Game’s Dogma

​​​​​​​‘Have you recovered your health?’ Drako Yau looked around and sent Sasaki a party request.

‘Hmph.’ Sasaki accepted the request. ‘What, why’re you partying up with me now?’

‘Kid, don’t be such a brat. Look at their gazes, they’re all looking at your longsword. They won’t bother stopping me if I turn and leave now. How can you survive in a game when you’re so childish?’

‘You!’ Sasaki flared up but couldn’t refute him. The five people encircling them were all looking at his longsword with rapacious eyes. Although the price of the sword was trifling to him, being eyed so brazenly made him mad. ‘Why are you surrounding us! What do you want!’

‘Hoh hoh.’ A warrior took a step forward, the name Zephyrwolf hanging above his head. ‘Kid, drop the longsword on the ground and I’ll let you go. If not… Levelling up in this game’s not easy, it’ll be troublesome to lose levels.’

‘Nonsense!’ Sasaki pointed his sword at the warrior. ‘Fight me one on one if you dare!’

‘Pfffttt…’

‘Hahaha!’

‘This kid’s mad!’

Even Drako Yau facepalmed himself; the kid actually told the guy to duel him in such a situation! It was pretty obvious that the other party had been planning on using their superiority in numbers by surrounding them from the start.

‘So it’s another childish brat who squanders his papa’s money.’ Zephyrwolf did not hold back with his ridicule. ‘Negotiations have broken down then?’

At the same time, Zephyrwolf had already sent his instructions through text on the party channel. ‘Hunters, kill the brat with the sword first.’

‘Heh, got it, boss.’

Four arrows whizzed their way through the air, straight towards Sasaki.

‘Despicable!’ Sasaki roared in rage.

He had never felt such intense anger. Born into the noble upper classes in society, this was the first time Sasaki experienced how the grass-roots survived—whatever the means, and the law of the jungle!

Even so, the enraged Sasaki was still quick to react. He intercepted three of the four rapid arrows with his sword, while the remaining one impaled his shoulder and produced a splatter of blood.

Sasaki had set his character pain perception to 30 per cent. The arrow sent a wave of numbness through his wound, and that sensation drove him to charge in like a mad bull.

‘Hah…’ Drako Yau was already regretting that he hadn’t left the scene earlier. This Sasaki, he was acting exactly like a kid.

Despite seeing Sasaki charging at them, the two hunters simply kept their cool because Zephyrwolf had stepped up to intercept him.

‘Brat, leave your sword behind like a good boy!’ Zephyrwolf said as he activated Crescent Slash.

Sasaki sneered and replied, ‘Over my dead body!’ 

Positioning his longsword, Sasaki blocked Zephyrwolf’s Crescent Slash.

The game emulated real life fighting mechanics. As long as one could block or parry the actual attack, it was possible to defend against skills. Of course, the algorithm behind clashing a skill against another was a lot more complicated, and it’d be difficult to explain in just a few words.

Anyways, after blocking the Crescent Slash, Sasaki attacked with a riposte, drawing a line of red on Zephyrwolf.

‘Kid, you’re actually not bad.’ Zephyrwolf remained unperturbed even when hit. With his pain perception set to one per cent, the attack felt nothing more than a mosquito bite. Meanwhile, the two hunters used Double Shot again, firing four arrows at Sasaki.

Right then, Zephyrwolf also charged and closed in on Sasaki.

Charging Fist!

It was a Level 10 warrior skill. With his left hand which wasn’t holding anything, he threw an uppercut and sent Sasaki, who was caught off guard, flying. Four arrows also embedded themselves into the soaring teen, lowering his health to below half.

He had only himself to blame, for he was the one who took off his armour when dueling Drako Yau. The enemies were only carrying common weapons, but they were all Level 10 items nonetheless.

Even worse, Sasaki was only Level 4 while everyone in the party was Level 10. Each level gave five attribute points and one skill point, which meant Sasaki was 30 attribute points and 6 skill points short of each enemy.

‘I’m going to die under the hands of these cowards?’ Sasaki gritted his teeth. Only then did he remember that he had a teammate, Dragonspear.

‘Help! Why the hell are you just standing there!’ A flustered voice emerged from behind the group of combatants.

The other warrior had been enjoying the show with his arms crossed. Upon hearing a shriek behind him, he turned around in surprise to find out that the cleric, who wore only cloth armour, was getting stabbed over and over again by Drako Yau with Dawnlight. Half of the healer’s health was gone by the time he noticed.

‘You brat!’ The warrior used Dash and sped over with his increased movement speed.

Drako Yau sent a glance to his rear and flicked his spear like it was his tail, abruptly turning around as he did. His spear followed his movements and swung along.

‘The heck is this skill!’ The warrior was surprised by his movements.

From his soles to his kneecaps, then to his waist and shoulders, finally reaching his arms and the spear on his right hand, he was like one with his weapon which acted as an extension of his body. Swinging the spear in a turning motion by mustering strength from the ground was a move in spearmanship known as ‘Snake Sweep’, but it was not a skill in the game and was considered a basic attack.

With a deafening boom, the powerful sweep sent the warrior who had not braced himself to block the attack off tumbling into the distance. Drako Yau made no effort to pursue him and simply went back to attacking the cleric who had low health and defence.

‘What the hell are you doing!’ Zephyrwolf, realising that their cleric was about to die, yelled. ‘Protect the cleric!’

After saying so, he gestured to the two hunters to quickly finish off Sasaki before dealing with the spear-wielding warrior. Anyone who used spears must be of the warrior class, at least that was what they thought.

Sasaki’s health was also plummeting, but that was because he was dealing with three enemies at the same time. On the other hand, the cleric was getting destroyed by Drako Yau alone and was a hair’s breadth away from dying.

‘Don’t look down on me!’

Sasaki swung his sword around, seemingly full of vigour all of a sudden. Not only did he manage to force Zephyrwolf back, he even landed two cuts on him. His rare longsword wasn’t just for looks either; its damage was on a different level than their common weapons. Over 30 per cent of Zephyrwolf’s health was gone.

While the warrior was rushing back, Drako Yau had already slain the cleric, leaving behind a corpse, a piece of equipment, and some gold coins. At that moment, instead of retreating, he ran over to help Sasaki.

He was a game designer, but he had never really properly played any online games before. Still, he knew about the mechanics and common sense of games.

Killing the enemy healer was the top priority in a team fight. If not, the cleric would be casually healing the melee fighters from the backline, and that spelt certain defeat. This was why Drako Yau decisively left Sasaki alone to kill the cleric.

‘Stop him! Don’t let him come over! Hunters, kill the sword brat first!’ Zephyrwolf barked out commands to his party. He had not expected that the battle which was supposedly within his grasp to take such a turn. If he couldn’t even kill a Level 4 and Level 5 player with a party of five Level 10 players, his career was as good as over.

‘Hey! I can’t hold out for much longer!’ Sasaki noticed that Drako Yau had killed an enemy. However, Sasaki wasn’t faring too well himself, with his health down to a tenth, which was why he finally called for help.

Not showing any emotions, Drako Yau said calmly, ‘You forgot to drink potions.’

‘Ah, you’re right!’ Sasaki, coming to the sudden realisation, casually took out a potion out in the open.