Chapter 159: Pull on the Leopard Jackal King

There’s an old saying: don’t bite the hand that feeds you.

SoulSync had already treated Marcus to a lavish dinner in town. It was hard to turn someone down after that, especially when you genuinely liked the guy. First impressions mattered to Marcus more than he let on, and SoulSync had made a good one back in the Newbie Village. When they had teamed up to take down that early game monster.

Marcus had noticed the way SoulSync handled himself: calm under pressure, technically sharp, never shouting over comms, never panicking. He was not the loudest player in the room, nor the flashiest, but he was steady, sincere, and the kind of person you could trust to hold the line behind you.

“Alright, I’m in,” Marcus said at last. “Just don’t expect me to carry.”

SoulSync had clearly prepared for this long before asking him. The squad was already assembled, balanced and ready. They did not actually need Marcus. This was not desperation, it was diplomacy. An invitation extended out of respect, maybe even friendship. Marcus recognized the gesture for what it was and decided he might as well accept. Favors were currency in a game like this.

He turned toward Lily and Amber. “You and Amber hang back for now. Stay outside the aggro zone. I’ll wrap this up and come back to help you grind,” He said, keeping his tone casual but firm.

Party limits capped at ten players per group, and they were heading into Silver Boss territory deep in the jackals’ hunting grounds. Lily and Amber were improving quickly, but this was not their fight. He waited until they had retreated to a safe distance before accepting SoulfireBlade’s squad invitation.

As he scanned the formation, Marcus frowned slightly. “SoulSync, why not bring more people? These jackals swarm hard. It won’t be easy to control.”

The formation was tight and disciplined. Roughly a dozen Knights stood at the front in heavy armor, their shields standing ready. Behind them, a clean line of Archers and AoE-focused Sorcerers waited with practiced stillness. Eight high-level Clerics held the rear, positioned to maintain full coverage. It was a professional raid group, no doubt about it.

Still, Marcus couldn’t help thinking that if SoulSync had dragged three hundred Sorcerers out here, they could simply carpet the territory in spells and erase everything before the jackals even twitched. No need for tanks at all.

“You haven’t done much large-scale raiding, have you?” SoulSync asked, studying him with mild curiosity rather than judgment.

“Not really,” Marcus admitted. He had always preferred going alone, cutting through content at his own pace without waiting on anyone.

“Dominion runs things differently from other MMOs,” SoulSync explained. “For Silver-tier bosses and below, their stats scale with the number of players nearby. And it gets worse. For every player beyond a certain threshold, the drop rate for rare items drops by ten percent. For a Level 30 boss like the Leopard Jackal King, thirty players is the sweet spot. You get maximum efficiency without crippling the loot. Mythic and Divine beasts are another story. If you stumble into a Level 50 Mythic, you could throw five hundred players at it and still end up respawning.”

Marcus let out a low whistle. “So when a boss spawns, it must get messy.”

“Very,” SoulSync said. “If two groups converge on the same target and the cap is exceeded, the area turns into open war. Since the last update, once you leave the six major citadels, there are no PK restrictions. No lawful penalties. No safety net. Out there, it’s the law of the jungle. If someone kills you, you don’t just lose experience. You’re guaranteed to drop at least one piece of gear. And if you try to gank someone and fail, the punishment’s even worse.”

Marcus’s lips curved upward. The law of the jungle. His kind of system.

The Leopard Jackal King itself wasn’t particularly fearsome by Silver standards. SoulfireBlade stepped forward to outline the plan, his tone crisp and professional.

“On paper, it’s one of the weaker Silver bosses,” he said. “The issue is positioning. It sits right in the middle of a dense jackal pack and has a skill that calls its minions to swarm whoever engages it. We’re running twelve Knights, split into four teams of three.”

He gestured toward the groups as he spoke. “Three teams will peel off the regular jackals and keep them occupied. The fourth team, plus you and me, will dive in, tag the King, and drag it to the edge of its territory. Once it’s clear of the pack, our Archers and Sorcerers can unload.”

His gaze settled on Marcus’s equipment. “You comfortable handling the pull?”

“No problem,” Marcus replied without hesitation.

SoulfireBlade hesitated for a fraction of a second. He had just seen Marcus power-leveling two lower-level players on his own. Even a heavily built Knight shouldn’t have been able to clear that quickly without substantial damage output. Something about it didn’t add up. But experience told him that competence mattered more than explanations. Marcus had proven himself before. That was enough.

“Mount up,” SoulfireBlade ordered.

In near-perfect sync, the twelve Knights and SoulfireBlade summoned their mounts. Flames flickered along armored hooves as identical Flame Chargers materialized beneath them, snorting embers onto the grass. They were the most expensive mounts currently available in the city’s market, unmistakable status symbols of the guild’s elite core.

Marcus felt an uncomfortable prickle run down his spine.

Knights were the only class that could actively fight while mounted. Even though Level 4 chargers lacked combat skills, the movement speed bonus was critical for pulling and kiting. Without a mount, he would lag behind and destabilize the formation.

The problem was obvious.

He absolutely could not summon his Nightmare Dragon Steed here. A Divine Mount appearing in front of forty players would ignite questions he was not ready to answer.

“Stonehaven?” SoulSync asked gently. “Where’s your mount?”

Marcus scratched the back of his head, buying time. For once, he did not have a clever line ready.

Without hesitation, SoulSync opened his interface. “Take mine.”

A transfer notification popped up in Marcus’s vision.

“SoulSync, I can’t just take your horse,” Marcus said, genuinely caught off guard. “That’s too much.”

SoulSync seemed to misread his reaction as embarrassment. “I’m a Sorcerer. I can’t fight on horseback anyway. You’re running with the pull team. If you’re on foot, the plan falls apart. Just use it.”

Marcus hesitated for another heartbeat, weighing pride against practicality. Revealing his true mount was not an option, and slowing the raid down was worse. With a quiet exhale, he accepted the transfer. His Pet Space still had two open slots, so storage was not an issue.

Flame Charger:

Level 4 Mount

A sleek, high-spirited warhorse that moves like a streak of fire across open ground.

Type: Non-combat

Penalty: If the owner dies while mounted, the horse dies as well and must be resurrected at a stable for a fee.

Bonus: +8 Movement Speed

Marcus swung into the saddle, adjusting to the weight and balance in one smooth motion. Around him, armored Knights raised their weapons as their chargers pawed at the earth, heat shimmering faintly in the air. For a brief moment, the battlefield felt cinematic, almost unreal, like a scene staged for a trailer.

And then something unexpected settled in his chest.

It had been a long time since he had ridden into a fight as part of a coordinated team. The alignment of roles, the shared objective, the unspoken trust that everyone would perform their part. It stirred a memory he had not revisited in a while.

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