Game’s Dogma

Drako Yau squinted his eyes. Their numbers were massive. From the looks of it, there were probably… almost 10,000 monsters.

A whopping 10,000!

He found the scene somewhat unbelievable. Having read in novels about wars numbering tens of thousands or even millions of soldiers, he had always found the descriptions a bit too exaggerated. However, when a mere army of 10,000 monsters showed up before his eyes, it was enough to shake him. The shock and awe, it was impossible to comprehend the terrifying pressure without experiencing it personally.

As the monsters blew their war horns, the beastmen roared while the wolves howled. With firm and heavy steps, the monsters once again charge at the city, their minds dead set on taking over the city.

‘Forwards!’ The army of players also didn’t hold back and ran at the monsters while shouting.

But things were different this time round. The beastmen who stood at front not only held crude swords, but also massive tower shields that hid their entire bodies. Up against the players’ charge, the shielded beastmen roared and bashed their shields towards the incoming enemies.

A series of thuds rung throughout the battlefield. The players who led the charge took the bashes and were sent tumbling backwards, causing their formation to crumble from the front. The beastmen grinned with their vicious-looking faces and hacked at the fallen players with their swords, all while laughing like maniacs.

‘Hold your ground!’ Zephyrwolf kept yelling through the city-wide chat channel. ‘It doesn’t matter if you die, but don’t die all at once! Stall for time even if you’re gonna die! Hold out until the first batch of dead players respawn and get back here! Carry out the plan for respawning and replenishments properly!’

Despite his constant yelling, it was easier said than done.

While the beastmen troops were penetrating the players’ formation, the wolves that had been laying low on the flanks struck. They acted more like snakes than wolves, slithering on the sidelines and striking from time to time whenever an opportunity showed itself. The players stood no chance against such a well-coordinated attack. As the battle went on, the players’ line of defence was getting pushed back at a considerable rate, and they were rapidly retreating towards the city walls.

Hades stood up and set his cold gaze upon the battlefield. ‘Ranged troops, prepare to fire!’

Timed to perfection through his precise calculations, the first wave of ranged attacks shot out spectacularly from the walls, the combination of magic and arrows seemingly devouring the sky. The players on the ground were relieved to find out that support was on the way, for they couldn’t hold on any longer.

Among the skinny monoeyes who stood behind the beastmen forces, some of them had crimson eyes. Several dozen of the crimson-eyed monoeyes started radiating an eerie gleam from their pupils.

A zap thundered across the field, and the entire army of monsters were enshrouded by a barrier of crimson light that extended over a thousand metres in diameter. The bombardment of magic and arrows were completely denied entrance by the crimson wall.

‘What!’ Hades complexion took a turn for the worse as he looked at the crimson barrier.

With sharp intuition, Drako Yau immediately said, ‘It can only defend against ranged attacks like magic and arrows, probably.’

Hades nodded. ‘But that’s enough to nullify our entire ranged corps!’

Drako Yau also nodded, his stern gaze set at the battlefield. The barrier was crawling towards the walls and getting close by the second.

‘There’s no choice.’ Drako Yau shook his head and looked at Hades. Hades did the same. Not a single word was spoken between the two, but they both knew what they had to do.

Drako Yau gave Hades a final reminder. ‘Our target is the monoeyes. If possible, kill the ones with crimson eyes first.’

Zephyrwolf was mad at their silent exchange. ‘What kind of riddle is it this time! Being dumb is a crime, yeah?’

Drako Yau chuckled and said, ‘It’s fine, you’ll know soon enough.’

‘Members of Underworld’, Hades spoke through the guild channel.

Perhaps even the players were unaware of this. Not a single person from the main forces of the well-renowned guild from Evergrand had engaged in combat since the siege began. They were all lying in wait for their guild master’s command. Now was the time.

‘Rally to me. The target is the monoeyes at the enemy’s rear, especially the ones with red eyes.’

‘Roger!’

Almost a hundred players snuck out of the city quietly, which drew the attention of the purplish young man.

‘Oh? That’s a nice elite squad right there. They’re not bad at all, plus their formation is well designed’, he muttered to himself.

The two beastmen leaders stood behind him like hills, not daring to utter a sound. The young man didn’t take command of the troops. Instead, he delegated the commanding authority to the two conceited beastmen.

Hades led the group at the very front. They were charging the formation which they were most familiar with—the wedge formation. It was a simple formation that curved like a short blade, but Hades had used it to achieve countless victories in War of the Daemons.

‘Diabolos’ Blade’ was its name.

Behind him, veterans who had followed him over to Real World such as Bloodless Bladester, Everlastor, and Soulsmith, all felt their blood boiling. How nostalgic! It was exactly this formation that had forged his reputation as the Number One Daemon! Being the ‘strongest’ didn’t only reflect his individual strength in combat, especially in these massively multiplayer games.

Full of determination, Hades led his guild members on a slightly curved route. They avoided the beastmen and charged straight into the wolves.

It didn’t take long before the monster army noticed the group of players. Hiller, the beastman who stood behind the purplish young man, was the army’s commander. That was excluding the previous wave in which the young man took charge himself.

Though Hiller was gritting its teeth from the pain at its right shoulder, it still looked down at the group that only had a hundred or so players. It was true that they were suffering from attrition, but their army still numbered over 10,000. What kind of petty tricks could a hundred measly players pull off? To Hiller, they were like pebbles tossed into a river. A tiny splash was all they were capable of stirring up.

On the contrary, the young man who sat in front of him looked at the hundred players with interested eyes. He knew they were the ones who could probably surprise him. Things that could intrigue him were getting less and less; at least there wasn’t anything worthy of his interest in the past decade.

‘Fighters, use your weakest damaging skill. Ranged, use your weakest ranged attacking skill.’

‘Everlastor, Bloodless Bladester, Devilsword…’ Hades quickly called out a handful of players who had the highest levels within the guild. ‘On me, use your most powerful skill.’

Everlastor spoke frankly like he usually did. ‘Haha! Gotcha boss, we’re all old buddies now. All of us here know how to execute Diabolos’ Blade even with our eyes closed!’

Soulsmith who stood beside him looked around with a bow in hand. Letting out a hmph, he then said, ‘Yeah, keep talking big, just don’t fall behind later!’

They were covering ground at an extremely high pace. At the same time, the beastmen army also started mobilising some troops towards them, but…

The Underworld players came out on top in the race. The wolves were already right before their eyes.

‘Kill them all!’

‘Ahahah! Kill them!’