by Jakob Tanner
I shook my head at Shade. I wanted to believe what he was saying, but the way he scratched his ears told me even he was nervous. Facing off against one creature, we had a slight advantage. But two angry tigers. Tough times ahead.
“If you’re looking to get out of here quick,” said a voice. “Let yourself get killed. That’s how most cheaters escape this hell hole.”
It was the Rorn brawler. The stout dwarf-like man had spiky gray hair flowing out from an orange headband and a long matching silver beard. He was broad shouldered and wore no upper chest armor; his bulky and muscular body covered in the dirt and grime of the arena floor. The only metal he wore was the bronze bracers on his wrist. He wore puffy green pants and black leather boots. His lack of heavy armor and weaponry suggested he played a brawler or monk class.
Who was this guy?
“How often do cheaters win by getting out of here?”
Out in the arena, one of the tigers disemboweled one of the noobs, digging through the player’s flesh sending blood-soaked organs across the arena. The audience cheered with excitement.
“Not often,” said the Rorn. “But only because they’re usually so low level. You guys look alright. You have a chance if you make it past the tigers and they don’t bring out Cuddles for your final fight.”
I doubted Cuddles’ cuddliness.
A spray of blood cascaded across the arena and splashed onto our cheeks. I wiped the crimson muck off my face.
“How do you know so much?” asked Shade. “You look like a tough guy. You can handle dying three times and spawning back? Or you like me—not a Chosen?”
The man shook his head. “I am a Chosen. I’m not here for simply cheating.” He lifted up his armored wrists. “These are slave’s bracers. They grant the wearer the ‘enslaved’ debuff.”
“Oh man,” I said. “How did you get those?”
“Long story. Let’s just say I’ve been in this game for a while. It all started when I got arrested by the city guards out in Solmini.”
Whoah. Solmini was one of the other continents of Illyria. I’d mostly heard things spoken of Arethkar and Laergard. I wonder what Solmini was like.
“As a prisoner—a Chosen, no less—I was highly valuable and sold into the underground slave market on the continent. I fought in the arena of an expensive air cruise ship for a while until somebody lost a bet and I ended up here. If I win enough battles, I can earn enough to free myself.”
“You shouldn’t have to man,” I said. “This is bullshit.”
“No,” said the Rorn, softly. “I deserve this.”
I wasn’t so sure. Another limb went flying across the arena.
“When I do finally get out of here I’m not even staying in this fighting class. I’m going to pursue a craft or one of those hybrid classes. Restart again. Roll an engineer. I used to pilot one of those airships, you know.”
The arena cheered as the tigers devoured the last remaining player. One of the guards ran towards our cage.
“Looks like you two are up again,” said the brawler. “Good luck and hey—see you when I get out of here.”
The cage door swung open. It was time for us to introduce ourselves to the murderous tigers.
21
The arena roared as we stepped out from our cell and entered the pit. The audience quieted as the tigers growled at us. They took light gentle steps towards us: lifting their paws and placing them back down on the ground with an elegant pat. These felines were predatory hunters. They wanted us to think they were perfectly unthreatening. Cute little tigers. Their stats said otherwise.
Pouncer
Level 10
HP: 420
MP: 9
“What’s the plan?” asked Shade, hands at his hilt, ready to draw daggers or pistols depending on the situation.
“Oi!” someone yelled behind us. I turned back around and it was the Rorn brawler, clutching the metal poles of the prison cell. “Don’t look them in the eyes!”
“What!?” I said.
He pointed at me. “Behind you.”
I turned back around and—like an idiot who after being told not to do something has the immediate reaction to do the very thing he was told not to do—locked eyes with one of the tigers. Its yellow eyes glinted, sparkling, a special ability initiating. My knees buckled. I staggered back. I blinked in confusion. What the--? I reached for my staff and only collapsed further onto the ground. A message appeared in my HUD:
Stun (Debuff): Minor paralysis (Duration: 10 seconds)
By the time I was done reading the debuff prompt, it flickered away, no longer applicable. But it was enough time for one of the tigers to spiral through the air with its claws like a cyclone. It landed from its twirl inches away from me, unleashing an uppercut slash. The sharp claws dragged themselves across my chest, leaving shallow but thick gashes of torn flesh. Blood seeped from my body and into my cloak. My HP dropped by 70%.
I scrambled away from the tiger, casting healing mist. My body warmed and the gashes in my chest disappeared. My HP returned to over 70%. Enough to survive another hit. The tiger galloped towards me and I power jumped backwards, dodging its devastating claw swing.
“A little help, Shade,” I yelled.
“I got problems of my own, mate,” Shade hollered back, sliding across the pit floor as a pouncer galloped and chased after him, leaping through the dirt creating tufts of floating debris. The thief fired off revolver shots when he had the chance, but he was missing and didn’t have the opportunity to lay a proper dent into the creature due to focusing on dodging and kiting the hostile tiger.
I dashed across the arena. The tiger’s breaths were full of hunger. Its footsteps were rapid. Its panting got louder and louder as it closed in on me. I cast shocking speed to keep ahead.
I clenched my fists and ran harder. When I had created enough space between me and the ferocious carnivore, I power jumped into the air. Once off the ground, I twirled my body so I faced my incoming opponent. I fell back towards the ground, targeting the area in front of me. I pulled and twisted at the air, my fingers doing an arcane dance. The ground tore and cracked into a jagged wall of sand and stone.
The pouncer leapt over my earth spell, spiraling into its claw cyclone move, bringing us face to face. I shut my eyes, avoiding direct eye contact with the beast. Crap decision. The creature slashed me, cutting my HP down to 25%. One more hit and I was dead.
“Shade,” I said. “Come to me now!”
The pouncer raised its claws and slashed them through the air at my chest. This was it. I clenched my fists and let stone skin shield me from the hit. I still took a whopping dose of damage, falling to 2%.
Shade was a meter away from me. The next claw attack was seconds from landing and obliterating me.
I materialized one of the phoenix feathers in my hand. “Kite these fuckers and then raise me dude.”
Shade’s hand grazed mine, picking up the phoenix feather, right as the tiger’s claw dug through my chest, stabbing right through my beating heart and sending me into the icy black darkness of death.
You are dead!
When I coughed back to life, Shade was in front of me, shaking my shoulders. “We have five seconds to come up with a plan.”
The death debuff prompt created a translucent window between Shade’s face and mine.
Death’s Punishment (Debuff): You feel the horror and pain of death. You lose all EXP gained towards your next level (175 EXP). You gain 30% less EXP on kills (Duration: 6 hours). All ATKP and MTKP damage reduced by 10% (Duration: 6 hours). HP and MP regeneration 10% slower (Duration: 6 hours).
I closed the prompt. Just what we needed, but I had a solution to our problem. It was a lesson I had learned as a kid when I had taken on my middle school tormentor three times my size. The best way to put an offensive-based opponent at a disadvantage was to not let them play offense. The tigers had overwhelmed us so much we were scrambling to defend ourselves. The key here was to be more offensive than them.
Don’t give them the opportunity to get us locked into their chain of paralysis debuffs and cyclone attacks. This strategy would work better with a dedicated tank class but we’d have to make do with apprentice mage and thief.
“Okay, we’re going to play it like we did at the goblin warehouse, except this time I’m not going to kite. I’m going to take them head-on so you need to act quick.”
“Gotcha,” Shade said, disappearing into the shadows of the arena’s periphery.
Alright, here it goes.
I cast stone skin, feeling the earth create a protective armor around me. I now had fifty plus toughness for thirty seconds. I charged the two pouncers galloping towards me and cast ruptured ground. One pouncer went to the left while the other took the right, running around my attack. I cast it twice more, dividing the two pouncers further apart. They clued into this and leapt over the next set of cracked earth I’d set for them.
Exactly as planned.
I charged the one to the right, conjuring two fireballs in my hand. I leapt in the air, the feline pouncing towards me. I slashed my fireball hand in front of him, igniting the ranged blast like it was a fiery boxing glove. My hit landed sending the tiger twirling in the air. I followed my attack with a second fireball punch.
You have discovered a new Apprentice Mage ability!
Fire Punch
Engulf your hands in powerful flames and deal a knockout punch
MTKP: 60-80
MP: 8
I ignored the window prompt and eyed the angry pouncer getting back up on its feet. It charged at me again. This time, however, Shade lunged at it from behind with his blades out. He landed on the spiky feline’s back and dragged his daggers through the beast. The creature wailed in pain as blood spurted out its back. Its HP fell towards 60%. Even better, the beast screamed and retreated right into my ruptured ground behind it. The creature tripped, fell, and triggered the cripple debuff.
It crawled away with its back to us. Shade ran up and unleashed backstab a second time.
Critical hit!
I shot out lightning cage to its back.
“You got ten seconds,” I said. “Finish him, Shade.”
I turned to face the other pouncer flying through the air, claws out ready to massacre me. I clenched my fists and let stone skin protect me. I braced for the incoming attack. The clawed slash burned, taking out 20% of my HP. Fireballs formed in my hands again, preparing to wrestle with the bloodthirsty feline.
I retaliated with fire punch. The tiger squinted and squealed with pain. It expected me to run again. It wasn’t used to receiving an attack right after its own.
I jabbed another fire punch at the beast. “That’s right you tiger shit.”
The monster shrieked and attempted to bite a piece of my flesh. I sent another fire wallop to its face, knocking its growling snout to the side.
An experience prompt fluttered across my HUD. Shade had killed off the other pouncer. The frantic screams and cheers of the audience confirmed it. I needed to survive the next few slashes and then the living pouncer was done for.
The feline leapt at me, opening its mouth wide enough to swallow half of my body in a single bite.
“You hungry kitty-cat?” I said and jumped straight into the attack, unleashing fire punch again right into its salivating mouth. I knocked the creature back and it fell sideways through the air. Shade initiated backstab, slamming the airborne tiger to the arena pit floor. Landing overtop its body, Shade pummeled the creature with his blades. The pouncer’s HP crashed to zero.
+175 EXP!
The arena roared with excitement.
Notifications stacked in my HUD.
Fire Blast has leveled up (Level 4)
Fire Blast: Shoot a molten orb of lava at your enemies
MTKP: 40-65
MP Cost: 8
6% increased chance of inflicting burn (debuff) with every blast
Ruptured Ground has leveled up (Level 2)
Ruptured Ground: Cripple opponents with a devastating earthquake
MTKP: 30-50
MP Cost: 8
5% increased chance of inflicting cripple (debuff) with every attack
Shocking Speed has leveled up (Level 2)
Shocking Speed: Gain a speed boost to fight or run away faster.
MP Cost: 8
25% increased speed for 33 seconds.
I closed the notifications and took in the roaring arena. I didn’t want to be here but the chanting of our victory did feel awesome. I was also extra pumped I had discovered a new class ability. It was super powerful but it came with a high risk as it required me to fight up close and dirty. High risk for sure, but an amazing high reward as well.
The crowd chanted a single word, over and over again. My excitement died away.
“Cuddles!”
“Cuddles!”
“Cuddles!”
22
A portcullis was raised from the opposite end of the arena and a man with a black mask emerged from a shadowy tunnel, pulling a chain behind him. Large red eyes glowed from the dark tunnel. The chain rattled as the collared creature got closer and closer to the arena floor. Stepping out into the torchlight of the stadium was a scorpion the size of a monster truck. Composed of hard dark blue scales, the creature had eight legs, a gigantic spiked tail curled and hanging above its own head, and two pincer claws perfect for snapping necks in half. The most terrifying part of the creature was its face: beneath its angry red eyes was a mouth made up of countless sharpened teeth. Jutting out from its elongated jaw were two blade-like ivory tusks, stained crimson from whatever poor creature this beast had had for lunch.
I guess we were dessert.
The arena erupted in a frenzy at the sight of the oversized crawler. They had enjoyed seeing us defeat the pit gladiator and the pouncers but it was time for our run to come to an end. It was time for Cuddles—the least cuddly creature there ever was—to put us in our place; which, in this circumstance, was our graves.
I took in the creature’s stats.
Cuddles
Level 12
HP: 750
MP: 16
The guard let go of the chain and stepped near the tunnel entrance.
The monster was our problem now.
“You kite and aggro and I’ll go for the backstab?” said Shade.
“Works for me,” I said.
Cuddles clawed at the arena floor, kicking up dirt until its head was beneath the sand. Soon after its tail disappeared as well.
Uh oh.
A slithering mound of dirt formed beneath the ground as the scorpion dug its way towards us.
“How the hell do we fight a monster below ground?” I yelled, backing away from the snaking dirt trail encroaching towards us.
“I don’t know mate but let’s run,” said Shade, darting away from the underground opponent tunneling towards us like a torpedo.
I spun around and was about to cast shocking speed when the scorpion’s tail shot out of the ground, slicing my leg. I tripped and fell to the ground as the tail attack dealt 30% damage to my health points.
One of the pincers shot out of the ground, seeking my flesh. Shocking speed wasn’t enough to outmaneuver this bullshit, but I had a better spell. I slid four meters away from the creature with rapid speed, lining my escape with a trail of fire. Try catching my flame dodge motherfucker.
There were two strategies to take out Cuddles. There were my Earth spells to rupture the ground he was hiding in and draw him out. Or—we smothered him with fire and smoke—like we had with the spiders. But how did we keep him underground long enough?
The scorpion dove back into the dirt, rushing towards my feet from underground.
“Shade,” I yelled. “Drop stealth and let’s switch positions. I need you to occupy him!”
“On it,” yelled Shade, sheathing his daggers and whipping out a revolver. He fired blasts all along the arena floor, tracing a trail back towards himself.
The scorpion’s path c
hanged and it swerved beneath the pit floor towards Shade. Perfect. Shade led the Scorpion on a long crazy route. It needed to be as long as possible for what I wanted to do.
I ran over to the original hole the creature had dug. Here goes nothing.
I fell into the burrow. A shadowy tunnel formed the routes of the scorpion’s movement. I ran through the passage getting closer to the clickety-clack of the rushing scorpion’s legs. I turned a corner in the darkness and saw the silhouette of the creature’s tail. I ignited my hand with a fireball and unleashed it at the creature’s backside.
It shrieked and scurried back around. Its pincers clacked together, eager to crush my head within its claws. Its mouth salivated as it scurried in my direction.
I fired two more fireballs, then flame dodged away. The scorpion hurried through my trail of fire and smoke. During the spell’s cool down, I cast shocking speed and ran forward, until flame dodge was active again. I slid further down the tunnel, my boots breathing a fiery trail as I escaped the incoming claws of the scorpion. The tunnel was full of smoke and swirling fire.
The monster’s bloodlust distracted it from its own perilous situation. Its HP drained as it charged through my hazardous flame dodge trails. The surrounding smoke caused my lungs to heave and for me to cough. My eyes winced. A prompt appeared on my HUD:
Suffocating (Debuff): You can’t breathe properly! You lose 25 HP per second until you find a clean air supply.
