With Ken and the others, all thirty-one players were sent back to their rooms. The first attempt at the dungeon ended in complete failure—no one managed to clear it. Not a single player survived, not even Ken himself.
Seeing everyone being teleported out, a wave of disappointment swept through the guild. Confidence that had been high before entering the dungeon was shattered. They realized just how brutal the challenge truly was. While they could manage to survive by running, clearing the zombies efficiently was an entirely different matter.
Some players even tried to use ranged attacks—riding high and firing arrows at the zombies—but they quickly found that the zombies' defenses were far tougher than ordinary ones. Normal zombies without armor could be slain in about four shots with a full bow, but these zombies required eight or ten hits—even for those without armor. And for armored zombies? An arrow from a backpack couldn't even scratch them.
Everyone couldn't fathom how Xu Yuan could have cleared the nightmare mode so quickly. After all, in the nightmare version, the zombies were fully armed and equipped with armor!
At this moment, everyone who was teleported back felt utterly defeated. Their confidence waned, and morale dipped sharply. Ken, too, was in a low mood, but he knew he couldn't give up.
"Don't be discouraged," Ken encouraged the players. "At least we now understand what's inside the dungeon. Let's brainstorm and think of a way!"
He looked at Xu Yuan's earlier words and added, "Boss Steve said you could use water to wash away the monsters. I tried it myself, and it did, but I didn't think about how to kill them quickly."
"How can we kill these zombies efficiently?" someone asked. "If we just cut them down manually, it'll take forever."
"Drowning doesn't work either," another said. "I tried. Zombies just become drowned after a while underwater."
Someone else suggested, "What about magma?!"
"Yes! Magma!" others chimed in. "Gather the zombies together in a magma pool and burn them alive!"
Under this collective brainstorming, the players finally made some progress. When Ken heard this, he suddenly remembered the method Xu Yuan once taught him for building a monster farming tower. His eyes lit up.
He quickly shared his idea. "I've got it! We can gather the zombies in a specific location and burn them with magma. That's how Xu Yuan cleared the dungeon so fast—by controlling the zombies' movement and eliminating them efficiently."**
The elite players' eyes widened with excitement.
"Yes! That's it! That's what the boss meant!"
"Unbelievable! The boss is a genius—coming up with this method so quickly!"
"We were so stupid! Xu Yuan explained it so clearly, but we didn't understand at first!"
They finally grasped how Xu Yuan managed to solo the dungeon so effortlessly. With newfound confidence, they entered the dungeon again, eager to try the strategy.
Most players chose hard mode, with only a few brave enough to try easy mode. Since they hadn't reached the boss stage before and hadn't used iron golems yet, they still had the supplies Xu Yuan had given them—iron ingots, potions, and the like.
Once inside, they promptly began implementing the plan. Everything went smoothly at first; they resisted the first wave of zombies with ease. The feeling of using strategy and knowledge to defeat monsters was exhilarating.
They attracted the second wave. However, Xu Yuan hadn't told them there would be small, weaker zombies in this wave. Some players failed here—survivors of the second wave saw how fragile their previous confidence was.
Finally, they faced the third wave, which was similar in difficulty to the first. After that, they summoned the iron golems according to Xu Yuan's instructions. The nightmare mode boss had no special skills but had higher health, while the hard mode boss would summon over ten zombies at 50% HP but did not self-harm near the end.
Soon, the system announced:
[**"Congratulations to [Little Fatty] for the first solo clear of the simple mode Corpse Tide dungeon!"**]
[**"Congratulations to [Ken] for the first solo clear of the hard mode Corpse Tide dungeon!"**]
These messages caused another sensation. Everyone was surprised—no one had expected that all first passes would be achieved by individual players, especially in solo mode. Many immediately speculated that Xu Yuan had shared his strategy with the guild's top players.
"It's only been a short time since this dungeon was released… and all modes are now solo first clears…"
"Looks like the Cube Man guild will monopolize future first clears…"
"Strong players lead others to become stronger. We need to improve quickly and get into the Cube guild…"
Meanwhile, the leaders of other guilds sighed upon seeing the messages. They realized that their chance at a quick first clear was gone—they'd have to rethink their strategies now.
After the first clears in all modes, Xu Yuan also saw the system messages. He noted that the system did not unlock the next stage of the dungeon, which dashed his plan to farm more efficiently. It seemed he could only focus on defeating the Ender Dragon first.
Ken and Little Fat immediately approached Xu Yuan after clearing the dungeon.
"Boss, we're back!"
"Here's the reward—the system's loot and the boss's drops."
Ken laid out the items: two land deeds, 50 gold coins, a large batch of iron ingots and equipment, some enchanted gear, enchantment books, and a few diamonds. Xu Yuan was surprised at the abundance—he didn't expect such a high drop rate, especially for enchanted books and diamonds.
Although these items held little value to Xu Yuan himself, they were excellent rewards for the guild players. Many of them still lacked the knowledge of enchanting, so this was a good opportunity for them to learn.
Xu Yuan stored the gold coins, land deeds, and diamonds, then looked at the iron gear.
"See these iron sets? How's everyone's progress?"
Ken nodded and counted. "Out of 31, 22 have successfully cleared the dungeon."
Xu Yuan nodded with satisfaction. "That's a pretty good result."
He then turned to the topic of strategy.
"There's something I want you to handle," he said, eyeing Ken.
"What is it?"
"After the system announced the first clear, some guild leaders contacted me privately, asking if I'd sell the strategy for a high price."
Xu Yuan considered this. He wouldn't sell the full guide, but he could monetize the knowledge—selling tips and tricks to other guilds. The idea was tempting.
"Tell them I won't sell the strategy," Xu Yuan instructed. "But I can share some tips for handling the boss—charge them a premium for that."
Ken was puzzled.
"Tips? Just tips? Isn't that too valuable to sell?"
Xu Yuan smiled.
"Just tell them that iron golems can be used to deal with zombie bosses. That way, they'll think it's a secret and buy it."
Ken hesitated, but Xu Yuan's decision was firm.
"Just do it. Don't sell anything else in the shop—replace everything with iron-related items."