Game’s Dogma

‘That dude looks pissed as hell.’ Zephyrwolf stared as hard as he could, wanting to catch a glimpse of what the arrogant Booksy Swordsman was doing. Even though he couldn’t see very clearly due to the distance between them, it wasn’t hard to tell that Booksy Swordsman was anxiously walking in circles while roaring.

‘Handsome Scholar is strong, but Dragonspear… I can never discern the depths of his strength’, said Hades.

Finally unable to hold it in anymore, Soulsmith blurted, ‘Guild Master, I’ve never understood why you’re so fearful of him. You’re our Diabolos!’

Hades laughed, though it contained a tint of helplessness. ‘The universe is a huge place, you’ll always find someone better than you. I had once reigned in War of the Daemons, but after playing this game, I realise how big the world is. I was but a frog in a well, who knew nothing of the sea.

‘The reason why I treat him so courteously is simple.’ The scenes of Drako Yau beating him up with the starter wooden stick popped up in his head. ‘I’m scared of him.’

Zephyrwolf, Hades, and Soulsmith felt uneasy and wanted to ask about the situation, but they knew the two survivors were men of few words. Getting them to talk was a tough task, especially Greenstone…

The moment they had such thought, the two survivors struck up a dialogue in the squad channel. They didn’t dare to cut in upon hearing their conversation.

‘Where are you?’ Drako Yau asked as he dodged another arrow fired by Bookstore Clerk.

‘Somewhere far away. How long will it take for you to kill the cleric?’ It was the longest sentence he had spoken since joining the squad, which only went to show how dire the situation was.

Drako Yau thought for a moment then answered, ‘Five minutes. But if the hunter gets in the way, it’ll be…’

‘I’ll hold Handsome Scholar back for five minutes.’ Greenstone interrupted him with hasty words. ‘He’ll definitely come for me. I’ll hold him back for five minutes, no more than that. I’ll run away afterwards, you’re on your own then.’

Immediately after Greenstone stopped talking, several beams of light descended from the sky, and Drako Yau could feel changes going on in his body.

It wasn’t Heal, but he no longer felt pain from the cuts that Handsome Scholar had left on him. Glimpsing at his wounds, blood was still drizzling out even though he couldn’t feel pain.

‘Quickly, it won’t last long’, Greenstone urged him on.

Drako Yau also knew it wasn’t the time to be amazed as he charged at Thousand Scrolls with spear in hand. Needless to say, Bookstore Clerk and Handsome Scholar wasn’t going to let him do as he pleased. The hunter cast skill one after another, while Handsome Scholar intercepted Drako Yau in his path.

Pzzt…

Another Heal landed on Drako Yau. It had to be said that Greenstone’s Heal spell was very potent. Not only did it gradually close the wounds on his body, he also felt reinvigorated.

Bookstore Clerk said frantically, ‘Guild Master, the enemy cleric is healing Mask.’

‘Idiot! Then find him quickly! Let Scholar deal with Mask! Go!’ Booksy Swordsman yelled at his guild member. After receiving the order, Bookstore Clerk hurried to look around in search of his target.

It didn’t take long for him to find Greenstone who was hiding far behind Drako Yau. After all, the landscape was pretty flat and open with not much space for hiding.

Bookstore Clerk hastily pulled his bow the moment Greenstone entered his range. Under his astonished gaze, the brawny Greenstone casually dodged every arrow as if he was taking a stroll.

That was the life of a hunter. As a class which valued precision over most things, players who weren’t adept at shooting usually chose to go down the route of an assassin. However, most players who had been assigned the ranged hunter class by the system had sharper senses at shooting than typical people. For Bookstore Clerk who was a core member of a first-rate guild, his proficiency in shooting was even higher.

Yet his trusty precision with the bow didn’t seem to work on the bulky, muscular man. Greenstone’s movements were subtle, but he somehow managed to dodge every arrow at a hair’s breadth, which was infuriating to look at. 

Booksy Swordsman lost his rag and cursed, ‘Trash! You can’t even take down a cleric?!’ 

In the meantime, Drako Yau was once again pinning Handsome Scholar down. Now that both sides had clerics healing the fighters, his damage output was even more astonishing. Thousand Scrolls was dumbstruck to find that his healing rate was unable to catch up with the damage dealt by Drako Yau. Handsome Scholar’s Health was steadily decreasing, albeit at a slow rate.

Thousand Scrolls reported the situation to Booksy Swordsman out of desperation, which only served to anger the guild master further.

‘Scholar! Leave Mask alone and go kill the cleric! Bookstore Clerk will hold that guy back for now!’

Handsome Scholar silently flung himself away from Drako Yau and headed towards Greenstone, with no one noticing that his hands had almost turned purple from gripping his sword so hard.

‘He’s coming! Five minutes!’ Greenstone started fleeing after leaving the four words behind. Now that Handsome Scholar was pursuing him, he knew Drako Yau didn’t need his support against the hunter-and-cleric duo. What he had to do now was buy enough time for Drako Yau to kill the cleric!

Both Drako Yau and Handsome Scholar, who had just been having a heated exchange of blows moments ago, happened to ditch one another at the same time and charged at the enemy cleric.

Two arrows bolted through the air as they darted towards Drako Yau’s back from behind. Without turning to look, he made a forward roll to dodge the arrows before continuing his charge. 

Thousand Scrolls wasn’t that dumb either. Noticing the approaching spearman, he continued his retreat to the rear.

Boom!

The bracelet on Drako Yau’s arm gave off a red glow, summoning two fire crystal giants. One appeared behind him to block Bookstore Clerk’s attacks while the other landed ahead of him to obstruct the fleeing Thousand Scrolls.

Panic-stricken, Thousand Scrolls cried in the squad channel as he ran, ‘Two fire monsters came out of nowhere! I can’t get away!’

Veins popped up on Booksy Swordsman’s forehead. Dammit, it’s those fire crystal giants!

As a guild master of a first-rate guild, his intuition and foresight wasn’t bad. The game had all sorts of weird items and equipment, so it wouldn’t be surprising for there to be an item which could summon fire crystal giants.

‘Scholar, use the thing. The reward we got that day for clearing the encounter quest. It’s a critical situation.’ Booksy Swordsman’s voice was grave. ‘Please, I beg you.’

Booksy Swordsman was a merchant with decent income in the actual world who also happened to love playing games. On the day ‘Real World’ had been launched, he recognised it as a massive business opportunity straight away. He converted most of his company’s liquid assets into coins in the game to promote its growth, or else it’d be useless even if he had mighty players under his wing.

He wouldn’t go broke even if he failed this time, but the initial funds he had invested would go to waste.

Gambling with opportunities had always been a hobby among merchants—just that the stakes were a little too high for Booksy Swordsman this time.

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