Fortress 2

After a while, I made my way to the blue fortress.

It was an exact replica of the red fortress, except having blue roofing instead of red.

I leisurely walked towards it waving the red flag I had obtained earlier.

"Hey! Open the gate! I got their flag!"

I acted as if I was a member of the blue team.

The guards rubbed their eyes to make sure what they were seeing was real, someone had obtained the flag that quickly?

They quickly opened the gate for me.

Most of the players had already left to raid the red fortress, meaning that they wouldn't be here to identify that I was not apart of their team.

The guards would not be able to tell the difference, as they were mere apparitions created by the tower.

I was escorted by two guards towards the room bearing the blue flag, as to claim the red flag it had to make contact with the blue flag within the blue fortress.

"Right, we're here now, just touch the red flag to th-"

The guard was interrupted by a fellow player.

"Hey wait a second! That guy's not in our team!"

Snap!

I immediately snapped the guard's neck and pushed the second guard into the wall.

I dashed to grab the flag but was stopped by a few players.

"Move out the way or I'll kill you."

One of them began to speak with an arrogant tone.

"Do you have any idea of how strong I am? I'm already at level 15, and I have a rare class, I kn-"

"Dragon Crush!"

His torso exploded, sending his limbs flying in several directions as I picked up the blue flag.

I saw the other players protecting the flag tremble in fear.

"Accelerate!"

I let them be and instead began running at max speed out the fortress.

"You're pretty strong, aren't ya!"

Someone blocked my path.

It was the commander of the blue fortress, Ser Cobalt.

He was covered chin to toe in iron armor.

His blue eyes revealed his determination.

Although he looked a bit silly due to his blue hair and moustache, he was not a joke.

"We're not really supposed to interfere too much... But I think it's alright if its someone like yerself!"

He dashed at me at a speed similar to mine.

I sidestepped his attack, but he redirected the trajectory of his sword strike, cutting into my hunter's armor.

I immediately launched my fist at his face, yet his heavy armor did not seem to impact his speed whatsoever.

He narrowly dodged and swung his sword at my neck.

I ducked beneath his blade only to find his knee coming at my face.

I was knocked back a meter and felt my nose bleeding.

"Dragon Crush!"

"Waterfall Slash."

His eyes showed no fear as his sword met me mid dash.

The impact of the clash knocked both of us back.

By now, several guards and players had gathered around us.

They began to move towards me in a circle but Ser Cobalt stretched his hand out to the side.

"Boys, leave this one to me! You lot won't be able to do much to him, just go guard the outside!"

"Commander... are you sure?"

A guard captain asked with a hint of worry.

The commander nodded his head and the guards disengaged, respecting their commander's wishes.

The players on the other hand immediately left when they realized they could, they felt no loyalty to the commander and instead fled as per their instincts.

Our fight resumed, my fist clashing against his blade.

My knuckles were bloody and his hands had begun to shiver whilst holding his sword.

But he had no intention of letting up his attack.

"Ocean Rush!"

His sword was covered in water and outstretched a few feet extra as he prepared to swing at me.

It was a surefire hit on me, forcing me to use an ability.

"Ragh!"

I let out a dragon roar, momentarily stunning him, giving me an opportunity to dodge the attack.

Several walls were cut apart from the force of the water blade.

During his moment of exhaustion after using such an attack, I countered.

"Accelerate!"

"Dragon Crush!"

He raised his sword quickly, but the combined force of accelerate and dragon crush were too much for him.

Clang!

His sword dropped to the floor.

As too did his right arm.

"It was a good fight."

I gave him some well deserved respect.

"...Yea, yer pretty good for a kid yer age."

He spoke roughly, yet some admiration was carried in his tone.

Clang!

He fell to the floor, the sound of his armor hitting the stone reverberating across the hallway.

I did not look back and ran to the exit.

Several guards were gathered there, but they practically became health potions as I regenerated my wounds by killing them.

The blood slayer trait was working well.

I made it out and reentered the forest.

Both flags hung at my waist.

Once more, I made my way through the foliage and shrubs of the forest.

I did see one or two groups of players, but I decided against taking action.

I was feeling exhausted from the battle.

Although the blood slayer trait's lifesteal effect could heal me greatly, it did not regenerate my stamina.

Most players were probably feeling confused right now, as neither team had their flag.

I reached the hill in the middle.

It had no trees or bushes, and stood out strangely in the forest.

I stabbed both flags into the ground at the top of the hill.

[Hidden Objective Activated!]

[Announcements to all players on the Third Floor!]

The hidden challenge, King of the Hill, has been activated!

The objective has changed from capturing the enemy flag! 

All players will receive the coordinates of the hill on a minimap!

Whichever side has controlled the hill longest will win!

Alongside the floor-wide message, a separate one appeared for me.

[Hidden Objective]

Prevent any other side from controlling the hill.

A reward will be granted.

It would not be long before a hoard of dozens of players showed up ready to fight with me.

I didn't bother laying traps and instead sat down on the grassy hill waiting for some opponents to show up.

...

Not long after, players began showing up in droves.

"You, you're the one that started this, right!"

I lazily nodded my head.

"We know who you are... you call yourself the Dragon or something, right?! Well look, you're surrounded on all sides, you won't be able to get out of this alive!"

The same man from earlier shouted at me.

I felt a little confusion upon seeing that both the red and blue side had joined forces.

It seemed that they had come up with some agreement to first fight me and then obtain the hill afterwards.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever you say, listen up, I'm sure a lot of you don't wanna fight me, so I'll tell you now, if you just run away I won't chase after you. It's not worth dying here."

I gave a simple warning before standing up.

"But, to those who wish to die, I'm happy to fulfil your wish."

An aura enveloped me from the effects of my gauntlets.

Several people immediately ran away, but more than I expected had decided to stay.

"...Alright."

It didn't particularly bother me.

"Attack!"

Someone within the crowd shouted, and the crowd charged up the hill.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

Multiple spells, ranging from mana bullets to fireballs rained upon me.

I blocked them, dragons enveloping both my arms.

It wasn't entirely enough, and I did feel some pain.

But for me, such pain only made my heart start pumping.

The melee players had reached the hill, and from now on, the ranged fighters would have to be careful to not hit their allies.

"Accelerate."

My already impressive speed was doubled and I landed several blows on my opponents.

I targeted their organs, causing massive damage as their lungs and hearts burst.

Volleys of magic attacks and arrows were shot at me, and every time I simply picked up bodies and used them as shields.

The pressure placed on me was increasing slowly as I grew more exhausted.

Splick!

A spear stabbed through my abdomen.

"Heh, I got him!"

A tanned middle aged man shouted in joy.

His joy turned to shock as I tore his spear out and drove it through his throat in a swift motion.

I felt a burning sensation, and the lifesteal regenerative effect was not able to heal it fully.

I did not have time to drink a healing potion mid battle, so I had to carry on.

"Vertical Down!"

A sword was about to crash down on me, ready to split me in half.

I punched the sword with my full force.

The sword instantly shattered and the swordsman was shocked.

"W-what the fu-"

 I grabbed him by the collar and lifted him up to protect me from the spells heading my way.

His back was scorched and stabbed by arrows and magic alike, I dropped him to the floor as he screamed in pain.

"Cobra Jab!"

A fellow martial artist launched his fist at me, a purple mana lightly trailing from his hand.

I met it in kind, with a vivid blue dragon enveloping my fist.

"Gah!"

His arm twisted in an inhuman way as his bones shattered.

I kicked him away into another attacker, causing both to fall.

I looked upwards only to see an another irritable sight.

Ranged attacks were still coming at me, and it was really starting to piss me off.

'Yeah, let's handle those guys.'

"Accelerate!"

I ran towards the ranged fighters sitting at the back of my attackers.

"Dragon Crush!"

I burst through three opponents, instantly killing them.

A mage stood terrified in front of me, shakily aiming his staff towards my face.

"Fireba-"

He was cut short as I covered his mouth with my hand.

Squench!

I tore his jaw off and punched through his neck.

The other ranged attackers were unsure of how to fight me in such close quarters, and their hesitation lead to their deaths.

I dashed between them, killing each one in a flash.

"Haah... Haah..."

I was breathing heavily, covered head to toe in blood, my white hair dyed crimson.

The few remaining attackers stood side by side, trembling in fear.

"Just fuck off... I'll let you live."

I was exhausted, and didn't feel like wasting more energy on them.

They did not need to be told twice, immediately running off in several different directions, abandoning any hope of claiming the hill.

I lied down on the ground, calming my breath.

I was surrounded by corpses.

Opening a system screen, I saw that there was still 50 minutes remaining until the objective was complete.

I took a nap, not at all worried that anyone would be idiotic enough to come back and attack me.