by Brian Simons
Don’t be so gullible, Coral told herself.
Coral kept walking toward Yardley with her hand outstretched. When they got within a few feet of each other she dropped to one knee, whipped an arrow from her quiver, and nocked it in her bow. A few people from the gallery above booed at her. She wondered whether that meant she was actually supposed to shake hands with her adversary before the battle began.
A small timer in the upper corner of her vision showed 9:51. The battle timer had already begun, no handshake required.
In the moment she hesitated, Yardley acted. He kicked Coral under the chin, sending her backward into the sand. Her arrow released in a wild arc toward the empty distance. The crowd started cheering.
>> You’ve been hit! 42 Damage.
Coral scrambled to her feet and dodged to the side as Yardley brought a giant sword down onto the sand where Coral had been a second ago. His golden suit of armor flickered with the reflection of the torches that lined the combat pit. His sword was the same golden color, a four foot long blade six inches wide. He gripped the handle with both hands and began to spin it through the air as Coral ran for the opposite side of the arena.
Distance would be her ally against a melee fighter. She spent a few stamina points to sprint away before turning back, readying an arrow, and loosing it at Yardley. Despite the distance, the arrow hit him in the chest. His armor deflected it, though, so the arrow hit the ground without causing any damage.
>> Congratulations! You have improved your Ranged combat ability to 9. Total Dexterity bonuses: +18% at close range, +11% at medium range, +8% at long range.
If a regular arrow wouldn’t work, maybe a Hot Shot would. She started filling her arrow with heat as Yardley charged, holding his sword at his hip with both hands and pointing the hefty blade right at her.
He was getting too close too fast. His feet were glowing. This must be a special skill he had unlocked. Coral had no choice but to shoot the arrow before it was fully charged and dive out of the way to avoid getting hit. The arrow bounced off of his helmet. He didn’t even flinch at it.
Coral’s shoulder hit the ground as she dove, but she managed to roll onto her back and pounce onto her feet in one continuous movement.
>> Congratulations! You have unlocked Combat Roll. Now you can roll without the punches.
She ran again, crossing the distance of the arena faster than Yardley could. His heavy armor, while ostentatious, must weigh him down quite a bit.
An arrow stuck out from the sand where Coral stopped so she lifted it up to use it. No sense in leaving an arrow behind. To her dismay, she found the arrowhead covered in something cloudy. Glass. The heat from the arrow must have melted the sand.
>> Piercing Arrow (-). Like sand through the arrowglass, so are our days online. No combat bonus.
She pulled back her bow and shot the piercing arrow at Yardley. It slammed into his armor and sent a fine glittery powder into the air as the glass broke off from the arrowhead. The shot did zero damage.
Yardley’s feet began to glow again. Coral nocked an arrow and knelt on the ground, dipping the arrowhead into the sand and preparing another Hot Shot. She let the arrow heat up this time before raising it up. The arrowhead glistened with a thicker layer of cloudy glass than the time before.
>> Piercing Arrow. Like sand through the arrowglass, so are our days online. Improves chance to inflict Bleeding by 10%.
Much better. Coral waited for Yardley to charge closer toward her and then she pivoted, aiming her arrow up. If she timed it right she would shoot just under his chin where his helmet wouldn’t block the shot.
She let her arrow leave her bow just as Yardley slammed into her, sword first. An involuntary wail escaped her lips as his sword sawed into her shoulder. If she had been standing upright, the blade might have gone right through her stomach.
>> You’ve been hit! 220 Damage.
>> Yardley takes 90 Damage.
Coral started out with 920 HP. Yardley was a much higher level, and was a melee class. His HP would be considerably higher, and Coral’s only hit so far took out very little of it. To make matters worse, they had only been doing this for about two minutes.
Coral ran again, gaining enough distance to aim a Hot Shot at Yardley and fully charge it this time. The arrow lodged in his breastplate, melting its way into his gold armor.
>> Congratulations! You have improved your Hot Shot ability to 3. +4% to maximum temperature.
Yardley grabbed the arrow by the shaft and yanked it away from his armor, leaving a hole behind. “Do you have any idea how expensive this armor was?” he yelled. “I’m going to slice a permanent scar into your avatar’s face for that!”
Was that even possible? Coral didn’t want to find out. She ran away from Yardley and outpaced him again. Then she heard a grinding sound from behind her. Built into the granite walls lining the arena were metal grates that Coral had assumed were for drainage. She had assumed wrong.
>> Now releasing Fire Lizard (x2).
The timer read exactly 7:30. Apparently, after the first two and a half minutes, mobs joined the fight. Coral made a mental note to thank Sybil and Sal for the heads up later.
A fire lizard pounced on Coral from behind before she could flee.
“I’ll enjoy watching this,” Yardley said, using his cloak to levitate above the fray.
Coral rolled and writhed in the sand trying to push the fire lizard off of her. It must have weighed two hundred pounds, and was warm to the touch. The crowd above cheered as the monster snapped its jaw near Coral’s head, trying to decapitate her with his long, sharp teeth.
These people must really hate her. That, or they had put all their money on FighterFluid.
Coral reached back for two arrows and tried to scratch into the monster’s hide, but its skin was too thick for her to do any damage. She dug her arrows into the sand and used Hot Shot, burning through twice as much MP to charge two arrows at once. She lifted the arrows from the sand, nearly getting whiplash from her constant attempts at moving her head out of harm’s way. With molten glass still glowing at the end of the arrows, she jammed them into the monster’s eyes.
The monster didn’t mind the heat, and the arrowheads didn’t seem to do any damage, but the molten glass did smear off the arrowheads and cool onto the monster’s eyes. A Blindness debuff appeared above its head.
Coral was able to squeeze out from under the panicked lizard and get to her feet in time to dodge the other lizard’s attack. It skidded in the sand and turned toward her, ready for another go. A quick burst of flame erupted briefly from its nostrils.
She already knew her arrows alone wouldn’t pierce the monster’s skin, and her Hot Shot wasn’t hot enough to hurt a fire lizard. She hated to use her Ring of Force on this mob instead of on Yardley, but it might be her only hope of running out the clock.
Coral pulled back her bow and prepared to activate her ring when a brown beam shot down from the sky and enveloped the fire lizard in a brown aura. Except, it wasn’t brown, it was red. Coral knew that because she had seen this happen before, when Yardley berserked a hill giant.
The fire lizard thrashed uncontrollably, kicking up a cloud of sand with its tail before it charged at Coral. She didn’t have time to act. The monster rammed into Coral’s legs and she fell face first into the sand.
>> You’ve been hit! 77 Damage.
The sound of a tail thwacking against the ground told her the monster was preparing to charge again, and would likely trample her this time. Coral scrambled to her feet and ran toward the opposite side of the arena. She pressed up against the granite wall while the monster ran at her.
In the distance, the other fire lizard blew giant tufts of flame from its mouth as it scratched wildly at its face with its front legs. It was only a matter of time before it dislodged the glass from its eyes.
The battle timer was down to 5:00. Coral was halfway through running down the clock. Assuming no other mobs joined the fray, she just might pull
this off.
The berserked lizard charged at her, and Coral waited until the last second to act. With no weapons that would harm this creature, her only hope was to use the monster’s aggression against it. She rolled to the side as the lizard approached, forcing it to slam its head into the rock wall instead of her own body.
>> Fire Lizard takes 200 Damage.
Coral gave the monster a hard stare.
>> Level 20 Fire Lizard.
Coral dodged again, forcing the lizard into the rock wall behind her. After five more feints, the monster had killed itself. She didn’t score any XP for that, but that was the least of her concerns.
“Thanks for the assist!” she yelled at Yardley. Maybe taunting him wasn’t a good idea, but she actually was thankful. If that monster hadn’t been berserked, it might have had enough sense of self-preservation to stop charging at her when its HP got low, and enough wits about it to torch Coral with its fiery breath.
One mob left. As long as Yardley floated overhead, she could dance around this blind lizard dodging attacks until the timer hit zero.
Coral approached the creature cautiously. She wanted to make it look like she was still trying to defeat it without being broiled alive. The creature thrashed its tail from side to side, so Coral stayed in front of it. Then a piece of glass dislodged from its face. The Blindness debuff faded away.
Coral ran. The lizard followed.
How was anyone supposed to kill a lizard whose skin was that thick? She was still using the same metal arrows she had picked up last week, so maybe there were better arrows that could get the job done. Or maybe a nice sharp blade would do the trick, but she didn’t have a sword or a spear.
The lizard ran toward her and Coral jumped out of the way, but this lizard wasn’t so enraged that it careened into a rock wall. This one was smart enough to stop short and turn toward Coral for another attack.
Coral dove on top of the lizard. It spat fire at the ground in front of it, melting large patches of sand into hot glowing pools of glass. It bucked violently, but she held firm, with an arm looped around the monster’s neck. The lizard’s skin was rough to the touch, and she realized she was jealous. It provided natural protection much better than the thin sahuagin skin she was wearing.
Then she got an idea.
Coral dug into her sewing kit while the lizard kicked up sand and smashed its tail into the ground. She opened her fabric shears and stabbed one arm into the mob. She dragged the open scissors down its side.
>> Fire Lizard takes 120 Damage.
She kept cutting while the monster roared in pain.
>> Fire Lizard takes 120 Damage.
Then the lizard finally kicked her off of it. Coral landed on her tailbone, momentarily stunned from the pain and numbing sensation that ran through her body. Blood ran down the monster’s side as it leapt at her, its loosened skin flapping as it moved.
She tried to roll out of the way, but it sank its teeth into her neck.
>> You’ve been hit! 403 Damage. [CRITICAL].
With the monster on top of her, Coral reached around the monster’s neck and dug her fingers into the open wound she had cut. The monster reared its head back with another loud screech. Any second now it would summon its molten breath. Coral had to act quickly. With a violent jerking motion, she ripped its skin from its body in one, thick sheet.
>> Fire Lizard takes 532 Damage. [CRITICAL]. Fire Lizard dies. You receive 54 XP.
The crowd was silent. Coral lied there with the lizard on top of her. The battle timer read 1:58. She panted, relieved that the battle was over.
Well, not over over. She pushed the dead lizard off of her and looked up as Yardley landed.
She reached back and pulled out an arrow. Yardley stood there, towering over her as she lied on the ground, aiming up at his stupid face.
“Need a hand?” he said, offering to help her to her feet. As if she would fall for that.
She felt fire fill her arrow. Not the fire of a restaurant stove. Not the fire of the desert sun or melted glass. She thought about the fire of betrayal. That’s what lured her into this battle, the urge to blow off some steam and take out her aggression, not toward FighterFluid, although he certainly deserved it. It was Daniel she seethed at. He had been keeping all of his secrets and pretending like he cared about the rest of the team. He only cared about himself. He accepted the Regent’s quest to steal the dwarves’ mines, he made shady deals with a shadowy Rogue, he poisoned the good people of Harold’s court, and not once did he ask what everyone else thought they should do. Because to Daniel, they weren’t a team. They were all just his sidekicks.
Coral’s arrow burned bright as Yardley stared at her with a smug grin on his face. Coral adjusted her aim, activated her Ring of Force, and let her arrow rip.
It shot two feet forward until it entered the small hole in his breastplate that Coral had melted away with her last arrow, like a lock pick jammed into a keyhole. He howled in pain as the arrow pierced his lungs and melted his bones.
>> Yardley takes 841 Damage. [CRITICAL].
The arrow took out a third of his HP bar. The smile fell from his face.
The word Downthrust appeared above his head as his sword shot through Coral’s heart and dug two feet into the sand beneath her.
She couldn’t breathe, couldn’t move. Every nerve in her body was alive with pain. Then she went completely limp.
>> You’ve been hit! 1239 Damage. You have died.
31
Daniel’s knuckles were white as he gripped the metal bars fencing off the battle pit below. It looked like she might actually beat him. In all his battles against FighterFluid, Daniel hadn’t beaten the guy a single time, but the arrow Coral had sent through Yardley’s chest was a critical hit.
Then the Fighter’s sword pierced through Coral’s body. It was like watching someone he cared about die before his eyes. His heart felt like it stopped for a second. Her eyes rolled into the back of her head as her body convulsed along the sword’s blade. Then she collapsed silently into the sand.
The crowd erupted in cheers as FighterFluid levitated above the pit and bowed in mid-air. It was all he had time to do before he and Coral vanished from the arena. The torches along the walls went out and the players receded from the fence.
“She held up pretty well,” Sybil said.
“Thanks,” Coral’s voice came from behind. “You didn’t tell me there would be fire lizards.”
“Coral!” Daniel yelled and ran over to her. He went to put a hand on her shoulder but she swatted him away. “Are you ok?”
“My HP is only at 10%. Is that normal?” Coral looked toward Sal and Sybil for the answer.
“For the loser, yes,” Sybil said. “The winner leaves with whatever HP they have intact. It’s to prevent players from fighting never-ending Arena battles. The devs want us out in the game world gathering resources to sell, not just fighting and gambling all day.”
“Speaking of gambling,” Coral said, “how much money did you make?”
“Excuse me?” Sybil said.
“You bet on FighterFluid, right? Come on, you knew I couldn’t survive that fight.”
“I did think you would lose,” Sybil said, “but I know better than to bet against you.”
“Oh,” Coral said. “Thank you.”
“That was amazing,” Sal said, “even though you lost. You skinned that lizard alive!”
“Excuse me,” said a stranger that had walked up to their group. “Are you Coral_Daring?”
“I am.”
“I just wanted to let you know that I did it, I stepped on my visor,” the stranger said.
“Good,” Coral said, “I’m glad to hear that. Spread the word, it’s the only way to protect yourself until we find a way to stop Sagma.”
“Will do!” the stranger said, and then walked away.
“What was that about?” Sybil asked.
“I didn’t have a chance to tell you, it all happened so fast,” Coral sa
id. “Right before we fled Havenstock, I put a notice on the message boards. The red crystal in Marco’s staff is brainwashing people, that’s why they’re donating money to the temple reconstruction effort.”
“I have a hard time believing that,” Sal said. “The explanation is simple. People would rather place their money in faith—”
“Than their faith in money?” Sybil said, cutting him off. “I know. You’re like a broken record.”
“Oh, I’ve said that before?” Sal asked.
“Just crack the lenses,” Coral said. “Meanwhile, I need to rest up to full HP before we make a move on the tower. Maybe we should meet here first thing in the morning and head over then?”