Chapter 535: New Evolutions
’Shit! Too fast!’
Four massive Sea Lion Kings, claws bared and fangs glistening, hurtled toward Marcus through the air. Everything happened in an instant. The Ice-Fire Twin Dragon Hoe wasn’t even equipped yet, leaving him with no chance to counter. He could only watch as the real king and its three clones closed in.
Swish. Swish. Swish.
Four enormous paws crashed down on him. ’I’m dead,’ he thought, instinctively bracing himself for the Ring of Resurrection to activate. The boss only had 23,600 HP left; they had come this close to finishing it. What a complete waste.
But then... a miracle. From where they stood, the girls watched the Sea Lion King’s claws slam into Marcus as though they had struck nothing but empty air. Not a single point of damage appeared. Instead, four words floated above his head: Miss. Miss. Miss. Miss.
For a moment, everyone simply stared. The Sea Lion King’s ultimate skill, Feral Pack Pounce, had missed every single attack. Marcus himself could hardly believe it. His investment in Agility and Dodge had finally paid off at the exact moment he needed it most. Sometimes, numbers really did speak for themselves.
Without wasting another second, he hurriedly equipped the Ice-Fire Twin Dragon Hoe, ready to finish the fight with Desperate Strike.
Then Blackie let out a sharp, furious neigh. Pitch-black light erupted from his body, rushing toward the Prismatic Horn on his forehead, and the charging process, which had been building up for several seconds, completed in an instant. Dark Thunder Flash. Blackie lowered his head and shot forward like a black comet, his horn wrapped in violent dark energy. He was angry.
Being knocked to the ground earlier had thoroughly offended his pride. Blackie almost never attacked, but whenever he did, he always committed fully. Ever since getting back on his feet, he had been silently charging this skill, waiting for the perfect opportunity. Now it was time to repay that humiliation.
Only then did Marcus understand why the Sea Lion King’s ultimate had completely missed. Blackie’s sudden charge must have disrupted the king’s attack timing just enough to let Marcus’s Dodge shine through. Agility alone probably wouldn’t have been enough to evade the ultimate of a level seventy Golden Boss.
The charge was unbelievably fast, enhanced by the skill’s own burst of speed. Before Marcus or Pebble could even unleash Desperate Strike...
CRASH!
Wrapped in surging black lightning, the Prismatic Horn slammed directly into the Sea Lion King’s chest. This time, there was no mistake; Blackie had struck the real king.
The girls watched in stunned silence as the horn pierced clean through the monster’s massive body. Dark energy erupted from the wound, blasting out the king’s back in a straight beam that carved across more than a hundred meters of ocean behind it. Anything caught in that line would have been erased.
A heartbeat later, the Prismatic Horn’s elemental power detonated inside the king’s body, and brilliant streams of rainbow-colored light burst from the wound like an explosion of fireworks beneath the sea.
It was breathtaking. They had seen Dark Thunder Flash once before, back in the First Emperor’s Tomb against the ShadowPebble Windracer, but that had only been a defensive counterattack. This was the first time they had witnessed Blackie land the skill cleanly against a target. The visual spectacle alone was incredible; the damage was even more unbelievable.
A massive yellow critical hit appeared above the Sea Lion King’s head: -80,000. Eighty thousand damage. Everyone was speechless.
Blackie was only level forty-seven, yet a single skill had ripped away eighty thousand HP from a level seventy Golden Boss; it was absurd.
No wonder Divine Beasts were feared. Blackie rarely chose to attack, which meant this devastating skill almost never had a chance to shine. Thinking about it now, Marcus almost felt it was being wasted.
’Too bad the game doesn’t have gore effects; otherwise that explosion probably would’ve blown the Sea Lion King into tiny little pieces.’ Marcus couldn’t help chuckling to himself. ’Yeah, maybe that’s a little evil.’
The Sea Lion King’s enormous body crashed heavily onto the seabed, and its three summoned clones trembled for a brief moment before dissolving into streams of blue seawater.
At the same time, the Soul Vase inside Marcus’s backpack suddenly activated. As the king’s corpse lay still, a gray, mist-like soul no bigger than a house cat drifted from its body and flew directly into the vase; the Sea Lion King’s soul had been collected.
Marcus opened his inventory to check. With his ridiculously high Luck, the Soul Vase managed to absorb roughly sixty percent of the souls from monsters he personally killed. Still, aside from empowering Swarm of Countless Ghost Souls, the legendary artifact didn’t seem particularly impressive; for one of the ancient vases, it felt strangely underwhelming.
There was probably another quest or hidden requirement needed to unlock its true abilities. Until then, all he could do was keep collecting souls.
A series of system notifications rang out.
Ding!
[Congratulations, player Stonehaven, for killing the Level 70 Golden Boss Blue-Eyed Sea Lion King. Reputation +200. Gold +30,000.]
Ding!
[Congratulations, player Stonehaven. Your level has increased. You are now Level 51. HP +10. MP +10. You have received 5 attribute points.]
Another level. The ordinary sea lions had already provided respectable experience. Combined with the Sea Lion Guards and the king itself, the total had finally pushed Marcus over the next level.
The girls, however, were even happier; the enormous amount of experience from the boss had carried every one of them past level forty. Amber and Lily, who had only recently reached level forty-five, were now level forty-six.
Marcus opened the Level Leaderboard.
1. Level 51, Male, [Name Hidden], Temple Knight
2. Level 48, Male, RogueTheory, Blade Master
3. Level 47, Male, InfernoRider001, Warrior
4. Level 47, Male, Hexium, Storm Sorcerer
5. Level 47, Male, SunShot, Archer
6. Level 47, Male, ThreeleafAxe69, Knight
7. Level 46, Male, SoulSync, Sorcerer
8. Level 46, Male, Slayer#Apex, Warrior
9. Level 46, Male, SavageWolf_Alpha, Warrior
10. Level 46, Male, VioletNova, Archer
There weren’t any major changes. The guild leaders still occupied most of the top positions; they had money, manpower, dedicated grinding teams, and with Guild Wars not yet available, they had been free to level almost nonstop.
Still... Level fifty changed everything. The class advancement trials awaited everyone who reached that milestone, and Marcus knew the rankings would be shaken up afterward. Past that point, success wouldn’t depend entirely on skill; luck would play a huge role.
Bad luck? Well... enjoy rolling another character.
Even so, Marcus couldn’t help respecting their dedication; those guild leaders had truly earned their levels. Then his eyes drifted farther down the rankings. Amber and Lily were already level forty-six, tied with several players on the leaderboard. With a little more grinding, his sister and Lily might genuinely break into the Top Ten.
’That’s... actually kind of insane.’
His companions had all leveled as well: Goldie, Lyanna, and Camillo each gained several levels, and Blackie reached level forty-eight. Just one more level remained before he entered his second growth phase at level fifty.
Another notification appeared. The tremendous experience from defeating the Sea Lion King had also raised Phantom Body to Level 2, granting Physical Damage Immunity: 20%.
Marcus grinned. ’Melee players are going to hate fighting me.’
He walked over to the Sea Lion King’s corpse and immediately began using Advanced Gathering.
The first harvest yielded a High-Grade Water Core, a valuable alchemy material, along with a pair of Blue-Eyed Lion Claws, a rare weapon crafting material that granted a chance to inflict Stun on hit.
The next attempt failed, and Marcus almost stopped, but then he noticed the corpse hadn’t disappeared. ’There’s still more.’ He continued gathering.
Ding!
[Congratulations, player Stonehaven. You have obtained 2 Soft Moon Stones. Gathering proficiency increased.]
Ding!
[Congratulations, player Stonehaven. You have obtained 1 Blue-Eyed Pearl, formed inside the Blue-Eyed Sea Lion King. Gathering proficiency increased.]
Marcus nodded in satisfaction. With Advanced Gathering combined with his absurd Luck, he almost never failed to extract every valuable material unless it belonged to Mythic or Divine rarity. Two more rare materials, and both looked incredibly valuable.
He was just about to inspect them when Jade suddenly shouted across the water. "Marcus! Hurry! My kitty and Anya’s wyrm are evolving!"
Marcus blinked; right, he had completely forgotten. Jade’s Twin-Winged Water Demon Cat and Anya’s Twin-Winged Thunder Wyrm had both been level twenty-nine before the boss fight, and the Sea Lion King’s enormous experience reward had pushed them over the threshold.
The king’s corpse disappeared as Marcus quickly scooped up the remaining loot without even checking what had dropped, stuffed everything into his inventory, and hurried over to the others.
Jade’s Mythic Beast, the Twin-Winged Water Demon Cat, floated quietly in the seawater. Its black feathered wings remained perfectly still as a deep blue aura surrounded its body. The ancient water-shaped mark on its forehead glowed brighter with every passing second. Its evolution was calm and controlled.
Anya’s Twin-Winged Thunder Wyrm was the complete opposite. Already as large as a tiger, its twin wings beat with explosive force, every flap accompanied by violent crackles of lightning: crackle, pop, snap. Electric arcs collided and spiraled around its body, forming a miniature thunderstorm. Within a five-meter radius, the seawater churned violently beneath the overwhelming electrical current, bubbling as though it were boiling.
The wyrm had entered the final stage of its evolution. Just as Marcus reached Jade and Anya... ROOOAR! A thunderous cry echoed through the sea, sounding eerily like the roar of a true dragon.
Lightning surged from every direction before collapsing into the wyrm’s body, and then everything flashed. In less than a heartbeat, its tiger-sized body expanded at an astonishing rate; within seconds, it had grown larger than two full-grown elephants.
Its enormous wings spread wide, each feather wrapped in crackling lightning that stretched across the water like giant nets of living electricity. It was magnificent; it was terrifying. Its evolution was complete.
The newly evolved Thunder Wyrm was now almost as large as a small house. With a powerful flap of its wings, it glided effortlessly through the water like an ancient sea dragon before circling gracefully back to Anya.
Everyone immediately checked its status. Every attribute had increased dramatically, and its newly learned skills were almost entirely offensive, with most specializing in large-scale area attacks. Everything about the creature pointed toward a single purpose: pure destruction.
Even better, its passive ability had also evolved.
—
Massive Frame (Passive): The Twin-Winged Thunder Wyrm possesses moderate flight speed, but its enormous size allows it to carry multiple riders. Current capacity: 4 riders. Gains +1 rider for every additional level.
—
Marcus’s eyes immediately lit up: a group mount. He looked around at the girls surrounding him, each of them eagerly admiring the newly evolved wyrm, and couldn’t help imagining everyone riding together during future adventures. The thought alone brought a smile to his face.
Just then, another surge of blue light drew everyone’s attention. Jade’s cat had finally begun its own transformation.
"Marcus!" Jade grabbed his arm excitedly, barely able to contain herself. "Is Kitty evolving now?"
Marcus smiled and nodded. "Looks like it."
The glowing water-shaped mark on the Water Demon Cat’s forehead became brighter and brighter until its blue radiance illuminated nearly twenty meters of the surrounding ocean.