Chapter 224: The Perfect Team

“Marcus, what are you laughing at?”

Just as the Red-Eyed Bulls were about to crash into them, Anya, still nestled comfortably in his arms, tilted her head up and caught sight of the wicked grin tugging at the corners of his mouth. Her clear, curious eyes searched his face, puzzled by the expression.

“It’s… nothing.”

He had been completely caught in the middle of an embarrassingly shameless daydream. Marcus quickly composed himself, forcing the grin away and replacing it with a solemn expression, the kind of serious, righteous look a warrior might wear before facing a fierce battle.

Fortunately, the charging bulls arrived at that exact moment, sparing him from further questioning.

More than a dozen Red-Eyed Bulls thundered toward them, their hooves pounding against the earth as they formed a violent wave of muscle and horns. The ground trembled beneath their charge. Even from the saddle, the sight was intimidating enough that Anya instinctively tightened her arms around Marcus and pressed herself against him, burying her face into his chest.

“Kill them!”

Shaking off his wandering thoughts, Marcus issued the command and immediately moved to meet the charge. His sword flashed forward as he activated Triple Surge, while beside him Temple Guardian Pebble unleashed Dragon-Roar Critical Strike against the leading bulls.

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-6000

Damn, that’s embarrassing.

Temple Guardian Pebble’s attack struck with explosive force. The Dragon-Roar Critical Strike carried triple damage, and when the critical hit triggered on top of it, the result was devastating. The bull it struck took a full 6,000 damage and collapsed instantly.

A clean and impressive kill.

Meanwhile, Marcus stared at the damage numbers from his own attack and felt a brief moment of awkwardness.

His Triple Surge had struck three times in rapid succession, the final hit even landing as a critical strike, yet the bull he targeted was still standing with a sliver of health left.

To be fair, the skill was incredibly fast. In the time it took Dragon-Roar Critical Strike to deliver one powerful blow, Triple Surge had already landed three separate hits and was nearly ready to be used again. The speed of the attack was undeniably excellent.

The problem lay elsewhere.

With each consecutive strike, the damage of Triple Surge decreased slightly. More importantly, the skill lacked the outrageous 50 percent critical rate and the small but terrifying 5 percent lethal strike chance built into Dragon-Roar Critical Strike. When it came to pure killing power, there was simply no comparison.

Still, Marcus did not regret having it.

Triple Surge was only level one, and unlike Dragon-Roar Critical Strike, it was a skill that could grow. If he wanted to unlock its full potential in the future, he would need to use it repeatedly until it evolved into something far more powerful.

That meant shelving the stronger skill for now.

For the sake of long-term growth, he would have to endure moments like this and keep using Triple Surge until it improved. The same logic applied to several of his other upgradeable abilities. Only through constant use could he discover what those skills might eventually become.

Apparently, someone else had noticed his less-than-perfect performance.

Seeing that Marcus had failed to secure a one-hit kill, the Shadow-Stained Gryphon King seemed almost offended on his behalf. It clearly had no intention of letting its master lose face in front of the two women watching the battle.

“Wing Storm!”

The gryphon spread its massive wings, and a violent gust of wind erupted outward, sweeping across the five-meter area in front of it. The bulls caught in the blast staggered as damage numbers rose above their heads.

More than a thousand damage each.

The wounded bull Marcus had already struck finally collapsed under the additional assault.

“Nice one, Goldie!” Marcus praised with a grin.

Almost at the same moment, a system notification chimed.

Ding!

“Congratulations, Stonehaven! Your pet, Wyvern Saint Knight Lyanna, has leveled up. She is now Level 5. HP +200, MP +100, Attack +100, Defense +200.”

’Sweet.’

After only four level-thirty-five bulls had fallen, Lyanna had already reached level five.

But what truly surprised Marcus were her growth stats.

They were astonishingly high, almost comparable to the gains of his divine Nightmare Dragon Steed. Her health and defense increases were particularly absurd. At this rate, Lyanna would likely become an even sturdier frontline tank than Marcus himself.

The more he thought about it, the more incredible she seemed.

Lyanna was already an enviable existence because of her flawless beauty and proud, heroic presence. Now it was becoming clear that her strength was just as extraordinary.

At that moment, Lyanna herself made her move.

Her expression remained cold and composed, her heroic aura intensifying as she lifted the Wyvern Flame Spear in her hand. The divine weapon glowed faintly with a red radiance. Beneath her, the Glacier Ice Dragon suddenly surged forward, diving toward the battlefield with terrifying speed.

“Wyvern Impact!”

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A thunderous explosion followed the descent of her spear. The moment it struck the ground, a wave of fire erupted outward, engulfing everything within a three-meter radius. The dozen or so bulls caught in the blast were immediately surrounded by a storm of damage numbers, red for normal hits and bright yellow for critical strikes.

Marcus stared in disbelief.

Lyanna was not just a durable tank. Her attack power was equally frightening.

She was only level five, and although she could wield the divine Wyvern Flame Spear, she had not yet reached the level required to fully unlock its true power. The spear’s enormous base attack value was not even being applied yet, and still her normal strikes were already dealing around five hundred damage to level thirty-five monsters.

Marcus could only shake his head in amazement.

Once Lyanna reached level seventy and gained access to the spear’s full two-thousand base attack value, her strength would become truly terrifying.

Her advanced skill, Wyvern Impact, was even more outrageous.

It struck every enemy within a three-meter radius, dealing double damage while carrying an extremely high chance of critical hits. Watching the stream of numbers erupt above the bulls’ heads was almost mesmerizing.

Compared to that, even Marcus’s Dragon-Roar Critical Strike felt slightly lacking. While his ability could deal triple damage, it remained a single-target attack. Lyanna’s ability could devastate multiple enemies at once, giving it a far greater overall damage output in large battles.

Marcus could not help feeling a small pang of envy.

“Hundred Phantom Strike!”

There was no time to dwell on it.

The bulls were already closing the distance, and hesitation in battle was never wise. Marcus and Temple Guardian Pebble moved in perfect sync once again, unleashing their own area attacks.

A storm of blade shadows erupted forward, raining down across the three-meter area in front of them.

Combined with the lingering flames from Lyanna’s Wyvern Impact and the constant wind assault from Goldie’s Wing Storm above, the bulls were caught in a devastating crossfire of attacks.

The result was immediate.

In a single coordinated burst of damage, the dozen or so bulls surrounding Marcus saw their health bars vanish. One after another, the massive creatures collapsed onto the grass, leaving behind a scattered heap of lifeless bodies.

“Nice,” Marcus muttered with a quiet sigh.

The poor creatures had never even managed to reach him. Now, at least, they were free from the corrupting madness caused by the Red Crane Grass. Hopefully their next destination would be a peaceful pasture somewhere far away.

Marcus felt a strange urge to cheer. Even he had not expected the battle to end so cleanly.

Looking at Lyanna, Pebble, and Goldie standing beside him, he suddenly realized something.

His team had quietly become terrifyingly powerful.

They complemented each other perfectly, every attack overlapping with the next until their combined strength produced a devastating result.

’A ridiculous team.’

’A perfect team.’

The same thought appeared simultaneously in the minds of Anya and Chloe.

But while Marcus felt excitement and surprise, the two women felt something else entirely.

Pride.

“Marcus…” Anya murmured softly from his arms.

“What is it?”

Instead of answering, she simply lifted her head and looked at him.

Her eyes were filled with a deep tenderness that needed no explanation. Her beautiful face, tilted upward toward his, carried an expression of pure admiration.

Her man was this powerful, how could she not feel proud?

Anya had always believed Marcus was special. In her heart, he had always been the best, the strongest.

Now she had finally witnessed it with her own eyes.

Yes, in everyday life Marcus could be lazy. Sometimes he seemed unmotivated, even lacking ambition. But the moment he truly decided to do something, the moment he became serious about it, he always rose above everyone else.

And when he did, he did it perfectly. It had always been that way, just like on the basketball court.

The moment Marcus stepped onto the hardwood floor, the entire game revolved around him, and he became the one and only king of the court.

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