by Edward Brody
“Come on, Ozzy!” I shouted as he pushed himself off the ground and grabbed onto the bolt protruding from his shoulder.
Ozzy rattled his head from side to side and lifted his small, round metal shield in front of him then started marching slowly towards the woman, eyeing her carefully and preparing for the next bolt.
The woman raised the crossbow up to her shoulder and took deliberate aim before letting the bolt fly, and it whistled loudly as it flew through the air.
Ozzy pivoted and raised his shield to block, and the bolt ricocheted off his shield and grazed the side of his armor.
The woman quickly grabbed another bolt, and Ozzy ran as fast as he could across the Arena, hoping that he could reach her before she could get it loaded.
It was a tight race, and for a moment, it looked like the lady would load the crossbow and hit him at point-blank range, but she started to panic and fumble as she glanced up to Ozzy closing in on her. She dropped her crossbow and grabbed the sword and dagger that were both sheathed at her sides.
She turned on her heel and ran backwards to get more distance from Ozzy, but Ozzy stomped his foot on the ground and yelled his Intimidating Shout at her. The woman immediately turned back around as if she were possessed, and started running straight for Ozzy.
The woman was fast, throwing quick, jabbing thrusts with her dagger and accurately timed swipes with her sword, but Ozzy managed to block everything with his shield. Each time Ozzy saw an opening, he swung his mace at the woman, but she dodged just as efficiently, and more than once, she absorbed his mace blows with the solid metal bracers that were wrapped around her arms.
The woman hooked her dagger at Ozzy’s head, but he ducked, and then she swiped her sword but he ducked again. When Ozzy rose the second time, the woman held her bracers out to block his mace, but Ozzy lifted off his feet into an athletic, rising uppercut and that threw the woman’s arms up and jerked her head back.
When his feet were grounded, he swung his mace down in a diagonal, circular motion, and smashed her hard in the side of the temple.
The woman fell down to the ground, and her body went limp. A second later, a translucent energy erupted from her body, and we knew that Ozzy had won the fight.
The audience cheered, and Jeremy and I exchanged high fives.
When Ozzy returned to the stands, Jeremy jumped to his feet and looked up to the sky. “That was sick, man!”
“Hey, thanks!” Ozzy said, smiling from ear to ear.
I patted Ozzy on the shoulder. “You’re getting stronger and stronger every day.”
“And hey, guess what?” Ozzy said.
“What?” Jeremy and I asked in unison.
“I’m an Armsman now!”
Jeremy and I both looked at each other in confusion.
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“I just got my first title!”
I raised my eyebrows. “That’s awesome, dude. How’d you get that?”
“I’m can’t remember, but I think it said the prerequisites were level 20, level 10 in blunt weapons, level 10 in block, 200 HP, and I had to have absorbed and dealt a certain amount of damage or something. I was too excited about winning the match to pay much attention.”
“That’s awesome dude!” Jeremy shouted.
“And they gave me 700 gold for my 5th win!”
“Hell yeah!” I clucked and threw Ozzy a high five.
The ticket inside my pocket started to jingle.
“Looks like you’re up,” Ozzy said.
I raised an eyebrow. “Let’s see if I can make it number four.”
“I hope you do,” Ozzy said and slammed a fist into his palm. “If we both keep winning, they’ll be forced to put us together in a fight.”
“And I owe you an ass whooping,” I teased as I threw a playful punch into Ozzy’s side and started for the check-in area.
“You wish!” Ozzy snarled as I walked away.
As I passed the bearded ticket seller, he wished me good luck as always, and I continued on until I reached the area where the combatants gathered before fights. Meijir was there again, sitting near the entrance, and he flashed his sinister sharp smile as if he had been waiting the whole time for me to arrive. I tried my best to ignore him and not show any sign of being intimidated.
I had seen Meijir fight again the day before, and his skills were just as impressive as the last time I saw him. He easily dispatched his opponent with a few minutes and hadn’t appeared to take any damage. There was little question why he was the best fighter in Highcastle’s tier 1 division.
“Gunnar!” Castille hooted with a smile. “Glad to see you’re back. You ready for win number four?”
“I hope so,” I said.
The brown-robed man with the strange hair, who was always leaning near the wall, stepped forward and cast ‘Last Breath’ on me, and its icon appeared below my status bars.
“You remember the rules, right?” Castille asked.
I nodded.
“Potions, buffs, and alcohol are allowed, but drugs are illegal during battle. Are you under the influence of any drugs?”
“No, I don’t have any…” I paused and cleared my throat, realizing that my word usage was causing me to lie for no reason. “I’m not on any drugs.” Just the thought of drugs made me anxious to use the kroka that was in my bag.
“Alright, then,” Castille said. “Head to door number seven.”
I nodded and started down the hall.
When I reached door seven, there was a cage behind it like a few of the other doors, but inside this cage was a strange, two-headed dog with a flat, saggy face and a spiky collar around its neck. It was only half the size of Fenris, but it was just as frightening when it growled, barked, and exposed its sharp, pointy teeth. Slobber dripped from its two foamy mouths, and it stared at me hard as if it were ready to devour me the moment I opened its cage.
You have failed to inspect your target!
You have failed to inspect your target!
I had yet to see a battle where anyone fought a beast, but I could only assume that’s why it was there.
The door behind me made a grinding sound as I gawked at the mutant dog, and I quickly turned around as it opened.
Arena Quest: Tier 1 Battle
Wins: 3, Losses: 0
Defeat your opponent to collect your reward.
Reward: Minimum of 500 gold, 3500 XP
Do you accept this quest?
Accept/Decline
I quickly accepted the quest.
“With a record of 3 and 0,” the announcer shouted, “please welcome the level 19 Arcane Blade, Gunnar Long!”
I stepped out into the fighting grounds of the Arena feeling a lot more comfortable than I had the first time. As the few people in the Arena who cheered for me applauded, I held my hand up and smiled.
The stands were full of people but not packed to the brim like it was the day that King Rutherford had visited. There were speckles of open seats in both the area where the high-class people sat and the area where the poorer people from Outer Highcastle were sneaking in. The only fully empty section was the box where the King and the two women who had accompanied him had sat.
“And his opponent, with a record of 6 wins and 0 losses, please welcome the level 20 Shieldbearer, Ike Armorstrong!”
More people stood from their seats and cheered loudly as a man stepped into the Arena wearing full set of battered plate armor. It clearly wasn’t a high-level set of gear, but it looked thick and sturdy and would be a problem for any sword. He was taller, larger than me, and he carried a huge, round shield. In his hand was a short sword, and he had an obviously sharp axe latched to his side.
He grunted and raised his sword and shield high in the air as he stepped into the Arena, and when he made eye contact with me, he scowled hard behind his nasal helmet. He looked like he was determined to kill me, and with the armor and shield he had equipped, I knew I’d have my work cut out for me.
Without
wasting time any, the announcer addressed each of us, confirming that we were both ready, and once he had confirmation, he disappeared.
Ike didn’t rush towards me like most other fighters I had battled in the past had. Instead he held his shield out in front of him and strafed around me slowly as he if was plotting an attack.
I ran forward a several meters, making sure that I was well out of striking distance of the man, but close enough that it would be easy to land a magic attack. I knew that magic was the most logical option to fight a guy like him.
I held out both hands and shot both an Arcane Missile and Fireblast at the same time, hoping to end the battle early so I could collect my gold and go off on my next adventure, but as my two projectiles flew towards Ike, he simply ducked behind his shield, and the shield absorbed the entirety of the attacks. In fact, when the missile and Fireblast hit his shield, it lit up with a light blue energy and seemed to absorb the impact entirely. His shield had a magic property of some sort, or he was under the influence of a buff.
He continued strafing around me, waiting for my next move.
It seemed like Ike was baiting me, so I was reluctant to close in on him with my sword. Since he wasn’t moving forward and magic didn’t work, I figured I would try the next logical option and reached for the bow on my back.
Ike made no attempt to rush me in any way as I readied my bow and grabbed an arrow, and when I shot at him, he simply raised his shield again. When I shot a second time, I cast Fire Arrow as the arrow flew, yet again the shield lit up with energy and the arrow fell weakly to the ground.
I really needed to get rid of his shield.
“Boooooo!” I heard several people in the crowd yell. It was the first time I heard anyone in the Arena boo, and I wanted to raise my hands up and yell to them that it wasn’t my fault. It was the Shieldbearer guy who wasn’t giving them a good show.
I fastened my bow, grabbed my sword, and ran at Ike, hoping that I could beat him with my speed. When I was in striking distance, I swung my sword at him hard, but he raised his shield, absorbed the blow, and immediately countered my attack with a heavy swing against my ribcage.
I flinched and rolled out of the way as soon as I was struck. My heritage armor absorbed most of the blow, but the guy still hit hard and knocked off 10% of my health.
He continued strafing slowly around me, waiting for my next attack.
“Come on Gunnar!” I heard someone yell from the stands. It sounded like Ozzy, but I couldn’t be sure. “Get that fucking shield!”
I wanted to yell back to him. “How?” The guy’s defensive capabilities were strong, and his shield was so big that it was hard to find any sort of opening.
Fire Curtain, I thought and cast a long wall of fire, right along the man’s body. He jerked and seemed to feel the flame’s heat, but he immediately rolled back and out of the way. Since he was wearing all plate armor, there was nothing to catch on fire.
Damnit, I whispered. Everything I was trying wasn’t working against him. I was going to have to get creative if I was going to win the fight.
I held my sword out in front of me and mirrored the same strafing motion that Ike was making. “Stop fighting like you’re scared,” I said mockingly. “Do something.”
“Shut up, and get over here, you little bitch boy!” Ike growled.
I raised my eyebrows at that. “Bitch boy” didn’t seem like something a NPC in Eden’s Gate would normally say, and I immediately wondered if Ike was a Reborn.
If he was a Reborn, was there a way that I could use that to my advantage? One thing I knew about Eden’s Gate was that it was several times the size of Earth, and while I wasn’t sure how many Nexicons had been distributed, I knew there couldn’t have been more than a few million or so. Three million? Five million? Ten million?
Even if ten million had logged in, that was a relatively small number of people given the size of the world, so meeting other Reborns wasn’t an everyday thing. And even if you ran into other Reborns, you might not know unless you talked to them. NPC behavior was just too real and lifelike.
I walked closer to Ike, holding my sword out in front of me as if I were to attack at any moment. I got as close to him as I could without getting within his sword distance, so I could speak low enough that the people watching us couldn’t hear.
“How long have you been in here?” I asked.
Ike clenched his teeth and squinted.
“I know who you are.” I cleared my throat. “Nexicon. Dr. Winston. Earth.” I tried not to use the word ‘Reborn’, just in case anyone nearby had supersonic hearing.
Ike lowered his shield and loosened his shoulders. “You’re a…”
I nodded.
“Boooooo!” someone in the crowd shouted again.
“Shit, we’ve got to fight,” I spat. I stepped forward and swung my sword at Ike, and he immediately entered his defensive position behind his shield, but when my sword hit his shield, he didn’t come at me with a counter attack.
“Hey, slow down a minute!” he yelled.
“Fight me!” I yelled and spun around swinging my sword towards his side, and again, he adjusted his shield to absorb the blow. “Quit camping and show your skills!”
“Chill out!” Ike finally lunged forward with his sword, and I stepped back, narrowly avoiding the attack.
“Good one,” I said, ignoring his words and swung my sword again, which again, he blocked with his shield. “But you’re kind of slow and fight like a newb.”
Ike growled as he charged forward fast, slamming the hard metal of his shield against me and pushing me back several feet. It wasn’t as painful as his sword attack, but it was stunning nonetheless and knocked me to the ground. “I’ll show you who’s a newb. What what’s with your build? A single sword and no shield!?” He rushed forward for another attack.
My taunting seemed to be working. One thing I knew is that gamers took a special kind of offense to being called a ‘newb’, and if I could just keep him angry and moving, he’d eventually slow down as he carried around his heavy set of armor and massive shield. The slower he moved, the more opportunity I could find an opening, and if he ran out of stamina, blocking would be ineffective.
I rolled to my side, dodging Ike’s sword as he slammed it into the ground. I scrambled to my feet and scurried out of range. “I like to have a free hand for magic,” I huffed as squared up in front of him, “and I can block with my sword if I need to.”
“That’s so weak!” Ike scorned. He took a hard step forward and shouted at me loudly.
The sound of his shout felt like it was scrambling my brain, and the only thing I could think about was attacking him in the most brutal way possible, as fast as possible. While I knew he had affected me with an Intimidating Shout, I couldn’t help but to move forward and fight.
I swung my sword at Ike’s head, and once again, he blocked it with his shield.
“Block this without a shield!” Ike yelled and lifted his sword high in the air and slammed it down at me with all his might.
I gripped the hilt of my sword and held it out in front of me, and when Ike’s sword slammed into mine, the impact rattled up the blade and into my arms.
I looked at my up at my sword and was shocked to see that Ike was so strong that his blade had cut halfway into mine. When he yanked his sword back, he pulled me forward a bit until our blades dislodged.
While I had blocked the blow, his point was still taken—a sword can only block so much.
“Your defense is good,” I said, “but your fighting is too limited. Big swings and a big shield like a big newb.”
Ike snorted, and his face turned red as he charged towards me.
I felt a little bad as I continued to mock Ike. I mean, we had just met, and he just found out I was a Reborn, so I’m sure he was expecting us to exchange kind words and have a friendly, sportsmanlike fight, so it must have been a bit jarring to be called a ‘newb’ repeatedly.
In all fairness though,
he started with the name calling before he knew I was a Reborn, so it served him right.
I raised my sword to defend as Ike slammed his sword at me repeatedly, blocking the blows each time he hammered his sword at mine. I’d lied when I bashed him about his fighting skills—they were actually quite good.
Ike continued to hammer at me, and each time I blocked a blow, I still took a couple percentage points of damage from his sheer strength alone, but I could feel him slowly starting to slow down, each blow coming a little bit slower and with a little less intensity than the last.
Ike performed a sudden spin move that threw me off guard, and when he turned with his sword flailing at me, I blocked, but my sword snapped in two at the notched that he’d cut earlier.
I looked down to my broken sword and then up to Ike, and he smiled when he saw the fear on my face. While still making eye contact with me, he thrust his sword forward, until it slid halfway inside my gut.
I dropped my broken sword, groaned, and grabbed the blade he was holding in my stomach.
“No hard feelings,” Ike said. “Next time don’t be such a douchebag.” He quickly pulled the sword out of my abdomen, and swung it back for a finishing blow, but before he could swing it down, I activated Boiling Blood, ducked and leapt behind him, amply missing the blow.
You are bleeding and require medical attention. Bleeding is a damage-over-time effect.
I shot an Arcane Missile at his back that caused him to stumble forward, and as he was stumbling and trying not to fall, I ran forward and gave a hard push that caused him to land right on his face and his sword to slip out of his hand.
I immediately grabbed at his shield and tried to yank it from his other hand, but he held on to it tightly, then tightened his grip with both hands to prevent it from getting away.
Knowing that I had little time before Boiling Blood ended, I cast a Fire Curtain right over Ike, and Ike started screaming and let the shield go. I threw the shield back as the flames burned him, and due to the proximity, even burned me a little bit as well. I glanced down to the axe that he had holstered to his side, grabbed it, and rolled back and across the ground.