Chapter 6: Battle Start

At the entrance of the vampire village, an army of 100 vampires aligned with Lucas and Sebastian leading in front of them.

"You guys, do you know of a way to deal with Denneth's breath attack?"

Lucas asked Sebastian in order to draw up a plan.

They are all ready and armed for battle, but still, they cannot underestimate Denneth as he is still a dragon. He has no idea why the skeleton called him weak...but he knows that as he is now, he cannot treat him as a weak monster. Lucas had learned of this after spending his whole playtime in this cave.

"Though there is a way to defend against such an attack but...it will cost us half of our corps."

"What do you mean?"

Sebastian then explained the process.

It would seem that 50 of the vampires will be able to create a barrier strong enough to repel the attack, however, in this time, they would be immobile in order to maintain the barrier. Not only that, as the spell will need a lot of time to prepare, once the barrier is erected, it would be best to not dismiss it even after the attack had ended.

"I see...I understand, that barrier will act as our base, once it is erected, we will be constantly be going in and out in accordance to the dragon's attack."

"Understood."

"Then, do you guys have other skills?"

After hearing their abilities, Lucas formed a plan. He didn't know how effective it could be as he had no experience in leading and making a strategy before, but he can only trust in his plan as there were no other options.

+ + +

Meanwhile, in the real world, Trask and his employees has just begun to watch the part where Lucas was attacked by the [Alpha Grey Wolf] because of the difference in time. Of course they still fast forwarded the times where Lucas just walked around or hunted normally and looked for a more interesting event.

"Oh, finally a strong opponent worth to watch."

Trask finally showed interest and began to watch.

They were inside the theater room inside of the building. It was like a cinema with the projector and the big screen. There were also a lot of sits for the rest of the employee to sit, of course, not all of them can be contained and some were forced to stand up but they didn't mind it anyway.

As they continued to watch Lucas in awe as he stomped on the ground releasing a small earthquake in order to stagger his opponents, they got to the point where Lucas was paralyzed by the alpha's roar.

"Hah, looks like he's going to die again."

"Fufu, if it's Lucas then he's going to survive that somehow, I have a feeling."

"What are you saying? He can't move, there's nothing he ca-"

Pearce trailed off as he was arguing with Lilianne suddenly because of Lucas' next move. To this, Trask, Lilianne, and the rest of the audience also stared wide eyed at Lucas.

That was because Lucas had managed to avoid the attack by using a skill and forced his body to move.

"...I see...the priority of the skill assistance is actually higher than the penalties...to think that he discovered another glitch.....just what the hell is this guy?"

Trask, who understood how the phenomenon happened, released his admiration.

"Tell the programers to fix this....after he finishes the quest, whether it fails or not. Also, send a notification to all users about this change."

"Yes, we'll ask for the boss' permission."

The reason why the subordinate said he's ask the boss even though Trask had already ordered him was simply because there is a position higher than him. Even Trask was only one of the many CEOs in the world, he didn't own the whole company, a certain man did.

The man who created the game, [World Gate Online].

He who single handedly created another world refuses to do such troublesome things like leading a company, instead, he left it to other suitable persons, Trask was one of them.

The reason why they needed his permission is because they might unknowingly do something useless and only hinder him. They also notified him when they fixed the glitch in the [Training Room] of course.

After a short while, the subordinate returned and delivered the message.

"How was it?"

"T-that...the boss said to leave it be."

"...Did you ask why?"

"Yes, he said that he left it like that on purpose...to let the players' imagination run wild."

At hearing this, Trask revealed a wry smile as he sighed.

"I guess that's just how he is..."

"Sir, the battle had ended, do we fast forward it again?"

While feeling nostalgic, Lilianne called out to him and asked for his permission.

"Ah, yes please.....there, stop."

Trask called out when he noticed there will be something interesting happening.

They had stopped the video at the time when Lucas was heading back to the village.

"Whoa...look at that army!"

"There's at least a hundred of them!"

"Oh!!! Maybe he can actually pull this quest off!!!"

Sounds of cheers were heard when they saw the vampire army near the entrance of the village.

They now had a mindset that something similar to a raid battle will take place, with Lucas leading it.

[[Now, let's get that EXP dragon.]]

"UWOOOHHH!!!!!"

"It's a raid! A raid!!!"

The whole audience roared at the finally upcoming battle between Lucas and Denneth.

"Hoh, to think that he would be leading a vampire army...and it looked like he got the [Charisma] stat too."

"Fufufu, nothing less from Lucas."

Pearce and Lilianne released admiration as they saw Lucas on the forefront with an army of vampires behind him as if he wore them as a cape.

"You there, make sure to include that last bit into the trailer."

After giving an order to the person in charge of video editing, he revealed an amusing smile and spoke in a voice only he could hear.

"Now, show me what you're made of, bearer of the [World Key]."

+ + +

'He' was seating behind his desk, watching a certain battle unfold in front of 'him'.

Countless monitors were place there which seemed to have covered the whole wall.

In it were various characters that were either traveling, resting, fighting, etc. These were certain players of the game called [World Gate Online]. The game that 'he' had developed by 'himself'.

However, even with the various players around 'him', 'he' focused his attention to a certain white haired boy that is currently in battle with a black dragon.

'He' had found this player very interesting the moment 'he' was asked for permission to fix a glitch in the [Training Room].

'He' was surprised with the sudden request and remembered that 'he' shouldn't have left a glitch in there. After investigating the reason, 'he' finally found out about the boy that caused it. The boy had increased his starting stats in the [Training Room] and gained stats too high for a Level 1.

'He' had a complicated feeling as he watched the boy. 'He' felt irritated by the fact that he missed such elementary mistake. 'He' also felt happy that there exists a player that actually found a mistake in 'his' program and felt challenged. But above all, 'he' felt fear for what the boy will become in the future and naturally felt interested.

Since then 'he' had hacked into the boy's [Portal] and watched all of the boy's adventure. Though 'he' said all, in truth, the boy had made a mistake of not registering his starting town as his resurrection point and was stuck in a high level dungeon that was turned into a prison through a different entrance which was not far from the town.

And now comes the time where the boy will finally leave that cave. If he managed to defeat the dragon acting as the gatekeeper that is.

Watching the battle, 'he' revealed a pure smile which 'he' had thought to have forgotten.

+ + +

"Second unit, divert his attention to the right! Fourth unit, provide magic back-up! Fifth unit, continue to cover his eyes! Third unit, circle around him and attack! First unit, we attack on the front! Go! Go! Go!"

While holding complicated emotions within him, Lucas ordered the vampire corps in attacking Denneth.

He had divided the vampires like this:

1. The first unit is composed of 10 vampires and Lucas who was most adept to battle. They are the ones in charge of dealing maximum damage to the dragon.

2. The second unit is composed of 10 vampires which were the fastest and nimblest from the bunch. They are in charge of diverting the dragon's attention away from the others.

3. The third unit is also composed of 10 vampires who were adept in finding the opponent's weakness. They were to act on a different angle from the first unit and strike on the dragon's weak spots.

4. The fourth unit is composed of 15 vampires which excelled in magic. They were further divided into two with one team using offensive magic and the other, support and healing magic.

5. The fifth unit is composed of the rest of the vampires which had less experience in fighting, they were new recruits so as to say. Their job is to turn into bat form and blind the enemy's sight and basically annoy him.

The 50 vampires remaining was of course in charge of sustain the barrier which acted as their base.

Since this was Lucas' first time leading an army, he was constantly worried of how long this formation will maintain and always kept his guard up.

He also wondered if it was alright to shout his commands because the dragon can also hear them. In the fantasy novels, mangas, and animes, the dragon species is commonly called the smartest race so he was really worried every time. However, the dragon seemed to pay him no mind and kept attacking on rampage.

The dragon had kept stomping and sweeping his tail on to the vampires but the vampires dissolve into bats and escapes easily. Well, since Lucas can't dissolve into bats, he would have died by now, fortunately, the dragon's attacks were focused on the second unit who's been doing a good job in diverting the enemy's agro.

Though the dragon's scale was too hard to penetrate, thanks to the third unit discovering gaps and weaknesses, they were able to deal damage slowly but steadily. His [Draughtbane] was also having an effect, though he only managed to deal little damage, he was still able to quickly replenish his lost HP.

Irritated by the vampires attacking him, Denneth inhaled deeply.

"D-damn, everybody fall back!!! Get cover in the barrier!!!"

Sensing a bad premonition, Lucas quickly ordered the army to return to the barrier.

Sure enough his bad premonition was right, the dragon had released a deafening roar which even caused an earthquake and shook the cave.

*RRROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!*

"Gh-!? M-my body..."

It was a paralyzing skill like any he had seen before, from the [Crypt Owl] or the [Alpha Grey Wolf] however, he felt different this time.

He felt fear, fear like no other, even though he knew there was a way to counter this attack, he still cannot move his body, or rather, he can't even utter the keyword for it. If he hadn't seek cover in the barrier, he knew he cannot dodge the attack that will come next.

There were others that didn't make it in time and were paralyzed outside of the barrier, even though everybody knew that they had to drag them inside, they can't muster the courage to do so.

This is what it means to fear.

The dragon opened his wide jaw and released his breath attack.

"---!!!!"

They couldn't even scream in pain because of the fear, the vampires outside of the barrier were burned to death by the black flame. However, with Lucas' maxed [Night Vision], everything that happened inside the black flame was seen by him. It was deeply ingrained in his brain. The images of his comrades slowly

melting away. And worse, he could only do nothing but watch.

"B-boy..."

Sebastian, who was beside him let out a mutter as he watched Lucas' face. Lucas probably didn't notice it himself. But from his eyes dropped crystal clear droplets.

Lucas gritted his teeth hard as he held back his emotions. Finally calming down a bit. He asked Sebastian without turning away at the scene.

"This...how can the demi-vampires even control this monster?"

Even though he's a beginner, Lucas knew that dragons aren't that easy to tame and control so he just had to ask.

"...though it is possible to brainwash him and control him...that would require the caster to be near the scene, however..."

"There's no one here..."

Sebastian had already guessed what Lucas is most likely thinking and revealed a troubled face.

If the enemy can control it but has to be nearby, however, since there are no demi-humans here, there could only be one conclusion.

"Someone had betrayed the pure blooded vampires..."

Even though he had thought of that, he still has no proof of it and still has no idea who did it. There's also a part inside him that says there has to be another way for the demi-vampires to control Denneth.

Well, whether he's right or wrong, they still have to beat the dragon some way or another.

"Everyone, fight! The tactic is the same as before!"

Lucas shouted, however, there was no answer. He looked back at the army and saw that they were hesitating to act. Some were still shaking from fear.

He already saw this coming. In the first place, even he wanted to run away from this monster. However, Lucas knew that the only way to get out of this place is to defeat it. And the vampires know this as well.

"Tch, fine."

Lucas willed himself and stepped out of the barrier and ran towards the monster in front of him and began his desperate attack.

He saw the dragon's tail coming at him from the right and jumped. Next, the dragon lifted its tail above Lucas and started to go down.

With the closing tail above him in midair, Lucas had no way of dodging and simply tried to parry it with his sword. However, since the weight of the dragon far exceeds Lucas' strength, he was crushed to the ground by the tail.

As if he was not done with it, the dragon lifted its foot on top of Lucas.

"S-shit!"

Sensing the foot closing in, Lucas rolled out of the way and barely managed to dodge. After the stomp, the ground shook and Lucas, who was the nearest, bounced into the air.

Having lost his foothold, the dragon's hand swatted him making him crash at the nearby wall.

"G-gh..."

Lucas HP was already below 10%, if he was hit any more than he already has, he will definitely die and fail the quest.

The dragon, took a glance at the vampires inside the barrier and exhaled through his nose seeming to have lost interest in them, he began walking to where Lucas had crashed.

"D-damn, is this how it will end?"

Feeling his impending death, Lucas can only close his eyes tight waiting for it.

*boom*

An explosion was heard and Lucas opened his eyes once more and looked around seeming to find the source of the explosion.

From the barrier, he saw the fourth unit bombarding the dragon with magic.

Afterwards, the rest of the vampire army got out of the barrier and attacked according to their tactic from earlier.

Surprised by the sudden attack, the dragon diverted its attention to the vampires instead of Lucas and had started attacking.

Soon, Sebastian had reached him and extended his hand towards Lucas.

"...Why? You should've left me be and ran towards the exit while he's still focused on me!"

"How can we leave behind our family in the village? Also, we can't possibly leave the boy that tried his best in fighting for us. As the noble vampires, we cannot simply do that."

Sebastian smiled wryly at Lucas' comment.

"...tch...what a stubborn race you guys are. I can see why the demi-vampires left."

"Haha, that we are."

With conflicting emotions, Lucas grabbed the hand in front of him for support as he stand up.

After being healed by someone from the fourth unit, the both of them joined the first unit and began their counter attack.

+ + +

Inside the village Aldcrest, the vampires left behind were standing in front of the entrance waiting for their loved ones that left to defeat the dragon.

"...Father..."

Lilith, who was among the left behind vampires, held together her hands as if she was praying to God, praying for his father to come back.

"It will be alright dear...your father is strong."

Emma, having noticed her daughter's thoughts, stroked Lilith's hair calming her down.

It will be alright. At the moment, that was all every one of them can think of right now. That was the only thing they can believe in. They have no choice but force themselves to believe it.

"It's going to be alright..."

+ + +

Above ground, the land shook every now and then.

"Oh, another one? What's going on here?"

"Don't ask me, I have no idea what's keeping on making these earthquakes."

"I know, but I still just have to ask."

Geeves and Rice who were traveling to reach the nearest town were having their peaceful conversation in regards to the earthquakes.

At first, they were bewildered with the sudden quake, however, as it kept happening, they soon lost interest in it but still kept their curiosity on what's causing it.

"Haha, maybe there's a huge monster beneath."

"Haha, maybe, I wonder what kind of monster would cause such a tremor though."

"Hmmm, a dragon?"

"What are you saying Geeves? There's no way a dragon can be near the starting town."

"Maybe the entrance to the dungeon is far?"

"Maybe, but if someone's fighting a dragon, then it would be on the top of the threads already."

As Rice had said, ever since the release of the game, no one has yet to see a dragon. Though they all feel that there would definitely be dragons, no one has ever seen one.

So if the monster was really a dragon, then someone ought to have already bragged about it even if he died in battle.

"I guess you're right, then, maybe a huge golem?"

"Or a giant?"

"Maybe a Hydra!"

"I just said it couldn't possibly be a dragon..."

Like this, the two of them kept on their peaceful conversation as they have nothing to do while on their journey.

At this moment, they suddenly felt a chill in their spine as if someone was cursing them, of course that person is Lucas but that's another story.

+ + +

*RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!*

Annoyed by the attackers that were smaller than him, the dragon let out a shockwave around him blasting everyone away from him.

Because of this, Lucas strayed away from Sebastian and was pinned to the ground by a boulder that flew towards him and squashed his left leg making him unable to move.

Looking around, he saw some vampires in the same situation and some were still having trouble in standing up.

He finally saw Sebastian in his field of vision.

He was the closest to the dragon and was having trouble in standing up as well. Lucas paled as the dragon drew closer to him.

"D-damn! Move!"

He used all his strength to push the boulder on his left leg however, no matter how hard he tried, he can't push it.

Though his strength can most likely move it, he had already reached the end of what his current vitality can get.

He was too tired to do anything, however, he didn't give up, he needed to get away from the boulder and reach for Sebastian.

"Damn it! At least one! Let me save at least one person!!!"

Sebastian, having given him something to eat, something to sleep in even though he refused, something to fight with, support to battle even though he was to go alone, and at the end, he didn't ran away when Lucas was in trouble.

He wanted to repay him for saving him that time.

More so because NPCs only have one life unlike him, a player.

Also having noticed the dragon nearing him, Sebastian weakly managed to stand up and dragged his body to run away.

However, he was too slow, the dragon had already caught up and opened its wide jaw in order to eat him.

"D-damn! I won't let you!!!"

Giving up on moving the boulder, Lucas reached out for his sword that Sebastian had given him and swung it down his left leg severing it in order to be free.

Finally gaining his freedom, Lucas kicked with his remaining foot as hard as he can to reach Sebastian.

Though he knew it was improper, he didn't have time to worry about such things as he used the sword as a cane to replace his lost leg.

With Sebastian in front of him, he jumped off and pushed Sebastian out of the way making his forward acceleration decrease and was left in midair.

For Lucas, it seemed that time had slowed down. He saw Sebastian open and close his mouth seeming to have called his name, however, Lucas can no longer process his brain to understand it. If he really did call out his name, then that would be the first time Sebastian had called him by his name.

"This feeling...where had I felt it?"

Lucas wondered as he closed his eyes waiting for his death.

"Ah, that's right...it was on that time...when I fell into this cave..."

Then, all noises were shut down after the sound of the dragon's mouth closing and Lucas was swallowed by the darkness.