Divine Glitch: I Regressed With Endgame Knowledge

After reforming into the Slime Lord, the boss's health had already dropped to 22%. Victory was now within reach.

The team's morale surged. With Riverbank Grass's mana fully restored, any lingering doubts about clearing the stage quickly faded.

Moonlight Beauty and Nightwalker were still hovering at around 30% health due to the red slime's splash damage and the green slime's volley of poisoned arrows. Earlier, Riverbank Grass hadn't had the mana to heal them. But now, she swiftly cast Divine Shield and Renew, bringing some stability back to the party.

Just as she was about to top everyone off, the Slime Lord reappeared.

Recalling its Devour ability, Riverbank Grass chose to focus all her healing on Ryan, their tank, deciding it was too risky to prioritize the others just yet.

Fortunately, the newly re-formed Slime Lord had no tricks left—no special abilities remained except for a berserk phase at 10% health, which only boosted its damage and attack speed. For this team, that wasn't a serious threat.

And then it was over. The first boss of the Outer Corrupted Forest—Slime Lord—was down.

Its once-pulsing, gelatinous body burst, dissolving into a sloppy splash of goo that painted the dungeon floor. All that remained was a small mound of debris at Ryan's feet—the Slime Lord's corpse.

The others turned to him. Ryan immediately understood—they were waiting for him to loot.

Suppressing a flicker of anticipation, he offered a silent prayer to every deity he could think of. Maybe, just maybe, today would be the day.

He reached forward and looted the corpse.

Then sighed.

Not what he was hoping for.

It wasn't unexpected. The Slime Lord had a total loot pool of fourteen items, but only dropped one per kill. Just three of them were uncommon quality—and this boss wasn't even the final stage, so getting a green drop was pure chance. According to later statistics, the ring Ryan wanted had less than a 5% drop rate.

Still, getting a green item and not even the right one felt like the game itself was mocking him.

He tossed the gear—a pair of cloth gloves—to Riverbank Grass.

The others leaned in to inspect the stats, then sighed too. The gloves offered a small bonus to healing, but were otherwise unremarkable.

"Guild leader, are you cursed or something?" Moonlight Beauty groaned.

Ryan bristled. "I'm a lucky charm!"

That debate—whether Ryan was a jinx or a charm—was a recurring one. To him, it was a matter of principle. "I looted a ridiculous number of small pouches in the starting zone. That proves I'm lucky!"

"Small pouches are proof?" Riverbank Grass raised a brow as they continued deeper into the dungeon.

"Of course! Those things are great. Doesn't getting a lot of them mean your drop rate is better?" he bluffed.

He caught himself just in time. That whole idea about small pouch counts indicating better luck was a theory that only started circulating once players began raiding in earnest. Technically, no one was supposed to know that yet. So he changed tracks fast.

"Anyway, small pouches are underrated. They're a good sign!"

"If that's true," Moonlight Beauty said casually, "then I must be a god. I left the starting zone with over twenty small pouches. Sold 'em to an NPC for a silver each."

Ryan froze. Over twenty? Good grief. That's not just lucky—that's divine intervention.

"Wait, are you talking about those red and blue pouches?" Archress Mageress chimed in, intrigued. "Aren't those super common? I was level five, broke, and had to sell thirty of those just to buy my gear set."

Ryan felt his soul leave his body. Thirty?

"Oh, you guys are so lucky," Riverbank Grass said with a pout. "I only got, like, seventeen. Barely enough to afford half a gear set."

Ryan couldn't take it anymore. He had walked into the conversation thinking he was the chosen one—now he was just some low-tier pouch peasant.

"Nightwalker, what about you? How many small pouches did you get?" Ryan turned to him slowly, wearing the weary expression of a man who'd just had his last shred of pride stomped on.

"This?" Nightwalker closed his eyes thoughtfully.

Ryan's stomach sank. 'Oh no. He's trying to remember. That means he probably had a ton of them too…' The man braced for another blow to his ego.

"What are small pouches? I've never seen them before."

Ryan's eyes widened. For a moment, he felt like he'd been plucked out of hell and placed gently in heaven. He reached out and clutched Nightwalker's shoulder like a saint bestowing mercy.

"Don't worry," he said solemnly. "I'll give you a few small pouches when we get back."

"Oh, thank you so much, Boss!" Nightwalker said gratefully—then shot a wave and a mischievous grin at the others behind Ryan's back.

"Nightwalker, that's not fair!" Moonlight Beauty messaged him privately, barely suppressing her laughter. "Didn't you say yesterday you bought that level 15 dagger with money from selling pouches?"

Nightwalker shrugged helplessly in her direction. "Guild leader is too pitiful. I couldn't bring myself to break him."

And truly, ignorance was bliss.

The rest of the team looked at Ryan's back as he marched ahead, full of pride, and silently nodded in agreement.

---

The Outer Corrupted Forest dungeon only had two bosses. The first stage had been a slime-infested swamp; the next belonged to a much deadlier foe—shadow elementals.

Before long, Ryan's team encountered a patrol of them.

Unlike slimes, shadow elementals dealt only magical damage. That meant Ryan's heavy armor was practically useless—magic bypassed physical defenses. Whether you were a tank or a rogue, it didn't matter; all that counted was your health pool and how well you could hold aggro.

---

Shadow Minion

Elite

Level: 16

Health: 3,120

Type: Elemental

---

Their health was lower than other elite monsters, but what they lacked in endurance, they made up for in sheer magical firepower. Elementals were among the most feared monster types for a reason.

Thankfully, these ones patrolled in trios. If there had been more, Ryan would've seriously considered retreating. A full wipe wouldn't just be likely—it would've been inevitable.

This was where gear truly began to show its worth.

Smoking Gun and AJ's team, for example, would hit a wall here. Without solid equipment or proper coordination, clearing the second stage was nearly impossible.

Just as Ryan's team prepared to engage the first group of shadow elementals, a message popped into the guild channel.

"We cleared the first stage!"

Evelyn's words were practically glowing with pride.

A wave of congratulatory messages followed.

"Guild leader, how's it going on your end?" she asked smugly, confident that her team was ahead in progress.

Ryan didn't respond right away. Then, without any fanfare, he casually posted the gloves they'd looted from the Slime Lord.

"First boss drop. Nothing good."

Just that.

Evelyn's boasting came to a screeching halt.

Somewhere in the guild channel, a player who'd been quietly grinding for level 15 burst into laughter.

"A slap in the face. A literal slap in the face," they typed, then gleefully forwarded the news to their leveling squad.

And that offhand comment? It sparked a wildfire.

Within minutes, forums were buzzing:

Two teams had cleared the gatekeeper bosses of two different dungeons—almost at the same time.

The race was officially on.