The roar tore out of the Ravager’s throat before it had even fully materialized.
Bone Spike Volley.
Ten spikes ripped free from somewhere deep in its ruined maw, screaming through the air toward the cluster of Cartel players like a volley of black arrows.
The Wolf King kill had leveled both companions to 12 apiece, and the Ravager’s star-maxed Bronze bloodline made sure every point of that growth showed. Three cloth-armor players dropped before the first volley even finished landing clean, instant, no time to react.
The rest of the Cartel spun around, and every face in the group went pale at what they found waiting behind them.
"It’s him! Unrivaled!"
"Coward! Attacking from behind, no warning" Doesn’t matter, MOVE! Scatter!
ReaperDrake barked orders, and his crew surged forward on reflex, throwing themselves at the Ravager without much of a plan beyond sheer numbers.
It didn’t matter. Last time, twenty-plus players hadn’t been enough to crack an Iron-tier version of this thing.
This crew barely broke a dozen, and the Ravager they were facing now had evolved twice since then.
Every basic swing from the Ravager landed like a truck. Nobody but ReaperDrake himself geared out in gear he’d bought straight off Kael’s own auction could take more than three hits and stay standing.
Every time Feast came off cooldown, another body vanished down its throat in a single motion.
ReaperDrake tried the same play as before, ordering a direct charge at Kael himself.
It went about as well as last time.
Kael’s agility, boosted hard by his new leather set, kept him a full step ahead of anyone trying to close the distance backpedaling smooth and steady, bow drawn the entire time, arrows finding gaps in armor with mechanical precision.
A handful of Cartel members got kited into oblivion, dropping one after another, some of them laughing hysterically on the way down out of sheer disbelief.
Two minutes, maybe less. The whole engagement ended before most of the onlookers had even finished pulling out their phones to record.
The Ring of Infinite Fortune made sure the payoff matched the effort nearly every corpse left something behind, gear scattered across the road in a glittering mess. Kael moved through the aftermath collecting it all with a satisfied grin.
Round two of the auction house, coming right up.
Not many players had reached level 10 yet, but enough had gathered near the gate to catch the whole fight live.
Word rippled through the growing crowd fast, most of it landing somewhere between awe and disbelief.
Rachel had watched the entire thing from a few steps back, and by the end of it, her composure had cracked clean through.
She stood dwarfed beneath the Ravager’s looming frame, staring up at four meters of bone and muscle, face gone a shade paler than it had been ten minutes ago.
She forced a smile anyway, voice pitched sweet.
"Wow your pet’s incredible. Cleared out that whole crew without breaking a sweat." A pause, calculated. "Want to see what it can really do?"
Kael looked at her, something cold settling behind his eyes.
"Sure. Let’s find out."
Her smile faltered. "...What do you mean?"
"I mean the answer’s no. I’m not signing with Ironclad. I have zero interest in anything you’re offering." His voice dropped, flat and final. "And don’t come near me again."
The Ravager didn’t wait for further instruction. Feast triggered on its own cooldown timing, jaws splitting wide, and Rachel vanished in a single bite before the horror had fully registered on her face.
The crowd went dead silent for a beat, then erupted into noise. "Wait he just fed his own recruiter to his pet?!"
"I thought they were on the same side?"
"Did you not hear what she was pitching him on right before? That’s not a teammate, that’s Ironclad’s PR rep. Guess he got tired of being followed around."
"That’s brutal. But also kind of deserved? He’s been saying no this whole time."
"Three years carrying that club to titles, and they cut him loose the second he wouldn’t play along with their manager. Then they turn around and smear his name online afterward."
"Everybody in the scene knows Unrivaled’s reputation is clean. Whatever garbage they posted about him doesn’t hold up to a second of scrutiny."
"Exactly. And judging by how she was acting right before that she wasn’t here for a business meeting."
"Honestly? If someone tried that hard to corner me, I might’ve done the same thing."
"Wait, are you actually defending this?"
Kael tuned all of it out.
He scooped up the two items Rachel had dropped, vaulted up onto the Ravager’s back, and gave the signal to move deeper into the grinding grounds.
Less than a full day into launch. No time to waste babysitting drama that didn’t matter.
Back at Frostwatch’s resurrection point, Rachel’s body slowly reassembled out of scattered light.
"Unrivaled You absolute" She bit off the rest, shaking with rage, and immediately pulled up her friends list to fire off a message to Cynthia.
Cynthia was mid-grind when the message landed, and her expression soured instantly.
Ryan, never one to miss an opening, leaned in immediately.
"Cynthia, there’s a line even in business. He just killed one of our own, in public, in front of half the server." He shook his head, feigning outrage.
"That’s not a rejection. That’s a statement. If we let this slide, every rival org’s going to think they can walk over us."
Cynthia’s jaw tightened. "You think you can actually beat him?"
Ryan puffed his chest out, all confidence. "Without a doubt. He’s a Beastlord strip away that pet and he’s nothing. Get inside his range and there’s nothing left backing him up. Watch. I’ll handle this myself."
She weighed it for a moment, then nodded, already pulling up her contact list.
"Find his coordinates. Now."
"You want to play games with Ironclad?" she muttered under her breath, voice cold. "Fine. Let’s see how long that attitude survives."