Chapter 271: The Blood-Burst Golden Eagle

“Haha!”

Marcus couldn’t hold it in. Even with his guard up, a burst of triumphant laughter tore from his chest.

The reason was simple. The massive, radiant golden eagle hovering just a short distance away, imposing as it was, proved no different from the others. It circled, shrieked, and radiated power, but it couldn’t touch him. Not like this. Not while he remained a cloud. To it, he might as well not exist at all.

’If you aren’t Mythic, you’re just a bigger pigeon’, Marcus thought, a smug grin tugging at his lips.

Casually, he flicked an Insight check toward the creature.

—

Golden-Petal Snow Eagle King: Level ???, HP ???, Skills ???

Originally a standard Golden-Petal Snow Eagle King, this creature consumed a century-old stalk of Five-Leaf Goldgrass, triggering a massive surge in power and evolving into its current form. It possesses total immunity to Light-element attacks.

—

Even though the level and stats remained obscured, his Intermediate rank allowed him to glimpse the creature’s origin. Judging by its presence alone, Marcus pegged it at no lower than Level 60, likely a High-tier Golden boss.

But in Dominion, rules were rules. Absolute and unyielding. Level didn’t matter. Not here, not now.

If it wasn’t Mythic, it couldn’t see through the Pure Mist Cloud Cluster. The realization settled in, slow and satisfying. This item wasn’t just powerful. It was absurd.

Marcus let out a low, almost villainous chuckle and went right back to harvesting, plucking Goldgrass as if the furious apex predator behind him didn’t exist. The Eagle King shrieked, circled, and radiated fury, but none of it mattered.

At least, not yet.

SKREEE!

The cry that followed was different. Longer, sharper. Something in it twisted, like pain dragged through rage.

Marcus paused mid-harvest, glancing back.

The golden light surrounding the Eagle King flared violently, intensifying until it resembled a miniature sun on the verge of collapse. But what followed was far worse.

Blood began to seep from beneath its feathers.

Thick, dark crimson welled up and spilled outward, staining the radiant gold. It didn’t drip naturally. It flowed, coiling into the aura itself, twisting into a grotesque vortex of light and blood.

Marcus blinked, momentarily stunned.

’Okay… that’s new.’

The blood didn’t stop. It poured, steadily, unnaturally, until the once-brilliant golden glow warped into something far more sinister, a pulsing red-gold haze that throbbed like a living thing.

’I’ve read of people being so mad they cough up blood,’ he thought, unease creeping in despite himself, ’but this is on a whole different level. Did I actually bully a boss into bleeding itself out?’

The sight was mesmerizing in the worst possible way.

Within that churning aura, the Eagle King’s eyes shifted, gold fading into a translucent, burning crimson. They gleamed like cursed gemstones, filled not just with fury, but something deeper. Something ancient and deliberate.

Marcus felt a cold prickle crawl along the back of his neck.

’…No. That’s not it.’

Understanding clicked into place, sharp and unwelcome. ’I didn’t break it, he realized. I triggered something.’

A slow exhale left him as tension coiled in his chest.

’Rage evolution.’

Without another thought, he doubled his harvesting speed, his movements snapping back into motion with renewed urgency.

’Nice going, Marcus. You just had to push it.’

He had never seen anything like this before. Not in-game, not on forums, not even in rumors. And judging by the way the energy around the King continued to spiral and intensify, whatever was happening… it wasn’t over yet.

SKREEE!

The blood-soaked King shrieked again, its wings beating with terrifying force. The crimson aura around it spun faster, tightening into a vortex that hummed with power.

Then the flock responded.

From every direction, the surrounding Golden-Petal Snow Eagles turned and surged toward their King, drawn in as if by instinct, or command, or something far deeper than either.

Marcus slowed, just slightly, watching over his shoulder.

“That’s… not good.”

One by one, the eagles plunged into the swirling red aura.

And vanished.

There were no bodies. No falling feathers. No scattered remains.

The moment they touched the vortex, they were shredded into nothing but a violent spray of blood, which was immediately pulled inward, absorbed into the King’s growing power.

It was a sacrifice. Total and absolute. And they didn’t hesitate.

Marcus stared for a second longer than he should have, a strange mix of fascination and disbelief settling over him.

’That’s brutal…’

Then, almost immediately, his expression shifted.

’…Also, what a waste.’

“Man,” he muttered under his breath, shaking his head as he kept harvesting, “if those dropped loot, I’d be rich right now.”

Since he couldn’t profit directly, he settled for the next best thing. With a flick of his interface, he activated his recording function, angling it toward the unfolding spectacle.

“Gotta document this,” he murmured. “No one’s going to believe it otherwise.”

The title was already forming in his mind.

’The Five-Leaf Goldgrass Massacre: How I Accidentally Created a Mythic Boss.’

It sounded ridiculous. It was indeed ridiculous. And yet, here it was.

As more eagles threw themselves into the vortex, the logic behind it began to take shape. These creatures had fed on Goldgrass their entire lives, their bodies saturated with its blood-enhancing properties. By consuming them, the King wasn’t just gaining numbers. It was concentrating the very essence of the mountain into itself.

A shortcut, a brutal one.

After roughly three hundred eagles had been absorbed, the King let out a final, thunderous cry that rolled across the peaks like a breaking storm.

Marcus stilled. ’Here it comes.’

The Eagle King’s wings snapped shut, and in a single, violent motion, the swirling mass of blood and energy collapsed inward, sucked back into its body.

Silence followed for a heartbeat. Then Marcus immediately cast Insight again, focusing everything he had into the skill.

If it had crossed into Mythic, everything changed.

—

Blood-Burst Golden Eagle: Level ???, HP ???, Skills ???

A Level 70 Golden-tier boss that consumed 356 of its own kind in a fit of primal rage. Fueled by the essence of the Goldgrass and pure, unadulterated fury, it has successfully evolved into a Mythic-tier Blood-Burst Golden Eagle.

—

Marcus’s breath hitched.

’Mythic.’ It had actually done it.

The creature before him no longer resembled the same being. The blood had vanished, leaving behind a radiant gold-red aura that burned with a steady, oppressive intensity. A single crimson stripe ran down its back, glowing faintly, like a brand carved into its very existence.

It looked less like a beast now…and more like something worshipped.

Marcus barely had time to take it in. The Blood-Burst Golden Eagle turned its head, its gaze locked directly onto the cloud.

Not past it, not through it. Onto it.

Marcus felt it, clear as day; It saw him. And worse than that, it knew.

The hatred in those burning red eyes wasn’t instinctive, it was focused and personal.

“Oh… that’s not good,” Marcus muttered quietly.

The eagle moved. With a sharp snap of its wings, power surged outward as it unleashed its first attack.

Blood-Flame Glimmer!

A massive beam of gold-red energy erupted from its body, wide enough to engulf a house. It tore through the air with terrifying speed, flooding the surrounding space and sealing off every escape route within thirty feet.

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