While on my way to the swamp the following night, I noticed something was wrong. The paths that I normally don’t use were cut down to the root. ‘No,’ they were burned. I could still smell the ash. Someone cleaned the path to the dragons by using fire magic.

‘I am not alone.’

Based on the growth, I could estimate that the path had been incinerated five minutes ago. ‘Someone has to be hunting dragons.’

I casted an inferior form of invisibility magic. The spell allowed me to be invisible as long as I wasn’t been directly looked at by an observer for more than one second. It was a bit unpractical, but if they were busy fighting a dragon, then this spell was just as effective as regular invisibility, except that this spell was a fraction of the cost.

As I went through the path and arrived at the spawn, I found a party of three adventurers. As predicted, they were hunting dragons in the open grounds. This was not a bad strategy, and it had a sound logic. You lure the dragon out, hit it from three sides while the knight tanks it.

But the issue here wasn’t the method of the hunt, players were going to be players after all. My question was more profound. Why this particular spawn? It had fallen out of use ever since more efficient spawns were added in previous updates.

Was it because they noticed the sudden influx of dragon scales in the market?

No, there is no way for them to know. It had to be the merchants. They gossiped about the one man selling the dragon scales at outrageously cheap prices.

It seems that the moment you start making money, this society tries to leech from your success. Both players and NPCs alike are nothing but thieves.

While I ranted, I enjoyed the luxury of invisibility. They hadn’t noticed me yet. Even in the odd chance that they did notice my presence, I was not afraid of confronting them head on. After all, they are only a group of three. If I had to go solo, I would go solo, let them see what I am made of. But I had better judgment than that.

I used my crystal to notify Vampy that I needed backup. She was probably in the middle of baking cookies to celebrate my return. It wouldn’t take long for her to arrive at the swamp, the castle was a short walk away from the swamp. While I waited for her arrival, I made sure to hide in the foliage. But the mosquitoes attacked me. It was hell.

When she finally arrived, she was carrying an adventurer’s backpack filled to the brink of health and mana potions. I am surprised that she could carry it, for her constitution was fragile and the backpack was heavy.

Upon prepping up, I took a look at the players. They were busy looting a dragon and did not notice that they were being stalked. Their levels were low, maybe they didn’t know better.

Regardless of this folly, their team composition looked strong. An archer, a mage and a knight. If I wished to win cleanly, their mage needed to fall first. Otherwise, his high DPS and Crowd Control would prove my undoing.

It was essential that this was timed just right. I waited until they were fighting a dragon to make my move.

‘Let’s see how they like this.’ I thought. “Vampy, give me the levitation rune.”

“But master, is the most useless rune of them all. It has no attack capabilities.”

“I know, just… give it to me.”

When I equipped the rune, the poor fellows had no idea what was going to happen. My face grew a malicious grin. ‘This is something I learned from the good old days of hardcore MMOs.’

“What is that!?” The archer yelled.

“What-”

But it was too late. The dragon breath already had caught up to them. The knight tried to tank it but fell like a potato. He Immediately re-spawned in whichever city he was a citizen of.

“But how is this possible!? dragon lords don’t spawn here! what is the meaning of this!?”

Just then, I came out of the foliage and began a magical bombardment of stalagmites. Just the right combo between dragon lord fire and my rune… the Archer fell.

The mage, on the other hand, was another deal. He was smart enough to gulp a potion of invisibility. The dragon, upon not seeing any players around, left the swamp and becoming somebody else' trouble. 

It was a clever move by the mage, but he could only remain clocked by the spell if he did not agro anyone. This meant that unless he was courting death, he intended to flee. I grabbed my three wind runes, and one earth rune. ‘Let’s see how he likes this one, he might remain invisible, but objects around him aren’t effected by his spell upon touching him.’

[DUST STORM]

“Over there!” Vampy said. Her eyes had caught him.

[SUDDEN DEATH]

He countered by exposing his mana to the hit. The sudden outburst of bright blue particles gave away his position again. With no more mana to re-cast invisibility, he began throwing a barrage of fire missiles at me, and the swamp soon enough found itself swarmed by fire.

I took the hits, losing enough HP to lower me to an orange health-bar. I readied my runes. “Take this.”

Among all the smoke, I guided my shot based on what Vampy spotted. When I threw the fire blast, it landed in the mark. His mana again took the hit.

“You are after my loot, aren’t you?” He asked. “Spare me and I’ll give you all my loot.”

He had a point. With his friends back to their spawn points and with his mana so deeply exhausted, he could not continue this hunt alone.

I looked at Vampy to see if she had an opinion of her own. But when I did this, the mage took his chance.

“Master, watch out!” 

I quickly turned to see what the player was doing, only to catch him dipping his hand deep into his bag. “FOOL, THIS IS WHAT YOU GET FOR BEING A PLAYER KILLER,” He shouted. 

His laugh grew hysterically. I laughed too. Then he wasn’t laughing anymore.

Of all the runes that he could use to strike at me, he used sudden death. It was of no use. Vampires had no life-force. "Now is my turn," I responded. 

After I was done with him, I made sure he re-spawned back in his hometown. “Fool.”

Had he used any other rune, he might would’ve won. I need to be more careful.

Vampy and I went back to our castle. The adrenaline rush just had hit me. My heartbeat was so pumped I didn’t notice the system notification. I had gained a red skull next to my name.