Game’s Dogma

Zephyrwolf who had been protecting Greenstone was taken aback when he noticed the approaching skeleton king.

‘Block it! Hades, defend Greenstone.’

Instead of the skeleton king, Drako Yau headed for the great skeleton priest. The skeleton king was summoned by the priest, so as long as he killed the summoner, the summoned would also be vanquished. It was a strategy known as ‘rescue the besieged by striking the besieger’s base’.

[Note: The strategy comes from a proverb in Chinese which literally means ‘Besiege Ngai to save Chiu’. The Chiu Kingdom was besieged by the Ngai Kingdom, and Chiu’s ally decided to strike Ngai Kingdom’s capital in order to force Ngai’s army to break siege and return to defend their capital.]

The great skeleton priest still paid no heed to Drako Yau and simply knocked him back with Ring of Rebounding Flames, its mind set on nothing but killing Greenstone.

The demon wolf king was also recalled by Zephyrwolf to his side to help protect Greenstone. The skeleton king was a tougher opponent to hold back compared to the great skeleton priest, in its grounded state of course. Among them all, Drako Yau was the only person who could single-handedly take on the skeleton king without being the underdog.

‘Quick! I’m almost dead!’

Even with Greenstone constantly healing him, Zephyrwolf’s Health was taking a plunge to rock bottom under the combined attacks of the skeleton king and priest.

At the same time, Drako Yau was right next to the great skeleton priest. They were now having a battle of speed—whoever fell first was the loser.

‘Fuck it, I’m going all out!’ Zephyrwolf yelled as flames emerged around him.

Dancing Flames:

For 10 seconds, attack damage is increased by 50%, defence is increased by 30%, critical hit rate is increased by 10%, movement speed is increased by 5%. After 10 seconds, all attributes will decrease by 30%.

Zephyrwolf wasn’t the best fighter in the world, but his experience in gaming was plentiful. At his current Health, he would have died within 10 seconds if he had been late with using the skill. The attribute debuff didn’t matter—it was all about staying alive now.

Drako Yau knew he was pressed for time. He had summoned the fire crystal giants already, yet with their massive and sluggish bodies, they were very slow at getting back into combat after getting knocked back by Ring of Rebounding Flames.

The great skeleton king was at death’s doorstep, he knew that much. But Zephyrwolf was in the same position as it was!

‘Avenge me!’ Zephyrwolf cried. The dancing flames on him were about to wane within a few seconds.

‘Stop saying the same thing’, Hades and Soulsmith said together.

A Repelling Shot landed on the skeleton king’s chest to send it a few steps back. Hades appeared beside Zephyrwolf and pushed him out of the way. An assassin he was, yet there he stood like a meat shield before Greenstone. Swinging his dagger quickly enough to create afterimages, he barely managed to parry the skeleton king’s heavy attack.

‘Annoying brats!’ The great skeleton priest’s gaze was spine-chilling; being on the receiving end of Drako Yau’s barrage of attacks had driven it mad. It thumped its staff onto the ground, summoning a dozen flame snakes that slithered in all directions.

‘Why aren’t you dead!’ Drako Yau cut down the green snakes with his spear before charging at the priest again.

The great skeleton priest didn’t fight back, and Drako Yau felt like he was striking a sandbag. Even so, the sandbag was a tough one, for they had been going at it for over half an hour by now.

The snakes didn’t just attack Drako Yau. One of them managed to entangle Hades’ arm and slowed down his arm movement. The skeleton king’s heavy slash made it through his defence and sent him flying, then it charged straight at Greenstone.

‘Soulsmith, Repelling Shot!’ Hades said hurriedly.

‘On cooldown!’ Sweat dripped from Soulsmith’s forehead. Apart from Repelling Shot, he had targeted most of his attacks at the great skeleton priest. That annoying Fire Shield, however, had rendered his arrows useless a lot of the time.

Zephyrwolf had less than a quarter of Health left, but he wasn’t going to get there in time either…

A purple shadow whizzed past them and pinned the skeleton king down onto the ground—it was the demon wolf king’s Lunging Bite which saved the day again.

At that moment, the great skeleton priest and the skeleton king both wailed. Green flames burst out from within the skeleton king before it submerged into the ground and disappeared. The great skeleton priest shrieked as it tumbled backwards, the two fiery orbs in its eye sockets gradually diminishing.

Everyone stopped to witness the scene. The great skeleton priest sent them a bitter glare and disintegrated the next moment, leaving behind smashed bones along with its robe, and above the pile of bones was a floating fist-sized green fireball.

‘Successfully killed the Demon Castellan. All monsters within the city have lost their leader!’

Along with the system’s announcement, orbs of light appeared above everyone’s head, displaying the scene of Evergrand within them.

The purple miasma emanating throughout the city suddenly stopped flowing and trembled. Cries and shrieks rose then from within the city. The next moment, monsters escaped from the city with tails between their legs. Some ran, some flew, but they all ran away nonetheless. The purple miasma, under the cheers of Evergrand players, gradually dispersed and eventually faded out of existence.

‘Evergrand has been liberated! All players (except players from Terrafirm) can enter Evergrand from now on.’

The announcement flashed through the global channel. Upon seeing those words, Booksy Swordsman had the look of a dead man as he stumped onto his chair in the tavern.

‘Anybody here! Bring me wine!’

It was at this moment he knew—Age of Scholars was done for.

Handsome Scholar was walking calmly when the announcement was made public. His determined steps wavered momentarily, but he continued his stride the next moment. A walled city stood before him, the word ‘Empyreon’ engraved onto its entrance.

For the five of them, the announcement wasn’t over just yet.

‘Successfully liberated Evergrand and killed the Demon Castellan. All players will receive 10,000 Merit, level up once, and receive 2 Skill Points.’

Rays of brilliance shrouded the squad members. Hades and Soulsmith were both now Level 20 and received the notification prompting them to undergo class progression.

Both Drako Yau and Zephyrwolf levelled up to Level 17, while Greenstone was now Level 19. It was fortunate that Hades had shoved Zephyrwolf out of the way, or else he’d just be Level 16 now if he died again.

The most surprising reward was the two Skill Points. Gaming veterans like HAdes and Soulsmith naturally knew the importance of Skill Points, and those additional points would make a particularly huge difference at the later stages of the game. Looking at Zephyrwolf who didn’t seem to care about the bonus points at all, they facepalmed themselves while thinking, How on earth did such a guy get into this elite squad?

Drako Yau stepped forwards and reached for the fireball.

‘Ghost Flame, material item. A ghost flame essence condensed by the great skeleton priest throughout thousands of years, it is unknown what can be created out of it.’

He sent the item information into their squad channel. Zephyrwolf was clearly upset as he said, ‘We went through all of that dangerous crap just for this broken thing?’

Hades rolled his eyes and said, ‘The level up and two Skill Points are worth the effort, you dimwit.’

‘What did you say! You horned little antelope!’

‘What? You pet complex! Go huggy huggy with your dog at home!’

‘Demon wolf king, bite him to death!’

Ignoring the two who were having another heated battle of words, Greenstone spoke unusually, ‘Excuse me…’

Hearing the voice of Greenstone who barely said anything unless it was absolutely necessary, Zephyrwolf and Hades who were in a childish brawl stopped their fight and sent startled looks at Greenstone.​​​​​​​

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