VRMMO: The Unrivaled

Beneath the bronze-colored walls, a group of five people was standing on Floating Ice Bridge. I knew them well, their IDs all had the prefix “Mad Dragon” before their names. The man standing at the forefront was called Roaming Dragon, and he was the first enemy I encountered in this game. I didn’t expect to meet him here after the fight at Sunshine Forest.

Roaming Dragon glared hatefully at my Forest Green Blade before sneering at me. “The Iron-grade Forest Green Blade is the 7th strongest weapon on Floating Ice City’s weapon ranking list. If I’m not mistaken, it was also the sword dropped from the Green Praying Mantis King, wasn’t it?”

I didn’t deny it. Raising my eyebrows, I asked, “Yep. So what?”

“So what?!” Roaming Dragon uttered through gritted teeth before threatening, “Leave the Forest Green Blade now and maybe I’ll spare your life. Otherwise, your days in Floating Ice City are over.”

I snorted. “Are you joking? Who are you to decide whether I spend my time here?”

Roaming Dragon suddenly smiled until his handsome face was almost fully-distorted. “Is that so? Why don’t we test that theory then?”

He then shouted angrily, “Brothers, eliminate this dirty Night Creature!”

The Mad Dragon members immediately pulled out their weapons. One of them was a Bard, and he pulled up a bamboo flute and played a short tune. Roaming Dragon’s head was immediately surrounded by a green halo. It was Bard’s basic skill, Forge! It was a buff that enhanced the targets’ hit rate by 25%!

There was a large number of players standing at the city gate, and the commotion had caught their attention. Many of them were even pointing at me and gossiping.

“What the fuck! He’s a Night Creature! You can even see a tinge of red in his ID!”

“What? Aren’t the Night Creatures our enemies? Why is he here at Floating Ice City?”

“Let’s kill him! Maybe we can get him to drop the seventh strongest weapon of Floating Ice City…”

The situation was very bad for me. If I stayed here any longer I might not be able to escape intact.

That was why I strode imposingly toward the Mad Dragons and pointed toward the direction of breaking dawn, the east. Then, I shouted, “Look, a butterfly!”

While everyone was looking up, I rushed out of the city without ever turning back. Roaming Dragon immediately gave chase, but warrior-type class like mine had good movement speed. There was no way a low-level magic knight without a mount could catch up.

Flustered and exasperated, the twenty-five-year old hedonist shouted, “Brothers, this kid is too cunning! Let us enter Frost Forest together and get the Iron-grade weapon that rightfully belongs to us!”

Twenty or so people answered his call and chased after me.

Mad Dragon was very famous in the forum belonging to Floating Ice City of the China server. It looked like their claim to want to become the strongest guild of Floating Ice City wasn’t an empty boast, or they wouldn’t have had so many people chasing me. No wonder the Mad Dragon guild had over one thousand registered members on the forums!

I arrived at the edge of the forest and vanished into the thick undergrowth in no time. My pursuers could only see the disturbed plants I passed through, but not me.

Roaming Dragon led his band of twenty to the edge of the forest. Green with fury, he shouted, “Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand, you’ve touched Mad Dragon’s reverse scale! I don’t care if you’re the goddamned emperor, today I’m ripping you to shreds and skinning you alive, no matter what!”

I stopped calmly under a lush birch and laughed loudly. “Mad Dragon’s reverse scale? You actually dare call yourselves dragons, you third-rate actors? If you’re mad dragons, then I’m the dragon slayer who’ll pull out all your so-called reverse scales until there is nothing left!”

“Fuck!”

Roaming Dragon roared angrily. “Brothers, he’s southeast of us. Head in that direction, kill him and let everyone in Floating Ice City know that the Mad Dragon guild’s rule is inviolable!”

“Yes, boss!”

The players quickly rushed at me.

I quickly identified their positions and noted that they had organized themselves into a triangular formation. Fighting them head-on would be a bad choice because they had all learned their class skills, and none of these skills was particularly weak.

Rustle rustle...

A birch’s leaves swayed, and I vanished from my original spot.

While I was running, a sense of danger suddenly hit me. Here they come!

Swoosh!

A cold gleam appeared out of nowhere. Naturally, only an Assassin could pull off an ambush like this.

Instead of retreating, I took a lightning fast step to the right and swung my sword at the same time. The glowing blade clashed loudly against the enemy’s dagger.

“What?! So fast…”

The dagger wielder looked slightly surprised. He was Level 17, and his ID was “Unyielding Mad Dragon”. He looked around twenty years old and a bit childish. His technique wasn’t bad, he just hadn’t reached the level of a first-rate Assassin yet.

My eyes turned cold. This man obviously fought for Roaming Dragon, even his ID was a reflection of his guild’s name. I cannot allow him to live!

I abruptly shortened the distance between us and swung my sword. Unyielding Mad Dragon clenched his teeth and shouted, “You are courting death!”

He actually pulled off a beautiful zigzag and dodged my attack!

I was astonished. I guess Roaming Dragon wasn’t talking completely out of his ass when he claimed that he would dominate Floating Ice City. At the very least, this Unyielding Mad Dragon was quite skillful.

Swoosh!

A chill blew toward me as dark green light surrounded Unyielding Mad Dragon’s dagger. It was none other than the Assassin’s Level 10 skill, Cold Blade!

Cold Blade increased critical rate by 20% and dealt 125% damage.

Puchi!

Unable to react in time, the attack hit me squarely in the chest. Luckily, Unyielding Mad Dragon’s dagger was a Common-grade weapon with 3~5 Attack only, or this would have been pretty dangerous.

“Die!”

Unyielding Mad Dragon’s killing intent skyrocketed as he followed up with a swing straight toward my neck. He was an Assassin alright, every strike was made with the intent to kill!

My own killing intent was forcefully dragged to the surface. I absolutely cannot allow someone like him to live!

Thwack!

I kicked him in the arm from a tricky angle and used the momentum to flip myself in the air. Then, I activated my own skill and cut right through him!

Crack!

Unyielding Mad Dragon stared at me blankly. I had snatched victory from his hands in just the blink of an eye. He was sure that his attack would connect, but not only did it miss, my counterattack killed him instantly.

I let out a cold snort as Unyielding Mad Dragon slowly crumbled to his knees and died. Then, I turned away and walked deeper into the forest. At the same time, I realized that there was absolutely no chance I could defeat the twenty or so pursuers behind me unless my brain delay was completely gone.

I could hear the yells from a distance. Roaming Dragon and his goons were closing in already. He was at least as skilled as Unyielding Mad Dragon, and he had acquired his class skill already. It wouldn’t be easy to kill him!

Eventually, we all entered the inner part of Frost Forest. There were only five people pursuing me now because the rest was either too slow or got entangled with a random monster.

“Heh!”

I abruptly turned around and brandished my sword arrogantly, standing in the middle of a clearing. It was a rather hilarious scene—a tiny skeleton with a sword puffing his chest out like he was an immortal incarnate.

Roaming Dragon and his four goons chasing after me saw that I was no longer running. He hesitated. He had witnessed my skills before, and even he didn’t think that he could beat me 5v1.

For a time, Roaming Dragon stood where he was and did nothing. He was stuck between a rock and a hard place.

“Boss, let’s kill him already! He’s one or two Iron-grade pieces away from completing a full set!” a short barbarian warrior said in a deep voice.

Roaming Dragon continued to frown deeply. It was true that a full set of Iron-grade equipment was tempting, but that also meant that the wearer was nigh unkillable thanks to their extraordinary defense.

I couldn’t help but laugh loudly at the hesitant bunch. I pointed a finger at Roaming Dragon and said, “Floating Ice City is one of the nine tier 2 cities of the China server, and most of the players from Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Shanghai are here. You must be seriously deluded to think that you and your tiny guild can reign over Floating Ice City!”

I was about to attack them first when an archer from Mad Dragon stumbled into the open while crying, “Boss, it’s… it’s terrible…”

“Calm yourself. What’s going on?” Roaming Dragon asked impatiently.

The archer quickly moved closer and whispered his message.

“Fuck!!!”

Roaming Dragon exploded into fury. “Wind Fantasy has gone too far this time! Mad Dragon is not to be trifled with! Come, we head to Snowing Forest!”

“Hey wait, don’t leave…”

I tried to stop them, but Roaming Dragon and his goons vanished in the blink of an eye. Whatever crime that Wind Fantasy committed against the Mad Dragon guild, it seems it’s much bigger than mine...

“Sigh, what the heck is this even…”

A bit annoyed by the anticlimactic ending, I turned around and headed toward Frost Mound again. Now that I had exchanged the Bony Cyan Fan for boots and some silver, it was time to check if there were any new quests to accept.

I only took two steps when a burning heat suddenly approached my face rapidly. It was a spear imbued with the power of fire!

Not good, I’m being ambushed!