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Chapter 29: Friends and Foes
Truth be told, Makoto saw a lot of strange creatures in the Labyrinth.
The Undead Mummy had only been the beginning, soon enough he encountered a strange deer sized Dog with two heads.
Failed Crossbreed: lvl 23
It was quite disturbing reading its name as it was called a 'failure' even by the game itself.
Fighting the giant dog was not too hard, his 'Bleed' had a pretty good effect on it.
During all of this there was always this voice inside of him he tried to suppress, telling him to do grotesque and disturbing things but Makoto ignored it as best as he could.
Banging his own head against the nearby wall, a ringing sound filled his ears, drowning out the whispers of carnage and madness.
The more he fought, the louder the whispers got.
Slowly but surely his actions got crueler, slicing deeper, giving the creatures more pain.
After shoving his hand down into a Labyrinth Boars throat and pulling out its tongue with his bare hands the whispers subsided and disappeared.
He was bathed in blood when he found himself again, holding a soft piece of flesh in his hands that he dropped to the floor, disgusted and confused.
Makoto was close to level 21 now but he could only remember a few moments of the last few hours inside the Labyrinth.
Real concern clouded his mind and he clenched his fists.
It was frustrating going through all of this again, experiencing everything like he was a stranger in his own body.
Sighing deeply, Makoto continued down the maze, one look at his map showed that he was deep inside the first floor, a zigzagging path lay behind and in front of him now.
The different Tasks he accepted still had not been completed so he ran through the maze, not looking for the exit but rather for things to fight.
Soon enough he encountered another new enemy.
Lizardman: lvl 24
Just like their name said they were humanoid lizards, having a short piece of cloth around them and wielding chipped stone blades.
The first group he encountered numbered only 3.
His incredible regeneration and reactions saved him as these lizardmen were quite quick and agile with their weapons.
He really could feel the difference in the Artificial Intelligence of these Monsters as their fighting style an behavior got better with every single level.
In a short time he was in a fierce battle with an especially witty lizardman.
Fighting against two small daggers and quick hands with only one sword was no easy feat.
After nearly 10 minutes he was able to duck under two quick stabs and rammed his sword into the things heart.
Looking at the dead body disappearing before him, Makoto had some real doubts if he was even fighting a simple AI anymore.
Every battle took time and a certain toll on his mind now.
The Tasks he had accepted seemed to stretch endlessly as the fights got harder the deeper he went into the first floor.
Soon enough the walls widened and he was fighting more and more enemies.
10 Lizardman at the same time turned out to be one of the hardest battles he ever fought, his Sword was constantly on the move, wielding it sometimes with one and to block heavier attacks with two, a hurricane of blades started to fly around him while he dodged through many deadly strikes.
With his eyes close to the back of his head like he was in a trance, Makoto made precise steps in every which direction while his arms flayed around him, wielding his sword like a madman.
Lizardman tails, hands and heads got chopped off one after the other while they hacked at him from every side, trapping him in a circle of steel.
A wide smile was visible on his face while blood splattered on the ground.
He even went as far as biting the neck of one of the lizardman and the taste of iron entered his mouth when he pulled his head away, the poor creature held its gushing neck, trying to stop the life essence from leaving it forever.
With a somewhat finality it broke down on the ground, a hand still pressed on the throat and Makoto's eyes returned to their original position.
Spitting out the mouthful of blood, a confused and frightened black haired player with red eyes found himself again.
It was getting worse.
A lot worse, but he had to fight it.
Steeling his will and piecing back his mind he looked around himself, corpses littered the floor and his whole body ached, countless wounds were healing at a rapid pace because of his 'Blood Rejuvenation' but still, the pain remained the same.
Wiping the vile blood away from the corners of his mouth, Makoto went deeper into the unknown.
At some point he noticed the group that followed him.
In a way he had expected to meet another player a lot sooner but instead of meeting randomly, this group shadowed him, without showing themselves even after running behind him for more than 10 minutes.
After a few moments, Makoto's eyes suddenly widened.
Just like always he had equipped his ring before entering combat but he was still wearing it so if they were following him and he wore this ring...
Bounty Hunters.
Turning around as fast as possible he looked behind himself and pulled off the ring.
It was not clear if they could kill him or not, they were inside a Dungeon but at the same time still inside the city walls so the question if combat between players was allowed could be difficult to answer.
Grasping his sword with both hands and looking at the group that was hiding behind a corners bend, Makoto shouted towards them.
"Show yourselves! I know that you are there so stop hiding like little thieves!"
His own words echoed between the walls and soon enough, a group of 3 players came into sight.
One of them Makoto recognized right away because of the gigantic crossbow on his back.
"Zergoon?"
A shocked look was on the mans face as he looked at him.
"Well color me surprised, I guess your name is not Blake after all, Makoto was it?"
Zergoon said while throwing his long ponytail behind his back.
"Yeah... sorry about that I guess. I didn't really trust anyone back then."
Makoto was more than a bit embarrassed at the current situation, he had not imagined to meet the Archer here of all places but odder things have happened before so he decided to see it as good luck.
"So I'm guessing you are also here on a Task? Who are your friends?"
He said while pointing at Zergoon's two companions.
"Oh, right. These are Feramish and Alastasia, we party together from time to time."
A male in black robes and a female in heavy platemail nodded towards Makoto and then walked off a good distance, maybe to give him and Zergoon some privacy after meeting in a place like this.
"Are you also going to join the Tournament?"
He decided to ask to keep the conversation running, it was a bit awkward as Zergoon was practically nailing him down with his stare alone.
"No, not really interested, man can I ask what your class is? I wasn't really able to read it when that weird box thing was floating above your head before but I am a bit curious to be honest. Seems like it's got some kick is all."
Still filled with a little guilt for lying to Zergoon, Makoto complied and told him the name of his class and a few small details about his Skills as an apology of sorts.
"That has a pretty sweat ring to it, 'Crimson Warrior' thats a lot better than my rare class, 'Bolt Thrower' sounds stupid as hell if you ask me."
Zergoon said, a little frown on his face.
"'Bolt Thrower'? Is that why you can equip such a big Crossbow that it's like you are carrying a small Ballista on your back? Well some people compensate they say."
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
Makoto jokingly said and Zergoon smacked his shoulder with a laugh.
It was like the gap between them had been filled again and they talked about what they went through until now, Makoto decided to share with him about what happened with Shivercliff and the Blood Moon Cult, Zergoon listened with a grim face and put a hand on his shoulder at some point during all of that.
"Listen brother, I'm gonna add you to my friends-list, you seem to be running into quite a bit of trouble all the time.
If you ever need me just message me alright?"
He nodded and Zergoon told him about his adventures after doing like he said.
Apparently he had been on the Caravan to the Capital like before when an army of bandits raided the entire thing.
Many players got captured together with the NPCs and only a few escaped.
He told Makoto that he was rotting in a cell for nearly two days when all the players finally managed to overtake their jailers.
After freeing everyone and killing all the bandits, they resumed their journey to the Capital, a lot more vigilant against attacks this time.
When they finally arrived in Elisante, Zergoon started to go to the Labyrinth every day since while exploring the gigantic city in his free time.
"Zergoon! Let's get a move on, I still want to get back in time to see some fights at the Colosseum!"
Alastasia shouted from afar and motioned Zergoon with one hand.
Makoto knew it was time to say goodbye so he smiled and stretched out his arm.
"See you soon friend, may the Divines guide your bolts."
"You sound like one of those damned NPCs already, did you fry your brain in the sun or something? Anyways, see you soon brother."
Shaking his hand with a crooked smile, Zergoon ran off to his group.
Makoto opened his menu and looked at the time, he had a bit more than 3 hours to apply for the Tournament before it officially started.
Deciding that it was time to leave, Makoto sheathed his sword and threw one last glance to the corner where Zergoon and his party had disappeared to.
"See you soon...brother."
…..
After navigating through the first floor with the help of his map, Makoto finally ascended the long stairs back up to the bustling and hot city.
On a whim he opened his friends-list and messaged Lilliana and Sanja, to his surprise, Lillaina replied nearly right away.
-What do you want?-
-Can I not just say hello?-
-You write for the first time to me and all you want to say is hello, Makoto?-
-Alright alright, no need to get your tits in a twist.-
-My what?! Jesus you are such a pig do you know that?-
-And you are a beauty with a fine ass, can we get this along now?-
-...Fine...what do you want Makoto?-
-I wanted to ask when you would be arriving in Elisante, I thought maybe you, me and Sanja could party up like old times and explore the Labyrinth together.-
-Well if you stop being such a jerk I might consider it.-
-So instead of saying rude things you want me to do rude things to you instead?-
-Asshole-
-Yes I have one and so do you if I remember correctly? Anyways, yes or no Lilly?-
-Alright, I don't think Sanja will mind and we would need a Warrior anyways for a Dungeon so why not, but no more comments about my private parts or I swear I will roast your fucking balls, you got me?-
-Jesus, calm down and yes I got you, understood Madam.
I shall only mention your fine behind then.-
-...You are playing a dangerous game boy...-
-And you are playing along so let me have my fun, you know I don't mean it Lilly.-
-…-
-Anyways, do you know when you guys will be here?-
-We should arrive in 5 ingame days if everything goes right, traveled a bit too far north and it is the beginning of a new week so together with calculating work we should be in Elisante in maybe 3 real days.-
-Hurry up please, a whorehouse can not pleasure me forever you know.-
-WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY YOU LI-
Closing the chat window, Makoto couldn't help but smile.
How he loved teasing that girl from time to time.
Naturally he was always careful never to go too far but for some reason the occasional joke slipped from his lips, or fingers in this case.
In a way it calmed his mind, even after telling her he was only joking, the things he said were not necessarily only lies.
After what happened with Loren he had started to see other options except Veronica, naturally he was only joking around with Lilly and his heart still belonged to someone else but he was aware now, awake to the world around him.
The Journey to the Colosseum was surprisingly uneventful.
Even from afar he could already see the enormous crowd and even longer line for applicants.
Joining the back of it all, Makoto looked up and saw the massive colosseum towering high above him.
It was made completely out of white marble and the sunlight itself seemed to reflect off it as if it was one big mirror.
Already seeing a few white dots in his vision, he decided to focus on the people before him and slowly put one step before the other as the line got smaller.
He had to wait over an hour until it was his turn.
"Name?"
"Makoto."
"Alright, here is your number, go through that gate and wait with the rest of the lot until your number is called up."
The man behind the counter said while pointing behind him.
With a quick nod he followed the other people inside the colosseum until he arrived in a big hall with tables and chairs all around, an incredible amount of players was already packed inside of this spacious hall.
Happy to be able to sit after standing around for such a long time, Makoto chose a chair at the back of the hall.
Quite a lot of eyes followed him when he crossed the room, his equipment drew a good bit of attention.
The number of players was pretty high, there was probably 5 thousand players packed inside of this one waiting room right now but it was not as many as there could have been.
As far as he understood it, at the beginning there would be 16 matches held at the same time to weed out the weaker players and so the whole Tournament would not take over a week.
In the Quarterfinals, 4 matches at a time would be held and in the Semi-finals only 1 match at a time, so the crowd could really enjoy a good fight.
All in all the whole thing could take more than two ingame days, that was 16 hours real life time. If it took that long he would have to stay at home from College for the day.
Steeling his nerves for the coming battles while checking out the competition, Makoto waited.
And he waited quite a while.
Boredom quickly took over while he occasionally looked at the piece of paper in his hand with the number 4635 on it to make sure he did not mishear it whenever a number was shouted from one of the NPCs.
After over an hour of sitting around, a sudden shout made him nearly jump out of his chair.
"Well look who we have here! An old friend!"
Recognizing the voice right away, Makoto turned his head slowly towards the man in full armor who had spoken.
The same old arrogant smile was on his face together with an arrogant look in the mans eyes to go along with it.
Eyes he had not yet forgotten...
"...Drake"
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