Mission progress, Clear the area. 12 servants killed.
Remaining: 8.
Regardless of how intense the situation was, I couldn’t suppress a grin. I hadn’t even had to do anything — the dragon had taken care of them itself. After making sure I was able to survive outside the building, I peeked out.
Half the buildings under the dome had been leveled. And it started to make sense why the dome was there in the first place, as it served to somehow7 contain the dragon’s fire. The surviving servants were sprinting to get away from the creature, putting out their burning clothes as they went. They’d gotten too close. Even the ones w7ho’d survived were in bad
shape.
Three came running toward me, and I couldn't help making full use of their blunder. As soon as the terrified servants were within range of my sacrificial offering, I sent them off to their eternal rest.
Mission progress, Clear the area. 15 servants killed.
Remaining: 5.
The servants shriveled up and collapsed to the ground, though I didn't have long to gloat.
“You?! How?!” the air around me roared, and the dragon's head turned toward me. It was so shocked that I even had time to gulp. It had forgotten the most important part — when you see a player, douse them with fire.
“Santa Claus sends his regards!” I shot back as I grabbed Valkyrie. I may have made a mistake, but the mission needed to be completed.
Everything else happened simultaneously.
It took no more than a second to fire off five shots. The last thing on the fleeing servants’ minds was defending themselves. In the meantime, Li-Ho-Dun started sucking down air to unleash fire. Ulbaron showed off its speed yet again, sending me off so fast that I left my stomach back wThere I’d been hiding. And finally, three thermal mines hurtled off in the direction of the dragon. Why not? It wasn’t the only thing around there that could spit fire. Mines had long since been in my favorites section, so it had taken less than a second to print them out from the store.
Clear the area complete. Time to regeneration increased
by 24 hours.
A column of pure, primordial fire chased after me, though it was too late. I covered the distance separating me from the dome in an instant. Of course, my feet were seared, but the job was done — I flew out, and the fire stayed inside to turn the rest of the buildings into dark ash. Li-Ho-Dun had clearly invested all it had in what was supposed to finish me off in one go.
My helmet screen exploded in red dots. As it turned out, the underground grotto was packed with aggressive creatures, though I once again had an undisputed advantage. First, I had shown up unexpected. Second, I was armed. And third, the locals could only dream of armor as advanced as mine.
It had been a long time since I'd last used Valkyrie. Not trusting my finger, I hit the button mentally, barely giving myself enough time to aim the pistol at the next target. There was no telling what I was supposed to do or where I was supposed to run. All I knew was that I had to get away from the crazed creature inside the dome.
Dropping sharply, I dove between a couple pieces of machinery and switched my invisibility on. That was easy enough — there wasn’t anyone left alive. Then, tossing common sense to the winds, I flew back toward the
dome.
What I should have been doing was running and hiding. And not just that, but running without looking back, without paying attention to where I was going, and leaving my belongings strewn behind me. There would have been nothing shameful in that. Fighting dragons is not something you just take on willy-nilly — Valkyrie had thrown in the towel immediately. There hadn’t been a single weakness it could penetrate. From wThat I could tell, the thermal mines hadn't scratched it. At least, the stream of fire had kept right on streaming even after the explosion. That just left sacrificial offering, though I had some serious doubts about it. With a diameter of just six meters, was it even going to work on the enormous beast? If I activate it by the tail, will it take care of the brain, too? I wasn’t sure, and it wasn’t the time for experiments. A nuclear warhead would do the trick... But the troops weren’t about to just hand me one of those.
I couldn’t see what wras going on inside the dome, but I wasn’t about to go check. Making a smart move for once, I flew up to the roof, hovering right between the dome and the external field holding up the supports. The shocked dragonoids finally began looking for protection, though there was none to be found.
A few moments later, they were already regretting having left their cover. Li-Ho-Dun had decided to take care of me once and for all.
The dragon burst out of the dome, and I felt the air around me heat up. It was locked and loaded.
Once again, I’d made a mistake, and I resolved never again to underestimate mines. The owner’s son was missing a leg. Of course, it was already regenerating, and fairly quickly, but when it rushed out of its lair and turned all the machinery, buildings, and creatures in the area into ash, it wasn’t there.
That told me what I needed to do.
Store...favorites...ten bundles of three mines each. And with that, it wras time for me to see what kind of a quarterback I was. I even had to wind up and use Raptor to make sure everything was perfect. The bundles all flew off toward their targets.
The dragon wasn’t moving quickly. It knew there wras no way I could flee the level, and that meant I was hiding somewhere among the machinery and buildings. The losses and damage meant nothing. As it made its way toward the far wall, it bathed the surrounding area in flames, ferreting out every nook and cranny. But I was nowhere to be found, of course.
Ten explosions in quick succession added to the temperature, which was high enough as it was. It felt like being in a smeltery7. But my aim had been perfect — the mines detonated right on top of the dragon. The first three hit its back, though the creature’s armor held up admirably. Not a single scale was dislodged or did anything more than darken slightly. Three more found their way to the legs. The result there was much better — the one that had just grown back wTas once again reduced to a stub. And the final four bundles arced majestically to land right on top of the creature’s head. They worked beautifully, leaving the dragon choking on its own flames.
I thought I’d already heard how Li-Ho-Dun could yell. But no, that had been nothing. The dragon roared...well, like a dragon. It was wild, hysterical, thunderous. Everything that could tremble did just that. And then, the monster started clawing at its face with its back legs in an effort to put out the fire — it was its own fire that wras doing the damage rather than the mines. Something had gone very wTong. The flames charred all the way down to the bone, even the dragon’s own scales incapable of standing up to the intense heat. Both eyes were gone, though the haze told me the creature had excellent regeneration. As long as it withstood the first blow7 and bought a moment, it could recover.
But who w7as going to give it a moment to recover?
I hurtled dowmward. The flames had died away, the dragon afraid to use them until it was fully recovered, and that was fine by me. Once Shulma had printed out a few7 syringes, I shot over to the tail and tried to pierce the scales.
For the first time, I found protection capable of standing up to game needles. Li-Ho-Dun was impenetrable no matter what I did. Time was ticking by, and I w7as left with twro options: sacrificial offering or another round of mines.
I went with door number three.
It was risky and dangerous, one where any mistake was bound to cost me my life. But there wasn’t anything else I could do. The dragon’s legs, the ones it used to walk when it wasn’t flying, were damaged. It was doing its best to restore them, scales included, though the wounds still offered access to its innards.
And that was my opening.
Missing an eye and working on its pained face, the monster didn’t notice me trying my best to hurt it, which was a huge opportunity7 for me. Two syringes didn’t seem like they’d be enough, so I printed out another pair. If this isn’t enough,
Fang is going to get a workout. I certainly hoped it would be able to penetrate the scales. Sacrificial offering was a last resort — a plan had suddenly formulated.
Picking a moment when the dragon’s leg moved forward, I flew over. Li-Ho-Dun really was enormous, a good thirty7 meters from nose to tail. And that was just an estimate — Raptor was acting up that close to the heat source. My other equipment was, too. All my named items were groaning and creaking, but they gritted their proverbial teeth and kept on doing their best.
The same went for the syringes. Four needles buried themselves in the monster’s flesh, releasing their poison and melting away. I had no idea how Li-Ho-Dun could even live with that kind of heat. Its flesh was perfectly ordinary, with nothing special about it. And just as the dragon began turning its enormous head toward me, the heavy7 body crashed into
a pool of something melted. The blockers had done the trick.
I assumed the monster had formidable protection, so I quickly got to work. It could wake back up at any time. Placing a hand on the body, I triggered my device control, and...
You’re trying to hack the defenses of Li-Ho-Dun, son of the owner for release 3R22-221.
Sum total of your skill levels: 760.
Sum total of Li-Ho-Dun’s protection: 720.
Probability of successful hack: 5.3%.
Attempt 95... Successful.
The dragon didn’t last long. I was surprised its levels were so low, in fact. My helmet screen pulled up a long list of what I could grab for myself, but my first priority was the phone. The creature was part of our world, and therefore definitely should have had one. That’s what all the functionality around us focused on.
A couple seconds later, an enormous device the same size as me appeared. I really owed Five a thank-you. If it hadn’t been for it showing me that you could rip away the phones of players you’d hacked, I never would have known. But with time running short, I quickly dug into the settings and unexpectedly came across something I’d never seen before.
Dragon’s blood-X virtual storage. Description: Phone-expansion. Virtual space in which 80 items containing dragon's blood or 80 kilograms of dragon's blood can be stored. Item materialization takes l second. Cost: none, is a gift from the game owner.
Wow, look at that! After I hit the button to confiscate it, Raptor dinged approvingly.
You’re the first natural player in the history of World of the Changed to receive Dragon’s blood-X.
The game creator has their eye on you.
The release owner has their eye on you.
***
Level 4-200 (964).
200 free attribute points received.
The useless points dropped into my account. With the numbers I was spending to upgrade myself, they were good for a laugh, nothing else. But there was good news in there. And it wasn’t the attention I was getting from the game creator and owner. No, it was the contents of the virtual storage. I tossed my two cores in there and whistled in surprise — they joined another ten that were already there. And that wasn’t all, as I also noticed some metal that looked like mercury. The label told me it was dragon’s blood, so I knew I’d finally gotten my hands on the real deal. Ill pull that out and take a look at it as soon as I have a minute.
Incoming call from Father.
The writing on the enormous screen popped up just a couple moments later. The owner knew exactly where I might have been able to pick the storage up, and given that Li-Ho-Dun was still in the land of the living, the whole situation was presumably confusing. I tapped accept. The air filled with noise. As per the usual, it was thunderous, melodious, and overwhelming. But it didn't do much to overwhelm me — my willpower was high enough to withstand it.
“What’s going on over there?!” the phone boomed.
“Well, it's the big cheese!” I even turned on my loudspeakers to imitate the release owner. Actually, yes, I need to start referring to it as the release owner, not the game owner. It was the crafty creator who ruled the game and screwed over its clients.
“Who are you?!”
“You’ll never guess. Come on, give it a try.”
“Mark Derwin... Where is my son?”
“Lying in a pool of its own fire. From what I can tell, its jaw melted.
That will probably take a while to regenerate.”
It was true — the dragon was going to have a hard time spitting fire. The magma had eaten through the protective scales and dug into the bone. That didn't do much for me, though it was still nice to see.
“If anything happens to it — ” the owner started, though I quickly jumped in.
“Listen up, you bastard! You have half an hour to deliver Squirrel Derwin alive and well. Send her under guard and call off your dogs. If you even think about pulling something, your son will suffer the same fate as the senior deputy of the captain in command of the ship you showed up on. Got it?”
“What are you even talking about, you worm?” the dragon asked after a short pause. “There weren’t any deputies on the ship!”
“Right, because its data was released forever. Call the captain up yourself. I’m sure it will be able to tell you quite a bit about its vampire, and it’ll probably be surprised as well to see that there isn’t any info about it. Your son wron’t join you in the next release. It will never join you again. How does that sound to you?”
“How does this sound to you?” The owner had decided to reply to my threat with one of its own. For a couple seconds, silence reigned, but then the air was once again filled with hysterical screaming. A woman’s voice... My sister’s voice.
“Ma-a-ark! No-o-o! Ah-h-h!” came the howl from the speakers, though the owner quickly shut her up.
“I have twenty sons. That’s the youngest — I won’t even remember it,” the dragon said with undisguised arrogance. “But can you say the same of your sister? She’s the only person you have left, after all. And you can’t even imagine what she’s going to live through before she loses her mind. My best are going to have at her, and the only way you can stop them is if you turn yourself in. You’ll both die quickly and painlessly.”
Squirrel’s bone-rattling squeal came through the speakers once again. Something snapped inside, and it was in that moment that I saw the end of everything that had been pushing me. I couldn’t save Squirrel no matter how much I wanted to. A hateful emptiness filled me. With a heavy voice, I signed her death warrant.
“Watch out for the rest of your children, bastard. And I’ll be coming for you, too.”
I hung up. My palm still on the dragon’s body, I stripped it completely before using my sacrificial offering. The scales capable of withstanding thermal mines turned out to be artificial. The claws were, too. As was the fire-breathing apparatus. Actually, without all its equipment, the animal wasn’t all that scary. It was w^eak, it wTas thin-skinned, it had short legs, and it w^as unable to fly. The scales helped with that, a kind of Ulbaron for dragons.
Li-Ho-Dun wasn’t a traveler. From the moment it had arrived on our planet, it had taken up residence in the hand-made cave. It did have quite a few contacts, though I didn’t see much sense transferring them over. I'd already gotten everything I needed. And that left the main thing — the account full of coins. And there were plenty, with 54.4 billion coins, presumably part of the family fortune accumulated over many releases. Or maybe it was just there for whoever could take them out.
But I was in no hurry to swipe it all. Pulling up the store, I did a search for explosions, and luck finally shined its face on me. They w7ere there. The green ones cost 300 million, the red ones were a billion each, and there were purple explosions that cost five billion apiece. The money Li-Ho-Dun had wras great, but making myself stronger was much more important. When else was I going to have a chance like that?
One green, ten red, and...that was all I had time for. The owner had closed off access to that portion of the store for its son. Fine! Getting my named items up to level forty was good enough — I wa
sn’t ready for fifty.
You used a green explosion.
Valkyrie, Fang, Ulbaron, Raptor, Zelda, and Fartira levels
increased by 1 (30).
You reached a threshold for your named items. All requirements increased to 130.
You used a red explosion (10).
Valkyrie, Fang, Ulbaron, Raptor, Zelda, and Fartira levels
increased by 10 (40).
You reached a threshold for your named items. All requirements increased to 160.
It was actually a good thing the owner had locked the store. I wouldn’t have had the self-control to keep from buying another ten purple explosions, screwing myself over in the process. There w^as no way I was ready. Getting everything to level 190 was going to take...
Damn it, what am I even thinking about? Those bastards are torturing Squirrel!
The only chance I had was if the owner was bluffing. Perhaps, that wasn’t her voice. Maybe, itll try to do something about losing its own son. There were too many variables, but I didn’t see any other way around my next move. I had to pull the trigger.
You sacrificed Li-Ho-Dun, son of the owner for release 3R32-221, using the absorber’s sacrificial offering quality.
The game creator appreciated your sacrifice.
All data regarding the sacrificed creature was removed
from the game.
Information about the kill and its consequences was sent to all players and release creatures.
All it took was one time right by the head. The dragon’s body shriveled up into a small clump of paper the size of a basketball that quickly disappeared into the puddle of magma.
The creator had made exactly the move I’d hoped it would. It had told everyone there was to tell exactly what kind of fate they could expect, and I very much expected that to elicit some emotions. Li-Ho-Dun had turned out to be anything but stable, so I assumed it got that from its father.
World of the changed 3 Noa in the flesh Page 15