Game’s Dogma

On the spacious top floor were the lonely siblings, Florate and Hibiscus.

“Brother…”

Seeing how worn out her brother was, Florate was starting to worry about him. She knew clearly that her brother was the one bearing the heaviest burden.

Even though a hundred-man squad of coordinated snipers targeted him every time he showed up, he still took off for battle twenty-seven times. He would sweep down with lightning speed to snipe out several players before the special squad chased him away like a dog. After recovering his Health at the Holy Ground, the cycle repeated itself over and over again.

Hibiscus was undoubtedly the one who killed the most enemies in this war so far—so what? In a large-scale war of tens of thousands of players, what could he achieve with only Flower Plucking Finger? He had tried launching beheading assaults several times, but the two enemy commanders, the silver-haired man and man in a red robe, were well protected. The former was also particularly strong; those eyes that were shut all the time snapped open like an unsheathed sword every time he got close.

The element of surprise was critical for surprise attacks and beheading assaults to work. As such, Hibiscus no longer tried it after several attempts.

Florate mustered her courage, gritted her teeth, then finally said, “Brother, maybe we should seek aid.”

Hibiscus opened his weary eyes and smiled. “Seek aid? From who? Chau Yu’s mad at us, so Empyreal Alliance is out of the question. That leaves Dragon Alliance and Underworld… Do you really think they will answer our call for help?”

Florate shook her head. “With a common enemy, I think…”

“Say no more.” Hibiscus put on a determined look. “Although I don’t think they will come to our aid, asking them for help is something I cannot do, for my own sake that is.”

Florate gave up with her persuasion; no one knew Hibiscus better than she did. Her brother was powerful in battle and had great authority, but he also cared a lot about reputation. It was impossible for him to admit defeat and request aid because it’d make him lose face.

Myriad Bloom’s morale fell to a historic low. Those from the West had trampled over their pride. The Western players had an average level of 40, not to mention that number was a minimum entry requirement to the Fire Palace. It was even rumoured that the requirement would be raised to Level 42 in a month or two. The Fire Palace’s synchronised casting also showed how well-trained they were.

Number-wise, the West also had an absolute advantage. While there existed players that were independent of Olympus in the West, they were the extreme minority. Over ninety per cent of combat players were within the ranks of Olympus. Just three of the twelve chambers and the Fire Palace were enough to form an army of 100,000. 

In short, the East came up short in both individual strength and numbers.

As Chau Yu had commented, Hibiscus was a great fighter but was far from a decent general. He didn’t cheer up his players even when their morale plummeted.

Now was a period of brief peace after the initial clash. However, everything could turn upside down within a second, especially during a war.

“Cheh… Told you the East’s just a bunch of weaklings. They bark so loud when their levels are so low!”

“They’re trash when compared to the great Olympus!”

“Look at that flying bastard. Our guys from the Fire Palace made him run with his tail between his legs every time.”

The Western players laughed and mocked their enemy; they saw no need to be wary of their counterparts on another server.

“Hmm? What’s that?”

While they talked big, they didn’t actually see a lot of action as they were support players of the three palaces. Most of them were clerics and players with special buff skills. Their position on the battlefield was at the very rear, protected heavily by the armies ahead of them.

With nothing much to do, they chatted and occasionally looked around. Suddenly, one of them yelled something and looked into the distance. The Warring Wastelands seemed endless because it was barren, and that also meant everything was visible as long as they weren’t beyond the horizon.

Clouds of dust and dots of black slowly emerged.

“They’re players!” they cried out. “Inform Sir Musashi right away!”

When Musashi arrived at the rear, he squinted his eyes at the army storming towards them. It was difficult to tell, but he estimated that there were at least 30,000 players.

A banner was suddenly erected from among the army. Just as every guild had a guild emblem, alliances also had their own emblems. The banner bore an emblem unfamiliar to the West, but players from the East would realise it at first glance. With an azure background and a cloud at its centre, the empyreal design belonged to Empyreal Alliance.

Another huge banner was raised. This one was as dark as the abyss, decorated by a blood-red eastern dragon—it was of the Dragon Alliance!

Chau Yu and Drako Yau led the players at the forefront. Their fearless gazes were locked onto their enemies from the West.

“What’s the plan?”

“Kill them all,” Chau Yu replied coldly.

While the players trapped in the Holy Ground weren’t his fellow alliance members, they were of the Eastern server after all, and that alone meant they were in the same boat. The West’s arrogance of belittling him and the East had touched a red line of his.

“A bit difficult,” Drako Yau said. Winning the battle wasn’t the most challenging part; annihilating the enemy was.

“I have my plans. Just go and fight the strongest player on their side.”

Chau Yu had no intention of letting Mask get involved in the tactical department. This was his, and only his, duty.

“Sir, what should we do?” Kalex asked Musashi, his commander on paper, despite having made a decision already. It would be impudent of him to override his senior directly.

“You know it, I’m only good at fighting. What’s your take?”

Musashi was a wild person, but not wild enough to disregard his weaknesses. He was more than willing to listen to his subordinates’ opinions.

Thank god he doesn’t plan on fighting a lost battle, Kalex thought as he felt a wave of relief.

“I suggest retreating for now. Our current forces are enough to take on those within the Holy Ground, but they’ve clearly asked for reinforcements. It’ll be a stretch for us to fight on two ends. More importantly, it’d be pointless. It’s an all-or-nothing battle for them, while for us, we’re only here to deliver a message. We can request more troops from the Divine King later and besiege them again later.”

Musashi nodded. Although this went against his beliefs in Bushido, he was now representing Olympus instead of himself.

“We’ll do just that. Pass down the order, use Return-to-City Scrolls.”

“But sir,” Kalex continued, “using the scrolls here is more troublesome than it usually is. The first condition is to be out of combat. The scroll will take effect immediately when out of combat on our server, but there’s a one-minute delay here in the Warring Wastelands. If the enemy commander isn’t a moron, they won’t let us retreat with the scrolls so easily.”

“That much is obvious. What you’re trying to say is…” Musashi’s eyes lit up. He could roughly guess what Kalex was hinting at.

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