Chapter 431: The Battle for the Twin-Clawed Crab

Marcus followed the direction Amber was pointing and looked into the distance. Sure enough, near a lake surrounded by mountains, countless figures moved across the shoreline. The distance was too great for him to make them out clearly, but there had to be at least a thousand of them.

"Are those players?" Marcus asked, squinting in confusion.

From where he was, the mass of dark figures looked less like people and more like a swarm of monsters roaming the mountainside.

"Of course they’re players. I can see them clearly."

Amber puffed out her cheeks at his skepticism. Only then did Marcus remember that his sister was a hidden-class Elven Archer. Her eyesight was on a completely different level from his.

"Alright, let’s go take a look."

Marcus nudged Blackie forward and led the girls toward the gathering near the lake. Over a thousand players gathered in one place was unusual enough on its own. There had to be something worth seeing.

He opened Silas the Wanderer’s map and checked the area. The location was called Crab Lake. Aside from being known for its delicious crabs, there wasn’t supposed to be anything remarkable about it.

As they drew closer, the distant shapes gradually became clear. Amber had been right. Every single one of them was a player, and there were far more than Marcus had first guessed.

"What eyesight..."

Marcus couldn’t help shaking his head in admiration. If Amber hadn’t pointed it out, he probably would have mistaken the crowd for a monster migration and flown right past.

His sister really was something else.

He gave her a thumbs-up. Amber immediately lifted her chin and grinned, looking far too pleased with herself.

Now the real question was what all these players were doing here.

Curious, Marcus urged Blackie to pick up speed.

It didn’t take long before he found the answer.

At the center of Crab Lake stood an enormous crab. Gentle ripples spread across the water beneath it as crackling arcs of electricity danced over its black shell. Its massive twin claws were raised high, and its eyes were fixed on the players surrounding the lake with obvious hostility.

The target of this gathering was clearly the giant twin-clawed crab.

And judging by the state of the battlefield, things had already spiraled completely out of control.

Weapons flashed. Players shouted. Skills exploded in every direction. The entire lakeshore had become a battlefield.

Marcus estimated there were close to two thousand players present. That wasn’t even counting the hundreds of corpses already scattered across the ground or the steady stream of newcomers still arriving from nearby cities.

After listening to nearby conversations and piecing together the situation, Marcus quickly learned what had happened.

Apparently, a player had been fishing at Crab Lake when he accidentally caught one of the twin-clawed crab’s offspring, a Level 6 pet called a Lightning Bubble Crab.

The mother had appeared shortly afterward.

Enraged, the giant crab stormed ashore and began slaughtering anyone unfortunate enough to be nearby. News spread rapidly, drawing players from all directions.

The problem was that the twin-clawed crab wasn’t an ordinary monster.

It was a Level 60 Golden Boss.

Players who rushed over hoping for easy rewards quickly discovered the reality. Instead of killing the boss, they were the ones being killed.

Eventually, the Black Dragon Guild, currently the strongest guild in Dominion, arrived on the scene. Although the average player level was only around forty, Black Dragon’s four hundred members were highly organized. Working together, they managed to suppress the crab and slowly grind down its health.

They were on the verge of victory, having already sacrificed nearly a third of their members, when the situation changed.

Other major forces began arriving one after another. 𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂

The Inferno Clan.

The Threeleaf Clan.

The Violet Thunder Guild.

The Soulfire Guild.

Several powerful mercenary groups followed close behind, along with countless independent players who came either to watch the excitement or to snatch rewards if the opportunity appeared.

The moment they saw the nearly defeated Golden Boss, nobody wanted to back down.

Every guild wanted the kill.

Every mercenary group wanted a share of the loot.

Even ordinary players dreamed of picking up something valuable amid the chaos. As a result, the battle shifted instantly.

Instead of fighting the boss, the players started fighting each other.

Nobody trusted anyone. Nobody was willing to stand aside and let someone else claim the reward.

The result was complete chaos.

Players charged in every direction. Guilds clashed head-on. Skills and arrows flew through the air nonstop. Bodies fell one after another, yet almost nobody was actually attacking the twin-clawed crab anymore.

The most ironic part was what happened next.

Taking advantage of the confusion after Black Dragon’s formation broke apart, the heavily injured crab suddenly launched a desperate counterattack. Lightning erupted from its body as its enormous claws swept across the battlefield. Another large group of players died almost instantly before the monster smashed through the encirclement and escaped back into the lake.

All the fighting had accomplished nothing.

The players had nearly secured the kill, only to hand the boss an opportunity to escape.

But by then, many people no longer cared.

For plenty of players, especially members of the major guilds, fighting each other was far more exciting than fighting the boss. Rivalries that had been building for weeks finally had an outlet.

The battle only grew more intense.

Meanwhile, the twin-clawed crab remained safely in the water.

Its health steadily recovered, and its condition improved with every passing minute.

Small groups and independent players had no chance of defeating it, especially now that it had retreated into its natural habitat. The larger guilds and mercenary groups theoretically possessed enough strength, but they were too busy tearing each other apart to organize a proper assault.

Even if one guild wanted to focus on the boss, they would first have to deal with every rival force surrounding the lake.

So the situation reached a bizarre stalemate. The lakeshore was a war zone.

The lake itself was peaceful.

Thousands of players fought and died along the shore while the giant crab calmly sat in the middle of the water, watching them with wary eyes.

After nearly losing its life once, it had clearly learned its lesson. Although it glared at the players with obvious hatred, it showed no intention of setting foot on land again.

Then someone looked up.

"Ah!"

"Look! Angels!"

The shout immediately drew attention.

Players who noticed the white cloud drifting across the sky froze in disbelief. A few became so distracted that they didn’t even notice enemy weapons striking them.

"Ah!"

"Isn’t that the Nightmare Dragon Steed? The divine mount?"

More and more players looked upward.

"Wait, that’s a Pegasus!"

"I think that’s the Violet Thunderwing Steed. It’s ranked second on the Mount Leaderboard!"

"You’re right! That’s definitely the Violet Thunderwing Steed!"

"And that one over there has to be the Cloud-Mist Gale Steed!"

The crowd instantly recognized the mounts.

After all, these were famous names on the Mount Leaderboard. Countless players had discussed them on the forums, and even more had envied the people fortunate enough to own them.

Now, all of those legendary mounts had appeared together above Crab Lake. The spectacle was impossible to ignore. Even the fierce fighting below began to slow as more and more players stared at the group descending from the sky.