A forceful wind slammed into Cole, threatening to tip him over as it blew him back. He would’ve fallen if he hadn’t managed to brace himself mid-impact. Dust, grass, and goo quickly followed the wind, blasting into him from the explosion. A typical fighter would be eager for the dust to clear. They would’ve urged it to. But Cole was hoping it wouldn’t.
If the dust cleared, his fear would be confirmed. The reality of his present situation would be confirmed. He didn’t need the dust to clear. He could confirm the conclusion of Remmy’s attack by just looking at Daniel’s stats. His eyes reluctantly strayed to the top right-hand corner of his HUD. He didn’t want to see it, he didn’t want to face it, but it was inevitable.
Health:
0/2150
Status:
Dead
Cole’s heart skipped a beat. Daniel was the only surety of completing this quest. He was the only surety of beating this guy. With him gone, Cole knew he wouldn’t win this fight. Now all he could think about is ‘why?’. Why was he given this quest? Why was he put in a position to fail everyone in this game and lose this war? Why were these players here?
Were these guys working for the necromancer? For Zuna? Did they get the same quest Cole got but for a completely different reason? It seemed incredulous to him even though he knew it was plausible. Alongside NPCs, players stood on both sides of the war. They would do anything to make their side win. Then there was also the fact that players could be going off script and doing this on their own.
If the necromancer or Zuna didn’t send them, maybe they were here to secure a crucial item they could leverage for their gains. Selfish? Yes. Plausible? Of course. A huge fucking problem for Cole? Definitely. If he had to account for players both working for Zuna and acting in their self-interest, this game will be a lot more complicated than he thought.
As the dust cleared, Cole could finally see Daniel’s body. It lay stiff and lifeless on the ground. It made the reality of his situation even more solid. Cole couldn’t defeat this guy. He was tempted to put the ax to his head. It would free him of this situation. It would whisk him away from this challenge. Cole would’ve done it, but Remmy was quicker.
Cole felt the arrow in his leg before he could even see it. That took 50 points from his health of 208, leaving him at 158. Not wanting to take any additional damage unnecessarily, Cole sprinted off to the right, zigzagging to throw Remmy off. Soon though, he corrected his path toward Remmy.
He knew he couldn’t avoid this fight. He couldn’t let Daniel’s death be for nothing. He couldn’t fail his quest. The stakes were too high. Cole’s only choice was to fight this ranger head-on. Will he win? He doubted it, but there was a chance. Daniel had done a considerable amount of damage before Remmy defeated him.
RemmyThenBenny
Level: 30
Rank: Silver I (2/5)
Class: Ranger (Night Stalker)
Health: 635/1895
Cole had to get close enough. He would have the advantage then. Getting close would be hard though. Remmy only manifested for a brief moment when attacking. Cole had to get him that same second. Cole’s eyes never left the spot where he last saw Remmy, watching for the man’s appearance whenever he fired an arrow.
Fortunately, Remmy hasn’t been moving since he took down Daniel. He was five meters away from the body. Arrows whizzed by Cole as he sprinted. Cole made a beeline for that position, pushing himself to move as fast as he could. His feet churned, his arms swung, and his heart pounded harder than it ever had before.
The moment Cole straightened his path, Remmy became more accurate with his aim. Each new shot inched closer and closer to Cole’s body. As he approached Daniel’s corpse, he lunged, clearing fifteen meters. Then he swung for the space where he presumed Remmy would be. His ax slid through the air, and an arrow from the left pierced his side.
The shock from the pain froze Cole, but he managed to glimpse Remmy before Remmy faded again. He was five meters to his left, so Cole lunged again. This time he was sure his ax would chop into the man’s flesh. But again, he missed, and this time he didn’t see where Remmy was. When another arrow struck Cole, he decided to retreat. Remmy’s arrows traced him all the way to a crumbling column that could barely provide him with cover.
Cole found himself panting. He could hear his blood rushing in his ears. His mind went in a million directions as he tried to find the best way to win this situation. Unfortunately, he was going down several dead ends. Nothing was clear. He had no way out. And every second he spent out of sight, is another second Remmy could use to regain health with a potion.
He needed to keep pressure on Remmy. That would prevent Remmy from gaining more health. But how does he do that without injuring himself further? Daniel’s dead, Frank and Syrian were stuck in the temple fighting god-knows-who, and he was too low-level to finish this himself. He wanted to give up, but he couldn’t even move. Both his mind and his body were paralyzed as neither knew what to do.
Cole tried to center himself amidst arrows zipping around him. They chipped away at the column as if Remmy was intent on demolishing his cover. Cole should be thankful that Remmy hadn’t launched an explosive barrage yet. That would’ve taken him out for sure. Which meant he needed to end this before Remmy gained enough stamina to do so.
Behind the column, Cole was a sitting duck. As long as he was stationary and in sight, Cole would be at disadvantage. He needed to move. He needed to find and get close to Remmy. On top of all that, he needed to not get hit. It was going to be hard, but he needed to try, and it was best to try this than nothing at all.
Cole took off again. This time, he wouldn’t stop running. He tried to grab Daniel’s shield as he passed, but it couldn’t be pried from the corpse. His fingers couldn’t even touch it. They bounced off when he tried to take the shield, yet they ran over Daniel’s corpse just fine. Cole decided he would figure it out later. Right now, the only thing he needed to do was find Remmy and get as close to him as possible.
The more Cole watched, the easier it became for him to trace the arrows. It had quickly become his singular focus, making him keener as he tracked them. He tried to drink the final potion as he ran, but that was impossible. He would need to either stop or slow down, and if he did either, Remmy would kill him.
Cole finally figured out where Remmy was. Every time Remmy faded in and out, he would move around 2 – 3 meters. So when Cole finally got close to Remmy, he didn’t aim for where he last saw him, he aimed for where he would be just before he fired another arrow. That would nestle him snuggly between two close columns. It would’ve been the perfect cover, but Cole destroyed it.
Cole catapulted, and the moment he landed where Remmy was, he invoked Whirlwind. The skill was a weird experience. The world spun wildly around him, but he had a clear sense of where everything was and where he was going. There was no nausea, confusion, or disorientation.
The columns exploded and shattered, turning Cole into a grey, whirling storm. Remmy tried to jump back to avoid Cole’s attack but he failed. Cole had surprised him and Whirlwind was too quick. The sound of metal ripping through stone was soon replaced by shrieks as Cole ripped through Remmy’s flesh. Whirlwind lasted for three seconds. It inflicted 267 damage, leaving Remmy with 368 health.
Cole just needed to perform Whirlwind two more times to kill Remmy. But it wouldn’t be that easy, Whirlwind was in a 45-second cooldown. Forty-five seconds for Remmy to strike him with an arrow or replenish his health. Forty-five seconds for anything to go wrong.
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As Cole came out of Whirlwind, he continued his assault on Remmy. That part was easier than he thought it would be. Whirlwind had put Cole in immediate range of Remmy. It had battered, unbalanced, and flustered him, so Remmy didn’t process the subsequent attacks until it was too late.
Cole chopped into Remmy with fury and desperation. All Cole needed was four solid strikes. That would zero Remmy’s health and then all of this would be over. But Cole didn’t stop at four. He couldn’t. Cole continued hacking into Remmy even after the man stopped flailing and screaming. He continued after the man fell still on the ground. He continued despite the many notifications popping up in his HUD.
All Cole needed was four solid strikes. By the time he was done hacking into Remmy’s corpse, he had struck the man sixteen times. He wasn’t sure what made him stop, but he knew what kept him going. The entire battle had taken a mental toll on him. He could barely process it. Adrenaline had set him on edge, and he only had a singular goal. His body knew nothing else.
Cole’s mind was frazzled by the entire ordeal. He fell to his knees over Remmy’s corpse, and then back onto his butt, breathing heavily. The ax shook in his grip. Blood was all over him. His eyes fixated on Remmy’s mangled corpse. He wanted to hurl, but his character couldn’t. That helped him remember that it was just a game. Yet, the smell of the blood and the sight of Remmy’s massacred corpse made it seem all too real.
He couldn’t look at it anymore and allowed his body to fall onto his back. The ax slipped from his grip. The need to hurl increased, almost trying to force itself out of him. He decided to distract himself with the notifications that he had previously ignored.
System Notification
You’ve bested RemmyThenBenny
XP Gain:
3567
Rank Gain:
Unranked (1/3)
System Notification
Congratulations! You’ve leveled up from Level 8 to Level 9.
XP required for next level:
1750
Stat points gained:
10
Skill points gained:
5
System Notification
Congratulations! You’ve leveled up from Level 9 to Level 10.
XP required for next level:
1950
Stat points gained:
10
Skill points gained:
5
System Notification
Congratulations! You’ve unlocked a new Skill Slot.
Total Skill Slots:
2
Used Skill Slots:
1/2
Next Skill Slot unlock:
Level 20
System Notification
Congratulations! Due to your Perk, Macho Dynamo, you’ve dynamically learned a new skill. Berserker Rage.
Description:
Barbarians are known for their brute strength and brutal force. Much of that force comes from a bloodlust frenzy that overcomes them during the heat of battle. Some say their gods granted them this gift. Others say it’s a curse due to their war-loving nature.
Effect:
While active, strength is increased x2.
Stamina Cost:
35
Active Time:
5 seconds
Cooldown Time
20 seconds
Cole was glad that he leveled up and learned a new skill. He just wished he had that skill when the battle started. Maybe it would’ve made the fight easier. Maybe Daniel wouldn’t have died. Now he’s short one friend and lots of health. He’d get both back though. That’s the upside. He watched his health slowly increase now that the fight was over. He figured the new skill was unlocked due to him hacking away at Remmy’s Corpse in a daze.
Name:
Cold Fate
Stamina:
106/106
Class:
Fighter (Barbarian)
Strength:
110
Level:
10
Agility:
122
Rank:
Unranked (1/3)
Mind:
38
XP:
1117/1950
Persistence
14
Health:
297/297
He wished he had restrained Remmy instead of killing him. Maybe he would’ve been able to get the answers he wanted, but his body was in kill mode. Now he just had to figure out how to get into the temple without it crumbling around him. He didn’t have the skill Frank or Syrian had, so he had to find another way. Whoever was fighting Frank clearly did.
They didn’t see anyone enter the temple while they were there. Based on Remmy’s position, the man had been watching them for quite some time, and Daniel didn’t pick up on their presence til long after Cole had arrived. Which means they must have used a secret entrance. Cole decided to find it, and he would start with where they initially found Remmy.
Cole grabbed his ax as he stood up and looked around. Daniel’s corpse was no longer there. As he walked away, he figured Remmy’s corpse would disappear soon too. Cole went back to the location Daniel had pinned once he found Remmy. It seemed like the ruins of a small room. After investigating, he saw some cuniform scribbled into the walls.
He had previously scanned that section twice at eye level, He only discovered the inscription because there was a faint glint from the base of the structure. When he stooped to look at it closer, he saw the cuniform faintly glow white. There was an indicator in his HUD that showed that Mind was active, highlighting this obscure clue.
The inscription read: “The path to the brightest light, is sometimes the darkest.”
After reading that, something else glints in the corner of Cole’s eye. When he turned to look, a broken tablet was bathed in the same glow as the inscription. The cuniform on it read: “Though they were followers of the Light Goddess, The Temple’s Torch met in secret under the cover of night. Guided only by the moonlight, these unconventional priests crafted hidden pathways to plot Bau’s rise above the gods.”
It seemed to be some kind of report or record. Cole would never know since the top half of the tablet was gone. Based on what he had read, Cole figured that there was a hidden pathway into the temple. He searched the immediate area until he saw a faint glow under a circular stone lid. He heaved the lid off and to the side, revealing a dark hole.
Cole cautiously climbed down into the hole and fell for about five meters. While his body reflect moonlight, everything around him was pitch black. Then a white torch sprang to life on his right. It allowed him to see a tunnel about 3 meters in front of him. Cole took the torch and jogged through the darkness, hoping that Bau’s Light wasn’t already taken.