Game’s Dogma

The Eastern players were utterly annihilated the moment they left the Holy Ground. Others soon got wind of the incident and climbed up the short city walls to see what was going on.

A sea of red awaited them, the dense red IDs indicating that they were enemies from the West. Assaulting and occupying Holy Grounds owned by another server wasn’t possible right now, but that didn’t prevent the West from setting up a blockade to halt the growth of their enemies. With them besieging the Eastern-owned Holy Ground, players from the East could only level up in obsolete maps on their server.

Myriad Blooms was a gathering of the most unruly players. They refused to accept Mask’s rule, so they chose Empyreon as their home city. They were unconvinced by Chau Yu’s leadership, so they felt joining his alliance was beneath them. As such, they ended up in Myriad Blooms, where Hibiscus imposed barely any rules.

Now that the enemies were right up their doorsteps, they all flared up and yelled, “Hey you people from the West! What’s the meaning of this!”

Regardless of how harsh their words were, none dared to take a step out of the protected territory within the Holy Ground. Only doom would befall them when at least a hundred thousand players were surrounding the entrances.

Hearing the East’s bickering, those from the West snickered in response. Their intention was obvious—it was a war they were declaring.

Suddenly, a path opened up through the sea of red IDs. A person with short silver hair in a tattered hemp robe and grass-woven sandals strode through the crowd. A katana was hung on each side of his waist. He casually arrived before the Holy Ground without fearing that he’d be swarmed by the enemy.

“Those of the Eastern server, heed my words.” His voice wasn’t particularly loud, but thanks to some sort of item, everyone within the Holy Ground could hear him. “From today onwards, entry and exit are forbidden. Wind and rain shall pass through, day and night shall cycle on, but not a single player from the East shall leave this place!”

The assertive declaration by Musashi was the West’s declaration of war. Turmoil immediately ensued within the besieged Holy Ground.

Not long after, a silhouette flew past the skies like a heavenly figure. The sight was a stunning one; the only known player capable of flight was the owner of the Eastern server’s Holy Ground, Hibiscus.

Alone, he flew out of the Holy Ground as his flowery robe wavered in the sky. He pinched his middle finger and thumb, then clicked it—a sea of flowers bloomed within the horde of players from the West. The sudden attack took them by surprise and many of them turned into white flashes upon death.

Hibiscus gazed down at the West’s army with his handsome face and asked, “Who said no one from the East can pass through?”

Musashi’s declaration was still ringing in everyone’s ears when Hibiscus assaulted them alone; it was a heavy slap to his face. However, he didn’t seem embarrassed at all and instead broke into laughter.

“You can fly, of course you can leave freely. I’m curious, how many of you can fly? We Olympus have an army of a hundred thousand stationed here. How many of them can you kill?”

Hibiscus stayed silent before replying calmly, “At least I can kill you.”

Flower Plucking Finger’s strike whizzed through the air towards Musashi. Despite seeing their general attacked out of the blue, none of the Western players made a cry of surprise. Who was Musashi? One of the Four Generals!

“I have to say, you’re over your head.” Musashi’s silhouette flickered, and finger-sized holes formed on the ground. None of the attacks could even graze his robe. “I suggest you fly higher.”

Before Musashi finished his line, a swarm of attacks shot toward Hibiscus. It didn’t come from Musashi, but this wasn’t a duel in the first place. Black tentacles crawled towards the sky in an attempt to seize the lone target.

Shadow Tentacles was the main skill of most tormentors. It had quick travelling speed, short cast time, and powerful control effects. As long as one of the many tentacles touched Hibiscus, he’d be dragged down to the crowd and experience a swift death.

Hibiscus squinted his eyes. He conjured flowers beneath his legs and soared higher up until he was out of their reach.

Musashi kept up his smile on the ground. “Aren’t you good at flying? A bit more altitude is recommended.”

Musashi’s taunts were like orders. This time around, it was bullets and arrows instead of magic. A huge volley of Heart-Piercing Shots bolted upwards at once.

Rangers had the greatest attack range of all basic classes; Hibiscus had to scurry to climb higher into the sky to stay out of reach.

Musashi put his hands next to his mouth to form a speaker and shouted, “Come attack us again! Ahahaha!”

Hibiscus’ skill Flowery Steps was certainly powerful, but that was only applicable to melee classes. For ranged players, having him fly in the sky was a welcome sight. It didn’t matter whether he was up there or on the ground; they simply had to fire away as usual. Hibiscus’ first assault only succeeded because he had the element of surprise. Now that the West was prepared for it, he was at his wit’s end.

Even Drako Yau or Zeus could only retreat when up against a hundred thousand players, let alone Hibiscus.

This was no simple battle—it was war.

Changing the scene to another Holy Ground, one not owned by any player but rather the god race. All players could enter and leave this place freely.

Drako Yau stood somewhere in the Holy Ground, pondering something in his head in total silence. Someone came over and stood next to him. They were rivals—they always had been.

“Why?” he asked.

“Why what?” the person returned him a question.

“Someone as smart as you are should have expected me to ask this already, am I wrong?”

The person was Chau Yu, the mastermind whose intellect was beyond anyone’s imagination. He no longer feigned ignorance and answered, “His selfish ways were disagreeable.”

“But Empyreal Alliance lost access to the Warring Wastelands for that.”

What Drako Yau asked about was the falling out between Empyreal Alliance and Myriad Blooms. Now, Empyreal Alliance could no longer use the East’s Holy Ground, just like those from Yoda and Evergrand.

“There’ll be some other way. With a great common foe before our eyes, I know clearly what should be and shouldn’t be done. I find you an eyesore, but in the end, you’re also from the East, and that means we’re on the same side. We can fight among ourselves all we want once we’re done dealing with the West.”

“What are your thoughts?”

“Figure out something to solve the issue of not having a Holy Ground. The Warring Wastelands is a ticking time bomb. Without a Holy Ground as a supporting base, problems will arise sooner or later. It might even be impossible to challenge future dungeons when we don’t have access to the guild and alliance channels,” said Chau Yu.

“There’s nothing we can do. According to my estimations, there are only two Holy Grounds in the entire wastelands, one for the East and one for the West. Think about it, why did we get to the Demonic Tower so much sooner? That’s because the system determined that the Eastern server is weaker, so it gave us a head start. Butcherer was an unexpected variable as I was his target. Either way, the Holy Ground would’ve ended in our, the East’s, hands.”

Chau Yu furrowed his brows. Although he had remarkable intelligence, his way of thinking was fundamentally different from Drako Yau who was a game designer. His mindset as a developer allowed him to notice things others wouldn’t have thought of.

“Go on,” prompted Chau Yu.

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