Game’s Dogma

Underworld naturally agreed to it, for they knew how different their experiences had been during the quest. Zephyrwolf had already told them about the situation briefly. Apart from Windstrider who didn’t engage in combat, Drako Yau’s squad was annihilated. They clearly contributed more even when death penalties didn’t apply.

What Underworld did while they were fighting was casually picking up equipment. Also, putting aside Dual-Wielding Rifle Mastery which had unknown effects, Berserking Blessing was a powerful skill. For clerics, having another trump card greatly raised their importance—it could even completely turn the tide of a battle.

Meanwhile, Drako Yau gave Cloak of the Golden Bell to Dumbgirl. Her survivability was too low even with Kiu Fung’s secret techniques. Like just now, she panicked a little because she lacked combat experience against players. The others had nothing to say about his decision as they trusted him unconditionally.

Needless to say, he handed Dual-Wielding Rifle Mastery to Windstrider.

‘It’s yours. It’s up to you to learn it or… not…’ Drako Yau stuttered at the end because the skill book vanished the moment Windstrider received it.

Windstrider, with a smile, said, ‘It’s something the boss gave me, how could I not learn it?’

It was a rather special weapon mastery. Taking Zephyrwolf’s Scimitar Mastery as an example, every normal sword or katana he equipped would morph into scimitars. Scimitars, despite having lower Attack Speed, had higher Attack and Critical Chance—a fair trade-off in a sense.

The same went for Dual-Wielding Rifle Mastery.

‘Something’s different.’ Windstrider inspected his character interface. ‘Mhm… Attack’s lower, but Attack Speed’s doubled. Oh, Attack Range got halved… Woah… It’s making me fight like a warrior.’

Windstrider had a strange look. As a ranger, a ranged combatant, having his Attack Range cut by half put him in a tough spot.

Looks like it’ll take a while to get used to this.

With Drako Yau being generous, Hades also didn’t act stingy. He took out the twenty-five pieces of equipment for everyone to choose from. Whenever more than one person bade for a piece, they’d sort it out by rock-paper-scissors or rolling dice.

Soon, all of the pieces were evenly distributed, with each of them receiving one to two pieces of epic equipment. Drako Yau got himself a helmet and a pair of leggings. As they didn’t have special effects like Windstrider’s Soul of Bartos, it was just a direct upgrade in stats and survivability.

At their current level, items with special effects like Soul of Bartos were beyond rare. Soul of Bartos could last Windstrider up to Level 35—given that he didn’t find another weapon with a special effect.

While they were still celebrating merrily, one of them didn’t fit in very well with a cramped look. Zephyrwolf suddenly said, ‘Boss, someone wants to speak to you.’

‘Who?’

‘That sissy Moonless Night.’

Drako Yau also frowned and wore his mask. ‘Put him through.’

Zephyrwolf handed over his phone. Those from Underworld also moved out of the way so Moonless Night could only see Drako Yau’s squad. The moment the hologram of Moonless Night appeared, his raging voice rang throughout the room.

‘Mask, hand over the skill books.’

Drako Yau replied coldly, ‘And why would I?

‘Why?’ Moonless Night was getting impatient. ‘Because I can trample over your Howl of the Tempest Wolves!’

Drako Yau remained unfazed, as if he knew not what emotions were. ‘Trample over us you say, but how? A guild war? Nothing is forcing us to accept the war, is there?’

‘You coward! You damned coward!’ Moonless Night flushed red, but he soon calmed down and smirked. ‘Mask, you might think you’re smart, but you’re missing something—Base Assault.’

Drako Yau tilted his head as he recalled the conditions for initiating Base Assault. ‘Base Assault is limited to guilds of the same city. Dark World is based in Empyreon, am I wrong?’

Moonless Night snickered. ‘For the sake of shattering you, I will announce that Dark World is transferring over to Yoda tomorrow!’

Moonless Night’s gaze turned cold. Ever since he started playing the game, everything had been smooth sailing. He led Dark World to great achievements even during The Siege event. However, he suffered loss after loss from the moment he crossed paths with Mask. It hurt his pride, and that turned into hatred.

He leaned forwards, pressing his face nearer to the camera and said coldly, ‘If you don’t hand over the skill books, I’ll destroy Howl of the Tempest Wolves until you’re scared and broken. I’ll initiate Base Assault every time you build a base, smash it, then leave behind nothing but ruins.

‘Don’t think I’m all bark and no bite. The almighty Mask means nothing to me. Yes, you’re good at fighting. You can fight against ten, maybe twenty, but what about a hundred? Or a thousand? Dark World has several thousand members, how are you going to fight us all?’

Winstrider, Zephyrwolf, and the rest all turned pale a little.

He’s out of his mind! It’s a Pyrrhic war he’s waging…

Drako Yau stood up in silence. Even though it was just a hologram, he stood up nonetheless.

‘Skill books? They’re gone. If it’s war, so be it!’

Zephyrwolf wasn’t the only one awe-struck; even those from Underworld were stunned by his words.

If it’s war, so be it—just how bold was he to say such a thing!

‘Ha! Such grandeur.’ Moonless Night’s face turned ashen, but he still laughed excitedly like a psychopath. ‘Mask, just you wait! Ahahaha!’

The video call came to an end abruptly. Silence ensued in the conference room.

Drako Yau and his members left. The joy of their bountiful encounter quest vanished, with each of them preparing for the upcoming war in their own ways. Windstrider immediately went off alone to test out his Dual-Wielding Mastery. Moonless Night’s crazed look didn’t seem to be an act; he had to get a good grasp of his new fighting style before the war, or else he’d be useless in battle.

Base Assault was a cruel system for guilds of the same city. To build a base, a guild had to meet plenty of requirements, such as guild gold balance, member count, and guild level. Building a base took a great deal of manpower and resources. Unless the bad blood between two guilds warranted such an extreme measure, first-rate and second-line guilds very rarely initiated Base Assaults.

Base Assault was a system that damaged both parties involved. Only with great hatred and loathe would a guild launch a Base Assault. The rules were simple: the initiating guild would attack the target guild’s base.

Bases had all sorts of designs, but they all had one room in common—the main hall. In it stood a bronze statue that represented the base’s Health. Destroying the statue meant destroying the base, and all defending players within the base would be sent to the resurrection altar. The base would then turn into ruins along with all structures in it.

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