End Online: Volume 5

by D Wolfin

  The player who fell off isn’t discouraged however. I can see him moving to the building next to the previous one and climbing back up. He is a little smarter this time at least, selecting a building with a slightly less steep roof.

  Once the player has a firm footing on the roof and isn’t in danger of falling, he raises his voice loud enough that it is heard throughout the stadium, “Everyone! We are currently holding a strategy meeting for the Battle of Supremacy outside the north exit of Iceridge. Please head there to take part in the meeting. Everyone we have spoken with already is there waiting for you to arrive!”

  Quite a few shouts and complaints sound from different sections of the square, but when all the other players start heading toward the north gate, those who are dissatisfied with being told what to do are humbled and follow the crowd.

  Sir Laurence receives a few lusty stares from female players around due to his exceptional body, which the system basically guarantees is the same in real life. Due to the crowd of interest forming, Fen and I are separated from Verde and Sir Laurence. The crowd loves it when he goes to one knee in front of Verde and calls her ‘my lady’. However, venomous stares are directed at Verde when she kicks the shining knight onto his back and stomps off.

  ‘I will give them another half hour before they understand that prince’s horrible personality and suddenly distance themselves.’

  I once again nod to myself at my prediction.

  Interestingly, Verde doesn’t seem to dislike Sir Laurence’s actions at all. Despite the violent and woeful rejections she gives him every time he does something shameless, she still stops and waits for him to catch up. Several times, I notice her pause while walking away from the prince to casually check her nails until he catches up.

  Following my prediction, several of the crowd, the males at first and then the females, begin to notice his prejudiced personality and start distancing themselves. This allows the two of them to catch up with Fen and me before we reach the north gate of Iceridge.

  Outside the city, players easily numbering in the tens of thousands are grouped without organization and casually chatting amongst themselves. I can hear one conversation nearby in which a player describes all the ways he will ambush the enemy during his assaults. His whole description is overly glorified and something that one of the first people to die usually says.

  The four of us mingle amongst the crowd until the people who decided to coordinate the attack and defense for the Kingdom of Glace begin to shout.

  “Players of Glace!”

  The speaker, a male dressed in ornamental green and gold armor with a large war bow on his back, uses some skill or magic to amplify his voice so everyone in the field can hear it. “I am EyesofHorus, the vice guild leader from Guild Snowdragon, the largest guild in the city of Iceridge!”

  I was wondering how these people could become the leading party for such a big event with so few refuting them or vying for power. Guild Snowdragon is possibly the most famous and prestigious guild in Iceridge.

  “The Battle for Supremacy is the largest event of End Online to date, and we are the kingdom with the least amount of players! In order to have a fighting chance, we must make up for this disadvantage with tactics! We at Guild Snowdragon have come up with a top class battle tactic that will give us a fighting chance, but we need everyone to work together for it to work!”

  Loud cheers arise from the crowd, eager to take part in the battle.

  “We will separate into nine groups! Five groups to attack unexpectedly and assault the enemy, four groups to defend our city and crush all invaders! Several of our guild members are going around collecting participant names and assigning you all to groups! Please cooperate with them and join us in victory!”

  As the vice guild leader is finishing his speech, I hear another voice nearby which attracts my attention, “…Mortis, Specializing in defense, group seven. SecondGrade, we could use your strength with the sword on the front lines, group two…”

  I notice that the voice is slowly getting closer and closer to me. Eventually, I see a player dressed in white and gold which must be Guild Snowdragon’s guild colors.

  The player, who has two short daggers equipped and is dressed in light armor finally gets to assigning the players near us. He looks in my direction and his eyes instantly light up. He rapidly finishes assigning the players near him and immediately rushes in my direction.

  “Lost! I thought I recognized you!” He exclaims once standing in front of me. I wouldn’t have minded it as much if his announcement of my name hadn’t attracted the attention of everyone in the area.

  Excited whispers run through the crowd about me, but they are too quiet for me to hear what they are.

  “Ah, there is no need to be so loud,” I try to calm him down, but he is gibbering like a young kid who has had too much sugar.

  “What do you mean? You are my idol! After seeing you fight, I practiced training my speed as much as possible and even wield two shortswords, the same as you! Everyone used to believe that a heavy defense was the best way to become strong because you can’t outspeed many enemies in agility or reaction time, but you proved that wrong time and time again.”

  He looks me up and down, inspecting the small amount of armor I wear, revealed through the open gap in my cloak.

  “Will you have a look at my weapons? Let me know if they are any good! You are currently the founder of the ‘Speed King’ player build.”

  ‘The ‘Speed King’ player build? What is that?’ I wonder to myself curiously, making a mental note to ask Mason about it later. If anyone would know about it, it would be him.

  Without waiting for my opinion, the guild member from Guild Snowdragon holds his weapons in his hands and flicks over the item information window so it appears in front of me. I am actually surprised by this action; I never knew this sort of thing was possible in the game. There is clearly much more to this game than I am aware of.

  Kodachi of the Flame Fairy King

  A short kodachi that was forged by the master smiths of the Flame Fairy Clan for their king. The greatest fear of the Flame Fairy Clan was that of ice and water magic. This blade has a strong resistance to ice and the ability to cleave through and extinguish magic.

  The blade is 39cm long.

  Requirements:

  ~ Level 100

  ~ Dex 39

  ~ Mnd 30

  Weapon Type: Single Edge/Short Sword

  Attack: 58 – 65

  Durability: 42/45

  Weight: 2.4 lbs

  Abilities:

  ~ +30% Ice element resistance.

  ~ +30% Water element resistance.

  ~ Has a 15% chance to dispel magic if used to cut through its source.

  The sword is of the ‘Epic’ rarity, and quite a high class one at that. His other sword is also a kodachi, and whilst doing similar damage to the first one, is only of the ‘Unique’ rarity and has less impressive abilities.

  “It’s very impressive,” I say to him unsure exactly how to praise him.

  I never sought to create a specific style, but apparently someone has tried to work out some formula for my fighting style from all of Mason’s videos. I feel like I should have expected something like this with the amount of people who have come to know me and the even more impressive number of views Mason’s videos have been getting lately.

  Sir Laurence suddenly appears next to me, puffing out his chest in pride with a look on his face that seems to say he is at peace with the world. My idolized fan looks at him before suddenly exclaiming, “I know you too! You’re Sir Laurence, one of Lost’s party members: The arrogant one!”

  Verde and I burst out in laughter at his so blatantly being called arrogant. The prince himself staggers back a few steps in shock, dropping to his knees and mumbling to himself in self-dialogue, “It appears this world is not yet ready for this noble knight’s sacrifice. I must continue to strive to stand by my values regardless of how others view me.”

&nbs
p; ‘Hey, what exactly are you doing? You are just going to go along with the insult like that?’ I wonder at Sir Laurence, undecided whether to frown and shake my head or be impressed by his iron determination.

  The Guild Snowdragon member looks over Fen and Verde as well with admiration, not a trace of lust in his eyes. His eyes come to rest on our new tattoos used as a guild symbol imitation.

  “You’re all in a guild already?” He asks in surprise.

  “Sort of. It is more like a guild we formed: The Wanderers,” I rub my chin while trying to predict further questions he may have and how to answer them.

  Despite my expectations, he doesn’t ask any further questions, “Such a shame, your party members are all on our guild’s VIP list. I wanted to be the one to invite you to Guild Snowdragon. Anyway, you are all still VIPs for this event, so how about being in group one?”

  His offer is interesting, but also somewhat different from what I wanted. Thinking that his guild consider me an important person, I act a little brazenly, “We plan on staying to defend the city. Place us in one of the defensive groups and we are happy to assist you.”

  The guild member looks at Verde, Sir Laurence and Fen who is holding onto my arm. Seeing them not refute my decision in the slightest, he seems to look a little helpless.

  “But our guild was insistent that if any members from the VIP list was encountered, they are to be grouped together in group one to form a specialist corps for attacking the enemy.”

  “If you pretend you didn’t recognize us, then it will not be a problem.”

  “O-Only if you show me the stats of the new weapon you got during the Royal Summer Tournament! I remember your attack power skyrocketed when you got that and even your speed increased somewhat.”

  He seems so focused on me that he may have forgotten the rest of the world. Someone could casually walk up and stab him in the back and he probably wouldn’t notice it at all. I open up my cloak with my arms, revealing my pure white and glistening silver attire. On my hip are two pitch black daggers. I draw the daggers, whose blades seem to glisten like the night sky and open the item information window.

  ‘The best strength is the one kept hidden, but my greatest strength is my class skill, not my weapon. One person seeing the stats shouldn’t be a problem,’ I find myself rationalizing my actions as I repeat what he did earlier, flicking the screen over so he can view the item information.

  The guild member looks at the item information, his mouth opening further and further in shock every second. He reads the information three times before turning to me and exclaiming, “S-scaling weapon. G-g-god class rarity!!?”

  His voice is so loud everyone around hears him and turns silent. It is safe to assume that at least a thousand people heard the words, “God class rarity.”

  ‘I… forgot about that…’ I inwardly curse at forgetting about how high the rarity of my weapon is. I only hope that I don’t become the target of greedy individuals with the aim of killing me until my weapon drops. Well, it can’t drop so hopefully that won’t happen.

  “Alright, I-I will place you in group nine, the final line of defense.” The guild member fitfully writes down our names under the group nine section, nervous about being discovered by the guild. “By the way, my name is LostForgotten, please remember it.”

  With his parting words, LostForgotten moves elsewhere in the crowd to assign people to different groups. I won’t forget his name, I will never be able to forget the name of the first person I met to have used my name as the base for theirs.

  “Lost,” Sir Laurence appears next to me with his usual noble demeanor, “congratulations. You are the first of our party that someone has named themselves after.”

  I give him a defeated look, “Please don’t congratulate me. It is embarrassing enough already.”

  He simply puts a hand on my shoulder and gives me a broad grin that makes it seem like he is mocking me. Before I can continue further, I notice several people in the crowd are slowly edging closer to us. They don’t look like they have good intentions either.

  Verde notices them next, while Sir Laurence remains oblivious until I mention them and recommend we leave the crowd and go back into the city. As we were one of the last groups to exit the city, we aren’t far from the city gates. Once inside, the guards will stop any assaults so we will be safe.

  Turning around and ducking my head, I lead the way back to the gates as fast as I can through the enormous crowd. Poking my head up from the crowd momentarily, I can see the pursuers have noticed our movements as well. They are practically barging through the crowd, leaving angry shouts in their wake.

  “They’re gaining, push through!” I hiss through my teeth to the others in the party, rushing for the gate as fast as possible.

  Just when I think we are clear, a hand casually brushes past my hip and over one of the ‘Twin Nightingales’. It is someone using a thieving skill, and a highly levelled one as well. I snort in laughter at the hand as it attempts to steal my weapon through my cloak. I know all the weapon’s abilities by heart, including the one that bestows the curse of the dragon to anyone attempting to steal it.

  Just when the hand is about to close in on the weapon, a pitch black flame appears and engulfs not just that hand but the whole arm. The thief stops in his tracks with a mixture of surprise and disbelief on his face. Clearly this curse will consume the arm entirely, creating a status effect similar to a disabled or severed limb.

  The effect will disappear and the arm can be healed, but not until the black flame burning at the missing shoulder vanishes. I would like to know how long this curse lasts, but only the player who is affected will be able to see how long it has left. By the ugly look on his face, I assume it isn’t any time soon.

  Everyone else, seeing what happened to the thief, creates some distance between themselves and us. It helps us in reaching the gate faster, but also the other pursuers who are trying to catch us.

  “Fen, ice wall behind us!” I order the scantily dressed wolf girl easily keeping pace next to me.

  Fen nods slightly, turning around while still running and with the raise of a hand, forms a fifty meter wide, and five meters high wall of solid ice. The two of us could have escaped the pursuers easily with our speed, but Verde and Sir Laurence have little chance of being able to do that.

  A wolf whistle comes from the side and I turn my head while drawing weapons. A knot forms in my brow when I see it is just a male player casually gawking at Fen. Now that I am looking for it, I notice a few other people are eyeing her as well.

  ‘Damn it, are you serious?’ I want to hit them already.

  Before the pursuers have a chance to get around, over, or even through the ice wall which many are trying to do, the four of us safely enter the city gate. When the players see this, most lose hope. There are still several others who stare with obvious greed, willing to take the risk of attacking in the city in the hopes they may be able to get my weapon.

  I vow to myself never to reveal one of my strengths ever again no matter what. For now, I can only concentrate on avoiding people grouping up and pointlessly killing me in the futile attempt to claim my weapon. I consider publishing the item information on the internet so they see it cannot be taken by anyone, but instantly decide against it.

  There are too many idiots out there who believe the information may have been faked. At the moment the information is only known to about a thousand players from Iceridge. They also shouldn’t spread the information beyond close friends to prevent someone else from claiming the reward. What I need to do is escape Iceridge and all the people who know about the ‘Twin Nightingale’.

  “Lost, how are you? I assume you had a strategy meeting for the city, same as us?” Mason’s voice sounds in my head from a private message.

  Gently grasping my throat to activate the private message system while walking down a desolate street in Iceridge, I respond to him immediately, “There were a few things that could have gone better! Regar
dless, I will deal with it. We did indeed have a strategy meeting. We will be defending the city. Yourself?”

  “Matrix and I will be defending our city as well! Barely a quarter of our city’s player population to defend, but most of Grenton is surrounded by impenetrable forest so we should be fine.”

  “You know, I wouldn’t complain if you just happened to attack one of the guard posts as our offensive is launched on Grenton.”

  “Strange, I was about to suggest the exact same thing from my end!”

  “It appears that only one of us will be the victor.”

  “May the best city win… What’s that Matrix? Their city only has 10 percent of the total player population? I know, their fall will be quick and effortless.”

  After taunting us, Mason goes silent. I’m not angry or frustrated in the slightest either. I repeat the conversation back to Verde and Sir Laurence and we all have a friendly laugh about it. Of course, we vow to have Mason and Matrix eating snow the next time we see them.

  “Why don’t we go back to the ‘Unknown Goblin Lair’?” I ask all of a sudden, surprising Verde and Sir Laurence.

  “Let’s go,” Sir Laurence decides before Verde which is strange. “But I need to go to the church first. There is a skill I want to learn.”

  “A skill?”

  “Yes, my skills are directly related to the main church. I have unlocked a few that normally aren’t available. Recently I received a notification that the next tier has unlocked, including one skill that I want.”

  “That is amazing! I never knew that’s where you got your skills from. Are you a member of the church?”

  “I am. After Verde disappeared, I managed to get into the Guardians of Light faction of the main church of the three kingdoms.”

  “So that is how you became stronger. I was surprised at the time, but it makes more sense now. What is the skill you want?”