Martin was far from the only one offended.
Several players raised their voices at Raze Dawg as well, their anger sharper than simple loyalty to a famous guild master. Cassandra Selfmore was their benefactor too. She had pried into their real lives, just as she had with Martin, but she had also made up for it by giving them a chance to build sothing new in both the real world and the ga world.
To those players, Raze Dawg’s words landed as sothing far uglier than an insult against a celebrity. He had mocked the person who had changed their lives.
"You’re so dumb for calling Miss Cassandra a fraud!"
"He must be jealous of her fa and influence!"
"All he has is his full gear! Nothing else in real life!"
Of course, not everyone there had been desperate in real life. The last comnt ca from a small business owner who had made it in the industry on his own and simply happened to be a fan of Cassandra. He had every right to insult Raze Dawg that way.
Chaosgraphy, NukEncore, and Crimson Halo watched the shouting players with different degrees of restraint.
Chaosgraphy’s lips curved first, slow and poisonous, as if she had already found three new ways to tease Kill Clause once this battle ended. Crimson Halo’s hand settled on Chaosgraphy’s shoulder before she could say even one of them.
NukEncore looked even less pleased. She crossed her arms under her chest and stared at the cheering players as if Cassandra’s popularity had personally offended her. For once, her own fa ant nothing here, and the realization was starting to bite.
Kill Clause gave none of them the satisfaction of a reaction. She only looked away with her usual cold expression, though the faintest victorious curve at the corner of her mouth made NukEncore’s pout deepen.
Around them, the nest was still celebrating and dying at the sa ti.
The Ant Queen’s corpse lay half-subrged in blue blood and poisoned water. Darling Ant bodies twitched between broken stones, so crushed under the queen’s weight, others lting from the venom that had burst out of her sac. Poison icons still blinked over half the vanguard. Healers knelt beside wounded tanks with their mana bars nearly empty, while several damage dealers stood frozen in front of EXP, loot, and level-up notifications.
One healer’s hands trembled as she tried to cleanse two poison stacks at once. A tank laughed at his level-up ssage, only for the laugh to break into a cough when another green tick tore through his HP. Soone reached for a loot window and stopped halfway when he realized Raze Dawg was still watching them.
The golden curtain from Hold the Line was gone, its last traces cracking apart in the air like fading glass and leaving the backline exposed.
Martin saw all of it, but only one thought stayed at the center of his mind: how to fuck up Raze Dawg.
He had beco the quietest person there. His eyes moved across the battlefield, asuring distance, terrain, and every possible route that could let them defeat a much stronger player.
The broken stones, the poisoned pools, the queen’s corpse, the lake tunnel, and the narrow path Ashjaw would have to use if it wanted the healers all entered his mind as pieces of the sa problem. Martin counted them without moving his lips, turning the ruined nest into a map only he could see.
He’s sitting near the ga’s current peak. That armor is too heavy for a pure damage dealer, but he doesn’t move like a wall tank either. Bruiser, most likely. High HP, CC, self-healing, and enough stats to bully anyone undergeared. He also ntioned sothing about his pet dragging him here.
Martin turned to his closest teammates for opinions and quickly realized that only one of them could really cooperate with him right now. Chaosgraphy looked like she wanted to say sothing, or perhaps commit so mischief. Crimson Halo was spending all her attention keeping her under control. NukEncore was pouting as if soone had stolen her food.
So Martin turned to Kill Clause.
"Clause. Do you have any idea why his pet picked up on us?"
"I have a suspicion," Kill Clause replied, though she did not give him a clear answer.
Martin nodded. "There’s a tunnel leading to the lake, the sa one the Ant Queen ca from. I need everyone to cooperate with and drag him there. I’ll use the Kraken’s Tentacle, but first, I need a clear opening and him at least fifteen ters away from the tunnel."
"It’s best if everyone works toward that goal. What I have in mind might not be the best thing to use right now. I’ll keep it as a last resort, so your efforts aren’t wasted," Kill Clause replied.
Martin narrowed his eyes. "That’s fine. If it’s sothing precious, don’t use it unless it’s truly necessary. This guy is only one of many enemies we’ll have to defeat anyway. I’ll talk to the others."
[Emperoar: Kuro A. We have a man called Raze Dawg here.]
[Kuro A: Damn it. He’s the second-in-command from Just Die! Is he really alone?]
[Emperoar: Yeah. Seems that way.]
[Kuro A: He might be Just Die’s shotcaller. He’s taking his sweet ti bullying lower-level players while directing their assault on us. Can you keep him busy?]
Keeping the enemy shotcaller busy for even ten minutes would be a massive gain for the expansion mission. If Martin’s vanguard disturbed his command, Night Espresso could use that window to strike back through Just Die’s formation.
[Emperoar: Brother Kuro.]
[Kuro A: Yes?]
Martin’s voice stayed low, his expression controlled, and his anger never spilled into anything that would not help him win.
He only adjusted his grip on Death Jaw, rolled his wounded shoulder once, and kept his eyes on Raze Dawg as if the Lv. 60 player had already beco a raid chanic to solve.
That was what made the vanguard quiet down. The confidence around him was quiet, cold, and steady enough to make everyone believe there was already a plan.
[Emperoar: We’ll kill him.]
For the first ti in this mission, Kuro A swallowed hard.
Nothing in Martin’s tone sounded like a baseless threat. His voice was so cold that it carried complete confidence in killing Raze Dawg.
[Kuro A: That would be a ga-changer for this mission. Go for it, Brother EMP.]
[Emperoar: Yeah.]
Everyone in Martin’s vanguard heard the exchange.
Among the vanguard, no one doubted him. He could have another skill like Hold the Line, or perhaps a cruel plan that would give them this small victory in the grand sche of things, though killing the enemy shotcaller would be a great victory in itself.
"Killing an enemy shotcaller is gonna score us a ton of contribution for this expansion mission! I’m all in, Emperoar!" Potato Block declared first, his excitent back at its peak.
Others quickly joined in.
Martin smiled at everyone. "Follow my calls. I won’t promise that everyone will make it through, but I’ll write down all your nas twice in my report for Cassandra. She’ll know all your contributions. I swear it. So... are you all ready to die to beat the shit out of that dude?"
A split second later, everyone roared from the bottom of their hearts.
"LET’S DO IT!"
Beside Raze Dawg, Ashjaw lowered its head and sniffed.
Its ash-gray fur bristled along its spine, and black saliva dripped between teeth too long for its narrow jaw. The Ant Queen’s corpse, the loot, and the wounded players trembling behind their shields ant nothing to it. Its yellow eyes stayed on Martin.
Raze Dawg noticed and smiled wider.
"You see that, Ashy? A group of mobs is cheering so hard that they’ve deluded themselves into thinking they can win against us. I’m not one to look down on fighting spirit, but it’s amusing how a single insult against Cassandra got them so fired up. Haha!"
BANG!
He summoned his weapons, and the impact rolled through the nest like a second boss had landed.
Two massive greatswords dropped into Raze Dawg’s hands, each nearly half his height. The black blades were double-edged and jagged, shaped less like forged tal and more like bones torn from an ancient monster, then sharpened until they could split armor by weight alone.
Gold light crawled through the cracks along the blades, gathered at the edges, and dripped from the tips in heavy sparks that burned across the poisoned water in broken reflections. Unlike the clean shine of a buff or the brief sparkle of rare loot, the aura felt thick, heavy, and arrogant, the kind of glow that announced price, rarity, and death before the weapon even moved.
The Ant Queen’s blue blood shone gold beneath him, and the ruined nest beca a stage built for Raze Dawg’s entrance.
Soone in the vanguard took one step back.
"Are those... legendary-grade weapons?"
Raze Dawg hollered, "From a Level Sixty hidden dungeon."
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