Game’s Dogma

The arrow was so fast and accurate that even Drako Yau found it hard to believe—it even took his breathing pattern into account.

When he breathed out his previous breath and was about to take in his next, the arrow was already right before him. It was timed perfectly to catch him in that exact moment when he had expended his energy and had yet to generate his next burst of energy.

Drako Yau gritted his teeth and barely twisted his body to the left.

Puk!

Boom!

It exploded on his right shoulder. It was the Level 20 ranger skill, Explosive Arrow!

Another few arrows whizzed through the air, the ambusher clearly pushing on when he had the advantage. However, Drako Yau’s squad members could react this time. Idyllic Poet swung her short staff and cast Fire Shield to block the arrows ahead of Drako Yau.

He looked at the enemy whose bow was aimed at him. The ID above the person’s head was a familiar one—Hau Ngai!

Drako Yau ignored Hau Ngai and gritted his teeth again. Suppressing the pain from his right shoulder, he yelled, ‘Continue the charge!’

Windstrider then said, ‘Go, I’ll keep him occupied!’

Drako Yau nodded in response. ‘Take care!’

Windstrider answered with just a nod before breaking off from the main squad, firing away at Hau Ngai with his rifle as he did.

It was the two great rangers’ duel!

Seeing Windstrider, Hau Ngai didn’t dare to be careless and started counter-attacking with his bow. 

Now that Empyreal Spire was making a move, Hau Ngai naturally wasn’t the only one involved. Several silhouettes emerged from all directions. Their target was none other than Drako Yau’s squad.

Bloodless Bladester had his usual friendly smile even in such a situation. ‘They’re all Level 25. They really think highly of us.’ Bloodless Bladester had detection skills, so he could see through their levels right away.

Drako Yau shouted, ‘Ignore them, continue the charge!’

King Zau who had always disliked Drako Yau exploded with rage and yelled, ‘Keep charging, charge my ass! There’s still a hundred metres till we reach the bear king, and it’s a sea of players up there! We can’t break through even if we want to! We’ll all die once they gang up on us!’

Drako Yau paid no heed to King Zau and continued to run.

The bear king was not far away, though swarms of players surrounded it as they attacked relentlessly. After using Bear Howl when it had reached 50 per cent Health, over 80 per cent of players had been eliminated. All those remained were elite squads sent in by major guilds.

Those cannon fodder was just there to speed things up. Now that the bear king was below 50 per cent Health, their services were no longer required.

What about returning after they respawned? The journey from the three cities to the Highlands of John was a long one; it wasn’t possible for them to return in time.

Taking advantage of them? It was a game world where the strong preyed on the weak—there was no such thing as taking advantage of the weak.

Regardless of how grumpy King Zau was, Drako Yau simply charged straight ahead while the others followed behind him silently.

Moments later, King Zau whispered to Dakki who was beside him, ‘This lad’s mad, let’s leave. We’ll get trapped inside if we’re too late.’

Dakki shook her head. ‘I trust him.’

‘Ahahaha!’ Sky Dominion’s members all laughed upon hearing Dakki’s words. Sky Chun laughed heartily and said, ‘Guild master Dakki, I never imagined there’d be a day when our opinions aligned!’ He then shouted to Drako Yau, ‘Brother Mask, go on! We’ll intercept them!’

Drako Yau didn’t say anything and simply nodded; his mind was entirely focused on the bear king ahead of him. However, hatred against Empyreal Spire was stirring up within him as well. Last time, they surrounded him in an attempt to kill him. He had simply let it slide, yet they were provoking him once again.

Do they really think I’m a pushover?

After Sky Chun gave the order, the five Sky Dominion members spread out to engage the players from Empyreal Spire.

Empyreal Spire was few in numbers while overwhelming in quality. Still, Sky Chun and his elite members all belonged to a first-rate guild and were all cream of the crop as well. Keeping the Empyreal Spire players at bay was well within their capabilities.

Just like that, the twenty-two-player squad was reduced to sixteen.

Damn idiots, King Zau cursed at the situation then pulled Dakki’s arm. ‘Let’s leave…’

Right then, Dakki heavily swung her arm to break his hand off and said with a chilly look, ‘Show some respect. I’m the guild master of Allurers, I’ll take responsibility for whatever happens! You can either stay or get lost!’

King Zau’s face reddened in rage. ‘Hmph! Then do as you please! I’m not losing my levels for nothing!’ He immediately turned back and left.

‘Hmph!’ Dakki was also flushed from getting mad. ‘Yeah, go! That’s one less troublesome thing off my mind!’

‘Dakki, your skill!’ Drako Yau cried out at that moment, returning Dakki to her senses.

Not having the leisure to care about her image, Dakki immediately started dancing and waved her arms as she ran, spreading out halos in circles around her. That was the Dancer class—a powerful support class whose effects were more powerful when there were more players in a squad.

The number of players before them continued to drop. Still, the major guilds still hadn’t noticed Drako Yau’s squad.

While less than 20 per cent of total players from the start remained, there were still over a thousand players. Drako Yau’s squad mixed into the bunch of players like pouring a cup of water into a lake—unnoticeable.

Drako Yau also caught sight of another squad that was charging through the crowd towards the bear king. Handsome Scholar, Tripurity… They were all elites from Empyreal Spire.

He snickered as his legs raced. Now a dozen metres or so away from the bear king, Moonless Night who was casting his skills from around that range finally noticed the two abnormal squads.

‘Who are you people!’

Drako Yau responded with nothing but the emotionless fiery red mask.

‘Everyone, drop down in ten, nine…’ Drako Yau counted down. No one noticed that the bear king’s eyes were gradually turning bloodshot while its body trembled slightly.

‘Three, two, one!’

The moment he shouted, Drako Yau’s squad all dropped to the ground.

The bear king’s sewn eyelid suddenly popped open. Blood spurted from the wound while a thumb-sized beam of red light shot out from its pupils and circled around the bear king once.

As if time itself was halted, the cries and shouts from engaging players all ceased abruptly. They all stiffened on the spot and didn’t even twitch. Moments later, everyone exploded into splashes of blood and disappeared after turning into lumps of white light.

The only players remaining were Drako Yau’s squad who lay on the ground. As if he could tell the future, he gave the order for everyone to drop down. They were the only ones who survived the apocalypse.

Bloodred Laser—it was the bear king’s last ultimate skill.

Once the skill was cast, most players below Level 35 would be obliterated right away. However, it was not without its drawbacks, and that was it could be avoided by crouching or dropping down to the ground.

This was the first time Drako Yau’s knowledge of his version of Real World helped him out in this world.

He was half a creator of this world in a sense. He knew that the bear king would cast Bloodred Laser once it reached 5 per cent Health.

More importantly, he didn’t have any detection skills. It was almost crazy how he could calculate the bear king’s Health in his mind. Calculating a precise value was beyond him, but estimating its percentage was still barely manageable, thus allowing them to all dodge Bloodred Laser.

The most terrifying thing about Bloodred Laser wasn’t just its exceedingly high damage, but also its lack of telegraphing signs before attacking.

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