by Rick Scar
Raven and his soldiers knew that these frogs had strong bodies, and that they could shoot their tongues out to grab and devour their prey. Two soldiers had fallen down from the wall as it shook badly, but got caught by the frogs before they could reach the ground. Will could imagine the consequences of such a monster reaching the citizens: it’d grab them in groups and toss them into its mouth like a child tosses candy into theirs.
The tenth wave was difficult, but the eleventh was beyond what even Will could handle. He realized it once he saw the hammer-handed giants in action; his whole body was covered with sticky sweat. The giants were few, even fewer than the frogs, but their levels and HP made them a force to be reckoned with.
Barrier scrolls were no longer being dropped by the enemies, but a few strong healing spells had dropped from the frogs. Many other things had been looted from the monsters, but they were mainly crafting materials for blacksmiths, carpenters, tailors, and cooks.
Raven had a little bit over a thousand surviving soldiers. With his face covered with blood and his eyes blazing with the desire to see the devs and thank them for such a lovely event, he realized that the time had come to give it his all.
“Everyone! Here’s my last order: leave the fortress!” he yelled through the rumble of the earthquake, drawing not only the soldiers’ and players’ attention, but also Julia’s.
“Wow! Did you hear that, Kurt? Isn’t that against the rules?”
“What?” Kurt asked, looking away from Alien Body’s fortress he had been watching and commenting on.
“Raven is taking his citizens out of the city!”
“Eh?” Kurt stared at his coworker in surprise. Once he realized what she was talking about, he wheeled around abruptly and looked at the screen showing Raven. “He’s taking – what? They’ll get butchered! Without the protection of the city’s houses and walls… He’s just giving up on them! Where’s he? I can’t see him among the soldiers.”
“There he is!” Julia pointed at the screen.
“Wait. Is he going to fight… alone?”
Their conversation was heard by the audience. One by one, the spectators began to teleport into Raven’s fortress to see what the madman was up to. He was known for his crazy stunts that brought in views and gave rise to forum discussions.
In the meantime, the rogue continued. His words reverberated through the audience, and stunned the soldiers who stopped fighting to gape at him.
“Take the citizens out through the back gate, and escort them to safety. Now!”
“But… But sir... We’ll all die.” The garrison commander clenched his teeth, apparently disagreeing with this move, confused about what had got into the messenger. His plan was outright crazy and dooming for them.
Actually, Will wasn’t sure about it himself. But when the frogs destroyed the wall, he got a sudden idea that showed him the Third Round’s rules in a new light. This idea seemed to have been whispered into his ear, or driven like a stake into his mind. The task was to keep the citizens alive, but there was no mention of protecting the fortress. The city walls were just a resource, and now they were on their way to being demolished.
Will the system allow that? How will the mobs react?
These questions flashed through his mind and dissolved without a trace. It wouldn’t matter if his counter-attack failed. He’d lose. His siege preparation had been poor; there was no denying it.
“That’s an order, commander. Take them away from the city and to safety.”
I doubt anywhere is safe. But these people seem to believe there are other cities nearby.
The Emperor spared no effort in fleshing the NPCs out. Even those who were here just for the duration of this event.
“What about you?”
“It’s none of your concern. I’ll buy you time, so do as I say.”
“Sir.” The commander’s inner struggle showed on his face. Finally, he gave a brief nod. “Yes, sir.”
Shortly after, the soldiers began to descend from the walls, leaving Will alone with the enemy.
Mollie and Katharine had teleported to his city along with all the rest. Hearing that Will was taking his people out, they realized that he had put victory at stake. As they hurried to see Raven in action, they sent their best wishes to Perdition, hoping that she’d live to see the end of the day, although her situation was no better than any other player’s.
Her walls had two gaping holes in them through which all sorts of mobs were pouring into the city. The battle had moved to the streets, but the strongest and largest enemies had already been killed, thanks to the clan and Mollie who had provided Perdition with the highest-level spells and items one could get.
He has underestimated this tournament badly, Mollie thought as she watched Raven. He should’ve joined a clan.
Chapter 254. Desperate Measures
L ike everyone in Ascension, Will craved power — the only thing that could guarantee his and his future kingdom’s happiness, prosperity, and safety. Every time he entered the game, he became White Raven: a rogue who had risen to the rank of royalty. This transformation had a lasting, albeit unnoticed, effect on his real personality. He still craved wealth, but now his thirst had been somewhat quenched.
He used to believe money was his only goal – until the game picked the scabs off his old wounds. Strength. Power. Ambition. They gushed out like water from a broken pipe, and he could no longer pretend that he had never wanted them.
In this virtual world, he had been in a lot of situations, some of which were good, but most of which were bad. Now, he had set off on another adventure, making his way toward the three counts.
Dodge. Leap. Slip between the mobs... Jump, and run along the centipede’s back... All in stealth mode...
Relying on his reflexes, Raven kept running. With waves of adrenaline coming one after another, he considered his next step.
His plan had two big issues: the first was that if any of the counts happened to be immune to his skill, he’d have a hard time surviving; the second was that he had no idea if the system would approve of his little trick.
Failing the task would cost him victory, and reveal his trump card. One wrong step could ruin any chance he had had. With his heart missing a beat, Will reached his destination and put his plan into motion.
The audience held its breath as it huddled in a circle around the rogue. Amazingly, the counts became trapped by his skill… although not all of them. Fenrir and Krokhrokh stood frozen, but Black Annis, probably sensing a change in the air, had applied some skill that deflected Will’s Dancing of Time. Still, she had been slowed down. Apparently, she wasn’t an ancient creature that had immunity against this kind of magic, and her skill only provided partial protection.
He had expected something like this to happen, but it still left him confused. The witch blew some ash off her palm and began to activate a spell.
Raven swayed away from her line of sight as he summoned his pets and gave all of them, and himself, a speed boost. The witch was outnumbered four to one. Shimiraz could’ve probably killed her on his own, but Will preferred not to take chances.
Black Annis’s situation was bad. She was confronted by a huge Ogre who moved faster than a flying arrow. And by a demon whose basic speed was so high that its moves were barely perceptible.
As the pets distracted the witch, keeping her within the skill’s range, Will took out the Prison Chains and, thanking Lady Fortune, put them on the other two counts.
The Emperor was silent. No messages popping up to tell him whether his plan had worked. To find it out, he had to destroy the hag first.
Many members of the audience remembered Will summoning the Ogre during Round One, and their shock back then. Many knew about Hade. But when the two appeared on the walls along with a bear-like monster, they couldn’t believe their eyes. Three! Three pets and a time-freezing skill?! Wasn’t that too much for a single player? Where the hell was this guy playing?
The witch was running around l
ike a cornered rat. Even though she was outnumbered, she’d sometimes dodge an attack as if she could predict them. Her own skills were really weird: for example, her stunning and HP-deducing banshee-like screams. Or the summoned skinned, dead children (probably killed and flayed by the witch’s own hands) that would scurry about, dripping with blood, then stick to an enemy and explode, doing great damage. The ground, smeared with their blood, would catch fire, causing lasting debuffs.
Will observed the battle from the side, occasionally dodging stray attacks. The battle was spectacular; even more so because it was being fought by NPCs. With his hands gripping the sword and the dagger, Will was making sure that the witch wasn’t trying to escape. He watched her HP bar and the skill’s countdown.
Three minutes left.
I shouldn’t have worried that much. Why haven’t I done this before?
Actually, he had been saving this skill for the finale, but the desperate situation he had found himself in called for desperate measures. Fortunately, Dancing of Time would be usable before his meeting with Insanity.
He was still waiting for the perfect opportunity to strike and use the last Prison Chain in his inventory. It’d take no more than a couple of seconds to apply them.
Black Annis didn’t seem like she was going to surrender. Grinning broadly, she moved over the battlefield like a creeping fog…
…and made a mistake.
When her HP was down to twenty-four thousand, she made an abrupt spin, targeting Hade with another of her skills. But to use it, she had to stop – which was just the opening that Raven needed. The Chains snapped close around the hag’s wrists, but he received no message again.
“Looks like his plan was perfect,” Katharine commented.
Mollie couldn’t agree more. Although no one believed any of the players would be able to kill the counts within the given time, Raven managed to surprise them yet again with his skill.
“Let’s see if it works. Hopefully, it won’t expire, leaving him face to face with the witch...”
“…and his citizens without protection.”
Will understood his situation. Now that the witch couldn’t defend herself, he and the pets kept attacking her. Soon, her dead body fell to his feet. But that was just the beginning. After searching the dead hag and retrieving his Prison Chains and the loot, he sent his squad on the remaining two counts.
As he attacked Fenrir, he saw something weird: over the thirty-foot patch of land where time was frozen, a countdown was ticking mercilessly.
One and a half minutes.
Having gulped down an energy potion, Will continued to land more and more blows to the paralyzed monster and, with the help of his pets, soon set a record for killing a count-ranked monster. But, unfortunately, his skill expired. When he leaned over Fenrir’s corpse to collect the loot, Dancing of Time was over, leaving his squad alone with the enemy.
All monsters stared at them. The trampling of hundreds of limbs coming from all around caused the air to buzz with the stench of despair and defeat.
All in vain. Shit.
…but it lasted for only a couple of seconds. When Will leaned down to remove the Chains from Krokhrokh, the blare of a trumpet came and all mobs began to dissolve into the air.
Raven slowly lowered his weapons and took a disbelieving look around.
I did it? I did it. I did it!
The hand clutching the dagger shot up in triumph, and his lips curled into a smile. He won! He won another battle! Victory had been hanging on a fine thread, but he had won.
Coming out of thin air were Julia’s and Kurt’s voices who were doing their best to cover all of the battles.
Out of the forty players, twenty-one had already been eliminated. Those who were left standing wondered how that would affect the selection procedure. Would the initial plan be followed? Or would it only be the survivors who would pass into the next round? The audience was asking the same questions, but no answer was to come until the round’s completion.
Chapter 255. In Limbo
C ongratulations! You have completed The Siege early.
You are automatically enrolled into Round Four. It will begin two days after The Siege is over.
You may leave the arena, or spectate.
You get a temporary skill: Teleportation
Will called off the pets and took a look at the skill menu before closing the message. The new skill’s icon had been added to the hotbar, next to the old ones. He would’ve stayed to spectate, study other people’s skills, and come up with a viable strategy against them all if he weren’t feeling exhausted.
I’ll have to confront them sooner or later. But, unfortunately, not today.
Once he thought about leaving the arena, he got teleported to his Floor and into Emin’s office. The clock showed twenty minutes to midnight. After a brief thought, he headed for Nanel’s room with the intention of asking her not to leave for the city in the morning, but to stay in the palace to meet him. The matter he wanted to discuss was the steps she should take, as the queen, in his absence. He hadn’t thought of it during the past stages, and he was determined to make up for the lost time.
Nanel no longer had to be guarded as all possible ways into the palace were blocked by groups of three guards whose task was to apply the detecting powder on everyone coming in or out.
Since he had exposed the Swarm’s spies in a rather cruel way, and introduced the practice of sudden visits into homes to check the true identity of their occupants, no other spy had been identified – although a group of Latians had. Each of them was imprisoned, thoroughly checked, put on a special list, and released. Their neighbors were strictly prohibited from harassing them as any sign of hostility toward them would be punished.
Will had spent much of the treasury’s gold for this purpose, and thus hoped that his investment would be worth it. He hadn’t gotten this plan approved by his sister, though. When he had mentioned it to her in passing, she lectured him on the need to discuss such serious decisions with her before going through with them.
Knock-knock.
He received no answer. The silence was unnerving. Touching his ring, he pulled out his dagger and lock picks, applied Picklock (just in case), and slowly opened the door.
Nanel was sprawled on the bed, her chest rising and falling as she breathed in restless slumber.
Right... It’s late...
Sheathing his weapon, he closed the door and looked around. Blades. Sets of armor. The practice dummy. Everything was in perfect order as always.
He decided not to wake his wife. Instead, he found a sheet of paper on Nanel’s desk and wrote her a note: “I’ll be back in the morning. Raven.” Then he glanced at the grated window and, pressing Exit, vanished into thin air.
***
The second day of Round Three came to an end, as did the career of everyone else but the following four players: White Raven, Perdition, Crimson Berserker, and Alien Body.
While Raven had already passed into Round Four, the other three had another day of fighting ahead of them. None of them was sure if they would survive it. They had managed to get through the second day thanks to their skills and abilities, but, unfortunately, neither of them had as pets as powerful as Raven’s, or Prison Chains, or his skills.
The players demanded answers, but the devs were as silent as ever, which provoked even more heated discussions. The rules didn’t mention what would happen when none of the players were able to keep fighting, which was why everyone was excited to see the beginning of day three.
In the morning, the Rollin’ Dice’s highest-standing members met at a large table in one of the clan’s restaurants. They had also come together in the two past days to come up with a winning strategy for Perdition. As the clan had many wealthy and influential members, they brought with them actual military officers with real-life experience whom they had hired as consultants.
“We have a rather complicated task at hand.” The table lapsed into silence as Kingmaker spoke.
“To survive another day.”
Mollie had come a long way to become the leader she now was: a brilliant strategist that had earned the respect of much older and more seasoned people than herself. Her start had been influenced by her parents. When she had been only taking her first steps in the game, no one but a few would follow her until a rumor had spread that she was a Houns, a member of the family who owned the monopoly in VR capsule development. But before long, those who had joined her clan in hope of getting the best gear and equipment paid by a rich brat’s money (and actually got it) had also come to appreciate her worth as a pro gamer and dependable leader.
“In all honesty,” Perdition said pessimistically as she glanced at her glass of sweet green wine that could restore HP. “I don’t think I can do it. My walls are broken. I have only five hundred soldiers left alive, and I’ve already used my best skills. I need a miracle to keep my citizens alive.” She looked up at Mollie and heaved a sigh. She hated to disappoint her friend for whom a victory in this tournament meant so much more than for Perdition herself.
“I disagree,” an elderly man in military uniform said as he finished familiarizing himself with the details of the situation. And although he hadn’t attended any of the past meetings, he was a seasoned gamer ready to share his expert opinion.
The former colonel of French military intelligence closed the window with information on Perdition’s character and short videos of the past battles. He crossed his arms and stared down at the table.
“The situation is really bad, yes, but there’s still a chance to rescue some of the civilians. Actually, it’s the only solution I can see here.” His voice was calm and reasonable as if he were reporting to his seniors. No one interrupted him. “It’s risky, but it’s the best shot you have at winning.”
“We’re all ears,” Kingmaker said, tensing up. She had tried to come up with a solution many times, but found none.