On level 5

When the last person entered the new level a message appeared.

*Defending of a fortified position.

The entire room was dark. It seemed to be an occurring theme.

“What do those with night vision see?”

“Same garrison we saw on level three. It is on our side, with a rope ladder.”

“Same terrain and everything else it seems.”

“I think when all 20 of us are in the garrison the fight starts.”

“Indeed, those that want to lay traps and scout, go do so now. The rest of us will climb the ladder and prepare the best we can.”

Only one hunter had an assortment of traps to lay down. Yuri and the others needed a forest or better terrain. Solid stone needed a lot of time and very unique type of traps to work.

Traps are unique and diverse as they come. Some dungeons and places were full of them. Most traps are designed to kill, slow, damage or disable an unfortunate victim. In the start of RR many people were expecting traps you see in the movies like Indiana Jones. They were not disappointed. The other traps did catch them with their pants down. They were magic and monster types.

The magic traps involved anything from a small ball of fire to raging storms, back to shadow AOE pulses. Any type of magic and form was in a dungeon. It was usually to the theme of the dungeon. Dark magic would be in places that had a lot of undead.

Some dungeons traps were designed to protect against intruders. These were the more traditional types. Some traps involved the floor breaking up, spikes and/or weapons magically appearing out of the ground or walls. Not many had a big giant ball rolling after them, but there was a few big spikes or logs that could damage a armoured vehicle or in this case a warrior in full plate.

It was not uncommon for a trip wire or lever that got stepped on to open a hidden room in a wall full of monsters eager to attack. Most of the rooms were small and cramped. Some of them held rewards and others not. After you kill the monsters or die to them the wall will close and it would be like the entire incident never happened. It was understandable if the monsters where mechanised machines or undead. But how do monsters breathe and eat in the small rooms? This is where that 99% realism fails to explain.

Most would evade traps and others would choose to disarm. Depending on the type of trap, dictates the response. A trip wire or pressure plate could be bypassed. A magic crystal shooting magic can be removed. Automated machines could be figured out and safely navigated.

Disarming of traps were complicated. If it was something like a bear trap, a simple stick with enough force can activate it.

The problem was that those types of traps were well hidden. Only after you stepped on them, would you notice, but by then it was too late.

Most hunters could make a basic trap of a dagger tied to a sapling, connected to a trip wire. Most chose not to. It was just better for hunters to shoot. But many played around and developed the skill. The problem came that there was no guarantee that traps would work or do the damage you wanted. Another way to look at it was that if you spend 8 hours making a trap and waiting for your target to trip it. It could be spent killing and shooting others.

Bear traps and other similar traps were large pieces of metal. They were not cheap. It was only cheap if you made them yourself from iron ore and scrap metal. It was cheaper to buy a dozen swords than a decent trap. Since most players cleared and hunted at one place for a short while before they moved on, it was not used a lot. Most hunters, thieves and assassins that made use of them were solo players, or those that could go collect them again after they were triggered.

The problem with basic traps players made, was that they could not kill anyone of the same level or higher. Unless it was a pitfall or a three ton stone. Traps like those took a long time to make and get in the right position.

It has happened from time to time that Tinker and the others stepped or triggered basic traps left by players in open plains, alley ways or even resting places next to roads. None of them came close to killing them and were clearly left behind by players just testing the skills out.

Traps designed by players, be they complex or basic damage, varied a great deal. To determine the damage of a trap was another complicated affair. The type of trap, skill of the players traps and the level of the player itself. Add to that the extra damage if a player activates the trap by accident. Add the bonus damage if the trap hits a vital organ or body part. The victims armour may reduce the damage. Cloth would be minimal, leather more and plate the most.

At the start the first traps involved snare traps to catch animals. As their skill progressed it became daggers connected to saplings. Sharp sticks that appear out of the ground and more sticks or the odd piece of sharp metal rod to impale victims. They were usually activated by trip wire or a pressure plate of some kind. Most people can tell you it is not nice to walk normally and feel the earth disappear under your feet just to get replaced by spikes. Some were in the ground and a person fell into the spikes.

Others were designed for people to run into. Using their momentum and basic mechanics to spring a spike wall into place. Only later bear traps became popular. Many could be set at the same time and are easy retrievable. Thin razor sharp wire set about the length of the neck also became popular later on. But since the world was full of different races and players of all different lengths. A skilled player made it work for them.

Much later a person could take the magic crystals and make your own magic taps. Since these crystals were uncommon and expensive to make they were usually used on single targets and plans to retrieve them later was a must.

That is why many traps were places in forest so that the added brush could be used to conceal them. Others were in dark spots and places for the added damage and surprise factor.

Yuri did not have bear traps but he could make basic traps and given enough time he could create a big pit fall. There was one hunter with them that favoured using traps along with his bow and arrow. He left to go plant a few of them. He could not make a trap hole in the brick surface of the tower. A strategic placed bear trap here and a magic crystal there was all he could do. The chances of killing an enemy was low but every small thing helped.

Quantum also used traps but he preferred using daggers which does added bonus thanks to his assassin related skills with daggers. Later on he would incorporate the razor wire and a few other things into his arsenal.

“So who you guys think we are going to face?”

“Maybe elves, but in this tower it could be anything.”

The remaining people returned to the garrison. Before the last person climbed in the hunter with the traps suggested they leave the rope ladder in place. He wanted to place his last trap at the rope. It was a bear trap designed to maim, slow or trap an enemy. This way they could shoot one of them if they managed to catch one. The bulk of the traps were placed to catch enemies at 40 meters. This was a good distance for their hunters and spell casters to shoot at enemies. They would assign a person to the rope, as soon as a enemy stepped on a trap they would lift the rope and someone would kill the enemy from the top. It would be a free kill for one trap and a few seconds of attack from a range player.

As the last person climbed into the garrison enemies appeared at the far side of the room.

“It looks like elves”

“How many?”

“70 or so archers. 20 warriors and about 10 priests.”

“Do they have siege weapons or ladders?”

“None that I can see.”

“Do we illuminate the room or fight in the dark?”

“For now shoot flares. When they are at the wall we will illuminate this area.”

“It seems they are on the move. Currently 80 meters and coming closer.”

“Now 70 and they are standing still and preparing to fire.”

“Hug the wall, try not to get hit by arrows. Do not fire back”

Cuzen stood at the rear. One hand on the ladder rope to lift it at a moment’s notice and the other on his shield to protect against the incoming arrows. Antrax stood close by with his shield blocking as well. All the others hid behind the walls and it seemed none were getting hit by arrows. After 30 minutes of constant arrow attacks it stopped.

“It seems they moving again. 60 meters.”

“Stopped again and seemed make ready to fire again.”

More arrows rained down on them. There were a bit more accurate but they still did minimal to no damage. Sometime during all this they could hear the trap at the back trigger. Cuzen lift the rope ladder and saw a victim trapped within. He called Yuri over to shoot him while he and Antrax provided some protection with their shields for him.

“Odd, it is clearly and elf but I don’t recognise his type.” Yuri said after he fired the first arrow.

“How so?”

“He has no armour or weapons. He seemed to be full of tattoo’s. Maybe an elf Monk of some type.”

“Well whatever he is, kill it.”

As the last arrow killed it the elf exploded. It did not do damage to the wall but it knocked Yuri off his feet and he fell down towards the inside of their garrison. He did not take much damage and his pride was more hurt then his health.

“Keep your eyes open for monk elves. If they get inside we will take heavy damage.”

“Sorry. I was not looking backwards. I have no idea how that one got so close without us seeing him.”

“Should we illuminate the room now?”

“No, not yet. Only once we all counter attack. Elves may not suffer major visibility losses in the night but in the day they are still better bowmen then most.”

“Fine, we stand fast. Be ready to counter attack soon range fighters.”

Again the arrows stopped and the elves moved forward.

Half way through the arrow barrage. 5 monk elves appeared out of nowhere and ran to the garrison. They all had hooks with ropes in their hands.

“Bring them down!”

“Shoot them”

They took some damage as they shot the enemies. One made it half way up the wall before he got killed and exploded. Minor damage was inflicted.

The elves moved closer again. This time 10 monk elves came running at them. Three of them managed to climb the wall. When they exploded they disrupted everything. People fell from the rafters. Attacks were interrupted. Along with the arrows raining down it was starting to become chaotic.

They stabilised soon after. Explosions in confined places were really potent.

They were starting to pick up on the tactics. The elves would move 10 meters closer. Shoot for about 15 minutes, followed by monk elves attacking. Followed by the remaining 15 minutes of archers firing. What concerned the more seasoned players that the elven warriors were doing nothing yet and that the archers did not seem to be running low on arrows.

The elves moved closer once more.

“Range players attack!”

After a few minutes. “It is useless, those priests heal all the damage we do.”

“All of you target the same person and burst him down.”

They tried that and manage to kill 2 enemies before 10 monks attacked. They were not evenly placed on the garrison and those monks that came from behind could easily come to the wall and climb it. 5 of the monks made it up. As soon as they were inside they would explode. The melee warriors tried their best to use their own bodies as shields to protect the others but 5 exploding monks were just too much.

All took heavy damage. 1 of them even fell off the wall thanks to the shock wave that hit them. When all the monks are dead the rope would be lowered for him to climb back. It seemed that having only one and a half healers was taking its toll. Tinker did his part by handing out his weak healing potions he made and was applying his bandages. Not much he could do, till the elven warriors or new monks came.

They stabilised somewhat after that again. The elves moved closer. Some of them stepped into traps.

“Burst those down in traps. Before they can get healed.”

“Stop after 13 minutes of firing. We need to target those monks and kill them fast. Rather do no damage at all for a while before we let those monks climb up.”

“Melee fighters. Don’t attack those monks that climb up to do max damage. Rather use attacks to knock them back down.”

When the monks came this time all of them focused on their tasks.

Tinker cut the hook and rope of the monk right in front of him as it was about half way up. He fell down, moved a small distance back and ran towards the wall. By now they know that if you cut the rope they run and jump up. He took both of his swords and plunged them into the monks shoulders. By now he knew that if your sword penetrates deep into an opponent it means it is the killing blow. He tried his best to hide behind the wall but one sword was stuck. The explosion did minor damage to him and his sword fell on the ground. He would have to get his sword later. It was time like these he was glad he had a backups of everything.

Since everyone knew to focus the monks they no longer suffered a lot of damage. When the elves moved to 30 meters from the garrison the warrior elves attacked. Each magically had a hook and rope. It seemed they spread around and not all of them attacked the same part of the wall.

“Focus on the rope, don’t let them climb up.”

“Full illumination”

They did just that. In the end not 1 elf warrior made it up. There was some more back and forth between the range fighters. The others stood around waiting for the monks. When the monks came they burst them down and again cut all the ropes and hooks. 2 monks did manage to make it up and exploded but the damage was average.

“Stop what you are doing. Hide behind the walls. Do not take damage.”

They did just that. All of them took cover and no more arrows could hit them.

“All right. We melee fighters are going to climb down at the back of the garrison. That way their archers can’t hit us and we can kill some warriors. It seems our range fighters are struggling.”

“We have about a 20-25 min window before more monks appear.”

“Healers how are things looking?”

“Mana holding but if the monks hit, we struggle.”

“Yea, we needed more healers.”

“Whatever. Let us head to the back. Once we all down, Yuri lift the rope.”

All the melee fighters went down. Cuzen went first followed by all the others. With no archers shooting them and no elven priests healing the warriors, due to having no direct line of sight, they fell quick and hard.

“How long till the next monk wave hits?”

“About 10 minutes.”

“So these left are supposed to move another 10 meters forward?”

“Maybe, but I won’t bet on it. They are in optimum firing range now.”

“Fine. Lets attack!”

They ran down on the archers. They all got shot up pretty good but as soon as they collided with them, the elven archers switched to melee fighting. Tinker, Quantum and the thief slipped by to go kill priests. Only idiots will leave priests and spellcasters for last. They were about 60 archers left but they fell one by one. The priests did not even bother to run away and just died.

The garrison disappeared and the chest along with a new stair way appeared on the far side of the room. They gathered the traps and those like Tinker that lost an item or 2 went to go pick it up again.

“That was one hell of a fight”

“If we only knew of those monks, we could have placed traps at the wall and not in the middle of advancing army.”

“I don’t think they were monks. More like YOLO Bombers.”

“You only live once bombers. Sounds look as good description as any.”

“We got lucky, those elven warriors needed rope to climb the walls. If they could have climbed like the Yolo bombers we would have been in trouble.”

“I was never worried”

“Of course you weren’t, coz none of them ever exploded in your face.”

They opened the chest. They got their level up. Along with 5 magical quivers that doubles the storing capacity of arrows for archers. A few elven swords. A few daggers and even one complete elven set of armour.

Tinker took one of the swords. Elven swords were not big and more a tool of precision rather than intimidation. All the hunters took a magical quiver. Quantum said he really wanted all the daggers. But they were good daggers, the hunters got one and even the thief. In the end he had to settle for only 2 daggers. The armour and extra quiver would be added to the list of things that will be divided later between every one, once the raid is over.

On level 6

When the last person entered the new level a message appeared

*There are 100 coins scattered in this dark room. 90 have heads facing up and 10 are facing tails up. You cannot tell which coins are which. How do you sort the coins into two piles that contain the same number of tail up coins?

“Damm it, I can’t see a thing.”

“I can’t use magic. I can’t make light.”

“Torches working?”

“Nope.”

“Night vision?”

“Not working either.”

“Ok. So we can only see the stair case behind us. The rest of the room is all dark.”

“Does anyone know how this riddle works?”

No one spoke up.

“I guess we start by collecting the coins. Then we will figure out how it works.”

“This room is huge. It will take a while to get all the coins.”

“I suggest we do a good job when we look for coins. I don’t want to walk over and over the room again looking for a coin.”

“Ok, when we get coins we will come and put them here down by the door. This is going to take a while so be diligent and stand fast.”

They got on all fours and started to feel/look for coins. 6 hours later they called for a stop. There had been curses. People bumping into each other and the wall. At the start their spirits were high but the longer it went on, the more silent the party became. It was also during this time that most people logged out to take care of their real bodies. Those that were lazy stayed away for a long time, but Cuzen could not blame them. He too did not rush back when he logged out for a while

“How many are we short?”

“Three”

“Shit”

“I suggest we all go over to the exact opposite side of the stair case, from there we start our search again.”

“OK, why?”

“When we started we were pretty thorough. It is safe to assume the coins we missed are those in that side of the room.”

They went over there and resumed the search.

In just under 3 hours the last coins were found.

“Come to the door, has any one gave some thought about how to solve the riddle?”

“Yes, when I was logged out I went online and looked for the answer.”

“Why have we not thought of this before?”

*-1 level for all players, no log outs are permitted during tests of mind

“O come on.”

“Who knew that a failsafe like this existed?”

“It’s not all bad, let us go on, we are still levels ahead.”

“Ok so how do we solve the coin thing?”

“The piles don't need to be the same size, so make a pile of 10 coins and a pile of 90 coins, flip all of the ten coins and it is guaranteed that the piles have the same number of tails.”

They did it and the chest appeared along with the stair case.

“Hmmm cute.”

In the chest was 100 gold coins and their level up as reward.

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

On level 7

It was completely different. The room was illuminated. There was water in most of the room. In the middle of the room was a wall that stretched the entire width of it. In the water, near the edge were boats. They made their way over. A message appeared

*Navel battle. Defeat all you opponents ships. Do you wish to know more?

“Yes”

*All 20 members participate in this battle. There are 7 boats. 1 with room for one passenger and one attack. 1 with room for two passengers and two attacks. 3 with room for three passengers and three attacks. 2 with room for four passengers and four attacks. Do you wish to know more?”

“Of course”

*Each boat comes with a control panel for each passenger and weapon to attack with. First, second and third commander must be decided for a boat. When the battle starts there will first be deployment, decided by the first commander. (As that message was sent the entire water turned into a grid with numbers and letters). The field of battle consists of grid A to Z on the vertical and 1 to 26 on the horizontal. (The wall in front of them lit up with an identical grid). Would you like to know more?

“Yes, just tell us everything”

*After deployment the turn based battle begins. First the ship with one passenger fires and may choose to move left, right, up or down. Then the results of the shot fire is relayed. Then the opponents 1 passenger boat fires and moves. Next is the boat with 2 passengers, followed by three, and at the end of it all are the last boats. Those boats with multiple attacks fire each of their attacks, before the results are given. Would you like to start or would you like to know more?

“Tell us more.”

*Are you sure you do not want to start the battle?

“I do not want to start the battle, I want to know more.”

*When a part of a ship gets hit, the passenger in the grid is killed and will stand at the shore till the game is won or lost. All losses for being killed are applied. If the commander is killed. The option to move will be passed to the second. A boat will only sink once all passengers are hit. Once a ship is lost the enemies are notified. The first side to lose all their ships are defeated.

“So this is a lot like that game battle ships. Just a bit more complicated.”

“Yes, you can move a ship if it’s that ship turn and multiple shots are going to own.”

“Well if we hit someone or something we should focus it down before we move on to the next.”

“Agreed, We should also make sure that those in the same boat not shoot double at the same spot on a grid.”

“Ok so how we going to divide?”

“Shotgun!”

“Calm down. Quantum gets the single passenger boat coz he called shotgun first. I’ll take the second with whoever and the rest of you just take boats. Those that rank the highest in the guild will be commander of their boat and so on.”

Antrax climbed in with Cuzen. Tinker, Yuri, Zomger and Lina took the four passenger boat that was in the shape of a cube. Stan and the others took the other boat that was 4 grid places long.

“Ok, those in the 3 man ships, some stay straight and some change to face sideways. Captains navigate to open grids. Try not to bunch.”

When they were all in positions a message appeared.

*Would you like to start the battle?

“Yes.”

Quantum spoke up. “My panel indicated I start. J 7. Stay here.” Quantum decided to go and position himself on A 2. What could be best described as a firework left his boat and vanished into the wall in front of them.

“Miss” a voice said. It sounded a lot like the voice of the old mad they have been seeing.

Now the moment of truth. Another colourful attack that looked like a firework came out of the wall and landed on their J 7. It missed. It was close, and those that nearly got hit, held their breaths.

They decided to maximise their attack areas so Cuzen Fired to B 22 and Antrax aimed over to W 1. They decided to stay and not move either. This went on for a while.

 It was not till their second 3 passenger boat landed a hit, then did the excitement pick up. F 17

“Focus on that area.”

They fired another 3 shots and 1 of the three hit. E 17

“Ok, it’s not sunk. Do you think he has moved it yet or its one of those that already fired?”

“I don’t know. Maybe if he fires now and only one shot comes or two we know it to be a three or four passenger boat.

“If the attacks are three or more let us work under the assumption it already moved and it is now screwed.”

3 attacks came back. “Ok, we have 4 shots. Are we going for greedy plays or the safe plays?”

“Explain.”

“We don’t know if he has a three of four passenger boat. If we shoot at D 17 G 17 we sink a three passenger boat. If we lucky we sink the four passenger boat. If we spend our other two shots on C 17 and H 17 we will sink the four passenger boat.”

“Remember if we do not go for the safe shot, and if it’s the four passenger boat turn now. He can move left, right, up or down. That means we will have to spend shots to find him and he can move to a grid where we have hit him before. So we have to shoot the same area again.”

“Ok. I heard enough. Stan, divide the shots in your boat. We playing it safe and sinking that ship.”

The shots went and they sank a four passenger boat. “You sunk my long ship”

It did not take long for the enemy to score a hit on a three passenger boat. It was the one that moved last so it could not evade and died 2 turns later after the first hit. The raid group got lucky and sank the 1 passenger boat on a random shot to S 3.

After two hours the enemy was on its last 3 man boat. The BoS were doing well. They had only lost the four man boat with Stan them and two, three man passenger boats. The enemy wasted many shots on the last three man ship it shot. They got lucky and after it got hit they could have moved. So the captain of the three man ship moved one passenger(Himself) to the grid spot that just got hit. So the enemy kept firing around him. They lost the third passenger eventually, but the captain stayed alive and wasted at least 5 more enemy turns on him before he went down.

As they were shooting the final ship an attack came through the wall, it went straight for Tinker and at the last second it seemed to hit Lina that was sitting right behind him. It was truly awful watching an attack come at you, that you know you can’t dodge and will kill you. Lucky for him this time he was saved.

With the game over. All the water disappeared and the chest appeared on the far side.

On the walk they talked and relived the battle they had just had. It was very different to what they were use to, but fun none the less. Those that died did not think it was fun.

“Those of us that have died have lost no % in professions or levels. Guess that means once we leave here, we will get our surprise.”

“Indeed.” I wonder what loot a person get’s for a battle like this.

Inside the chest was their level up and a stack of papers.

Some of the papers contained songs, poems and a treasure map. It was unclear what country or place the map represented, but that they would worry about later. They almost missed the paper that had a schematic of a ship on it.

“Identify”

Schematic for a battle ship

The ancient Vorta’s were masters of the sea and dominated the waters of the deep. Their empire was the sea and no kingdom or country could have stood against their navy. This was the last ship built of a vast navy, before they vanished into myth.

Take this paper to a skilled shipyard to be constructed. On completion, fame and a quest would be made available.

On level 8

They entered the room. This one was well illuminated. On the far side of the room were 3 piles and a door. They walked over. The old man appeared.

“In front of you are 3 piles of keys. One gold, one bronze and one silver. Each pile contains 20 000 keys. One pile has 1 correct key to open the door, one pile has 5 and the last pile has 10. You may choose which one pile you want to get rid of.”

“We choose the pile with the 1 correct key.”

The pile of gold keys vanished.

“Now I ask you a riddle. Then you decide which pile disappears next.”

“Sure, what is it”

“If 10 is more than 5 and silver is more than bronze. Which pile will you like to get rid of?”

They talked it over. Most of them agreed that it sounds like the silver pile had the 10 keys in. Some people did not agree and argued against that logic. In the end Cuzen had the final say.

“Ok, remove the bronze pile”

With that the bronze pile and the old man disappeared.

“Ok, let us form a line between our silver pile and the door.”

After a few hours they were on the last keys. Many people complained and said they chose the wrong pile. Someone did mention that the chances of the last 10 keys or 5 if they got it wrong to be chosen, are low to none. When the 10thlast key did not open the door, those few that thought the bronze pile was the right one could not shut up. When the 5th last key was tried and it did not work they all shut up. When the last key was put in the door opened.

The old man appeared. He gave good chuckle as he talked. “No matter which pile you chose the last key will always open the door. In this test the lesson to learn is that you should not trust what people say and that if you power on and do not give up hope you can succeed.”

With that said the old man was gone.

“O vote we kill that old man when we are done in this tower”

“We will see, he is starting to annoy me”

“At least we are done. And thanks to this being a mind test we could not log out.”

“Open the chest and let us take a 40 min break or 10 min brake in the real world”

“Please, I need a smoke after this.”

In the chest was their level up and a key.

“Identify”

Limited Skeleton key (10 uses)

A skeleton key that can open doors, chests or other places

If the key is used on a place that it cannot open, a charge will not be lost.

WARNING: Not all doors and other places could be opened with this key.

On level 9

The room was flat. With seats all around the cage in the middle. Only the cage and the surrounding seats were lit.

When the last person came up the stairs a message appeared.

*Mortal combat.

They walked over to the cage. When they all were close that old man made an appearance again.

“Welcome to the cage. 9 Battles will be fought here. Each will have a turn. No outside help is permitted once a fight starts.

Only one combatant from your side may enter. The side with the most wins after 9 battles wins. You may do this challenge multiple times till you succeed. After each attempt the enemies will become weaker. No time limits and the victor is declared once the other is dead. You may only fight once”

“Peechy.”

The cage was big. About 20 meters wide and went as tall as the roof itself. It had spikes and two gates. The first opponent seemed to be a giant. It was about 3 Meters tall and big. It would have to be around level 90 or so. In this tower it was hard to get an accurate level of an opponent. The giant appeared out of a black portal which closed right after he left it.

“Ok, so who thinks they can solo kill that thing?”

Stan stood forward.”I’ll take it”

No one objected. He made his way over to the cage. Before he entered he was told to stop.

“Wait. The old dude said we may not help once he entered. He said nothing about buffs and heals over time.”

“True. I know priests have a heal they can cast on someone that heals them for a big amount, then over time it heals them for the same amount again.”

“Yes we have a skill like that.”

“Ok, cast that on him right before he enters. Most heals will be a waste but everything helps. The rest of you, cast buffs or do whatever it is you can, to help him.”

Stan entered the arena’s. He was glad to see his buffs did not vanish once the doors shut. His fight with the giant started well. Giants were strong but their speed was lacking. Stan was no master swordsman but he was on the front lines for his party and knew what to do.

The giant had no weapons and armour. His fists and long arms was all he needed.

First he wanted to test the speed of his opponent and then test his reactions. A poke here, and a slice there. When the giant health went below 20 % he enraged. His attack speed and damage increased. It did catch Stan and he was flung backwards against a nice spike. He took a big deal of damage but he continued. Right before the end the giant got another good hit on Stan but, it could not save the giant from his demise.

Next was a troll. It was a big troll. It had a club and no armour.

“So, volunteers?”

Tinker was the first to say I. He had fought trolls before. Their attack speed was slow and one of this size will hit hard. He had a way to deal with them.

When the fight started Tinker had a plan ready. He would just dodge or deflect the attack from the club and use is other sword to attack. It was not flashy fighting but this way he always had one sword chipping away at the trolls life. With the other ready to parry or deflect attacks. About half way thought the fight he had taken no damage yet and the troll started to swing and become mad. This only helped Tinker more and hastened the death of the troll.

Some people were impressed. Tinker fought the entire time without taking damage. For a lot of them it was a new way of fighting. Instead of having 2 men with big swords hacking away at each other this took longer and needed way more speed to execute.

Only Quantum expression said he was not impressed.

Next was a 2 headed hound. It was big compared to most hounds. But in arenas like this you don’t need that much speed.

Before Cuzen asked for volunteers he himself went to go fight.

With his shield and weapon in the way the hound could not do that much damage. His shield could not protect against both heads and sharp paws. He never once suffered major damage and they would just chip away against each other. It was not a flashy fight and just consisted of attacking and blocking and some moving. When the hound died Cuzen was on about 60 % life remaining. He only used his shield bash and did not bother with his other skills. He was saving them for in case the hound had a trick.

The fourth opponent was a harpy. She stood and had a devilish smile. She had wings so many people were wondering will she be able to fly. The other problem was what you do, once she flies and she does not land again. They needed someone that could attack from range. To their surprise the hunter with the traps said he will fight her. No one objected and he went.

Just before the fight started he hung his bow over his shoulders. He removed a trap and dagger. When the fight started both of them stood still. It was clear the hunter was waiting for the harpy and the harpy was smart enough to wait and see what he does.

The hunter tossed the dagger and the harpy dodged and immediately leaped for him. She thought an opponent with no weapon would make for an easy target. How wrong she was. The hunter tossed his trap at her and dove to the side. During his dive role he got a tail attack to the back. The harpy was ready to pounce once more for him, but she was stuck. A bear trap was stuck to her leg. It was connected with a chain that was firmly connected to a piece of metal in the bricks. Nobody ever saw or notice the hunter putting in that piece of metal. They assumed it was a skill of the hunter. The hunter did not stand around and take in the moment. He removed his bow and started shooting her. He was no more than a meter away from her but there was nothing the harpy could do. How she howled and screamed before she died…

The 5thopponents were actually two. There were about 3 feet tall imps. One had a helmet with a spike on and a flail in its hand. The other wore a wizard hat and had a book in its hand.

Nobody came forward to fight. It was understandable. Most people would only choose to fight a single target, let alone a pair that can cast spells and attack normally. After a second call for a volunteer Quantum manned up.

He fought with his 2 daggers and leather armour. Most of the time he would attack from the shadows or from behind, but he clearly was working with a plan.

The plan was to use his speed in the arena to keep the melee fighter between himself and the spell caster. When the time is right he would go for the spell caster. He did just that, he could keep up with the melee imp and even stabbed him a couple of time. The shadow bolts fired by the other imp were not the most accurate. For every one that hit Quantum one hit his ally. In an impressive feat of acrobatics. Quantum did a cart wheel over the one imp. Stabbed him while twirling in the air and jumped on the other imp that was clearly not expecting him. After he killed the weaker imp, all that remained was the other one.

The Sixth opponent was a centaur. The other paladin volunteered to face him. The fight was even for the most part, but the centaur backed into a corner, from there he charged out and right after the opponent dodge that, he kicked. After that powerful kick the centaur did not give up and the paladin had no time to recover. The centaur had better reach and clearly would not allow his opponent to stand up after he was knocked down.

The seventh and eighth match was very similar. It seemed to be even and then about half way through the players lost and died thanks to a powerful attack from an enemy. Opponent number 7 was a skeleton knight of some kind. Number 8 was a lizard man of some kind.

The last fighter was a huge earth elemental. Even bigger than the giant they faced in the start. It could barely get past the gate to the arena.

Nobody wanted to fight it.

Antrax calmly placed his shield and axe in his inventory and removed his pickaxe’s

It was odd to see the smallest and lowest level member of the raid group off to go fight the largest enemy. He did not seem worried and was ready to attack.

When the fight started the earth elemental swung his big arm to attack that running dwarf. Antrax just ran behind the enemy and started attacking his legs. The earth elemental was starting to move, but Antrax just moved with him. After another attempt to move around, the earth elemental fell. It seemed it’s lower leg was missing. Antrax dodged the falling enemy and just kept on attacking. He seemed to be attacking limbs. After the leg he went for an arm. After the arm was gone he just went for the head. When the head crumbled into nothing the fight was over.

“That was very anticlimactic”

“If it was stone it would have taken longer, but nothing can stand against me and my diamond tipped mining equipment.”

“Geez man. For such a small guy you sure can hit like a rock”

“Thank you”

“For a moment I was glad we already had 5 wins, because I did not think you would win.”

“Ok, the chest is in the middle of the arena’s. Let us loot it and be gone.”

In the chest was their level up and one item from each of the enemies they had faced. The giant left a huge piece of good leather. The troll left his club. The hounds left a collar that was a neck piece or used in place of an amulet. The harpy left a ring. The Imps left the wizard hat. The centaur left his axe, the Skeleton night left his boots. The Lizard man left bracers behind and the earth elemental left a pile of dirt. After identifying the dirt it was revealed that any plant, seed or other growing item could be planted in the dirt and it will germinate. After that the normal factors like water, sun and whatever was applied. Tinker was the only one that wanted if for personal use. The others saw the potential and possible gold for selling an item like that, but the guild rules were clear. You get items you can use, the others are sold.