Game of the World Tree

Then, the mercenaries clearly noticed that the black dragon’s breathing had become noticeably heavier, and its terrifying expression seemed to grow even more fearsome…

The dragon turned its head and bared its teeth at Crocodile, with its eyes filled with an uncontrollable rage. The once placid aura surrounding the dragon had transformed into a tempest of rage, sending shivers through the spines of everyone around, including the players.

There is still hope!

Crocodile’s eyes sparkled with newfound confidence.

Its anger clearly indicates that these captured elves were greatly valued by the Black Dragon, and there was room for negotiation just as long as he played his cards right.

Crocodile felt his confidence rising back with this discovery.

He quickly removed the cloth gag from the mouth of the female captive he had picked as a hostage and addressed the black dragon once more,

“Black dragon! Command your elven army to stop, or you’ll soon hear the screams of your kin!”

Upon hearing Crocodile’s words, the fury in the black dragon’s eyes further intensified.

It unleashed a thunderous roar, declaring in anger,

“Silence, you shameless human!”

“Ruuah! You dare call me a Black dragon!? No, you are the real black dragon! Your whole family is full of black dragons! You foul creature! How dare you insult this great Silver Dragon, Meryer! Ruuah! You must face my righteous punishment for humiliating this lord!”

Crocodile: “…?”

S-Silver Dragon?

….What’s going on here?

The mercenary leader then did a double take and appeared utterly bewildered as he focused his eyes on the Dragon’s obsidian scales, which were as black as the deepest night, and its skeletal visage that possessed such a terrifying aura that it could even sent shivers down the spine of a Silver-ranked expert like him.

Crocodile: “…”

It was undeniably without a doubt, a bonafide black dragon….right?

T-This dragon…

Could this dragon be suffering from somekind of mental illness?

Observing the leader of mercenaries in utter bewilderment, Little Salty Cat whose still being held by him at knifepoint, chuckled softly.

“Hehe, what Meryer despises most in his life is being called a black dragon by others.”

Crocodile: “…”

He was at a loss for words.

Nonetheless, despite realizing that his blackmail had no effect and the black dragon’s anger wasn’t caused by his threats to the captives’ safety, Crocodile was still pleasantly surprised to find that some of the elves attacking did hesitate and stopped after his coercion.

On the other side, the players were either sending messages in the voice chat or discussing among themselves while using their elven language…

“These mercenaries are using Salty Cat and the others as hostages!”

“Unbelievable! How sneaky!”

“What should we do? Prioritize rescuing the hostages… or continue fighting? These mercenaries have completely lost their morale and they’re practically free kills at this point!”

“But… one of the quest objectives is to rescue the captives. Will our rewards be deducted if Salty Cat and the others die?”

Listening to the players discussions , Li Mu, who was in command of the whole raid, hesitated for a moment…

They were right.

Rescuing the captives was also one of the quest objectives…

However, just before he could even formulate a plan, Little Salty Cat had already reacted.

She had been closely following the discussions happening within the voice chat and she decided to took over Li Mu’s microphone by using her admin privileges.

After taking a deep breath, she proclaimed with determination,

“Don’t listen to him! Keep fighting!”

“These mercenaries give a lot of experience points! Even if we end up not completing the objective, the demerits on our rewards are still worth it when we factor in the EXP everyone will gain by wiping out the mercenary group!”

“I mean, death isn’t the end, right? It’s just mere resurrection coins! Moreover, I promise that everyone who dies will be compensated by Moe Moe Committee for the resurrection coins you’ll lose during this whole event!”

“After this quest, I’ll treat everyone to a barbecue party in the central square!”

Hmph!

How dare this mercenary NPC use her just to blackmail the others!

What infuriated Little Salty Cat the most was being treated like an object.

Its just over twenty resurrection coins!

She has no shortage of funds at her disposal. Not to mention, even if all of the fifty-eight captives died, she could still afford the over a thousand resurrection coins needed to resurrect them!

Its just equivalent to a mere two hundred thousand contribution points!

She was more than willing to spend this much if it could buy her some happiness.

Like her, there were also plenty of gamers who are rich back on earth, and Little Salty Cat was by no means the biggest spender in the online gaming community.

However, here in Elven Kingdom, she could be considered as the biggest whale, thanks to her having ‘a mine at home’ ¹ and some players particularly those hardcore ones who are almost terminally online are mad at her for using her real-life wealth to cheese the system. ²

Nevertheless, despite her detractors opinions, she’s not afraid to use that wealth if she could spread happiness to those everyone around her.

Upon hearing Little Salty Cat’s words, every players’ eyes lit up with excitement.

“Damn! Moe Moe’s Guildmaster sure have style!”

“No wonder she’s the server’s biggest whale!”

Since ElvKing’s richest player had already spoken, so what’s there to hesitate about?

In any case, a single mercenary’s head was worth at least ten thousand experience points!

The players cheered and disregarded Crocodile’s coercion, before once again continuing their pursuit and slaughter of the mercenaries!

“Goddammit!”

Watching the suddenly more frenzied elves around him, Crocodile’s expression darkened. As the language conversion was set to the elven language, he couldn’t understand what Little Salty Cat had just said.

However, from the elves’ reactions, it was evident that they were not inclined to compromise on his demands.

This discovery weighed heavily on Crocodile’s mood, and at the same time, it left him increasingly perplexed.

What’s going on?

Aren’t they elves?

Could it be that instead of saving the captives, they would rather them die than give up killing off their enemies?

When did they become so ruthless?

Fierce against their enemies but equally just as merciless toward their own kind?

Are these people…really elves!?

“Very well then…since that’s what you guys had decided, then you shall die!”

With this thought in mind, Crocodile gathered all his pent up frustration and delivered a brutal slash with his longsword…

Little Salty Cat suddenly felt a chilling sensation around her neck and a continuous flow of scorching liquid.

Wait, did he just slit her throat?

She was momentarily taken aback.

Little Salty Cat already turned off her pain coefficient, so she didn’t feel anything, but the gush of blood still made it impossible for her to speak…

She tried to open her mouth but suddenly felt copious amounts of sweet, metallic liquid flowing out from it…

Then, Little Salty Cat felt her body gradually growing cold, with her strength slipping away within seconds.

Is this what it feels like to be on the brink of death?

Although she hadn’t personally experienced dying before in real life, such sensation felt… incredibly real…

Ever since the game’s inception, she had traded for countless perfect resurrection tokens.

Thus, she hadn’t really died that much in-game.

There was only one time she could recall, wherein she had consumed a copious amount of ‘Return to City’ potions and leaped from the World Tree just to clear the debuffs she had accumulated.

That time, it was simply akin to a thrilling bungee jump with a “thud,” followed shorty by her resurrection, which was devoid of any true sensation.

However, this time, she truly experienced the sensation of being on the brink of death.

As her face paled, her eyelids weighed down, and Little Salty Cat’s instincts urged her to cast her gaze upward. There, in the vast expanse of the sky, she noticed the ethereal figure of Meryer, suspended in mid-air.

Vaguely, it seemed like she saw the Little Black Dragon first react with a slight shock, before his eyes became dangerously angry and furious like never before.

In her fading consciousness, she heard Meryer’s violent roar.

Hazy as it was, Little Salty Cat saw the black dragon that had been circling above dive straight towards her…

His expression was filled with urgency.

…Huh?

As Little Salty Cat’s consciousness was starting to blur, her thoughts have begun to wander…

Meryer… was he angry because she was killed?

That fool, didn’t he know she could easily resurrect herself?

Hmph! Why is this idiot acting this way now when he himself even suggested that she could simply… commit suicide to return back to the city…

In the end… she even found herself compelled to use the threat of withholding cooking barbecue for him just to gain his support…

What a strange… guy…

With these drifting thoughts, Little Salty Cat finally lost all her strength.

Her consciousness had finally… completely faded away.

Player, Little Salty Cat, died.

The cause was from massive arterial bleeding, at level 22.

Seeing Crocodile kill Little Salty Cat in one fell swoop, the players erupted in shock.

“Dang! Little Salty Cat, Moe Moe’s leader is down!”

“So brutal! She’s lost so much blood!”

“Her death is epic! A tale worth singing!”

“For the sake of Big sister Salty Cat! Let’s take down all these mercenaries!”

And then, Crocodile saw the elves continue to charge at them, howling with excitement…

They looked excited, full of spirit.

There was no sorrow upon their faces despite the death of their kin…

There didn’t seem to be anger either…

Seeing this scene, Crocodile was shocked.

T-These elves, they…they really don’t care about the life or death of their brethren!

As he grasped this unfathomable truth, Crocodile’s pupils shrank, and he felt a chilling sensation in his chest.

At this point… his last glimmer of hope had become a complete joke!

Then, before Crocodile could take any further action, a furious roar echoed from the sky.

“Damn humans! I will kill you!”

An immense draconic aura erupted in the heavens, and the black dragon let out a thunderous roar, before diving straight towards Crocodile.

His massive bat-like wings had created a tempest, blowing the surrounding players and mercenaries in all directions. The oppressive draconian aura emanating from Meryer, along with his intense, murderous intent, forced everyone to freeze in place, as their hair stood on end.

The black dragon was on a rampage.

A rage like never before!

Meryer, like a massive projectile, crashed straight into the mercenaries’ camp, instantly crushing several unlucky mercenaries and players who happened to be in his way.

“Danggit! Meryer be careful where you step! You just crushed your own people!”

One player exclaimed in alarm.

However, the Black Dragon payed no heed to this person.

Instead, Meryer simply extended his claws, grabbing Crocodile’s legs, who still hadn’t had time to escape. Amidst the mercenary leader’s terror-stricken gaze, the Black Dragon raised Crocodile high before slamming him into the ground countless times!

“Thud!”

“Thud!”

“Thud!”

As he lay helpless within the black dragon’s grip, Crocodile was mercilessly pounded into the earth, leaving craters resembling his form afterward.

Even though he was an intermediate Silver-ranked magic swordsman, Crocodile still couldn’t withstand the black dragon’s immense strength. He was subjected to extreme violence, with his head was already littered with wounds, and his consciousness fading.

However, Meryer still didn’t stop his rampage.

With Crocodile in tow, the Black Dragon continued the merciless assault, as if venting his rage.

Finally, Crocodile lost consciousness from the relentless beatings, as his flesh and blood turned into a bloody pulp…

But even so, Meryer still didn’t stop.

It wasn’t until the human in his grasp had been beaten into a pile of meat, indistinguishable from the twisted equipment the mercenary once wore, that Meryer finally stopped his onslaught, albeit panting heavily…

Crocodile, a widely renowned Silver-ranked magic swordsman on the Empire’s borderlands, left this world in such a miserable and wretched manner…

The mercenaries and players within the vicinity who had seen the dragon’s rampage were left completely stunned.

“Dang… What happened to Meryer?”

“S-So terrifying…”

“This quest boss is so pitiful…Looking at his remains, we can’t even tell if it’s a human anymore…”

“Is it because of Little Salty Cat?”

“Meryer should know that Little Salty Cat can resurrect, right? Why is he so angry?”

“W-Wait… could it be because of the barbecue? I remember Little Salty Cat said that if Meryer couldn’t rescue her, then she would completely ignore him in the future…”

“…No way? He went on a rampage for a barbecue?”

“Ah fuck! No good! The Silver-ranked Boss’ experience points are gone!”

“Dammit! The equipment was destroyed too!”

When they realized that Crocodile had died and all his equipment was also destroyed, the players couldn’t help but feel heartbroken once more…

On the other side, after witnessing the tragic demise of their leader, the mercenaries’ morale completely collapsed…

“D-Dead…he’s dead…”

“R-R-Run… run quickly…”

The rest of the mercenaries all looked terrified, trembling in fear.

The entire mercenary group had finally fallen apart!

Even Crocodile’s most trusted upper Iron-ranked subordinates turned pale with fear and completely lost their senses as they all began to scatter and flee…

“We can’t let them escape!”

Seeing the mercenaries completely defeated and fleeing, the players, with frenzied eyes, resumed pursuing them…

However, unlike the players who were excitedly chasing the remaining mercenaries, the black dragon, fell into silence.

Meryer simply gave a cold gaze and drove away any players who tried to steal Little Salty Cat’s Legendary equipment that she had left behind.

Seeing their sly smiles, he decided to pick up her gear and then flapped his massive bat-like wings before leaving the battlefield all by himself…

¹ 家里有矿 — Mine at home is a chinese internet buzzwords , mean to ridicule the other person’s family for being rich and spending money indiscriminately.

² Cheese the system or simply, cheesing is is video-game slang for beating tasks or enemies through tactics that while not exactly cheating, are certainly underhanded in nature which gives a player an unfair advantage.

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