Just before SavageBear activated the Fake Tremor Hammer, Marcus had already slipped around behind the Shadowfall players without anyone noticing. Blackie remained hidden, along with the full extent of his strength, while he rode the Flame Charger SoulSync had gifted him and quietly waited for the perfect moment to strike.

He was not reckless enough to charge in immediately and expose his identity. The instant he made his move, he deliberately raised his voice and shouted with exaggerated righteousness, sounding every bit like some wandering hero stepping in to save the day.

"Hey, you Shadowfall trash! Picking on people again? I’m gonna wreck every last one of you! Bring it on!"

The performance served two purposes at once. First, it left a favorable impression on SavageBear and the remaining Savage Tribe members. Second, and more importantly, it forced Shadowfall to turn their attention toward him and attack first.

"Rabbit Knight!"

The moment they saw the rabbit mask, several Shadowfall members reacted with surprise. But once they noticed the Flame Charger beneath him, their expressions immediately changed to ridicule.

"Pfft."

"Another copycat."

"And he’s alone too."

"What a moron. He’s just throwing his life away."

One of Shadowfall’s Knights immediately rushed forward to intercept Marcus while two Sorcerers in the rear began preparing spells. The rest of the group barely paid him any attention at all and turned back toward Savage Tribe and the incoming Yellow-Tusk Boar King.

After all, Marcus was just a single Knight. Knights were known for survivability, not damage. Sending one frontliner and two ranged casters already seemed excessive to them. Compared to some random masked idiot, the Yellow-Tusk Boar King was the real prize here. If it dropped a Guild Creation Token, Shadowfall’s gains today would be enormous.

A pair of spells slammed into Marcus almost immediately.

-80.

-120.

Thump. Thump.

One Fire spell and one Lightning spell.

The damage was so low it was almost laughable. The Fire attack barely scratched him thanks to his resistance stats, not even dealing a full hundred points of damage.

"W-What?!"

The two Sorcerers stared at him in disbelief. They were both level forty casters with solid equipment. Even heavily defensive Knights should not have shrugged off their attacks so easily.

A pure tank build. That was their first thought.

But even then, something felt wrong. No normal tank Knight should have defense this absurd.

"Wrong target!"

The realization struck both of them at the same time, and they hurriedly prepared a second round of spells.

It was too late. The instant they attacked him, the system notification had already appeared.

Ding!

[Stonehaven, you have been attacked by the Shadowfall mercenary group. You are now authorized to initiate a Righteous Counterattack.]

’Bingo.’

Marcus almost laughed.

There was a reason he had made such a dramatic entrance instead of quietly ambushing them from behind. He wanted Shadowfall to strike first. As long as they initiated combat, his counterattack would conceal his identity from them completely.

They would lose levels. They would drop equipment. And they would never know who had done it.

That was the best part.

Simply killing them was not enough for Marcus. He wanted them furious, humiliated, and utterly confused after they respawned.

A proper brutal counterattack.

"Heh."

At times like this, even Marcus had to admit he was kind of a terrible person.

The moment the system confirmed his counterattack rights, he stopped holding back entirely. At almost the exact same instant, SavageBear hurled the Fake Tremor Hammer into the middle of Shadowfall’s formation, stunning twelve players at once while Savage Tribe was reduced to its final two surviving members.

"Wraith."

Marcus activated the movement skill attached to the Shadow Cloak of the Dark Spirit. His speed exploded upward instantly.

Swoosh.

He shot forward like a black streak, crossing the distance between himself, the charging Knight, and the two Sorcerers in the blink of an eye. The Bat Dragon Cloud Sword flashed upward as he unleashed Hundred Phantom Strike.

"So fast!"

The three Shadowfall players barely had time to react.

This speed was ridiculous.

Even Shadowfall_One, their Agility-focused Archer leader, was slower than this. So was GimmeABlade, the guild’s full-Agility Assassin specialist.

Before any of them could properly process what they were seeing, countless overlapping blade shadows tore through the area.

Every hit crit.

CRACK. CRACK. CRACK.

Within a four-meter radius, the Knight, the two Sorcerers, and even two Archers positioned behind them were all engulfed by the attack.

-3500, -4200, -4300, -4300, -4000.

All five players died instantly.

Not one survived.

The Knight collapsed first, his eyes still wide with disbelief, while the two Sorcerers never even managed to release their second spells. The two Archers behind them had been completely focused on the Yellow-Tusk Boar King SavageBear had dragged into the stunned Shadowfall formation. They died without even realizing someone had attacked them from behind.

Every one of them lost multiple levels and dropped several pieces of equipment onto the ground.

As for the Knight and Sorcerers directly facing Marcus, amid the chaos of flashing sword shadows, they managed to catch one final glimpse beneath the rabbit mask.

A grin.

Not a heroic grin either. It was sly, cruel, and genuinely malicious.

That expression burned itself into their minds right before death claimed them.

"Damn."

Even Marcus was impressed.

He had already switched into his weaker level thirty equipment and was barely using any enhancement buffs outside of movement speed and health regeneration. At most, he was fighting with half his actual strength.

And he had still one-shot level forty-plus players without effort. The results exceeded even his own expectations.

Looks like the trip to the Mystic Turtle’s Tomb had strengthened him far more than he originally thought. At this point, it would probably take over a hundred elite players to bring him down.

"Next."

After cutting through those five players, Marcus immediately spotted a familiar figure farther ahead.

Shadowfall_Three.

’What a coincidence.’

Marcus casually walked toward him with his sword resting at his side, almost leisurely, as though he were taking a stroll instead of entering a battlefield.

At that exact moment, Shadowfall_Three and the two Sorcerers beside him had just finished off the last surviving members of Savage Tribe. With the opposing team wiped out, ownership of the Yellow-Tusk Boar King had fully transferred to Shadowfall.

Shadowfall_Three was just about to begin attacking the boss when the sudden commotion behind him finally caught his attention.

Frowning, he turned around.