VOLUME 1
- CHAPTER 10 -
SNOW DRAGON
In this game, there are a few things you need to worry about.
First, the difficulty level you are in.
Second, which effects the biome you are have.
Third, what enemy you’re going up against.
The worst thing is, in this day, I’ve got every number on that list wrong.
- - - - - - - - - - -
Wind goes against my cloak, everything warps around me as I don’t stop dashing. I’ve just blinked away from the dragon-tiger’s leap.
The beast lands heavily on its four limbs a few meters after, then it turns to me. The gaps between its armor scales brighten red and flames burst out. Its rear paws explode the ground, pushing its speed from zero to a hundred in a single second.
Why is a monster that high level doing here!? Aren’t you supposed to be on a mountain or something??
My feet also explode in speed, magic wind pushing my back. But it isn’t nearly enough to outrun that monster. I turn to see it leaping at me with its claws out and an open mouth to bite. My feet twist to a forced turn and I jump mid-run, evading the attack and falling to the ground.
As I roll in the dirt I see the dragon-tiger sliding and burning the forest around it, bursting out fume from its nostrils and mouth.
[Tyfal Niteci, Snow Dragon-Tiger (Level 115)]
Shit.
I draw both my daggers and they shoot forward with a bang, the beast lowers its head and both blades slide through its scales, not even fazing it.
That’s what I thought, my daggers can’t do anything.
I pull my weapons back by their ribbons.
That’s what I call an equipment lack if I’ve ever seen one.
- - - - - - - - - - -
Levels don’t matter that much in SFO, someone underleveled can always defeat something stronger than him. But if you have the wrong equipment, you will lose even if your enemy is extremely weaker.
My scout doesn’t have any specializations, my build is to survive the longer with the least equipment possible. Escape with movement skills and have a few elemental attacks to counter elemental blockages. My character wasn’t made to fight.
Dragon scales are the most resistant natural item in the game, if you don’t have piercing, massive damage, or poison you can’t fight against it. And for monsters faster than you, like a big cat using a flaming movement-enhancing skill, the only escape is defeating it or not be seen in the first place. If you didn’t follow those preparations, you’re done for. And that’s exactly where I am at, completely fucked.
- - - - - - - - - - -
The dragon-tiger bursts forward. With the last second of my wind boots, I manage to jump sideways to evade, but the beast quickly recovers after landing and leaps at me right after.
My body fades to invisibility, I lie down and roll as I see the beast’s belly flying above me, all of its skin protected with dragon scales.
I need to get out of here. I can’t win against this thing.
The dragon-tiger reaches the ground and soon after starts running to my left, burning the forest where it passes.
I get up to run, but I soon realize there’s nowhere to go. I’m surrounded by fire.
It trapped me?
The monster closes the circle of fire with the sliding of its paws, stopping to stare at the inner circle with fume coming out of its nostrils.
What the hell? Wait, where did I see this before?... Ah, I know, goblins can do something like this with their torches, but I’ve never seen a dragon type do that. Hell, I never fought a dragon type in a forest either.
I turn to the opposite side of the monster.
Anyway, it’s not like I’m really trapped here.
I jump through the wall of fire, going outside the circle.
[3###/3710] -> [293#/3710]
“Ouch, Ouch! Dammit!”
I tap the flames out of my invisible cloak as I run away.
“I didn’t imagine it would hurt this much.”
But it doesn’t matter, if I get out of its sight before my invisibility wears off I still can-
-The dragon-tiger emerges from the flames behind me in a leap attack.
How--?
I look at my shoulders, seeing the fire going out of my body and being dispersed outside my transparency.
It followed the flames?
The dragon-tiger’ claws shine purple and it slices the air in a fast swing, launching blades of energy in my direction.
“Parry!”
I twist my body to face it and my daggers fly blocking two attacks, quickly returning to my sheath right after, but the other three energy claws rip my chest open.
[2###/3710] -> [1207/3710]
Black smoke comes out of my injury, a passive skill that blocks half of fatal damage.
A second paw comes right after with the same purple magic. My iris moves to the side limits of my eye socket, and I blink forward in a moving beam, seeing the entire world warp as my invisibility fades out.
“Haha! That’s right, I have two blinks now! Damage doesn’t cancel this one.”
I extend my hand to the side of my running path and my imagination creates a copy of my character, “Arcane Perfect Clone”. It runs mirroring my image to the left.
The dragon-tiger looks at the clone, but ignores it, keeping a steady powerful walk toward me.
What--? How does it know I’m the true one? Pure luck? It shouldn’t know which is real.
My eyes search around as I keep running.
Dammit, I was so close to that village too, why this had to happen? Can’t I get a break?
My legs start to burn from all this running.
Ah, wait, if I go there I can use it as a distraction and escape. I won’t die yet. Where is it? It was towards a little below west, where is west?
I look up at the canopy of the trees covering the sky.
The sun, where is it? It sunsets in the west, wasn’t it? Or was it east?
The trees’ leaves wouldn’t open enough for me to see the sun, but something clicks in my mind and I look to my right, to the faded red ball of light over the mountains.
“There is near north.”
I switch my direction a little to my left.
“C’mon, C’mon! It needs to be somewhere around here! Where is it? I’ve been walking for so long, how I’m not there yet?”
Behind me, I hear the heavy monster coming nearer.
“Shit.”
Black smoke bursts out from within my cloak, surrounding the area within seconds. The yellow silhouettes of the plants within the darkness appear all around me.
“Where is it? My skills need time to refresh. I used all of them already.”
My daggers point forward, I know they don’t serve much but I can at least try blocking something.
“Where are you?”
Everything is yellow within the darkness. Lines, curves, dots, it’s impossible to discern exactly what is what. My mind keeps pace with the clocks of my skill cooldowns inside my head, each second turning the pointer to another cycle. My feet change positions to turn as I search my surroundings, following with my daggers pointing at the silhouettes of the moving flames.
A twig breaks behind me, my hands shiver as I turn. I was the one who stepped into it.
“Fucking hell.”
The smell of burnt wood gets thicker, making it harder and harder to breathe, and in the next second, I see the dragon-tiger jumping to my right. My daggers leave my hands to parry its teeth just an inch away from my nose and I tumble back.
One of my skills shines in my head, I look to the side and the world warps once more, the smoke is pushed away to a clear scenery of the forest while I balance myself to dash away.
“It needs to be around here! It needs to be!”
My mind aimlessly recollects the image of the game map, the Quick Travel positions, where I was, and the path to the village.
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
I won’t die in this damn game, I refuse to.
I pass through between the hundreds of trees, evading to hit them as I go forward, jumping over the smaller bushes and going around the bigger ones. I hear the monster behind me running and snorting heavily, then I see something at the corner of my eyes to the left.
My eyes widen and a smile comes to my face.
Between many wood branches, there’s the top of a light-brown straw hut far away.
“That’s it!”
I quickly descend a slight slope towards it and I sheathe my daggers. My speed boots turn on just after it recharged, each step is equivalent to a jump, green leaves and brown logs go behind me with speed as I move forward.
I spring forth, getting out of the forest and clearing the view to an open space with multiple huts, makeshift stone fences, and houses in the background.
When I land on the dirt floor, my second blink recharges.
The dragon-tiger comes out just after me, burning a white rope that was tied in the last trees, separating the village area from the forest.
I flip my middle finger at the beast leaping behind me.
“Fuck you, asshole!”
A magic beam transports me a few steps to the side, I leave the warp without stopping my run.
Once I’m near the first hut, I jump over its surrounding stone fence.
The moment my feet touches the ground, I feel something smashing below me, but it doesn’t stop me.
I look down: I’m in some type of backyard lettuce farm. Before I realize it, I’m jumping out of it and going into another small farm, where green tiny leaves are popping out of the dirt in straight lines.
I don’t stop running. Heavy steps come from behind, the dragon-tiger turns its almost metallic-looking body to jump the first fence.
Turning to the left side of the hut, I see an unfinished stone wall protecting the village’s surroundings and an open gate.
Where are the guards?
I jump another fence and land on a dirt street. I follow it towards the entrance of the village, where I glimpse at some better-constructed houses with white wooden walls and some closed windows.
It doesn’t take long for me to pass through the open gate and go inside the village.
Waji Tame: “Let’s go! It’s coming from here--”
Two kids stop at the corner of a house, look up at me in surprise. The taller one, being about ten years old, is pulling the hands of a shy six-year-old girl to follow him. Both of them with grey hair, pale skin, pointy furry ears above their heads, and wolf tails at their backs, the girl having a double tail.
I dash through them, not thinking twice. My stare follows them, as theirs follow me.
The heavy beast arrives, landing over the dirt road with fire coming out of its entire body as it turns angry toward me.
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.
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)]
“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.
What a strike of bad luck.