Game’s Dogma

Drako Yau stood up. Under the effects of Greenstone’s Heal and his own Bandaging skill, his injuries had mostly recovered already. Such a thing wasn’t even possible in the actual world with its current medical technology.

‘Alright, time for the real deal.’

‘Where rivals meet, fortune favours the bold. Successfully defeated the enemy squad, and the Towers of Imprisonment have been reset. Occupy all five towers for 15 minutes to summon the Demon Castellan. If it is defeated, the city will be liberated. You will be teleported back to the dungeon entrance if you fail to defeat the Demon Castellan.’

The system’s voice rang once again, and the five of them glanced at each other. After moving around the map during the event, they all had a general idea of its terrain. It was a spacious continent where the five Towers of Imprisonment stood at the five tips of a massive pentagram.

‘Let’s head out individually and meet up in the centre after we occupy all five towers. If anything happens, say it in the squad channel.’ After Drako Yau allocated their roles, the five of them spread out in search of the towers.

Upon entering the Towers of Imprisonment, they noticed that they no longer had to wait for the countdown timer to end, probably because there was no one to contest for the towers.

The moment they occupied all five towers, the system spoke into their heads, ‘All five Towers of Imprisonment have been unsealed. The Demon Castellan will break open the seal in 15 minutes.’

All of them hurried back to the centre, which was their rendezvous point. While they ran, the continent’s surface gradually shifted from dark purple to crimson red, the ground trembling along with the change. A terrifying aura emanated across the continent.

Drako Yau twitched his brows. Such a powerful aura. Looks like killing the boss won’t be easy this time.

‘I’ll be the tank. Zephyrwolf and Hades, support me and protect Greenstone. Soulsmith will deal damage from afar.’ In just a handful of words, he had already assigned everyone their roles.

Thunder and lightning tore apart the skies as he finished his sentence.

‘Hehehehehehe…’ A deep, dull laughter resounded throughout the entire space.

‘Petty human tots dare to disturb my sleep? Hehehe, how courageous.’

A white figure descended from the sky, gathering everyone’s attention as they braced themselves. Compared to the skeleton king, the Demon Castellan… was rather lacklustre when it came to looks.

Standing before them was a skinny skeleton which wore an oversized white robe. The skeleton held a staff made of bones, with three eyeballs forming a triangle on the weapon’s tip, and Drako Yau could descry the fear behind those eyeballs.

Looking at the silhouette which was smaller than everyone present, Drako Yau knew the Demon Castellan was who-knew-how-many times stronger than the skeleton king.

‘One, two, three… Oh? Maverick it is. Ehehe, intriguing, intriguing indeed.’ Despite lacking flesh and skin, they could tell the skeleton was sizing them up quizzically.

The term ‘Maverick’ came up again. Even though it didn’t say who the Maverick was, Drako Yau thought it had to be referring to himself. Unable to quit a game where death meant actual death, was there anyone more unorthodox than him?

‘I’ll entertain you all—I am the great skeleton priest. Defeat me, and I shall vacate the city.’ Eerie green flames lit up in the skeleton’s eye sockets while it levitated in the air. ‘Give it your all, ’kay? It’s not my fault if you die! Ehehehe!’ Its sights were set on Drako Yau as it spoke.

‘God dammit…’ Drako Yau murmured to himself as his legs sprang into motion, because the great skeleton priest was already attacking them.

The levitating skeleton pointed its bone staff at the group, showering green fireballs upon them like a rainstorm.

The five of them were no ordinary players either. The moment it started conjuring fireballs, they began their evasion manoeuvers.

Crater after crater, the green fireballs carved out crimson soil from the ground, leaving behind fluttering lime flames.

Zephyrwolf broke out in a cold sweat; his technique was the poorest among all squad members. Drako Yau had been giving him advice all the time, but it couldn’t be learnt overnight and was something that could only be achieved through the trials and baptism of time.

Still, Zephyrwolf didn’t just sit around. He summoned the demon wolf king, which howled at the sky and hurled a series of wind blades at the great skeleton priest.

‘Soulsmith, Zephyrwolf, shoot it down.’ Drako Yau gave the order in a hurry, his legs racing around the place as he kept dodging the never-ending bombardment of green fireballs on his tail.

This scrawny bag of bones… Over 70 per cent of the skeleton’s attacks were targeted at Drako Yau, making it obvious that it was picking on him.

‘Ahahahaha! Run, hide!’ The great skeleton priest seemed to enjoy watching them flee like rats. As wind blades and arrows flew towards it, it paused momentarily before pointing its staff to the front, erecting a semi-sphere barrier of green flames which blocked all the attacks.

Zephyrwolf was close to throwing a tantrum as he cried, ‘This has to be a bug! We can’t hit it when it’s up in the air, but arrows don’t work with the fire shield in the way either!’

On the other hand, Drako Yau was deep in thought. It was a mage-type boss which could fly, and just flight alone meant almost all melee damage output was lost. They were supposed to engage in a shootout with the boss, but the only ranged combatants on their side were Soulsmith and the demon wolf king. 

How troublesome!

Greenstone had an odd complexion; despite his stoic face that was almost like a statue, he kept on sending strange glances at Drako Yau without him noticing.

The floating great skeleton priest laughed maniacally as it fired countless green fireballs at Drako Yau. From the looks of the craters created by the fireballs’ explosion upon impact, getting hit by one certainly wouldn’t be a good experience.

Seeing that Drako Yau was hard-pressed to constantly deal with the fireballs, Greenstone steeled himself, his concealed left hand conjuring streaks of light.

‘Hm?’ The great skeleton priest suddenly trembled in the air, and in no time, it gradually sunk to the ground.

‘Chance!’ Hades was the quickest to react, with him disappearing the next moment.

Invisibility! 

Shadowstrike!

‘When Invisibility is active, Shadowstrike deals 50 per cent more damage and critical damage is increased by 20 per cent.’

The moment the great skeleton priest got into range of Shadowstrike, Hades lunged at it. His dagger connected with his target—it was the first time they dealt damage to it.

Upon taking damage, the great skeleton priest dropped even faster. It soon landed on the ground, its gruesome gaze now locked onto Greenstone. ‘How dare you make this noble priest tread on land?’ Before it finished its words, a snake composed of green flames was already dashing straight for Greenstone.

Zephyrwolf threw himself in front of Greenstone, his hands swinging Night’s Venator at the snake as he yelled, ‘Attack the boss!’

Berserker

Description: A class progression branch of the warrior class, it is the symbol of rage and fury.

Skill type: Berserkers are powerful fighters set apart from ordinary warriors by their ability to use the skill Blood Ritual. In order to become excellent berserkers, the Blood Ritual skill tree requires them to take good control of their own Health. Berserkers have increased damage when their Health falls below a certain threshold, but they are at risk of getting insta-killed if their Health is too low, making it a class which emphasises awareness.

Skill tree: Blood Ritual, Berserking Combatives

Weapon type: Two-handed greatsword, spear.

Class progression: ???