The battle ignited so quickly that Azalea couldn’t keep up with the process of events. Players and bandits traded so many spells that the air around her was superheated, and all she could do was drop into a crouch to avoid getting disintegrated. Even then, she was sure she could smell the ends of her hair singing. Then the two forces were charging forward to fill the gap, and she had to be on her feet, running towards the side that wasn’t trying to poke her full of holes.
One of the players, a spear-user like her, flashed in front of her eyes. He actually moved with inhuman speed, clearly aided by magic, and ran the point of his heavy war spear through a bandit that nearly managed to separate her head from its shoulders. “Thanks!” She shouted over the fury of the battle. She slid to a halt on his left side, and the two of them thrust and slashed at the horde of approaching bandits, holding them off for a few seconds. Eventually, they were forced to back off, rejoining the safety of their lines.
“My name’s Shiora, by the way,” he offered, able to speak a little quieter, as the heaviest part of the fit. “I’ve been in Silver Village for a while, but never got the chance to introduce myself.”
She glanced up at the name that showed over his head. Shiora Tokugawa, of the Issho-Ni guild. “I remember you. You came over to Flower’s Rest a lot.”
Shiora nodded, grinning. “I love your banana bread.”
She ducked out of the way of an arrow flying from the bandit force, then popped back up, laughing. “I didn’t use bananas. Never found a way to grow those, sadly. But the Westerland Sweet Potatoes kinda taste just like them.”
Shiora spun around to avoid the point of an enemy lance, then swirled violently and gracefully in place, using the butt of his warspear to knock out the lancer’s legs. Before the man could do much more than let out a surprised grunt, Shiora pounced, ramming his spear down. The bandit exploded, and the flood of items and coins was lost in the fury of the ongoing battle.
Remembering suddenly that she had guildmates, and couldn’t focus on herself for too long, she cast a quick glance around the area, trying to find her teammates. Caius was clearly visible thanks to his blue armor, but it took her some time to locate Oscar, still perched in a tree, letting loose a volley of arrows. He’d brought a larger quiver than usual with him today, and still had nearly half his ammunition left. At the moment, there was no sign of Riley or Patsy, if they’d come to this fight.
“You’re pretty good at this,” she remarked, watching Shiora back off to give room for a charging enemy with a large shield. Once the charge had finished, the warrior used that spell to speed up his movement again, ending just behind the shield user, his spear stabbing backward. The bandit never even saw what had hit him. “You must have been a martial artist in real life.”
“Once upon a time,” Shiora commented, moving back to her right side. “But I’m actually an author these days. You’ve gotta do a lot of research on fighting techniques to do fight scenes.”
She nodded, though she wasn’t sure he’d seen the reaction. Well, however he’d arrived at the information, it was clear that he’d learned the secret of combat in this game. By that standard, he’d also learned the true secret of the world; there were no real limitations. If you wanted to accomplish something, you just had to figure out how. That was probably how he’d come up with that spell that made him so fast. She mentioned it, in that small window of time when they could next hear each other without having to bellow.
He let out a laugh. “It’s called Flash Step. I came up with it for my books, but I was surprised to find out that I could do it here. A pretty complex system, isn’t it?”
She had to frown at that, not entirely sure she agreed. To her, the system seemed rather simple. The true complexity of the system would only come in time when more spells and fighting styles were invented. He flourished his spear, then hurled it away from his body, piercing it through two different warriors at once. She couldn’t believe he’d throw his weapon away in the middle of a melee! Then, suddenly, the weapon was gone, returning to his hand as if it had never left.
“Another thing from one of my stories,” he said, noticing her amazement. “I’ve only really mastered a few of the basic tricks I could think of, but there hasn’t been enough time to try everything I could think of. Like this one.”
He lifted his free hand, forming a fist, as if holding something in the air. A faint blue light appeared there. It started as a ball clenched in his hand, but quickly grew out and flattened, forming a medium-sized shield of blue-white energy. He used it to block a spell that came his way from among the bandits, and then it vanished.
“How are so many of your spells in this game?” She asked. “Do you think the game developer was a fan of your writing?”
He offered her a shrug. “Can’t say. I think he had to at least be aware of it.”
“He?” She asked, a faint chill running down her spine. Was it just her imagination, or did it seem that Shiora had also glimpsed the true secret as to who was running this game?
A look of mild consternation crossed Shiora’s olive-skinned face, and he appeared to be doing some quick thinking. Suddenly struck by the suspicion that he was about to try to deflect the question, she hurried on. “It’s okay. I think we both have the same idea. I had it after my friend died in real life. He’s still in the game, and says… well, I’m pretty sure we have the same idea.”
Stolen story; please report.
He nodded, seeming pleased that he didn’t have to explain further. It was hard for her to read the man’s emotions, she thought. Either he had excellent control over them, or he was too focused on the battle to let them show. Not a bad idea, she thought quickly, focusing her own attention. As if in reward for her self-reminder, she caught sight of Riley just a few feet to the left, with Patsy on his left side. The two of them were moving closer to her as they fought, clearly trying to get into some semblance of formation.
She cast a quick agility and endurance buff over the two of them. Riley noticed and looked up with a smile and nod of appreciation. From overhead, she heard Oscar shouting. “Oh, that’s right! We can use magic now!”
Glancing over one shoulder for a second, she saw Oscar drawing back the string of his bow, his very last arrow nocked and ready to fire. But when he released, there was a bright flash of red light, and it almost seemed as if the arrow had split into just under a dozen, and the new projectiles rained down into the front of the bandit force. It didn’t seem that any of them were killing shots, but those enemies that were struck stumbled back and soon fell to the weapons of others.
“Damn!” Oscar cursed, then slung the bow over his shoulder, and jumped down, landing only a few inches from Azalea. “Looks like I finally have a reason to level up my Intelligence stat. Still, dex is king.”
And as if to prove the point, he darted forward, drawing his knives. He didn’t close the distance as fast as Shiora had, but when he reached his first opponent, he struck in a whirlwind of black and silver, dancing around the bandit and ripping him to shreds until he exploded. Another enemy slashed forward, and it seemed as though the attack hand landed. Oscar’s frame even vanished, but it didn’t explode like what normally happened in death. Instead, the bandit gave out a pained scream, and fell forward, revealing Oscar standing behind him.
“That’s right,” the rogue said, a wicked grin on his face. “I got a shadow clone now.”
He leaped lightly away, landing on Shiora’s right side. The monk - for that was clearly what Shiora was trying to build - gave him a quick nod of recognition. “Nice moves.”
“Not so bad yourself,” Oscar shot back. “Issho-Ni, huh? You read the Ahya books.”
“Several times over,” Shiora admitted. “I’m quite familiar with them.”
Azalea was amused at the interchange but didn’t have a chance to offer her two cents. The battle seemed to be slowing down around them - not because the bandits were losing, but because the two forces seemed to come to a silent agreement to back off and take stock of their losses. In the calm, she could clearly make out Caius, still locked in a vicious duel with Matlin. Neither warrior seemed to be gaining a true advantage, but she could tell that Caius was getting tired and slowing down. She threw a quick buff his way, then refreshed the buffs on herself, Patsy, Riley, and Oscar, also including Shiora now.
“Thanks for that,” he said, taking in a deep breath as their section of the impromptu army backed off.”
“You. Cannot. Win!” Matlin could be heard shouting. He thrust his shield forward, trying to bash Caius away. But he’d clearly learned from their last fight and sidestepped the attempt smoothly. He thrust up at Matlin then, but that attack was parried away by the longsword. Now Caius bashed his shield, slamming it right into the enemy leader’s chest and knocking him back several paces.
“Really?” Caius asked, his teeth bared in what only a fool could call a smile. “I don’t know if you can see the numbers here, but we’re just about even now. You’re losing men faster than we are.”
“And women!” one of the players called out, which caused an eruption of laughter from those around her. It was clear that the players weren’t just winning this fight. They were enjoying it. That fact seemed to anger Matlin further.
“Let’s see how long you can keep that attitude!” He screamed, not at Caius, but at the woman who had called out. At all the players. At everything, person, and place that conspired to resist him. He lifted his sword high into the air, and Azalea felt a strange moment of deja vu. “Come to me, Great Serpent Malivex!”
“Oh no,” Azalea muttered. A few feet to the right, she heard Riley curse. Even Oscar, so unfazed by most things, took an involuntary step back. They all looked to the ground, waiting for it to start rumbling, the only warning they had to the worm's approach. But there was no rumbling. Still, a roaring sound could be heard from nearby. Heads started turning, trying to find this new threat, but it was Shiora who noticed first. Where the others had looked down or around, he’d looked up.
“Oh, fuck!” He shouted, pointing. “He’s got a damn Coatl?”
Azalea glanced up, following his arm, and saw it. A giant lizard of bright, sparkling blue, with brilliant white feathers along its spine, behind its head, and even more formed giant wings about a quarter of the way down its body. The roar was coming from its open mouth, and it was descending on them alarmingly fast. Before anyone could think to react, it had landed, circling Matlin protectively, then came to a halt, its massive skull facing the crowd of players.
A second of stunned, terrified silence, then the beast opened its mouth, and a stream of bright green liquid - or was it gas? - spewed out in a jet, sweeping over the crowd as it swung its head to the side, coating them all before they could react. Quite a few players dropped dead at once, but those who didn’t suddenly had the strength sapped from their bodies. Azalea felt her knees buckling, barely able to keep her weight off the ground. In spite of the buffs she’d had running, she was now critically debuffed in Strength, Agility, Endurance, and Vitality.
The serpent lunged then, snapping up three of the surviving players in its jaw and clamping down. No blood rained down, but a shower of items did fall like rain, and a bright flash of white light cascaded throughout the coatl’s body, from its head to the tip of its tail. Whatever it had swallowed had clearly had a strengthening effect on the monster.
“It’s eating items to get stronger!” One of the players shouted. Not like anyone needed the information to be said aloud. The beast, having finished its mouthful, lowered its head once again, and roared a new challenge at the players. Matlin could be seen climbing back into view on the coatl’s scaly hide, a broad grin stretching across his face. The fury was still there, but now he was calmed significantly. He was confident. He was in control.
He lifted his massive sword, pointing it down at Caius, though he screamed his own challenge down at the rest of them. “Come! Come and meet your end!”