“Yeah, so they might be fighting fewer golems than us, or have a shorter map, or something,” I replied.
“Aye, dear friend, but I think it is less complicated than that. The groups are supposed to escort the potential queens to the end of the dungeon and return, but the young lady who accompanied Sir Rodin Worred did not look as if she ran a single step when she returned.”
“Fuck,” I said as I covered my face with my hands. “Of course.”
“I believe they are leaving the girls at the entrance and then running the full length of the dungeon without them.”
“Well, damn. I should have thought of that,” I said with a sigh.
“No, dear friend. It was presented to us that we had to escort the lovely lady. We didn’t know we wouldn’t be observed. It could be that our opponents are fighting an easier dungeon than us, but think if we didn’t have to protect Lady Chrysa, that would have helped.”
“Some, but not a ton,” I said with a shrug.
“A good amount, friend Leo. You spent most of the battles holding back so you could protect her and heal us. If you didn’t have to worry about her, you could have brought your blade into play with every battle. I am sure we would have gained at least five minutes.”
As soon as Cornalic finished his sentence, Moryana, her two sister sword dancers, and the girl stepped through the portal. Yenna’s face looked terribly bored as she handed to plate to Sharles.
Cornalic was right.
“Five minutes and fifty-nine seconds!” Sharles shouted, and the crowd went crazy.
Moryana nodded to each of us and then descended the stairs. There was a light sheen of perspiration on her flawless skin, but the woman wasn’t breathing heavy, and neither were her two companions.
“Damn. Last. Been a while since that happened,” I said.
“I am sorry Leo. We tried our best,” Chrysa said.
“Agreed, dear friend. We would do better next time. I am sure of it.”
“The gods care not for games. The gods care about the blood we sacrifice to them.” Bolverk hadn’t said anything the entire time we waited, and his growling words cut through the crowd like the buzz of a chainsaw.
“Citizens of Tylue! It seems that we have a tie! As it stands, Sir Leo Lennox has four points, Tia’tor Barta has four points, and Moryana the sword dancer has four points. All three contestants will proceed to the third challenge.”
The crowd screamed their pleasure, and Sharles waited for a few moments before he lowered his arms to quiet them.
“There is also a tie for the fourth position between Sir Rodin Worred and Lady Cesnie Kayleic! Ties will be decided by the victor of either a game of Castles or a duel! Lady Kayleic, what say you?” Sharles pointed down at the pretty blonde woman from his platform.
“Castles,” she said with a nod.
“Sir Worred, what say you?” Sharles asked as he turned to the knight.
“Duel,” Rodin said as he looked at Cesnie.
“Very well, I will roll the die to determine the outcome.” The portly herald moved to the small table where he rolled for our dungeon order and let the die fall from his hand. His two assistants moved to the table to look over it. I knew the die had each of our colors on one of the six sides instead of numbers. The man picked up the die again, rolled, and then repeated the motion before he addressed the crowd.
“The die has landed on Sir Rodin Worred! We will have a duel!”
The crowd cheered again, and Sharles pointed at Cesnie once more.
“Lady Kayleic, do you wish for magical items, or would you prefer to use the non-magical equipment that we had for the first challenge?”
Cesnie turned her steel-blue eyes to Rodin and studied the man for a few minutes. “I would prefer non-magical equipment,” she said at last.
“I would prefer magical,” Rodin said before Sharles could ask him.
“You know, that is fine. You do not have to roll, Sharles. I can do magical equipment,” Cesnie said, and I saw Rodin’s face pale.
“Then we will clear the arena and let the warriors fight for their right to attend the fourth challenge!”
A crowd of burgundy-clad attendants ran from the sides of the arena and began to tear down the raised platform and archway. We were escorted out of the arena and back up to the observation box at the top of the coliseum where we were first given the amulets.
Cesnie and Rodin were given the amulets that their wards wore through the dungeon crawl, and then they returned to the floor of the arena. The whole ordeal took less than ten minutes, and we found new chairs in the covered area where we could watch the duel.
“Leo!” I heard a cry from down below, and I asked the soldiers guarding the upper area to let Allurie and Chrysa’s handmaidens into the area. There were plenty of seats in the box, and none of the other groups protested me letting my friend inside.
“We will now begin. The first challenger to submit or be knocked unconscious shall be deemed the loser. Lady Cesnie Kayleic, are you ready?” Sharles shouted down below, and the blonde woman raised her rapier.
“Sir Rodin Worred, are you ready?” Sharles shouted, and the knight raised his sword in the air with a grunt.
“Let the duel begin!” the herald shouted, and the two began to circle each other.
My heart slammed into my chest as I watched them step around the arena floor. I didn’t really know who to root for. Rodin had originally come off as an ass during our first meeting, but he seemed nice enough when we met in private. He’d done his part during our first challenge, and I’d won that round because of his help. Then again, Lady Cesnie had thanked me for saving her life and hinted that she thought the knight planned on killing us. Someone was tampering with the contests, but I didn’t know who had the leverage in the palace to do that besides Queen Yrisi and Sharles.
If Cesnie won this, she would probably win the third challenge. I would have to score a second place to beat her in total points, and while I possessed plenty of gamer swagger, I had no idea how good Tia’tor or Moryana were at the game.
Cesnie shuffled forward, and Rodin raised his shield as he stepped to the side. The woman’s rapier bounced off the metal, and Rodin made a horizontal slash with his sword to smack her weapon away. As soon as their blades connected, the knight stepped forward, and he tried to slide his blade around her arm and into her chest.
The blonde tactician expected the attack, and she moved her own shield in the way before Rodin’s blade got close to her. She stepped forward and pushed her shield arm forward. The movement bumped Rodin’s sword away, and Cesnie made a low return slash with her rapier. Rodin’s shield met her blade, and they stepped away from each other so that they could circle again.
The crowd went crazy.
They came together again and exchanged low slashes and quick thrusts. Each of their attacks was expertly executed and I gained tremendous respect for both of them. Cesnie had faster footwork than Rodin, and she seemed to mix more feints in with her attacks, but the knight’s sword movements were much quicker than the tactician’s, and I guessed the battle would have been over much sooner if the blonde woman had not worn a shield into the duel.
They met three more times. It didn’t look like anyone was gaining any leverage over the other, but then Cesnie tripped as she retreated from a flurry of Rodin’s strikes, and the knight pounced on her.
The crowd screamed with the shift in the battle, and Chrysa gasped from her seat next to me. Rodin drove the point of his sword forward to stab the fallen blonde woman, and she didn’t bring her shield up in time to block the attack. The sword passed through her chest, and the crowd gasped.
But then her image shattered into a thousand pieces. As if it was made of glass struck by a crystal spear.
Rodin spun around as Cesnie materialized out of the air behind him. He tried to get his sword up to block her swing, but he was a half an instant too slow, and the pretty woman’s rapier slashed through the armor on his shoulder. I saw the man’s
health bar drop down to 90%, and he flinched away with his shield up.
“Shwah!” he shouted as he swung his sword in an arc in front of him. The blade glowed a bright golden light, and an arc of energy sprang from it that looked similar to the magical attack that the four armed golems had used on Cornalic. The ray of slicing energy passed right through the middle of Cesnie, but instead of being cut in half, the woman’s image shattered into a thousand glass fragments again.
“Shwah!” Rodin spun and threw his magical sword attack behind him. He’d guessed correctly, since Cesnie appeared there, but her image just shattered again.
“Shwah!” The knight used his arch attack toward the original position that the blonde tactician occupied, but she feinted and appeared where she stood a half moment ago. Her rapier stabbed the man in the back, and the crowd gasped. Rodin’s health dropped to 80%, and he spun to bat away her narrow blade with his shield.
The knight’s image blurred as he instantly teleported the short distance between his shoulder and Cesnie’s face. The woman’s head snapped back when Rodin’s armored shoulder plowed into her, and the knight swung his sword around to cut her across the stomach as she flew away from him. Her health dropped down to 80% with the two hits, and it was obvious that her nose was all sorts of broken.
“Slow!” Cesnie shouted as she stumbled back, and the charging knight was covered in a violet glow. He was suddenly running as if he was trying to plow through a pool of gelatin and his face betrayed his frustration.
“Pull!” she shouted again over the roar of the crowd, and a red dribble of light shot out of Rodin and flowed into Cesnie’s chest. She was holding her arms up at her sides to receive the energy, and her health jumped up to 90%.
“Shatter!” Cesnie yelled as she pointed her sword at Rodin, and the man’s glowing body exploded into magenta-violet fragments of magic glass. His health dropped down to 50%, and the man’s body was engulfed in flames. He fell back as if someone had hit him in the chest with a sledgehammer, and the knight didn’t move for three solid seconds.
I started to think that Cesnie was going to win this.
But then Rodin flipped to his feet, and his shield started to glow a vermilion color. His health bar rapidly climbed up, and was back to full before Cesnie could close the distance and finish him off.
The woman lunged forward with a thrust of her rapier, and her arm glowed black like the night under a magenta streetlight. Rodin raised his shield to block her attack, but the blade lanced right through the metal and sunk into the man’s chest. His health dropped back down to 80% and he countered her thrust with a mighty swing of his blade. Cesnie moved to block the attack with her shield, but Rodin’s movement had been a clever feint, and he instead thrust forward with his shield. The large slab of metal knocked her rapier aside and smashed into her chest a moment before his blade dug into her stomach.
Cesnie’s health dropped down to 70%, and I wondered if I had been wrong with my earlier prediction.
“Slow!” she shouted at Rodin again, but the man raised his shield, and it glowed with the same purple light that matched the curse she had put on him before.
“Shatter!” she shouted out, and Rodin’s shield exploded with the magenta-purple shards. He spun away as if someone smashed a wrecking ball into his shield, and his health dropped down to 70%. Part of his left arm was also on fire, but the man rolled on the ground to extinguish the flames before he bounced back up to his feet.
Cesnie’s form blurred again, but Rodin crouched down and shouted something I couldn’t make out over the roar of the angry crowd. Four green colored and semi-transparent shields appeared to surround the man, and they blocked the woman’s surprise attack when she appeared behind the knight.
Rodin swung his sword around, but instead of making the woman shatter into pieces, the blade just passed through her like my sword had done when I fought against her. For six-ish seconds, the two just whacked at each other with their blades as quickly as they could. Cesnie’s weapon was met by the green shields which circled around the knight’s body, and Rodin’s sword just passed through the blonde tactician as if she was made of smoke.
The two parted and danced away from each other as the knight’s green shields faded from his body. Rodin shouted and swung his blade again to create the arc of magical energy, but Cesnie’s form shattered again, and the knight dove forward to escape her appearance at his rear.
“Trio!” I heard Cesnie shout, and her armored body blurred as two images stepped out of her. The three women all moved independently of each other and they stalked around Rodin with their swords and shields held exactly as the original woman would have. The crowd went nuts, and Rodin moved backward across the floor of the arena to keep the women from surrounding him.
The Cesnie on the left most side thrust her rapier at the knight while the one on the right made a swing with her blade. Rodin blocked the thrust with his shield, parried the swing with his blade, and then rolled backward when the third image of Cesnie disappeared. The blonde woman appeared in front of the knight just as he came to his feet, and he drove his sword up toward her stomach. The woman blocked, and then all three of the images were striking at the man.
Rodin did his best to defend himself, but he couldn’t keep up with the thin quick swords from all three women. Every six attacks left him open for a cut he couldn’t block, and his health started to trickle down. After fifteen seconds, his life was at 60%, and the three images of the woman all began to blink and fade.
As soon as her images disappeared, Cesnie sprang out of the air with a leaping attack aimed at Rodin’s back. Rodin was getting used to her surprise attacks though, and he was already spinning to drive his sword into the woman. His blade passed through her chest, but she didn’t take any damage, and the image just faded. The audience roared with amazement, and the woman appeared twenty feet away. She waved to the crowd with her sword and then made a small bow. The movement infuriated Rodin, and he blinked across the floor of the arena to slam his sword into her with his charging ability.
Cesnie just exploded into the magenta-purple shards, but this time, the bits of colored glass stuck to the knight’s armor as if they were made of glue.
Or tar.
Rodin didn’t seem to be able to move quickly, and his arms appeared to be stuck to the sides of his armor. He tried to move toward Cesnie, but the magenta bits of glass on him now looked like splatters of paint, and they expanded to cover his legs when he took his first steps toward her.
Rodin let out a shout, and an image of a full plate wearing knight appeared over his head. The icon was glowing a golden color, and the purple paint fell away from him as if it was water. Rodin’s armor, skin, and weapons were also glowing gold, and a sparkle of golden glitter trailed from his body as he ran toward Cesnie.
Her shield met his sword, and I could tell Rodin was swinging with some serious power. Cesnie’s arm was knocked back by his attack, and she stumbled a few steps away from him. Rodin pressed forward and delivered another stab that she almost didn’t block. Then he slammed his sword down again, and the woman brought up her rapier to parry it. Their weapons locked up at the hilt and Rodin head-butted her in the face.
Cesnie collapsed on the ground but turned the movement into a backward roll. Rodin was already hacking at her though, and his blade caught her in the shoulder before she could get away. Her health dropped down to 60% from the cut, and the woman’s blood sprayed across the stone floor of the arena. The crowd let out a collective gasp when they saw her injured, and some of them started booing.
Despite her injury, Cesnie managed to spin to her feet and block the next series of chops from the golden warrior. I could tell the woman was becoming fatigued. Each of her attempts to stop Rodin were getting slower. The glowing knight seemed unstoppable now, and I wondered if he was going to beat the tactician.
Cesnie slashed her sword across the ground, and a purple wall of semi-transparent energy sprang up from the motion. It was about fi
ve feet high, but Rodin was smart enough not to plow through it. The knight shifted to the side, but Cesnie moved her sword slightly, and the wall slid across the ground so that it blocked him from moving toward her.
The blonde woman continued to backpedal and put distance between the knight, and Rodin made three more movements attempting to get around the wall. The glowing sheet of purple energy moved with him each time, and the knight’s body told me the story of how frustrated he was.
Then he just ran through it. I’m sure I wasn’t the only one watching who thought the movement would have been disastrous, but nothing appeared to happen when Rodin plowed through the veil. He sprinted toward Cesnie, but it looked as if the gold color of his armor, and the glitter that trailed behind his running form were fading.
Cesnie had managed to run about forty feet away from the knight, and Rodin was sprinting toward her at full speed. He almost made it to her, but then the woman made a twisting motion with her sword, and the purple veil imploded with the sound of thunder clap. It turned into a black hole with purple around its edges, and Rodin was yanked back hard enough to pull his feet from the ground.
He flew through the air as if he was being fired from a slingshot that was wrapped around his waist. He traveled past the black hole to crash into the far wall of the arena a good hundred and twenty feet away. The knight slammed the wall hard enough to bounce off the stone, and the crowd gasped with surprise. Then the black hole magic faded.
His health was now at 30%, and I caught a flash of Cesnie’s body dash across the arena floor like a green and purple laser beam. Rodin had dropped his sword when he slammed into the wall, and he was crawling across the floor to where it lay.
But Cesnie was already there. The blonde woman set her boot on the blade as soon as Rodin wrapped his hand around the pommel. She pointed the tip of her rapier down at the man, and I saw her mouth move with words I couldn’t hear over the screaming crowd. Rodin’s shoulders dropped, and then the man raised his sword hand into the air as he shook his head.
Lion's Quest: Trinity: A LitRPG Saga Page 38