The lanky kobold stepped forward, giggling and swinging his chain with a flaming ball at the end in circles. Isabelle wasn’t sure what to do. She hadn’t tried to take a stealth route again, and it was probably too late to do that now that Daldi could see her.
“Why so afraid, little human?” said Daldi.
Before Isabelle could answer, he swung his chain through the air at her. Isabelle tried to dodge, but it was too fast, and she quickly found the chain wrapping around her legs and pulling her to the center of the field. Suddenly, she felt a horrible burning sensation.
[-4 hp]
[You’re getting fire damage]
[-1 hp]
Shit. All Isabelle could do was squirm as Daldi pulled her up to his face and laughed. His breath was rancid. What an awful kobold. Daldi pulled out a dagger and stabbed Isabelle with it twice, then tossed her away from him like she weighed two pounds.
[-5 hp]
[-1 hp]
Isabelle landed on the dusty, dirty floor of the battlefield. At least she wasn’t getting fire damage any more. However, she was not feeling great. In about five seconds she’d taken eleven points of damage to her hp. At this rate, she wouldn’t make it out of the fight to level up. Isabelle would have to try and do better to evade Daldi’s grappling attack.
Now the kobold seemed to be just waiting there, probably recovering his stamina for a another attack. Isabelle thought she ought to try for a ranged attack at this time, so she opened her inventory.
Inventory: Isabelle
Carrying capacity: 38/43
Item
Traits
Peasant Robes (human)
+1 carry weight
Copy of the Cloud Reach List of Laws
+0.5 carry weight
Brass knuckles
+4 damage (melee), +1 stm, +0.5 carry weight
Potion of Greater Health
+20 hp, +0.5 carry weight
Potion of Lesser Stamina
+5 stm, +0.5 carry weight
Throwing Dagger (poisoned) x2
+3 damage, +0.5 carry weight
Bobby pin x5
n/a
Hook Sword (poisoned) x2
+6 damage, +3 carry weight
Steel Warhammer
+33 damage, +28 carry weight
Gold (225)
n/a
[Throwing Dagger (poisoned) equipped]
Now she had to try and get a good shot. If she tried right now with Daldi’s flaming chain swinging in the air, he’d probably just block it or something. So, instead she started walking forward, and then to the side.
“Tricky, tricky,” said Daldi. “What are you up to, little human?”
Isabelle didn’t say anything, she just tried to weave and zig zag her way closer and closer to him. Before long, Daldi was looking irritated. He fired his chain out in a bid to grab and catch her, but Isabelle was watching, and she was able to dodge it. After dodging, Isabelle readied her equipped throwing dagger and flung it at Daldi’s head.
[Critical hit]
[173 damage dealt]
[Daldi has been poisoned]
[Stamina 97%]
“Damn it!” said Daldi, flicking his chain around in frustration. The sinister kobold started to turn in a clockwise circle, faster and faster, with his flaming chain ball outstretched. This created a sort of huge ring of fire that began slowly advancing toward Isabelle, with Daldi spinning like a top in the middle.
“Shit,” said Isabelle, dashing away.
[Stamina 91%]
“Once again, the human has taken to evasive action,” said the announcer. “I for one am interested to see how this all shakes out.”
The crowd mumbled in agreeance.
[+3 hp]
Had a minute really already passed in this battle? Well, at least Isabelle got some hp regen from it. She could use some more of that, probably.
“You can’t run forever, human!” said Daldi, spinning faster and faster.
Isabelle wondered if Daldi would ever run out of stamina. That spinning like a top technique had to be absolutely exhausting. Maybe if she could catch him at the right moment, he would be too weak to fight back.
Daldi was rapidly approaching, and his circle of fire was getting hotter. Isabelle tried to aim another throwing dagger at Daldi, but his body was a blur. How was she supposed to win this fight? Hell, how was she supposed to fight at all?
And then, the spinning right hit her. Isabelle shot across the field, slamming into one of the far walls of the Citadel.
[-10 hp]
Isabelle thought she might just throw up. It was all she could do to stand back up and crack her neck. Blood was running from her nose, and her head felt horribly bruised.
“Ooh!” said the announcer. “That was one nasty hit for the human to take. And she’s already standing back up, folks. What will it take to kill this human? We just might find out today.”
The crowd mumbled.
Isabelle looked to Daldi. He was still spinning away, and even worse he was getting closer and closer to her. What could she do? Isabelle remembered when she fought Rhun Bone Crusher, and how he had hammed the ground with his hammer. Isabelle opened up her inventory.
Inventory: Isabelle
Carrying capacity: 35/43
Item
Traits
Peasant Robes (human)
+1 carry weight
Copy of the Cloud Reach List of Laws
+0.5 carry weight
Brass knuckles
+4 damage (melee), +1 stm, +0.5 carry weight
Potion of Greater Health
+20 hp, +0.5 carry weight
Potion of Lesser Stamina
+5 stm, +0.5 carry weight
Throwing Dagger (poisoned) x2
+3 damage, +0.5 carry weight
Bobby pin x5
n/a
Hook Sword (poisoned)
+6 damage, +3 carry weight
Steel Warhammer
+33 damage, +28 carry weight
Gold (145)
n/a
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[Steel Warhammer equipped]
Perfect. Isabelle had been worried her str might’ve been too low to wield it, it was probably a good thing she’d leveled her str up to ten recently. Daldi was getting closer.
Isabelle raised the hammer and slammed it into the ground. A shockwave rushed through the dirt and slammed into Daldi, raising him off the ground and breaking his rhythmn.
[3 damage dealt]
As the kobold and his flaming chain clattered to the ground in a huff, Isabelle smiled. She had to act quickly.
[Throwing dagger (poisoned) equipped]
Isabelle chucked the throwing dagger at Daldi, hitting him in his left leg.
[50 damage dealt]
[Daldi has been poisoned]
Well, it hadn’t been her best shot, but at least Isabelle hit him. Daldi scrounged for leverage to stand back up. Isabelle sprung to action.
[Steel Warhammer equipped]
Isabelle slammed the hammer into the ground three times. Daldi jostled around, falling on his back.
[6 damage dealt]
Isabelle noticed something. Daldi wasn’t holding on to his flaming ball chain. She wondered if she could use her system to add it to her inventory while it was out of his grasp. Isabelle focused on the mighty weapon.
[Take ‘Flaming Ball Chain’?]
Isabelle thought yes.
The crowd gasped. Daldi looked around in the dirt in shock.
[Notice: You’re over encumbered. Please check your inventory.]
“In a shocking twist, Daldi’s weapon has suddenly disappeared!” said the announcer. “I have a feeling the human has something to do with this, thought I not sure how she pulled that magic trick off. She doesn’t strike me as someone good with Transmutation or Confusion, so it’s pretty impressive.”
[Notice: You’re over encumbered. Please check your inventory.]
How did that announcer know Isabelle had such low, or possibly nonexistent, magic skill levels? That was just embarassing. At least the announcer wasn’t actively hating on her any more.
[Notice: You’re over encumbered. Please check your inventory.]
Before Isabelle could think any more, Daldi jumped back on his feet and charged her.
[Notice: You’re over encumbered. Please check your inventory.]
Shit. Isabelle could barely move. When she tried to, it was like the air was made of molasses.
[Notice: You’re over encumbered. Please check your inventory.]
Daldi slammed his right shoulder into Isabelle, knocking her back a few feet.
[-3 hp]
Then, Daldi rushed up and punched her in the gut eight times in rapid succession.
[-7 hp]
Isabelle staggered in place, spitting up blood. Everywhere she looked, her vision was out of focus. But she noticed the Daldi had stopped. He must’ve used up his stamina. She had to take her chance. Isabelle discarded Daldi’s flaming ball chain and opened her inventory.
Inventory: Isabelle
Carrying capacity: 34/43
Item
Traits
Peasant Robes (human)
+1 carry weight
Copy of the Cloud Reach List of Laws
+0.5 carry weight
Brass knuckles (poisoned)
+4 damage (melee), +1 stm, +0.5 carry weight
Potion of Greater Health
+20 hp, +0.5 carry weight
Potion of Lesser Stamina
+5 stm, +0.5 carry weight
Bobby pin x5
n/a
Hook Sword (poisoned) x2
+6 damage, +3 carry weight
Steel Warhammer
+33 damage, +28 carry weight
Gold (225)
n/a
[Potion of Greater Health drunken]
[+20 hp]
Isabelle suddenly felt much, much better. She
[Hook Sword (poisoned) x2 equipped]
Isabelle rushed forward and slashed at Daldi, who was in shock, six times with her hook swords.
[202 damage dealt]
[Daldi has been poisoned]
[Stamina 65%]
Isabelle had to keep fighting while she could. Daldi looked ready to attack, so she waited for him to lunge forward and then slashed up four times while alternating her two hook swords.
[135 damage dealt]
[Daldi has been poisoned]
[Stamina 41%]
Daldi looked faint. He reached down to grab his discarded flaming ball chain. Isabelle took this moment to swipe down from his shoulder to his gut twice on either side.
[Critical hit]
Daldi’s body suddenly separated in two clean cuts where Isabelle had just slashed him. As he fell apart, blood spewing, his now-dead eyes went wide with shock.
[333 damage dealt]
[‘Daldi’ is dead]
[Stamina 19%]
Isabelle took a deep breath. She’d done it. What a relief. Only one fight to go, and she’d finally be out of this colossal mess.
“Another shocking win for the human!” said the announcer. The audience cheered.
Wow. They were cheering for her. It was about time, Isabelle figured.
“I will now introduce our last challenger against the human,” said the announcer.
Wait. What about Isabelle’s break? Didn’t she get a few minutes to recharge?
Quest: Fight Your Fourth Citadel Battle
Description: You’ve completed your third Citadel Battle. Now it’s time to fight the next round.
Reward: 90 gold, ability to continue on the ‘Citadel Fighter’ questing path
Note: You cannot deactivate this quest
Completed
[90 gold added to inventory]
Quest: Fight Your Fifth Citadel Battle
Description: You’ve completed your fourth Citadel Battle. Now it’s time to fight the last round of the day.
Reward: 100 gold, comnpletion of the ‘Citadel Fighter’ quest path
Note: You cannot deactivate this quest
Activated
[Quest ‘Fight Your Fifth Citadel Battle’ activated]
[Loading quest]
[…]
[…]
[Quest prepared]
[Prepare to fight.]
The ground started to rumble.
“Alright, everyone. Our last challenger today is a Citadel favorite,” said the announcer. The crowd cheered.
More rumbling. And then a loud, booming sound. Something enormous was stomping out of the enemy wing.
“Give it up, Cloud Reach, for Maalzos Soul Render!” said the announcer, with some doubt in his voice. The audience mumbled, some of them actually sounding worried for Isabelle instead of happy.
Out of the wing walked a towering giant clothed in awful, thorny armor. The giant held a humongous axe, and had a beard that was easily fifty feet long. It looked down at Isabelle like she was an ant. It suddenly made sense to her why the Citadel was as big as it was—it was made big enough for this awful giant to fight people inside.
Isabelle felt so much regret. Why hadn’t she listened to anyone? Everyone had told her she wasn’t cut out for this. She’d just thought she was doing so well, but it all felt like a cruel joke now. How could she win against such a behemoth?
The whistle blew.
[Fight for your life]
The giant reached a huge, awful hand towards Isabelle, shaping it into a fist and slamming it into the dirt. Luckily, she darted away fast enough to escape the brunt of its force, though she was hit by a shockwave.
[-2 hp]
[Stamina 75%]
Frustrated, the giant raised its left leg and stamped its foot into the ground three times, shaking the ground like an earthquake and battering Isabelle around much worse than she’d been able to manage to do with the Steel Warhammer.
[-5 hp]
Great. Isabelle would be dead soon by the look of things. So much for life. So much for Beaubinte. She’d essentially traded an eternity in prison for killing a crab to be squashed like an ant by a giant in half a second. What a shitty run of luck.
Maalzos Soul Render raised his huge axe and swung it slowly downward. Isabelle’s only thought was whether she could reach cover. She looked over to her wing of the Citadel. She noticed that the little cave she’d walked through to enter the battlefield was still completely accessible.
Finally, Isabelle had a direction. She dashed towards her wing as fast as she could. Maalzos the giant readjusted his axe trajectory and begun to swing again as she faster approached the wing.
[Stamina 65%]
Isabelle leapt into the covered area, hoping it was enough to keep her alive for a moment longer.
[Stamina 45%]
The axe hit the ground near Isabelle. It dug deep into the dirt, sending plumes of sediment into Isabelle’s face.
[-1 hp]
Isabelle shivered. As the dust settled, she looked outside, and saw that Maalzos was struggling. The axe had gotten embedded in the ground, and it appeared impossible for even the giant to get out.
Isabelle stood up and watched. The giant seemed unable to dislodge its axe. Maybe she had a chance of surviving after all. At first, Isabelle thought about running out of cover, towards the giant, and trying to climb up him. But that was absolutely crazy, and how would she know where to hit him to do any damage?
Isabelle thought a little more, and watched as the giant huffed and puffed. She figured his stamina must’ve gotten pretty low at this point, and he was resting for a second before trying to yank the axe out of the ground again.
Isabelle got an idea.
[Steel Warhammer equipped]
Isabelle raised her steel warhammer and held it in the air, waiting and watching the giant. As the giant took another deep breath, he grasped his axe handle again and prepared to pull. Isabelle swung her warhammer down as Maalzos pulled, hitting the ground right as the maximum amount of the giant’s force was pulling on the axe.
Isabelle watched the comparatively small shockwave from her hammer reach the huge axe, and as Maalzos pulled with all his gargantuan strength, the axe shot out of the ground and swung up. It swung up so fast that the giant lost control, and in a flash it burrowed right into the center of his head, perfectly bissecting it before sticking and lodging itself into some the meat of the giant’s spine.
[Critical hit]
[‘Maalzos Soul Render’ is dead]
[Combat mode deactivated]
Isabelle’s mouth went wide as she watched the giant’s body quiver and shake as blood spurted and flowed down it like a waterfall. The crowd too gasped, seeming otherwise silent and speechless, as the giant’s body stumbled backward and fell to the ground, shaking the ground below them terribly.
[-3 hp]
Wow, it’d shaken the ground so much it did Isabelle even more damage. But, somehow, she’s survived it all.
Isabelle noticed the crowd was still silent, as was the announcer. They seemed to be waiting for something. Isabelle slowly walked out from the wing, looking around with wide eyes. She was shaking a little, now that combat mode had deactivated.
“Well, everyone, I never thought I’d say this, especially not tonight,” said the announcer. “But please welcome our new champion of the Citadel, Isabelle the Human, now known to Cloud Reach as Isabelle the Giant Slayer!”
The audience went wild with joy.
The Giant Slayer? It did sound badass, but had Isabelle really slayed the giant, or had she gotten the giant to slay himself? Either way, it was rather nice to have people cheering for her maddeningly.
Quest: Fight Your Fifth Citadel Battle
Description: You’ve completed your fourth Citadel Battle. Now it’s time to fight the last round of the day.
Reward: 100 gold, completion of the ‘Citadel Fighter’ quest path
Note: You cannot deactivate this quest
Completed
[100 gold added]
Quest: Talk to Oglo About Your Prison Sentence
Description: You’ve completed five Citadel battles. Talk to Oglo to see what he can do regarding your prison sentence.
Note: You cannot deactivate this quest
Activated
[Quest ‘Talk to Oglo About Your Prison Sentence’ activated]
[Loading quest]
[…]
[…]
[Quest prepared]
[Leave the Citadel and talk to Oglo]
Isabelle rolled her eyes at the quest menu. She deserved to at least bask in her glory a little bit, didn’t she? She’d just defeated a giant, after all, whether she slew him herself or not. Isabelle turned and waved to the audience. They cheered even louder, some throwing her flowers. Flowers! Now that was a whole lot better than the old food and rocks they’d thrown at her earlier that night.
[Notice: You’re ready to level up]
Isabelle smiled. Yes, she was ready to level up.