Marcus pulled up Silas the Wanderer’s map and carefully located Stele Spring.
The place itself was nothing remarkable. It lay northeast of Dragon’s Peak Citadel, roughly a two hour ride at full gallop across the wild terrain outside the city’s influence. The spring, however, was infamous among players. Its water was completely undrinkable, thick with foul energy that constantly bled from the ground in slow plus of black necrotic mist. Anyone foolish enough to try drinking it would imdiately suffer the consequences.
Blaze and the others had already hunted the Wraith-Bird here four separate tis. The route was etched into their mory by now, so Marcus had no need to worry about navigation. He simply kept his mount moving and focused on matching the group’s pace as they rode.
After a long stretch of hard riding, the terrain gradually shifted. The ground beca uneven and jagged, littered with loose stone and patches of stubborn weeds that pushed up through the cracks. The place looked abandoned and hostile, and it was crawling with monsters.
Level 25 Lesser Gnos road everywhere.
The mont the creatures spotted the approaching riders, their ugly faces twisted with hostility. They raised their small black axes and rushed forward in a shrieking mob.
Normally, DragonBlade, Blaze, and Cleaver would take the lead. After applying their buffs they would charge directly into the monsters and absorb the brunt of the attacks. Invincible Strong would imdiately summon his four skeleton fighters, while Path to Heaven called out his three wolves to reinforce the frontline.
Behind them, the backline damage dealers went to work. Thunderstorm, Fate’s Trial, and Gloomy Arrow stood at a safe distance, unleashing spells and arrows that rained destruction onto the battlefield.
Drunkard, the Assassin of the group, rarely had much to do during these kinds of fights. Most of the ti he simply lingered near the edges of combat, waiting for opportunities.
In the early stages of the ga, Assassins were notoriously bad at grinding mobs. They could bully monsters several levels lower than themselves without much trouble, but against enemies of equal level they struggled to keep up with other classes in sustained fights.
In player versus player combat, however, they were terrifying.
Warriors and Knights typically had poor accuracy, and an Assassin’s high agility allowed them to dodge and weave through attacks with frustrating ease. Their speed and critical strike rate ant they could carve through heavily armored opponents if given enough ti.
Against fragile targets such as mages or archers, things were even worse. If the Assassin was not eliminated imdiately, they could close the distance in a blink and end the fight in two or three explosive bursts of damage.
As an Assassin gained levels and their evasion continued to rise, their ability to handle mobs improved significantly. But reaching that point demanded patience, precise chanics, and a deep understanding of the class. Only skilled players could truly bring out its potential.
The squad’s average level was twenty four. With their experience and coordination, a pack of Level 25 gnos was hardly a real threat.
They pushed forward steadily, clearing monsters as they went.
Marcus scanned the surroundings as they fought. When he confird that no other players were nearby, he decided it was the perfect mont to give his Nightmare Dragon Steed so experience. After swapping mounts, he raised his shield and began activating his Knight support skills to strengthen the entire team.
"Adamant Aegis!"
A radiant barrier expanded outward from Marcus, spreading across the battlefield like ripples across water. The effect granted everyone within range an additional three hundred Defense, thirty percent magic damage reduction, and a steady health regeneration rate of ten points per second.
The skill ca from Marcus’s Divine Artifact, the Adamant Shield, and its effects were imdiate and dramatic.
"Shield Guard!"
The next ability followed almost instantly. This was a Level 20 Knight skill that boosted Defense by another fifteen percent.
"Knight’s Prayer!"
Finally, Marcus released a soft golden blessing that settled over the party. Their maximum Health increased by thirty percent, and their regeneration rate jumped by another fifty points.
Knights were famous not only for their massive durability, but also for their powerful support abilities. In a party without a Cleric, a Knight often beca the backbone that held the entire group together. High level Paladins could even provide direct healing, making them invaluable during prolonged battles.
A truly skilled Knight was often the core of an elite team.
As Marcus’s buffs settled over the group, everyone imdiately felt the difference. Their health pools swelled, their defenses hardened, and the pressure from the gnos vanished almost instantly.
What had been a routine fight turned into sothing embarrassingly easy.
Drunkard glanced at his status window, staring at the inflated health and defense numbers in disbelief. Curiosity got the better of him.
He dashed straight into the middle of a group of gnos.
To his utter shock, he managed to hold the attention of four Level 25 monsters at the sa ti without his health dropping in any aningful way.
"Stone, you’re a god! I love you!" Drunkard shouted.
He moved like a man possessed, his twin daggers flashing through the air as critical hits stacked one after another. Within seconds the four gnos collapsed at his feet.
"That felt amazing!" he yelled, his voice nearly cracking with excitent.
Normally he had to hover near the sidelines, waiting for safe openings while others carried the fight. But now he was finally experiencing the raw destructive power of a properly supported Assassin.
Assassins already possessed so of the highest base attack power in the ga. When that was combined with their naturally high critical strike chance and lightning fast attack speed, their single target damage output could surpass nearly every other class.
"My turn!"
Invincible Strong and Path to Heaven were both summoner types. In most fights they relied almost entirely on their summoned creatures, since their own health and defense were about as fragile as a typical mage’s. Charging into lee combat was normally a terrible idea.
But today their boosted stats made them feel strangely confident.
Watching Drunkard enjoy himself so much, Invincible Strong simply could not resist.
He rushed forward and began swinging his staff like a crude club, whacking at a Level 25 gno with reckless enthusiasm.
The damage he dealt was laughably small. Still, the sight of a Necromancer calmly standing in the middle of three gnos while taking almost no damage was absurdly funny.
Invincible Strong was having the ti of his life.
"Look at ! I’m a tanking Warlock!"
Laughing loudly, he activated his recording function. He had already decided he would upload the clip to the forums later that night. Surely sothing this ridiculous would make him famous.
What Strong did not realize was that his little stunt would create unexpected chaos.
For weeks afterward, countless players would attempt to build so called "Tank Warlocks," pouring their stat points into Constitution and Strength after seeing his video. Only after ruining their characters would they discover the truth.
"I give up," DragonBlade muttered as he watched the scene unfold.
He shook his head and looked toward Marcus.
"Stone, your buffs are so strong I’m basically redundant now."
With Marcus supporting the team, DragonBlade barely needed to tank at all. He continued using Taunt to pull additional gnos toward the group, but they were killing the monsters faster than the creatures could even respawn.
"Stone, pull more!" Drunkard shouted.
His eyes were bright with excitent, like soone who had just been injected with adrenaline. Watching Marcus stand calmly on the sidelines while so many monsters remained alive felt almost painful.
Marcus grinned.
"Alright. Get ready. I’m pulling the whole field."
"Sanctuary Covenant!"
A flash of light appeared beside him as his Temple Guardian materialized.
Pebble had arrived.
"Shadow-Stained Gryphon King!"
A powerful gust of wind swept across the battlefield as Goldie appeared overhead, its massive wings casting a wide shadow across the ground.
"Summon Sea Demon Soul!"
For the first ti since obtaining the Demonic relic, Marcus activated the skill granted by the Sea Soul Necklace.
An icy blue vortex ford in front of him, swirling slowly as condensed mist gathered into shape. Monts later, a towering figure erged from the freezing haze.
The Sea Demon Soul.
Its upper body was enormous and muscular, though its form constantly shifted like drifting clouds. From the waist down it had no legs at all. Instead, its lower half dissolved into a spiraling current of mist that kept the creature hovering above the ground.
The entity looked exactly like the one the Blood Fiend Flower Demon had summoned back in the Mist Veil Palace.
"Go!"
At Marcus’s command, Pebble, Goldie, the Sea Demon Soul, and Marcus himself split apart and rushed in different directions, drawing the attention of every gno in sight.
Marcus deliberately chose not to summon Lyanna.
The fact that a beautiful woman was currently living inside his body was not sothing he wanted to explain to anyone. With so many people around, it was better to keep certain secrets hidden.
The hunt truly began.
Marcus and Pebble charged directly into several clusters of gnos. Instead of attacking, they simply spamd Taunt while Marcus darted through the field at high speed.
Within seconds, a massive crowd of furious gnos began chasing them.
Above the battlefield, Goldie circled in wide loops while unleashing its Wing Storm ability. The sweeping area attacks infuriated the monsters below. They howled and shook their axes toward the sky before joining the growing pursuit.
Yet the true centerpiece of the chaos was the Sea Demon Soul.
Its passive ability, Frosty Mockery, functioned like a powerful magnet for enemy aggression.
As the mist giant drifted slowly through the battlefield, the gnos reacted to its blue glow like moths drawn to fire. They abandoned whatever they were doing and surged toward it in a chaotic wave.
Marcus pushed his speed to the absolute limit. In less than thirty seconds he had successfully drawn every single gno in the area.
Under the stunned gaze of his teammates, Marcus and all of his summons gradually converged at the center of the field.
The mont they regrouped, Marcus and Pebble stopped using Taunt, while Goldie ceased its aerial attacks.
Yet sothing astonishing happened. Not a single gno turned away.
Every monster continued charging straight toward the Sea Demon Soul as if the others no longer existed.
Marcus stared in disbelief.
The passive taunt effect was so powerful that it could even pull aggro away from players who were already engaged in combat.
But the creature’s durability was even more outrageous.
The Sea Demon Soul inherited Marcus’s Defense, Evasion, and Speed attributes, while possessing double his Health. It was essentially a tougher, more durable version of Marcus himself.
On top of that, its passive ability Ethereal Form reduced all incoming damage by fifty percent.
The result was absurd.
Surrounded by a raging swarm of over a hundred gnos, the Sea Demon Soul stood completely unmoved. Axes hacked endlessly against its misty body, yet its health bar barely shifted.
It stood like a pine tree enduring a violent gale. Like a massive boulder unmoved by crashing waves.
Marcus was not the only one stunned.
His bros had completely stopped fighting, their eyes fixed on the unbelievable scene.
Watching a single blue giant calmly tank more than a hundred Level 25 monsters at the sa ti was sothing none of them had ever imagined.
The Sea Demon Soul occasionally swung its enormous arms in response. Each hit dealt only one point of damage, but its passive effect, Enfeeble, reduced the gnos’ Attack and Defense by twenty percent.
That alone made the slaughter even easier for the rest of the group.
The strength of the Sea Soul Necklace was undeniable.
"Stone... you’ve got to be kidding ."
"Is... is this so kind of bug?"
Drunkard and Invincible Strong were the first to regain their voices.
Even knowing Marcus was ridiculously strong, what they were witnessing right now went far beyond anything they had ever imagined.
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