Divine Glitch: I Regressed With Endgame Knowledge

Luck was certainly on his side. Ryan had never imagined he'd come across this particular figure so soon after arriving for his quest.

Dapula the Deceiver—an operative of the Twilight Cult hidden deep within the Arid Plains—was infamous for showing up at random across the map, luring players with rare, time-limited quests. These missions always came with a price: completing them meant losing reputation with the Druidic Order. Yet the rewards dangled before him were tempting enough to make even the most cautious player willingly trade away a little honor.

A parchment unfurled in glowing script before Ryan's eyes:

—

The Abominable Minotaurs: I can't believe it! My dear friend has been trampled to death by those newly emerged monsters! Outrageous! The vile brutes dared to claim they saw nothing after killing him.

Surely, as a member of the Alliance of Light, you share my hatred for such creatures? If so, then we have common cause.

I have prepared a few treasures for this matter. Take them, and slay those wretched beasts. The more you kill, the greater the reward you will earn.

Well?

Quest Objective: Slay as many minotaur players as possible within a set time limit. The greater the number, the greater the reward.

Quest Reward: Unknown.

—

Ryan gave a dry laugh, plucking two pieces of equipment from Dapula's hands. He spared them only a quick glance before sliding them into his pack—nothing he needed right away.

"My friend, this is a summoning stone. Once you've completed the task, you may call on me anytime." Dapula's voice curled with amusement as his figure dissolved, his shadowy form fading into nothing.

Ryan's lips curved into a grin. "Looks like I'll have to make a trip back toward Whispering Leaf Camp. That's where most of the minotaurs gather—and where the weakest ones linger."

With that, he gave a sharp whistle, striding toward the nearest Gryphon Master to arrange a flight back to the camp.

---

Dapula's Minotaur Mask (Head)

Quality: Special

Function: Alters your appearance to resemble a minotaur. Wearing it places you in an illusory Aetherial Plane. Your true form, however, is revealed in combat.

Dapula's Minotaur Bane (Shield)

Quality: Special

Function: Though it offers no armor, this shield increases damage against minotaurs by 50% and reduces damage taken from them by 50%. For each minotaur slain, damage taken is further reduced by 1%, while overall damage dealt increases by 1%.

---

After landing, Ryan dismissed his gryphon with another whistle, then made his way toward the Eastern Summoning Tower.

The area teemed with new players, most of whom still preferred to group up with their own race rather than mixing with outsiders, as often happened later in the game. That suited Ryan perfectly. It meant plenty of clustered minotaur players waiting to be picked off, their deaths fueling the rewards promised by Dapula.

Best of all, being slain by someone on this quest cost them nothing—no stamina loss, no broken gear, no real setback. For Ryan, it was the perfect hunt.

When Ryan arrived at the Eastern Summoning Array, the place was still bustling. More and more players were pouring in from the earlier zones, making it even more crowded and chaotic than he remembered from his own novice days. And because of that density, the tension between the two great factions had grown razor sharp. The entire area felt like a powder keg, ready to ignite at the smallest spark.

Ryan smirked as he slipped on Dapula's Minotaur Mask. In an instant, his human Paladin frame was cloaked beneath the towering form of a minotaur warrior. The disguise would last for two hours—the exact length of the quest's time limit.

The sudden appearance of this new figure made several minotaur players turn their heads. Their eyes narrowed in confusion. Since when did their race have rogues hidden among them?

Ryan ignored their puzzlement and stepped into the Aetherial Plane. The sensation was bizarre, like slipping into a different layer of reality—similar to the elemental planes he'd explored in his past life, but still uniquely strange. Here, his movements carried no weight, no sound. He walked unseen, unnoticed. Even the sharpest-eyed player could not sense his presence.

He closed in on a squad of minotaur players. Without hesitation, he raised his shield and unleashed Avenger's Shield. It struck the nearest druid with devastating force, the critical blow killing him instantly. The ricochet arced into two more, stripping away nearly a quarter of their health.

The druid's ghost blinked in shock as his body fell, but he still managed to shout "Ambush!" into the party chat. The warning came too late. By the time his words reached his squadmates, they had already collapsed. In less than a handful of seconds, three minotaur players were down, with only one hunter bolting in panic before the slaughter could reach him.

Ryan didn't bother chasing. Six seconds later, the combat state ended, and he slipped back into the Aetherial Plane, vanishing as if he had never been there.

The fallen players resurrected, scanning the field with nervous eyes. Their killer was nowhere to be found. Confusion spread among them like wildfire.

"Wasn't that a minotaur?" one asked.

"Yeah, my info said so!" another confirmed.

"Then how did he disappear like that? And how did he even sneak behind the druid?"

"But why would a minotaur attack us at all? That guy was definitely a player!"

A third frowned and muttered, "Doesn't this feel just like the chaos at the Eastern Summoning Tower back then, when that undead killed Poison Marrow and threw the whole place into turmoil?"

While they whispered conspiracies, Ryan was already several steps ahead. He had wiped out squad after squad, his kill count climbing to forty-nine.

Another druid now stood before him, stunned into silence. Ryan didn't strike the finishing blow. He simply waited for the combat timer to tick down, then faded from sight again.

He had his reasons for holding back. Once his kill tally crossed fifty, the Druidic Order's NPCs would begin to march. At first they would be weak—little more than Level 25 common mobs. But as the deaths piled higher, stronger reinforcements would arrive, each wave escalating in difficulty. By the time his kills passed two hundred, he would be facing NPCs as powerful as a Level 25 dungeon boss, on par with the current threat of the Gnoll Temple. Ryan had no illusions about beating such a monster head-on.

But just because it was dangerous didn't mean it was impossible. Exceeding two hundred kills would demand cunning rather than brute strength—and Ryan, having lived through the future, already knew the tricks to make it happen.

For now, forty-nine kills was exactly where he wanted to stop. The spared druid stared after him in confusion, but Ryan was already gone, heading toward the next stage of his plan.