"Yeah, he died a week back. I was notified as his oldest inheritor. Then I took care of our dear uncle and sister. She’s very loyal now, I have to admit."
"I guessed something along those lines. Maybe you’d like to join us for a drink later when we take everything off you?"
"Bah! Idiot! Once we’ve won, you cease to exist!" he yelled, spittle flying in all directions as he waved his right hand around in weird gestures. "I could have you perm-ed, but where would the fun in that be?"
"Don’t worry," Sylvia said. "I’m protecting us against any external threats. They would have to be really good to even get past my first layer of defense."
"Good, so we don’t have to worry about interference. Can you play at a hundred percent?"
"More or less. I’ll take it all more carefully this time. We can’t afford to lose."
"Right," I called back to GodL1ke as the counter hit three seconds. I’d been so lost in the convos that I forgot to come up with a tactic.
"Shit! We play it safe, no rushing. They’ll probably try to paralyze us and whittle away at our health. Ladies," I said and turned to Katya and Renee, "We’re depending on you to take care of their back lines."
"Sure thing baby," Katya replied, her voice devoid of any concern. "I’m so looking forward to doing this, you have no idea."
To me it looked like she had caught on, or Scarlet had told her, either way, the game was on as Dineth and Larina stepped up to meet them.
"Not too far out, but far enough so we’re not hit by their paralysis AoE."
Dineth looked back and blew me an honest to god kiss.
"No worry, baby," he added.
"Eww, dude! What the hell?"
The group burst into laughter, which was actually a good thing. The tension was blown away by his stupid comment, and that was one thing I didn’t like having around.
Arrows peppered their front row, but mostly GodL1ke who had a smirk on his face I wanted to crush with my claws. Some dozen feet behind floated the two Banshees, white as snow and almost translucent. The right one’s name was Nat, which I immediately assumed was Natalia.
"Kill the right Banshee first, then the left. Don’t attack the tanks or the healers," I said to Katya and Renee. Katya brought up her bow and notched three arrows, while Renee readied what I assumed would be a flame pillar. Good, at least they would have to scatter.
The two fighters stepped back and put up their shields. A straight lined dome appeared around them and protected both fighters and Banshees. I cursed and stopped to think without a single good idea how to proceed.
"Leave it to me," Nikita said and changed appearance, but only slightly. Her black outfit remained the same, but had now turned white.
"What are you--"
"Hush, man of mine. Leave this to your goddess."
I was too embarrassed to look back, but could feel their eyes on me nonetheless. I sighed and shrugged. Whatever.
"Go brawl with their tanks. I’ll try get behind them and attack the two healers. Support, focus on the tanks and Nikita." With that, I ran into someone’s doom, either theirs or ours.
Dineth and Larina clashed with the Dwarven couple, where my Orc friend took on GodL1ke with his battle ax. The clash of battle was soon replaced by a strange sensation as I ran up to the priests. Grinning, I spread my arms, ready to dig in.
You have sustained 3.002 damage from: You have sustained 2.999 damage from.
The pain that shot through my body made me want to curl up into a ball and die. Excruciating, burning, cold, corrosive and whatever pain imaginable shot through my nervous system as I stepped back barely breathing.
I tried to make sense of it, but I couldn’t. There was no name, and no priest of our level could hit me for three thousand damage.
"Watch out! There’s four cloaked players in here!" Nikita yelled in clan chat. "Two by the priests, and two behind the Banshees. Fall back Aiden!"
I grinned again. Yes, I understood very well what he’d done. Dave had pulled the same shit as during the WR 25. Cloaked players no one could see from the outside. Very well, I had some beef with them as well.
"No, I got an idea," I replied and activated my self-buffs, then used Vampiric Bite to appear behind the priest on the right.
You have inflicted 7.888 damage to Nosey: You have recovered 3.944 health from Nosey.
Unfortunately, I underestimated them. His health was only down by a third. They were all built as tanks. Shit, this was going to be a pain. I stepped back only to find him healed up fully in the blink of an eye. This was definitely not going to plan.
"One of them is down, three to go," Nikita said and drew my attention.
"Who is?"
"The invisible player. Aaaaand the second one is out. I’m expelling them as fast as I can, but they got someone fighting me viciously."
"Keep it up everyone! Don’t let these cheaters win!"
There wasn’t much what I could do but to try and take care of the Healers while Sylvia had my back and hope I’d get through it. Without the healers, we had a chance. With that in mind, I got an idea and activated my swarm of blood bats to create a wall between myself and the invisibles. I targeted the same guy I hit moments ago and ripped into the other one with my three hit combo. More heals came from nowhere and kept them alive against all odds.
"Are there more of them?" I growled and sidestepped behind the Healer again, then finally got a break.
You have inflicted 11.229 damage on Nosey. Critical Hit!
You have inflicted Stun on Nosey
If he didn’t go down now, he never would. And then, I decided against it. I had five seconds, and he was out for the count, so instead I rounded on the other guy. If I had a lucky break, I could cancel out his heal. On the fourth attack, my combo lit up again. I had him right where I wanted him. Just one more attack.
You have sustained 1.221 damage from GodL1ke
A chain struck my back and dragged me over thirty feet, into the line of Banshees and fighters. The dome sizzled against my skin and sapped my health quickly. I lunged back, but the fighters were on me before I could do anything.
"Thanks!" Katya said. "Now I can snipe Nat."
I heard more than saw the arrows thud against the Banshee. She hurled abuse at us and launched a fire storm against our line, followed by another from the other player. Now, Nikita was on them. All I could see was a flash of movement before the other Banshee crumpled in a heap, dead.
"Fuck yeah!" Dineth roared and attacked GodL1ke with renewed fervor. Larina was about to die, but a well-placed heal saved her ass for a few seconds longer. But a scream from my line told me someone was in trouble. I dared glance back, only to see Renee die. Larina followed three seconds after her. The second tank rounded on Dineth as well, while Nikita was busy with Nat.
I bit down on the bigger Fighter’s leg and regained some health, then activated my swarm again. It gave me just enough breathing room to get back to the healers. Behind me, I felt electricity build up and lash out at the two fighters. I grinned, knowing Katya had stalled them for a moment. Now, with the invisibles gone, I rounded on Nosey again. No particular reason, maybe because of his name and posture? Not that it mattered in the least.
Nosey was dead in the next eleven seconds when the same chain dragged me away for the second time. This time, I couldn’t ignore it. The two fighters had joined in on Dineth, and it was all he could do to block and get hit occasionally. Nikita squared off against one fighter, so I decided to take the second to take off some pressure and activated my combo.
A wave of healing and buffs reinvigorated us. It was a much needed action, but there had been no room to spare as they had been keeping Dineth and Larina alive. Not that I had anything to say against their expertise as my ladies were doing much better than I’d even hoped for.
"Katya, help Nikita take care of that bastard. Root him!"
Before I could even turn back to my own Fighter, she’d turned on the other guy and peppered him with arrows.
Rooted, he wasn’t able to move. Nikita slid in from the back and used the same combo on him. Bam! Over two thirds health gone. Just to make sure, she used her bite skill and finished him off, then immediately shot in the last healer’s direction.
I dodged and danced around the much slower Fighter, raking him across the legs and his sword arm, but I wasn’t doing much damage without my critical hits. And for some reason, they weren’t landing ever since the battle had begun.
The second Dwarf fell under Dineth and Katya’s attacks and due to the lack of healing support, but not before he managed to take Dineth with him. Enraged, GodL1ke chained Katya toward him and smashed her to death in under ten seconds. There was nothing I could do about it, so I stared on in disbelief.
Scarlet screamed from somewhere behind me and used her AoE debuff spell, Malice. I saw him light up purple, but as soon as it hit him, the debuff disappeared.
"More cheating?" I yelled and threw an angry glance his way. He shrugged and stormed the two defenseless girls. Nikita was already a blur of movement, but she was far away. GodL1ke swung his hammer and almost one-shot Monica. The second blow killed her. Scarlet ran, or rather, floated as fast as her wings would carry her. Nikita appeared beside me and dug into his back. Three critical hits debuffed him into oblivion. He died just as the chain caught Scarlet and pulled it toward him.
"I’ll crush her head, just for you!" the psycho yelled and burst out into a fit of laughter and screams.
"You need help!" I called back and moved as fast as I could. Knowing I wasn’t able to make it, in mid-stride, I caught Nikita and hurled her at the big Dwarven Tank. Her claws passed straight through his head.
"What the?" she whispered and flew past him, just as he brought down his hammer against Scarlet’s back and crushed her wings.
35
Paralyzed by the blow, Scarlet stood there motionless as sweat trickled down her brow. Her wings hung to the sides, along with her left arm that was bent at a strange angle. I dug in my heels and launched myself at the maniac. Nikita was there in a blur of motion and deflected his blow, but she’d sustained some nasty damage in turn. Her health dipped a good fifteen percent from mere deflection. I cursed and activated my Vampiric Bite as soon as I came into range, cancelled out his attack and debuffed him. Luckily for him, it was a slow debuff for thirty seconds.
"Fucking hell! Of all debuffs?" I cursed and dug into his side. My claws were a blur of movements, but each attack did less damage than I could have ever thought possible. Each hit took only a hundred health off his life bar.
"He’s bugged himself to appear as lower level to us. I’ll need a few seconds to take care of it," Nikita said and moved out of our way. Scarlet scurried away from us as well, leaving the brute of a Dwarf to deal with me. I wasn’t in any delusion that he could do so very quickly if he chose to since we were on his home turf.
"A few seconds? Can you be more precise?" I asked and dodged an incoming blow. A cold breeze caressed my face as his hammer passed inches from my scalp.
"Stop moving, Aiden! It’s time I cut my ties with you!" GodL1ke growled and backhanded me. I launched my bat swarm to buy a few precious seconds. It worked. He staggered backward under their combined assault, and what was more, they didn’t see him as a low level player. Hundreds turned to a couple thousand damage and explosive bats that blew up in his face.
"Almost there!" Nikita said calmly as she stood motionless. He seemed to finally notice her doing something about all of his cheats and used his chain skill on her. It wrapped around her waist and dragged her along the rocky ground. Before I could intervene, his hammer struck her waist and halved her health bar. She remained quiet, as if she hadn’t even felt the blow. Still, I was furious.
"No!" I screamed and tackled the Dwarf. He got up much faster than I could and kicked me in the ribs. The blow sent me flying against a lone felled tree.
"Two… one… now!" Nikita ordered. "Attack him now while I keep him busy!" But I couldn’t move, and she was a single hit away from dying. A wave of calmness flooded over us as Scarlet’s party heal was off cooldown.
I got up again, much to my body’s annoyance, and ran at the bastard. His shield made contact with my face and sent me to the side, but not before I raked my claw across the back of his leg. He bellowed in anger and brought down his hammer against my left hand. I was left with barely thirty percent health. It was now or never. Against all instincts and the protests of my battered and beaten self, I activated all self buffs and used Vampiric Bite. My health shot past the sixty percent mark and positioned me behind him.
"Goodbye," I whispered and dug both claws in his neck, then activated my combo. He stood there motionless, as if he couldn’t believe what was happening to him. I sure couldn’t after our rough start, but there was his health, dwindling under my assault. His body twisted around unnaturally and he pushed me off, breaking my combo with barely a fifth of his health left.
"Yes, Aiden. Goodbye," he replied and lifted his hammer.
"No!" Larina cried as the blow struck my head. As luck would have it, I only felt the pain for a brief moment before I died. Everything went black one moment, and the other I awoke next to my friends on the square. Larina and Scarlet popped up a mere moment later. They wore dark expressions, and I knew we’d lost. They might have cheated, sure, but only us and them knew as much.
I stepped up to the two to die last and put my arms around them. They hugged me back and burst out in laughter.
"Hah! We sure got you, huh?" Scarlet laughed and pushed off me. Nikita stayed in my arms and embraced me even tighter.
"I killed him for you and erased any existence of his lower characters."
I looked down at her with a stunned expression which quickly turned to disbelief.
"But how?" I asked and stared at her as if she’d said the most improbable lie ever.
"Easy. He was too distracted by killing you and kept smashing his hammer against your corpse. I scored a critical hit against his neck and killed him off with your combo."
"Hah! Hahaha!" I could hear myself laugh like a mad man. "So you ladies really did it, huh?"
"Hell yeah! Girl power!" Scarlet chimed in and bumped her tiny fist against my armored shoulder. She winced in pain, followed by a chorus of laughter from the rest of our gang.
"Hell yeah!" Katya added and hugged Scarlet.
"Wait, but what now? We won, so do we get their belongings or something?" Dineth asked. "I sure could use what that guy was sporting. My attacks barely went through."
"Yep, but everything’s on me. I’ll hand out the stuff most appropriate to everyone. No hard feelings, all right?"
"It would be a good idea to get it over with before the next match, though I highly doubt they will be cheating as well."
There had been no new gear for me or Nikita, as most had been for our two tanks or classes we didn’t possess. I didn’t care as much, but she offered to create me something. With a heavy heart I declined. She shrugged as if she didn’t care either way, but I knew she wanted to please me.
"You already have by not manipulating the odds. As long as we play this as real players without any ‘patrons’ so to say, I’m more than happy with just having you around."
I could swear her eye had glistened for a moment, as if she’d was about to tear up, but as soon as I saw it, the tear was gone. I dismissed it as mostly wishful thinking. As if an AI could tear up.
"I will do my best," she whispered and planted her lips on mine, just for a moment and pulled back."
No one seemed to mind as I turned back to the group, so I pretended as if nothing had happened. I looked around and searched for the nearest inn or pub and spotted a nice place. The Golden Tear.
"We got enough time for a drink?" I asked and pointed at the place.
"Yeah, we do," Nikita replied and put her arm through mine. "About two hours. They’re waiting for all of the brackets to finish and have the finals one after the other."
"Ohh, that’s good news,"
I replied and pulled her after me. "Let’s go my ladies. This one’s on me!"
A crowd gathered around us inside and assailed us for tips and tricks and all kinds of nonsense. It was flattering for the first few minutes, but became annoying as time went by. In the end, the AI guards kicked out the crowd from The Golden Tear, giving us back our privacy. We chatted about everything and nothing to make time pass quicker, but what just happened in the last battle weighed heavy on our minds. At least I assumed they were as burdened as I was.
"You here?" a private message shot up in front of me. Startled, I almost choked on the beverage I was gulping down. The senders name was Gnarl.
"Where else would I be?" I replied and waved the questioning looks off. In all honesty, I wasn’t looking forward to this in the least, but it had to be done I guessed.
"True. So, on a scale from one to a hundred, how much do you hate me?"
"Maybe around fifty. It’s not so much that I hate as much as feel sad for you."
"Yeah, Natalia used to say the same thing. She’s gone now. Dead. I had her thrown off the building against the cliffs down below, just as with father and uncle. Had to drop a chopper down the side to make it look like an accident, but you know, shit happens."
My nonexistent heart stopped beating for a long moment. Until Nikita’s hand landed on mine and drew me back in. She had a knowing look in her eyes as she shook her head. Yeah, I guessed as much. Tell no one.
"That’s quite a shame," I replied. "Natalia was a good girl."
"True, but fuck her. I had enough of her meddling in my life. She needed to go. Next is the Overmind and you guys. But I’ll be generous and give you a year to enjoy this crappy life of yours. Good bye."
If I hadn’t been already dead, I think a heart attack wouldn’t have been far off. Dave had one thing going for him, in that he was always serious. Always. If he meant to do something, he would go to extreme lengths, no matter the cost.
Hazard Online 2: Revenge Page 20
