“Shit!”
“What the hell?”
The two men cried, reaching for their weapons.
The women were less vocal. The goblin-eared elf produced shackles from her belt and the catgirl unslung her bow and drew an arrow in a single, smooth motion.
***
Raystia was as surprised as her friends at the sudden appearance of the dark goblin in their path. He was taller than the other goblins by at least a head and had a slender build with strong, wiry muscles. His sunken eyes projected intelligence and she could tell he had them all measured with a single glance. He wore simple clothing and had no visible weapons. A lavish, rich-looking purple cloak hung from his shoulders.
Suddenly, she knew without a doubt who was standing before them. She lowered her bow, pointing the arrow down and bowed her head in greeting. “Well met, Dread Totem.”
***
Well, at least the cat one had some manners. “Well met indeed, travelers.”
“Is he an NPC?” the shaggy-looking bugbear whispered hoarsely, still holding up his axe and shield.
“No, it is that guy who started all of this.” The elven woman relaxed her guard and smiled at me. “I like what you’ve done with the place, quite impressive. I’m Misa Gavriilu, this is Raystia. The bugbear’s name is Fox and the small black guy is Riley Stonefist, our newly crowned healer. We are The Mob Squad.”
I laughed openly. “Like the movie?” I felt traces of my goblin instinct evaporate at the sudden injection of realism. “How fitting. Pun intended?”
“Well, duh.” Misa rolled her eyes.
Fox, still carrying his weapon, stepped closer and loomed over me. “So you are this mysterious and scary Totem everyone keeps mentioning? You look like a weakling to me.” He bent down and looked straight into my eyes. Oh, he was looking for trouble.
I stared back, unflinching, at the bugbear, and in light of his threatening demeanor couldn’t help wondering, How the hell did he manage to get such a short name? I shrugged. I can just ask him, once he’s on his back.
“Hands off the goblin, he’s mine!” a clear feminine voice rang out.
Shadow-crap. I groaned inwardly. It was Hoshisu, coming to collect her due.
Fox straightened and looked at the newcomer. “Who’re you?” he demanded.
“Hoshisu Matsugaya,” the woman said lightly. “Now hands off the chief; I was here first.” She stood a step away from the bugbear, hands on hips, giving him a challenging look.
The bugbear huffed. “Now listen here, scrawny-face, I haven’t seen you before. I’m level 7, so you better piss off before I get angry.” He used his shield to push the woman away.
At least he tried to.
Before his shield made contact, Hoshisu activated her flashy skill and with a blur, appeared behind him, both her daggers at his throat.
He froze. Even his breath slowed in fear of cutting himself on the daggers.
“You were saying?” Hoshisu asked sweetly.
“Err … ladies first, that’s what I always say.”
Misa snorted and Raystia put a hand to her mouth.
“Found you.” Hoshisu smirked at me after releasing the poor bugbear. “As I recall, you owe me a duel.”
“I thought you and Malkyr were away for a few days,” I said.
“We were just about to leave our apartment, but I had a hunch I’d find you here. I’ve got ten minutes to spare IRL. That’s plenty of time to kick your ass over here.”
“Fine!” I wasn’t happy about it, but a deal was a deal. I couldn’t risk losing my credibility. Not that I was really worried. We were both level 26, and I had the advantage of being a tier 2 boss. She stood no chance against me. If she wanted to be sent for a respawn so badly, I guess I’d have to oblige her.
I turned away. “Let’s go find us a secluded –”
Hoshisu moved to block my path. “No. You’ve postponed this long enough.” She held up her daggers. “We’ll do it right here, right now. If you will please excuse us,” she said sweetly to the four bewildered players, “this won’t take long.”
“You got that right,” I replied and activated my Mana Shield. Both twins had witnessed the full extent of my strength, so there was no sense in trying to hide it from the newcomers. Once your secret’s out, it’s out. This fight could actually be a good thing. I could make Hoshisu an example to the others not to mess with me or my clan.
I pulled out my new staff and pointed it at her. “We’ll fight until one of us hits zero health.”
She rolled her eyes. “You could just say, ‘to the death.’”
“I like the way I put it better.”
“Whatever, bring it on!”
***
We stood facing one another.
Hoshisu started to circle me slowly. I tightened my grasp on my staff and spun, following her every movement, waiting for her to make the first move.
“Nice staff,” she remarked, still circling me. “But where’s your other gear? I’d hate for you to excuse your defeat due to lack of equipment.”
I gave her a crooked smile. “Don’t worry, I won’t. As long as we’re talking about equipment I guess I should warn you not to try using your saw-chain against me. Not unless you’ve gotten tired of having it.”
Hoshisu narrowed her eyes. “You put in a fail-safe or something?” Her upper lips peeled back into a sneer. “Don’t worry, I wasn’t planning on using it, I have other weapons in my arsenal.”
“I can see that.” I looked pointedly at the bandolier she wore strapped slaunchways across her shoulder. It was the same one she’d worn back at the Ogre fort when she thought we were about to throw down. The bandoleer held eight slender throwing knives, positioned in such a way that she could easily retrieve and throw. I sensed a faint glimmer of power coming from the knives. Definitely not strong enough to worry about.
Ignoring my comment, Hoshisu finally decided on a course of attack. She bent low, holding her main daggers at her sides, and charged me.
I looked at her, bemused. She reached me in a second and delivered a flurry of sharp blows, all of which were easily repelled by my shield. The damage output wasn’t even high enough to strain my mana reserves. I could take a nap if I really wanted to, and she would still be unable to get past my shield.
“Come on, that’s the best you can do?” I taunted her.
“No, try this one for size!” She sent one of her daggers flying upward, and with a fluid motion used her free hand to draw a throwing knife and hurled it at me point blank. She then caught her soaring poniard before it hit the ground. The throwing knife smacked against the shield and bounced off. “Damn it!” she fumed.
“That was an impressive display, I’ll give you that.” I brandished my staff. “But now it’s my turn. I think you’ve seen these before.” I launched a volley of drilling arrows at her.
To my surprise, Hoshisu performed a one-handed backflip with the agility of a circus acrobat and somehow managed to dodge all three arrows.
“How the hell did you do that?” I gaped at her. “You’re not supposed to be able to do that.”
She grinned at me wickedly. “I gained a useful skill back at the fort after dodging all those fireballs and fire darts. You were also kind enough to attack me once with those arrows. I learned a valuable lesson from that.”
If what she said was true, it was damn impressive. Drilling Arrow homed in on the selected target by magic and was not supposed to be blocked by anything short of magic resistance. I launched another volley to test her claim. She deftly dodged them all, then retaliated with her own throwing knife. It banged uselessly against my shield and fell to the ground, its point embedded in the dirt.
“Congratulations, your evasion skill seems to be the real deal. Prime badge?”
Her devilish grin was the only answer I got in response.
“You know I’ve been watching you fight as we
ll, right?” I asked her. “I know your fighting style pretty well. The second I drop the shield you’ll do your fancy flash move and slit my throat. Well, that’s not gonna happen. Since my arrows are useless against you, try your luck dodging Rex, Max, Buddy, and … uh … Fluffy. Shadow Hound!”
The shadows gathered around me, forming into four level 12 Shadow mastiffs. The hounds lurched at the woman, snarling and biting.
Hoshisu spun on her heels, evading teeth and claws, slashing with her daggers at every opportunity. Her weapons caused no damage to the shadowy hounds. She had excellent form, but it was only a matter of time before she missed a step, then it would be all over.
I remained in place, watching the skirmish with interest. Hoshisu jumped over a mastiff, dodged another, drew a throwing knife and flung it at a third. She missed, and the knife sailed on, hitting my shield, again as harmless as the rest before it.
“Damn you!” she spat.
“You asked for this,” I reminded her. I could end this at any time I wanted to. I could bind her with Shadow Web or Freeze, then the hounds would rip her apart. But I was enjoying the spectacle. With how much she was gunning for this fight, a little lesson in humility wouldn’t hurt her. I chuckled to myself. Stupid human spawn.
Hoshisu broke at a dead run, trying to put some distance between her and the four canines. They gave chase immediately, and she threw more knives at them as she ran. Some hit, causing no damage, some missed completely, and another one struck my shield and was repelled, joining the other three on the ground. She had only a single throwing knife left. The mysterious bandoleer she’d kept hidden all this time was disappointingly underwhelming.
Still running ahead of my hounds, Hoshisu circled back toward me. I shot more drilling arrows her way, just to make it more exciting, and she dodged them all while still keeping a step ahead of my hounds. That girl had some mad evasion skills.
She nearly reached me and was about to attack with her handheld daggers when my mastiffs finally caught up to her. One of them lurched forward, and Hoshisu finally missed a dodge, acting a fraction of a second too late. The mastiff clamped his jaw on her ankle and tripped her at my feet. The others, obeying my commands, clamped their jaws on her other leg and arms, pinning her to the ground. Hoshisu was left staring up at me, her eyes flashing in anger.
“I’m a bit disappointed, to be honest.” I looked down at the woman sprawled on the ground. I put my sharpened staff’s tip under her throat. “With all your not-so-subtle hints that you were ready for me, I expected more out of you.”
Her angry look evaporated and was replaced with a smug smile. “And you were right.”
In an amazing display of dexterity, she deflected the point of my staff with her chin and ripped away one of her pinned arms from the jaws of a mastiff. In her bleeding hand, she held her last throwing knife. With a triumphant shout, she struck down, burying the knife blade in the ground.
I looked around, my eyes opening wide with realization. With this last knife, the woman had completed a perfect pentagram around me.
An instant later, lightning burst from the hilts of the five knives. The cords of electricity arced around my shield, surrounding it with a web of lightning.
I stared with disbelief as the magic overpowered and shattered my shield, leaving me exposed.
Effortlessly, Hoshisu released her other limbs and rolled to her feet in front of me. Her body flickered.
I recognized the move and managed to bring my staff up in front of my neck. Similar to the move she used against the bugbear, she reappeared behind me. I raised my staff just in time, blocking the two crossed daggers centimeters from my throat, straining against the pressure.
I couldn’t match Hoshisu physically, but I didn’t have to. I had bought myself a second, and that was all I needed. I channeled my mana and froze the woman.
She stopped trying to force her weapons at my throat and stood completely immobile.
I blew a sigh of relief. “Got to hand it to you girl, you were damn close. I didn’t see that one coming, I bought your whole act. You could have ditched my hounds any time you wanted to, couldn’t you? You’re an amazing actor, but I’m afraid you missed your only chance.”
Still standing in the awkward position with her behind me, I made my own dagger fly out of my belt and hover next to her neck. “Goodbye, Hoshisu.”
From the corner of my eye, I saw one of her fingers next to my neck twitch. Something flashed, and I felt a stinging pain on my neck.
Poison needle hit you for 2 damage. You are afflicted with the Goblin Bane poison.
Effect I: 10 HP damage per second. 60 seconds duration
Effect II: Paralysis, 10 seconds
I couldn’t move a muscle, I couldn’t resist. The devious woman had me. She’d used the ring I had gifted her against me!
The poison ran through my veins, the searing pain breaking my concentration and my hold over her.
Hoshisu leaned in, putting her lips next to my ear. “Goodbye, Chief.”
With a sharp flick, she slit my throat open with both daggers. An assassin’s execution skill.
Damn, the woman’s a stone-cold killer, I thought with admiration.
Then I reached zero health.
21 – Outsourcing
Nihilator’s Sanction triggered
Due to receiving a fatal amount of damage, you have transformed into a being of shadow for one minute. You are completely undetectable and invulnerable for the duration and may move freely. Once the duration is over, you will return to the material plane, fully healed.
Mana regenerates at the normal rate.
This ability will not be usable again for the next 24 hours.
Well, I’ll be damned. Hoshisu won.
I couldn’t begrudge her victory. She had earned it. She was well prepared and I had seriously underestimated her. It was a lesson in humility. I’d let my hubris get the better of me.
Not that I hadn’t planned for this possibility. I had carefully phrased my words when I stated we’d fight until one of us hit zero health. I counted on her not knowing about my ‘get out of jail’ trump card. She’d seen Nihilator’s Sanction once before when we fought Jawbreaker, but she died before having a chance to question me about it.
I remained standing in place, one with the shadows, watching the frustrated woman with amusement. She kept glancing around, looking for me, occasionally swiping her daggers as if expecting I’d jump at her from the shadows.
The four newcomers exchanged baffled glances and talked in hushed whispers. I distanced myself from Hoshisu, waiting for the spell to expire.
I appeared back in the material plane, fully healed, clapping my hands. “Well done, Hoshisu.”
She scowled and advanced on me, clutching her daggers tightly.
I raised a hand. “We’re done. You’ve won. Congratulations.”
“We are not done,” she snapped. “It’s not over until one of us is dead.”
I shook my head. “The terms were until one of us reaches zero health, which I did. You consented by not objecting.”
“Damn you!” she seethed. “I spent days hunting to get this poison and earning enough gold to buy these daggers. Now you tell me it’s over? It’s bloody hell not over. I demand a rematch!”
“Sure, by all means.”
She looked at me suspiciously. “You’ll rematch?”
“No.” I winked at her. “But feel free to demand one.”
“Damn you!” she hissed again.
It wasn’t my fault she’d fallen for the same trick twice.
“See you later.” I waved at her and moved toward the gawking newcomers.
***
Once the fight was over Raystia finally managed to close her mouth. Her friends responded with similar signs of astonishment.
That was an amazing display of power and battle prowess. The angry woman had some mad skills, but that Totem guy was incredible. Yet for some reason, he’d conceded. What was going on?
> This game is simply amazing! Raystia felt charged. I wish I could have joined these goblins when I was still a student.
“How the hell did he survive that?” Fox muttered.
“Maybe he has some artifact that protects him?” Riley offered.
“I didn’t see any special items being used …” Raystia said, her gaze still fixed on the chief. All she knew was that she did not want to face him in combat.
“Quiet,” Misa said sharply. “He’s coming over here.”
***
“Hi again.” I said to the group. They were obviously ill at ease. “Sorry about that interruption. Where were we?”
They exchanged nervous glances.
“Oh yeah, I believe you called me a weakling?” I smiled pleasantly at the yellow-furred bugbear.
“Err, yeah …” He gulped then added gruffly, “Sorry about that.”
“Think nothing of it.” I waved him off. “So, I heard you got to see around our little valley while I was away. What do you think of our settlement?”
“I love it,” the catgirl, Raystia, said eagerly. “So many people working together, taking care of each other … and you even have an Ogre!”
“Two, actually; the other one is patrolling outside the valley.”
“So what’s your deal, man?” the bugbear asked. “How come a player gets to lead a clan of monsters?”
I shrugged. “Careful planning and a lot of luck. It might look impressive, but we’re woefully exposed here and there are factions that want to see us destroyed. We have to grow fast and get stronger. I heard you guys helped with that already, thank you.”
The goblin dwarf nodded. “We built you a wall at the valley’s entrance. Got some nice gear as a reward too. Thanks for that.”
“My pleasure.” I hesitated, not sure how to get to the heart of the matter. “So … you have no qualms about … playing as monsters?”
Misa chuckled. “You mean supporting mobs to fight normal players, worship dark evil forces, and kill prisoners in cold blood?”
Life Reset- EvP Page 33