Hero of Lichfrost

by M E Robinson

  “Screw off, Wavesun, don’t think that just because I’ve aged a little that I can’t still put you over my knee,” Alistair growled.

  “I’m not a child anymore, Lord Crowsea, and I would thank you to stop acting like one yourself. You are here to show the residents of the north that you don’t need to plan in the final hours before the assault, to reassure them that the situation is under control, and to learn the capabilities of those you will be commanding tomorrow. I know that, and I’m well aware that you know that as well,” Wavesun replied coldly, the temperature on the dais seeming to lower as the two men glowered at each other.

  Gulping softly to himself, Halfthur hardly dared to breathe, staring nervously from face to face as his hands trembled unconsciously.

  Suddenly, the atmosphere seemed to lighten, fading just as quickly as it had appeared.

  Alistair sighed. “Just the gripings of an old man, Wavesun. A senile old man, who’s powerless to prevent the calamities befalling those he cares for.”

  Wavesun laughed, the dark atmosphere disappearing entirely as he looked fondly towards Alistair. “There are people you care for? And here I thought your heart had turned to stone long ago.”

  “Ah shove it,” Alistair grumbled, turning to observe the nearby matches.

  Smiling slightly, Wavesun went silent, offering no retort. As Halfthur looked between the two men, he slowly released the breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding. Noticing this, Wavesun turned to the dwarf.

  “You should probably announce the winner of the match over there,” Wavesun advised Halfthur, pointing to a stage where the winner had been standing with his sword held aloft for the last few seconds, peering over towards the announcer’s dais in confusion.

  “Uhhh. Right,” Halfthur muttered absentmindedly, drawing the runes to amplify his voice as he did so.

  “Alexnir Swordboard advances to the next round!” Halfthur announced.

  “I’d also ask that you forget about what you just heard. It isn’t healthy to internalize such things, especially for those who aren’t nobles,” Wavesun whispered, bending over to put him at the same level as the dwarf.

  Looking at Wavesun, Halfthur could see that he was smiling, but the smile didn’t quite reach his eyes, two gray pits which seemed to promise Halfthur that if he didn’t forget, he would be the one to be forgotten.

  Chapter 28

  “Just two more matches and we’re into the top thirty-two. So far this tournament’s a piece of cake,” said Eric, wiping the blade of his falchion with a cloth that Griffin had provided.

  “You gonna be okay, Eric? Your last match looked a little shaky,” Ryan greeted him, returning from his own match.

  “You’re the one who should be careful. I’ve been watching your matches, and Seryllia’s in your pool,” Eric replied, wearing a vicious grin.

  “You still think she’s good just ‘cause she beat you? As soon as she gets one of us as her opponent she loses,” Jun said derisively.

  Eric arched his brow. “You’re underestimating her. She’s fast, strong, and she’s totally relentless. If you’re not careful, she’ll destroy you.”

  “Yeah right. Even Griffin will beat her easily, and that’s if she doesn’t lose before she fights one of us. If you can beat her, any of us can,” Jun replied.

  “Leave me out of this. Seryllia is scary,” Griffin muttered.

  “See? Griffin agrees.”

  “Whatever. Are there any strong fighters in your bracket? Are you and Rob gonna be able to make it to the top thirty-two?” Jun asked, changing the subject.

  “We should be fine. There might be one guy?” said Rob tentatively.

  “The archer?” Eric asked.

  “Yeah.”

  “I can’t tell if he’s strong, or if his opponents are just weak. But yeah, he’s the one I’m most worried about. There’s also that Mikasa chick. She’s pretty damn good for a dual-wielder, but she doesn’t seem as good as the other guy.”

  “Mikasa? White elf chick with a pair of swords?” Ryan asked.

  “Uh yeah. That’s her. She part of your sword group?” replied Eric.

  “Yeah. I wasn’t sure if she’d be participating though. She’s fairly strong. But she usually can’t beat me unless I mess up. So you guys should be fine.”

  “Good to know.”

  “I’m up. I’ll see you guys in a sec,” Mark interjected, standing up and making his way over towards the opposite end of the arena.

  “Have you guys been watching the A-group matches? Anyone that stands out there?” Eric asked, turning to the rest of the group.

  “There are a few actually,” Jun replied, an uncharacteristically serious expression appearing on his face. “The two who stand out the most are a blond archer chick with insanely good aim, and a warrior wearing a mix of leather and plate armour who’s using a greatsword. Then there’s a red-headed spear-user and a guy using hand-weapons.”

  “The blonde’s a friend of mine. And the spear user should be someone I know as well, but the other two I’ll have to check out after this match, be back in a second guys,” Eric said with a grin, heading back to the arena.

  Turning to Jun, Ryan looked at him with surprise. “You’ve been watching the group A matches?” he asked Jun, a hint of disbelief in his voice.

  “Yeah. I’ve already finished checking out our own group. Don’t tell Eric, but Seryllia is actually pretty decent looking. At the very least, Eric wasn’t lying about her almost beating him. She’s good,” Jun replied.

  “Tom’s been teaching us moves in his spare time when we’re done our work at the forge. Seryllia’s his favourite student because she learns them all so quickly. I swear it’s the only time I’ve ever seen her smile. She’s scary,” Griffin added, shivering slightly at the thought of facing his fellow blacksmith’s apprentice.

  “Is she really that good? I know she’s been getting a bit of a reputation as a player killer around Tonbura recently. But come on, so has Gio. No offense, Gio,” said Ryan.

  “Uh-huh,” Gio replied. “My match is starting soon; I should get going.”

  Moving aside to let Gio out of the seats, Griffin gave Ryan an annoyed look. “You haven’t watched her practice. She uses a huge axe, and she’s really good with it,” Griffin promised darkly.

  “I’m more worried about the archer in Rob’s group, and the assassin guy in Mark’s. I’m fairly sure they’re here together too. They both sit together along with that greatsword guy from group A,” Jun replied, watching as Gio made his way towards the arena floor.

  “I can’t believe someone’s actually managed to play as an assassin. I tried using just daggers a few days ago, and it felt terrible against most monsters. Goblins were fine, but using it against anyone with a spear or sword felt almost impossible. They just have too much range,” said Ryan.

  “He’s got a few skills that help him out from what I’ve seen,” Mark added. “From what he’s shown, he’s got two different dashes, and at least one attack skill that seems to suit daggers. It’s possible he’s found a hidden teacher.”

  “Could be. It’s not like we’re the only group with someone that has a unique skill,” Jun replied, looking at Griffin.

  Seeing this, Griffin flashed Jun a grin. “Jealous?”

  “You wish,” Jun replied, turning back to look at the action below.

  Laughing, the rest of the group settled down, getting ready to watch Eric’s match.

  Eric’s fourth match was uneventful. His opponent was a mid level, younger player who’d gotten lucky with his matchups in the first three rounds, fighting various low level players who were even weaker than himself. Unfortunately for him, his road ended here as Eric was far stronger than his previous opponents had been.

  Dispatching his opponent with a simple slash of his sword, Eric made his way off the stage as Halfthur announced the result of the fight.

  “Erick Kystfyr advances to the next round! Blade Bladez is eliminated,” Halfthur announced. />
  “Damn, Eric. You’re bullying little kids now?” Ryan teased as Eric made his way back to the stands.

  “Didn’t you beat a girl younger than him just last fight?” Eric retorted.

  “She was a halfling, who knows how old she really was,” Ryan replied innocently.

  Rolling his eyes, Eric turned to check the projector. “How’s Gio doing?”

  This time, it was Rob’s turn to reply, “He just started. He’s against a guy who started in Hamour Village with me.”

  “He any good?”

  “He seemed average. Did ok with the spear in the tutorial. But he never struck me as anything special.”

  Gio’s opponent was a brown haired man with a ponytail who looked to be in his early twenties. Holding a spear and wearing light leather armour, the man could easily have traded his spear for a laptop and he would not have looked out of place in a coffee shop, Eric thought as the referee approached to begin the fight.

  As they watched, Gio’s fight began. Charging forward, Gio used Shield Rush, a skill that combined Charge and Shield Bash, to slam heavily into his opponent. Flying backwards, the man rolled to his feet, stabbing towards Gio with his spear as Gio attempted to follow up on his charge. Blocking awkwardly, Gio’s momentum was stalled as he was forced to turtle behind his shield, slowly advancing towards his opponent’s position.

  “He needs to just bite the bullet and charge in. He had the right idea the first time,” Eric commented.

  Jun nodded. “Gio doesn’t have enough offensive skills. He has to rely on Charge and Shield Rush to get in on an opponent with more range than him.”

  “His opponent’s technique isn’t anything special. But Gio’s not really used to fighting spear wielders,” Ryan added.

  On stage, Gio was slowly forcing his opponent towards the edge of the stage. Taking another step backward, his opponent suddenly found himself out of room to retreat.

  “Tsk,” the man snorted, darting to the side in an attempt to escape his predicament.

  Seeing this, Gio lowered his shield, swinging his sword to cut off his opponent’s path. Raising his spear, the opponent countered, blocking the swing with a well executed Guard. Tilting his spear, the opponent swung the butt of his spear at Gio’s legs, slamming the shaft into his unprotected shins. Wincing, Gio instinctually took half a step backward, buying the opponent just enough room to dart past him, escaping from the edge of the ring.

  “Damn,” Eric sighed as Gio was forced to begin cornering his opponent all over again.

  “Shit,” Ryan swore, watching his friend’s healthbar slowly lowering as the spearman landed the occasional glancing blow on Gio’s exposed limbs.

  Unable to take it any longer, Jun stood up. “GIO! CHARGE HIM YOU DUMBASS!” Jun bellowed, cupping his hands over his mouth to make himself heard over the roar of the crowd.

  Whether or not Gio heard him, it was unclear. But the situation in the ring remained unchanged, with Gio advancing and his opponent retreating, both attempting to shave off tiny slivers of each other’s healthbars.

  Activating Shield Rush once more, Gio charged forward, attempting to catch his opponent unawares. As if he’d been waiting for this, Gio’s opponent activated a skill of his own, dodging to the side and thrusting his spear towards Gio’s unprotected neck.

  Chapter 29

  With a groan, Gio fell, his health having been exhausted over the last few minutes of chasing his opponent around the ring. As the blue light enveloped him, his opponent cheered, raising his spear over his head as Gio was teleported away.

  “Byril Glaivewind wins! Gio Misael is eliminated!” Halfthur announced.

  “Damn,” said Ryan, sinking back into his chair.

  “Yeah,” Eric echoed.

  “Looks like Gio’s not coming with the elite platoon,” said Jun with a conflicted look on his face.

  “This just shows how we all need more PvP practice. Gio wasn’t used to fighting spear users and he suffered for it. His opponent wasn’t necessarily better than him, he just knew the matchup better,” said Mark, feeding Ulfir a strip of jerky he’d bought from a nearby vendor.

  “So you’re saying we need to go out and kill more players?” Eric joked, attempting to bring some levity back to the conversation.

  Flashing Eric a wilting glare, Mark shook his head. “No. We need to find experts and start training seriously for PvP. Ryan’s sword group is the right idea, but we need more than just swordsmen.”

  “Hey, the rest of us are still doing fine. Gio’s the only one that’s lost,” Jun protested.

  “Yeah. I mean, I totally agree with doing more PvP practice, but don’t you think you’re being a little hasty here? The rest of us are all still in the running,” Ryan added.

  “I’m just saying it’s a good idea. What do you two think?” Mark asked, turning towards Griffin and Eric.

  “Griffin, you have anything to say?” Eric asked, turning to his friend who’d been unnaturally silent so far.

  Griffin looked pensive. “I think it’s a good idea honestly,” he said slowly. “You and Jun both have it easy. You’re basically smurfing, stomping on noobs and winning your matches without taking much damage. But the rest of us are having a bit more trouble. If I didn’t have Wild Strike, I’m not sure I’d have won my last fight. I can’t rely on Wild Strike forever - I want to become better at PvP, not just better at using OP skills.”

  “Well said, Griffin. We all need to become better at PvP if we really want to set our eyes on the championship. I’m not trying to suggest that anyone isn’t taking this seriously. But we could all improve how we’re training and leveling,” said Mark.

  “So what do you suggest. Should we just make the guild now so that we can start recruiting people? Not bother waiting for someone to get a rare skill first?” Eric asked.

  “That’s not a bad idea. I know a few guys who’d be willing to join if we did create a guild,” said Ryan, a thoughtful expression crossing his face.

  "Did any of you guys choose to represent Riptide as your organization? I was told it wouldn't matter until the top thirty-two. But I registered myself as representing Riptide," Eric asked.

  "Yeah, I did."

  "Me too."

  "Yup."

  "Same."

  The rest of the group echoed their confirmation.

  "Well. At least we won't have any problems on deciding a guild name," Mark said with a smile.

  “How do we create a guild anyways?” Griffin asked curiously.

  “I think you need to be level thirty or higher. That’s what they’re saying on the forums anyways. That would also explain why we haven’t seen any so far,” Mark replied. “What do the rest of you think? Jun? Rob?”

  “I’m fine with whatever you guys wanna do,” Rob replied.

  “Yeah sure. Just make me guild leader,” said Jun.

  “We can discuss who’s going to be guild leader later. But I think it’s agreed that we should create a guild ASAP after the tournament. Now then, my match is starting soon, so I’ll see you guys later,” said Mark, putting Ulfir down on the seat as he made his way down to the arena.

  Reaching over to pet Ulfir, Eric absentmindedly began to consider Mark’s parting words. It was true that none of them were practicing specifically for PvP, with the possible exception of Ryan, and perhaps Jun if one wanted to consider griefing as a form of PvP practice. While they’d all been hard at work leveling up, was it a better idea to focus on leveling than pure combat skills? It was pretty obvious by now that levels didn’t matter anywhere near as much in Fate as they did in previous games. Levels were more a measure of the number of skills a player had, rather than a measure of their overall combat power. Then again, if they levelled up properly, they would gain more chances to earn skills and other rewards from quests such as the militia expedition. In the end, it really wasn’t such a clear-cut choice.

  Sighing to himself, Eric continued to pet Ulfir, who’d curled up on Mark’s chair and gone to sleep, tota
lly ignoring the fact that his master was in the middle of an intense battle right now.

  “Hey guys,” a voice broke Eric from his reverie.

  Looking up, Eric saw Gio, a small smile etched on his face.

  “Hey Gio, how are you doing?” Ryan asked, standing up to allow his friend to get back to his seat.

  “I’m good. Sorry I lost.”

  “It’s not your fault. You tried,” said Eric, attempting to console him.

  “Yo Gio you f***er. Why didn’t you listen to my advice?” Jun demanded.

  “Aha, sorry. I only realized what you’d said a little while afterwards. I was really focused on the fight,” Gio apologized.

  “Well at least you tried it at the end,” Jun conceded, not wanting to push his friend too hard.

  “Yeah. I also got to meet a pretty cute priestess afterwards,” Gio replied with a grin.

  “Oh yeah, I was wondering. Where do people go when they get teleported away?” Griffin spoke up.

  “There’s a teleport array just underneath the arena. They’ve got a bunch of healers down there, as well as a souvenir shop,” Gio explained.

  Quizzing Gio, the group slowly regained their morale, cracking jokes as they watched Mark dominate his opponent, fighting like he was trying to avenge Gio’s loss through the sacrifice of an unfortunate swordsman.

  The rest of the fourth round passed without any further upsets. Each member of the group winning their respective fights and advancing to the round of sixty-four. Just like that, the group minus Gio had come to within a single match from the top thirty-two, which would guarantee them entry into the elite platoon.

  Making his way up the steps to the stage, Eric groaned as his opponent came into view. His opponent was one of the fighters he’d been hoping to avoid. A human adventurer, his opponent was a tall man with brown hair and a thick beard. Wearing chainmail, and wielding a sword and shield, Soren Gunnarson had won every match so far with standard, but brutally efficient tactics.

  Weighing his options, Eric debated whether or not it was time to begin using magic. On the one hand, saving it for the top thirty-two or better would have the best results. On the other hand, failing to make it to the top thirty-two would quite literally be the worst result.