Chapter 414: Token on the Ground
"A Guild Creation Token?"
Luck really was on his side.
Marcus had moved fast from the very beginning. He killed the Boar King, wiped out Shadowfall, and secured the area all in one clean sequence without stopping once to check the loot. Only now, seeing the abrupt change in Shadowfall_Two’s expression and the stunned disbelief on Shadowfall_Four’s face, did he realize something important had dropped.
His heartbeat skipped for half a second.
If that really was a Guild Creation Token, then this situation had just become a whole lot more interesting.
Marcus glanced back toward the Boar King’s corpse. There was no mistaking it.
Lying quietly beside the massive body was a dark black token wrapped in a faint shadowy aura, its surface flickering with an ominous sheen. Marcus recognized it immediately. A Guild Creation Token. The single most important item needed to establish a guild in Dominion.
"Nice."
Looks like the Luck stat finally paid off again.
In Dominion, landing the final hit on a boss didn’t decide who owned the loot. But the quality of the drops was directly tied to the Luck stat of the player who delivered the killing blow.
Ever since coming out of the Mystic Turtle’s Tomb, Marcus had already started seeing the effects. And now another Guild Creation Token had appeared right in front of him.
At moments like this, Luck honestly felt like the most broken stat in the entire game.
"Not bad. Come and get it."
The instant Marcus looked back at the token, Shadowfall_Two and Shadowfall_Four immediately saw an opening. One rushed from the left while the other circled from the right, both charging straight for the token as if trying to reclaim something that already belonged to them.
Their reactions were fast.
Unfortunately for them, Marcus wasn’t the type to lose focus over loot. A Guild Creation Token was valuable, sure. Enough to make anyone excited. But it wasn’t enough to distract him in the middle of a fight.
He only glanced at it for a second before his attention returned to them completely.
The two brothers had barely moved a few steps before they noticed Marcus was no longer looking at the token at all! he was watching them.
Calmly. Like he had already predicted exactly what they would do.
And with that relaxed expression, he had casually said, "Not bad. Come and get it."
Both of them stopped dead in their tracks.
They had already been afraid of fighting him head-on, and now, seeing him stand there so casually, so prepared, the pressure only became worse. Marcus looked less like a player and more like an iron wall waiting for them to crash into it. Like a battle axe hanging over their heads, ready to fall the moment they made a mistake.
At roughly seven meters away, the two brothers came to a complete stop. But neither of them could afford to walk away.
Not when a Guild Creation Token was lying right there. Even if they had to die for it, they still had to try.
The two stared at Marcus without blinking, desperately searching for an opening while silently running through every possible plan they could think of.
"Heh."
Watching their hesitation slowly turn back into fighting spirit, Marcus couldn’t help laughing under his breath. The smile on his face grew colder by the second.
"Well, well. I’ve got to admit, you two surprised me. A Guild Creation Token, huh? Impressive." He tilted his head slightly, his voice full of amusement. "So what now? You planning to take it back, or are you generous enough to donate it to me?"
He sounded absurdly polite while saying it, which somehow made it even more infuriating.
Now this was entertaining.
A moment ago, Marcus had actually been worried the two might cut their losses, abandon the loot, and split up in different directions to escape. If that happened, chasing them down would be annoying.
But with a Guild Creation Token involved? There was no way they were leaving. Which meant he could take his time with them now.
"Hmph."
The last time they met, these idiots had tried stealing both his boss and FreshwindElara’s. Marcus had never forgotten that. If he let them off without paying them back properly, then he wouldn’t be Marcus Stonehaven.
Too bad Shadowfall_Three was already dead.
It would have been much more satisfying if all three brothers were standing here together.
"Come on," Marcus said casually as he watched the frustration building on their faces. Shadowfall_Four in particular looked like he was on the verge of exploding. "The token belongs to you guys anyway. Honestly, I don’t even think I should take it."
"Cut the bullshit!"
Shadowfall_Four finally snapped. His patience had completely run out.
"If you don’t want Shadowfall hunting you down every single day from now on, then hand over the token! Otherwise we’re never letting this go!"
He looked ready to charge at any moment.
"Fourth!"
Shadowfall_Two barked sharply, stopping him immediately.
Then he turned toward Marcus and forced himself to calm down.
"Listen, friend."
He studied Marcus carefully while speaking.
The rage boiling inside him wasn’t any less than Shadowfall_Four’s, but compared to losing the token, swallowing his pride for a few minutes was nothing. The token came first. Everything else could wait until later.
"We didn’t know each other before this. What happened last time was our mistake, but in the end, we were the ones who suffered the loss." Shadowfall_Two paused briefly before continuing. "Let’s put all of that behind us. Return the token, and Shadowfall would be more than willing to consider you a friend."
Inside the mercenary group chat, Shadowfall_Four immediately sent a private message.
"Second, you seriously planning to let him off?"
The humiliation from their previous encounter had never faded.
The three brothers had been crushed in front of both their boss and their guild leader. To them, it was the greatest disgrace they had suffered since joining Shadowfall, and their hatred for the Rabbit Knight had long since reached the point where they wanted revenge no matter the cost.
Privately, the brothers had discussed hunting him down more times than they could count.
They wanted their pride back.
So watching Shadowfall_Two suddenly lower himself and negotiate with the very person they hated most naturally made Shadowfall_Four furious.
"What choice do we have?" Shadowfall_Two replied through the chat.
"I already spoke with Shadowfall_One. Recovering the token is our top priority. Besides, this Rabbit Knight is probably the player ranked first on the level leaderboard. The Royal Knight with the Divine Mount, the Nightmare Dragon Steed. There’s no reason to push things further right now. If we can make use of him instead, even better."
After a brief pause, another message appeared.
"We settle the score later."
The hatred hidden behind those words was unmistakable. And truthfully, this conflict had already gone far beyond a simple grudge between players.
After the last incident, the brothers had reported everything to their boss, GimmeABlade. In response, he had personally assigned more than a dozen players to copy the Rabbit Knight’s build, creating Knights focused on Strength and Agility in an attempt to recreate his combat style.
Every single attempt failed. Not one of those players came close.
For someone as arrogant and prideful as GimmeABlade, that humiliation was unacceptable. With his personality, revenge had never been optional.
Which meant Shadowfall and the Rabbit Knight had already become enemies long ago.
And now, after today’s incident, things had only gotten worse.
The Rabbit Knight had turned the tables on them again and taken their Guild Creation Token right out from under their noses.
People like them were used to bullying others, not being bullied themselves. There was no way they could swallow this quietly.
At this point, it wasn’t even personal anymore.
This was a conflict between their boss, the entire Shadowfall organization, and the Rabbit Knight himself.
