Game’s Dogma

‘Too quick…’

Drako Yau looked at the beam of red light flying straight at him with frightful eyes. He couldn’t avoid it even with the Empyreal Dragon Step!

‘Gotcha.’

‘Argh!!’

Drako Yau howled in pain. His left arm was struck by the Flame Crystal Master’s fist, twisting it into an unnatural bend. The punch which had a lot of momentum behind it packed plenty of power, and the shockwave broke the already fractured rib.

He knew about his condition better than anyone else.

A broken rib, punctured lung… If this goes on, my body can probably hold on for another 15, no, 10 minutes before I faint. I’ll definitely die if I faint here.

Drako Yau tightened his grasp on Dawnlight, glaring his bloodshot eyes at the Fire Crystal Master.

‘Is that it?’ The Fire Crystal Master was in no hurry to finish him off as he shook his head. ‘Turns out you’re not the one. The old geezer must have been mistaken.’

Drako Yau didn’t utter a word. In fact, if he spoke, he would be falling unconscious five minutes earlier than his calculations.

‘Don’t even have the strength to speak?’ Looking at the young man, the Fire Crystal Master’s look turned into a cruel one. ‘Then die!’

Along with a nearly silent whoosh, he disappeared from the spot.

Drako Yau pushed himself and twisted his body, yelling with all his might, ‘ARGHHH!’

The low and monotonous voice of the system resounded within his head. ‘Limit Break: the hidden Wanderer skill has been unveiled. Skill learnt: Dying Precision.’

He completely missed the notification. Right now, there was nothing but the Fire Crystal Master on his mind and in his sight. He was completely absorbed into the battle at hand.

‘HAHHH!!!’ Drako Yau rotated his body and thrusted his spear out, driving the weapon forward like a dragon.

‘Puok!’

The Fire Crystal Master stiffened and came to a halt right before Drako Yau’s eyes, clearly overwhelmed with disbelief. A spear had punctured through his chest and emerged from his back.

As though he had put all his energy, spirit, and soul into the attack, Drako Yau slumped to the ground powerlessly and landed on his already half-shattered left arm, forcing a terrible scream out of his mouth.

The Fire Crystal Master had a complicated expression. ‘I never thought that I’d lose to you. Young man, follow the path you’re currently treading on.’

Finishing his last words, the Fire Crystal Master melted into a lump of red lava and wriggled back to the pool of lava surrounding the platform.

A series of notifications rang out in his head.

‘Quest completed—Defeat the Fire Crystal Master (Unique Quest). Rewards have been given. Announce quest information publicly?’

‘Congratulations, you have reached Level 12!’

‘Dungeon cleared, automatically leaving the dungeon in one minute…’

‘Sis, you’re still waiting outside?’ Slightly annoyed, Angryface was talking to his sister, Scaredyface. He could clearly see the background in the video call that Scaredyface was still outside Blazing Cave.

Scaredyface nodded and replied, ‘If not for him, we wouldn’t have cleared the dungeon! And I even got this amazing weapon…’

Angryface gave a wry smile. ‘But who knows, he might be gone already. Look what time it is now. Quickly log out already, there’s still school tomorrow.’

Hesitating slightly, Scaredyface soon made up her mind. ‘I’ll wait for another five minutes.’

‘Well, up to you.’ Angryface sighed and logged off.

After hanging up, Scaredyface stared at the open space outside Blazing Cave. The overflowing stream of people had largely dispersed already; it was already midnight after all.

‘Sigh, did he really leave…’

Players would automatically leave the dungeon after clearing it, and it was pretty much impossible for someone to stay within the dungeon. Scaredyface was only clinging onto the hope that the masked man might have dived straight back in to clear the other difficulties.

Just when she was about to turn and leave, a teleportation beam glowed beside her. Players were teleported to the space outside Blazing Cave upon quitting the dungeon, and the location was randomly determined every time.

Scaredyface glanced downwards and saw a masked man who seemed to be at death’s door lying on the ground. His left arm was also bent at an abnormal angle. Coughing a few times, blood seeped out from beneath his mask.

Scaredyface was startled by his sudden appearance. Wasn’t he the masked man she had been waiting for?

The scene really rendered her mind blank. Of course a pure and delicate girl like her had never seen such a bloody sight. At that moment, she wasn’t even sure if it was a game or the actual world.

‘Sir! What… what happened to you!’ Scaredyface was at a loss of what to do, wanting to touch him yet not daring to.

However, Drako Yau was still immobile, and all he could do was to use the speech-to-text system by forcing the words out of his mouth.

‘Bring.’

‘Me.’

‘To.’

‘The.’

‘City.’

The words popped up one after another. The next moment, he had already lost consciousness.

Drako Yau felt like he was in a dreamy state. It was as if he was holding something soft, something fragile in his arms while a warm aura shrouded him, feeling as though he was lying comfortably in a hot spring, so much that he almost moaned from the pleasure. Still, there was this tingling numbness on his left arm and inside his chest…

‘Hm?’ Drako Yau gradually lifted his eyelids.

A plain ceiling came into sight. While it seemed somewhat aged with those tiny dents and cracks, the place gave off a sense of security that set his mind at ease. As he sat up on the bed, he suddenly realised something was off.

He subconsciously looked at his left hand… It was completely fine.

Drako Yau swung his arm around. His arm felt as fit as ever.

He couldn’t help but recall his memories of yesterday. That Fire Crystal Master… The feeling of death… Were they all but a dream? To make sure, he quickly checked his item bag.

‘Fire Crystal Master Bracelet. No attributes attached. An ornament.

Serving as the proof of the fire crystal tribe’s master, it represents paramount authority and status within the fire crystal tribe. The owner of this tribe can infuse mana into the bracelet to summon fire crystal tribesmen.’

Drako Yau was in awe as he inspected the fiery red bracelet.

It was even thinner than his thumb, but the crimson patterns embedded within it were clearly visible. Upon putting it on, he could feel an unknown connection forming, and he transferred mana into the bracelet without meaning to.

A massive fire crystal giant appeared out of nowhere inside the room. However, it was hunching its back and curling its body, probably because it would knock the ceiling and walls off if it didn’t.

It was a welcoming discovery for Drako Yau.

‘It costs around a third of my MP… So I can summon three fire crystal giants right now…’

With three fire crystal giants that could serve as his guards, his survivability had risen greatly once again.