Chapter 675: Blood Clan Boss!

The legendary man-eating Blood Clan!

Alana had told Marcus before that only high-level Blood Clan members could break through the seal and enter the Dreamland Continent. However, following the latest system update, cracks had begun appearing in the barrier that had kept them imprisoned. As a result, even low-level Blood Clan members could now slip through and appear randomly across the continent.

Marcus hadn’t expected them to show up so soon, much less travel in pairs. Naturally, his curiosity was piqued. He wanted to see these legendary creatures for himself and find out just how dangerous they really were.

Before heading out, however, he glanced at SoulfireBlade and SoulSync to see what orders they would give. He had heard someone mention that Inferno Guild had also discovered the two Blood Clan Bosses, which meant a potential confrontation was practically unavoidable.

That was something SoulfireBlade and SoulSync couldn’t afford to ignore. In Dominion, death came with brutal penalties, including lost levels and dropped equipment. As the guild masters, they had to consider the consequences of every decision, not only for themselves but also for their guild members and the guild’s long-term development.

Besides, this was a critical period for every major guild. Everyone was scrambling to strengthen their forces, and getting dragged into a full-scale war with Inferno right now would be a terrible idea. Both sides would inevitably suffer heavy losses, their members would lose levels and equipment, and Soulfire wasn’t even guaranteed to come out on top.

Any guild master with half a brain would think twice before making such a decision.

Unfortunately, most players, especially those who had joined major guilds, were brimming with fighting spirit and eager for a chance to prove themselves. Their thinking was much simpler: if someone wanted a fight, then bring it on. Who was afraid of whom?

And with two Blood Clan Bosses practically dangling in front of them like bait, it was hardly surprising that Soulfire’s members were itching for action. SoulfireBlade and SoulSync, however, couldn’t simply give in to their enthusiasm. They needed to assess the situation and come up with a plan that would let them seize the opportunity without needlessly jeopardizing the guild.

Sure enough, SoulfireBlade and the others were already discussing their options through the guild system.

Before long, SoulfireStar, the cleric who had accompanied them to Jasper’s Tomb and served as one of Soulfire Guild’s strategists, nodded and spoke up.

"Boss, I think this is our chance." He quickly explained his reasoning to everyone.

"The Blood Clan Bosses Milo discovered are relatively close to us, about forty minutes away. Inferno will need at least an hour to get there, so we have a considerable head start. If we move quickly, we might even be able to kill both bosses before their main force arrives."

SoulfireStar grinned, his eyes gleaming with anticipation.

"According to Milo, the Inferno members who discovered the bosses alongside them are led by the Furious Three, and they’ve only brought about three hundred people. We can take care of those bastards first and settle the score for the ambush they pulled on us last time."

He paused, his grin widening. "And if we play our cards right, we might even be able to ambush Inferno’s main force when they show up."

His proposal immediately fired everyone up. The members exchanged excited looks before turning their attention to SoulfireBlade and SoulSync, waiting for their decision.

Truthfully, the two guild masters were just as tempted.

Because of Dominion’s punishing death penalties, no major guild had yet dared to launch an all-out war against another. Everyone had been holding back, accumulating strength and waiting for the right opportunity. As a result, the prospect of a real guild war had been building up for a long time.

And if their first major confrontation happened to be against their old rivals in Inferno Guild, all the better.

SoulfireBlade’s eyes sharpened as he made his decision. "Good! This time, we’re taking down the Furious Three at the very least!" He immediately issued his orders. "Snow Leopard, Little Star! Gather our fastest players and head straight for the Blood Clan Bosses!"

With that, SoulfireBlade set off with his elite squad, wasting no time on further discussion. SoulSync, meanwhile, sent Marcus a private message.

Stone, we’re going to kill some people. You coming?

Marcus smiled. "I’m coming to have a look at the Blood Clan Bosses. I want to see what all the fuss is about." With that, he fell into step beside SoulSync.

SoulSync was more than happy to have him along. "Good!" However, just as Marcus started following him, Lydia, who had already sidled up beside him, casually joined them as well.

Marcus stared at her, momentarily speechless. "You’re coming too?"

Lydia had been watching him with that peculiar, seemingly concerned expression of hers for a while now, and he was beginning to suspect she was up to something. Sure enough, she immediately put on an unusually serious face and spoke as though she had every right to accompany him.

"Of course. Didn’t you say you’d show me those two purple Divine Artifacts you just got?"

’Damn it!’

Marcus remembered the conversation perfectly well. He had never actually promised to show her any Divine Artifacts. He had merely made up that story to tease her, yet here she was, treating his lie as though it were a binding agreement.

He was about to point that out when Lydia tilted her head and smiled sweetly. "You’re going too, aren’t you?"

"Heh." Marcus couldn’t help laughing. Rather than correcting her, he decided to play along. "I’m going to see those three!"

Lydia looked at him in confusion, clearly unable to make sense of the sudden remark. "See those three?" Still, she was clever enough to recognize that Marcus was probably up to one of his usual tricks, so she assumed he was simply being his eccentric, backward self again.

Even so, the sly grin on his face made her uneasy. She couldn’t shake the feeling that someone was about to suffer, and suffer badly at that.

What could he do? Just thinking about the Furious Three made Marcus angry, and even hearing their names put him in a foul mood. Now that he knew they were nearby, he naturally wanted to see them with his own eyes.

Lydia questioned him through the private chat. "Stone, what’s this about the three?" She had never dealt with Inferno Guild directly, so she had no idea who the Furious Three were or why Marcus seemed so interested in them.

"Heh." Marcus merely smiled and ignored her.

That only made Lydia more suspicious, and she continued bombarding him with questions. Unfortunately for her, he had already entered his peculiar, stubborn state of mind. Her questions could crash against him like waves against a rock, but he had no intention of giving her a straight answer.

Watching the two of them exchange private messages so enthusiastically, SoulSync couldn’t help glancing at Lydia. Her behavior was a far cry from her usual self, and the contrast left him thoroughly baffled. ’Strange.’

Led by SoulfireBlade, the group exited through the West Gate and mounted their steeds. SoulfireBlade and the elites who had accompanied him to Jasper’s Tomb climbed onto their Three-Tailed Patterned Pheasants, then led the others galloping westward.

Marcus stood out immediately on his Black Royal Pegasus, an impressive mount that drew plenty of attention. Fortunately, the devastatingly beautiful Lydia was riding alongside him, her celestial appearance making the pair seem even more striking.

Soulfire members who didn’t recognize Marcus couldn’t help wondering who he was. "Lydia’s friend?" However, after considering his apparent closeness to Lydia, along with her family’s influence and her own status, they quickly decided there was no need to ask too many questions.

After all, anyone who could be friends with the Goddess of Willow Garden was unlikely to be an ordinary person. The Soulfire members accepted the explanation without further investigation and returned their attention to the journey.

"Look! Both Soulfire guild masters are heading out. Something big must be happening!"

"Is it a monster boss?"

"Could it be a Mythic Beast?"

The players had already seen numerous Soulfire members rushing westward. Now, with both guild masters personally leading their core forces out of the city, it was obvious that something significant was happening.

Naturally, the news spread quickly, and speculation began running wild. "Something’s definitely going on!"

Of course, none of these players knew about the Blood Clan Bosses. Milo and the Furious Three had only informed their respective guild members through the guild system. Neither side had any intention of letting other players or rival guilds learn about the discovery and get a share of the rewards.

After all, Blood Clan Bosses were rare monster bosses. Even a single one was enough to attract the attention of countless players, let alone two appearing together.

Some of the more perceptive players quickly mounted their steeds and followed the Soulfire forces west. "Something big is definitely happening!"

Their actions soon inspired others to do the same, and before long, the movement had turned into a massive surge of players pouring out of the city.

In the blink of an eye, more than eight thousand players who had been wandering around Soulfire territory joined the pursuit.

This was where the advantages enjoyed by Dominion’s top ten guilds became especially apparent. They had been among the first to establish themselves and claim territory, allowing them to secure some of the most advantageous locations on the entire continent.

The old saying was absolutely true: the early bird got the worm.

Take Soulfire Guild, for example. Its territory occupied an unclaimed zone at the intersection of three cities: Ironstone Citadel, Pegasus Citadel, and Glacial Citadel. The location offered access to several excellent grinding areas, each with its own advantages.

To the north lay a vast ice valley teeming with monsters above Level 70. To the west stretched the seemingly endless Stone Dragon Mountains, where all kinds of Level 50 and above creatures roamed. To the south was the edge of the Atlan Plains, home to monsters and wild steeds above Level 80.

And to the east lay an enormous expanse of Demon Clan territory. The Lesser Demon Tower in that region was crawling with monsters, making it a popular destination for players looking to grind levels.

With such a strategically located territory, Soulfire Guild naturally attracted a large population of players. That was why, at this moment, more than eight thousand wandering players had joined the five thousand Soulfire members rushing westward.

The resulting procession was a spectacular sight, stretching across the plains like a vast army on the march.

However, SoulfireBlade and SoulSync weren’t interested in putting on a show. Their priority was reaching the Blood Clan Bosses before Inferno could arrive, so they deliberately pulled away from the enormous crowd and increased their speed.

Leading more than a thousand elite members mounted on steeds superior to the Flame Chargers, they pushed their mounts to the limit and thundered westward. Gradually, the distance between them and the main body of Soulfire’s members widened, leaving the slower players and curious onlookers far behind.

"Damn it!" The players trailing behind grew increasingly anxious. Unfortunately, aside from the relatively small number fortunate enough to possess excellent mounts, more than ninety percent could only watch helplessly as the Soulfire elites disappeared farther into the distance.

Thunder, thunder, thunder!

After a sustained sprint, the group overtook many Soulfire members who had set out earlier. In less than forty minutes, they finally reached their destination: the foot of the Stone Dragon Mountains, west of Soulfire territory.

Before them stretched a vast grassland inhabited by Level 30 Fire-Eye Goats. The moment they arrived, their attention was drawn to the two imposing figures standing in the center of the field.

The legendary man-eating Blood Clan!

Both creatures stood more than three meters tall, towering over the surrounding monsters like a pair of giants. Their bodies were blood-red, and half-meter-long crimson fur protruded from beneath their crude, light mage armor. Blood-colored halos hovered beneath their feet, bathing them in a faint crimson glow.

Each held a strange, crudely fashioned two-handed mage staff. Despite their rough appearance, the weapons caught the light in a way that made them surprisingly conspicuous.

The two Blood Clan creatures wandered across the grassland with peculiar, almost floating movements. Their steps were so light that they seemed to glide rather than walk, and the combination of their crimson glow, long red fur, and strange movements gave them an eerie, unnatural appearance.

They were certainly no ordinary monsters.

Even so, their equipment was clearly inferior. Their light mage armor looked poorly made, their staffs were crude, and the blood-colored aura surrounding them was relatively weak. Their faces weren’t particularly grotesque, either.

It was obvious that they weren’t high-level Blood Clan members. They were merely low-level creatures that had slipped through the cracks in the seal.

According to the information Marcus had received, low-level Blood Clan and Savage Tribe members who escaped the seal appeared randomly throughout the Dreamland Continent. If no one attacked them within an hour of their arrival, they would randomly relocate to another area.

High-level Blood Clan members, however, were an entirely different matter.

Alana had explained that when the stronger ones emerged from the seal, they could appear in various forms and follow different movement patterns. Some even came with their own quests and objectives, making them far more complicated and dangerous for players to deal with.

For now, though, the two low-level Blood Clan Bosses before them were the immediate concern.

Standing on one side of the grassland were more than three hundred Soulfire members led by Milo. On the opposite side stood roughly three hundred Inferno members under the command of the Furious Three.

Both groups maintained a distance of about a hundred meters from the Blood Clan Bosses. Their attention remained divided between the two monsters and their rivals, with neither side willing to take its eyes off the other.

The situation was straightforward. Milo and the Furious Three commanded roughly equal forces. Neither side had a clear advantage, and neither was confident of defeating the other without suffering heavy losses. As a result, both groups had settled into an uneasy standoff, sending messages through their respective guild systems and waiting for reinforcements.

Otherwise, they would have already started fighting.

The moment Milo spotted SoulfireBlade charging toward them on his Three-Tailed Patterned Pheasant, excitement swept through the three hundred Soulfire members. "The boss is here!"

Their reinforcements had arrived, and with SoulfireBlade leading more than a thousand elites, the balance of power had shifted dramatically.

The players immediately began shouting through the guild system. "Surround those Inferno bastards! Don’t let a single one of them escape!"

Several members had already started moving into position, eager to seize the opportunity to settle their grievances with Inferno.

"Good!" SoulfireMilo was just about to issue the order when his sharp eyes caught something that made him pause. He quickly sent out a warning through the guild system. "Hold on! Don’t attack Inferno yet!"

The Soulfire members who had already begun advancing looked at one another in confusion. They couldn’t understand why SoulfireMilo was suddenly telling them to stop when their reinforcements had arrived in overwhelming numbers.

But SoulfireMilo had noticed something important.

Despite the arrival of SoulfireBlade and more than a thousand elite players, not a single member of Inferno had retreated. They weren’t attempting to escape, nor were they showing any obvious signs of panic. Instead, they continued watching Soulfire’s approaching forces while keeping their attention firmly fixed on the Blood Clan Bosses.

Something was wrong.

A faint sense of unease crept into SoulfireMilo’s heart. He immediately sent a private message to SoulfireBlade.

Boss, something’s off about Inferno!

SoulfireBlade had noticed it, too. "Yeah."

He had originally intended to eliminate the Furious Three and their three hundred followers before Inferno’s main force arrived. With more than a thousand elites at his disposal, surrounding the enemy and cutting off their escape routes shouldn’t have been difficult.

Unless Inferno decided to abandon the Blood Clan Bosses entirely and ordered the Furious Three to retreat using Town Portal Scrolls, the outcome should have been straightforward.

Yet the three hundred Inferno members hadn’t made a single move. They weren’t dodging, retreating, or attempting to break through Soulfire’s formation. Instead, they stood their ground as though they had been waiting for SoulfireBlade and his reinforcements to arrive.

It was almost as if they had deliberately left themselves exposed, or, more troublingly, as if they knew something Soulfire didn’t.

SoulfireBlade’s expression grew serious as he considered the possibilities. Rather than rushing into an attack, he decided to test the situation first.

"Draw the Blood Clan Bosses over. Let’s see what Inferno is up to."

At his command, three knights standing near SoulfireMilo immediately rode forward. Their task was to provoke the two Blood Clan Bosses and lure them toward the Furious Three’s position, forcing Inferno to react. If the enemy was planning something, this should at least reveal a clue.

But before the knights could carry out their orders, the leader of Inferno’s three hundred members suddenly burst into laughter. "Hahaha!"

It was Ash001, the Light Knight commanding the group. He looked toward the approaching SoulfireBlade, his expression filled with amusement, and called out loudly enough for everyone nearby to hear. "Soulfire, brother! Our boss has been waiting for you!"

As soon as the words left his mouth, Ash001 abruptly flung a scroll toward the open ground on his right.

The scroll unfurled in midair, rapidly expanding until it reached a height of ten meters. Brilliant golden light poured from its surface, and in the blink of an eye, a massive, gleaming teleportation gate materialized before everyone’s eyes.