Divine Glitch: I Regressed With Endgame Knowledge-Chapter 37: Into the Rot

Once everyone had entered the dungeon, Evelyn clapped her hands to gather their attention.

"It’s 3:40 PM now," she said. "Let’s see if we can make some real progress before six."

Then she turned to Ryan. "You can log off and let Molly know to delay dinner a little."

"Alright," Ryan replied, nodding. He immediately logged out. His character froze in place and turned gray, indicating he had disconnected. Evelyn gave it a glance to confirm, then turned to Mia.

"Don’t forget what you promised."

"I won’t," Mia muttered, turning away to avoid Evelyn’s gaze.

A moment later, Ryan logged back in. Without wasting time, he started assigning roles and giving instructions.

"Evelyn, where’s your pet? Don’t tell me you hit Level 10 and still haven’t tamed one." He glanced around her character but saw no sign of a beast.

"It’s... not that pretty, so I haven’t summoned it," Evelyn mumbled, a bit embarrassed.

With a flash of green light, her beast appeared—a sturdy gray bear. It shook its head, sniffed the air, then lumbered over to Evelyn’s side and flopped down with a dull thud.

"Alright. Has everyone watched those videos other players posted?" Ryan asked, referring to the footage from earlier groups who had run the Abandoned Mines dungeon. Players often uploaded their runs to forums—either to show off, ask for help, or crowdsource strategy tips from the comments.

"We’ve all watched them," Evelyn replied. "Can’t say the same for you, though."

Without waiting for a response, she took the lead and stepped inside the dungeon. Clearly, she was getting impatient with the slow pace. Ryan shrugged and followed, stopping just short of the first enemy encounter.

—

Hungering Ghoul

Elite

Level: 10

Health: 1560

Type: Undead

—

Two grotesque, half-decayed ghouls slithered across the dungeon floor—heaps of rotting flesh dragging themselves forward.

"Ugh, these monsters are disgusting," Mia said, recoiling behind Ryan. She peeked over his shoulder and pointed. "Why do they have to look like that?"

"These are the gatekeepers," Ryan replied calmly. "If we can’t get past them, we may as well log out now."

He ignored the squeamish looks around him and turned to Heavyblade Vina. "I’m going in. Keep me alive."

"Mm-hmm! Got it!" Vina nodded enthusiastically, her fingers already hovering over her heal commands.

Ryan didn’t wait. He stepped into the ghouls’ attack range, drawing their attention through sheer proximity—what players often called face-pulling.

He hadn’t specialized into Protection Paladin yet, but that would come soon. For now, he had Righteous Fury already activated, a core skill that made his Holy damage generate high threat, allowing him to keep enemies focused on him.

As the first ghoul lunged, Ryan cast Fist of Light, landing a solid hit that dealt 75 Holy damage. He immediately followed it up with a regular strike, hitting for another 60.

One-handed weapons didn’t pack as much of a punch as two-handed ones, but Ryan’s defenses were significantly better. The ghoul’s counterattack landed, but it only scraped away 75 of his health—manageable damage for a frontline tank.

"Such low damage!"

Heavyblade Vina blinked in surprise. She’d been bracing to spam heals, expecting to see Ryan’s health plummet—just like in the videos. But the reality was nothing like that. The tank at the front had barely lost a sliver of HP.

Ryan caught her reaction and resisted the urge to scoff. Of course that’s what she expected. The players in those dungeon videos? At best, they were wearing half a set of Uncommon—maybe even Common—gear. Their max health hovered around 500, and their armor barely reduced anything. Taking 100 damage per hit was standard for them.

But this? This was different.

The real competition wasn’t these casuals; it was the big guilds. The kind with teams of analysts dissecting dungeon mechanics, logistics staff farming materials, and optimized raid compositions. Compared to that, Ryan’s group was just getting started. Even he wasn’t sure if he could keep pace with the top tier players in these early stages.

Still, the moment was his. After landing two solid hits on the first Hungering Ghoul, Ryan confirmed the aggro was stable. Without hesitation, he turned and cast Judgment on the second ghoul—Holy energy surged and struck it for 112 damage, yanking its attention away.

"Attack!" Ryan called out.

Evelyn responded instantly, marking one of the ghouls with a glowing symbol above its head—Hunter’s Mark. Not only did it boost her own damage, but it signaled the group which target to focus on.

Mia threw out a Mana Bomb, which latched onto the second ghoul and began ticking for damage every few seconds. Though the spell had low threat generation, it was a solid support ability. Without pause, she followed it up with continuous Fireballs, each blast dealing significant damage and chipping away at the monster’s health.

Right behind Ryan, a shadow darted in—Faded Leaf Kitten, silent and swift. Her face was calm, unreadable. If the grotesque appearance of the monsters bothered her, she didn’t show it. Her twin daggers danced like silver flashes, carving into the ghoul with practiced rhythm.

The ghoul’s 1560 HP didn’t last long.

When it dropped below 400, Ryan shifted gears. He stopped attacking it altogether and turned his focus to the second ghoul. Two gentle heals from Vina had already softened the aggro, and it took only a few more hits for Ryan to firmly regain control.

As expected, the first ghoul lost its aggro and began stumbling toward Evelyn. But just as it turned, the Hunter loosed a final shot—her expression amused, almost smug. The ghoul collapsed to the ground with a wet thud.

Evelyn glanced at Ryan, genuinely surprised. His aggro control was sharp—almost too sharp. She couldn’t tell if it was skill or just good timing. Either way, she made a mental note to watch him closely when they reached the first boss.

For Ryan, though, none of this was especially difficult. Years of gaming experience had drilled the basics into him. While he wouldn’t call himself a pro-level Protection Paladin, he had no trouble outperforming a bunch of first-timers.

The second ghoul didn’t last long either. After a final burst of damage, it fell to the ground and dropped something unexpected.

"A Level 7 Uncommon bow," Ryan said as he looted the corpse. He held it up. "Evelyn, you want it?"

Her eyes lit up the moment she saw it. "Yes!" she said, unable to hide the excitement in her voice.

Updated from fr𝒆ewebnov𝒆l.(c)om