At the same time:
POV ???:
A player sat on a large stone throne. His face and everything else blurred as if he stood behind a hazy glass.
His blurry eyes constantly moved between the open forum and the notification that he received.
Hundreds of posts were constantly flooding the forum. All of them with similar titles, ‘I got a main storyline quest!’, and Randomly distributed main storyline quest!’
Ding!
//
Main Story Line Quest: The Four Stepping Stones
Lore: Terrifying forces are moving in the shadows. The defeated race shall rise again!
Objective: Find what is going on and then stop it.
Failure consequences: A powerful world threat will rise in the next version; The world will be submerged in conflict;
//
‘Hah! What is this?!’
POV Vesuvius:
The dragon grinned, fully revealing his sharp teeth, as he saw raiders on black wyverns vanish on the horizon, quickly turning into small dark spots in the distance. They were his messengers and seekers that would spread his word.
One could consider players unreliable when it came to something as important, but the dragon knew otherwise, ‘I took a long time to filter them. These that I sent are the most reliable ones.’
The players were fanatics that had no fear of death. When facing potentially high rewards, they would readily fight, only caring about their mission and not their lives. He was more than sure they would not betray him.
He already had his plan, a plan that was simple and at the same time deadly, ‘Once they are done, I will have more power than ever before. In the meantime, the far west will turn into hell, diverting everyone’s attention away from me for long enough for me to build my force.’
POV Tanya:
The woman watched as the black wyverns carrying the tools that her master chose flew away and turned into small dark dots in the sky.
She quietly stood in the yard of the central governmental citadel. Her raven black hair and crimson red dress moved from side to side in the weak, hot wind.
She just remained there, not making any sound, ‘This… this is the end. Everything has collapsed.’𝑶𝑣𝗅xt.𝒸𝔬𝐦
A single tear formed in the corner of her eye, ‘I-I couldn’t stop it. I was saying it the entire time. It was too risky, but no one listened to me.’
She felt like it was all her fault, she should have put more effort into it. The whole tournament turning into a failure that will forever stain her name, the name of the kingdom, and most importantly, the name of her master.
‘Should I resign?’ she looked at the dark sky submerged in the smoke and darkness, ‘No, I will not run away from this… I will solve this mess instead of hiding or running away.’
She felt something above her as she fell to her knees. She felt the fiery aura turning towards her. It was her master turning his attention towards her, and she was sure of it.
There was no hope, her body was limply kneeling as she was ready to get punished, already waiting for the collum of flames that would descend at her at any second.
She closed her eyes, her body trembling in shame and resignation. The time was ticking slowly, with every passing second feeling like an eternity. It was like torture, with all the tension and shame building up within her heart.
The voice of her master reached her. There was no anger in it, but it sounded empty and broken, “Start interrogating every human and immortal in this whole city. No one will leave, and stop blaming yourself. You have done what was in your power.”
Suddenly the dragon’s voice changed, becoming rough and cold, reverberating through the whole yard, making her flinch under the immense pressure. Each word and syllable was seeping with burning anger and hatred.
“My minion, it is the fault of these that have done this. They will be found and punished. Also, their bosses and the bosses of their bosses. They will all be destroyed, tortured, and punished for this! They have sinned against my hospitality. They have stabbed me in my back. They are nothing but cowards, using the worst means and ways to achieve their goals.”
‘Huh?’ She looked up in surprise. She already expected to burn into cinders, but instead, she saw a new side of her master, a side that was merciless and brutal towards his foes but merciful to his own minions.
“I will, your Majesty!” she sprang back onto her feet and made one last bow before briskly walking away, her eyes brightly shining.
“Don’t hesitate to use violence. There is no longer a need to hold back. It is already unsalvageable…”
The Next day:
POV The Troublemaker:
A player stood on the dark bridge in absolute silence. The tall black towers were seared, with a portion of them turning into rubble.
Only a few players, kobolds, and some big wigs were watching the fight.
The enchantments for redirecting smoke were damaged, and tall and dark pillars rose from the bubbling pit of lava toward the sky. It was all in stark contrast to the festive atmospheres from before, now it was all gloomy and grim.
The silvery wyrm, with its shiny body covered in silver armor and diamond-like crystals, was waiting on the opposite side of the bridge, its golden eyes bearing a horrifying and silent pressure.
Its shiny body in the darkness made it look like a knight ready to save the world from some evil.
‘It doesn’t matter, the plan must continue. Nothing will change as long as this tournament isn’t canceled.’
Captain Kusari remained calm, his heart pumping the antidote within his blood. He wasn’t a maniac and knew that it would only give him a few seconds before the potent venom overwhelmed his defenses.
His thoughts slipped towards the enchanted sword with dragon slaying enchantment in his storage ring, but he shook his head, ‘It is better to lose this fight than enrage the dragon and potentially ruin the mission.’
He felt the burning gaze of his colleague in glasses giving him a deadly, warning look from the tribune.
“Fight!” The voice of the dragon crashed against the bridge, sending ripples through the black clouds and the lake of lava.
Kusari immediately moved, knowing that the only way to even get close to winning was by attacking as fast as possible.
The world around him turned into a blur as he bent his knees, sprinting straight at the wyrm.
He tapped into his life force and mana, mixing both of them, and making his entire body and armor glow and shine.
The wyrm was getting closer and closer with each passing second, its tall, monstrous body looming over the arena with a posture of an apex feline predator waiting for its prey.
The clouds and droplets of poison surged around his body, bouncing off his barrier. He grinned, seeing that his preparations worked.
The wyrm flapped its wings, turning the sunlight shining from above their heads into a kaleidoscopic light show as it passed through the millions of crystals forming the wings.
A wave of small droplets gushed in his direction, propelled by the wind currents caused by the wing flaps.
The air around him was sizzling and bubbling, as he ran straight through the acidic cloud, billions of small acidic droplets colliding with his barrier and quickly eating up his reserves of energy.
He didn’t falter, the distance towards the wyrm getting closer and closer with the glow of its golden eyes becoming brighter and more pronounced.
‘Right, the wyrm can’t fly away, as that would count as it leaving the arena! So maybe I can really win.’ He wasn’t unprepared like the girl before him, he already knew what to expect and had prepared countermeasures.
He redirected mana and lifeforce into his brain, triggering his abilities. The world around him slowed down, the wyrm and everything else moving so slowly that it felt like an eternity.
The mouth of the wyrm was slowly opening, a bright light was already rising from the depths of its throat.
He could see, every single one of its sharp pointy teeth made of the same transparent crystals that glinted in the light.
‘Like a sitting duck!’ His heart was beating louder and louder as he already imagined himself slaying the wyrm with a single well-placed hit, ‘How hard can be that armor?’
The next moment, the radiance of the wyrm’s horn reached its peak, the bright silvery light flooding the whole arena and pulsing in repeating intervals.
His mana and lifeforce were dropping at a ridiculous rate, his sword and armor vibrating. His expression turned into one that of shock and panic.
He didn’t know what was happening, but he put his remaining force into his legs as he speeded up even more, everything still in slow motion.
The next moment, his whole body froze. He just remained there, standing like a statue.
He tried to move his muscles with all of his strength. His armor creaked but didn’t budge, it was as if it was held by some invisible force.
‘It isn’t my body that is paralyzed, it is as if my armor was holding me!’
He was in absolute horror as he could only watch in slow motion as the glowing purplish liquid burst out of the wyrm’s throat.
At the last second, he spotted that a single small and simple magic circuit was spinning and rotating in the wyrm’s brightly glowing pupil.
Finally, the toxic purple breath surged out like water from a high-pressure hose. His whole vision turned purple, his armor and barrier melting into nothingness.
Ding!
//
You were killed by the boss, dracowyrm Venenumius.
//
‘What was that spell?’ He still couldn’t understand, his mind in absolute confusion.