MMORPG: Birth of the World's Luckiest Player

"Stone, why haven’t we seen the Heavenly Thunder Leopard yet? Could the map be wrong?"

They had been hiding behind the boulder for an entire day, and there was still no sign of the beast. Princess Celeste was starting to get restless.

Marcus could only shrug. "The Heavenly Thunder Leopard only comes here to rest every two days. We might have gotten unlucky. When we spotted it yesterday, it may have just finished its rest cycle."

By now, Marcus had complete faith in Silas’s map. The information recorded in it had been too detailed to be wrong, and sure enough, two hours later, something finally happened.

"Shh!" Princess Phoenix, who had been keeping watch over both the Black Locust Thunderwood and the valley entrance, suddenly raised a hand. "Here it comes!" Marcus and the previously chattering Princess Celeste immediately fell silent and peered out from behind the boulder.

Thanks to Princess Celeste’s Saint Jade Eyes, they could see a creature charging toward the Black Locust Thunderwood while under the effects of Stealth. It had two horns, the body of a black panther, and blue lightning crackling across its fur.

’Bingo.’ That was their target. The Heavenly Thunder Leopard had evolved into a Divine Beast.

This valley was clearly one of the reasons the creature had survived for so long. Confident in its Stealth, the leopard didn’t bother checking its surroundings. It sprinted straight toward the Black Locust Thunderwood, then bounded up the massive trunk in a few quick leaps.

Only after reaching a high branch did it stop and survey the valley. From there, it had a clear view of almost everything below, but the boulder where Marcus and the two princesses were hiding happened to sit in a perfect blind spot.

Apparently satisfied that there was no danger, the Heavenly Thunder Leopard stretched its invisible body before gradually revealing itself with a crackling burst of electricity. Lightning energy immediately began spreading through the tree.

Then something unexpected happened: the blue leaves of the Black Locust Thunderwood began to sway in response to the leopard’s lightning aura. The crackling grew louder as arcs of electricity descended from the branches and struck the beast’s body.

The Heavenly Thunder Leopard let out a satisfied howl and began leaping from branch to branch. Its own lightning merged with the power flowing through the tree, and the two forces began to resonate with each other, strengthening the leopard as it absorbed the tree’s lightning energy.

Thirty minutes later, the tree’s electrical discharge gradually weakened until the valley fell quiet again. The leopard finally stopped moving and settled onto a thick branch, and then, with a sudden burst of electricity, it vanished into Stealth once more and appeared to drift into sleep.

"The leopard is faking it," Marcus sent through the party channel. Without Silas’s detailed notes, they would have been completely fooled by the beast’s behavior.

Sure enough, a little over ten minutes later, the supposedly sleeping leopard suddenly rose. It carefully scanned the valley before moving, still under Stealth, to another section of the tree. Only after finding a new position did it curl up and finally fall into genuine sleep.

Damn, that thing was far too clever.

Without Princess Celeste’s Saint Jade Eyes, none of them would have noticed the leopard changing positions. According to Silas’s notes, this was the point when the Heavenly Thunder Leopard entered true sleep, and it would remain asleep for exactly forty minutes.

This was the creature’s only period of downtime and the only predictable opportunity they had to attack it. If they missed it, they would have to track the leopard through the vast Ten-Thunder Valley and wait for another chance.

They waited another twenty minutes, and it was time.

Silas’s notes stated that a player needed more than 2,000 Agility to launch a proper sneak attack and obtain the highest possible damage multiplier. Even so, the two princesses planned to follow the standard ambush strategy.

Princess Phoenix and Princess Celeste began casting their buffs. Waves of light flashed around them as their preparations were completed, and Marcus assumed they were about to move.

Instead, Princess Phoenix turned toward him, her expression as proud as ever, but there was a trace of awkwardness in her eyes.

"Stonehaven, the Heavenly Thunder Leopard has evolved into a Divine Beast, and it’s an agility-type assassin monster. If it decides to avoid us and drag the fight out with hit-and-run attacks, it will be very difficult to deal with."

She hesitated for a moment before continuing, "Just to be safe, we’re not going to let you enter combat. That way, if the leopard decides to target someone outside the fight, it won’t come after you."

Before Marcus could respond, Princess Phoenix removed him from the party, and she and Princess Celeste immediately began preparing to engage the leopard.

Marcus turned toward Princess Celeste with an offended look, but she only gave him a mischievous wink before nodding toward Princess Phoenix, as if to say, ’She’s right. What can you do?’

Damn. Discrimination. This was blatant, hardcore discrimination.

Marcus was just about to protest when the two princesses moved, and all he could do was stand there and fume.

’Unbelievable. And Princess Celeste, of all people!’

He had only recently saved her after being paralyzed, yet this was how she repaid him? Where was the gratitude? Where was the loyalty?

’Fine. If that was how they wanted to play it, then so be it.’

Marcus was the number-one-ranked player on Dominion’s leaderboards. There was no way he was going to let two princesses underestimate him like this. He made up his mind that if he couldn’t make them regret excluding him today, he would stop wasting time trying to pursue either of them.

More importantly, the Heavenly Thunder Leopard had killed him before, and there was no way Marcus was going to let that go. If he had the chance to settle the score himself, he was taking it.

Marcus had never liked leaving grudges unresolved, and since the two princesses had already gone ahead, he couldn’t be bothered to follow them and watch from the sidelines. He mounted Blackie and headed straight toward the entrance of the valley.

Meanwhile, Princess Phoenix spread her crimson Phoenix Feather Wings and took the lead, slowly gliding toward the Heavenly Thunder Leopard resting on the Black Locust Thunderwood. The Divine Beast, the Immortal Phoenix, followed closely behind her.

Princess Celeste unfurled her Holy Light Wings and followed after them, prepared to provide healing with water spells and Holy Light energy once the battle began.

Naturally, their first move was supposed to be a sneak attack, but unfortunately, Princess Phoenix’s Agility was still below 2,000.

When she was still roughly fifty meters away from the leopard, the beast suddenly sensed the approaching danger, and its eyes snapped open.

The Heavenly Thunder Leopard stared at the two approaching princesses, and recognition quickly appeared in its eyes. They were the same enemies it had encountered yesterday, and its expression changed instantly.

A furious roar erupted from its throat as violent lightning exploded across its body. Its entire form was covered in crackling electricity as it entered combat mode.

Then it sprang forward, and with several rapid leaps, the Heavenly Thunder Leopard crossed the distance between them and charged straight at Princess Phoenix.

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