Game’s Dogma

Drako Yau turned to look at his members, then faced the Assassination Coalition guild members. The next moment, he said coldly, ‘We don’t have any assassins.’

It was a double entendre; his words implied he didn’t care about doing them a favour, but he was going to leave them alone regardless.

While it wasn’t the most pleasant of answers, the result was what the Assassination Coalition hoped for. They all sighed in relief. One less enemy to fight was one less thing to worry about, and given how large the maze-like treasure vault was, the chances of encountering another squad within five minutes weren’t high at all.

‘Thank you, really.’ The person gave Drako Yau a palm-fist salute.

Drako Yau nodded slightly before leaving with his three members.

Drako Yau wasn’t being generous, he was just being smart. The game had loads of contents, and that included inheritances. To get on the bad side of a bunch of maniacs for an unknown inheritance simply wasn’t worth it.

There wasn’t an assassin among the four present either. Even if Drako Yau notified Hades right away, Hades could hardly arrive in time as the entire place was a massive maze and there was no way to relay their location. In the first place, Hades wasn’t an ordinary assassin; the inheritance might even flip things around and weaken him.

Thus Drako Yau chose to leave.

Zephyrwolf was riding Nene as they traversed through the twisting path. Despite calling it a maze, it wasn’t a complicated one—as long as you had your bearings in mind. As they spawned at the map’s borders, all they had to do was travel inwards.

Zephyrwolf dashed past the armoury without minding the Level 30 epic equipment. The only thing on his mind was to get in there: charge, charge, charge! Nene and Zephyrwolf’s minds were connected, and she could sense what her master willed. She placed more strength into her legs as she accelerated until…

Everything disappeared. The wall-like shelves were nowhere to be seen. They had arrived at a circular room with a fifty-or-so-metre radius which seemed like an altar. The five openings, one for each of the five squads that entered the final Treasure Hunt stage, were the only paths into the altar.

A large cylindrical pedestal stood in the centre, on which lay five of what appeared to be books. The outer two gave off a gentle green glow, while another two books glowing blue lay further inwards. At the centre, a book which gave off a bright orange aura was levitating

Zephyrwolf’s eyes were locked onto the pedestal.

‘Nene!’

It took her less than a few breaths’ time to reach the pedestal. Zephyrwolf swept his arm across it, grabbing all five skill books into his item bag. Immediately after he tucked away the skills books, a shadow dashed past the maze and snuck into the altar.

Zephyrwolf and the newcomer were startled momentarily before they both shouted, ‘It’s you!’

The newcomer was Empyreal Spire’s top assassin, Slyfox. Slyfox saw the empty pedestals and immediately surmised what just happened.

‘Leave the skill books behind!’ shouted Slyfox.

Zephyrwolf laughed and replied, ‘Ha, make me!’

‘I’m no longer who I used to be.’

‘Me neither!’

Slyfox abruptly vanished and morphed into a shade—Shadowstrike!

Zephyrwolf was forcefully dismounted as he could only mount Nene when out of combat. Targeted by Shadowstrike, he was now considered in combat—not that he was scared or anything. He unsheathed his weapon and swung it in one motion.

After changing class to Demon Wolf Hero, his weapon had changed from swords to scimitars.

Metals screeched as dagger clashed against scimitar. Slyfox vanished again right away.

Level 25 assassin skill, Forced Lurk.

It allowed assassins to lurk even when in combat. Such was the difference between rangers and assassins. Rangers’ stealthiness was based on the hunter skill Temporary Lurk which was obviously temporary and would lose effect when in combat. Forced Lurk was a massive upgrade; it had no time limit, nor would it lose effect when in combat.

Zephyrwolf frowned. ‘Bastard, I’m leaving if you’re not gonna fight.’

Now carrying five treasures on him, it was the right choice to flee immediately. When he was about to leave from the entrance he entered from, the ground trembled and shot him back into the altar room.

Slyfox gradually revealed himself and snickered. ‘I’ve trapped all entrances. There’s no need to fight you, I only have to keep you here until the main squad arrives. Aren’t you a bit greedy, grabbing all five skill books alone?’

Zephyrwolf cursed in his head; he didn’t think the bastard would’ve arrived so soon. He only made it here so quickly thanks to the ability to mount Nene, so how did that bastard rival his pace? Anyone qualified to enter the treasury in the Golden Palace had their secrets, be it special items, skills, or inheritances.

Slyfox’s tactic was the right one. Almost right away, another group reached the altar room. Apart from the first player who was unfortunately blown away by Slyfox’s trap, the rest entered in a hurry.

Moonless Night was among one of the players who entered—Dark World had arrived. Slyfox was already lurking, so all they saw was Zephyrwolf who stood still like a statue in fear of triggering even more traps. Moonless Night swept his gaze across the empty pedestal and yelled, ‘Kill him!’

Dark World’s squad of ten or so members charged on his command. Traps went off, and explosions boomed throughout the altar. Moonless Night’s expression took a turn for the worse as he inspected the floor.

‘An assassin!’

Assassins could choose between two branches: assassination and traps. Slyfox belonged to the latter and had access to various traps such as slowness trap, flaming trap, and mines. In such a short time, the circular room had turned into Slyfox’s stage—a trapped stage.

Three members of Dark World were unlucky enough to trigger several traps and were sent to the afterlife. Moonless Night turned pale as the name ‘Slyfox’ popped up in his head; he couldn’t think of another assassin who was so adept in trap usage apart from the renowned trapmaster Slyfox.

Moonless Night had his countermeasures though. He muttered something as he lifted his staff, spewing dark smoke that slithered into the floor. As if pulling themselves up from Hell, boney hands emerged from the ground and turned into skeleton soldiers that charged towards Zephyrwolf.

Different traps splattered the skeleton soldiers into dust and ash, but that was his plan. The summoned skeletons would serve as sacrificial minesweepers and clear out the place.

Slyfox was overwrought as he placed more traps in quick succession. This guy’s my nemesis for real!

When the Dark World players were finally making their way towards Zephyrwolf by following the minesweeper skeletons, another person emerged from an entrance. Zephyrwolf looked over in delight, only to frown even more after realising who the person was.

A noble person who held a feather fan, it was none other than Chau Yu.

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