The fortified port city of Dubrovnik was a stronghold of certain high families in past fictions and novels. Dubrovnik had a medieval feeling attached to it with its high walls guarding the sea. A system of turrets and towers adjacent to the walls provided a great lookout point. The other significant part was the Old town, which consisted of intricate narrow streets bisecting the single-storeyed buildings and shacks.
Noah parked his vehicle inside a garage house and healed up completely applying bandages and health boosters. He slowly approached the designated point he was supposed to meet Melv. It was a lookout point near the wall. But as he approached, he heard footsteps and that too more than one. Crates were lying on his path and Noah could clearly guess about the battle that had taken place earlier. He measured his steps carefully, so as to not give any footsteps to the opponent and catch them by surprise.
A few moments earlier, while Noah was fighting the Zombie Boss, on the right-most part of the map, someone was trying hard to survive. The person was obviously Melv. He was almost eaten by the sea monster while crossing the sea. But somehow he managed to avert that and reach the beach. However, immediately after reaching land, he got attacked by 2 students. They tried to run over him driving a minivan.
“What in the name of… Are you joking with me? First the monster, now this?”
“Give me time to breathe man!” yelled Melv hiding behind a tree.
The attackers, while trying to run over Melv, hit a beach chair with a canopy. The minivan got stuck as they tried to go in reverse.
Seeing this opportunity, Melv unleashed his LoSTAR Light Machine Gun on the minivan. The vehicle burst with a big noise and left 2 crates as a result. The attackers could not get out in time and ended their exam likewise. Melv kept firing until his gun was out of ammo.
“Huh...Take that you….nincompoops!! Trying to mess with your dad huh!”
Melv fell on the beach and sighed in relief. He then looted the crates, switched his out-of-ammo gun with an AKZ-47 and healed up using all the medkits he found. He wandered around the beach and finally found an EV truck.
“Dubrovnik, here I come”, as he started his vehicle.
But this happiness did not last long. As he reached the walls of Dubrovnik he was ambushed. He was facing random fire from atop the turrets. He had to jump out of the car to save himself, as they blew his vehicle. It took away most of his HP as well. After a while, he could ascertain the number of attackers and their location.
When Noah reached Dubrovnik, Melv was under heavy fire. Though all this while he had managed to take down one of the attackers, the other 2 had closed in. Melv was out of ammo and health kits. His HP was down to 10%. “Is this where I finish the exam?”
Melv was hiding behind an old cannon on the wall. He gripped his gun firmly and took a huge gulp. “It's do or die now. I will take down at least one of them. Don’t be sad my fans, your hero has to depart now!”
Melv was about to stand up when he heard thud sounds. He peeked around to see what happened and found 2 crates lying on the ground.
“You are saved. Ohh hero in distress!!” a sarcastic tone came from his front.
Melv looked up and saw Noah who was giggling. Noah saw the 2 attackers approaching Melv and silently moved behind them. Using his knife, he could easily finish the unaware opponents. He had become quite skilled in using his knife.
Melv was shocked for a while, but only for a while, that is.
“Huh. I could have handled them on my own. Who needed your help? Do you know whom you are talking to? I am the great...” Melv was cut half-way in his speech.
“Coward. Or the great chicken? Or the great dummy? Which is the appropriate one I wonder!” Noah gave a look as if he was thinking quite profoundly.
“Do you know what I have faced so far? I was almost killed by a sniper and then a sea monster almost ate me. Can you imagine that? Then they tried to run me over and now the ambush. Yet I stand tall. The great Melv.” Melv kept bragging while applying health boosters.
“Right. The game seemed to have taken an interest in you. That's why it deemed you as Yuusha sama. Bakka ja nai!!” laughed Noah.
It was a welcome break for him as well after what he had gone through so far. Melv eventually joined Noah in his laughter.
“Shooo..” hearing the sound, Noah’s counter-reaction senses kicked in and he jumped at Melv to duck. As soon as they fell to the ground, there was a huge blast on the lookout tower. It was an incoming rocket.
“Fire again!”
Hearing the voice, Noah raised his head to find an army of students approaching the wall. The one to lead them was Kaisha. They have caught up with Noah and Melv. Seeing a second incoming rocket Noah and Melv ducked again taking cover. Kaisha and her army of T-party members surrounded Noah and Melv on the wall.
“Say your prayers. It is over for you now. Ton would be so happy!” smiled Kaisha.
Melv had a grim look on his face. Noah was still trying to figure out a way to escape. But he didn’t expect what came along.
Notification prompted - Criteria fulfilled (20 people)
Siege Event - The Dragon and the Wolf started.
Fend off the horde of monsters for 15 minutes or kill the Boss monster.
If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
Event Reward - Fireborne (Immune to fire for 10 seconds)
Everyone started to look at each other cluelessly. They had no idea what was coming. Noah quickly surmised the whole situation. “Let me finish you first.” Kaisha aimed her gun at Noah.
“Wait. Wait. Listen to me for once.” Noah shouted.
“This is a team event. You need at least 20 people to trigger this special event. There are 18 of you and 2 of us. But seeing this has a head-count criteria, I believe this event will be tough. It will require effort from everyone to clear this event. So we need to work together. We can solve our differences after we clear the event. The ratio is on your side. You have nothing to lose.”
“What bullshit. I say we finish him first...” shouted one of the T-party members. “Yeah. Yeah.”
“Wait. What he says does make sense. But don’t you pull any tricks on us.” Kaisha replied after giving it a thought. Team events are tough and seeing how Noah has better knowledge of this event, Kaisha had to agree. After all, survival comes first.
“But who will get the reward?” asked another member.
“Let's solve this first. We can decide that later...” answered Noah.
Within a matter of seconds, monsters started appearing on the seashore. Several Sea-horse, Shark and Urchin-faced monsters appeared on the shore carrying Trident-like weapons. The weapons fired bolts of energy blast at the wall.
As decided, Noah and the other students took their positions on the wall and the lookout towers. They started firing at the monsters. As one wave was pinned down, another wave would come up from the sea.
“This is easy. Only 15 minutes. We can do it for a longer time...” smirked some of the party members. But something did not feel right for Noah. He kept thinking that something was missing considering the name of the event.
“Look! There’s a fire in the sky.” Someone shouted pointing at a distance. Everyone immediately looked at the designated location. Noah’s eyes widened. It's what he had feared all along. The name of the event had a deep significance.
As everyone kept pondering, a huge beast flew over their head. “What was that, guys?” The beast turned around and came at them again. This time they could see clearly.
It was a mythical creature, Dragon. “Run everyone! Take cover!” shouted Noah. The dragon breathed fire over the wall. Most of the students had escaped the wrath but not all. 2 students could not react in time as they stood frozen on their spot at the sight of a dragon. They disintegrated instantly as they caught fire leaving crates.
“Don’t let the fire touch you...” shouted Noah. Kaisha was still processing the situation. “Kaisha get a grip! We have to fend off the sea monsters before the dragon comes back. We need you.”
Meanwhile, some of the sea monsters had climbed up the wall and attacked the members.
Some of them were severely wounded with few HP left and some had met their demise. 11 students left including Kaisha, Melv and Noah. But they killed all the monsters in this wave successfully.
“Don’t just relax yet. 7 minutes left. The Dragon is coming back.”
“Everyone aim at the Dragon with whatever you’ve got.” Bullets flew from the guns as the Dragon approached them. But nothing seemed to affect the Dragon. It rained fire again, taking 3 of them. Noah and Melv got grazed by the fire while escaping it. It took down half of their HP.
“Damn. What should we do? If this keeps on, we are dead anyways.” Melv stuttered.
The sea monster's wave resumed. “Everyone, hold them...” shouted Kaisha.
The dragon came back at them.
“Duck everyone, now!” shouted Noah.
This time due to Noah’s early warning everyone was safe from the fire. “30 seconds to return from the sea and 10 seconds to turn back after a breather of fire. It needs time to recuperate.”
“What are you saying?” asked Melv and Kaisha together.
“We cannot survive another 5 minutes under its barrage. We need to kill it...” said Noah.
“What? Are you mad? We can’t even scratch it.”
“Kaisha, I need your rocket launcher.” Kaisha looked at Noah.
“Let me try. Nothing for you to lose. You wanted me dead right. If I succeed we can resume as planned and if I fail, well...”
“Guys, hurry! The sea monsters are coming. The Dragon is also turning back...” one of the members shouted.
“Trust me on this for once, Kaisha.” Noah laid his hand out for the rocket launcher.
“Take it”, as Kaisha handed it over.
“Hit it with whatever you have. Borrow me time to reach the clock tower.” Kaisha shook her head to Noah’s ask.
Noah ran towards the clock tower in the middle of the Old Town. It was higher than the lookout towers and was a great vantage point.
The Dragon rained fire once again and turned back from the end of town. Noah was almost to the reaching point when the Dragon noticed Noah. It shrieked and aimed its fire at Noah.
At this point Kaisha started firing at the Dragon, diverting its attention. Annoyed by the constant barrage of fire, the Dragon rained down the fire towards Kaisha. Kaisha was frozen as she could see the ball of fire coming at her. Her eyes got moistened as she could feel her end.
As the fire hit the wall, Melv jumped at Kaisha and both of them fell from the wall. Falling from the wall had resulted in significant damage to their HP. They had already used most of the health kits they had earlier. Whatever was left, was not even sufficient for even one of them to heal up half of their HP. But they escaped the wrath of the dragon. Kaisha couldn’t believe she was still alive in the exam. She thought she was a goner this time.
“Everything is up to you bro.” Melv sighed.
Noah reached the top of the clock tower and took a deep breath.
The dragon was turning back from the sea side. “It's now or never.” Noah released a smoke bomb on the clock tower. It would mask his tiny heat signature from the Dragon. But then again he cannot see that Dragon as well. But when the Dragon opens his mouth to cast fire, the heat will certainly be felt through the smoke as it would lit up and he can aim at it.
The Dragon came flying towards the wall. As it opened its mouth to cast fire, Noah fired the FJH-97 rocket launcher. It landed with a huge blast. “Did it work? Is the Dragon dead? But there is no notification of event completion.”
As Noah was wondering he felt a gush of air as if something flew over him.
The smoke bomb effect was over now. Noah looked around immediately. The dragon was still there, but the rocket hit it. Noah carefully noticed that its left eye was injured. “So it noticed the rocket and turned right to avoid it. However, it hit its left eye. I have only one rocket left. I have to make it count.”
Noah patiently waited for the Dragon to turn around. As the Dragon approached, angry, annoyed and hurt, its main goal was to destroy the clock tower. It aimed to fire at the clock tower.
“10 seconds. It needs 10 seconds to blast another shot.” Noah was prepared as the Dragon approached.
“Wait. Wait a bit. Let it come closer. Come on. Come closer. Right. Come on.”
The Dragon came closer to Noah and opened its mouth.
“Now. Fire!!!”
This time the Dragon could not avoid the rocket as it entered its mouth and blasted on contact. There was a huge blast. In a puff of smoke, the Dragon disintegrated.
Notification Prompted -
Boss Monster Dragon Killed. The Event - The Dragon and the Wolf has ended.
Noah received the event card - Fireborne.
Notification -
Zone Shrinking.
But they were in the safe zone so they had not given any attention to the prompts earlier. Also, they were busy fighting monsters in the event.
He slowly walked towards Kaisha and Melv.
“As decided, we can fight ourselves or you can take this card and let us go this time. We can settle it out in the final zone.”
Kaisha was about to say something when a bullet fired.
“It was an empty shot. Next one will be in your head. Now hand over the card and line up on the wall.” One of the members of the T-party uttered. 3 of them survived somehow.
“Leave them be. We would have died if not for them. Let them go. Ton would take care of them.” Kaisha replied.
“That may be the case. But if I kill him now, I will get the Top 3 position as Ton promised.”
“But alas. Why Top 3? I mean I can get the Top 2 position right?” T-Party members smiled looking at the injured Kaisha with almost no HP left.
“What do you mean?” Kaisha replied angrily.
“Who would know who killed whom in this turmoil? Hahaha...”
“I think it's time for you three to die.”
...