At the next set of ruins, we find two pairs of white bracers and a vial of wind magic. There’s also a mace and a second halberd, which we leave behind.
I down the silvery liquid from the wind vial, and we continue to creep around the edge of the map.
Something hits me lightly in the back, and I turn to see Dean about to toss a rock at me. I hold up my hand in apology. With the added movement speed, I have to remind myself to slow down for him.
The circle starts to shrink, and an energy field filled with silvery veins moves inward. We spent enough time in the training grounds that we know what’s coming. The outermost circle is impenetrable while the match is going, but as the boundary shrinks, the space between the outer boundary and the inner circle becomes a constant storm. Players can stay in the storm but they take constant damage while doing so. Each time the circle shrinks, the damage from the storm grows. By the time the final circle comes, the storm can drain full health in only a few seconds. We stay a safe distance in front of the collapsing circle, but if things look daunting, we can always retreat into it to regroup.
Dean grabs me by the tunic and kneels behind a boulder, pointing to a bush at the top of a hill. “Looks like a solo.”
Sure enough, a rainbow-colored clown crouches behind the bush. His rainbow striped afro sways like a technicolor bush in the breeze. We observe him for a few minutes, but no one else shows up. I remember his apprentice as a pink unicorn centaur. He must not have been so lucky.
“It’s an easy kill. Want to hit him with a little meteor shower?” Dean smirks.
We came up with code names for some of the magic combos so that we could easily call them out in battle.
We crouch as we move closer to get in range. Once in position, Dean shoots a boulder straight up overhead. I ready Gale, and once the boulder drops, I fire off a gust of wind. It launches the boulder like a cannonball, hitting the unsuspecting clown in the back. There’s an audible crunch like glass shattering as his shield breaks and he loses half his health.
The clown crawls from the bush and uses gas cloud, covering the area in a thick cloud of poisonous gas. We lose visual as he hides in the gas. Unfortunately, for the clown, our current combo counters his gas pretty well.
Dean casts Rockslide, and a barrage of rocks falls in front of us. He doesn’t have the range to hit the clown from our current position, but another gale launches the smaller rocks like a shotgun blast, ripping through the gas cloud. The player counter drops by one, and I know that we got our man.
When the gas dissipates, the clown’s body lays hunched on the ground.
“Nicely done!” I extend my arm and fist-bump Dean.
We loot the body, finding a dagger, white shield bracers, and two minor health potions that restore twenty-five percent health. I give one to Dean and keep one for myself.
As the circle continues to shrink, we hang back, staying a few yards ahead of it. When the gong sounds, signaling the start of the next round, over half the playable area is now outside of the storm. We’ve also lost over half of the challengers as well.
Teams: 63
Players: 96
We head toward the next ruins on the map, an old mill down by a rather large creek. The ancient water mill no longer works, but the stone walls and staircases offer great positioning during a fight.
I grip the battle-axe tightly in my hand as we walk. “We still need better gear. These bracers aren’t going to cut it if we get caught in a big fight. And these aren’t our best magic combos either.”
There’s an explosion to our right, so we change our trajectory slightly to the left. We’ve fought when we had to and when an opportunity presented itself but we’re not ready to rush into battle.
“At least we’re two for two on fights so far.” Dean smiles.
When we arrive at the old mill, the ground is torn apart and close to a dozen bodies lay in the vicinity.
Dean kneels over one of the bodies to loot it. “Man, this must have been a heck of a fight.”
I find a pair of blue bracers on a fallen dwarf. “No kidding. I’m glad we chose to stay further away.”
I swap out my battle-axe for a sword I pick up off a werewolf. The werewolf’s fur is singed in places, revealing blistered skin.
Dean calls to me from the bottom of the stairs. “Nice! I found a fire vial. This guy must have been going for it when he died.”
A dead lizardfolk lies face down with an outstretched hand towards the small red vial.
I use Updraft to launch me into the air to the top of the dilapidated tower on the water’s edge. No one else must have had the foresight to look this high up, because I find an electric vial, a crossbow, and a pair of red bracers.
“Here!” I toss the top-tier bracers to Dean. I’ll upgrade mine again when we find more. “Any chance you want a crossbow?”
He shakes his head. “No, I’m happy with my spear. With the fire magic and these bracers, I’m pretty much set.”
The gong sounds again, and the circle begins to shrink. The biggest ruins still remain within the circle, a location I aimed to avoid at all cost simply because of how populated it was certain to be.
There’s likely to be good items, but if the water mill is any indication, then it was undoubtedly a bloodbath.
With nearly a hundred players still left, we’ll be forced to fight again soon. We can’t hide forever, and sooner or later, we’ll run into opponents.
We wade through the cool water to cross the creek. On the other side, my boots slosh with each step and I find myself envious of anyone with water magic right now.
A long stretch of rolling hills stands between our current location and the next ruins. The terrain obscures our visibility, so we’re extra careful.
The clank of a crossbow firing is followed by a cry of anguish not far ahead. As we sneak up the hill, a stream of ice shoots out in front of us. A moment later, a blood-covered Talia and Chadwick skate by on the ice path they’ve created. They alternate shooting ice at the ground, allowing for continuous travel. Talia fires an ice dagger over her shoulder, but there’s no telling if she hit her target.
Both of their health bars are extremely low, around twenty-five percent, and their backs are ravaged with wounds. Chadwick pulls a crossbow bolt from his shoulder and tosses it aside. It wouldn’t take much to take them out and lower the playing field even more, but that’s not my style.
“Talia!” I call out. “What’s going on?”
She turns around wide-eyed as she slides to a halt. They were traveling so fast on the ice that she’s already at least fifty yards away. “We’re being chased. Run!”
At that exact moment, her pursuers crest the hill, using the ice path to their advantage. A burly pig-man in studded armor and a cat lady wearing fine linens skate by without noticing us.
We could easily let this play out without helping, but I can see in Dean’s eyes that he wants to help.
“When we catch up to them, melt the ice,” I order.
We take off in pursuit on foot. Talia’s ice path is winding, so we are able to cut the distance in half, meeting them as they crest another hill.
I hold up my hands. “Get off the ice. We’ve got a plan.”
It will only be a few seconds before their pursuers crest the hill and see us.
Talia and Chadwick get off the ice path without questioning. Dean uses fireballs to melt the ice and form a large puddle. The pig-man and cat-lady skate over the hill and fall face-first when their feet hit the puddle at full speed.
I shoot the puddle with a lightning bolt, damaging half their shields. I follow it up with Chain Reaction, and the three simultaneous bolts are enough to stun them in place and crack their blue bracer shields entirely.
Dean summons a fire wall on top of them, but the stun prevents them from crying out in pain as their health dwindles. A few well-placed spear jabs finish the job.
I rush over to Talia. “You guys look like hell. What happened?”
T
alia looks around panicked. “Can we move somewhere safer?” She downs a minor health potion and her cuts begin to heal.
“Yeah, let’s loot the bodies first.”
Dean is already sorting through their belongings and has them stacked neatly beside the corpses. He hands a set of blue bracers to both Talia and Chadwick. When a player dies, their shield bracers are automatically restored to full strength for whoever loots the body.
There’s also a crossbow, a flail, and a major health potion.
I pick up the health potion and give it to Chadwick. “You look like you could use this.”
He chugs it and hands the minor health potion he was about to drink to Talia. “Thank you.”
Chadwick takes the flail, and Talia takes the crossbow even though it has no bolts. We retreat toward the stream and find an alcove to hide in while Talia fills us in on what happened. Her cuts have healed but her skin and clothing are still caked in blood.
She crouches against a tree as she tells her story. “We’ve been running for our lives since we touched down. I don’t know how it happened, but we landed with Ryken. That apprentice of his almost took my head off with an axe, but I was lucky that I found bracers before anything else. Chadwick got hit with Rockslide, and had two other teams not shown up to try and take out Ryken, he would have died then and there. We didn’t have any weapons, so we watched as Ryken and Dawn destroyed both teams. Then we ran as far as we could. But the next site was no better. We found two ice vials and barely survived a fight with two paladins. Right as we were trying to heal, these two came along.” She points at the dead bodies. “They’ve been chasing us for about a mile, slowly picking us apart with her crossbow. Eventually, the cat lady ran out of bolts and we were far enough ahead that their magic did minimal damage, but it was only a matter of time before they caught us. We owe you big time.”
As the circle approaches, we can hear the dull roar of the storm on the other side. We’re not that far from the next circle, but we need to get moving.
I extend a hand and help Talia to her feet. “We’ve had our struggles, but we’ve definitely fared better than you two. Should we team up? At least until Ryken is dealt with?”
She scrapes away a flake of blood on her nose. “That’s smart. It’ll increase both our odds of making it to the final circle.”
“Good.” I shake her hand, cementing our temporary alliance. “Now, let’s get you some weapons you can actually use.”
We follow our same tactics, creeping in along the edge of the circle as is shrinks. It moves a lot faster the smaller it gets so we practically run to keep from falling into the storm. We loot a few bolts for Talia off a downed samurai and find a bow for Chadwick. While we’re teamed up, they will be our range.
Chadwick finds a water vial underneath a tree. When he drinks it, all the blood is cleansed from his skin, and the tears in his clothing instantly mend.
He holds out his arms and inspects himself. “Good as new.”
“Look what I found!” Talia walks over carrying a pair of red bracers and hands them to Chadwick. “You take these.”
He grins as he removes the blue bracers and tosses them aside.
There’s a slight thunk as an arrow pierces his neck. He gasps for air, and the red bracers fall from his hands. Blood pours from the wound, staining his freshly-cleaned clothing.
Talia grabs him by the tunic, but the life has already left his eyes. Whoever did this waited until the precise moment when he removed his shield.
A chill runs down my spine. How long have they been watching us?
While Talia screams, head pressed against Chadwick’s chest, Dean and I search for the culprit.
I spot the elven archer hovering in the air just as a second arrow hits Talia in the back. Her bracer shield drops by half.
I grab her by the arm, but she jerks away. “We have to go. He’s gone, but you can still keep fighting. He’s not out of the running unless you quit.”
She wipes tears from her eyes, but there is no sadness. Only rage. “Who did this?” she demands.
“I saw an elven archer just over the hill.”
She picks up the red bracers off the ground and marches in the direction of the archer.
“Talia, don’t be crazy,” I call after her, but she doesn’t turn around.
Dean looks at me expectantly.
My eyes follow Talia as she disappears. “She can make her own decisions, but we’re not looking for fights, remember?”
“I know.” He sighs.
Talia is normally so level-headed. I’m surprised she would do something so reckless. Then again, I didn’t just watch my brother die in front of me. Even though we all know this isn’t real, she just got a glimpse of what it would be like to actually lose him.
Hopefully, she can take a few enemies down on her path to revenge.
The gong sounds once again as the circle stops. I check the players remaining.
Teams: 31
Players: 53
A large portion of those fifty-three players have to be solos. Probably hiding out around the map, waiting for someone to make a mistake.
I check the map to see what locations still remain inside the circle. The largest set of ruins left are from what used to be a castle. The moat surrounding it has long been empty and is now nothing more than a gorge. A fallen tree functions as a makeshift bridge across the moat.
With its nooks and crannies, the moat functions well for hiding but attempting to climb out while someone has the high ground could prove challenging.
The exterior walls of the castle are mostly crumbled, with the occasional section of wall standing by itself. All but one of the battlements has been destroyed, and the one remaining has gaping holes along the sides, offering little protection for the spiral staircase. The keep towers above it all, though without a roof and with one missing wall, it is easy to get in and out.
While the ruins would offer little benefit to an actual army, it provides enough shelter and hiding places to make it a formidable setting for a battle royale.
There’s also an old farmhouse, a thick copse of trees, and an assortment of stones that are hard to decipher what they used to be. I’d put my money on most people flocking to the castle.
From our position at the edge of the circle, we can see the castle. Several times, we spot movement as solos or teams move into position. A wall of flame erupts inside the battlements. Occasionally, someone uses their wind magic to hover in the air to scout. We watch as someone is shot while in the air and tumbles to their death.
Somewhere out there, Talia battles alone. Or maybe she’s already been eliminated.
One by one, players continue to drop. By the time the circle starts to shrink again, we’re down to thirty players. The location of the final circle appears on the map: the castle ruins.
Dean takes a deep breath. “We’re so close and there are still way too many players left to feel comfortable.”
I feel the same way, but I need to keep him calm. “Don’t think about that. Focus on what is right in front of you. Take everything one moment at a time.”
He nods, then crouches, slowly walking forward with his spear pointed ahead of him. I lower myself and keep my sword at the ready. We didn’t spot anyone clinging to the storm like us, so most of the remaining players have likely already established their positions.
As we approach the castle, a gnome head peeks above the moat. Luckily, he’s not looking in our direction.
Dean spots him too and immediately raises his hand for an attack.
I grab him by the wrist. “Wait. These are the gnomes that helped us in stage two. They aren’t stupid. This has to be some kind of trap.”
A second gnome peers over the edge nearest the castle. He climbs out and runs across the tree functioning as a drawbridge. He looks panicked as he zigs and zags through the empty courtyard.
I’m certain he is up to something, because no one is that stupid.
Then all hell breaks loose.
Ice beams, fireballs, electric bolts, and a myriad of other offensive magic and weapons shoot out from every edge of the castle. The gnome downs a silvery vial and begins moving faster, using the bonus movement speed from wind magic to evade the attacks.
My skin is suddenly on fire as the storm crackles past us. Dean groans and runs ahead. While we were watching the scene unfold, neither one of us kept an eye on the circle. It bypasses our armor, depleting our health directly. We hurry back into the circle and sprint toward the moat while all eyes are on the gnome.
We run a safe distance from the gnomes and slide down the embankment into the depths of the empty moat. I down the only minor health potion I have. As I look around, the gnomes’ plan suddenly makes sense. Further down, the moat is covered in a sea of green gas. So much gas that they must have been planning this for a while. The second gnome drinks a green vial as he jumps down and disappears inside.
Magical explosions carry from up above. His little charade revealed a lot of people’s positions and forced their hands.
Two human rogues, one male and one female, peer down into the gas-filled gorge. They both pull a green vial from their pockets and chug them. Then they equip their daggers and leap into the pit.
So much for luring someone into a gas trap.
Dean and I are scaling the moat in order to sneak into the castle when a green updraft launches one of the gnomes out of the moat. A second later, the other gnome follows, a red vial in his hand. He downs the liquid and shoots a single fireball into the gas.
The explosion is deafening. The ground shakes and rubble comes tumbling down on top of us, knocking us back to the bottom of the moat. My ears ring, and I cough as I inhale dust into my lungs.
The gong sounds as the circle comes to a halt, its boundary humming with energy in the center of the moat. The roar of the storm makes it hard to hear the fighting going on above.
The location of the final circle appears on the map, directly in the center of the keep. In ten minutes, everything is going to come to a head.
“You okay?” Dean extends a hand to help me up.
I brush dirt off my shoulders and arms. “Yeah, I’m just glad they didn’t see us. That was a hell of an explosion.”
Pangea Online: The Complete Trilogy Page 72
