This Life, I Will Be the Protagonist

The team didn't immediately rush into battle with the dragon. Instead, they began by luring nearby groups of level 12 creatures to practice their coordination. Starting with 50 enemies, then 100, they eventually progressed to attacking a small settlement of monsters. The entire morning was spent in these practice battles.

Even though the 100-person group split the experience points, the bonus for fighting higher-level monsters made Rita's experience increase by 2%.

During this time, an item dropped, which the team leader gave to Zoey.

Everything went smoothly, except for the size of the instance. Most of their time was spent traveling, which left everyone feeling exhausted.

While sitting on the ground for lunch, Rita quietly asked Shadow.Q, "You guys didn't just organize this group to clear the instance and level up, did you?"

Shadow.Q, in the middle of unpacking her chopsticks, immediately straightened up and defensively replied, "Hey! That's slander—pure slander. This is a *team coordination exercise,* not grinding for levels!"

"Alright…" Rita said, knowing full well they were here to clear the dungeon and level up.

The team really was getting more coordinated. As they became familiar with each other, melee fighters stopped colliding during combat, and the healers started managing their abilities better, avoiding unnecessary healing while ensuring no one was left without support. Even Zoey didn't complain.

Everyone in the group was from the Special Affairs Bureau's elite team—among the top players not just in the country but globally.

After the game's invasion, most of these people had fully equipped themselves with seven gear slots and two accessory slots. Each had their own special skills and tactics, supplemented by potions and dishes. Even though they were all level 7, their teamwork allowed them to take down level 12 monsters and bosses with ease.

But when it came to the level 12 dragon, it was a different story.

Zoey didn't say anything because she knew they wouldn't be able to take down the dragon today. Even though the team's coordination had improved, they weren't yet synchronized enough, and they still didn't know what abilities the dragon had.

Rita, on the other hand, was already planning how she could continue selling information to Zoey afterward. While her original anonymous post had said she would sell the information every ten days, she never said she couldn't sell it to the same person multiple times.

If she sold it to Zoey every ten days, Zoey could keep the location of the instance safe, and Rita could make more money—what a perfect deal!

Rita would win twice.

By dusk, the team had cleared out all the small monsters and bosses, finally locating the dragon.

They prepared themselves—buffing with food, arranging their positions, and finalizing their strategy—before charging into battle.

However, the fight with the dragon lasted less than twenty minutes.

Enjoy more content from empire

The dragon took flight, hovering above them. While they could bring it down, the group's formation and strategy were off. Unlike the bosses in regular games that stayed in one place, this dragon flew all over the place. They had to rely on aggro-pulling skills to keep it in check, but there was a problem with skill coordination. They didn't have enough tanks, at least three were needed.

When everyone's health dropped below 50% again, the commander ordered a retreat.

All the healers immediately used their abilities to bring everyone's health back to 80% or higher. Meanwhile, players with escape skills wasted no time using them. Those who could teleport others did so, while those who couldn't added buff spells to the team.

Shadow.Q used her Divine Gift's group teleport skill, *Don't Say I Didn't Think of You*, moving all players within a 10-meter radius of her to a safer location.

The skill seemed similar to Chávez's *I'm In a Hurry* set skill, which also allowed players to teleport within their line of sight. However, *I'm In a Hurry* had a maximum range of five meters, while Shadow.Q's teleportation skill had no such limit.

The only restriction was that the destination needed to be clearly visible, but for players whose senses had been enhanced by their attributes, this wasn't much of a limitation.

Shadow.Q was careful. Even though she could see far ahead, the terrain here wasn't open, and there were too many people to move. So, each teleport only covered about 200 meters at a time.

Rita felt a lightness as she was suddenly teleported 100 meters away, a sensation similar to when she used her own teleportation skills.

As soon as they landed, Rita heard Shadow.Q shout, "Cooldown is 5 seconds, keep running."

Everyone listened and sprinted, as the dragon was already flying over to chase them.

Five seconds later, with the cooldown over, the group teleported another 100 meters away.

After landing again, they all continued to run, now with several speed buffs applied to them.

Rita scanned the surroundings and noticed almost all the players had similar buffs. During the cooldown, they ran as fast as they could, and once the cooldown ended, they huddled close to those with escape skills.

One girl, in particular, was sprinting in high heels while swinging her swords. Even in this chaos, she didn't take off her shoes—likely because they were high-tier gear.

The escape was messy, with exclamations of "Oh crap!" echoing everywhere. Sometimes, people just can't help but blurt it out when they're panicked.

Rita was reminded of her past life, running for her life alongside her escape friends—it was both exhilarating and nostalgic.

But no matter how fast they ran, they couldn't outrun the flying dragon. Its attacks, though delayed, were inevitable. However, those in the group had their own skills. Some turned around and raised shields to block, some suddenly sprinted faster, and some even briefly flew to dodge attacks.

Although several people still got clipped by the dragon's attacks, the healers were quick to heal them back up.

After 15 minutes, the scattered players successfully crawled out of the instance alive.

Rita turned to say something to Shadow.Q, but when she looked over, she saw Shadow.Q drenched in sweat. Sweat dripped from her face and neck, soaking her shirt. Even her collar was damp.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

Glancing at Shadow.Q's health bar, Rita saw it was sitting at 59.8%, right at the threshold for her *Sweating Buckets* state. Curious, she asked, "Is that your skill effect or just from running?"

Shadow.Q took a swig from a potion to heal herself, then pulled out a wet towel to wipe her sweat. Finally, she changed into a fresh jacket, her routine so practiced it was almost heartbreaking. "It's the skill effect."

Rita held back her laughter and asked seriously, "What's the skill called? I'm just curious. You don't have to say if you don't want to."

Shadow.Q replied without missing a beat, "The Great Sweating Emperor."

Rita: "...…"

If her skill was called *The Great Sweating Emperor*, then her own could be called *From Rags to Riches*.

Rita wanted to tell Shadow.Q that this name wasn't much better than *Sweating Buckets*.

Sadly, in order to support the team, Shadow.Q hadn't used her other skill, *There's a Motorcycle in My Throat*, so Rita missed out on hearing Shadow.Q's deep voice.