MMORPG: Birth of the World's Luckiest Player-Chapter 200: The Dragon Knight

"Desperate Strike!"

Marcus was not about to sit there and wait for his end. He had never been the type to accept being trapped without at least trying to break free. Switching weapons in one smooth motion, he drew a longsword, poured every last drop of strength and intent into a Desperate Strike, and hurled the blade straight toward the swirling mass of the Black Raven Cloak above him.

The moment the sword entered the cloak’s domain, the demonic energy thickened violently, pressing down like a suffocating wall. The air itself seemed to scream in protest. Then came a sharp, nauseating CRACK. Before the blade could even brush the fabric, it shattered into splinters, the fragments scattering uselessly through the mist.

Marcus nearly wanted to cry.

The Black Raven Cloak was a true Artifact, and its effects were horrifying. It was a brutal reminder of a saying every veteran in Dominion knew by heart: in the hands of someone who truly understood it, an Artifact could rival even the most exalted Divine equipment.

With no way out for the moment, Marcus’s attention drifted back to the chaos unfolding around him. If he was going to be stuck inside this demonic prison, he might as well make use of his front-row seat.

WHOOSH. WHOOSH. WHOOSH.

Sienna’s Divine Artifact, the Wind-Dance Heaven-Splitter Fan, transformed the battlefield into a localized disaster zone. Vortex after vortex erupted from her swings, massive spiraling cyclones crashing head-on into the Double-Headed Raven King’s Dark Sky Thunder. The dark lightning was shredded, torn apart as if she were trying to grind the ancient arch-sorcerer into scraps.

At the heart of the storm, Sienna herself moved like something unreal. Every step and every turn of her wrist flowed seamlessly into the next, graceful and mesmerizing, her combat style resembling a deadly celestial dance. Even in the middle of a life-and-death struggle, Marcus felt a pang of regret. Between the demonic mist of the cloak and the roaring winds, he still could not get a clear look at her face. It felt like a personal injustice.

CLANG. CLANG. CLANG.

On the opposite side of the courtyard, the Cloud-Tusk Lion was an entirely different kind of spectacle. Its massive form blurred between white mist and roaring crimson flames as its body swelled with power. The clouds surrounding it dampened and distorted the Six-Headed Twin-Winged Serpent’s elemental spells, weakening attacks that should have been catastrophic. Its steel-like tail, glowing a murderous red, slammed again and again against the serpent’s twin Mythic weapons, each collision erupting in sparks and thunderous booms that echoed through the palace grounds.

’I definitely underestimated that lion,’ Marcus thought, watching it trade blows with a full-fledged Calamity Beast without giving an inch.

The sheer scale of both battles was overwhelming. The courtyard of the Mist Veil Palace was being systematically annihilated. Massive stones were hurled through the air like loose gravel, overlapping elemental energies twisted together into violent chaos, and the sound of continuous impacts never ceased. Any lower-level mobs unfortunate enough to remain nearby had already been erased by the shockwaves alone. If not for the demonic mist imprisoning him, Marcus was certain he would have died several times over by now.

Still, even as he watched in awe, he could see where this was heading. Sienna and the Cloud-Tusk Lion were holding their ground, but they were fighting uphill battles. The Demon Lord’s Guardians had not yet gone all out. Once the Raven King and the serpent stopped testing their opponents and unleashed their full strength, the outcome would no longer be in doubt.

’This is bad’, Marcus groaned internally.

Once Sienna and the lion fell, he would be left alone with the Raven King and the serpent for what would undoubtedly be a very personal reckoning. Given his less-than-friendly history with the Raven King, he had zero interest in seeing how that would end. He had come here hoping to scavenge loot amidst the chaos, but it was becoming painfully clear that he was the one about to be scavenged.

"Gods," he muttered under his breath. "A little help here?"

Nothing happened. No miracle or divine intervention came, as reality remained stubbornly cruel.

With a reluctant sigh, Marcus cast one last lingering look at the piles of high-tier loot scattered across the ruined courtyard and accepted the truth. There would be no profit today. It was time to retreat and live to gamble another day.

"Run for Your Life!"

He activated the skill once more, forcibly breaking his combat state.

The Fluffy Rabbit’s Mask was, by all logic, a ridiculous Artifact. Since the most recent system update, Run for Your Life had become even more absurd. For two full seconds after activation, Marcus remained flagged as non-combat, even if enemies were actively attacking him or if he himself was mid-swing.

Under normal circumstances, the Black Feather Field would have prevented the use of a Town Portal Scroll. However, Marcus had prepared for this exact scenario. His trump card was Wanderlust, a high-tier mobility skill that allowed instant teleportation to a random location or a preset coordinate, provided he was not in combat.

Marcus suppressed a laugh, his lips curling into a devious grin. He could almost picture the Raven King’s reaction when his carefully trapped prey vanished into thin air. Would that bird lose his composure and chase him all the way back to the city again?

’Poor guy,’ Marcus thought smugly. ’A legendary powerhouse, and he cannot even touch a lwvel 30 player. He might as well go find a vine and hang himself.’

He had not stayed this long out of stupidity. He simply trusted his tools. After all, what was impossible to the ignorant was routine for an expert.

Just as Marcus opened his mouth, ready to shout a final farewell and trigger Wanderlust, the battlefield shifted.

Amid the already rampant chaos, a pillar of dense, oily black demonic energy erupted from the ground not far from him. The energy compressed rapidly, forming a glowing hexagonal sigil etched into the stone. A low, bone-deep hum filled the air as a massive silhouette began to take shape within the darkness.

The figure emerged fully, revealing a towering warrior clad in heavy obsidian-black plate armor. In his right hand, he held a massive greatsword. In his left rested a thick, compact shield. Though smaller than Marcus’s Adamant Shield, it radiated a far denser, more oppressive presence. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝚠𝕖𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝕖𝚕.𝚌𝗼𝗺

The knight alone was imposing, but the true shock came from beneath him.

A massive black dragon crouched low, its wings stretching nearly fifteen feet across. Its scales gleamed like polished onyx, and its powerful legs dug into the shattered ground with predatory intent. It was the embodiment of an apex hunter, the kind of existence that ruled simply by existing.

"A Dragon Knight," Marcus breathed.

Between the obsidian armor, the crushing weight of his aura, and the black dragon shrouded in demonic mist, the atmosphere of the Mist Veil Palace changed instantly. A chilling sense of calculated violence spread through the courtyard. Combined with the knight’s solitary, unyielding presence, he looked impossibly formidable.

This was it. This was the peak.

Becoming a Dragon Knight was the ultimate dream of every Knight-class player. Even though Marcus had already class-changed into a Temple Knight, a path Mare insisted rivaled it in power, the allure of the Dragon Knight remained undeniable, especially the variants devoted entirely to destruction, such as Dark or Death Dragon Knights.

To witness a legendary high-tier Dragon Knight in person, and a Dark-attuned one at that, sent a surge of adrenaline through Marcus’s body. Even if he died here today, he decided, the sight alone had made the journey worthwhile.