The party consisted of five members. Four of them trusted each other. One was an outsider.
Briggs, the tank, barely spared Raven a glance. He had that cocky, raid-leader attitude—the kind who didn't care who filled the last slot as long as they weren't dead weight.
Layla, the fire mage, side-eyed him with open suspicion. "You better not leech XP," she muttered. "If you die early, I'm not wasting a revive."
Kain, the rogue, barely spoke. His gaze lingered on Raven a second too long, then he disappeared into the shadows. Watching. Calculating.
Only Arven, the healer, seemed friendly. "Don't mind them," he said with an easy grin. "We've just had bad runs with randoms before."
Next was Layla, a fire mage with a sharp tongue and a fiery impatience to match. She had already started casting minor spells at goblins before the party was even fully inside the dungeon.
The team's rogue, Kain, was the silent type, but his twin daggers gleamed whenever he moved. He spent more time scouting ahead than talking.
The last was a healer named Arven, a priest who seemed genuinely concerned for everyone's well-being—a rarity in MMOs, where most healers only cared about efficiency.
And then, there was Raven.
They thought he was just another low-level summoner, here for a safe party run. He had introduced himself with minimal words, summoned a basic shadow beast, and stayed in the back, letting the others do the talking.
He didn't need to talk.
He just needed to wait.
He needed them to clear the path without ever realizing he existed. The more dungeon logs he could bury under team activity, the safer he was.
The party moved through Goblin Nest, cutting through the low-level creatures with practiced ease. Briggs held the line, Layla burned everything in sight, and Kain moved with precise lethality. Arven barely had to heal with how smooth things were going.
Raven played his role well, using his basic summon to assist just enough to blend in.
But his true focus was elsewhere.
He watched the dungeon. The spawn timers. The way goblins moved and reacted to attacks. Most importantly, he observed the Goblin King.
The boss sat at the end of the cave-like chamber, its massive rusted cleaver resting against the stone floor. Its beady red eyes stared ahead blankly, waiting for the first aggressive action from a player.
A typical AI pattern.
It would not move until provoked. Standard MMORPG design.
That was about to change.
Briggs let out a war cry and charged forward, slamming his shield into the Goblin King. The dungeon boss roared in response, its AI finally triggered.
Layla followed up with fire spells, scorching the boss's armor. Kain weaved through attacks, slicing tendons, while Arven kept everyone's HP stable.
Raven?
He stood at the back, watching, calculating.
He didn't need to act—not yet.
The party worked hard, wearing the boss down little by little. The Goblin King swung its cleaver wildly, knocking Briggs back, but the knight absorbed the hit with his heavy armor.
65% HP… 50%… 30%…
The Goblin King staggered, struggling to hold itself together.
And that was when Raven made his move.
While the others focused on the battle, Raven commanded his shadow beast forward—but instead of assisting in damage, it moved directly toward the Goblin King's weak spot.
With a single precise strike, the summon delivered a hit that triggered the final kill condition.
[Goblin King Defeated!]
The system credited the entire party for the victory, but Raven was the one who dealt the final blow.
Briggs let out a triumphant cheer, wiping sweat from his brow.
"Nice work, everyone! Let's collect loot and head back."
Layla grumbled, "Took longer than I expected, but whatever. Good run."
One by one, the team claimed their rewards and left the boss room.
MMORPG mechanics dictated that once players left the boss instance, they could not return unless they restarted the dungeon.
Which meant Raven was now alone.
Instead of exiting the dungeon like his party members, Raven pretended to look around, as if searching for extra loot.
When the last player disbanded from the party and teleported out, Raven sat down and waited.
He already knew what was coming.
Dungeon bosses always respawned after a set timer.
And sure enough—the Goblin King began to reform.
A mist-like energy swirled in the air as the dungeon system reconstructed the boss, resetting it to full health.
The moment the process completed, Raven acted.
[Dominion Chain Activated.]
The Goblin King let out a startled growl, its AI recognizing it had been attacked immediately upon respawn.
[Abyssal Pact Attempting Subjugation…]
The Goblin King thrashed wildly, instincts overriding its AI-bound logic. But this wasn't true resistance—it was panic. A desperate, primal struggle against something it didn't understand.
Raven sighed. "Pointless."
A low rumble echoed through the cavern. The ground split apart as Bone Tyrant rose from the mist—towering, unshaken, merciless.
The Goblin King's screech cracked—not a battle cry, but a warning that came too late.
Bone Tyrant moved first.
A single colossal hand closed around the Goblin King's entire head. Slam.
The ground cracked. The Goblin King's HP bar dropped to red instantly.
It twitched, barely able to lift its cleaver. It had taken less than three seconds.
The Goblin King barely moved.
Its HP flickered at 3%. The cleaver in its hands shook. The AI still recognized its objective—fight, survive. But even it knew.
There was no surviving this.
Raven closed his fingers.
[Dominion Chain Activated.]
The cursed links tightened. The Goblin King let out a final, shuddering screech—not one of defiance, but of surrender.
[Subjugation Successful.]
Raven exhaled. "Too easy."
He rolled his shoulders, barely feeling the usual MP drain. Bone Tyrant was a challenge. This? Not worth remembering.
His gaze drifted to the Goblin King, still kneeling. Still trembling.
A king in name only.
Pathetic.
The dungeon shuddered. The very walls of Goblin Nest rippled, shifting ever so slightly—acknowledging its new master.
[Hidden System Alert: Goblin Nest has been claimed.]
[Dungeon Sovereign Detected: Adjusting Spawn Patterns.]
Raven's lips curled as the torches burned brighter, their flames tinged with eerie blue. Every goblin in the nest stopped moving—then, as one, turned toward him.
Their eyes, once mindless, now recognized their King.
Another dungeon down.
The world is next.