Marcus wasn’t taking it easy, and he definitely wasn’t showing mercy.

At least Shadowfall_Two understood that much about him.

The moment Marcus killed Shadowfall_Three with Triple Surge, he immediately activated Insight and checked the Yellow-Tusk Boar King’s remaining health.

Just under 9,000 HP left. Around a third of its total health bar. The instant he saw that number, a plan formed in his head.

He’d let Shadowfall finish the hard part. Let them wear the boss down until victory felt guaranteed. Let them believe the loot was already in their hands.

Then, at the very last second, he’d rip everything away from them.

After killing Shadowfall_Three, Marcus deliberately stopped using major skills like Hundred Phantom Strike and Triple Surge. Instead, he relied on ordinary attacks, cutting players down one at a time at a steady pace.

Under normal conditions, regular attacks weren’t enough for Marcus to instantly kill level forty players.

But the two Sorcerers standing beside Shadowfall_Three happened to be incredibly unlucky. Both took critical hits and dropped immediately.

As for the rest of Shadowfall’s members, they were already battered and half-dead from SavageBear’s Fake Tremor Hammer, then further mauled after the Yellow-Tusk Boar King had been dragged straight into their formation. Their health bars were a mess long before Marcus reached them.

So with every casual swing of his sword, another player fell.

Step by step, Marcus advanced toward the boar king while Shadowfall remained completely focused on burning the boss down.

Then came the sound he was waiting for.

Ding!

Right on cue.

Marcus’s eyes narrowed slightly.

"Now."

Two more Shadowfall members collapsed beneath his sword just as the Yellow-Tusk Boar King’s health dropped to barely over 1,000 HP.

Perfect timing.

"Hundred Phantom Strike!"

The skill erupted outward in a violent arc, aimed directly at the boar king and every Shadowfall player surrounding it at the exact moment they were about to secure the kill themselves.

Marcus stole the final hit cleanly.

The strike swept through the battlefield like a scythe cutting wheat.

Thump. Thump. Thump.

Every Shadowfall player within range died instantly alongside the Yellow-Tusk Boar King itself.

For a brief second, the battlefield fell strangely quiet. Then came the sound Marcus liked most.

Clatter.

Clink.

Clunk. 𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞

Equipment and loot exploded across the ground from both the boss and the Shadowfall players he’d wiped out. Weapons, armor, materials, coins. The pile spread across the dirt in a glittering mess.

’Beautiful.’

With that attack alone, Marcus had killed six more Shadowfall members while simultaneously taking the boss for himself.

Now only four enemies remained alive.

Shadowfall_Two.

Shadowfall_Four.

And two surviving members, an Archer and a Sorcerer, positioned slightly farther away.

Marcus didn’t even glance at the loot pile.

"Go."

Everything had already been planned out beforehand. The Flame Charger surged forward beneath him.

"Hundred Phantom Strike!"

The Archer and Sorcerer entered his attack range just as the skill activated.

The two players had still been fully focused on attacking the boar king when the entire battle suddenly collapsed around them. Before either of them could even understand what happened, Marcus’s attack erased them instantly.

Now there were only two people left.

Shadowfall_Two and Shadowfall_Four.

Marcus moved closer toward them, close enough that another Hundred Phantom Strike would’ve easily finished both of them off.

But instead of attacking, he suddenly stopped.

Then he took two slow steps backward and positioned himself directly in front of the Yellow-Tusk Boar King’s loot pile.

Eight meters separated him from the two brothers.

Marcus simply stood there casually with his sword in hand, completely blocking the path.

"You..."

Shadowfall_Two and Shadowfall_Four could barely speak.

Their expressions twisted between shock and fury as they stared at the scene in front of them.

The two of them had been watching the boar king’s health nonstop, calculating the kill timing down to the second.

But somehow Marcus had charged in, stolen the boss, wiped out their entire squad, and taken control of the loot pile before they could even react properly.

The pace of the battle had been completely under his control from start to finish.

And honestly, it wasn’t entirely their fault.

Unlike Marcus, they didn’t possess Insight. They couldn’t see the boss’s exact HP values, nor could they calculate the battlefield as precisely as he could.

Marcus gave a light chuckle beneath the rabbit mask.

"Come on. Your loot’s right here."

That was the entire reason he’d saved the boar king for last. The reason he delayed killing Shadowfall_Two and Shadowfall_Four. The reason he held back instead of ending the fight immediately.

He wanted this moment.

Technically speaking, even though Marcus landed the final blow on the Yellow-Tusk Boar King, Shadowfall had dealt most of the total damage after wiping out Savage Tribe earlier. According to the system’s loot distribution rules, the drops belonged to them.

But rules only mattered if you could actually reach the loot. And right now, Marcus was standing directly in front of it.

System regulations only allowed players to pick up items within a two-meter radius. Marcus himself stood about three meters away from the pile, just far enough to avoid automatically collecting it while still blocking anyone else from getting close.

Which meant Shadowfall_Two and Shadowfall_Four now faced a very simple question.

Could they get past him? Because if they couldn’t, the loot might as well already belong to Marcus.

"You bastard..."

Their faces had turned completely red from rage.

At that moment, they genuinely wanted to kill him more than anything else in the game.

"F*ck you! Sneaking around and ambushing people like that. What kind of hero does that?!"

Shadowfall_Four finally exploded.

If the profanity filter wasn’t active, he probably would’ve unleashed ten straight minutes of curses without stopping.

"Ambush?" Marcus laughed openly. "Come on now. This is a Righteous Counterattack. Completely system-approved."

"You..."

Shadowfall_Four nearly choked on his anger.

Marcus technically wasn’t wrong.

Even though he’d absolutely ambushed them, the system still categorized everything as a legal counterattack because Shadowfall had attacked first. They still didn’t know Marcus’s player name, they couldn’t retaliate properly, and after losing everything, they’d basically been toyed with from beginning to end for no reason at all.

The frustration was unbearable.

But before Shadowfall_Four could continue raging, something among the boar king’s drops suddenly caught his eye.

His pupils contracted violently.

"A Guild Creation Token!"

His voice almost cracked from shock.

"Second! It’s a Guild Creation Token!"

The Yellow-Tusk Boar King had actually dropped one. The exact item Shadowfall had been desperately hunting for this entire time.

And according to the system, it belonged to them. All they had to do... was get within two meters of it.