Chapter 594: A Dance with the Phoenix
"Yah!" Marcus gave a sharp command, and Blackie answered with a long, echoing neigh that sent the horses in the government stables trembling beneath their riders. Then, with effortless grace, the massive dark steed stepped into empty air and continued upward, following the blazing Phoenix.
"What?" Princess Celeste gasped in disbelief, her eyes widening as she stared at the impossible sight. She could hardly believe what she was seeing. A black horse without wings was actually walking through the sky, each hoof landing on nothing but empty air.
Such a mount belonged in legends, among the divine steeds of ancient myths, not in the world before her.
She studied Blackie more carefully. The creature was massive and coal-black, with the powerful build of a dragon. A single horn rose from its head, shimmering with a strange prismatic light, while black hellfire curled around its hooves and burned beneath each step.
Even while moving through the sky, it carried itself with an almost arrogant elegance, as though the heavens themselves were nothing more than another road beneath its feet.
Then recognition flashed across Princess Celeste’s face. "The number one mount on the leaderboard... the Nightmare Dragon Steed!" She immediately turned toward her sister. "Sister, look! That mount looks exactly like the Nightmare Dragon Steed!"
The two princesses knew that Marcus was the Temple Knight who held the top position on the level leaderboard, the mysterious player who had completed the Mist Veil Palace quest. What they did not know was that completing that quest had required him to simultaneously hold four separate number-one rankings.
They had never realized that his name stood at the top of other leaderboards as well, including the mount rankings.
That was why Princess Celeste was so shocked. She had never imagined that the mysterious player who possessed the legendary Nightmare Dragon Steed was the very same person, the rogue knight who had somehow claimed such an extraordinary reward.
Even the usually haughty Princess Phoenix turned her head at that point. A Divine Beast was not something one encountered every day, after all. Across the entirety of Dragon’s Peak Citadel, fewer than twenty system characters possessed one.
A gigantic black horse that looked as though it had crawled straight out of a nightmare raced through the heavens, carrying a knight who looked equally formidable in his heavy Corpse Demon armor. Marcus rode with his Wraith Cloak streaming behind him as Blackie’s hooves churned with boiling hellfire.
The Nightmare Dragon Steed thundered across the sky, rapidly closing the distance between them and Princess Phoenix’s Immortal Phoenix.
Beneath the thick black armor, with the dark cloak billowing behind him and the majestic Nightmare Dragon Steed carrying him through the air, Marcus looked strikingly handsome. There was nothing clumsy or awkward about the way he rode.
He sat firmly in the saddle, his posture relaxed and confident, as though flying through the sky on a monstrous warhorse were the most natural thing in the world.
The two princesses had never seen a knight quite like him before. This was the legendary Temple Knight, and somehow, he did not look like one at all.
"What?!"
"A Divine Beast... a Pho..."
Down in Ironstone Citadel, the players were left utterly speechless. They stared upward in stunned disbelief, and when the first shouts finally broke out among them, the word "Phoenix" seemed to catch in their throats. The scene above them was simply too extraordinary.
When Princess Phoenix’s mount had first taken flight, several players had noticed a flash of crimson light above the government offices, followed by a powerful, resonant whinny. Before anyone had time to turn around and figure out what was happening, a magnificent bird wreathed in blazing flames had soared gracefully into the sky from within the government compound.
The players had been stunned, and it took them several seconds to recover before the shouting began.
"Does someone actually own a Phoenix?" One ambitious archer who thought he had been doing rather well for himself could not help complaining. "Damn! Someone already has a Phoenix? That’s completely unfair! How are the rest of us supposed to compete with that?"
"Exactly! It’s totally unfair! The balance is completely broken!"
"Yeah, the game’s ruined!"
Three other players immediately joined in, their voices thick with envy. None of them could stop thinking about the same thing: ’Why wasn’t that Phoenix theirs, and what would they have to do to get one?’
The archer and his three companions had barely finished complaining when a dozen players nearby turned toward them, staring as though they had just announced to the entire city that they had never left their village before.
Their expressions conveyed the same unspoken question: ’Are you people country bumpkins?’ The proud archer felt his face heat under their contemptuous looks. He frowned and demanded,
"What? Am I wrong? Owning a Phoenix before level fifty isn’t balanced! That’s ridiculous!"
"Seriously?" The warrior who answered him looked as though he was fighting the urge to smack some sense into him. "Do you even know who that is? The female knight riding that Phoenix is Princess Phoenix herself. Ever since she issued that kingdom-wide quest outside the palace, her picture has been plastered all over the forums."
His irritation grew as he spoke. "How do you not know this? Are you blind and deaf? You actually thought some player managed to get a Phoenix already? What, you think the system is as stupid as you are?"
"Oh!" Understanding finally dawned on the archer’s face. He looked genuinely embarrassed. "Wait, I’m sorry! I really didn’t know. I was sent to some remote area for work and had no internet access. I literally just logged in ten minutes ago. I haven’t even had time to check the forums or find out what’s happened."
The other three players had no such excuse. They had simply been playing less over the past few days, but even so, this was hardly something they could ignore. They lowered their heads in embarrassment, yet that embarrassment quickly turned into something else.
They had always wondered how certain players managed to obtain the best equipment, the highest-level pets, and opportunities that seemed impossible to come by. Now they finally understood. Those people did not simply stumble into their advantages. They paid attention, put in the work, chased every opportunity they found, and were ready to act when something valuable appeared.
The three players suddenly understood why eighty-five percent of Dominion’s players considered the game balanced and fair. There were no easy exploits, but there were opportunities everywhere. If someone was willing to work hard enough and happened to seize the right opportunity at the right time, there was always a chance to rise.
Their frustration disappeared, replaced by a renewed fighting spirit. The three players exchanged determined looks, each of them silently deciding that they would stop complaining and make a name for themselves.
"Don’t start running your mouth when you don’t know what you’re talking about..." Seeing that the archer had finally learned his lesson, the warrior’s tone softened. "Saying Dominion is unbalanced is a serious accusation. Dragonfly Corp could probably sue you for slander, and if the wrong people heard you, you might even get beaten up for saying it."
He continued, clearly enjoying the chance to lecture them. "And even if you didn’t know about the quest, you should at least know that the teleportation arrays in the palace and government offices normally only allow system NPCs to fly directly out of the city. It’s obviously a system character."
"Yeah..." The archer nodded obediently, though his eyes remained fixed on the Phoenix soaring through the sky. He was still staring enviously when something else caught his attention: the familiar figure riding the Nightmare Dragon Steed.
"Wait a second." He pointed upward. "That mysterious knight who owns the Nightmare Dragon Steed... why is he flying out of the government offices with Princess Phoenix? Why are the two of them together?"
"Yeah..." The warrior stared upward as well, his earlier confidence suddenly disappearing. "Why are they together?" For a moment, he had no answer, but the archer was already thinking.
"Man... could it be..."
"Could it be what?" The warrior was beginning to lose patience again, while several nearby players turned their attention toward the conversation.
The archer lowered his voice as though he had just discovered a great secret. "Could it be that this knight figured out how to make the Phoenixwood Tree grow, and Princess Phoenix is going with him to complete the quest?"
The surrounding players fell silent for a moment, and then several of them nodded. "That’s got to be it."
"It makes sense." "Why else would Princess Phoenix personally go with a player?"
The theory spread through the crowd almost instantly. It was the only explanation that seemed to make sense. If the mysterious knight had really discovered how to complete the most difficult part of Princess Phoenix’s quest, then of course she would personally accompany him.
"Oh, right! The quest rewards include a Divine Artifact and a Phoenix feather!" One player’s sudden exclamation immediately sent the crowd into another uproar.
"We can’t give up yet!"
"That’s right! There’s still a chance!"
"We have to grab whatever materials are left!"
The players who had been standing around watching the spectacle immediately sprang into action. They rushed toward the locations specified in the kingdom-wide notice, determined to search for the materials Princess Phoenix needed. They knew the odds were poor, and most of them had little hope of actually completing the quest, but as long as the quest remained unfinished, there was still a chance.
And that was enough. "Time to get serious!" The archer and the three players who had been complaining moments earlier exchanged determined looks before rushing toward the teleportation array. They were heading to Dragon’s Peak Citadel to see Princess Phoenix’s proclamation for themselves and find out exactly what was happening.
Their determination was stronger than ever. Meanwhile, on the forums, a post was already climbing rapidly toward the top of the trending discussions.
A Dance with the Phoenix: Speculation on Princess Phoenix’s Quest
The post included a blurry image of Marcus and Princess Phoenix taking off over Ironstone Citadel, along with the archer’s theory about the Nightmare Dragon Steed and the Phoenixwood Tree. Within minutes, countless players were joining the discussion, and Princess Phoenix’s already extraordinary quest was about to become even more explosive.