Game’s Dogma

Moon Gazer was a slaughter machine, especially so when wielded by Drako Yau and his extraordinary spearmanship. The weapon seemed so powerful that it was beyond their common sense, as shown by Hades’ gaping mouth.

Zephyrwolf was not as surprised as Hades, for he had witnessed Drako Yau in action back in the Demon Wolf Cave. He slapped Hades on the shoulder casually like a passerby and said, ‘Don’t compare yourself to that damn monster, we’re humans.’ 

He even asked Drako Yau directly, ‘Why are you so strong?’

‘If you’ve gone through the experience of getting hunted down by a crazy old geezer for several years as a kid, you’d probably be as strong as I am. It’s nothing special.’

The three of them turned silent, apparently noticing that his childhood was no ordinary childhood at all. ‘As a kid’? Zephyrwolf was still fooling around on the streets!

‘I digress. Anyways, let’s get back to the main topic.’ Drako Yau clasped his hands and said, ‘Should we give Hell a try?’

Zephyrwolf slapped his chest and answered, ‘To Hell it is! Who’s scared!’ He didn’t go on with the second half of his answer, which was ‘We have a monster on our side anyways!’

Hades, on the other hand, shook his head. ‘I think otherwise. Hell’s at least two or three tiers more difficult than Hard. This guy is overpowered for sure, but it’s still risky. A cleric is a necessity for challenging Hell.’

Before Zephyrwolf could say anything, Drako Yau replied, ‘My thoughts exactly, it’s better to be safe than sorry. It’d be bad if we die and lose a level.’ He was all for playing it safe; he’d definitely die if they end up failing to clear the dungeon.

Hades turned around to look at Soulsmith. ‘What level is the strongest cleric in our guild?’

Soulsmith immediately responded, ‘Level 14.’

‘The minimum level requirement for challenging the Demon City in Hell difficulty is Level 15.’ Drako Yau shook his head and looked at Zephyrwolf.

‘Why’re you staring at me? You know my guild better than I do, the strongest guy’s only Level 12!’

‘In that case, should we make a recruitment announcement in Yoda?’ Hades suggested. However, a name suddenly popped up in Drako Yau’s head.

‘Give me a second, I’ll ask someone I know.’

He immediately called up the private message interface and sent a message to the ID ‘Greenstone’.

‘Are you free?’

‘Who are you.’

His cautious reply made Drako Yau smile wryly. ‘It’s me, the masked man whom you saved that day.’

After five whole minutes, Greenstone finally replied, ‘What is the matter.’

‘Demon City dungeon, Hell difficulty. Are you interested? We currently lack a cleric.’

‘Why me?’

‘Because you could save me that day.’

It was no joke at all. Just how devastating was Phantasma Violet’s strike? Drako Yau believed that he would still have died even if there were two more clones of himself who shared the damage together. Yet, Greenstone somehow managed to turn his certain death into a narrow escape through unknown means, which was why he had faith in Greenstone’s capabilities.

After another three minutes of silence, Drako Yau received a reply. ‘Wait for me, five minutes.’

He sighed upon seeing the message. ‘Message me when you’re here.’

‘K.’

Greenstone arrived after five minutes, not one second early nor late. His two-metre-tall build made him stand out among the crowd. Originally, Drako Yau had been the tallest among the four, but once Greenstone joined them… The almighty Mask could barely reach the brawny man’s shoulders.

His outstanding height paired with the bulging muscles all over his body only made him look weird because he only wore a flimsy cleric robe. The so-called long staff was like a stick in his hands.

Drako Yau hid the strange look on his face and introduced the newcomer formally. ‘Everyone, this is Greenstone, the cleric whom I invited.’ He then introduced Hades, Soulsmith, and Zephyrwolf. Greenstone only nodded in silence before saying, ‘Head out?’

Everyone was speechless. They thought that Drako Yau was a man of few words, yet Greenstone overtook him by a mile in that respect.

The five of them entered the dungeon in a single file. This time though, unlike other difficulties, they didn’t spawn at the straight path. Instead, they appeared inside what seemed to be a store.

Hades sounded confident as he said, ‘This is the grocery store of Evergrand.’ The store which had once been filled with countless players was now the residence of spiders and dust, as if it had gone unattended for years.

The five shot each other a few looks.

‘Let’s go’, said Drako Yau as he pushed the door.

‘Grr!’ A horde of skeleton hounds immediately lunged at him, catching him by surprise.

After recovering from the initial shock, he was quick to react as he lifted Moon Gazer and swept it at the hounds. It wasn’t purely a spear technique, but an amalgamation of short staff techniques and spearmanship. Having received the old geezer’s teachings, the spear was like any other polearm in his hands, and all polearm techniques complemented one another to complete his arsenal of attacks.

The moment he swung his weapon, several hounds were smacked onto the ground. Zephyrwolf, Hades, and Soulsmith also came to his aid as they started sending attacks of their own.

However, their appearance was like a signal which attracted numerous skeleton hounds to their location. Looking from afar, it was a raging river of bones that was extending its reach towards the players. Zephyrwolf was the first to start swearing, ‘Damn, are you sure this is just Hell? This is ridiculous!’

Drako Yau spotted a location with his sharp eyes. He pointed there and yelled, ‘Over there. Ladder, we’ll get to the roof!’

Zephyrwolf threw his summoning token to summon the demon wolf king. It descended from above and started slashing at the endless surge of skeleton hounds as it cleared the way towards where Drako Yau pointed at. Together with its summoner, the two led the way and broke through the hounds, and their squad soon arrived at the ladder.

Drako Yau shouted decisively, ‘Go up, I’ll be the rear guard.’ He swung and thrusted Moon Gazer with fluidity, making afterglows with the spear’s gentle lustre. Even with such numbers, the monsters couldn’t get close to him, at least for the moment.

After noticing that Greenstone was the last to have gotten onto the roof, Drako Yau made a powerful sweep with his spear before quickly turning around to climb up the roof like a monkey.

The six of them including the demon wolf king looked down from above. An endless stream of skeleton hounds slashed their claws and bared their teeth at their enemies who stood on the roof. After a while of growling and futile attempts at crawling up the wall, they dispersed and vanished throughout the city.

‘Hah…’ Zephyrwolf tumbled to the ground and gasped for air. Excluding Drako Yau, he had been the one who bore the greatest pressure as he led the charge through the skeleton hounds with Greenstone, Soulsmith, and Hades following behind him.

It must be said that Zephyrwolf’s technique and coordination had gotten so much better under Drako Yau’s guidance, much to the latter’s surprise. It appeared that Zephyrwolf’s talent at martial arts was even greater than he had anticipated.

Still, in everyone else’s mind, the most unforgettable event so far was Drako Yau’s performance.