“I was thinking the same,” Grimguy said. “You know what, then I would paralyse the player you were fighting with, and then Mastermind would summon Pero and the four of us will make a run from here.”
“That can always be done,” Mastermind said. “But I don’t think we will need to do it. I feel that Babaguy knows something about the Brahmastra can be used to kill the monster Rak.”
“Let’s see what tomorrow brings,” I said.
***
I gulped.
The players were all of higher levels than me. How on earth was I going to fight them?
Grimguy patted me on the shoulder.
“I’ll help you by paralysing them, you don’t need to worry at all,” he told me. I smiled at him, but I wasn’t sure. I had a feeling that the ropes that marked the boundary of the wrestling ring were magical. Anybody from outside was probably unlikely to be able to cast any spell on the players inside.
Lovebird gave me a quick hug. Mastermind didn’t say anything to me. He was too busy looking around at the crowd, hoping for some sign of Babaguy whom we had last seen yesterday night.
I walked into the ring with the other players as the organisers had told us to. There was a referee too, like in real world fighting matches. This one wore a tall flat hat and he had a twirled moustache. He looked comical overall in the black suite he was dressed in. He was an NPC.
There were sixteen players in all and we lined up inside the ring.
“Ladies and gentlemen,” one of the organisers said following a drum roll, his voice made magically loud so that he didn’t require any mike. He was a plump man with cherry-red cheeks and a mane of hair. I focussed on him to see that his name was Bhusan. “Thanks for coming to the tournament of this week. Let’s wish our players all the best. And let’s hope that one of them will be able to bring down the great Kumbhakarna 2.0!”
The people present looked at us and clapped. Grimguy gave me a thumb’s up from where he was standing in the crowd.
“The rules of this wrestling match are simple,” Bhusan continued. “You attack your opponent with all you got. You can use spells, swords whatever. Doesn’t matter. You need to either pin your opponent to the ground and then count to ten, or you need to lower the health of your opponent so much that they surrender in fear of dying and losing all the levels they have gained. The winners of the initial rounds will fight among themselves and finally there will only be two left. Whoever wins that final round will be given an opportunityto fight and beat the great Kumbhakarna, who meanwhile is still in the land of dreams.”
A laugh passed over the crowd at the last words. I looked at Kumbhakarna in the distance. He was my only chance at defeating Death13.
I vowed to give my best.
“Now,” Bhusan said, “before every fight, the fighters will be given health vials to drink. But they are not allowed to drink health vials in the midst of a fight. Doing so will immediately get them disqualified. Okay, now let’s begin. Fighters number one and two please remain in the ring, the other fighters can leave the ring for the time being.”
My number was four and so I was to fight the second fight with fighter number three. I went back to my friends. I felt nervousness climb my skin as the first two fighters were given the health vials. I watched with my hands folded as the bell was rung and the fight began.
The fighters looked quite similar to each other. Both were warriors and both had dark red hair. They were also of the same levels. But the fight ended quickly. One of the guys was using a much more powerful sword than the other. The sword gleamed like gold in the sun. The moment it touched the other guy his health fell by three hundred, leading to a “Wow” wave over the audience.
The other guy knew that he would lose and he just gave up, although he still had a couple of hundred health left. I gulped. I hoped that even if I won the first round, I would not get any chance to fight the guy with the powerful sword in the rounds that followed.
The fight ended and the referee raised the arm of the winner.
“Okay, now numbers three and four please come to the ring,” Bhusan announced. I was about to go, when I suddenly felt a hand on my shoulder. I turned, it was Babaguy.
“You?” I said, “Where have you been?”
“Once you win the fight-as-you-wish tournament and go to fight Kumbhakarna, just repeat ‘We1ap2on3’ thrice. You understand me? Remember, you will be able to use the Brahmastra only once. Aim at Kumbhakarna’s head, and kill him. Also make sure to use the weapon only when he comes to attack you, and you are in real mortal peril. Don’t attack him with the weapon, only defend yourself and in the process he shall meet his end. And you shall get your artefact.”
“But where is the Brahmastra?” I asked.
“Now go and fight, they are calling you,” Babaguy said, ignoring my question. And he stepped away from me and disappeared into the crowd.
“Fighter number four please come to the ring, or you will be declared defeated!” Bhusan said. I ran to the ring.
Number three, my opponent was a middle-aged wizardess called Damini. As we were given the health vials to drink, she gave me a cold smile that said, “You are done for.”
The bell was rung. I had the Ravana sword in my hand and before my opponent could utter a spell, I swung my sword at her. It caught her by surprise and hit her face. Her health fell by fifty.
“Nice,” Damini said, licking her own blood. I didn’t wait and swung my sword again. This time she dodged with a very elegant move of her legs. She whispered a word and suddenly I was in flames.
I screamed, and nearly dropped my sword as intense pain took hold of me. My health began to fall steeply as I saw through the flames that the wizardess was smiling. I had a wild idea just then. The wizardess hadn’t paralysed me and so I ran to her and caught her, and embraced her in a tight grip.
“What are you doing!” Damini screamed as the flames from my body made her health go down too. By the time the flames ended and I let go of her, the health levels of both of us were around the same. Mine 196 and her 201. I grinned at her. That had been a wild thing to do.
Damini contorted her face with anger and she was about to throw another spell. But I was quick. I threw my sword at her, the tip piercing into her stomach. Her health fell and she was at ten health by the time she was able to pull out the sword from her belly. She raised her hand to the referee, indicating that she had surrendered.
I exhaled as both of us were made to stand by the referee’s side. The referee raised my arm. I couldn’t believe it. I had actually won the round. The wizardess was at level fifteen and I at level one. Suddenly a funny sensation seized me.
Congratulations!
You have defeated a player of a higher level in a legitimate fight.
As a reward you go up by five levels!
Five levels? How crazy was that? I couldn’t stop grinning at my friends in the crowd, who were waving at me. Mastermind had a curious expression on his face. I went to my friends feeling like I had conquered the world.
“Did you see that?” I said to them.
“Here, drink this,” Grimguy said, throwing me a health vial. Though I had levelled up my health was down. Drinking the health potion pushed my health back to optimum. I watched Damini in the distance walking away with a sulky expression on her face.
“That was nice move,” Mastermind said. “You used her spell against her. Good job. By the way, what was Babaguy saying to you before the fight?”
I told him quickly what he had said.
Mastermind raised a brow.
“He just told you a word? He didn’t give you any weapon?”
“I think repeating the word three times can summon the weapon,” Grimguy speculated. “Why don’t you try it and see?”
“He said the weapon can be used only once. If I repeat the words and it actually appears, then I won’t be able to use it when I require it,” I said.
I waited with the others and watched as the other players fought.
>
It took about an hour for the rest of the fights in the first round to get over. Then Bhusan called the victors to the ring. There were eight of us.
“Now, let’s get to the second round, shall we?” the referee said, “The second round will remove some of the useless muscle that scraped by in the first round.”
I hoped Bhusan wasn’t referring to me by ‘useless muscle’.
“Now, now,” Bhusan continued. He then told which player would fight whom. My opponent this time was the last person I ever wanted to fight with. It was the guy with the all-mighty sword.
Our fight was scheduled to be the third fight of the round. As I walked away from the ring to my friends, I glanced back to see the sword guy flashing his big sword at me. He was at level thirty and went by the name of Swordking. I just grimaced back at him.
I tried to shake away my fears, telling myself that the Ravana sword was probably superior to the one Swordking had. The first two fights were over in fifteen minutes. Among the victors was a player of the Multi-tasker class, who had summoned a monkey man and let the monkey man fight for him, while he himself simply watched his opponent being beaten up. I thought it was odd that a player should be allowed to summon a pet in the fight. The second victor was a Rak player. He had basically bitten his opponent to surrendering.
And then Swordking and I were called to the ring. My heart hammered loud in my ears. I told myself that I had survived the first round and I will survive this round too, no matter what. I met Swordking’s deathly grin with a straight face. The bell was rung and the fight began.
I didn’t attack right away like I had in my first fight.
This time both of us circled each other. Swordking was a warrior, and he would have much better fighting skills than a Multi-tasker like me. I wished I had not lost my paralysis spell.
Swordking suddenly moved like he was lunging at me. I raised my sword to block the forthcoming attack. Instead, Swordking fell to the floor and kicked my legs. I lost balance. Swordking took his chance and slashed my stomach with his sword. I lost 300 health immediately as a fire of pain took hold of my stomach. He attacked again swiftly, but I was able to block him with my sword. He backed away, preparing for another attack. I bit my lip, trying to ignore the pain in my stomach.
The pain would be gone the moment I drank a health vial, I told myself. But if I lose this fight, I will lose the opportunity to fight Kumbhakarna.
Swordking raised his sword again. At that very moment, I released a bolt of electricity from my sword tip. It hit him. He hadn’t been expecting it at all, and his eyes went wide as he was suddenly seized by the electricity. He fell backwards, losing a hundred health. I sprung to him. This was my moment. I hit him repeated times, and each time I hit him, his health went down by 50. He had a total health of 700 and by the time he was finally able to block my attacks, his health became 450.
I stepped back from him once he was back on his feet. There was sheer anger dripping from his eyes. I knew he would now be throwing all his fury at me, but he would also be restless. I must use his restlessness to my advantage.
Swordking swung his great sword at me. I dodged it more by luck than by intention, or perhaps it was he who missed me. His sword cut empty air, I hit his neck with my own sword. He lost 250 health right away. Glaring hard at me, he stepped back, a shivering hand on his neck that was leaking gore. If he hit me only once, I would lose all the health I had. I had to be extremely careful.
“What do you think of yourself, eh?” he said to me, as the two of us began to circle each other again.
“Don’t take it personally,” I told him, “I have to win this at all costs.”
“All costs my foot!” he yelled. And he leapt forward. I met his sword with mine. He was very strong and I could barely keep up as he pressed his sword against mine. I gritted my teeth as I missed my footing and slipped. I fell, losing ten health. Swordking led out a roar, and threw a dozen attacks at me. Thankfully I was able to block them, my heart in my throat the entire while. I released electricity. It hit Swordking and his health fell steeply. He held up his hand, his health at 25.
He had surrendered.
My mind was in a daze as I panted while my arm was raised by the referee as the victor. I made my way back to my friends, tripping once on a stone, so dazed I was.
The crowd present clapped. A level six player had defeated someone of a much higher level than him. I looked at my sword. It had played a big role. My friends too clapped hard. Just then, the exciting feeling took hold of me as I went up by five more levels. I couldn’t believe it. Joining this tournament was the best thing I had done. At the same time I noted that despite levelling up, I was not given the map or any spells or extra abilities. I reckoned such rewards could only be had by completing quests or killing Raks. But I had gone up by a total of ten levels in the past few minutes, and I was not complaining at all.
“Just two more fights left, my friend,” Grimguy said to me.
I nodded. I had to win those fights.
I watched as the next pair of fighters fought. It was the last fight of the second round. It was over in a matter of minutes. The fight was between a Rak and a wizard. The wizard won, thanks to his spell of paralysis. The Rak was not of a high level and because of this the wizard’s spell lasted on him for a longer duration and meanwhile the wizard, even with his poor handling of a 50 gold sword, attacked the Rak as many times he wished.
After the fight, all the victors of the second round were called to the ring. There were only four of us.
“Okay, ladies and gentlemen,” Bhusan said, “we have reached the third round. Prepare to be even more thrilled from now on. We have cleaned some of the useless muscle, but a little of it still remains. The third round will remove it all and only the real fighters will proceed to the fourth and final round.”
Bhusan then told who would fight with whom. My opponent in this round it seemed was the Multi-tasker who had earlier summoned his pet to fight his opponent. The player went by the name of Lightlord. The fight between the two of us would be the second fight of the round.
I waited with my friends, and watched as the first fight took place. It was between a Rak and a wizard. The Rak won. The Rak, who went by the name of Mahasura1, used a similar technique to what I had utilised to defeat Damini in the first round. Barely had the bell rung that he let himself loose on the wizard. Mahasura1 even went further than me. He grabbed the wizard’s mouth, after having pinned him to the floor with brute strength, so that the wizard could not utter any more spells. The wizard surrendered when his health was at 5, but Mahasura1 blissfully continued to beat the pulp out of him. The result was that the wizard died.
Mahasura1 stood up after the wizard had vanished. A wave of gasps passed about the crowd. Some of the people said that Mahasura1 hadn’t done right in going on beating the wizard even after the latter had surrendered. Bhusan however decided to blissfully ignore this.
“That is the first death of the fight-as-you-wish tournament in a month,” Bhusan said, “but life is tough. The Rak wins!”
And the referee raised the arm of Mahasura1, who laughed like mad, showing his demonic canines to the crowd.
Next I was called to the ring along with Lightlord.
“Fight well,” Lovebird said to me with a meek smile as I left.
“I will,” I answered. I was much more confident as I approached the ring, fuelled by my earlier victories. But I told myself not to let the confidence get to my head, or else it would blind me.
“My pet will beat you up like you are a toy,” Lightlord said to me.
“I’ll tear you and your toy with my sword,” I smiled at him.
The bell rang.
Perhaps fearing that I would attack him too quickly like Mahasura1 had attacked the wizard, Lightlord immediately summoned his monkey man.
I grimaced as the big pet appeared in front of me. He didn’t even wait for any kind of directions from his master and just rushed at me. I closed my
eyes, lifting my sword as he threw a punch at my face.
I heard a yell and opened my eyes. The pet’s fist had hit the sharp edge of my sword. The pet lost fifty health even as his hand bled. I grinned. Just then I noticed that Lightlord was mumbling something under his breath and then he pointed his hand at me. I leapt, such that the monkey man was between me and Lightlord. The spell hit the monkey man instead of me, and he froze.
“Thanks!” I said to Lightlord. I wasted no time in hitting the monkey man with my sword a dozen times so that he died. The crowd cheered.
Now it was just me and Lightlord.
“You will pay for that,” Lightlord said, his face convulsing with anger. He had no doubt acquired the monkey man with great effort.
Before Lightlord could throw another paralysis spell, I swung my sword, such that electricity hit Lightlord. He let out a scream and fell down. His health dropped by 100.
But he still had 600 health remaining. As he was slowly getting to his feet, I sprung to him and I hit him several times with my sword. His health dropped fast.
Lightlord muttered a spell. I froze. Shit.
With a smirk of vengeance, Lightlord pulled out his 50 gold sword and began to attack me. My health began to go down. It was depressing to experience the pain and see my health falling, but not be able to do anything.
And then, the spell ended.
But I didn’t move. Instead I let Lightlord keep attacking, unaware that the spell had ended in his thirst of revenge. Just then, as he raised his sword to hit me again. I raised my sword, and the tip went into his neck. His health declined.
He tried to pull his neck back, even as the blood oozed profusely, and get rid of my sword. But I didn’t let that happen. I held his clothes, pulling him closer to me, so that my sword emerged through the other side of his neck instead.
I didn’t let him go, until his health had dropped to 14. Then I myself pulled back my sword. Lightlord fell on his knees, grabbing his bleeding neck. He signalled the referee that he had surrendered.
I made a jump of victory and yelled at the crowd, which cheered like mad. I felt invincible as I levelled up once again. The referee raised my arm. I made my way back to my friends.
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