Chapter 223: Preparing for the Slaughter

Ready to begin grinding levels, Marcus guided his Violet Thunderwing Steed downward in a smooth descent. Once they landed on the open plain, he dismounted and immediately switched mounts, summoning his Nightmare Dragon Steed and climbing onto its back.

At level thirty, the Nightmare Dragon Steed would unlock its innate ability, Dragon-Steed Leap, a skill that allowed it to tread upon the air and soar through the sky much like a Pegasus. His steed had already reached level twenty-eight, and Marcus was eager to push it those final two levels. The thought of riding his own divine mount through the sky carried a certain thrill that even the elegant Violet Thunderwing Steed could not quite rival.

From the description alone, the Red-Eyed Bulls were clearly aggressive monsters. Seeing them gathered in such a dense herd only confirmed his suspicion that they fought as a group. Against a mob of level thirty-five beasts like these, Anya and Chloe, both still under level twenty, would stand no chance if they were caught in the middle of it.

For Marcus, however, the situation was hardly dangerous.

Chloe remained safely seated atop her Cloud-Mist Gale Steed, hovering comfortably above the battlefield where the bulls could never reach her. As for Anya, he had already decided he would have to take on the burden of protecting her personally. The thought did not trouble him in the slightest.

“My lady, your steed awaits!” he declared with exaggerated gallantry, bowing slightly as he gestured toward the Nightmare Dragon Steed.

His tone carried just enough playful arrogance to make his intention obvious.

With a smile, he helped Anya climb onto the mount, guiding her gently into position so she could sit in front of him. She settled naturally back against his chest, once again finding herself wrapped in his arms as they shared the saddle. Afterward Marcus quickly cast several support buffs on himself before beginning the next step of his preparations.

“Pegasus Knight Lyanna!”

“Shadow-Stained Gryphon King!”

“Temple Guardian Pebble!”

Flashes of brilliant light erupted around him as the summons answered his call, each appearance accompanied by a surge of power that briefly illuminated the surrounding field.

To Marcus’s right stood Pegasus Knight Lyanna, seated proudly atop the divine Glacier Ice Dragon. Her beauty was breathtaking and her expression carried the distant composure of a war goddess who had stepped straight out of legend. Frost shimmered along the dragon’s scales as it exhaled a faint breath of cold mist.

To his left appeared Temple Guardian Pebble, mounted on a spectral copy of the Nightmare Dragon Steed. The guardian wore armor identical to Marcus’s and held the same type of weapon, looking almost like a miniature reflection of its master.

High above them, the Shadow-Stained Gryphon King circled slowly in the air. Its once golden feathers were now veiled beneath a dark aura that gave the majestic creature a faintly ominous presence as its wings cut silently through the sky.

Marcus himself, an already absurdly powerful knight, now stood surrounded by an equally ridiculous collection of powerful companions.

Together they formed a team that could only be described as outrageous.

“Advance.”

At his command the group surged forward, charging directly toward the wandering herd of Red-Eyed Bulls. This would be their first real battle since leaving the Mist Veil Palace.

The unfortunate bulls had no idea what kind of enemy they were facing. They grazed and wandered across the plain in ignorant peace, completely unaware that the door to death had already begun to swing open.

The moment they noticed Marcus and his companions approaching, the herd erupted into excited bellows. One after another, the bulls activated Bull Rush, a crimson aura flaring around their bodies as their defense and speed doubled instantly. Their eyes burned with an even deeper shade of red as the skill pushed them into a frenzied state.

Driven by bloodthirsty instinct, they charged straight toward Marcus’s group without hesitation, seeing only what they believed to be an easy meal.

Judging by their eager aggression, they were probably starving. It had likely been a long time since humans had crossed this plain, and even longer since the herd had tasted fresh flesh.

“Amen,” Marcus murmured quietly to himself, tightening his grip on his sword. “Grandpa will be merciful today.”

As the leading bulls thundered into his attack range, he gave the signal.

He and Temple Guardian Pebble moved at the same time, both raising the level thirty longswords they carried.

“Desperate Strike!”

Two streaks of steel flashed forward in perfect synchronization.

-12,300 -10,100

“Ah!”

“Marcus, your attack is over ten thousand!”

Marcus had left his damage numbers visible, and the moment the figures appeared above the bulls’ heads both Anya and Chloe cried out in disbelief.

They already knew Marcus was the number one player in Dominion, holding the top position on the Level Ranking, Reputation Ranking, Pet Ranking, and Mount Ranking. Even so, watching him casually summon one powerful companion after another still felt overwhelming.

The sight of Pegasus Knight Lyanna in particular left a deep impression on them. The stunning war goddess sitting proudly atop the Glacier Ice Dragon possessed a cold and heroic beauty that felt almost unreal.

Both women could not help feeling a slight pang of jealousy.

Even Chloe, with her proud and unyielding personality, had to admit that Lyanna was flawless. The NPC created by the Skynet system looked like a figure carved straight out of myth, her beauty carrying a heroic sharpness that made it difficult to look away.

’Shameless guy’, Chloe thought with a faint trace of resentment. ’He actually managed to bring back such a beautiful war goddess from the Mist Veil Palace. Good thing she’s just an NPC, otherwise he’d really be getting away with something.’

What Chloe did not know was that Marcus’s connection with Lyanna went far beyond the ordinary loyalty between player and pet. Hidden within their relationship was a special attribute called Intimacy Level, a feature so rare and powerful that most players did not even know it existed.

The summoning of his companions was only the beginning.

While Anya and Chloe were still processing everything they had just seen, two heavy thuds echoed across the field as Marcus and Pebble’s swords struck their targets. The level thirty-five Red-Eyed Bulls dropped instantly, their massive bodies collapsing into the grass without even a chance to retaliate.

Killed in a single move.

The raw destructive power left Anya and Chloe completely speechless. Their mouths hung open as they stared at the fallen monsters, struggling to process damage numbers that far exceeded anything they had imagined possible.

It was simply outrageous.

Anya twisted around slightly in Marcus’s arms, her wide eyes filled with astonishment as she looked up at him. Her small, tempting lips were parted in disbelief, only inches away from his own.

Marcus was not the kind of man who ignored opportunities like that.

Smooch.

He leaned down and planted a quick kiss on her soft lips before she could react, leaving her cheeks instantly flushed with embarrassment.

“My normal attack against these bulls is around twelve hundred,” Marcus explained casually, reluctantly pulling back from her lips as he switched weapons. The longsword vanished and was replaced by his Mythic Artifact, the Bat Dragon Cloud Sword, its dark blade gleaming faintly in the sunlight as he prepared for the real slaughter.

“Desperate Strike multiplies my normal attack by five. If it lands as a critical hit, the damage doubles again. That’s how it ends up passing ten thousand.”

The only unfortunate part was that Desperate Strike remained a single-target ability. If the skill could strike enemies in a line or affect a small area, it would be terrifyingly powerful.

But that limitation came with the class.

Knights were originally designed to act as tanks, durable frontliners meant to absorb damage for their team. Their role was to endure punishment rather than deliver overwhelming attacks.

Marcus, of course, was an exception.

Even so, he remained honest about the situation. In terms of pure attack power, he was only slightly above average. A level thirty warrior who focused entirely on offensive builds, or a high-level Lightning or Fire Sorcerer wielding top-tier weapons, could probably reach a normal attack value close to one thousand as well.

What truly separated Marcus from them was not his basic attack strength, but the outrageous skills he possessed. Techniques like Desperate Strike existed on an entirely different level from the abilities most players could access.

And that was only the offensive side.

In terms of overall combat capability, the difference became even more ridiculous. Marcus could stand in the middle of thirty Red-Eyed Bulls, endure their attacks, and calmly eliminate them one by one.

A full attack warrior or sorcerer facing the same situation would be lucky to survive against five or six of them.

Compared to them, Marcus could only admit one thing.

He was not just strong, he was a monster.

The first two bulls crashed lifelessly onto the grass, but the rest of the herd showed no sign of hesitation. They continued their reckless charge with fearless determination.

Marcus watched them approach and grinned.

’These dumb bulls are incredibly brave,’ he thought with satisfaction. ’I like that.’

He tightened his grip around the Bat Dragon Cloud Sword, ready to begin the real massacre, while his thoughts wandered toward an entirely different possibility.

His Desperate Strike had already reached the Grandmaster tier.

What would happen if one day he managed to push it even further, raising it all the way to the legendary Divine tier?

Would the damage grow even higher? Could the attack perhaps evolve into something entirely different? Maybe he could throw his sword forward and have it explode into a swirling storm of blades, cutting down every monster within twenty meters in a single instant.

“Haha…”

A low, wicked laugh escaped his lips.

The idea of wielding that kind of power was intoxicating.

If such a skill truly existed, it would probably rival the legendary Forbidden Spells cast by the most powerful sorcerers in the game.

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