by Arthur Stone
The debuffing spell also didn't work, so the enemy's buffs were still intact. However, the pet was also buffed, and it proved itself useful. Once the warrior got free of Entangling Roots, his feet got stuck in some viscous fog that slowed him down so much that it seemed he was trying to cross a lake of molasses.
Ros hit him with a Chaos Aura, and it worked, as usual. The Chaos School was tricky—no resistances or clever moves helped against it. Magic had its drawbacks, but, as far as Ros was concerned, it had a lot more advantages.
So he was in luck. The battle had just begun, and the enemy already lost one tenth of his HP. Healing potions and the like were forbidden at the arena, and such classes sucked at healing magic, so the damage was very tangible.
Ros took advantage of his opponent being stunned and ran around him, heading for the other side of the arena. Bowlegs threw a blob of greenish goo at him—it must have been one of the few ranged attacks accessible to warriors. Ros didn't lose any HP, but he felt his legs getting out of control. He nearly fell, and his Speed fell considerably.
He turned around and hit his opponent with Entangling Roots right after cooldown. That was it. Bowlegs would now stay put for a few seconds.
He realized that as well, and must have decided that Ros would stick to simple tactics—slow him down with the aid of the pet, keeping him at a distance, and use every opportunity to cast a high-level spell that could make his HP bar shrink even though the opponent's level was a lot lower.
Therefore, Bowlegs decided to eliminate one of the variables from what seemed like a simple equation—namely, the pet. He started pounding away at the Jaroor, leaving Ros to his own devices. The pet gave as good as it got, but it wasn't strong enough—the poor thing lost a quarter of its HP in just three seconds. Ros hastened to cast Shield on the critter, followed by two regen spells and a simple healing. Having made sure his ugly ally was in no immediate danger, he hurled a Chaos Arrow at his opponent.
The warrior was quick enough on the uptake to realize he would lose if he carried on in this manner. Ros had enough time to heal the Jaroor, so Bowlegs could pound away all he wanted. The damage dealt by the pet wasn't that puny, after all—it was boosted by the bonuses on Ros's equipment, the buffs arranged by Marchikatidi, abilities from the book, and the fact that the opponent didn't wear any armor. Thus, his resistance to regular physical attacks was pitifully low. Even if Ros didn't hit him with magic, Bowlegs would invariably be sent to his respawn point in a few minutes.
And Ros did manage to get the odd occasional magical attack through. He never got more than two or three percent off the opponent's HP, but given the level gap between them, it amounted to decent damage.
The warrior froze, threw up his arms, and crouched a little. His body became engulfed in an aura of bright light. The visual effect signified that he was burning all the Fury he had stored for the battle. It boosted all the skills for a short while, as well as attack speed, damage, defense and resistances. Virtually everything, in fact.
It let a character deal as much damage in two seconds as they would normally deal in five or ten, if not more. And Ros would most likely be unable to save his pet in this scenario—his healing might have been effective enough, but there was a limit to everything.
However, as the warrior started to boost his stats to superhuman levels, Ros didn't stand idle, either. Releasing Fury did not happen immediately. It took a second or two at least. During this time, Ros did the simplest thing he could by ordering his pet to return to his master.
The Jaroor instantly complied, just as it was supposed to.
The warrior could do nothing but watch impotently how the quarry that he had intended to finish off in a few seconds escaped what had seemed like guaranteed retribution. The clock was ticking all the while, though, and all the stats boosted by Fury release would return to their standard values. Bowlegs would squander his precious Fury reservoir instead of using it against his enemies, and his HP bar was already shrunken by a fifth.
Thus, the same old situation when Ros would keep whittling away at his HP, slowly but steadily.
But level 100 was a critical watershed. That's where you got level to certain skills that noobs could only dream of. Most of them had a cooldown period so long that using them twice in a single battle was out of the question.
Yet the moment was just right.
The warrior's body twitched and became a swoosh, covering the considerable distance between himself and Ros in a split second as a ghostly shadow and materializing right next to his opponent. A triumphant grin appeared on his face, and the knuckledusters that he had readied for attack flashed red.
The increased damage from the Fury charge that Bowlegs was planning to use on the pet would all be unleashed upon Ros. And there was nothing he could do to counter the attack. Spells took time, whereas the boosted skills of a high-level warrior could be used in a second—not to mention the beefed-up attack speed.
Bowlegs struck. And froze rigid, a helpless statue. His body went perfectly still, and there were tiny fireflies flickering red fluttering around his head. What had happened must have remained a mystery for the majority of the audience, but not for Ros.
Imminent Vengeance was the very spell he received from the Imperial Treasury, choosing it over objects that were a lot more valuable and attractive. And it was precisely what saved him now. It acted as a simple buff and could only be cast on oneself. Once you cast it, you can wear it as long as you want. It doesn't get in the way, and doesn't reveal itself in any way until someone attacks you. If it's a simple attack that would hurt you for around 10 HP, you don't receive any damage, while your attacker will lose those very 10 HP. That would happen no matter what kind of resistance they had. That was how the spell worked—one got exactly what one had planned to do to one's opponent. Nothing more, nothing less.
Bowlegs applied a skill that was supposed to paralyze Ros for a while. Serious warriors had lots of control skills, and that was one of the reasons they were so valuable in battle. Most tried to get them to work non-stop, which meant that once you got a control spell though in a duel, you can deal damage until your opponent dies, without letting them touch you once. Players whose weapons of choice were knuckledusters, swords, and the like, simply counted cooldown seconds, repeatedly using all kinds of unpleasantness that would bind you hand and foot.
But Bowlegs did not plan on a situation when he'd be hit by his own attack. And payback was a bitch. He could have hit him first, and then unleash a chain of attacks and abilities. It would have cost him a few HP, but he'd have Ros in the palm of his hand.
And now his quarry was no longer within reach. Ros got to the opposite side of the arena and turned around. The warrior strove to move onward, but his legs were still bound by that cloying mist slowing down his every movement. The fury release effect had already worn off, so the pet could use his ability without much risk of failure.
The warrior looked at Ros without blinking, and asked him, without any malice in his voice,
"Got enough mana left?"
"Enough for you," replied Ros nonchalantly, hitting his opponent with a Chaos Arrow.
"All right, let's see how it goes…"
The warrior took a few more steps, then started spinning like a top. His body flashed red, and a ray of red light hit Ros, making him sway a little and interrupting the casting of a new Chaos Arrow. His HP bar flickered for the very first time; he lost around 7%.
He quickly cast Entangling Roots—the debuff on his pet would only last another second or two. The warrior used another ability—also a ranged attack. Once again, it took away a few points off his HP bar.
Everything was crystal clear. He must have despaired of his attempts to catch up with Ros, and thus opted for a change of tactics. Warriors, likewise all the other melee fighter classes, could use a limited set of ranged skills. Their range is short, and many are subject to irritating restrictions concerning weapons and other stuff, but if they're developed to a certain extent,
they are capable of dealing solid damage, so you can deal an overly agile enemy a few painful scratches.
Bowlegs did not develop any of those abilities. His strong suit was close quarter combat. Otherwise he could have dealt a lot more damage to Ros—the level gap was huge, and his equipment was chosen specifically for battles against mages.
Nevertheless, Bowlegs still dealt good damage. Apart from that, one of his abilities also transferred some of the HP lost by Ros to him. Thus, the warrior could heal himself a little. "Vampire" skills of this sort were highly popular, and different variations could be found among all sorts of classes.
Ros stayed put and hit back with Chaos Arrows. He tried Fireball twice, but to no avail—his opponent's resistance was just too high. Another attempt to remove the buffs also proved unsuccessful, yet he still had to keep a close eye on the spell's cooldown time to try it over again and again. Success would mean a tremendous advantage.
The warrior's HP bar was nowhere near full before this battle of attrition had started, but he soon caught up with Ros, and then overtook him. He was starting to get the upper hand. The audience, previously restrained, started to cheer. Bowlegs was their star, whereas Ros was an unknown quantity. Many found it altogether incomprehensible that as unlikely a battle could have taken place in such a well-respected place.
The HP bar was down to a half. Then a third. Then a quarter. Ros kept losing his HP, and the crowd started to roar, finally showing their true feelings. The strange battle would be over soon, it seemed.
As the audience's emotions reached their peak, Ros, who had previously just been hurling Chaos Arrows at the enemy as soon as the spell would cool down, and used something new—a healing spell. He cast several on himself—simple healing as well as regeneration. His HP bar, dangerously close to zero up until very recently, instantly jumped back further than the center, and kept expanding slowly due to the effect of regeneration.
The audience piped down and was no longer quite as mirthful. There were some yells of surprise and outrage; Bowlegs looked perturbed, too, and was thrown off his rhythm of using sequences of complementary skills with immaculate precision. Ros got back to Chaos Arrows, but now he had a lot more HP than his opponent.
The battle became a contest of who had the most mana. And Ros knew that his opponent was vastly inferior to him in this respect. Warriors never have much mana. They are physical classes, after all, so there's no point for them to expand their reserves using stat points or equipment bonuses.
On the other hand, warrior skills were mostly dependent on Fury, and didn't use that much mana. Ros, on the other hand, used it in bucketfuls, so the war-of-attrition tactics could have made sense, after all. Especially if there were no restrictions. That is, if one could use alchemical potions—those restoring mana, in particular. It takes time to restore—it doesn't happen immediately, after all—so the mages can run into situations when they empty their reserves completely by using spells that consume a lot.
The fact that potions were forbidden at the arena worked against Bowlegs and not Ros. Warriors didn't use much mana, so they could restore their supply easily with potions. Mages had it much harder. Still, the level gap and other factors would make it impossible to predict how the battle would play out in this case.
Not in Ros's case, though. He had as much mana as he needed. He was one weird noob, after all. He could hold out even if three fighters of the same class as his opponent pelted him with their abilities from a distance. Whereas they would eventually be sent to their respawn points.
They kept standing like that, hurling all they could at each other. Ros would heal himself occasionally. The warrior used vampire skills, but they didn't benefit him much. His HP bar kept shrinking. The audience started to buzz in confusion. Their star boy was about to take a beating.
That was when the Great Korean Random Number Generator finally worked in Ros's favor. He tried another debuff—and succeeded. The three rows of positive effect icons displayed underneath Bowlegs' name flashed red and disappeared.
The opponent hit him with a spell automatically, but it worked a lot slower now. It was like he'd been trying to dance underwater. The damage was much lower this time. On the contrary, Ros managed to take off around ten percent with a single Chaos Arrow, bringing the warrior's HP bar down to one third.
But Bowlegs wasn't done yet. The ability he had tried to surprise Ros with earlier on cooled down. He used it again, covering the distance between them in a blink of an eye. This time he knew what to expect, and hit him once before his knuckledusters flashed red to smash into Ros and make him a petrified target only capable of witnessing its own defeat.
However, Bowlegs wasn't in the same shape without his buffs. He was slow, and the ability animation seemed to unfold in slow motion. Ros, on the other hand, was in the same shape as before—fast, with a good supply of mana, and a couple of excellent buffs cast on him by a couple of high-level characters. No one debuffed him. Apart from that, buffs had a greater effect on him than they would on a regular character. He had the same old heroic bonuses to thank for that.
He decided against running away—his character did not possess the ability to move to a safe distance instantaneously. He opted for Sleep instead. It turned out to be a good choice—the warrior's resistance dropped considerably without the buffs, and the spell got through at last. Bowlegs went still for a couple of seconds.
Ros stopped his pet's attack, which could have brought his opponent out of his stupor. He moved to the other side of the arena and released his entire reserve of Fury in a single blinding flash. His stats would all be beefed up to mind-boggling values for a few seconds.
Bowlegs was fully aware of what that would portend, but there was no chance for him to stop the inevitable. He dashed forward as soon as Sleep wore off, but his legs got mired in the mist again—the pet struck at the very same moment.
Ros decided against wasting those precious moments on casting Entangling Roots. The Fury release effect was too short-lived. All he could do in the meantime was launch five or six Chaos Arrows and Fireballs. The latter should no longer misfire, so he could forget about his opponent's resistances for a few seconds. Especially since it has weakened substantially now that his buffs were gone. A couple of spells, whose effect increased considerably, would bring this all to an end.
An Arrow, a Fireball, and then another Arrow.
And that was that.
"You kill Bowlegs128. XP received: 221. Points left until the next level: 897639".
Ros gave a ceremonial bow to the body of the fallen warrior, which took a while to disappear, then turned around and headed toward the edge of the arena. A veil of magic that was impenetrable to the duelists, dispelled quickly, and let him though without any resistance.
As he was entering the short passageway leading into the center of the temple ensemble, he heard the shrill cries of those in the audience who had lost what must have been substantial bets against the background of the puzzled buzz of the crowd. However, Ros didn't bother about the yells of those losers. They were of no interest to him.
All he needed to do was collect the second ring and finally leave this completely insane city.
* * *
The ring was just as good as the first one, and there were no conflicts between the two. Now Ros could summon pets of a higher level than the ugly critter he had used earlier at the arena. And the pet's Attack would increase. That was yet another boon.
"What would you say to continuing your arena fighter's career?" asked Marchikatidi wheedlingly.
Ros shook his head.
"I have already gotten all I wanted."
"The Second World's treasures are much greater than two measly rings. You can always find an owner of a rare trinket that will take your fancy who's enough of a gambler to use it as a marker.
"If there's anything you reckon to be of interest, I'll consider your offer. So far, I don't see any reason in it. Also, I'm afraid they're about to start taking the arena apa
rt. Some of the spectators appear to have gotten overly emotional about the outcome of the fight.
"Unfortunately, there are many sore losers around. I really don't understand them at all. But let me assure you, this arena has seen all sorts of things, and it's still standing. And so it shall remain. So give it a thought."
"All right, it's time for us to part ways."
"Should I accompany you?" Digits asked.
"No need; I'm not going far."
"To the teleport?"
"Well, yeah, something like that. So you might as well spend your time on financial affairs instead of seeing me off. There's no such thing as too much money."
"Ros, you know I'm doing my best."
"I do, don't get your panties in a bunch."
"I wasn't."
"All right, see you later, then."
"Am I right to assume that you will disappear again, and there will be no way of getting in touch with you through the game chat?" asked Marchikatidi.
"Most likely."
"What if we need to get in touch with you urgently?"
"You can give your message to Digits, and he will pass it on to me."
* * *
Ros was on his own, once again—alone in a crowd. Towards the evening, people poured into the streets in their multitudes. That was when the town began to buzz for real. The pubs were near-empty during the day, but now they were packed, and there was music coming from every establishment—all of it live. Although he read it in one of the articles that someone was said to have invented a magical audio player—there was tech progress in Second World, too, after all.
At some point, there would probably be magical computers as well.
On the other hand, why say "at some point?" They already existed. So far, they were bulky and unwieldy, but major stock exchanges and auctions already applied them successfully. Suffice to remember the color table that Digits was studying earlier on.
