Game’s Dogma

A few creaks could be heard. The dagger… stopped a few centimetres in front of Chan Ka Lok while Chan Ka Lok’s finger sword landed on the bandit’s chest.

It was a rather eerie sight to behold. The bandit captain’s dagger was so close to reaching Chan Ka Lok, but no matter how fierce his stare was, his body wouldn’t move at all.

“Quick, kill him!” Chan Ka Lok yelled anxiously.

Bloodless Bladester knew it was his chance. As they were both first-rate players, their equipment was decent at the very least, not to mention weaponmaster was a damage-dealing class. He used every skill that dealt high damage in quick succession; the bandit captain shrieked before turning into a lump of white light and vanished.

Supported by Greenstone, Yim Ho was like an immortal. He kept switching from tiger to bear, sometimes morphing into a bird, other times a turtle. Greenstone threw his silver needles whenever the bandit captain tried to use Forced Lurk, robbing the bandit of his class advantage.

It didn’t take long before the bandit vanished with a weird shriek.

Drako Yau also completely dominated the situation. Flame and ice swirled around his spear, inflicting all sorts of negative ailments on the bandit captain. After inflicting the explosive status of Grilled Erudite, his Flameblast which dealt twice the damage decimated the bandit.

“Successfully defended against the first wave. The second wave will begin in thirty minutes.”

The six gathered at the village centre again. Although they made it through the first wave, their expressions weren’t as relaxed.

Chau Yu waved his feather fan and said slowly, “Looks like it’s different from The Siege. This time, enemies won’t flood in with numbers, replaced by elite bosses. We’ve got Level 40 epic bosses on the first wave, what’s next? Level 45?”

Yim Ho nodded at Chau Yu’s words. “If not for Greenstone’s ability to see through lurking enemies, it would’ve been tough. Getting hit from behind by a Level 40 epic boss buffed by Lurk… Won’t have much Health left even if you survive.”

Bloodless Bladester and Chan Ka Lok exchanged bitter laughs; they had a good taste of what Yim Ho was talking about personally. Bloodless Bladester put on a smile and asked, “Guild master Chan, that move was spectacular. How did you freeze that Level 40 boss?”

Chan Ka Lok didn’t let the praise go to his head and simply answered, “I got it from an encounter quest. It’s the Mono-yang Finger, though I only got a fragment of the scroll so it has a cooldown of thirty minutes. Still, it can freeze an enemy of any level for ten whole seconds, at the cost of limited range and long cooldown.”

Everyone turned silent; the skill’s effect was very useful. Once struck by it, even Drako Yau couldn’t do anything in retaliation. It wasn’t without its drawbacks either. Because its cooldown was so long, it couldn’t be used again in the fight if he missed.

Chan Ka Lok told everyone the strengths and weaknesses of his skill, and that spoke something about his personality. Mono-yang Finger was a powerful trump card that could even take Drako Yau by surprise. However, he disclosed its details without holding back. He knew his teammates had to know the limits of his skills if they were going to cooperate; what if a teammate was waiting for him to use Mono-yang Finger when it was still in cooldown? It could end very badly.

Chau Yu frowned and said, “This first wave… was already quite difficult. Level 40 epic assassin bosses can kill over ninety per cent of players. Thankfully all of us here are elites, or else the quest would’ve been over already. A legendary quest indeed.

“The next wave won’t just be assassins anymore. There might be mages, warriors, and don’t forget that twenty players have joined the bandits’ side.”

Noticing everyone’s grave looks, Chau Yu smiled. “Don’t worry, the system won’t send in all twenty players together with the bosses at once. Or else… they won’t need the bosses. The players alone can finish us off.”

Every player who was deemed as one of the strongest by the system must have the strength to back it up.

Like Chan Ka Lok, he had Mono-yang Finger up his sleeve. Few players could defeat him in a duel without knowing about the skill beforehand.

Bloodless Bladester had his unique footwork and hidden cultivation style.

Yim Ho had the hidden class Beast Pugilist and the powerful ranged area-of-effect skill, Meteor Fist.

If twenty players of this calibre attacked all at once, even Drako Yau would die for certain. That wouldn’t be a quest, but rather, a death trap—and that went against the fundamental rules of a game. As long as it was a game, there had to be a chance of succeeding, no matter how slim it was!

Chau Yu flapped his feather fan against his palm. “If I’m not wrong, players should start showing up in the next wave. Not too many though… One per entrance I guess.”

Yim Ho rolled his eyes and asked, “How can you be so sure of it?”

“Deduction, prediction,” Chau Yu said confidently. “In other words, each entrance will have to fight one Level 40 to Level 45 epic boss and an unknown player.

“I need you all to tell me about the enemy once you see them, especially their names. Players strong enough to accept this quest should be quite well-known in the game.”

Yim Ho couldn’t help rebutting, “So what if you know their names? Do you have all their information?”

Chau Yu chuckled, though it didn’t contain a tint of joy, as if it was just a mask for socialising. “Yes. I have memorised the information of every player ranked top fifty on every class ranking. I can tell you about the enemy players’ class and known trump cards. Of course, there’s nothing I can do about skills that have never been shown to the public.”

Yim Ho felt like he had been forced to gulp down a mouthful of flies. He had a poor impression of Chau Yu because he thought Chau Yu was taking advantage of Mask after becoming the commander, but he had to admit Chau Yu was worthy of his reputation.

Top fifty of every class? Putting hidden classes aside, there were eight classes after class progression! Didn’t that mean he memorised the information of 400 players?

Disgusting… He’s too good to the point it’s disgusting!

Drako Yau also became a lot warier of Chau Yu. Chau Yu was a formidable enemy, but as a teammate, he was nothing short of reliable.

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