Game’s Dogma

Everyone was surprised. Where did this ‘John’s Secret Chamber’ come from? What level was the dungeon?

The squad consisting of Dragon Alliance members also made it obvious who the player ??? was.

Inside the dungeon, Drako Yau and the others were peeking down the tunnel out of suspicion. They tried to enter it, but they were knocked back by a barrier and received a notification which said, ‘Only one player may enter.’

Defeating John alone was impossible for ordinary players. However, for Drako Yau… or others who had great reflexes and knew John’s moves, it was an achievable goal. 

Drako Yau wasn’t satisfied with just killing John by himself; it felt more like a warm-up exercise. He flexed and stretched his fingers, raring to go.

The others decided to leave it to him and left the dungeon. Hexen and King-Hit thought Mask was just overpowered against players, but they couldn’t be further off the mark.

Absolute madness… He’s a crazy bastard, be it against players or monsters…  It’ll hurt my head if I watch any more of this. The two left the dungeon with those thoughts.

Greenstone looked at him and said, ‘Be careful.’

Drako Yau nodded. Greenstone then left the dungeon together with Dumbgirl.

When only Drako Yau remained in the dungeon, the tunnel started glowing. It was the aura of a teleportation array.

He smiled and stepped into it.

A surge of killing intent splashed against him the moment he entered.

A dark shadow lunged at him along with a pungent scent. It barely missed Drako Yau and smashed into the wall behind him, shuddering the entire place.

Only then did Drako Yau have the time to inspect where he was. It resembled the laboratory above, just without the operation table and experiment apparatus. The place was dimly lit and was roughly thirty or so metres wide—a narrow space combat-wise.

Drako Yau looked behind him. The dark shadow slowly stood up, as though the impact just now hadn’t damaged it in the slightest. The dim light finally revealed who, or what it was: a miniature of the Failed Rampaging Bear King! 

He stared at the monstrosity. It gave him a vague feeling about what he was about to face.

The little bear king couldn’t care less about what he thought as it howled and lunged at him again. He leapt… and froze; he had reached the ceiling already! The room was three metres tall, barely fitting the little bear king.

It swept its claws upwards and clawed at Drako Yau. With a heavy stomp, he propelled himself from the ceiling back to the floor, passing by the sharp claws as they tore streaks in the ceiling.

The little bear king was faster than he had anticipated, but more importantly, the terrain was greatly limiting his movement. The bear king’s size and the narrow space made its attacks rather difficult to evade.

For so long, Drako Yau had been able to triumph over his enemies easily not only because he had his exceptional spearmanship and cultivation style. A major advantage of his was footwork. While its origins were unknown, Empyreal Dragon Step was a profound and well-devised set of footwork. The battle with the Fire Crystal Master also made him awaken to Empyreal Dragon Step’s quintessence and realise that the skill Wandering impacted Empyreal Dragon Step. It had become his trump card in combat ever since.

Having the footwork to evade incoming attacks meant the enemy couldn’t strike him down even if he couldn’t win the fight. Among opponents of the same calibre, Greenstone and the golden-haired young man were the only ones who had footwork comparable to his.

However, Drako Yau’s best weapon was sealed by this tight space. The little bear king only had to press on with its attacks to corner him.

As the fight went on, he gradually became engrossed in the heat of the battle. His gaze turned aggressive as he thought, Bring it on!

Flames engulfed his shoulders, then his arms and hands, eventually seeping into Shooting Star. He readied his stance, twisted his waist, and thrust his spear!

Boom!

The flaming spear clashed heavily against the bear king’s claws. Both of them shot backwards, but they steadied themselves and immediately went at each other’s throats again.

Drako Yau sidestepped just enough to evade the bear king’s massive claws. He could smell the gross smell on its arms as he counterattacked with a skill—Snowy Doorstep!

The bear king was immediately struck with slowness after getting hit by Snowy Doorstep.

My footwork is sealed here, so I’ll seal your speed as well!

Godly Spearmaster’s ice-elemental skills all had control effects that decreased movement speed, Attack speed, or even froze the enemy. Once the bear king was inflicted with the slowness debuff, the battle was over given that Drako Yau knew the bear king’s attack patterns on the back of his hand.

Such were dungeons. Without figuring the key to defeating the enemy, it couldn’t be cleared even after a thousand attempts. However, it could take all but a single run to clear the dungeon once you figure it out. This was why dungeon guides existed.

Drako Yau tossed the two items that dropped from the bear king as its corpse slowly vanished. He didn’t let his guard down; a dungeon that suddenly appeared and only allowed one player to enter couldn’t possibly end by defeating just the bear king.

He also felt a vague feeling that someone was observing him, tingling his senses and making him uncomfortable.

All of a sudden, he could hear someone clapping. He immediately turned around to look at the person walking out from a dim corner in the room. The man clapped as he slowly approached Drako Yau.

Drako Yau squinted his eyes to size the man up. He was a middle-aged man who seemed to be in his thirties. He didn’t have any beard and kept a tidy appearance, though his long white robe almost touched the ground. His appearance suggested that he was a dignified and cultured researcher.

This face… Drako Yau found him familiar for some reason. I’ve seen it before… maybe.

‘You’re Drako Yau, right? Great men do indeed sprout young. That old geezer always praises you, so much that we thought he was bluffing. Turns out you’re worthy of your reputation, it seems.’

The man hung a friendly smile on his face, but Drako Yau felt a sinister aura; the smile was so overly friendly that it was almost chilly. It felt as if a snake was preying on him from the shadows.

The man wasn’t bothered by Drako Yau’s lack of response. He continued, ‘Worry not. Since you’re the first Maverick to enter, you’re the only one who can meet me. Others who enter after you will only see a projection of mine, a projection of my memories.’

Drako Yau stayed vigilant as he asked, ‘Who are you?’

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