“You know one thing that I really regret right now?” Q said as she blocked an attack by a player, then fired a spell at him.
“I don’t know… how about the fact that you basically aggroed every player around us?!” Kukis yelled while struggling to block 3 swords coming from her front.
“No. It’s the fact that we didn’t wear any masks. It would have been perfect if we did.” Q deflected an arrow then shot a flaming bullet at the archer who fired it.
“Really!? We could be crushed by hundreds of players, and you’re concerned about appearances?” Kukis managed to push away her attackers, granting her a bit of space.
“Well, appearances are important.” Brie noted while she stabbed a man in leather armor. “As my mother once told me, ‘no matter what the occasion, you must always strive to look your best.’” She made a few quick slashes, killing the player, then finished with a flourish.
“Yeah. Take Brie for example. She’s in the middle of a battle and she still looks pretty darn stylish. Now that’s dedication to appearances.” Q slipped underneath a player’s guard and stabbed him in the back. “Not even I could look that nice.” She pulled out her knife and began to savagely stab him.
“Why do I even bother…” Kukis gave up trying to understand Q’s logic as she dealt with the players attacking her. How do these two even have the composure to talk like that? She wondered as she struck at a player dual wielding swords.
The girls were surrounded by dozens of players, all of them aiming for the ‘extra reward’ for defeating them. Fortunately the players were blinded by greed as they didn’t try to get into formation, and just rushed forward one by one. There was even some infighting between players on the same side as they struggled to attack the girls.
“The reward is mine!” A player with an axe dashed forward to attack Q.
“No, it’s mine!” Another player tripped him and then went forward, only to be killed by Q’s [Magic Fist].
“Hmm… it’s sort of annoying to have to deal with all these small fries. White Flash, Violet Snack, form up on me! We’re breaking through the crowd!” Q yelled as she shot a [Gust] at an assassin who was trying to sneak up on her.
“You’re seriously going to call us that…?” Kukis was about to complain, but decided against it as the most important thing was breaking out of the circle of players. Kukis and Brie got close to Q as she began to ready her spell.
“We’re aiming for the outskirts of the battle! Get ready you two. [Multi-Spark]!” Q ran forward, leading the charge as her sparks cleared the way for the three of them. Any players foolish enough to try blocking the sparks would have their health shredded down incredibly quickly, and then inevitably died. Eventually the three of them were able to break free of the encirclement and took a deep breath as they observed the battle from afar.
Their break didn’t last for very long though, as one of the players recognized them and began attacking. “Look, it’s the Prim Roses!” he called out as he engaged them. Others heard his call and stopped fighting each other to attack Q and her group.
“Man, how did they know it was us?” Kukis wondered as she dodged an attack and counterattacked with her sword.
“It may have something to do with the words above our heads.” Brie said while she parried a player's attack with a dagger. Kukis was puzzled for a moment, but looked above her head and noticed that there were words floating there.
[Prim Roses Faction] - Violet Snack
“Seriously!? The game recognizes that as my name?” Kukis complained once she saw the terrible nickname that Q gave her. Actually, when the heck did that appear?
“Well it keeps things interesting at least.” Q shot out a flaming bullet at one of her attackers and then began to use her dagger to engage them. The girls were yet again attacked by multiple players, as all of them could see their names and were drawn to them like moths to a flame. After a few minutes, the girls decided to move to another location as they attracted too many players.
This quickly became a pattern, as the girls would break out of an encirclement, engage a few players, and then get surrounded again. For the most part the girls were doing fine as they took out a few players every time they moved, but that changed once they moved into a battle between two familiar parties...
“Miss Q? You were a part of the Prim Roses all along!?” Sir Albert was surprised to see that Q had entered the battle as a third faction.
“Q! Fancy meeting you here.” Vern grinned once he saw the familiar fox-kin. “I was starting to think that you girls were going to miss out on the fun.”
“Hehe,” Q giggled as she raised her knife. “On the contrary, I’m here to make things more fun! Let’s go!” She shouted as she ran in to engage both Sir Albert and Vern at the same time.
“You’re seriously too reckless Q…” Kukis muttered as she also raised her sword and dashed in with Brie. The party battle became far more chaotic now that Q and her group joined the fray, creating a three-way fight. The rest of the players backed off once they saw that the Prim Roses had engaged Sir Albert’s team and the Crios Blades, and returned to fighting one another.
“Tch, no way we can break into that battle.”
“Yeah, those teams are too tough. Let’s focus on getting kills!”
As the other players retreated from the battle, Q began to fight 5 people at once. Her body tensed and her eyes narrowed, and the world seemed to slow down for her. Under this effect, Q observed her surroundings and made quick decisions. Okay, Brie’s holding off Sir Albert and Vern. That leaves everyone else to go after me huh? First ones to go have to be the healers at least. She immediately dashed towards Fortis who was closer to her, but was stopped by Neira.
“I won’t let you.” Neira growled as she raised her shield and charged towards Q. Seeing this, Q also ran forward to meet her charge, but at the last second she slid on the ground and kicked Neira’s legs out from under her. As soon as Neira fell down, Q also stood up and fired a flaming bullet towards Fortis, then followed it up by throwing her dagger.
As soon as Fortis saw that Q shot a spell towards him, he already cast a shield on himself and blocked the spell, but right after the shield dissipated Q’s dagger flew straight at him! With quick reflexes, he was able to block the dagger but suddenly Q was right in front of him! As soon as Q got into close quarters, Fortis had nothing else to use so he smiled wryly as he sent out one last heal to his party members.
“Q, it’s really scary to have you as an enemy.” Fortis said as he disappeared into light particles.
Right after Fortis died, Neira came in and bashed Q with her shield, sending her flying towards Baulder! With a mighty swing of his axe, Baulder brought it down onto Q who was still on the ground. Q abruptly curled into a ball, avoiding the axe by a hairsbreadth. Once Baulder tried to pick up his axe to swing again, Q used her legs to bring Baulder down. Unfortunately, being a dwarf Baulder had powerful legs and wasn’t fazed by the kick. Taking note of this Q rolled forward past Baulder just in time to avoid a few spells shot by Magnus and Aeryn.
Q was able to pick herself off the ground and faced her opponents. One more healer… Q thought as she brought up her knife and prepared to fight again. While Q was fighting against them, Brie was also fighting against the party leaders. With her swift strikes and fast footwork, she had completely suppressed the two.
“Geez Brie,” Vern grunted as he struggled to block another stab. “I don’t remember you being this strong. And you also have a pretty scary face right now...” He said while looking at Brie’s emotionless face.
“Now you… are truly a worthy opponent!” Sir Albert cried out as he swept at Brie with his sword. Brie casually ducked underneath the blade, then stabbed one of the chinks in his shoulder guards.
“Argh!” Sir Albert backed off, clutching his shoulder in pain.
Vern used this opportunity to try to get back to the rest of his members, but Brie suddenly yelled out, “[Forward Thrust]!” and drove her blade into his back. At this time the blade’s special ability activated as Vern was dealt extra damage, and fell onto the ground. Brie was about to finish him off but then suddenly moved out of the way as Sir Albert charged towards her.
Sir Albert brought his sword down onto Vern, and killed him with that hit. For a second both Brie and Sir Albert were completely silent, but then Sir Albert lifted his sword as he ignored what just happened. “Come!” He yelled as he dashed at Brie.
Fighting Sir Albert alone was far easier for Brie, as his attacks swung wide and she had ample opportunity to punish him for making those attacks. Each time Sir Albert could finish a swing, Brie would always stab into one of the gaps in his armor, dealing damage and causing Sir Albert pain. Sometimes when Sir Albert tried to use a skill by bringing up his sword above his head, Brie would just stab his elbow or something, stopping his skill from being used.
His health was slowly taken down to critical levels, and he wondered why he wasn’t being healed yet. Sir Albert took a second to look behind him just in time to see Q finish off Celinus with a [Multi-spark]. The split second that Sir Albert used to look away was a mistake though, as Brie yelled, “[Piercing Strike]!” and stabbed right through Sir Albert’s armor and straight into his heart.
Once Sir Albert disappeared into light particles, Brie moved forward to assist Q. Q noticed this though and locked eyes with Brie, then shook her head. “Assist Violet Snack! I’m fine as is!” She shouted while dodging spells and sword strikes. Brie nodded as she turned around to find that Kukis was surrounded by a bunch of other players. She was about to approach Kukis when suddenly she heard the sound of glass breaking, and Kukis was surrounded by a cloud of smoke...
*A few minutes earlier*
Once Q, Brie and Kukis ran forward to engage Sir Albert’s team and the Crios Blades, their targets were quickly chosen as everyone began fighting… except for Kukis. For some reason none of the teams really paid attention to her as they prioritized the more dangerous targets of Q and Brie. Okay, fine. I get it. Q and Brie are stronger than me, but that doesn’t mean that you should all ignore me right...? Right!? Kukis raged in her mind as she watched the others fight. For a moment she contemplated running in to help either of the two, but then suddenly realized that she’d be more likely to be a liability to them. Feeling slightly depressed, Kukis took a look at the current state of the battlefield.
If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.
Many of the players had died, leaving about 50 players who were all being incredibly cautious as they fought each other in a war of attrition. Most of the mages had exhausted their mana and were standing in the back, either drinking potions or meditating to regenerate mana faster. A lot of the warriors were also hanging back, not moving forward to engage the other party unless necessary. For a moment the two sides seemed to be in equilibrium, when suddenly one of the players said, “Hey look! It’s a Prim Rose!” Immediately, all the remaining players locked their eyes onto Kukis as their eyes filled with greed.
“This one’s called Violet Snack...”
“Hahaha… Violet Snack’s all alone! This is an easy reward!”
“Guys, let’s kill Violet Snack!”
“Yeah! Surround Violet Snack!”
Kukis cried inside as she cursed Q for giving her such a weird nickname. This wasn't the kind of attention I wanted! She didn’t have time to regret it at the moment though as she struggled to get away from the rest of the players. This was incredibly hard for her as any remaining archers and mages all seemed to synchronize their attacks and covered as much area as they could so that Kukis was basically guaranteed to be hit.
Slowly but surely, Kukis’ health was being drained at a rapid rate, and once she became too tired to run she was surrounded by many players. Kukis was at critical health, and the only reason that the players hadn’t rushed forward to kill her was because all of them wanted to get the last hit on her.
“Hey, run in and finish off Violet Snack!”
“No way! I know you’re just going to snipe Violet Snack when I get close.”
“Guys… Violet Snack is doing something.”
Kukis’ body was trembling as she slowly began to pull out multiple vials with colorful liquids inside them. “Hahahahahaha… Violet Snack… Violet Snack… That’s super annoying!”
“Hey, I think Violet Snack’s lost it.”
“What can Violet Snack do? She’s cornered and can’t possibly do anything right now.”
Upon hearing those last words, something inside Kukis snapped as she screamed, “Don’t think that just because I’m not as good as Q or Brie that I’m weak! DON’T UNDERESTIMATE ME!!!” She threw down a large vial and once it broke, a large smoke cloud filled the area.
Once the players were blinded, Kukis suddenly began to throw all of the vials around her haphazardly, not caring whether it hit a player or not. As soon as the vials made contact, they would shatter and release a liquid or a gas. As soon as the players touched these liquids or breathed in the gases, they were hit with all kinds of abnormal status effects and began to suffer.
“Gah! Poison!?”
“Guh… Paralyzed…”
“Oh my god, he’s frothing at the mouth! Heals please!”
All around Kukis pandemonium erupted, as the players began to suffer under the effects of the potions that Kukis made. Kukis herself had already drank a healing potion and antidotes so she wouldn’t be affected by the gases. Once she had finished drinking them, she pulled out her sword and slowly approached one of the players who had paralysis on him. The player couldn’t move and watched in terror as Kukis brought up the blade above her head, and then swung it down at his neck, executing him.
The other players were scared witless at this ruthless act, and all shivered as Kukis began to approach them as well. “Ha ha ha… Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha… AHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!” Kukis began to laugh maniacally as she threw vials with one hand and executed players with her blade. It was at this point that Brie timidly approached Kukis as she said, “Umm… Kukis, are you alright?”
“Never felt better!” Kukis said with a mad grin on her face. “Help me kill these idiots!” She said as she killed another player. For a moment Brie was seriously wondering whether or not Kukis needed help, but decided to go off and attack the other players which hadn’t been affected by Kukis’ potions.
While Kukis’ slaughter was happening, Q was also finishing up her battle with the remnants of Sir Albert’s team and the Crios Blades. Currently only Neira, Baulder and Aeryn were left fighting. All three of them were exhausted, while Q in comparison still looked completely fine.
“Hah… hah… You’re a monster Q.” Neira said as she struggled to catch her breath.
“Aye. How’d you get so strong lass?” Baulder asked as he held up his axe with great effort.
“Hmm… 100 Pushups, 100 Sit-ups, 100 Squats, and a 10 km run everyday!” Q said with a smile.
“...Seriously?” Aeryn said with an amazed look on her face.
“Pfft, what? No I’m just joking.” Q laughed as she hit Neira with a [Multi-Spark] and Baulder with a [Magic Fist - Multi-Spark]. Q was able to finish off the two, then approached Aeryn who simply let out a defeated laugh.
“At the very least, are we still friends?” Aeryn asked.
“Yeah?” Q had a confused look on her face. “Why would we not be friends?”
“Well, I don’t know… maybe it’s because -NOW MELUN!” Aeryn screamed as an arrow flew out of nowhere towards Q. Q simply stared at the arrow and decided to try something crazy. The world seemed to slow down a bit, as Q took a step back and reached out with her hand. Miraculously, she was able to catch the arrow, completely shocking Aeryn and Melun who was hiding on top of a building.
“Surprise attack tip #1.” Q said as she discarded the arrow. “Never announce your surprise attack.” Q smiled brilliantly as she stabbed Aeryn, causing her to disappear into particles of light. Q then switched her focus over to Melun, who simply shook her head and said, “I surrender. How the heck am I supposed to beat that?”
A notice appeared above Q’s head indicating that Melun had indeed decided to leave the battle, so she headed over to where Kukis and Brie were fighting the remaining players. Once she got there she was surprised to find that the remaining players were completely devastated by Brie and Kukis. Q was particularly surprised at Kukis’ face, which made her look borderline insane.
“So… cleanup time?” Q asked as she approached the two.
“Q! I’m going to get you back for giving me this stupid nickname!” Kukis cried as she stabbed another player.
The last 20 players were all huddled together in a group, regardless of which side they were on as they shivered in fear of Kukis’ vicious attacks. Seeing that they had gathered together, Q let out a grin. “How about we end this in a flashy way?” She suggested.
“What do you have in mind?” Brie asked.
“Kukis, do you have a vial filled with oil or gas?” Q looked over at Kukis.
“Yeah, I have a few.” Kukis glared at Q, but still answered her.
“Alright, throw them all into the crowd. Brie, keep the crowd from dispersing. I’m going to end this in a bang.”
Brie and Kukis nodded, each doing their jobs. Kukis threw her vials into a high arc, while Brie began to rapidly circle the huddled group, keeping any of them from running out. Meanwhile Q tensed her body and focused her eyes onto the vials. Once the vials began falling from their arc, Q aimed carefully and then shot out a combination of [Gust] and [Ember] at the vials. Once the spells combined and hit the vials, it instantly shattered and created a large flaming explosion which heavily damaged the players.
Q wasn’t done just yet though, as she yelled out, “White Flash! Violet Snack! Give me a boost!” Brie nodded while Kukis grumbled, but they both made a platform with their hands and launched Q up into the sky. Q was directly above the players, and then she began to fall towards the ground. As she fell she used [Magic Fist - Arcane Overload] and punched the ground with all of her might!
Suddenly the entire plaza felt a powerful ripple go through the ground as it shook for a second due to the immense magic contained in that punch. Then, the magic was released, dying everything in a blinding light. Then the light returned to Q’s fist, and exploded in a powerful burst of energy which shook the buildings and the ground. Once the blast was over, only Q was left in the center of the plaza, with a large crater that formed around her.
Luckily Brie and Kukis had already ran for cover when they saw what Q was going to do, so they were unharmed by the blast. The two of them approached Q, and everyone was silent until Q made her strange pose again.
“In the name of the Prim Roses, we have punished you!”
[Event Battle Complete!] - The victors are: The Prim Roses
As soon as that message appeared, all of the players who had died suddenly re-appeared in a flash of light, and everyone was bombarded by windows...
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A/N: I'm back~ I didn't upload for a while because I had midterms and took a few days off from writing to study. That's all.
Anyway, this chapter could have easily been renamed: Kukis' Rampage, seeing how much damage she caused to those players. Q didn't get a lot of the spotlight in this battle, but hey, at least she finished with a bang am I right?
Also, I didn't do any of the rewards in this chapter because I feel that it's better it ends off like this... Okay fine, I admit it. I'm sort of lazy right now. You'll get to see the rewards in the next chapter though so no worries.
Fun-fact: Foil cards collect more dust, and warp a lot more compared to normal cards.