Unlike Torin and Johann, Gloria passed the round quietly. After discovering the desert she had swum along the coast until the desert turned to forest and, eventually, a river appeared that fed into the ocean. With a supply of fresh water and all the fish she could eat Gloria didn’t have any reason to leave.
So, with little fanfare or excitement, Gloria stayed underwater the entire week, meditating over her fights and working on her Mana Manipulation. Kern had insisted that all three learn the skill saying that mastering it would unlock more powerful classes later on. Gloria still found it tedious but despite his heinous methods Kern knew what he was doing, far more than she did.
Gloria did contemplate going ashore and looking for some monsters but ultimately decided against it. If she got hurt it wasn’t like there was a healer nearby who could heal he, and it would be idiotic to lose the round just because she got bored.
Of course, if she had known there were other participants around the week might have been far more exciting, but such is life.
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By the end of the third day Johann had groupies, and he still wasn’t sure if he liked it or not.
After finding the river Johann had run into several bouts of luck, possibly to make up for the horrible luck he’d had so far. Not two hours after finding the river he had stumbled onto a healer. Learning from previous mistakes Johann had kept himself in a state of partial attunement with the plants around him, giving him a radar of sorts.
When the plants began to complain about the annoying two legged stepping on them Johann figured he’d found another participant. After incapacitating them with Grasping Roots Johann approached and was delighted to discover that they were a healer. In exchange for some healing Johann offered the healer, a human named Marcus, his freedom.
Marcus had a different idea.
It took another day before the two of them stumbled across someone else. Haldorðin, Hald for short,was an ax wielding Skaal Warrior who was going for the melee attacker role, something Johann was particularly glad about. The six foot, blonde-haired warrior was a genuinely nice man and Johann would have hated to fight him.
Especially since he wasn’t sure he could beat the man without using his full power. When he cast his Grasping Roots the barrel chested man had moved with shocking speed and actually managed to cut several of the roots before escaping. Considering these were tree roots as thick as Johanns thigh it was an impressive sight.
The fourth member of their merry band came less than an hour later in the form of a human rogue named Jebb. Johann might have chosen to take the man out in order to increase Torins chances if it weren’t for the fact that Hald actually managed to sneak up on him. The idea that the rogue was sneaked up on by a heavy armored warrior alleviated any worries Johann might have over Jebbs capabilities.
The four of them then proceeded to travel upstream. Along the way the met another two participants, one which fled and one which fought. They let the first one go, figuring that he wasn’t a threat and quickly eliminated the second.
On the fourth day the four of them gained two new members, a tank and a mage. Johann was initially unsure about whether they should accept them or eliminate them but he figured Gloria would be annoyed that he took away a potential opponent. As for the mage, the poor man had gone all in on attacking spells and didn’t have any way to defend or dodge. As soon as he was trapped he was as good as dead.
Besides, Johann was excited to have another mage to talk to. Contrary to the stereotypes surrounding dark elves Ylreh was remarkably pleasant and more than happy to talk to another mage. Since his intent was to head down the War Mage class line he had little in common with a druid like Johann but there was still plenty they shared. Establishing a quid pro quo the two began to share their insights and within an hour both had leveled a skill or two.
On the morning of the fifth day the six of them hit the edge of the dungeon, a sheer cliff that was both several hundred feet high and no taller than ten when viewed from more than a meter away. After a short break to play around with the optical illusion they decided to set a camp at the rivers start.
The next two days passed by quietly. There was the occasional monster attack but thanks to Johanns early warnings and the combined firepower of the team there was never any danger. At the end of the seven days they were each teleported out without any sort of last minute complications or betrayals.
A rather boring affair but actually quite common within the third round. Few went into the trials seeking the blood and death of anything other than monsters. Other than a few assholes (and one guy who was quietly kicked out of the Trials for being literally insane) most of the participants were decent enough to leave the fighting until the last round.
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“You really are an asshole, you know that?”
Torin looked around in surprise before turning to Ziva. “Who are you talking to?” he asked, feigning confusion.
“Wait, is it me?” Daniel asked, not feigning confusion.
Ziva smiled at the half-giant. “Of course not Daniel, you’re too nice to be an asshole.” Daniel smiled, blushing a little at the compliment. “No, I meant this walking, talking lump of turd. I mean seriously, why did you have to eliminate that guy?”
Torin cocked his head. “Isn’t it obvious? That guy was a mage. My brother is a mage. I didn’t have a choice.”
Ziva took a deep breath and took a moment to imagine Torins brutal death. “Okay, that isn’t a good enough reason, bit I’m just going to ignore that for the moment.” Daniel nodded in the background, agreeing with the wisdom of ignoring Torin’s craziness. “Even if I accept that as the reason, why did you shoot him in the crotch first?”
“Ohh, that.” Torin shrugged. “I was just wondering if the admins considered crotch shots fatal or not. Apparently they don’t, which I do not agree with at all.”
Daniel nodded. “Yes! Crotch shots ARE painful! If you were to shoot me with an arrow there I would definitely not survive.”
Torin grinned, clapping his hand on Daniels shoulder. “See, the tallest of our group agrees. And as everyone knows, tall people are always right!”
Daniel looked at him confused. “I have not heard of this, are you sure?”
Torin nodded wisely. “Of course. Think about, growing up your father was always taller than you, right?” Daniel nodded. “And he was always right, wasn’t he?” Understanding dawned on Daniels face.
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“DAMMIT TORIN, STOP MESSING WITH DANIEL!”
Idua wandered over from the oasis to stand next to Daniel as the two of them watched Ziva chase Torin while repeatedly trying to bash his head in. The two of them stood in silence for a while, content to just watch the antics. After a while Idua leaned over to Daniel and quietly asked him a question that had been on her mind for a while.
“Say Daniel, why do you think Torin keeps annoying Ziva like that? He’s always been nice to me, yet he goes out of his way to aggravate her, it doesn’t make sense.”
Daniel smiled a gentle smile. “It is simple, he likes her.”
Idua looked at him, confusion evident on her face, so he answered the unasked question.
“It is like when a little boy pulls a little girl’s pigtails. He likes her attention, so he annoys her.”
Idua took a moment to think that over. It made sense, in a weird way. It seemed silly but on the other hand, from what she knew of him, it sounded exactly like something Torin would do.
“You know Daniel, you’re really smart.”
Daniel nodded. “I know. It is because I am tall.”
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The first night at the oasis had been pretty hairy. Monsters of all shapes and sizes burst from underground and descended on the water, turning the surrounding land into a bloody battleground. The group stood two hundred meters away but it still wasn’t enough.
For a few minutes after the sun set everything was quiet. It was nice and peaceful, the sun had just set and there was a refreshing coolness to the air. Torin took a moment to just enjoy the calm. He never knew why everyone got all tense in moments like this. After all,it was really the moments following that called for tension.
Then the moment passed, and the sand exploded. Lizards, Snakes and scorpions were present, though in much, much greater numbers than during the day, but they were joined by about a half-dozen species Torin hadn’t seen before.
Rock Spiders, literally spiders that were made of rocks, skittered over the dunes with a speed and lightness that really shouldn’t be possible for something made of stone. In several places they battled with Deinons, the small bipedal lizards being the only monsters capable of keeping up with the spiders.
In several places Torin spotted Manticores, the deadly beasts crashing and tearing through pretty much everything other than the Sand Elementals, who were attracted no by the water but by the Mana residing within the monsters.
Torin was just happy that neither of those monsters were attacking them, they already had their hands full with a swarm of Sand Wyrms. The monsters were only the size of a wolf pup but there were literally scores of them, the little bastards throwing themselves into the fray as if they were part piranha.
Torins hands were little more than a blur, constantly firing arrow after arrow at any monsters that neared them, which were pretty much all of them. Daniel was the real hero though, he swung his ax like a god of war, cutting through two or three Wyrms with each swing.
But for every Wyrm that he killed another was there to rip a chunk of flesh out of him. Within a minute it looked as if he had literally bathed in blood and if it weren’t for Ziva’s constant healing then he would have been dead three times over.
Idua wasn’t idle either, but at the low levels mages simply weren’t the powerhouses they could eventually become. She fired out Mana Spikes as quickly as she could, each one decimating one or sometimes two Wyrms, but her casting time was slow with each spike needing two seconds to fire. It may have sounded like plenty but compared to Torin’s three arrows a second, it was unbearably slow.
Still, the Wyrms eventually began to dwindle, only to be replaced by a trio of pony sizedDesert Lizards. Daniel immediately leapt towards the nearest one, slamming his ax into the side of its head in a broad sweep. The attack staggered the beast but it still managed to smash Daniel to the side with a sweep of its claws.
The large man recovered quickly but another lizard had already bulldozed past, intent on tearing through the much softer targets presented by the three back-liners. Torin fired arrow after arrow into the lizard, peppering its joints and face, but it seemed to just annoy the creature. He was about to start retreating when a Mana Spike rocketed past him and impaled the lizards head.
Torin immediately switch mental gears and began firing on the third lizard, trying as much as possible to slow it down and buy Idua the two seconds she needed to fire another spell. He might have failed if it weren’t for Daniel flinging his ax into the lizards back and distracting it long enough for Idua to kill it.
It left Daniel weaponless but the man seemed not to care, throwing himself at the lizard and beating the monster with his bare hands The sight was so awe-inspiring Torin was momentarily stunned. He also wondered if he should set Gloria up with the guy, the two of them would make great sparring partners if nothing else. Besides, Gloria could really use the stress relief.
Sadly, as much as Torin might have liked to take a moment to enjoy the sight of Daniel pummeling the poor lizard, he couldn’t. Nocking another arrow he fired and took out a leg of a Rock Spider that was heading their way, sending it tumbling.
Another arrow and another snapped leg and Torin made a decision. There were simply too many monsters. Everyone was fighting with limited resources and the way it was going they wouldn’t last another ten minutes.
As Idua finished off the lizard and Ziva healed the blood drenched Daniel, he called out over the noise. “We need to get out of here! Daniel, Ortrox!”
During the afternoon they had come up with several plans and given them codewords. The Ortrox plan was to charge forward and, much like an Ortrox, destroy everything in their way. Daniel nodded and grabbed his ax from the lizards corpse before charging forward with a yell.
The Rock Spider had just managed to stand, albeit with more than a slight wobble, when a large force smashed into its side cracking its carapace and launched it into the air. It landed on it’s back and, as it struggled to right itself, it caught a glimpse of the thing that had hit it. The creatures, four of them in total, charged through several groups of monsters before disappearing over a dune.
Within minutes the group had cleared most of the monsters, retreating to a distance where the number of monsters had dwindled to a couple every minute or so, a far more reasonable rate that they could keep up with with ease.
That didn’t mean it was easy though. By the time the morning had come and the monsters had stopped spawning the group was exhausted to the bone. Torins fingers were bleeding, though that was nothing compared to Daniel whose nerves were so shot from all the pain his entire body was trembling.
Both of the girls had migraines from the constant strain of spell casting. The fact that the sun was up did not help the pain, but despite the agony that came with the light they were still grateful for the morning.
After an hour just to collect themselves they trekked back to the oasis and took some time to freshen up. A good drink and quick scrub did wonders for their moods, the water having a soothing effect that was quite possibly magical, though none of them had the energy to investigate.
With the possibility of other participants or monsters showing up they decided to sleep in shifts and Torin, who was the most a disturbingly similar experience thanks to his dad,graciously tookthe first shift. Sleeping under blazing sunlight shouldhave been difficult, but after the night they had all of them slept like a rock.
After they had a delicious dinner/breakfast of roasted Rock Spider meat, which was surprisingly delicious when cooked properly, they decided to move back to their previous location. Despite how exhausting it was to fight throughout the night, the leveling was ridiculous. All of them had leveled two skills last night, a rate that was almost literally insane.
The next few days were a test in determination and endurance. The idea of giving up crossed the minds of all but Torin roughly 50 times a night. By the third night Torin ended up taking on a Ruthless Taskmaster role that was eerily similar to the one his father had taken, to the point where Torin directly plagiarized several lines. By the seventh day Torin was back to planning his gruesome revenge.
After all, he had no idea that his father had been having this much fun.