Game’s Dogma

​​​​​​​Hades’ blood crept at the sight, but at the same time, he was unsure what the enemy was attempting to achieve with such a tactic. The combination of wolves and monoeyes would not be enough to break through the gates…

Everything suddenly clicked in his head. Immediately, Hades yelled through the global channel, ‘Don’t leave the city! Don’t leave the city! All players at the west gate, do not engage!’

But he was too late.

The players assigned to the west who had been killed and had resurrected at the resurrection altar were already leaving through the passages… only to be greeted by the razor-sharp teeth of wolves.

Dozens of monoeye wolf riders charged into the city through the passages opened by the players. Right, the enemies couldn’t freely open the passages in the city walls, but the players could. The moment players opened the passages, the monsters stormed the entrances and entered the city.

Immediately after the monsters penetrated the walls, the startled players hurried over to intercept the enemies.

Buzz…

The several dozen frail-looking monoeyes riding the wolves radiated a bright, blue glow from their eyes. It was as though tens of blue lanterns were lit near the west gate. The blue glow expanded outwards, and every player within the glow had their movement speed reduced. Among the monoeyes, there was one which was taller and looked somewhat healthier. It controlled the glow of all monoeyes, slowing down all players in a radius of over a hundred metres.

Drako Yau turned silent after hearing Hades’ description of the events that had unfolded, then looked at the east gate, which also was falling apart into tatters.

Is this… our limit?

On the walls, guys were roaring and yelling, while some female players were screaming at the ravons which homed in on them. Magical sparks and gusts topped it all off.

‘Zephyrwolf.’

‘Hm?’ Zephyrwolf kicked a beastman away, and the demon wolf king spewed a wind blade to turn it into minced meat.

‘The west gate has fallen. I’ll leave the east gate to you.’

‘Kay… What?’ Zephyrwolf stuttered, then said, ‘Me?’

A piercing shriek cut through the air as he spoke. A gigantic, black ravon with purple patterns running through its wings descended from above, its eyes pinned onto Drako Yau. Under the efforts of the players defending the walls, the ravon commander had finally showed up.

‘Yes, you. It’s way more critical over at the west gate. The monsters have already entered the city, I must go.’ As Drako Yau conversed with Zephyrwolf, he was already engaging the ravon commander.

Zephyrwolf was at a loss, even though he was supposedly the commander of the east gate. He knew clearly that Drako Yau’s strategies and troop placement was the key to keeping the east gate safe. He himself was all but a speaker that relayed Drako Yau’s commands. But now… he had to command over a thousand players all on his own?

Drako Yau continued, ‘It can’t be helped, I must help the west gate out. I know it’s a bit difficult on you too. Use the Mana Shockwave Generator if you need to. Here’s a tip, get rid of the red monoeyes quickly, or else our ranged players will be rendered useless.’

Finishing his words, Drako Yau turned around and leapt down the wall.

The players who were defending the walls were already nervous upon seeing the masked man dueling the ravon commander. After all, if he died, the monsters would receive an army-wide buff! It was a terrifying thought given the scale of the war.

Yet right now, the masked man actually ignored the ravon commander and leapt down the walls right before their eyes and headed for the west.

‘Is that guy mad?’

‘Who’s gonna take over?’

‘Damn! Screw this, we’ll rush it together!’

Just when the melee players were busy yelling, the ravons squealed and flapped their wings, turning away from the city and soaring into the sky. The cloud of black ravons fled the battlefield and disappeared out of sight under the gaze of baffled players.

It was only then did they find out that the ravon commander was lying dead on the ground. In less than a minute, the masked man had killed a commander!

Inside the city at the west gate, all players were moving sluggishly like cars in a traffic jam. Shrouded by the blue dome, despite putting every ounce of their strength into their bodies, they were still moving in slow-motion.

The ranged players in the mix had started attacking long ago, but most ranged players had been stationed at the east gate. The only players who had ranged attacks were mostly members of Underworld who followed Hades.

However, the wolves were throwing their lives away by acting as meatshields to protect the monoeyes. The monoeyes suffered slight casualties, but things were still… The only ‘good’ thing was that players beyond the city walls had it worse.

Outside the city, the players no longer received troop replenishments because the resurrected players were all stuck inside the city. Having lost their support from the rear, the beastmen decimated and trampled over them. The battlefield had rapidly spiralled out of the players’ control as the beastmen all ran straight for the city.

The monsters were now just a hundred metres away from the gate. At the very back of them was a massive beastman who also charged at the west gate, and the other beastmen were all doing their best to clear the path ahead of it.

The ground shuddered every time it took a step. Hades glared at the massive beastman with flaming eyes and yelled, ‘Stop it!’

But even with all the magic and projectiles raining down on it, the beastman simply ignored the attacks and continued his charge. Soon enough, it was already in front of the gate, and it raised its gigantic spiked mace over its head.

‘Raaaa!!!’

The spiked mace slammed into the gate, causing it to quake as cracks rippled through it.

Hades anxiously yelled through the chat channel, ‘Quick, the gate won’t hold out for much longer!’

‘I’m on my way.’ Drako Yau then murmured as he ran, ‘Hold on… Just a little longer…’

His eyes suddenly shot towards a group of people. There were around a dozen of them, and they ranged from young kids who clung onto their parents to eighty-year-olds. It was obvious they were NPCs that resided in Yoda. They were having a heated discussion about something, all while shooting glances at the west gate from time to time.

This group of NPCs is special… It was his intuition as a game designer.

Suppressing the urge to help out the west gate, he went to the group of NPCs. Who would have the leisure to care about a group of mere NPCs in a war where every second counted?

‘Excuse me…’

Led by the NPCs, Drako Yau was now heading to the central region of Yoda. Thinking of it, he had never toured around Yoda properly.

The building wasn’t a tall one, standing at three storeys, but the entire structure was pearl white and gave off a noble atmosphere. Even so, players wouldn’t spare it an extra glance. To them, the only places that mattered were major stores and locations such as potion stores, armourer and weaponsmith stores, the trade centre, and the resurrection altar. The rest just weren’t important.

One of the NPCs looked at Drako Yau and said, ‘Yoda is our home. We do not wish for it to turn into a demon city also. But the castellan… we do not dare to offend him in the slightest. We leave it in your hands.’ Leaving behind such words, the NPCs left hastily.

Drako Yau looked upwards and had a good look at the building, then pushed the front door open with both hands.

‘Discovered building: Castellan’s Residence.’