Klein stepped out of the portal and found himself in a wide, circular arena. The field looked roughly the size of a football stadium, surrounded by towering stone walls. The ground was paved with large slabs of rock, and every so often, a flicker of flame would burst from the cracks between them—no one knew what lay beneath.
Despite that, the temperature wasn't high; at least, it wasn't hot enough to burn his feet.
At the very center of the field stood the same low-level mob Klein had seen before entering—a creature that looked exactly like one of those disposable enemies from an online game.Klein wasn't far from it.
As soon as he stepped out, the portal behind him vanished.
Seeing the "Plunderer Wraith" standing motionless ahead, Klein calmly began folding paper men right in front of it. He had plenty of napkins, so he folded ten of them, keeping the rest as raw material for makeshift weapons.
Even with his supernatural precision, his first attempt at folding the paper men came out messy and misshapen—but that didn't matter. Functionality mattered more than appearance.
Once finished, he raised his revolver and aimed at the wraith before him. He didn't know its exact name, but that was irrelevant.
He squeezed the trigger—at the exact same moment, the wraith raised its left hand.A gleaming blade of light extended from its palm, positioned perfectly in the bullet's path.
Bang!
The gunshot echoed.
The bullet split neatly in half as if cut by a surgeon's scalpel. The wraith's movement was unhurried, almost casual—like the bullet had thrown itself onto the blade.
Which, in a sense, was exactly what had happened.
It shifted into a fighting stance—one blade crossing defensively before its chest, the other drawn back behind its side.
Klein's spirituality flared sharply, and he reacted with a move he'd never have been capable of before.
He bent backward—his body arching in a perfect bridge to dodge the blade that appeared where he had just been standing.
Teleportation? No—just raw speed.
By the time the wraith's slash finished, the spot Klein had been standing in was empty, replaced by a spiderweb of cracks in the rocky ground.
The wraith's right-hand sweep missed, but it didn't stop. Its left-hand blade, drawn back earlier, thrust forward and struck Klein's hastily raised right knee.
Crack.
The sound of shattering glass echoed—his protective shield over his knee was covered in cracks.
Using the impact's momentum, Klein pushed off with his left foot and fired again. The recoil sent him flying backward, skidding across the rocky ground for five or six meters.
The bullet didn't slow the wraith down much. Before Klein could even land, a cross-shaped slash came flying toward him.
With a tearing sound, Klein's body split apart—revealing it to be a hideous paper effigy.
The paper man was shredded to pieces, and the real Klein reappeared a dozen meters away, steadying himself. He raised both hands—his revolver in one, and with the other he formed a finger-gun, making a shooting sound with his mouth:
"Bang."
Two gunshots echoed almost simultaneously.
The "air bullet" struck the wraith's right arm, which it had raised to block.
A massive explosion followed—crackling and popping like a string of firecrackers—blasting the creature back several steps.
Meanwhile, the revolver bullet hit its chest, throwing off a burst of sparks.
A second later, the wraith froze in place.
Klein immediately retreated, widening the distance.
"Wait… Did multiple extra attacks trigger simultaneously, and then the whole chain of bonus hits got counted as continuous damage—freezing it solid?" Klein's mind raced.
"So that actually works?"
The ice shattered a heartbeat later, and the wraith burst out of it, charging straight toward him again.
Perhaps some joints had been frozen stiff, or maybe the circuits inside were still sluggish—the wraith's movements were slightly slower this time.
Even so, Klein could barely keep up.
Flames flashed in the air.
Using the fire as a conduit, Klein blinked away from the monster's range, reappearing at the edge of the arena.
Every ten seconds, his speed and attack penetration increased slightly. His plan was clear—kite it around and stall for time until his buffs fully stacked after 120 seconds, then face it head-on.
Seeing Klein retreat to the far edge, the wraith slowly raised its palm toward him.
The gesture wasn't a wave goodbye—more like a death sentence.
A brilliant beam cannon shot out from its hand.
Klein had barely emerged from his flame jump when half his body vaporized instantly. His entire form crumbled once again—into another pitiful paper man.