"Let’s go. They are inside."

The group arrived in front of a hollow tree trunk at the ground base, and from there, a passage led to a cavern underground.

The other five students were already inside, fighting the monsters.

Rudrean and the others didn’t waste time and rushed in.

Soon, they exited the 140-meter-long passage and saw a huge cavern with greenery painted red, dead bodies of monsters scattered around, and five people standing at the center while killing all the Silver Blaster Worms that were attacking them from all directions.

There were two more passages in this cavern that led somewhere.

"The right one." Lyra pointed. "The treasure is near there."

The other party that was dealing with monsters calmly and steadily also saw the new team and frowned.

"That team... it’s Danzo Taizon," Ryzen muttered. "Ranked 4th in monster-combat wave, the youngest heir of the Taizon family. The other four are also in the top ten across different leaderboards."

"So what?" Aelira snorted. "They can’t beat us."

"Let’s ignore them and move toward the right-side passage first," Rudrean said. "We won’t make the first move. But if they do, we won’t hold back."

Everyone nodded and flew toward the right-side passage.

Some worms came to attack them, but Ryzen and Rivera dealt with them, acquiring Path Exp that they needed.

Rudrean and Aelira’s paths leveled up, so their path talents were boosted.

Rudrean now gained a 150% overall boost in stats for himself and Aelira.

Aelira’s damage reduction increased to 70% from 50% before damage sharing.

Unless the enemy had defense ignore effects in their attacks, she made herself and Rudrean essentially unkillable in this Secret Realm.

Danzo’s eyes flickered with yellow lightning as he saw Rudrean and the others flying toward the passage.

"They are going for the treasure. Block the passage."

A giant bulky man in his early twenties with a pale, chubby face nodded.

His eyes glinted, and in the next instant, a thick brown-diamond translucent wall blocked the passage, preventing Rudrean and the others from entering.

"Huh?" Aelira was unimpressed. She turned to the group and shouted, "Was this supposed to block us?"

She pointed her palm at the wall while still looking at the group.

BOOM!

A spiraling plasma spear burst out and destroyed the wall.

Rudrean and the others moved in without sparing a glance at Danzo and his team.

A minute later, they dealt with all the worms.

"Who the hell are they?" Danzo frowned.

"Joyan, they destroyed your wall so easily? Did you use less mana?" a pink-haired girl asked.

"Of course not, Yufania." Joyan frowned. "I spent the maximum mana I could to enact that wall and even buffed it with my Arcane Path’s second rune."

"But she easily destroyed it." The blue-haired man with glasses commented, brows furrowing. "They are powerful."

"No shit, Ruben." The fifth member, a tall black-haired girl with shark-like teeth and a mean face, named Jolina, scoffed. "My instincts tell me I am not winning against those two. No wonder they made such a crazy record in the monster-combat test."

"But only those two are strong, right?" Danzo frowned. "Quick, we’ll follow them. The other three are weak, so we don’t need to worry as long as we manage to suppress Rudrean and Aelira and destroy their Magic Suits."

"What if they are on the wrong path?" Yufania asked. "We should take the left-side passage, no?"

"My treasure tracker is pointing at both passages." Ruben adjusted his glasses. "So the treasure can be reached via both passages, but one might be longer and the other shorter."

"If they also have some kind of tracking that is better than Ruben’s, then we should follow them," Joyan suggested.

"Alright, let’s go follow them. No more dilly-dallying." Danzo flew toward the right-side passage.

...

Rudrean, Aelira, and the others found themselves in another large cavern after they passed through the passage.

There was a giant stone monkey statue stretching 20 meters tall in this cavern. There was just one passage in this cavern, and it likely led to the treasure.

The moment they stepped into the cavern from the passage, the statue lit up with magic, its eyes glowing crimson instead of the previous dull gray.

It came to life.

[Wild Boss Encounter Initiated]

[Defeat the Rampage Warrior Ape and acquire a B-rank Super Rune.]

[Rampage Warrior Ape | Boss]

[Rank: Special | Boss]

Constitution: 4-star

Agility: 4-star

Strength: 4-star

Magic: 4.5-star

It was stronger than the Blood Talon Parrot boss.

Lyra blinked. "We need four B-rank runes to make one A-rank rune. The same way, we can combine four B-rank Super Runes to get one A-rank Super Rune. That would be best."

SCREEEE!!

The ape screeched and appeared right in front of the group, towering over them and roaring.

From its mouth, a crimson aura ring blasted out.

’Talk in Magic Whisper so we can communicate fast and cooperate quickly.’

A giant ice wall made by Ryzen and a complex defensive dome of Pyrus Vale Fort, the upgraded defense and counter spell by Aelira, activated simultaneously to block the attack.

Pyrus Vale Fort enveloped the whole group and the Tundral Thunder wall, successfully blocking the crimson aura ring and triggering its counter, unleashing plasma arrows and cannons toward the ape.

Rivera swiftly boosted those projectiles’ speed and power with her Starlight Stream, ensuring the boss could not dodge.

BOOM!

The boss was massive, so even though it tried to dodge, about 70% of the projectiles from Pyrus Vale Fort still hit it.

It was not much damage though. Barely a scratch.

But Rudrean was no longer in his position.

He was already behind the boss, within Astral Veil, which prevented the boss from sensing him.

Around his hands flowed the harmonized power of Heavenfall Wind and Phoenix Flame, shaping into arrows that were nocked onto the Glaivebow.

’Concentrated combustion seems good for this.’

He released five arrows at once, and that was when the ape boss felt the threat.

But it was too late.

All five arrows instantly struck its head, resulting in five devastating explosions that blew its head and neck off entirely.

BOOOOM!

That was when Danzo and the others entered and saw it, hearing the blast echo through the cavern.

’Fuck, they got the boss of this place!’ Danzo’s jaw tightened. ’Stick to the plan. Attack those two. Destroy their Magic Suits.’