Game’s Dogma

Booksy Swordsman, as a warrior, was there to protect her so she could cast spells at ease. It was the reason why the two of them teamed up.

Drako Yau narrowed his eyes. The patterns on his flame-red bracelet gave off a dim glow, and along with two loud booms, two fire crystal giants appeared from thin air and trotted towards Idyllic Poet.

‘What’s this!’ Startled, Idyllic Poet couldn’t react for a brief moment as she stared at the giants charging at her. Booksy Swordsman tried to hurry back to support the mage, but Drako Yau wasn’t going to let him off the hook so easily. He thrusted Moon Gazer and blocked his path with an attack.

‘Annoying bastard!’ The candid look on his face was nowhere to be seen as killing intent now filled his eyes. Lately, he had been greatly bothered by recent events. All the pent up frustration, he was going to throw it straight at the enemy!

Drako Yau didn’t even flinch at the incoming slash. He took a diagonal step back and brought his spear into a twirling motion, turning his thrust into a horizontal slash.

‘What?!’ Booksy Swordsman was shocked at how smoothly and quickly he switched his attack. Unable to evade in time, Drako Yau’s slash landed on his armpit. A crimson flash accompanied the attack and it took away a large chunk of his Health. If he hadn’t seen it with his own eyes, he would have thought that a skill had struck him. The damage… was way too high.

‘Who on earth are you!’ It was about time Booksy Swordsman realised how much of a threat Drako Yau was in combat.

Drako Yau kept his mouth shut like a mute, which was the opposite of what the old geezer did. His teacher liked to blabber a lot or even chew on snacks like peanuts and fruits while fighting. He could probably piss someone off to death in a fight.

At the rear, Idyllic Poet was still being chased by two fire crystal giants. She had realised the giants were very slow after calming herself down. At ease once again, she calmly strafed around the place and counterattacked. She shrouded herself in flames, casting Fireball after Fireball at the giants.

While large, the fire crystal giants were too slow and could do nothing but take on the Fireballs. Luckily, they were fire elemental monsters and had resistance against flame attacks. It would take a while for Idyllic Poet to kill them even with her high Magic Attack.

‘This guy’s too strong, I can’t hold on much longer!’

It had been barely a few minutes into their fight, yet Booksy Swordsman was getting utterly destroyed already.

As Real World utilised brainwaves to enter the game, real life techniques could be applied into the game. Drako Yau’s spearmanship originated from the old geezer. He had no idea who on earth his teacher was, not even his name as he simply called the old man ‘old geezer’ and ‘crazy bastard’. Even so, the old geezer’s spearmanship was the real deal—he had never seen a greater spearmanship style in all 20 cities of the East and West.

Booksy Swordsman was a decent fighter for a player, but compared to Drako Yau who combined ancient martial arts techniques with in-game mechanics, he was nowhere near the spearman’s level.

Booksy Swordsman felt like a yacht in a raging sea which was about to sink any moment. In fact, the battle had only gone on for less than five minutes. He had already lost a third of his Health and he wasn’t even given the room to drink a potion.

‘Ahh!’ Booksy Swordsman knew only death awaited him if this went on. He roared loudly and unexpectedly stayed in place without caring about the spear which was about to penetrate his abdomen. Determined, he cast the Level 18 warrior skill—Saltire Slash.

An X-shaped attack travelled towards Drako Yau. He still couldn't get used to such a self-sacrificing way of fighting, because this could only be used in games. If this was real life? That thrust alone could turn Booksy Swordsman into a kebab.

He wasn’t slow to react to the sacrificial attack even though it was beyond his expectations. With no intention to withdraw his thrust, he bent his knees and squatted to dodge the attack beneath the cross.

‘Pukkk!’ His spear pierced through Booksy Swordsman’s stomach. Drako Yau ended up right in front of the warrior, and he quickly slammed his palm into his enemy.

Thanks to the old geezer’s forceful teachings, Drako Yau’s hand-to-hand combat was not weak at all as well. While polearms had an advantage in reach, it would be disastrous to be unskilled in bare-handed combat in case enemies managed to close the distance. Be it fist, palm, fingers, or claw, he was adept in all forms.

The palm strike knocked Booksy Swordsman over and sent him tumbling backwards. Just when Drako Yau wanted to pursue him, a fireball stopped him in his tracks. Idyllic Poet didn’t have the leisure to care about the fire crystal giants as she cast a fireball at Drako Yau to put a stop to his onslaught.

Drako Yau squeezed his brows and flicked his spear in a flurry to block the fireball. She had seen many take on her fireballs directly, but less than five persons had been able to defend against the spell by either blocking or parrying. While fireballs dealt limited damage, it had a short cast time and could stiffen the enemy briefly when landed, making it a crucial spell of the mage class. Her nickname, Pyrowitch, also came from her fine and unpredictable use of the low-levelled Fireball spell.

‘What are you doi—’

Booksy Swordsman’s voice suddenly came to a stop. Idyllic Poet looked at the squad menu out of reflex and saw that Booksy Swordsman’s name had turned grey. He was dead.

‘How is this…’ She looked at where her guild master had died to find two fire crystal giants standing still on the spot. She finally understood what had just happened.

In order to stop the mask man from pursuing Booksy Swordsman, she turned her attention from the fire crystal giants to the man and stopped him with a fireball. However, he immediately ordered the giants which had been chasing her the entire time to finish off Booksy Swordsman who was at death’s door. While he was skilfully blocking the fireball, the giants had faithfully executed his order.

Is it coincidence? Definitely not!

Idyllic Poet stared daggers at the person whose expression was concealed by his fiery red mask. Yet she was certain of it—the man had it all planned out. He even intentionally sent Booksy Swordsman tumbling towards the fire crystal giants.

From the start, he had already decided on killing one of them together with the fire crystal giants. The giants would have killed Booksy Swordsman even if she didn’t interrupt his attack.

How terrifying!

At that moment, she suddenly recalled the rumours spread by players from Yoda and Evergrand. They apparently saw him killing a ravon commander in a few minutes, and some even hailed him as the true saviour of Yoda. She had seen those rumours as mere jokes, but that was up until now; the rumours were being modest about him.