Chapter 309: A Wolf Among Sheep
"Holy..."
"How much defense and HP does this guy even have?!"
SavageWolf_Wind felt his head spin.
He had known Marcus was abnormal ever since their last encounter, but this went far beyond anything he had prepared himself for. It was not just strong. It was overwhelming, the kind of gap that made resistance feel meaningless.
Stonehaven. The number one player on Dominion’s Level Leaderboard. A Royal Knight.
Any lingering doubt he had was gone. Marcus was that player; the one at the very top.
And that realization settled over him like a weight. The Savage Wolves had not just picked a fight. They had walked straight into something far worse than they had imagined.
Then came the sharp sound of arrows cutting through the air.
Fwip. Fwip.
Two shots from Gloomy Arrow pierced straight through SavageWolf_Wind’s chest. At the same time, behind him, the White Dog Rat King was already unleashing a large-scale wind spell, its power building rapidly as it locked onto him.
"SavageWolf_Wind! Focus!"
"Don’t lose it!"
The shouts from his teammates snapped him back.
Three seconds, that was all he had left. There was no room for hesitation now.
Still riding the invincibility granted by his last attack, SavageWolf_Wind drew another arrow and charged straight at Marcus without slowing. If he was going to die, then he would make sure Marcus paid the price with him. He would drag the White Dog Rat King right into him if he had to.
Marcus narrowed his eyes slightly. ’An invincibility effect?’
That caught him off guard.
He had clearly seen Gloomy Arrow’s attack land. The White Dog Rat King’s spell had connected as well. And yet both had passed through SavageWolf_Wind’s body as if he were nothing more than a shadow.
Zero damage, two clean hits, both registering as 0.
So that was the trade-off. Those Flame Explosive Arrows did not just deal massive damage, they granted a brief window of invulnerability.
’Interesting.’
Marcus tightened his grip on the Bat Dragon Cloud Sword as SavageWolf_Wind rushed toward him. Even so, there was no urgency in his expression. If those arrows were as valuable as they seemed, there was a reason they were only being used now, at the very end.
-1,040.
-1,110.
Two more arrows flew.
Within those final three seconds of invincibility, SavageWolf_Wind fired everything he had left at Marcus.
’Still not enough.’
A flicker of resignation passed through his eyes.
He had done everything he could within that narrow window. Every shot had landed cleanly, every move executed without hesitation, and yet Marcus remained standing as if nothing had happened.
His gaze shifted briefly toward the White Dog Rat King.
He had already taken a noticeable chunk out of Marcus’s health. Now, all that remained was hope.
Maybe that would be enough.
With SavageWolf_Wind gone, the rat king’s focus would naturally fall on Marcus.
’Poor guy.’
He never realized that Marcus had not even begun to take things seriously. Half his abilities remained unused, his health pool far higher than what SavageWolf_Wind had assumed. The damage dealt so far barely registered.
"Rat King... finish him..." It was more a whisper than a command.
Then the cost of the Flame Explosive Arrows came due. Forced activation and five arrows without exception. Three seconds later, his body detonated.
BOOM.
Five meters in front of Marcus, SavageWolf_Wind exploded in a burst of light, his form breaking apart instantly. Under Dominion’s system restrictions, there was no gore and no blood, only a brilliant flash like fireworks lighting the battlefield.
Ten levels gone in an instant.
"WIND!"
The cry came from the remaining Savage Wolves.
Less than twenty of them were still standing, and those who understood the cost of those arrows felt their chests tighten. Rage, grief, and disbelief twisted together, but none of them stepped back.
A few archers and mages swallowed healing potions, braced themselves against the attacks of the Level 35 White Dog Rats, and continued firing at Marcus from a distance.
They were trying to finish what SavageWolf_Wind had started, trying to let the White Dog Rat King deliver the final blow.
Marcus glanced at them, with a faint, almost appreciative look in his eyes.
’Not bad.’
Even now, with their numbers collapsing and their situation hopeless, none of them had broken ranks. There was no panicked retreat, or desperate scattering. They held formation, fought together, and kept pushing forward.
That kind of discipline was rare.
"Good."
Opponents like this made things interesting.
"Sanctuary Covenant."
With a single command, Temple Guardian Pebble returned to the field.
The White Dog Rat King still had close to twenty thousand health remaining, and Desperate Strike was still on cooldown. Marcus had no intention of wasting time on it just yet.
Pebble would keep it occupied.
As for Marcus himself, he turned his attention back to the Savage Wolves and surged forward.
The remaining group had begun to fall back, trying to retreat together in a controlled formation. Behind them, Drunkard and Invincible Strong were already closing in, but even the two of them could not hold off the entire group alone.
Marcus accelerated.
As he passed the spot where SavageWolf_Wind had fallen, he casually picked up the two Flame Explosive Arrows that had been fired at him earlier. Once their owner was gone, they became unclaimed loot.
The arrows burned with a faint yellow flame, heat shimmering around them. Even at a glance, they were clearly valuable.
No time to examine them now. He stored them away without slowing.
The three arrows lodged in the White Dog Rat King’s body were still there as well. Once the creature fell, those would be his too.
"Heh..."
That alone made this entire fight worthwhile.
"CHARGE!"
Marcus urged the Flame Charger forward, closing the distance rapidly.
With his speed, escape was not an option. In fact, the Savage Wolves had made a critical mistake.
By maintaining a tight formation during their retreat, they had made themselves easier to track, and easier to corner. If they had scattered in all directions, at least a few might have slipped away.
But like this? They had nowhere to go.
"Hundred Phantom Strike!"
Marcus cut straight through the edges of the battlefield, slipping past the White Dog Rats and crashing into the clustered formation of the Savage Wolves. Archers and mages were packed in the center, shielded by knights and fighters forming a defensive ring.
It did not matter. His attack landed right in the middle of them.
"AHH—" "NO—" "GAH—"
The screams overlapped, rising and falling in quick succession.
Already weakened, and already struggling to hold themselves together, they could not withstand the combined pressure. Between the relentless assault of the White Dog Rats and Marcus’s overwhelming strike, their formation collapsed completely.
One after another, bodies fell. There was no recovery from this.
A wolf among sheep, that was exactly what Marcus had become.