Chapter 209: A Commotion

In a high-level grinding zone, Chloe stood at the front line, clad in gleaming steel armor as she drew monsters toward her. Her movements were crisp and efficient, every strike controlled and purposeful, carrying a heroic grace that made her stand out even in the chaotic battlefield. Behind her, Anya worked her magic, flames blooming at her fingertips as she cast spell after spell with elegant precision. Her casting was fluid and mesmerizing, her figure framed by swirling embers like a living work of art. Together, the two formed a striking and almost unreal tableau.

Under different circumstances, the sight would have been breathtaking.

Yet neither woman looked pleased. There were no smiles, no laughter, only frustration lingering beneath their composed exteriors. The atmosphere around them felt heavy, weighed down by impatience and unease.

They still had not heard from Marcus.

Grinding monsters had become little more than a distraction, something to occupy their hands while their thoughts drifted elsewhere. Their attention constantly returned to their message panels, both of them waiting for a reply that stubbornly refused to arrive.

“Anya, still nothing from Marcus?” Chloe finally asked, breaking the silence. Her irritation was barely concealed. “It’s been forever. Maybe you should just call him.”

Anya shook her head gently. “He’s in the middle of a quest. We shouldn’t disturb him.”

Her voice was soft, but there was a note of helplessness beneath it. Nearly ten hours had passed since she logged in, and she had sent Marcus a message almost every twenty minutes. Each time, the system responded with the same message, cold and unchanging.

Ding!

“The player you are trying to contact is currently in a sealed space completing a hidden quest and cannot receive messages. Please try again later.”

“Chloe… maybe you should try calling him,” Anya suggested after a moment. If she had not been so afraid of interrupting Marcus’s quest, she would have done so herself long ago. Still, after waiting this long, worry had begun to creep into her heart, refusing to settle.

“No,” Chloe said quickly. “Let’s not. We shouldn’t interrupt him.”

A faint blush surfaced on Chloe’s usually fearless face. She lowered her head slightly and refocused on the monsters in front of her. Though she often carried herself with confidence and authority, moments like this revealed a softer, more vulnerable side she rarely showed. Had Anya noticed what she was thinking?

Then suddenly, Anya gasped.

“Chloe! Marcus replied! He finished his quest!”

The change was instantaneous. Anya’s perpetually subdued expression transformed into something radiant, her joy lighting up her face like a hundred flowers blooming at once.

“Really?” Chloe blurted out.

“Anya, attack already!” Chloe snapped a second later, exasperation flaring. “I’m still tanking these!”

She had just pulled another group of monsters, but Anya was so distracted by her happiness that she had momentarily forgotten to cast, leaving Chloe to take the brunt of the assault alone.

“Oh! Chloe, I’m sorry!” Anya hurriedly unleashed her spells, flames crashing into the monsters. Once the fight ended, she skipped back to Chloe’s side, her lips curved into a playful pout.

“Did they hurt you? I’d help rub it better,” she teased, “but Marcus is already waiting for us at the teleportation point.”

She made a playful face, and without further delay, both women activated their Town Portal Scrolls. Light enveloped them, and in the next instant, they reappeared within Dragon’s Peak Citadel.

The moment they stepped out of the teleportation circle, Anya spotted him.

A knight in imposing armor, wearing a rabbit mask, was walking straight toward them. It matched Marcus’s description perfectly. Recognition struck instantly. Stonehaven, the rabbit-masked knight, was Marcus.

Anya’s face lit up, and she was just about to call out to him when the surrounding area erupted with noise.

“Such Beauty!”

“Absolute goddesses!”

In their excitement, neither Anya nor Chloe had remembered to put on their concealment masks before teleporting. Their faces were now completely exposed, leaving nothing to the imagination. Anya’s bright smile only made her more dazzling, and for the players gathered around the teleportation point, it felt like stumbling upon an impossible stroke of luck.

Heads turned. Conversations died mid-sentence. Within moments, every player nearby was staring.

The sudden appearance of two women like them caused an immediate commotion.

“Marcus,” Anya sent through a private message, her brow knitting in irritation as the crowd grew louder. Thankfully, he was already close. She and Chloe moved quickly toward him, instinctively pressing close as if seeking shelter.

“Let’s go,” Marcus replied without hesitation.

He reached out, taking Anya’s soft hand in one hand and Chloe’s in the other, his movements were natural and unforced. Giving their hands a reassuring squeeze, he broke into a run, pulling them along toward his mansion.

The players in Dragon’s Peak Citadel were relentless. If they stayed any longer, they would be completely surrounded.

“What the hell is that guy doing?” someone shouted from behind them. “He’s holding both of them! Does he have no shame?”

Jealousy burned openly in the eyes of several onlookers as they watched the two women cling to Marcus so willingly.

“To have such close relationships with women like that…” another player muttered bitterly. “Unbelievable. But that rabbit mask… doesn’t he look familiar?”

“Now that you mention it, yeah. I’ve seen him before.”

“Wait, isn’t that the rabbit-masked knight from last time?” someone exclaimed. “The one who had two other women with him? One looked… older and elegant, while the other young and adorable. They were quite the beauties.”

“That’s him! It’s definitely him!” another voice agreed. “I was too distracted by the girls back then to notice, but now I remember clearly.”

“This is ridiculous,” someone snarled. “One woman like that would already be a miracle. He has four. How is anyone else supposed to compete?”

Jealous murmurs and bitter complaints rippled through the crowd.

“Boss, that knight looks familiar,” one player said quietly to his group leader. “His armor, his build, even his aura. Doesn’t he look like the knight we ran into on the third floor of Black Rock Spire? And that rabbit mask is identical.”

“You’re right,” another added. “And the number one pet on the leaderboard is the Nightmare Dragon Steed. That mount looks exactly like the one he was riding.”

“Boss, could it be?” a third whispered. “Back then, the knight we met wasn’t a boss. But this guy… what if he’s the same one? And that Divine Beast-level mount belongs to him?”

The group leader frowned, deep in thought. “It’s possible,” he admitted slowly. “But if that’s true, then how did he escape back then? We attacked him on the third floor. A Town Portal Scroll shouldn’t have worked.”

Something did not add up.

After a moment, the leader waved his hand. “Enough. Let’s go. We’ll report this to our leader.”

The group that had once been defeated on the third floor of Black Rock Spire turned and hurried off toward the southwest district of Dragon’s Peak Citadel.

As Marcus ran, a quiet sigh escaped him beneath the rabbit mask.

His equipment, his presence, his strength, his mount, and even his luck with women were starting to expose him. Players were beginning to connect the dots.

There was nothing to be done.

Some people were like fireflies in the dark. No matter how hard they tried to hide, their light was simply too bright to ignore.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep