Game’s Dogma

​​​​​​​Zephyrwolf slammed his fist onto a wall and wanted to charge out again. However, Hades immediately held him back and shouted, ‘What are you doing!’

Zephyrwolf yelled back at him, ‘Bullshit! Of course I’m gonna save them!’

Hades looked pissed off and said coldly, ‘You idiot! Can’t you tell this wave is entirely different from the first one? You won’t be so lucky this time! You can’t just go and kill everything and become the saviour! You’re exposed already!’

Just when Zephyrwolf wanted to refute Hades, Drako Yau interrupted. ‘Hades is right.’ He had a troubled look beneath his mask. ‘You’re already exposed to the enemy. They now see you as our main fighter. I dare to say that once you show up, hundreds of monsters will immediately take care of you. Once you die, our morale will plummet and the fight will be over.’

Shaking off Hades’ arm, Zephyrwolf was downhearted. ‘Then what? We just let them die?’

‘Hey, don’t tell me that you’re treating this as ancient warfare. It’s a game, a game. They can immediately resurrect after they die. What we have to do is to hold out until our main forces return from the altar to the frontlines.’ Hades snickered.

During the time of their short conversation, the thousand players had been utterly decimated. On the other hand, the beastmen army looked completely unscathed. They reformed their formation and started charging at the city of Yoda.

The clerics who were situated right outside the city walls turned ghastly pale. The seemingly secure line of defence that consisted of a thousand players disappeared in just 10 minutes.

At that moment, Hades shot his cold glare at the ranged players who stood at the battlements on the city walls. ‘The first wave was too weak, so all of you weren’t called to action. Now is the time to show your skills.’

Ranged players consisted of not only hunters, but also mages. They were a force to be reckoned with.

Mages had extremely high area-of-effect and burst damage, whereas hunters had quicker attack speed and higher single target damage. They both had common weaknesses—low health and defence. Hunters had it better because their main attribute was Dexterity, and they also had relatively high Evasion. Meanwhile, mages were really weak when it came to close quarters combat. In exchange, they could dish out overwhelming area-of-effect damage, making them an indispensable force on the battlefield.

It could be said that they were one of the trump cards. The more Drako Yau thought about it, the more annoyed he felt. He had not expected that they had to mobilise the ranged troops on just the second wave. There were a total of five waves…

The most annoying part was that while the enemy were merely monsters that had respawned, they actually employed tactics! Baiting the enemy into their ranks, then rounding them up from behind in an encirclement? What the hell? Looking at the dense battlefield of human and monster, Drako Yau felt that the number of mysteries about this game was only increasing.

‘Take aim.’ Hades’ command sounded icy-cold as he looked at the approaching army of beastmen.

Four thousand metres.

Three thousand metres.

A player couldn’t hold back and asked, ‘Can’t we attack already?’

‘Shut up.’ All he received was Hades’ frosty glare.

Two thousand metres…

A thousand and five hundred metres…

‘Mages! Fireball! Cast it at maximum range!’

Receiving Hades’ command, the mages held their staves high and each conjugated a fireball on the tip of their weapons. The balls of flames dashed through the sky and descended from above. The beastmen turned their gazes towards the sky, shock and terror filling their minds. The legs of the beastmen who led the charge almost ceased moving upon the terrifying sight.

‘I’ll kill those who stop! Charge!’ A high-ranked beastman roared.

The beastmen could only bite the bullet and continue their charge. The moment they crossed the one-thousand-metre mark, they were within range of the mages’ fireballs.

The earth shook and a series of deafening booms shrouded the battlefield. The outskirts of the city walls had transformed into a sea of flames. The screams and wails of beastmen could be heard everywhere. Hades, however, spared no mercy and made another command.

‘Hunters, prepare to fire Heart-Piercing Shot! Those below Level 15, fire Double Shot at an angle! On my signal! Five, four, three, two, one, fire!’ 

The sounds of arrows whizzing through the air sounded like an orchestra. Countless arrows embedded themselves into the bodies of beastmen and wolves.

‘Mages! Attack at will! Hunters, prepare to fire again once the cooldown is over! On my command!’

Be it Drako Yau or Zephyrwolf, they admired Hades from the bottom of their hearts after witnessing him in action.

If Zephyrwolf was a brave general who personally led a charge and could boost the army’s morale with his actions, then Hades was the most standard general you could possibly find. Cooldown time, range, everything was calculated and timed to perfection. Under his command, the effects of every ranged players’ attacks were maximised.

Hades was the best player in War of the Daemons for a reason. It was only natural that he was experienced in large scale wars between guilds or even nations. After overcoming the barrier of uncoordinated movements in Real World, he was now showing his former glory as a well-renowned player.

Tens of thousands of metres away from the battlefield, the purplish teenager who was sitting on his luxurious chair was somewhat startled. ‘Oh? Such a fine general. His timing is perfect even when attacking at such a long range. Well, it’s partly because our army’s not very well-trained. If they’re trained to stop once they see the mages chanting, there would be much fewer casualties.’

Hearing the young man’s words, the beastmen tribe leader Hiller immediately said in awe, ‘Sir, I beg for your forgiveness!’

Dismissing it by waving his hand, he said, ‘I don’t mean to blame you. I never had high hopes for you anyways. Looks like it’ll be a failure again, try harder the next wave.’

After hesitating briefly, Hiller said, ‘Sir, our commander is still in reserve…’

The young man hummed, seemingly intrigued. ‘You seem confident, don’t you? Put up a good show for me then.’

As the ranged players were getting close to a spectacular victory, the melee players who had been surrounded and killed had finally rejoined the fray. One after another, they rushed out of the tunnels. Also, friendly fire was disabled thanks to the siege’s unique setting. The melee players were now slaughtering the beastmen who were suppressed by the ranged attacks raining down from the city walls.

‘Hah…’ Zephyrwolf let out a long sigh and smiled. ‘Great, looks like this wave’s ours.’ Turning to look at Drako Yau, he realised that despite the mask covering Drako Yau’s face, he could tell the face beneath it wasn’t a happy one.

Hades also returned from his commanding post. The situation no longer required his commands. ‘There are five waves in total. Just comparing the first two waves, the monster army’s strength was an entire tier stronger in the second wave. I really don’t get why you’re feeling optimistic.’

Zephyrwolf had something to say, but Drako Yau started speaking before he could. ‘That’s not what I’m worried about.’

The two immediately turned to look at him. Yet, Drako Yau only looked down at the battlefield emotionlessly. ‘I’m worried about the enemy’s true commander. If an actual person is commanding the army of monsters from behind, it’ll get really troublesome…’