Started with a 10,000x Multiplier in a Game World

The blue light of the fast-travel portal dissipated, dropping the eight-man squad at the very edge of the Sky Demon Forest.

The environment was immediately oppressive. The towering, ancient trees didn’t just block the sunlight; their thick, dark purple leaves actively seemed to devour the ambient light, casting long, erratic shadows across the mossy ground. The air was heavy, humid, and smelled faintly of sulfur and decaying wood.

[Zone Alert: Sky Demon Forest]

[Hazard Detected: Demonic Flora and Fauna.]

[Warning: Environmental aggression is maximized.]

"It’s significantly darker than the last time we were here," Lila whispered, gripping her Dark Demon staff. The crystal at the tip pulsed with a faint, comforting glow.

"The Void-Bishop’s death accelerated the ambient corruption," Dante noted, scanning the dense tree line.

"The ecosystem is trying to overcompensate for the loss of its primary node. Everything in here is going to be hyper-aggressive."

He wasn’t wrong.

Before they had taken ten steps into the forest, the underbrush violently shook.

A pack of massive, shambling figures pushed their way out of the dark foliage. They looked like towering oak trees, but their bark was black, and glowing, toxic green sap oozed from jagged fissures in their trunks. Their branches ended in razor-sharp wooden claws.

[Monster Spawn: Demon-Wood Treant]

[Tier: Gold]

[Level: 35]

[HP: 65,000 / 65,000]

"Level 35 Gold mobs as standard trash," Nyx analyzed, checking her datapad. "The scaling is definitely creeping up. There are a dozen of them."

"Let’s clear the path," Dante said, casually drawing the [Dawn-Breaker Blade]. "Aria, start playing. I want to test our baseline output."

Aria didn’t hesitate. She brought her wooden flute to her lips and began playing the deep, resonant melody of the [Hymn of Strength].

The system interfaces of the entire squad flashed a brilliant gold.

[Party Buff Applied: Absolute Empowerment.]

[Effect 1: Total Attack Power increased by 100%.]

[Effect 2: Grants a flat +1,000 Armor-Piercing True Damage to all offensive actions.]

[Effect 3: Critical Hit Rate locked at 100%.]

The massive, undeniable surge of power flooded their avatars.

Garrick laughed enthusiastically, slamming his sword against his rusty kite shield. "I feel incredibly strong! I think I could bench-press a house!"

"Don’t bench-press the trees, Garrick, just hold the aggro," Sera ordered briskly, deploying her three automated turrets into a tight defensive triangle behind the tank.

The Demon-Wood Treants roared, a sound like splintering timber, and charged the squad.

"Mei! Intercept!" Dante commanded.

"Batter up!" Mei cheered.

She didn’t use [Colossal Manifestation]. She just hoisted the four-foot-wide [God-Slaying Skillet] and sprinted directly at the massive, charging trees.

The lead Treant swung a massive, jagged branch-claw down at her head.

CLANG!

The [Perfect Block] passive absorbed the entire kinetic impact. Mei didn’t budge an inch. The Treant staggered backward, completely unbalanced.

"Lila! Pin them!" Dante shouted.

Lila stepped forward, pointing her staff at the staggered Treants. She didn’t chant.

[Skill Executed: Gravity Well]

The invisible, massive cylinder of concentrated atmospheric pressure slammed down from the canopy. It hit the tight cluster of twelve Treants perfectly.

The Level 35 Gold-tier monsters were instantly crushed against the mossy ground, their thick wooden legs cracking loudly under the sheer gravitational weight.

"Fire for effect!" Sera ordered.

Her three automated turrets began rapidly firing glowing, armor-piercing bolts directly into the pinned targets. Because of Aria’s buff, every single bolt hit with a guaranteed critical modifier and an extra thousand points of True Damage. The health bars of the massive trees began to plummet.

Dante didn’t just watch.

He didn’t use a Zenith-tier skill. He just triggered [Phantom Dash], utilizing his zero cooldowns to teleport directly into the center of the [Gravity Well].

The sonic boom stunned the pinned Treants.

Dante swung the [Dawn-Breaker Blade] in a rapid, fluid series of horizontal arcs. The +50% bonus damage against corrupted enemies, combined with Aria’s massive multipliers, turned his basic attacks into absolute executions.

[-35,000! Critical Hit!]

[-38,000! Critical Hit!]

[-35,000! Critical Hit!]

The twelve massive, Level 35 Treants were completely atomized in less than four seconds.

They exploded into a shower of blue polygons, raining high-tier crafting wood and gold coins onto the forest floor.

"We are an incredibly efficient lawnmower," Casanova laughed, casually strolling past the shattered logs. "I didn’t even have to punch anything."

"Don’t get used to it," Dante said, sheathing his sword. "That was just the ambient wildlife. The real army is out there."

They pushed deeper into the Sky Demon Forest.

The synergy of the eight-man squad was entirely flawless. It was a bizarre, chaotic mix of abilities that perfectly complemented each other.

Garrick and Mei completely walled off physical damage. Lila pinned targets in place. Sera and Nyx provided consistent, massive ranged DPS.

Aria kept their damage output mathematically absurd, and Aura’s passive healing negated any minor environmental chip damage.

Dante acted as the rapid-response executioner, instantly deleting anything that managed to survive the initial barrage.

They carved a path through the dense, corrupted woods, effortlessly slaughtering dozens of high-tier monster packs without slowing their pace.

After thirty minutes of continuous marching, the dense tree line finally broke.

They reached the coordinates Dante had marked on the map.

It was a massive, high-elevation plateau. The ground was relatively clear of trees, covered in tough, dark green grass and scattered gray boulders.

The plateau offered a perfect, unobstructed view of a massive, incredibly steep gorge that cut through the center of the forest below them.

The gorge was the only viable path for a massive army to march through the dense woods without getting hopelessly entangled in the heavy underbrush.

"This is it," Dante said, stepping to the absolute edge of the plateau and looking down the sheer, hundred-foot drop into the gorge. "This is the chokepoint."

"It’s a beautiful view," Casanova admitted, adjusting his pink hat. "But how do we know they’re going to take this exact path? The forest is huge."

Nyx stepped up next to Dante, pushing her dark glasses up her nose. She tapped her datapad, pulling up the systemic tracking data she had compiled from the global API and Oracle’s intelligence feeds.

"They have to take this path," Nyx confirmed confidently. "Silas has fifty thousand players. Ryujin and Gawain have at least ten thousand each.

You cannot maneuver a combined force of seventy thousand avatars through a procedurally generated forest environment without suffering massive collision glitches and pathing errors.

The game engine physically requires them to use wide, pre-rendered thoroughfares like this gorge to move an army that large."

"They’re funneled," Sera nodded, her business mind recognizing the tactical brilliance.

"They have a massive numerical advantage, but they can only engage us with the handful of players that fit across the width of the gorge."

"Exactly," Dante said.

He turned around, surveying the plateau. It was a perfect defensive position.

"Garrick," Dante ordered, pointing to the narrow, rocky path that connected the top of the gorge to the plateau.

It was a steep incline, barely twenty feet wide. "That is the only way up. You stand right in the middle of it. Do not move. Do not swing your sword. Just hold the shield and think about the bicycle."

"I am a mountain of spite, buddy!" Garrick saluted enthusiastically, marching over to the narrow path and planting his rusty iron boots firmly into the dirt.

"Mei," Dante said. "You’re on Garrick’s flank. If anyone manages to slip past his red dome, you bat them back down the hill."

"I am the backup wall!" Mei cheered, hoisting her colossal frying pan.

"Lila, Sera, Nyx," Dante continued, pointing to the edge of the plateau overlooking the gorge. "You three are the artillery. The second they enter the gorge, you rain hell on them. Do not let them establish a forward operating base."

"Understood," Sera said, immediately deploying her three automated turrets near the edge of the cliff.

"Aria," Dante looked at the Level 15 support player. "Stay in the absolute center of the plateau. Stay inside Aura’s shield. Keep the damage song playing. If they manage to breach the frontline, switch to the healing song immediately."

Aria nodded rapidly, her hands trembling slightly as she gripped her wooden flute. "I can do that!"

Dante drew the [Dawn-Breaker Blade]. He didn’t summon [Voidsever] yet. He wanted to conserve the primordial sword for the Guild Masters.

"What about me, Boss?" Casanova asked, looking slightly offended that he hadn’t been assigned a role.

"You’re the flex," Dante said. "Stay near Aria. If any stealth rogues make it up the cliff face, you punch them into the sun."

"I am the anti-stealth bouncer," Casanova agreed proudly, cracking his knuckles.

The squad was set. They stood on the high plateau, completely silent, waiting.

They didn’t have to wait long.

A low, rhythmic rumble began to vibrate the gray boulders on the plateau. It didn’t sound like a monster spawn. It sounded like an earthquake.

The rumble grew louder, accompanied by the distinct, unmistakable sound of thousands of heavy iron boots marching in unison, interspersed with the clanking of armor and the harsh shouts of military commanders.

Dante walked to the edge of the plateau and looked down into the gorge.

A massive, rolling tide of gold, white, green, and crimson poured into the narrow valley.

It wasn’t just a raiding party. It was a unified, terrifyingly massive military coalition. Tens of thousands of players flooded the gorge, their overlapping guild tabards creating a chaotic sea of color.

The vanguard was composed of heavy tower-shield tanks, moving in perfect synchronization. Behind them, massive siege engines, heavy ballistas and magical catapults were being dragged forward by teams of players.

The sheer, overwhelming scale of the army was breathtaking. It was the absolute pinnacle of the Zenith Protocol’s player-driven warfare.

And standing at the very front of the massive formation, riding heavily armored, high-tier warhorses, were the three Guild Masters.

Silas of Vanguard’s Legacy.

Ryujin of the Black Dragon Syndicate.

Gawain of the Apex Coalition.

They halted their horses at the base of the steep path leading up to the plateau, staring up at the lone, gold-armored figure standing on the edge of the cliff.

"Dan!" Silas’s voice roared, amplified by a system item, echoing deafeningly up the gorge walls. "You are out of tricks! You are out of space! Surrender the Celestial pet, delete your guild, and we might let your little friends live!"

Dante didn’t shout back. He didn’t taunt them.

He looked at Aria, standing safely in the center of the plateau.

Dante nodded once.

Aria brought the wooden flute to her lips and began to play.

The deep, resonant hum of the [Hymn of Strength] resounded beautifully over the silent plateau, the system interfaces of the entire squad flashing a brilliant, blinding gold.

The true siege of the Sky Demon Forest had begun.

Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!