The mace hangs in the air between us.

"What the fuck?"

The young ganker looks confused, wasting precious seconds trying to comprehend the situation.

His left hand is limp, hanging by his side when he could use it to free his weapon or keep punching.

He's completely dumbfounded, though it's hard to believe this worked.

It's not some special move. When Boss is angry and tries to beat me up without being serious, grabbing his fist until he calms down is to go to.

It never works in normal situations, since he's so much stronger.

"How's he doing that? Which button do you push?"

This time we have the same default ten strength as all beginner players.

We use our dominant hands too, resulting in a draw.

Better yet, he can't pull back to strike again, or at least he's not trying hard enough.

The chest is about to burst from this heart rate, we can't overpower each other, but there's no need for it either.

While he won't use his empty left hand, there's a dagger in my right.

Where did he stab his when the character was on the ground?

"Come on, Kip, spam click, you can do it."

The oldest-looking of the bunch shouts. He threw him the mace earlier, but the others are less supportive.

The best they can do is hurling insults rather than cheering their comrade.

And did he say spam click?

That means they're PC gamers, CineMraft is available on other platforms too after all.

They aren't equal though. This limits his character, and he can't answer the grapple.

Well, no keyboard in the world could give you the same freedom of movement as the headset.

It blew my mind early on, and even now, sweating bullets to keep his mace from moving.

"Kill the fucker, don't be a noob like him."

Haha, funny, because that's the character's name, right?

It doesn't mean you guys are better, despite outnumbering me from the start.

We're fighting for our lives here, though the thug will go down either way.

There are twelve Guardian Angels above us, still near the cloud layers.

They aren't in a hurry, leaving players vulnerable to the gankers' attacks.

Thanks to the Training Ground's limit, they can't intervene now, and their yells even help me.

There will be no fucking mercy.

Now that their secret is out, it's obvious, he won't be able to kick or do other tricky moves.

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He's right where he needs to be, and cheering or taunting won't change that. His left hand could, and he's not using it.

Fuck, PVP is a blast when you know you're winning, though a heart attack could still kill me.

It throbs in my throat and ears so loud that their shouting is like a distant background noise.

Sweat drops drip into the eyes and they sting, this system never ceases to amaze me.

"He must be a rich mama's boy, with a VR or Deep Dive. Come on, Kip, get him."

Hah, a rich boy? They are both correct and very wrong, but first, they piss me off.

The dagger finds their friend's side, which is the best answer to give without going into details.

It's not like I wanted this fucking controller, or that they attack before ending the main mission.

The earlier reluctance to cause wounds to players is gone. It's too bad if he can't feel the pain through his PC like I did.

Another stab, then one more, and area of effect or not, he goes down.

[You killed BurnTajiLetsGo +114 Exp]

[Congratulations! You reached level 2.]

What a beautiful burst of pixels. They're usually colorful with aquamarine, crimson, and green when killing larger opponents.

It could be because of his security status, but he blows up all red. It's like a visceral blood explosion, though it doesn't leave a trace.

And rather than splashes and drops, it's all squares.

It does feel dirty, even if it's a game and he attacked first, but it's also a blast.

Holy shit, that was intense. I've done it and killed the fucker. It was so close, and they almost got me three times.

"Bummer, the little shit won."

That's my first player kill, and every muscle in the body shakes. Or is it the avatar?

This was a crazy match, starting from a four-versus-one, and look who's still standing. They're fuming on the sidelines, waiting to die.

"Little wallet-warrior got away." The best they can do is hurl random insults at me and their friend who's gone.

They must think they're funny, though they're dead wrong if they believe a wallet won this fight. God, I hate gankers, and the shaking won't stop.

"You got lucky, but we'll get you next time."

Oh, you guys already got me alright. There's something I'd like to shout back at them, but looking at the inventory, there's an even better answer.

As it turns out, the dagger wasn't the only weapon left there.

After purging most of the stuff on the market, the bandit's bow remained too.

It must have been a mistake, though the decision was open if it should be the recurve bow or this one.

Both of them could kill these thugs from the safety of the Training Grounds anyway.

They should see it coming but don't try to dodge. For them, it's either the arrows or the Angels.

After all those insults, I'd prefer it to be me. Fuck you, and you, and you too.

It's almost point-blank-range, and they stand there, taking it like it doesn't matter.

Three of those plus three arrows is all it takes, and they all turn into a red pixel cloud.

One of them even flips off before dying, while the last shrugs.

"Good Fight." His last words are at least nice.

[You killed ThugLife420 +570 Exp]

[You killed YourLootIsMine +570 Exp]

[You killed 69HelloThere69 +570 Exp]

[Congratulations! You reached level 5.]

Woah, and they say PVP isn't worth it for the experience points.

This fight pushed the avatar to the fifth level with over eighteen hundred.

It's a shame there's no loot as their only gear was the weapons.

And since I was an idiot, and dropped the sword and hammer, those are gone too.

Holy shit, when will the heart rate slow down?

And what are those strange numbers? Oh, that must be the set of booster artifacts in action.

The thugs noticed me when rushing to the market to buy those, and they equipped themselves. Good, I couldn't have planned it better.

Fuck, this adrenaline rush after the energy drink might knock me out cold.

Calm down, it's over. The other gankers didn't follow us this far, they wanted to wipe out the whole marketplace anyway.

Which is where the character should head next, the moment I got a grip.

Holy fucking hell, it's difficult to breathe.

That was amazing, killing them without answering a single word was so satisfying.

And yes, whether it was an accidental pick, this bow is way better than the recurve DragonSlayer gave.

It was twice as fast, didn't tire me out, and still killed them all in one shot.

And I can't wait to shoot more things with this.