Game’s Dogma

​​​​​​​At long last, they arrived at the resurrection altar. The same old skeleton king sat on the altar, holding the same claymore. However, its atmosphere was completely different.

‘Humans… Pay the price for invading my demon city!’

The skeleton king lifted its claymore, and a crimson aura immediately shrouded the weapon. Zephyrwolf yelled, ‘That’s literally a berserker isn’t it!’ Not that the skeleton cared about his curse anyways. Twisting its body, it dashed towards the squad as a crimson tornado.

‘Zephyrwolf, hold the frontline with me and your demon wolf king. Soulsmith, look for moments to dish out damage. Greenstone, watch out for our Health. Hades, roam freely.’

As Drako Yau experienced more and more in the game, his grandeur gradually grew to become more magnificent along with his confidence. It seemed like he was getting stronger, but the truth was that his dormant memories were gradually being recalled: the combat mindset which had seeped through his bones in the past days when the old geezer had hunted him down like a mad man.

The skeleton king was not weak at all. Still, it had a long way to go to reach the Fire Crystal Master’s level, let alone the crazily powerful purple man who was way beyond anyone’s reach.

Up against the skeleton king’s crimson strike, Drako Yau chose to deal with it head on, but not by blocking it foolishly. Instead, his eyes had the glare of an eagle as he held the shaft of his spear with both hands and made three rapid thrusts at the sword’s flat side.

Along with three loud tings, the skeleton king’s attack shuddered for a brief moment. It was at that very moment that Drako Yau’s legs gave off an inconspicuous mist. He dodged the incoming slash and thrusted his right palm out to deliver a palm strike, sending the skeleton king two steps back while he took a step back himself.

The rest of the squad had no time to admire his martial art techniques. He had bought them time to react, and they gratefully used the moment he had earned to position themselves.

Greenstone and Soulsmith retreated to the rear together. Hades circled around the skeleton king’s flank and skirmished behind it without making any rash moves. As an assassin, his playstyle of confronting enemies head on was closer to that of a warrior, yet his class was fundamentally a lightly armoured class. His low defence meant he couldn’t engage in prolonged combat out in the open like heavily armoured warriors, nor was he skilled enough like Drako Yau to deal with different attacks.

Hades was like a sneaky viper, slithering behind the skeleton king in wait for opportunities to backstab it. The skeleton king had no choice but to split a bit of its attention towards its rear.

Zephyrwolf was a lot simpler. The musclehead only yelled and roared with his demon wolf king and attacked the skeleton king from the front. His Attack was no lower than Drako Yau thanks to Night’s Venator, and the skeleton king had to spend the majority of its time blocking and parrying his attacks.

Still, the most terrifying attacks came from Drako Yau without doubt. He didn’t attack very frequently, but his strikes and thrusts were extremely precise. He’d either choose not to strike, or land a critical hit which triggered the Weakness Exploit effect. The crimson flash which indicated that his attack landed on a weak point always accompanied his spear as if he was casting a skill.

Might together with Spear Mastery increased Drako Yau’s basic attack damage by 20 per cent. Added with the Weakness Exploit damage bonus, every strike on the skeleton king was crippling.

Ten minutes went by at the blink of an eye. It was truly the final boss of Hell difficulty—the skeleton king’s Health and Defence was far beyond that of the boss in Hard.

‘Gahh!’ A huge force exploded in their face, which knocked Drako Yau, Zephyrwolf, and Hades several metres back without dealing any damage.

Forced Knockback!

Soulsmith in the distance didn’t slack off and fired off a shot. However, the arrow didn’t even put a dent in the skeleton king’s Health and simply disappeared the moment it connected with its target.

Invincibility.

After knocking back the melee fighters, the skeleton king knelt and slapped its palm onto the ground, sending a gust of rippling air from the spot.

‘Watch out, something’s wrong’, said Drako Yau. The gust gave him an ominous feeling.

Klack… Klock…

Eerie noises resounded throughout the altar. Suddenly, bony fingers emerged from the ground one after another. They clawed their way up from beneath, revealing a horde of skeletons.

This bastard… In the final fight with the demon wolf king, it called for its minions within the cave, but this time was different. The skeleton king directly summoned its minions!

‘Zephyrwolf and Hades, protect Soulsmith and Greenstone. I’ll hold the boss back. Soulsmith, we’ll dish out damage together. Zephyrwolf, use the demon wolf king’s control skill on the boss once its cooldown is over!’

Drako Yau had little experience in leading in-game squads, so he wasn’t as precise as Hades with his commands. Still, his knowledge as a game designer and vision as chairman of the game company that once stood at the forefront of the industry served him well. Hades found his commands reasonable and didn’t give any suggestions.

Drako Yau was getting more and more into the mood as he fought. He made more frequent attacks with his spear, and the skeleton king also increased its attack speed and power as its claymore’s crimson glow grew brighter. The two were finally getting to business.

Meanwhile, Zephyrwolf and the rest of the squad were not in a much better spot. The summoned skeletons weren’t very strong, yet they had overwhelming numbers. The skeleton army swarmed towards the four players to surround them.

In a situation where the enemy had low attack, it was Hades’ time to shine. He flicked and slashed his dagger at lightning speed, denying the approaching skeletons from reaching Soulsmith and Greenstone. Zephyrwolf also swung his sword almost wildly. He knew dealing damage wasn’t the priority right now—they had to stop the skeletons from completely encircling them. Once the encirclement was complete, their doom was certain regardless of how potent Greenstone’s healing skills were.

Soulsmith also knew now was a critical moment. He fired off a series of consecutive shots, the storm of arrows whizzing straight at the skeleton king which was engaging in an intense duel with Drako Yau. Their exchange of blows were so quick that it was difficult to keep track of their weapons, and only countless metallic clangs could be heard.

A purple shadow flashed before their eyes. The next moment, the skeleton king was already down on the ground, pinned by the demon wolf king’s overpowered control skill!

Drako Yau and Soulsmith didn’t let the opportunity go to waste and attacked the boss to their hearts’ content. Out of the blue, the pin down effect abruptly came to a halt. The demon wolf king was blown away into the air, and the skeleton king had gotten back onto its feet while tightly grasping onto its claymore. Its hollow orbits exuded a ghostly crimson glow.

Drako Yau had a bad feeling about it. ‘It’s going berserk!’

The next moment, the skeleton king held its claymore horizontally and started spinning like a crimson tornado.

‘Run!’ The moment Drako Yau yelled, he turned on his heels and fled as quickly as he could.

Pain tore through his back nonetheless. The skeletons that had been surrounding the others were also minced into chunks of bones; it was clearly an indiscriminate attack.

The demon wolf king’s massive body was the first to get dragged into the tornado. It only took a second before it turned into an orb of light which returned to Zephyrwolf’s item bag.

‘Run away!!!’ Everyone made a desperate break for their lives.