Game’s Dogma

In Dark World’s conference room, Fei Yeung’s complexion wasn’t too good as he said, ‘We just built our base, there’s no time for constructing defences.’

Moonless Night snickered and said, ‘What defences? We have four times their numbers! What’s there to be afraid of? We’ll send every single one of them back, dead!’ He grinned and held the handle of his seat tightly.

Night fell; lights and torches were lit across the city of Yoda.

A thousand people gathered at a particular corner in the city. Their shoulders all had the emblem of a wolf’s head, and the same emblem also appeared on the shoulder of the person leading them—Mask. He couldn’t take part in any fights between guilds if he didn’t belong to one, so Drako Yau joined Howl of the Tempest Wolves temporarily.

Two small groups of players walked towards them. They easily let the groups pass upon noticing the groups’ identities; to survive in Yoda, one must recognise these two.

Hexen of Corrupted Officials and King-Hit of Hotblooded. The guild masters of the other two first-rate guilds that formed Yoda’s leading trio along with Howl of the Tempest Wolves were now gathered.

‘Brother Mask,’ the two greeted Drako Yau who was currently gazing into the starry sky with his arms crossed. He turned around with a smile.

‘Brother Hex, Brother King.’

‘That post… we’ve both seen it.’ Hexen sounded hesitant. ‘Is this… a bit too…’

‘Impulsive?’ Drako Yau laughed. ‘That’s right. That’s exactly what this is about.’

Hearing Drako Yau admit it so easily, King-Hit and Hexen were taken aback as they exchanged glances in silence.

‘Brother Hex, Brother King. What do you see this game as?’ Drako Yau continued before the two could answer, ‘This is a realistic world, a realistic miniature of the society we live in.

‘But—this is also a game. If I’m scared to fight even in a game, then my life’s a real failure.’

Drako Yau looked at the two as he spoke through the Necklace of Deceit, the clown on it smiling as it transmitted his words. ‘Thank you for your kindness, I, Mask, truly appreciate it. However, this is our fight. We should be the ones carrying our own.’

Drako Yau left the two guild masters who seemed deep in thought and slowly walked through the crowd of players from Howl of the Tempest Wolves. As he walked, ardent gazes landed on him from both sides.

After rejecting Dark World’s challenge to a guild war before, Howl of the Tempest Wolves saw a massive drop in players. Those who stayed, however, all had a flame of passion burning within them, for only gold remained after sieving through the dirt. They were all fervent about their guild, fervent about Mask, fervent about battle! 

Drako Yau stood before the crowd and readied his spear. While his voice was a bit soft, the hot-bloodedness within him brought their morale to its peak.

‘My comrades, will you follow me to Hell?’

Everyone felt blazing blood gushing into their heads. They all cried almost involuntarily at the top of their lungs, ‘Kill!’

‘Kill them all!’

‘KILL THEM ALL!’

Their voices pierced the skies.

‘Kill them all,’ said Drako Yau in a low voice. His face turned ice-cold.

The battle was a bloody and tragic one.

No matter how strong Drako Yau’s core squad was, they weren’t enough to turn things around before four thousand elite players. Howl of the Tempest Wolves’ forces were annihilated before they even reached the main hall where the bronze statue stood.

The thousand players from Howl of the Tempest Wolves all lost a level. Meanwhile, casualties on Dark World’s side numbered around several hundred. Moonless Night chortled heartily; the decisive victory was exactly the result he needed to brighten himself up. Especially when Mask tried to make a sudden charge through their defences alone yet couldn’t even reach the main hall—such a satisfying scene. At last, Mask broke through their encirclement together with his close aides and escaped from Dark World’s base.

‘Ahaha! It’s been a good while since I’ve had so much fun! They’re just a random mob! Trash!’

‘Dude, not sure if it’s my eyes or what, but I saw a Level 15 guy among them. I ended him with a single skill!’

Players from Dark World all cheered and celebrated their victory. Those who died also received compensation from the guild. As Moonless Night engrossed himself in the victorious atmosphere, he snickered and thought, Mask! How are you gonna fight me like this!

‘Everyone, have a good rest! I’ll spread news of our victory tomorrow and let everyone know the consequences of going against Dark World!’

The next morning, Moonless Night was lying in bed with a woman by his side. All of a sudden, his phone rang, awakening him from his slumber.

‘Fucking hell, who’s calling?’

‘Guild master, it’s… it’s me!’ The voice belonged to Dark World’s vice guild master, Starless Night.

‘Why’re you so nervous? You better tell me something important, or else I’m…’

‘Base Assault… We’re challenged again…’

The outcome of last night’s battle, while not made public, was already known by those who snooped around. Howl of the Tempest Wolves’ horrendous defeat quickly spread throughout the entire game.

While players were still commenting about how impulsive and idiotic Howl of the Tempest Wolves were, another bombshell shook the forums—Howl of the Tempest Wolves had initiated another Base Assault against Dark World!

A guild could only initiate Base Assault once every twelve hours. And now, right after twelve hours had passed, Howl of the Tempest Wolves was striking again.

Moonless Night shoved the woman out of the way and hurried over to his game pod.

Another bitter battle, another decisive victory. The battle went almost the same as the last one. Apart from their core members, Howl of the Tempest Wolves were once again annihilated. However, casualties were starting to rack up among Dark World as well; the casualty difference between the two guilds was now at around two hundred.

Moonless Night took advantage of these two battles to gain publicity by emphasising how they were way beyond Howl of the Tempest Wolves’ league. Videos were uploaded one after another, showing how players from Howl of the Tempest Wolves died as they were surrounded by four times their number. Before their deaths, however, they all threw their lives away just to bring down as many enemies as possible. Their fierce and ruthless way of fighting sent shivers down everyone’s spines.

The elite squad centred around Mask survived both battles, but they were no cowards who fled for their lives. They led the charge as vanguards and fought till the very end every time. No matter how hard the Dark World players tried, they simply couldn’t surround and eliminate the elite squad.

Most players mocked Howl of the Tempest Wolves for being conceited, biting more than they could chew, but some simply watched in silence.

Everyone went dead silent after another twelve hours. Howl of the Tempest Wolves initiated their third Base Assault against Dark World!

Twelve hours later, Howl of the Tempest Wolves initiated another Base Assault against Dark World!

Again.

And again!

Three days. In just three days, Howl of the Tempest Wolves had initiated more Base Assaults than all other guilds combined since the start of the game.

Six times in just three days. While players from Dark World celebrated their first few wins, anxiety and frustration then took over. Despite gaining victory after victory, they also had casualties. For high-levelled players, it took several days or even a week to get their levels back. Soon enough, they refused to lead the defences at the frontlines.

On the other hand, everyone in Howl of the Tempest Wolves apart from Drako Yau’s core squad all lose six levels. They didn’t even farm experience to level up; they logged in just for the Base Assaults, logged off to rest, then logged in again for another Base Assault.

A pack of crazed wolves they were, gazing coldly at their prey with blood-red eyes.

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