VOLUME 1

- CHAPTER 10 - PART 2 -

SNOW DRAGON

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The two kids came from a narrow passage between a house and the thick stone wall, many steps behind me now. The older one gazes at me in awe and the smaller one with terror. They weren’t paying attention to the monster behind them, which was looking at the two small wolfkins with its natural killer instincts.

My first idea was to turn my face and keep running. Distraction. They are a distraction. But I was already visualizing their deaths in my head, just as I always do.

Predict, strategize, and act. The fastest you are at doing this sequence, the better player you are. That’s why you need to see what is going to happen before it truly does.

Logical thinking above loot, logical thinking above experience loss, logical thinking above the fear of death. That’s how it always was. Helping others with goodwill only makes things worse: you lose formation, deplete resources, and miss momentum.

Changing your mind about a strategy mid-action can be equivalent to death. You need to be certain of it, follow the plan even if it is flawed. Second-guessing means less focus and less time for action.

If you see that someone will die, don’t help out of kindness or run out of fear, always use the situation to win. That’s how it is. Don’t change plans, especially when the time is critical. That’s how it always worked. It’s efficient, it’s what wins the battle, anything else and you’ll depend on luck. And luck can’t guarantee your victory.

The only thing you can be certain of is yourself and the plan you are in.

Trusting in anything else is trusting in luck.

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But again… seeing the terrorized little girl hiding behind the astonished boy, both their eyes shining alive at me. It didn’t feel right. This game wasn’t right.

The image of the leaf being ripped apart reappears in my mind.

Why is this so damn real? Why they look so alive? It wasn’t like this before. This was just a stupid game, just that.

The beast goes a step forward, thick fume coming out of its nostrils and between its sharp teeth.

Why? Why in the hell do I need to be involved? I never asked for this. I didn’t need this. Why I’m being forced to be here?

[There are 0 skills ready]

My feet slide on the dirt street, my right hand goes to the grip of my dagger to a quick draw. My blood boils, my eyes bulging forward with the anger tensioning my body. I listen to my blade being unsheathed, the beast going one step closer, the little girl crying.

Every damn time. I need to fight every damn time.

The dagger flies from my fingers, the two kids’ eyes follow its path swiftly spinning and cutting the air toward the dragon-tiger.

*Tling*

The dagger bounces up from the beast’s head, not even scratching it.

­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ “GET OUT OF HERE!”

The dragon-tiger looks at me with annoyance. The little girl screams in horror, only now seeing the monster just a few steps from her, making it look back at them.

I draw my second dagger, grabbing it again with my right hand and throwing it. It bounces off on the ground near the beast’s front paw, not even hitting it.

­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ “GET OUT OF HERE, NOW!”

I scream at the children, but they don’t listen. They stumble back and freeze in despair.

The beast looks at me once more, and then it opens its mouth toward the boy.

I’m too far away to do anything.

A skill shines inside my head as if my wish was instantly granted.

[Skill ready: Normal Blink]

But my legs couldn’t move.

I know I won’t be able to run away if I blink, even if I manage to grab them, I won’t get to safety. I’d die the second I teleport. With my health, one more hit and it’s over. I have no defenses, no evasion, no counterattacks. The only thing I’m good at is escaping on my own.

Those kids are going to die. Have their heads bitten off, their limbs eaten, and their insides spread on the dirt. I could see the blood splatters already, hear their voices fading away like balloons being deflated, crying for their moms, begging for mercy. It was all there, every path of possibility I could predict, it was impossible to not see it.

If there was anyone that could fight that thing, maybe at least one of them could be saved. At least one.

­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ Anyone.

I close my fists tighter and grit my teeth, never stopping to stare at that scene.

­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ They are going to die. Someone needs to help them.

My skills’ cooldown pointers keep spinning like a clock, none of them close to being finished in time.

I’m afraid of dying, angry about that monster appearing out of the blue, annoyed that it followed me all the way here, and disgusted at myself for not being able to do anything.

I see the daggers on the ground near the dragon-tiger, its end ribbons lying down around themselves.

And yet, my legs won’t move.

Neceha: “Mom,” – the little girl cries, her voice cracking and muffled as she buries her face on the boy’s back. – “Mom, help!”

My fists tighten even more.

­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ Anyone, please…

My legs refuse to move. If I receive one more hit, I die.

­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ Anyone.

The beast goes one more step forward and opens its mouth wider, its heat warming the boy’s face to an almost burn. Its blade teeth reflect the shine of the sun as it mirrors the sky, opening wide enough to try gulping the boy’s head in one swift bite.

But then-

The blade-teeth mirrors something silver in the sky going at high speed. I feel the wind of it flying above my head. And in the next second, a man in strange knight armor is hovering above the beast.

???:­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ “PIERCING SHOT!” – the man screams, aiming an enormous weapon at the monster’s neck.

Like a hammer, his red weapon shoots itself from down to upwards in a spin, hitting the dragon-tiger fully. The loud sound of a cannon echoes in my ears, making me go a step back in a scare.

The beast flies up, breaking a straw hut’s roof and sinking into it.

The man lands on his feet in front of the kids.

I take a moment just to be impressed by his shining gear. It’s one of the top tiers of the late game, a full Legendary build. He’s wearing a white polo shirt and black pants below an odd silverish-red knight armor, with oversized shoulder pads and side-legs protections, each piece of metal having big gaps between each other. A set that have both mobility and tanking capabilities.

He steps forward, his heaviness kneading the dirt ground.

It’s not to be fast but to have mobility, as weird as it sounds. It improves any movement skill but slows you with its enormous weight. It’s so hard to manage that no one uses it, at least no one that isn’t skillful enough.

In my entire life, I’ve seen only one person who could pull that build off.

The hut begins to move. Flames rise from its roofless structure, then, the beast walks through the walls made of branches and straw ropes as if it was soft paper. Blood spills on the ground, from a few scales that were ripped off its neck.

The man spins his enormous weapon to grip it with both of his hands.

It’s a weapon that I have never seen before, it isn’t from the new update either, I always check every new type there is to see which would sell more or have the best attributes-to-resource ratio. That weapon didn’t exist in my book until now, I would’ve remembered it. It’s a giant dark-red pickaxe, being almost two times that man’s stature, with carving lines in its metallic texture in a generic sci-fi pattern.

What comes to mind, is that thing being a Unique item, but no one would be crazy enough to bring something like that to a place like this.

The beast goes one more heavy step forward, and the man follows.

­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ Wait a second.

I look at his side face, a light-brown short hair and a sharp chin with a serious expression, something like a mix of a knight and a modern businessman. His face isn’t unfamiliar, it’s rare for me to remember an in-game character, but this guy…

I activate my divine vision. The names of the children pop up first on my side view, then the man’s, followed by the beast’s in the background.

[Willrus Strongblade, Yellow Rabbits (Level 157)]

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­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ “Willrus…”

One who is ranked in the Top 20 of Gonkdim.

One who is considered to be the strongest solo-player on our server.

…is suddenly in front of me.

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­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ What a strike of bad luck.

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