One TELEPORT later, Bloodstorm was flying over the landscape, Duke closing in on a single Contestant he had targeted. This one had appeared and disappeared from his DUNGEON SIGHT a few times which intrigued him. Duke closed in on where he had las spotted the Contestant and took up a position a good five hundred meters back and above the spot. His senses, tuned, he waited.
It took about an hour before his target appeared, emerging from a cave opening beneath Duke with a burst of energy that Duke instantly recognized as the energy signature of a dungeon portal. A thrill ran down Duke’s spine as he examined the Contestant.
The creature was a quadruped with a human torso extending upwards from the front of its body – a centaur. The creature had several significant wounds all over its body. It was wearing armor that was ripped and torn in several places, corresponding with its bloody wounds. Duke’s IDENTIFY Ability kicked in as he observed the creature.
*** You have encountered Barmak, a centaur Contestant. Your ranking is not high enough to get you any more information on this individual. ***
Duke growled in frustration at his Ability being next to useless and he prepared to attack. A wounded foe should prove an easy target. It doesn’t feel right but in this world it is necessary. Duke’s thoughts were interrupted by the centaur shouting up towards him.
“If you think I can’t see you floating there in your mech, you are sorely mistaken. And if you think you can actually hurt me, you are even more mistaken. The only reason you still live is that I do not kill Contestants while away from my team. Now go away before I have to break my own rule.”
Duke liked the arrogance of the centaur, but he didn’t have time to pass up this opportunity. He responded with a testing bolt of LIGHTNING. It was the “stock” version of his Adept-Ranked Ability, only set to do about 25,000 damage. The bolt struck the centaur and arced over his body, draining into the ground.
“That is your opening shot? Not even worth wasting my time. Go away before the rest of my team come out of the dungeon and I am forced to tear you apart.”
Before Duke could do anything else, six more centaurs emerged from the portal that Duke recognized as indeed being a dungeon entrance. He was now outnumbered and still didn’t know his opponent’s real strength.
Fuck it. Time to see just how far I can push my limits.
“Six on one. That almost seems fair,” Duke took the most arrogant “young master” tone he could muster.
“Looks like we have some more points waiting for us. Come on down and give us your points and we won’t kill you, fool.”
“Oh, I like this game. Let’s play!”
They did not hesitate or give Duke the chance to back up his words, instead launching themselves into action. The largest of the centaurs shot into the air, streaking for Duke like a missile. Simultaneously, a cage of force began to form around Duke to hold him in place and several attacks struck. This team moved as one, their actions decisive and practiced.
The centaur’s strike hit Bloodstorm dead-center of its chest plate with a deeply resounding thoom, pushing the mech against the web of force that held it in place. Duke felt the impact through the mech’s sensors – it exceeded anything he had felt during his entire time training.
Who the fuck are these guys? That was all Duke was able to think before he felt Bloodstorm’s armor crack. Nope, not fucking allowing that to happen!
Duke unleashed a massively OVERCHANNELED blast of SOULFIRE into the torso of the centaur punching its way through his mech. Fifty million Mana later, the centaur was falling back to the ground screaming in anguish as its blackened internal organs came spilling out of the hole burnt through its chest.
He had no time to take satisfaction in his surprise attack as Duke was assaulted by different attacks ranging from projectiles that moved at such high velocity that they punched right through the mech’s armor to the force web constricting down heavily, nearly immobilizing the mech, to a psychic attack that tried to enslave Duke’s mind.
While all this went on, he saw the centaur he had put down receive an extremely powerful healing spell from the one centaur who had not been attacking. In less than a second, the centaur’s wounds were healing, and he was beginning to stir.
Take out the healer first. New plan. Bloodstorm is still holding up to all this punishment but I’m going to have to RESTORE if this keeps up.
The easiest attack for Duke to ignore was the psychic one with his massive Psyche. He was able to pinpoint which centaur it was coming from, and he decided to leave that one for last. His first priority was the healer. Using his REMOTE CASTING Ability, he unleashed a focused beam of LIGHT into the back of the healer’s head.
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The flash of light was extremely bright, causing all the centaurs to pause. Duke paused as well, but in surprise rather than stunned by the flash. The healer was unharmed, having been protected by some sort of protective barrier. Duke cursed and started tossing blasts of FLAME around himself, keeping them OVERCHANNELED by a million Mana each. With his regen, he could fire off two of those every second and still keep a positive on his Mana regen. So, that’s what he did.
Again, his attacks were interrupted by protective barriers, flames jetting off in random directions. Duke felt his frustration heighten as he activated RESTORE to repair Bloodstorm. Then, he opened up with the mech’s weapon systems. Vermilion beams of death erupted across the battlefield. Heavy projectiles launched themselves, exploding with tremendous force, and a wave of force erupted spherically, shattering the restraints that had been holding the mech.
Then the fight truly began. His foes were fast and effective, attacking him from unexpected angles and with a large variety of weapons, Spells, and Abilities. Duke, for his part, found himself having to use the mech’s capabilities more than his own due to the vast amount of Mana needed for his Abilities to penetrate their barriers. His Ability to RESTORE Bloodstorm was a matter of complete frustration to his opponents but their Ability to shield and heal themselves was a perfect counter.
After hours of fighting, the centaurs did something that Duke had not expected in the least but made for a smart tactical move on their part. They hit Duke with a fully-concentrated assault that gave them a second to act while he recovered. They took that second and retreated back into the dungeon. It was a dungeon they had run hundreds of times and knew intimately. They knew the dangers of this dungeon inside and out and with that knowledge, they were going to set up the perfect ambush if he dared to follow them in.
Duke, after RESTORING Bloodstorm and seeing the last centaur run into the dungeon entrance laughed uncontrollably as he approached the entrance. “Oh, this is about perfect. Stalemate is about to be checkmate!”
He placed his hand on the dungeon entrance portal which allowed him to extend his DUNGEON SENSE into the dungeon itself. In a matter of seconds, he knew everything about the dungeon and where the centaurs had gone within it. He considered his options for a moment before heading in himself.
The entrance was a large cavern with plenty of space to set up a camp. It was designated as a safe zone which corresponded nicely. Duke grinned as he started manipulating the dungeon. The first thing out of the ordinary that he noticed was that the dungeon was a Tier 10 which made some aspects more difficult for him to manipulate – it seemed the Tier difference mattered. It did not prevent him from manipulating the dungeon as his Master-ranked Ability was designed just for this purpose; it merely called for additional effort to make the changes he desired.
His first move was to create an identical party of centaurs right down to the Spells, equipment, and Abilities he had observed over their extended battle. He sent the centaur party to harass the group waiting to ambush him. Then he created a second and a third party and sent them along as well.
Chuckling, he exited Bloodstorm, “You stay here, buddy. I want to see this up close and personal.” Jogging after the three parties of centaurs, he created a safe-zone field around himself that he enhanced to the point that it prevented any damage or attack from being able to affect him. “Total immunity to attacks…yeah, I could get used to this.”
He followed the last party, easily finding the fight in progress. The confusion of the originals, as Duke had begun to call them, was fun for him. They fought frantically as their confusion and fear started to show. They had overcome every foe and every obstacle in this dungeon multiple times. Fighting themselves was nothing they were prepared for, let alone three copies of themselves.
One by one, the originals fell as the creatures that they had hoped to ambush and distract Duke with were attracted to the fight and joined in, creating an even more overwhelming force. Duke strode into the room, a point of calm in the chaotic frenzy of battle. With a thought, all the dungeon monsters backed off, leaving the originals bleeding and beaten but still alive.
The one who Duke had met outside the dungeon spoke up first, “Who the hell are you and how are you able to do this?”
“Done with empty threats then? Not going to force me to give you my Contest Points to let me live?”
The look of anger and frustration was fighting with bewilderment on the centaur’s face when he responded. “It is clear that whatever you have done here is more than we can handle. What do you want?”
“Me? I want points. Just like you. I could kill all six of you and get half your points right now. I bet that would bump my standing rather quickly.”
“We could give you points for letting us go.”
“I’m listening, but I’m not sure how that would benefit me. The whole leaving a potential enemy alive at my back doesn’t have much appeal to me.”
“We could offer an oath to never harm you and to give you a percentage of our points as we earn them. Become your points-slave.”
Duke considered it momentarily. I am receiving points from Zeblow. Did that make Zeblow my points-slave? No, Zeblow had approached me with the contract. Having points-slaves would accelerate my ranking for sure.
Duke’s thoughts were interrupted by an intense pain in the core of his being. He doubled-over as his PURPOSE flared in anger at the very thought of making anyone a slave to him. It was anathema to his core being and rejected the idea, causing the pain to lessen considerably. He looked back up to see the originals attacking him with everything they had, and nothing was passing through the safe-zone he had created around himself.
“So, that’s how it has to be,” Duke sighed as he released all the dungeon monsters to attack again. To speed things up, he added several of the dungeon’s bosses to the fight. The end came quickly after that.
*** Congratulations! You have slain the six Contestants of the team Four Score. You have earned 31,619,910 points. Your new ranking is number 61. As you have broken into the top 100, you have additional privileges based on your rank.
Your IDENTIFY Ability will provide you with more information about other Contestants.
You may enter and exit Sanctuary City through the protected gates
You may speak with your sponsor once a day
You gain access to the Contest Timer
***