Chương 180: Reborn as the Dragon — Chapter 180 - No Escape

Scattering in every direction is the most effective escape method on any battlefield. It's a lottery. Pure probability. But it maximizes the odds that someone survives. So what if they couldn't beat the dragon? Surely they could break out of a monster encirclement? If they couldn't even manage that, they might as well commit seppuku. Akatsuki Akase had always believed this. He gathered the players he trusted most and charged straight for the weakest point in the encirclement, the western gap.

Yes, he was the first one to charge. Yes, he'd drawn the monsters' attention. That didn't mean he had a death wish. Of the four sides surrounding the Starter Village, only the west had an opening. A big one. The Kobolds were spread too thin to form a solid perimeter, probably just too few of them. An opportunity, plain as day. Akatsuki Akase's heart surged with excitement.

"Gentlemen! Ignore the arrows, the stones, the poison gas! Follow me — cover your mouths and noses — and charge!"

"We will definitely make it out!" He broadcast on the party channel while running flat-out toward the gap, legs pumping like something was biting his heels. Closer. Closer. He could already see the Kobolds' baffled expressions. Ten meters away. He was moving so fast he'd left nothing but a blur behind him. These Kobolds had no idea. Every last attribute point from his level-ups had gone straight into agility. There's an old saying from back home: In all martial arts, only speed is unbreakable.

Born into the Yamaguchi Clan, a family of martial artists, Akatsuki Akase had trained hard from childhood. He had a personal philosophy about speed. Shower: three minutes. Meals: three minutes. Taking a dump: two minutes. And the other thing? Never more than thirty seconds. Fast enough, and you don't just kill without warning, you also pull off a strategic high-speed retreat exactly when you need one. Just like right now. Look at those dumbstruck Kobolds staring at him.

They had to be stunned by how ghostly fast he was moving. Even mid-sprint, Akatsuki Akase couldn't hold back a wicked grin. Heh heh... Just a bunch of monsters who've never seen anything... In the span of those few thoughts, he'd already pulled level with the Kobolds. He even had the nerve to shake his head at them as he blew past. Then the ground disappeared.

"NANI!?" He screamed. His body spun, tumbled, plummeted. Akatsuki Akase had undergone harsh training. He understood immediately. If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. He'd walked into a trap. There was no gap in the western defense. There was no weakness at all. This had been a setup from the start.

"So that's it. I have lost. But — don't you dare underestimate me!" The pit below was packed wall to wall with ground spikes. Akatsuki Akase had undergone harsh training. Mid-fall, he twisted his body and angled his limbs to thread between the spikes, letting them take his weight instead of his torso. It worked. He was held up, suspended above death.

"The Yamaguchi family counts many exceptional talents. But the only one who has trained a cat's balance to this level, is me!" He took a slow, steadying breath. He'd fallen into a trap, yes. But he was alive. If he stayed quiet in a corner until the monsters cleared out, he might even avoid burning a resurrection.

"Ahhh! Young master, move! MOVE!"

"These monsters, a trap here!? Despicable! They should all commit seppuku!" Shouts erupted from directly above him. A cold feeling settled in Akatsuki Akase's gut. But he had undergone harsh training. His mind went calm. It was just one resurrection charge. A minor issue. THUD. THUD. Pfft. Pfft. Pfft. Pfft. The first sounds were Sakura players landing on top of Akatsuki Akase. The sounds that followed were the final chorus of Akatsuki Akase and an entire group of Sakura players being turned into pincushions....

Ten seconds later, Akatsuki Akase respawned in his room, face dark as a storm cloud. Around him, the players closest to him blinked back into existence one by one.

"Young master, I'm sorry, we didn't know there was a trap there!"

"Those monsters are really too cunning!"

"Not your fault." Akatsuki Akase shook his head. The air reeked of something sharp and foul. He grabbed a piece of clothing, soaked it through with water, then tore off a strip of sleeve and tied it across his face like a mask. The Sakura players had followed Akatsuki Akase long enough to pick up a few Yamaguchi Clan tricks. They watched, then did the same, wet cloth across the nose and mouth. The poison gas lost most of its bite immediately.

"Young master, which way do we run this time?" They clustered around him. Right now, Akatsuki Akase was the only thing holding them together. He rose, crept low, and pulled himself up onto a roof beam. He poked out just half his head and scanned the village carefully. North: a pack of gnolls was herding a mob of Sakura players back and forth like cattle. Those wolf claws moved like sickles. Every swing dropped a few more unlucky ones. Harvesting wheat. Akatsuki Akase shook his head. Not that way.

East: an elven girl was floating in the air, hurling Fireball spells into the crowd of players like she had an unlimited supply. Each fireball was massive, the explosion radius put modern grenades to shame. Sakura players tried to fight back, loosing arrows and hurling javelins, but her magic shield absorbed every hit without flinching. Behind her, a pack of Cockatrice and Boar-Lancers mopped up anyone who survived. Not that way either. Akatsuki Akase pulled his head back in. South. The south was quiet.

Too quiet, maybe, the black dragon was hovering up there in the southern sky, which had convinced every other player to avoid it entirely. But Akatsuki Akase's instincts said: opportunity. Dawn was just starting to break. The world was still more dark than light. If they changed into dark clothing and moved low and slow toward the south, maybe the dragon wouldn't pick them out against the ground. Besides, and he wasn't sure why, but the dragon's attention seemed locked on the east. It hadn't looked away once.

This is it. This is the chance. Akatsuki Akase had undergone harsh training. He knew that in a crisis, hesitation kills. He ordered everyone to change into the darkest clothing they had. Then he led them, quiet and low, creeping southward through the village. By the time they reached the southern outskirts of the Starter Village, the black dragon still hadn't seemed to notice them. Akatsuki Akase let out a slow breath. His chest swelled. We're going to make it. Heh. Brainless monsters, all of them.

Even that black dragon up there. All that power, and they couldn't even seal a perimeter properly. Pathetic. He stepped out of the Starter Village. The air outside was crisp and clean. Dawn light spread pink across the horizon. Akatsuki Akase pulled the wet cloth from his face, looked up at the brightening sky, and felt a sudden urge to throw his head back and sing. Then the corner of his eye caught it. Red lights. Flickering through the bushes. Not far. What is that? THOOM. THOOM. THOOM.

Heavy footfalls shook the ground. Something large. Multiple somethings. The shapes emerged from the dark, massive, bulging silhouettes resolving out of the pre-dawn shadows. Thick limbs. Broad backs. Chests like wrecking balls. Savage faces. Big flat teeth. And eyes, savage, burning, red. Rabbit eyes. A pack of Fire Rabbits. Built like nightmares. So the players from Starter Villages One and Six hadn't been exaggerating after all.

"OHO HO HO!" Bugs Bunny cracked his knuckles, fists the size of cooking pots, and bared his teeth in a wide, vicious grin. Every other monster in this attack had humans to kill. His crew had been standing out here in the dark for ages, waiting. Finally. Finally, some humans had walked right to them. Bugs Bunny gazed at the dawn's rising light. He plucked the leaf cigarette from his mouth, blew a slow smoke ring, and felt a sudden urge to throw his head back and sing.

ps: Updated with an illustration of Bugs Bunny. ➤ Next: Unite