Game’s Dogma

Idyllic Poet frowned. The opponent this time around was an experienced assassin. Many players thought Lurking was omnipotent when there were, in fact, plenty of ways to see through it. Even without detection skills, players could still identify a lurking enemy through, among other things, his footsteps, footprints, and breathing. However, this assassin didn’t leave a single clue for her.

Assassins were undoubtedly the ruin of all mages. Idyllic Poet asked many assassins from Dragon Alliance to train her in discerning a lurking enemy’s location by listening to their footsteps. Her confidence was brimming after she completed the training with much success.

Now, her confidence had let her down. The obscene assassin didn’t show a single opening.

Suddenly, Idyllic Poet heard several whizzes headed her way. Already in combat mode, she quickly twisted her waist and waved her staff—Fire Shield, the most common defensive skill elementalists used. Several flying knives struck her shield and fell to the ground.

“Hehe… Hot chick, I’m over here!”

Idyllic Poet heard Fiddlestick’s voice rapidly rising as he spoke. It’s Shadowstrike! she thought.

Shadowstrike was the most favoured movement skill among assassins. Fiddlestick almost teleported next to his target, performing a thrust as the system-assisted movement ended.

“Eh?” Fiddlestick felt no feedback from his dagger. He immediately realised he had messed up and retreated immediately, but Idyllic Poet’s alluring voice seeped into his ears.

“Weren’t you trying to get close? Why the rush to get away?”

Her alluring voice materialised into an actual suction force that pulled Fiddlestick in. Lifting his head, he found Idyllic Poet glaring at him. He tried moving backwards to no avail; a tremendous force of attraction wrangled everything within its range.

He finally comprehended the situation. It was a skill, one that turned his face ashen just from the thought of it. The ultimate skill of the Elementalist class, Volcanic Eruption!

The gravitational pull lasted for five seconds. Idyllic Poet pointed her staff to the sky while the ground vibrated. Boom! A ten-metre-wide pillar of flames blasted through the ground into the sky where she stood.

Volcanic Explosion: Pulls in nearby players, then detonates a volcanic eruption. Players closer to the point of eruption will receive greater damage.

Idyllic Poet’s top-tier equipment and the Phoenix Ring buffed her fire spells to deal unreasonably high damage. Once Fiddlestick missed his thrust, she decisively cast her ultimate skill. The poor assassin took the full brunt of the eruption as he stood right next to her—he died almost instantly.

Idyllic Poet calmed herself down after the close call. The assassin’s lurking technique was only second to Slyfox of Empyreal Alliance. If she had to nitpick about him, it had to be his lack of patience. The final strike was a mistimed attack on his part, though eight to nine out of ten mages would’ve fallen to it nonetheless.

The system assisted Shadowstrike’s targeting and movement, but it could still be evaded under certain circumstances. Idyllic Poet had gone through hellish training in Dragon Alliance. As a mage, she used to neglect her physical capabilities. Sparring with Drako Yau’s companions made her realise how much of a disadvantage her lack of physicality was. They were all elite fighters whose agility was beyond her reaction time, and her lack of reaction usually left her stranded in melee combat. Only then did she join Drako Yau’s training sessions with Dumbgirl, Zephyrwolf, and Danting.

Luck also played a role in her evading Fiddlestick’s Shadowstrike; she couldn’t say for sure she could do it again. The results would’ve been disastrous if she hadn’t dodged just in time. Getting stabbed would stiffen her momentarily, and her death would be the only possible outcome. Although she killed Fiddlestick instantaneously, their disparity in strength wasn’t that great. One of them would have died right away regardless—the only difference was who.

Dumbgirl was starting to feel the burden mount up. She was a decent fighter, but her combat experience was limited to duelling Drako Yau. Their training regimen was rigorous. Still, Drako Yau never displayed any killing intent during their training. Sparring and actual combat was different, after all.

Dumbgirl gave Peterpie a spanking during their initial exchange of blows. Thankfully, Almighty swiftly decided to join the fray instead of supporting from afar, or else Peterpie would’ve died before he could chug down a potion.

Strangely enough, Almighty fought on equal footing with Dumbgirl. Peterpie tried to engage her from time to time, but she handled him with ease, as if she could sense his attacks with her eyes closed.

The brothers had great chemistry and changed their tactic upon figuring out Dumbgirl’s patterns. Allmighty fought her in close range while Peterpie thrust his spear from her blind spots like a viper, choosing only the best moments to strike.

This forced Dumbgirl to keep her guard up for surprise attacks. As the battle went on, Dumbgirl found her situation spiralling into despair; at the end of the day, this was her first all-out fight against enemy players. Still, she persevered and fought on, for she knew not what giving up was. The skill she received from Drako Yau, Cloak of the Golden Bell, served its purpose in this battle; she would have perished already if not for the increased defence the skill granted.

“Who dares bully our little girl!”

The raging voice of a female reached them together with streaks of flames. Idyllic Poet ran towards Dumbgirl, pouring Fireballs on the brothers as she ran.

Dumbgirl was relieved to find Idyllic Poet supporting her, but Peterpie, with his sharp eyes, saw through her right away. The moment she relaxed, he thrust his spear out with great force. Skills from the Blood Ritual skill tree went off one after another. Crimson glows of various tones shrouded Peterpie and his spear within a split second.

His blood-red spear shot forth as a streak of light—he used the ultimate skill of the Berserker class, Crimson Cyclone of Gore!

Crimson Cyclone of Gore was a murderous skill of pure single-target damage. Like other ultimate skills, it had the greatest killing potential in the class’ repertoire. Peterpie even buffed it with multiple Blood Ritual skills, pushing its damage even further. Dumbgirl, with her Health worn down during the battle, would undoubtedly fall to this attack.

Peterpie struck at the best possible time ever. Dumbgirl had let her guard down for a brief moment, and he seized the opportunity. While she was vigilant for surprise attacks, the spear travelled faster than anticipated.

It’s too quick!

The spear, enhanced by so many skills, was too quick for her eyes to track. Dumbgirl activated her final line of defence, Traceless Soaring Dragon, and dashed backwards.

Traceless Soaring Dragon (Active effect): The soaring dragon possesses the caster, increasing movement speed, short-range dash speed, and attack speed by 30 per cent. Allows the caster to hover for 3 seconds.

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