Divine Glitch: I Regressed With Endgame Knowledge-Chapter 38: Into the Fire, Through the Ash

Evelyn snatched the Level 7 short bow from Ryan’s hand, her face lighting up with delight. With barely a second thought, she swapped out her current ranged weapon and admired the new bow like a prized jewel.

"You wouldn’t believe it," she said excitedly. "Hunter bows and rifles are ridiculously rare. I was still using a Level 5 rifle earlier, and even that cost me a whole gold coin!"

She pouted slightly, as if expecting sympathy. Ryan gave her a sidelong glance, his expression mildly puzzled.

"Is that so?" he murmured, unconvinced, before turning back toward the depths of the dungeon.

They ventured further down the twisting mine, and after dispatching a pair of ghoul guards, the monsters began changing. New threats emerged—creatures hunched and ragged, armed with pickaxes and blind persistence.

—

Skeleton Miner

Level: 10

HP: 396

Type: Undead

---

They appeared in scattered clumps of two or three, endlessly chipping away at the dungeon walls. But any player careless enough to enter their range would find themselves swarmed—one wrong step could trigger a pull of over a dozen.

Ryan lacked area-of-effect skills, which limited how many enemies he could manage at once. At most, he could keep three Skeleton Miners focused on him, relying on the rest of the party to clean up the remainder.

This was when Mia, the group’s mage, came into her own. Stepping forward with a surprising confidence, she moved ahead of the others and cast a spell she’d only recently unlocked: Blazing Earth.

A fiery terrain erupted before them, the ground itself igniting under her control. Flames roared up from the stone, engulfing the enemy line.

---

Blazing Earth:

Creates a virtual fiery terrain around you, dealing fire damage every second for 6 seconds.

Cast time: 3 seconds. Cooldown: 5 seconds.

---

The flames instantly diverted the aggro of the miners. Apart from the three locked on Ryan, the rest roared and surged toward Mia, shrieking in an unintelligible undead tongue. Despite their grotesque forms, they charged in eerie unison, their bodies overlapping like a wave of bone and hatred.

Unflinching, Mia extended her right hand. A gust of icy wind burst forth, howling through the narrow corridor. The monsters slowed dramatically, their movements dragging as frost clung to their limbs.

---

Frigid Wind:

Summons a chilling wind that strikes all enemies in front of you, dealing frost damage and reducing their movement speed by 40% for 5 seconds.

Cooldown: 10 seconds. Requires mana.

---

The slowed Skeleton Miners were now trudging helplessly through the scorched earth, their health draining with every step. Within seconds, their 400 HP had dropped by nearly half.

At the same time, Faded Leaf Kitten—the rogue—flitted around the outer edge of the skirmish. Her twin flying daggers struck with mechanical precision, bringing down one skeleton after another.

Evelyn barely paid attention to the Skeleton Miner locked in combat with her Grizzly Bear. With a casual grace, she picked off weakened enemies from a distance, loosing arrows from her new bow with impressive speed.

Even Ryan, while maintaining aggro on his trio of targets, managed to swing his small hammer at the lower-health mobs nearby, tagging them to redirect their attention to himself.

Gradually, the group of Skeleton Miners fell, one by one. Their bodies collapsed into glowing piles, signaling loot to be claimed.

"Nice work!" Ryan said, ruffling Mia’s hair. She beamed at the praise, made a playful face, and crouched down to collect from the corpses around her.

Unfortunately, the dungeon’s generosity seemed to have waned. The fallen undead left behind only some coins and a few scraps of linen cloth. Mia groaned audibly.

"So stingy," she muttered, clearly unimpressed with their loot table.

The mine tunnels continued winding deeper, the terrain more treacherous with every turn. New monsters popped up from unexpected corners, drawing shrieks and yelps from the girls.

Ryan didn’t mind. In fact, he was starting to enjoy it—their panicked voices echoing in the party channel like background music. Occasionally, he even took deliberate wrong turns just to stir up more chaos, grinning as monsters spilled into their path.

Eventually, after dealing with yet another wave of Skeleton Miners, they reached a wide chamber ahead. But this time, the threat was more serious.

An elite undead, clad in a torn foreman’s vest, patrolled the open space with three Blood Zombies trailing close behind.

---

Grudging Foreman

Elite

Level: 10

HP: 1240

Type: Undead

Blood Zombie

Elite

Level: 10

HP: 1020

Type: Undead

---

Evelyn stopped in her tracks.

"Uh, Ryan? Can you really tank those? I’ve seen videos—usually it takes two tanks and two healers just to chip them down slowly."

Her voice carried an edge of concern. These weren’t the lumbering bone miners from before. The Blood Zombies alone had brutal attack power, and the Grudging Foreman wasn’t going to be any easier.

Ryan shrugged casually. "Parties that rely on tricks to scrape by won’t make it past the first boss in this dungeon. Trust me, these four? Nothing I can’t handle."

Evelyn folded her arms. "Alright, hero. You go first then. I’ll cover from the back. And if you go down—don’t say I didn’t warn you."

Ryan smiled but didn’t respond. "Have your Grizzly tank the big one for a bit. I can’t hold all four at once," he said, then gestured to the Grudging Foreman. "Mark him with Hunter’s Mark. And don’t forget what I told you."

Turning to the party, Ryan raised his voice slightly.

"When they come, do not attack right away. Wait until I’ve established aggro. When I give the signal, focus all your damage on my target. And don’t draw too much aggro—or you’ll trigger an Over-Taunt."

Everyone nodded. Ryan motioned for the team to back up and wait for the patrol to approach.

Moments passed. The Foreman and his zombies finally shuffled close to the edge of their range. Just as they began to turn back, Ryan gave the signal. Evelyn’s arrow whistled through the air, striking the Grudging Foreman clean in the chest.

The monsters shrieked and turned, charging toward the hunter who had dared to attack them.

But the Grizzly Bear was ready. It roared and slammed its paws down, drawing the Grudging Foreman’s attention. Evelyn had only used a basic attack, so the bear quickly secured aggro.

Ryan acted fast. He targeted one Blood Zombie with Judgment, then slammed another with Fist of Light, shifting their attention away from Evelyn. The last zombie, still out of reach, began to veer off—so Ryan cast Reckoning.

---

Reckoning:

Forces the target to attack you, but increases their attack power by 5% for 3 seconds. 10-second cooldown. Requires 1 Holy Power.

---

The slight buff to its power didn’t matter—by the time the zombie reached him, the effect had already worn off.

Now, Ryan was tanking three Elite Blood Zombies on his own.

The question was: could he survive?

The answer was swift and clear. Even under the combined assault, he took just over 200 damage in total. His health bar dipped by a third—nothing more.

"Attack!" Ryan barked, unleashing Judgment again as his allies surged forward into the fight.

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