of its limbs, right where the knees and elbows would be on a human.

Everyone, minus Yi Qiang again, hurriedly analyzed the new opponent as it fell to the ground, heavily impacted by Yi Qiang's arrows.

Tiradil Cavern Golem

Level 30

Normal

HP 7,171/20,000

He did that much damage with just five arrows? The group was still unable to move, but this time from shock as the same thought revealed itself in their minds. Does he even need us?

Meanwhile, Yi Qiang sent a disdainful glance at the foolish players still on the ground and sent three more Arrow Pierces, killing the beast and netting him a bulk of experience.

The truth was, if the players were aware of the tools that Yi Qiang had at his disposal, they wouldn't be as surprised. First, Yi Qiang's Strength was all but unheard of, even for one focused completely on that stat. Assuming they started with maximum stats, which was unlikely in the first place, would need to place 18 levels of stats solely into Strength to reach that damage. Then, that base damage was further improved by damage of his new bow, the bow which he spent two weeks working incessantly to get, by 500 full points. Then, the 45% increase of damage from Arrow Pierce, layered on top of the Mark, which Yi Qiang placed on the monster while it was still forming, which increased the damage by another 10%. Finally, the 3.6% increase from Bow Mastery, and Yi Qiang's damage, while insane, made sense. It was the combination of many different factors, factors that had a game-breaking effect combined together, but were far less impressive alone.

Killing a Level 30 beast alone granted him almost all of the experience awarded, each of the rest of the party getting only around 0.1% of the experience total,l eaving him with enough experience to vault him up to Level 11, instantly giving him 30 more free stat points. He would still hold off on spending those, but the instant leap in power the moment he broke free of the chains on his stat points was becoming more and more drastic, and would reach insane levels, Yi Qiang was sure, by the time he left the cavern.

The rest of the party quickly recovered, and flocked around Yi Qiang. Killuen, as the leader, spoke first.

"How did you do that much damage? What's your bow's damage? What's your Strength stat?"

Yi Qiang shook his head. "You're not entitled to that information, my apologies." He tried to remain civil, despite how much the player's commanding, self-inflated voice was getting on his nerves. I'm professional enough to not let this get to me, aren't I?

Unfortunately, Killuen did not let the matter drop there.

"You have to tell me! I'm the team leader! You do what I say, got it? Now, answer my questions!"

"Going to resort to that, then? Don't worry, I'm far enough above you in all stats that you could never touch me." Yi Qiang couldn't resist. He still retained enough bad memories from his now-deceased father that someone baselessly ordering him around brought back resentful feelings.

Killuen didn't respond as much as growl, and threw a wild punch at Yi Qiang, who, while he was sure the punch would be able to crumple metal back on Earth, could do little but mock the lack of skill or control with which Killuen fought as he dodged the blow and followed up with a short jab to the gut.

This sent the warrior doubling over and stumbling backwards, coughing violently as he was too immersed into his own misery to even notice the perfectly silent roundhouse kick headed for the side of his head.

The heavily-armored warrior crashed to the ground, his expensive shell useless against Yi Qiang's pure experience and stats.

Annoyed, Yi Qiang also dismissed the notification that popped up in front of him:

Congratulations!

You have gained the skill Unarmed Combat Mastery(Passive)

+1% damage without weapons

+1% Dexterity, Agility, and Strength without weapons

+1% to fist durability and hardness while not holding a weapon

Everyone else, temporarily leaderless, muttered amongnst themselves. They had given the two fighters a good amount of distance when they first started arguing, but mainly for the sake of the quiet, background player who was below even Level 10 when the expedition first started. The alpha male Killuen, who was the highest level and with the best gear, would surely lord over him, even if he managed to do that much damage, they had all thought.

But the 18-man group looked at Yi Qiang with changed eyes, fearful, respectful, and somewhat grateful. Killuen had been insufferable, that, everyone agreed on, but there was little they could do against the tyrant.

In their minds, it was clear that they had already appointed Yi Qiang as the next group leader.

Great, Yi Qiang saw this as well. This bunch of sheep thinks I'm their new leader since I defeated the old one. What is this, a wolf pack? Gods, where did all their initiative from the beginning go now?

He decided to ignore his new position in the group, and the group itself for good measure, and just walked forward. He wasn't interested in interacting with the useless cowards unless necessary - they had disappointed him; with all their bluster and confidence, Yi Qiang, ever inexperienced with the common man, had assumed they were somewhat battle-hardened. This game is too soft on people, Yi Qiang thought. He hadn't even suffered yet, and he put himself through hell training, so after reassessing his expectations from before, the archer found them placed significantly lower.

Anyways, the group continued on, now on edge for more golems, but just as wary as their new 'leader'. As for Killuen, everybody ignored him and left him on the ground. It was possible he would be killed while unconscious by a wandering monster, or would just wake up and find nobody near him, but in either scenario, the former leader would not be happy. But that was fine, more than fine, really.

In the moments of peace after slaying the first golem, Yi Qiang reflected on how amusing that turn-around of fate was. He paid no attention to his small outburst, attributing it to his problematic childhood(which it really was, so the phrase wasn't much of a crutch) and instead thought about how funny the fact that the alpha male was lying on the floor a ways back, abandoned in the total dark, unconscious. Someone had already initiated a vote to kick him from the party, since, because of the unanimous protest of all the other 18 party members, Killuen had, at the beginning of the formation of the group, set the leadership system to 'Democratic'. That was ironic in its own right, given how domineering the warrior was.

Before he could think further, the ground shook in a familiar tremble. Everyone, no longer as spooked as the first time, drew their weapons and waited for the monster to fully form. Yi Qiang place the mark again, and, this time, tried to attack the monster while it still formed, piercing through one of its legs with two arrows and yelling out "Don't attack!" simultaneously, in order to make sure if its HP was impacted from the two bow attacks.

Tiradil Cavern Golem

Level 30

Normal

HP 17,434/20,000

It appeared that the arrows did damage the golem while it was forming, but they only did a fraction of their ordinary damage. This was useful, as it meant that, despite the reduced damage, the group could pile up attacks while the monster was still in the formation stage, and hasten the process.

Yi Qiang signalled the group to attack again, and the golem was quickly defeated with the help of Yi Qiang's potent arrows. The group was, thankfully more confident on the whole, and that meant that YI QIang wasn't held back much.

They continued through the cavern, rapidly killing any golems that popped up. Everyone leveled up rather quickly, especially Yi Qiang, who's level rather quickly exceeded the others, as it seemed one's share of experience was based on their contribution to the defeat of the monster.

As they continued further and further, something strange happened.

Unlike the ordinary formation of the golems, which was a loud shaking, Yi Qiang watched with wary eyes as the same thing, but on a much higher scale, began.

Cracks formed on the ground below them. Stone dust fell from the ceiling. A deep, loud vibration resonated in everybody's chest, the thrum placing even the beating of their hearts into jeopardy, and Yi Qiang, starting to realize the scale of the danger he would soon be in, watched with dilated pupils as his health began to decrease just from the formation of the monster that was about to appear.

The formation was incredibly quick; Yi Qiang barely had time to place a Mark and let loose three arrows before the behemoth that rose out of the ground leaned back and roared.

It was a primal thing, filled with power and tyranny. Something that awoke the instincts within everyone, even Yi Qiang, who had long buried them under a pile of combat experience.

He took a step back, shocking himself; everyone else stumbled to the ground, eyes wide and panting. Nobody could even bring themselves to move their limbs enough to attack the goliath despite its vulnerability, even an Analyze was out of reach.

Yi Qiang reaffirmed his will. It's been a while since I've had to let loose.