Chapter 8
To the Victor goes the Spoils
The second and third matches of the Under 140 Valhares Tournament were less eventful. A Thief beat a Priest and Knight beat a paladin. Some relatively flashy skills were used but the players themselves lacked real skill in Ryuu's eyes.
"We shall now begin the fourth match of the Under 140. The level 119 Ranger Lilith against...... Umm... One moment.." The announcer went over to one of the judges and after nodding, he continued, "I've just confirmed this is not a typo, Lilith's opponent is the level 88 monk Ryuu! And what's more, this is his first tournament!"
The crowd didn't seem overly enthusiastic about Ryuu's appearance. His gi was standard issue and nothing about him seemed interesting.
One of the judges cast dispel on Ryuu before he entered the ring, and another cast it on the Ranger. They stood at opposite sides of the ring and Lilith took out a short bow.
"Let the match Begin!"
Ryuu sprinted towards the Ranger, but her speed in loading and firing was faster. Ryuu dodged best he could but still ended up with two arrows in his shoulder. He watched her eyes to see where she was aiming to predict the trajectory of the arrows, but suddenly she turned to fire at his left. Then towards his right. At first Ryuu thought they would obviously miss, but the arrow's path curved in mid-air and struck his legs.
Movement Speed Reduced by 17%
"Ohh! Just when it looked like the Monk was dodging the arrows, Lilith used Sidewinder to shoot his legs! Is this the end for the Monk?!"
Ryuu calmed himself down and slowly walked forward. Having taken four arrows from someone forty levels higher than himself, Ryuu's health had dropped by over three thousand. Almost half his health. But he felt what he got was worth more than what he paid.
"The monk shows no fear approaching the ranger."
Ryuu watched every millimeter of movement from Lilith's bow and arrow while being hit, he now knew her tells. Ryuu continued forward, and put one arm up, palm facing the ranger.
This seemed to piss her off. She let loose two more arrows right at Ryuu's head.
Ryuu moved his hand half a centimeter into position, right next to where the arrow would pass, and at the last instant he twisted his hand, making contact with the arrow's shaft and tilting its trajectory an inch off. The arrow passed Ryuu's outstretched arm, its path diverted, and missed his ear by a hair's breath. The same happened with the second arrow.
"What! Lilith's Double Shot has been diverted! And with only his outstretched Hand!"
Changing the course required taking a portion the impact with his hand, something that did cause damage, but far less than actually taking the arrow.
Ryuu's opponent faltered. Then took up her bow again. She aimed it to hit around Ryuu's hand but Ryuu moved it to always be in the path of the arrow. She tried firing Sidewinder, but Ryuu predicted its path as well.
Lilith put away her short bow and took out the sword from her scabbard.
"Lilith is switching to Close combat folks, the monk still has arrows sticking out of his legs, who will emerge Victorious is anyone's guess!"
Her sword shined for a moment before she slashed at Ryuu. He activated Battle forms to used the sword dodging motions he recorded in the skill.
"Woah! Even slowed, even at such a level gap, the Monk Ryuu is holding his own against Lilith!"
Ryuu was tempted to use disarm, but if she retreated back after losing her sword she could out wait him and win because of she had yet to take any damage. Also he needed to win 'Flashy' if he wanted his martial school to become well known. He decided to treat this not as a match, but an exhibition, and show the audience a few interesting moves.
Ryuu ducked beneath an attack and moved to her side, when she turned and attacked once more he then moved to her other side. After that he turned around and walked away. Lilith moved to strike his back, but her legs gave way and she collapsed.
"What is this? Lilith fell down, What happened?!"
Ryuu was the only one in the stadium who knew the answer. While moving to her side, he struck two points, one in her thigh and one in her abdomen with his elbow. The strike was precise but soft. She likely thought the impact was just him brushing past her. He did the same to her other side. When she moved to attack him after he turned his back, the muscles in her pelvis locked up, causing her to stumble forward and collapse.
Ryuu was still walking slowly away when she recovered and got back up. She charged forward to the back of her opponent, but Ryuu turned, caught her arm, and threw her. It was a simple throw that would not cause much damage, but she realized too late that Ryuu had been walking to the edge of the ring, and the throw sent her beyond the boundaries of the match.
She landed with a sound thud.
"Unbelievable! The monk has taken the victory!"
A pair of priests met him and healed him health back to full. Ryuu moved to the edge of the arena's inner wall to sit and watch the next match.
He didn't have to wait long. The mage Zack defeated the thief in under two minutes in a show of extreme force.
The next match was his own against a knight. The winner would face Zack in the finals.
"Next is the level 119 Knight Galfor against the level 88 Monk Ryuu. Will the monk be able to pull off another miracle, or will the Knight's strength force the Monk into submission?!"
The knight wore cloth armor beneath leather armor beneath a full plate armor. In his right hand was a spear, his left, a shield. He likely had the highest physical defense of the whole bracket, even a dozen Aura strengthened Ki strikes would not be enough to faze him. If Ryuu wanted to win, he had to either deal more damage than he received, or get the knight out of the ring.
Ryuu took a stance and approached cautiously. He decided on the former since he used the latter in the previous match. Besides, Ryuu had trained with every weapon there is so he could in turn teach their use to his students. He knew quite a bit about how to survive against a spear.
The knight took a long step forward and thrust his spear at Ryuu in an attack that covered two and a half meters in an instant. But Ryuu had been expecting it, he ducked beneath the tip and followed it back when the knight pulled it back.
"Ryuu has closed the gap between them!"
Ryuu struck the side of the Knight's pelvis with his elbows. The strength of the attack was a bit higher because it was apart of his Battle Forms skill, but the knight barely felt it.
The knight spun his spear to swipe at Ryuu, but it missed and Ryuu moved the the knight's back while hitting away.
Overall the knight would have a higher Agility than Ryuu, but the armor slowed him too much so the fleet footed Ryuu was faster.
When he figured he couldn't catch up to Ryuu, the knight resorted to Area of effect Skills, or AoE skills. He locked his spear beneath his arm and spun around in an attack that damages everything within two meters of the user.
"And Galfor uses the Spear skill Twister! But Ryuu jumped back just in time and took no damage!"
Ryuu covered his arms in aura and used repeated Ki strikes on the Knight. Galfor could only stand there and take it, Twister rendered the user immobile for two seconds after use.
For the next eight minutes Ryuu treated the audience to a splendid showing of David versus Goliath, dodging attacks by the slightest of margins without retreating while landing blows of his own.
Although the knight's health never reached the 1/2 mark, Ryuu had come out unscathed.
"The match is over! Winning with 100% of his health intact is the monk Ryuu!"
The audience cheered loudly. Although the fight was inefficient, those who watched were thoroughly entertained.
"There will be a five minute break, and then, The finals of the Under 140! Who will win?! The level 138 mage and last tournament's Under 140 champion Zack, or the miracle Monk with astounding ability, the level 88 Ryuu?!"
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A shaman was brought to cast a spell that recovers both Ryuu's stamina and Ki, after which he returned to the ring.
"And without further ado. Let the Match Begin!"
Ryuu charged forward, but Zack cast Firewall between them. He had advanced the skill so high his cast time was as low as explosion.
"And before Ryuu can get in range Zack draws a firewall between them. We've seen first hand what happens to those who try to cross it, and without armor the level 88 monk can do nothing but stand there!"
Zack cast another fire spell and five flaming darts shot through the fire wall, two of them hit.
“And just like his previous match, Zack casts Fire Arrow through the firewall to attack his opponent. Wait! What’s this? The Monk is Glowing Red!”
Ryuu had activated his aura and used Aurora to change it to red. This changed some of the nonphysical damage his aura did to fire damage and increased his own resistance to fire magic. The fire magic hurt but the two shots didn’t even take a quarter of his health. Ryuu rushed through the fire itself, and emerged on the other side, taking only minor damage.
“THE MONK HAS JUMPED THROUGH THE FIRE WALL!! THIS IS UNBELIEVABLE!”
The look on the mage’s face was priceless but he was already casting another spell. A pillar of fire spouted up from beneath Ryuu as the fire wall behind him died out. The damage from the spell was reduced but almost a quarter of his health had been lost.
The mage ran away, trying to get distance between them while casting his spells. Ryuu chased, but fire pillars erupted between them, he tried to go around, but more popped up every time.
“Zack still has the upper hand! Thanks to the skill, Spell Loop, he can cast the same spell over and over again with lower casting speed.”
Another fire pillar erupted, this one too close to dodge completely, Ryuu’s health dropped below 50% from the damage.
DING DING*
“The monk’s Health has dropped to half his maximum. Will you forfeit or continue?”
Ryuu sighed. He really didn’t want to do this, but he had no other choice. He walked over to the announcer standing at the edge of the ring.
“Oh? Is the monk going to call it quits?”
Ryuu stoped at the edge and put his hand over it. The announcer approached and took what Ryuu gave him, four rings. Ryuu said, “Hold onto those, I’m continuing the match.”
As Ryuu watched back into the arena, the announcer examined the rings.
“What? WHAT?! HAVE?! Have you been wearing these the Entire Time?!”
His words echoed across the stadium, causing a great deal of interest.
Ryuu turned back and nodded.
The announcer pulled out a sheet of paper and examined it before saying into the magic microphone, “Ladies and gentlemen, Ryuu has just handed me four rings. According to this, he registered them yesterday to wear for the tournament. There was no rule against them. These are Atlas Rings of Restraint. Each curses the wearer to increase the body’s weight by 50%, and Ryuu had four! That means, until this point, Ryuu has been fighting while his body weighed three times its normal mass!!”
Zack shouted at the top of his lungs in protest. “What?! Why were those allowed?”
The announcer answered back, “The rules state that any item deemed to give an unfair advantage is illegal. And although having greater weight increases the power of some attacks, the downside was too great to be considered ‘Unfair,’ no matter how many he wore. The match will continue!”
The audience’s interest was focused solely on Ryuu, though he still regretted having to take off the rings. He felt it was a breach of his training, but this mage deserved his full abilities, and he would get them.
In front of the whole audience, Ryuu leaned forward like he was about to fall down, then disappeared. Those in the upper stands only saw the next motion because he was still in view, but in the instant they lost sight of him Ryuu had punched Zack in the gut, flooring the mage.
Ding Ding*
“What! Did anyone see what just happened?! Was that a skill? Ryuu got in his first hit and more than half of Zack’s health vanished!”
Ryuu wanted to end it in one hit, but the Tournament had protection cast on each player that prevented one hit kills before they had a chance to forfeit.
The announcer said, “Zack, do you wish to give up?”
“Hell No!”
“Then let the Match Continue!”
Zack cast what Ryuu was pretty was Mana shield, now Ryuu would probably have to deal anywhere between eight and fourteen thousand damage to kill Zack, but death was never what he sought in a match.
Ryuu walked forward, his aura shining like fresh blood around him in what was likely a menacing sight. Zack cast fire arrow, homing fire balls, inferno tower, and flamethrower, but all of it either appeared to have little effect or was completely dodged by Ryuu’s new found speed.
It wasn’t classified as a buff, but when a body weighed down suddenly become immensely lighter, the body becomes faster for about five minutes, much faster. In game, this equated to something like a cheat code, and although Ryuu would be faster anyways without the rings, after having just taken them off he was under the effect of the lightened load state of body, and that speed could not be compared to his speed with or without the rings on.
The mage eventually cast Fire wall again, but this one was thicker and burned hotter. He likely poured all his mana into it to make a few layers on top of one another. Ryuu didn’t look like it from the outside, but he had taken massive damage from the Mage’s attacks, he could not survive breaking through such a dense wall of fire. Not that he needed to.
Ryuu ran up and leaped four meters into the air, over the fire wall and right next to Zack. Before Zack could say or cast anything, Ryuu picked him up by the robe and threw him out of the ring.
“That’s It! The Finals is Over! With an amazing show of acrobatics, the level 88 monk Ryuu has triumphed over the level 138 mage Zack and has become the Champion of the Under 140!”
You have become Champion of the Under 140 Varhales Tournament.
Fame +150
You have earned the Title: Underdog Champion
Stats increased by 10% against foes 40 levels or more above your own.
Fame +200
The audience roared in applause, something that made Ryuu a bit embarrassed. He went to the announcer and retrieved his rings which he then re-equipped.
After three more hours and two more brackets, the Varhales tournament ended, and Ryuu stood next to the other champions. Each of the four champions received a prize for winning, Ryuu’s prize for the Under 140 was a pair of bracers that increased strength by 80, though the level requirement was 120.
“And now, will the audience please choose their favorite Champion to receive the special prize!”
By a show of applause, the audience had chosen Ryuu.
“And There you have it! Ryuu has the lowest level among the winners and this is his first competition, but that just goes to show you that Anything can Happen! I hope to see you all back for the next tournament!”
The special prize was handed to him afterwards, it was a pair of earrings that increases magic defense by 15%, and had a level requirement of 100.
Ryuu found out only later that the grade of Tournament prizes was always exceedingly high, and that if he sold the bracers and earrings, he could make as much as 22,000 gold pieces.
?Chapter 9 Nearwood Forest
?Chapter 7 The Varhales Tournament
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