“Ready,” he said, drawing his longsword.
I have to get closer, he thought as he dashed at her before she could unload a bullet, however, while he moved, one came flying. He sidestepped the projectile and continued forward.
Mila brought her rifle up and peered through the scope, preparing to unload an explosive round. However, just as her attacker arrived, ready to claim his victory, Mila lowered her rifle to the hip and fired a blast.
He was sent flying and when he finally rose to his feet another shot had already been fired. It was a special explosive round. It alone was the kill shot.
“Damn…” Hyde propped himself up on the bed. “I need to get closer,” he frowned.
The difficulties of fighting a ranged target with a sword was becoming painfully clear to him now. Ranged combat was an obvious disadvantage for sword-wielding Dragoons. Before another bout he looked over his Skills once more, noticing something that added that little extra that he needed in order to force the fight into close quarters.
“Ready?” Mila asked.
“Yeah,” he said, putting away his tablet.
They drew their weapons at the same time and without further ado, they engaged one another. Mila fired a hip shot, and Hyde quickly sidestepped it, making his way forward steadily.
A second shot came flying and at that point he’d already broken out into a wild dash with his longsword in tow. The bullet grazed his cheek, while he made his advance.
He slowed down as he got closer to a calm march. The moment he stepped into melee range, he held his sword up, ready to crack down, and in that second, Mila stepped back, unleashing a powerful blast in order to push him back. Little did she know, that his wide swing was a Feint.
He dropped his stance and sidestepped, evading the attack.
At that point it was already too late, she was backed into a corner. It only took a shallow cut for the victor to be announced.
“I did it!” Hyde exclaimed backing away.
“Well done,” Mila smiled. “That was really quite good.”
“That’s a wrap!” Zora announced.
“That was great!” Abe said, standing up and following the leader down to the arena floor.
“I can’t believe that Mari won all the bets today,” Nitro muttered, following closely behind.
“Wait, how many bets were there?” Hyde glanced up at Mari, who had already turned away from him.
“So, what are we having for dinner today?” Remi asked, ignoring Hyde’s question, following Abe and Nitro.
“The usual,” Zora said as she led the gang through a hallway with Hyde and Mari at the back of the pack.
“What are we eating?” Hyde whispered.
“Food,” Mari explained.
“How come we eat? Isn’t this a game?”
“Because we get hungry,” she tilted her head to the left.
“Oh…” he replied. That makes sense.
“Hey, why are we walking?” Nitro muttered.
“Because I wouldn’t want to ruin Hyde’s appetite,” Zora said, glancing back.
“Still haven’t gotten used to it yet?” Abe sighed.
“No, not really,” Hyde looked down.
“Mari, you’re a dangerous one…” Remi grumbled, as he handed her some money. Soon a series of transaction took place. All but Zora and Hyde, handed the blue haired girl some money.
“Wow, she won that one too?” Zora laughed.
“Won what—wait! You can’t be serious! You’re betting on that too!” Hyde shot Mari a glare, but she had already hid her face from his. “I can’t believe you guys!”
“Gotta pass the time somehow,” Remi shrugged.
“Anyway, this is where we eat,” Zora said, welcoming them back into the main office where Hyde had officially become a member of the… their-name-is-still-under-development-guild.
“Wait isn’t this just the regular office?” Hyde asked.
“Yeah?” Zora raised an eyebrow. “What were you expecting?”
“I don’t know, I sort of had the impression that we’d actually have cafeteria in this guildhall…”
“That costs money, Hyde.”
“That’s right Zora, I wanted to talk to you about that, we’re running low,” Remi said.
“Don’t worry about that now,” she waved him away. “Let’s have some dinner first.”
He sighed, then took a seat next to Mila on the sofa. One by one they sat down, except for Zora. She was sitting at her desk and Mari was serving the food.
Hyde hadn’t noticed it earlier but the room had a small water dispenser and next to it was a water cooker. He still hadn’t put two and two together when he saw Mari heat some water and bring a series of instant noodle bowls. It wasn’t until the moment everyone began eating their ‘dinner’, when he feared that this fantasy world, resembling a hyper realistic world, offered only a bowl of instant noodles for the hardworking adventurers.
“Aren’t you going to have some, Hyde?” Abe asked.
“Oh… yeah… sorry,” Hyde replied. He didn’t want to seem ungrateful so he ate the meal he was served. It wasn’t that he didn’t like it, it was actually not bad, it was just so anticlimactic that he couldn’t quite believe it. If it wasn’t for the whole training thing, he could have sworn that they acted like a small company about to go bankrupt.
But one thing was obvious, this was a dream. A dream I can’t wake up from. A dream of amnesia. Maybe at some point I’ll remember who I am…
CHAPTER 5
Day two with the nameless guild.
“So you’re my next opponent,” Hyde said, standing atop the arena platform.
“I am,” Abe nodded. “Today, you will learn about magic.”
“Okay,” Hyde noted. “It’s the opposite of the martial system, right?”
“Exactly, but magic is actually not that different, it’s mostly just thematics,” Abe said, equipping himself with a sword and a glowing book. “However, magic is capable of changing the face of any battlefield in a matter of seconds.
“The Martial and Magic systems go hand in hand. The only difference between the classes is that the magic classes tend to be more… well, explosive,” he added.
“Okay… do both types of classes use Skills?” Hyde asked.
“They do, it’s just that Skills are broken up into two categories Martial and Magic—but some people like to call magic Skills, Spells.”
“And what’s the difference?”
“Nothing really, just Spells tend to have a little more… umph. But aside from that, they both require Stamina.”
“Wait… Stamina?”
“It’s the thing that’s just under your Health.”
Hyde looked up and sure enough it was there, a greenish yellow bar. “What’s it used for?”
“Nobody told you?” Abe sighed.
Hyde shook his head solemnly.
“Really, nobody told him?” Abe turned to the other guild members in the audience, and sure enough every face avoided his. “C’mon! And you guys call me sneaky!” He muttered, then turned back to Hyde. “Every Skill uses a portion of that bar.”
“What happens if it hits zero?”
“Well… then you run, if you still can,” Abe shrugged. “If it’s depleted, that means you’re suffering from Exhaustion, the moment that happens, you’re useless on the battlefield, luckily it restores itself rather quickly, after a short delay of course, but nevertheless it’s extremely important to manage it.”
Exhaustion. Hyde thought, feeling a chill run down his spine.
“Anyway, both the Magic classes and the Martial classes use this system. It’s mainly in place to prevent button-mashing.”
“Button-what?”
“Spamming.”
“What?”
“It means you can’t just needlessly throw out attacks.” Abe finally said.
“Ahh okay.” Hyde nodded. “Before we start, you’re a Sentinel, right?”
“I am,” Abe said, c
ausing the pages of his book to float around him. “But, don’t think Sentinels only heal.” he smirked.
Levi was a Sentinel—wait they don’t just heal? Hyde thought, stiffening up.
“Are you ready?” Abe said.
“Yeah,” Hyde nodded and gripped his sword with both hands.
Before another word was said, the floating pages from the book began to glow brighter and the remaining pages in the held book riffled. From the airborne sheets of paper came a series of shining swords.
“Hyde, there are two types of support, defensive and… offensive,” Abe smirked.
Oh no. Hyde tightened his grip in the face of the hovering blades. Reluctant and worried he stepped forward, but as he did, the arsenal was sent flying like a barrage of bullets from a machine gun.
Oh crap—they came so fast he couldn’t even think.
The first scraped his cheek, the next grazed his side as he staggered back. The one after that bounced off Hyde’s sword that he desperately held up. Hey I got one! He thought, smiling. However, that smile was quickly turned upside down as the remaining swords buried him.
“What the hell was that?” Hyde jerked up from the infirmary bed. “Damn…”
“Hundred Blades,” Mari whispered.
“What?” he turned to her.
“That’s the name of the Spell he used,” she explained.
“Spell?” he frowned. “Right, Spells are Skills.”
I need to get closer to him. He thought, strategising. “Hey, I thought Sentinels were mainly supporters?” he muttered.
“They are,” she replied.
“Then what the hell was that?” he narrowed his eyes on her.
“Hundred Blades.”
“You said that…” his shoulders sank and his expression softened. “Hundred Blades, huh? I need to get past it somehow…”
“It has a cast time,” she whispered.
“Cast time?” he frowned.
“It takes time to cast the Spell.”
“Oh… obviously,” he let his head fall into his palm. “Okay, let’s try this again.”
He rose from the bed and made his way back to the arena with Mari following closely behind. Before long, he climbed the steps and layed eyes on Abe’s smug smile once more.
“Welcome back,” he grinned.
“Thank you,” Hyde said, planting his feet firmly.
“Ready?”
“Absolutely,” he said, bursting into action, with his sword in tow. I need to get to him before he uses that spell… He closed the distance between himself and Abe rather easily. Almost too easily.
Hyde swung his sword at the helpless Sentinel, but just as it was about to connect, the blade was intercepted. What? he thought, losing balance and staggering back.
Abe had used his sword to block the strike with a did-you-really-think-this-was-only-for-show look on his face. Following closely behind the unexpected block was some sort of slash.
It hurt, but not as much as expected. However, what followed was a blinding flash of light. His adrenaline induced vision was quickly replaced by a sheet of white. After a second or two it cleared up, and from the blurry haze he realised that that moment, that extremely short moment, was enough time for Abe to summon the storm of swords.
Crap. Hyde thought, looking up at the army of blades that had been invoked. One after another, they came flying down like a barrage of gleaming missiles. Even in the face of such mortal danger, he stood firm with his sword in hand. As the first saber came, he swung. With just a faint flicker and the sound of steel against steel resonating, he parried the first and then the second, while taking a step forward. However, the following swords proved impossible to Parry. The moment he swung, he knew… crap, timed it wrong. Because of that miscalculation one out of the many swords pierced his stomach, but before the pain could set in, another ended his life.
“That spell is really getting on my nerves!” Hyde muttered, sitting up. “And—what the hell was that? Nobody said, he could fight with that sword…”
“Because you didn’t ask,” Mari said, sitting next to him.
“I didn’t ask? Oh that’s rich!” Hyde glared at her, but his face soon softened as it almost seemed impossible to be angry with her (because it obviously wasn’t her fault).
I need to get closer… he sighed and picked up his tablet, hoping to find an answer for his problem. I haven’t seen this skill before… He thought. Rush.
Maybe… He made a decision and rose from the bed, returning to the arena.
“Ready for another?” Abe said, lightly stretching.
Hyde nodded.
After a moment of silence, they sprung into action. Abe summoned the glowing book in his left hand and Hyde scrambled, hoping to catch him before the spell was cast. Without even thinking, he activated Rush.
He was too focused on getting close to Abe to notice his legs starting to glow and the feeling of Weightlessness bubbling up within. It took him half the time to reach his opponent.
But when he swung his blade, Abe extinguished the spell that he’d started concocting and with a smirk on his face, he planted his feet to intercept the obvious slash heading his way. However, just as he entered into a stance, where he was able to execute a flawless counter-strike, the longsword stopped.
Abe flinched as he watched the halted blade and its wielder. The double-edged sword was held in place, as Hyde sent his glowing shoulder instead of his sword.
In that moment, just after the double Feint, Hyde performed a Shoulder Bash with considerable power. As a result Abe staggered backwards and gasped to fill his emptied lungs. Before he knew it, Hyde had claimed his victory with a pinch of his sword.
“Win!” Hyde exclaimed, holding his sword up with both hands.
“Well done, that Feint of yours was good,” Abe noted.
“Thanks, but what happened to your spell?” Hyde frowned.
“Ahh it was just the Spell Feint,” Abe smiled. “It’s not a skill or anything like that, you just cancel your chant before completing it.”
“Wow, I didn’t know you could do that,” Hyde leaned back and then turned to the audience. “Yep, you guys are right, Abe is pretty sneaky.”
“What!” Abe exclaimed.
“Told you,” Zora nodded in agreement.
“How mean!” Abe muttered.
“Only the sneakiest would utilise the system in that way,” Remi noted.
“That actually hurts!” Abe’s shoulder sunk.
“Don’t worry, even though you’re like that, we still like you,” Mila smiled.
“What do you mean still?” he perked up.
“We’ll always like you,” Mari whispered.
“Thank you, Mari,” he said as his face softened.
“Well done, Hyde. For your final match,” Zora announced. “You’ll face Lolo!”
“It’s Nitro, dammit! Nitro!” The girl in question rose to her feet with her head tall. She walked down from the spectator seats to the ring.
Nitro… isn’t she a Sage? Hyde thought, watching her approach the platform with some impressive confidence. Her presence alone was frightening. Her eyes were full of scorching hot flames. It was like she wanted this. Like she’d be waiting for too long for this fight.
She appeared with a sadistic smirk lined across her ruthless expression. “Good luck,” Nitro said.
“Oh thank you,” Hyde replied.
“You’re going to need it…” Her smile grew more ominous.
Oh no… since she’s the last one, she must be good. Hyde’s posture stiffened and his eyes narrowed. Nitro was small in stature, but she made up for it in her huge presence. Her very existence made the air heavy. Her attitude was enough to make even the largest of foes cower. She was Goliath and there was no David who could stand before her.
However, the audience waiting to watch the fight didn’t seem very eager or worried. Instead, they remained uninterested.
Abe sat down next to Remi in the spectator seats. “Think
this will be over quickly?” he asked.
“Without a doubt,” Remi nodded. “Nitro, never knows how to hold back…”
“I think this time, it’ll be different,” Mila smiled.
“Honestly, I think Mari will win this bet too,” Zora shrugged.
The faint chatter soon faded as Hyde readied himself to face the girl who made his skin crawl.
“Ready?” Nitro asked, equipping a staff.
Dammit, I don’t know what her play will be… Maybe… This is the ultimate test. The final exam. I need to learn how to beat a Sage. Hyde narrowed his eyes. Cold sweat slowly accumulated on his neck. Crap. He took a deep breath and pushed aside the heavy weight on his chest and tightened his grip around his sword.
“Ready,” he said, determined to put up a fight.
“Then, let’s begin,” as those words left her lips, she began Chanting. “Flames flourishing from embers, embers from sparks…” The air around her turned crimson and her staff shone like the sun. It was like the air itself rushed to her side. She was calling upon so much power, it was incredible. With just one glance it was obvious… if she wasn’t stopped he’d be turned into a pile of cinders.
This is bad… This is very bad! Hyde moved without thinking. He Rushed forward and arrived at his target. She might Spell Feint. He thought and swung with a hesitant grip, hoping that he’d be able to Feint if needed.
But as the sword moved, cutting through the air, Nitro’s chanting continued. “I beseech thee…”
Before she reached the end of her mantra, she stopped. “Ow!” she yelped. Hyde’s blade had chipped her.
Wait, what? He frowned. His eyes narrowed on the girl in front of him, who just moments ago seemed so dangerous. Now, she just seemed so small and meek. Did I just win?
“That’s a wrap everyone, time to pay up,” Zora announced.
“Mari won again!” Abe said.
“I thought, maybe this time would be different,” Mila sulked.
“I knew it was going to be over quick, but I was at least expecting one win from her side…” Remi added.
“Thank you,” Mari said, accepting their money.
“Mari hasn’t won!” Nitro muttered. “I haven’t lost yet! I want a rematch!”
“Hyde got the win and you know it,” Remi noted.
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