by Dante Doom
The Feralice grew tired of waiting for Van to strike and leapt at the berserker.
"Haha!" Van cheered as he rolled to the left, avoiding the claws of the weasel-like beast. He swung his warhammer around hard then, smashing the side of the Feralice's left leg. The words 150 damage! Injury! ½ movement appeared over the creature as it howled in pain.
As Sang drank her potion down, she felt her body warm with a powerful heat. Liquid began to fill her eyes, and at first she thought her eyes were burning, but as she tried to blink the liquid away, she started to realize that the liquid offered something of a covering like that of contact lenses. She glanced at the Feralice and could see there were glowing yellow spots all over its body. Perfect!
She aimed her bow at one of the glowing yellow spots and released another arrow. This arrow sailed through the air and struck the Feralice hard underneath its soft underbelly. It shrieked in pain as the words 300 damage rose through the air.
"How much health does it have?" Fredlin asked as he began to wave his staff around.
"800 left!" Van replied as he swung his warhammer at the creature again. This time, it dodged out of the way and slashed at him with its claws. Van blocked the attack with the steel shaft of his hammer.
"Perfect, I'm gonna cast a fireball spell that will finish it!" Fredlin said. "Hah – this was way easier than Kylian was worried about!"
As Fredlin raised his hands to release a spell, though, the Feralice leapt from where it had been standing almost 60 feet away, landing right atop of Fredlin.
"Crap!" Sang shouted as she began to fire arrow after arrow at the creature, but she didn't have enough time to aim for its weak spots, so the arrows merely bounced off of the beast.
"Help!" Fredlin shouted as he began to take damage. Sang watched as his health dropped down rapidly; he had been at nearly 500 points of health at the start of the fight, and now he was barely at 150.
"I'm on it!" Van shouted as he rushed forward as fast as he could. "Rawrrrr!" he bellowed as he activated his Berserker Rage ability. This would give him the power to move faster and hit harder, and increased his jump speed. The only downside was that he would receive the exhausted status after his rage ended.
Van leapt high into the air with his hammer and came crashing down on the head of the Feralice. It growled in anger as the words 400 damage hovered above its head. It hissed and tried to shake Van off of its head, but to no avail. Van had dug his heels into the creature's sides and was holding on for dear life.
Fredlin scrambled out from underneath its grasp and limped away. "Oh man," Fredlin said as he swigged a healing potion. His health bar began to climb rapidly back to 800 points. "At least it didn't bite me."
The Feralice turned around and looked at Sang, who had struck it with one more arrow. Although the arrow had only landed a glancing blow, the beast certainly didn't like the fact that it was being attacked from a distance. It bared its fangs and began to bound after her.
"Hold your ground!" Van called out as he dropped his warhammer and grabbed the beast by the ears. "When I say shoot, shoot!"
Sang nodded and loaded three arrows on her bow. It was fortunate that the ranger character she had been given had all of her old skills, including the Multi-strike ability. She took a deep breath and held perfectly still, waiting for the signal.
The Feralice charged her, and Van screamed "Now!" as he pulled with all of his might on the beast's ears. The weasel-like monster didn't like this at all, and it reared its head back, exposing its neck. Sang took the shot, seeing how the neck of the creature glowed bright purple. Her three arrows sank into the monster's neck and it roared in agony. The words Critical Blow 800 damage floated in the air. Blood sprayed from the beast as it collapsed on the ground, hissing and shrieking.
"Yes!" Sang shouted as the words Optional Monster Defeated +350 points appeared on the screen.
"Nice," Van said. "We've got to move, though; the clock is ticking!"
"Is there enough time to loot?" Fredlin asked.
"Are you kidding me?" Van asked. "Of course, there's enough time to loot it – we're gamers after all. That hasn't changed."
Chapter Six
Van, Sang, and Fredlin rushed into the next room, which was some kind of a cellar. There were dozens of shattered skeletons laying on the ground. Among the barrels and bottles of wine was a ladder leading upwards.
"No sign of them, so I guess they kept moving," Van said as he grabbed the ladder. As he began to ascend, the words Skeleton Room defeated +100 points hovered above him. He grinned as he continued his ascent.
He wasn't particularly worried about making the cut in this tournament round. If gaming logic had taught him anything, it was that the first round would always be the easiest. Advancing to the next section wouldn't be hard, but would probably be difficult enough to weed out the truly incompetent. The more points they gained now, though, the less they would need to garner later on.
As he climbed up the ladder now, he heard some shouting upstairs. It was Kylian yelling at Sahara.
"I've already tried that! Okay? I don't need you suggesting that we do the same thing over and over again!" he said.
"I'm just trying to help!" Sahara shouted back. "And you're not doing it right, so try it my way!"
"Guys!" Van said as he emerged from a hole in the ground. "What are you two arguing about?"
"Captain Grumpy over here thinks he can solve this logic puzzle, but he's only getting more confused!" Sahara said as she pointed to a body of water. They were in a square room, but there was water between them and the next exit.
"I'm not getting more confused," Kylian said as he pointed to three statues. "It's an old logic puzzle and I know exactly how to do it."
"What are all of these?" Sang asked as she climbed out of the manhole. She examined the statues for a moment. There was a statue of a cow, another of a dragon, and then a large barrel of hay. Tied to the barrel was a boat, but it looked like it only had enough room for one statue.
"It's part of the puzzle," Kylian explained. "That door over there is sealed tightly. We've got to figure out how to get all three of these statues across."
"That's the puzzle?" Fredlin asked as he hoisted himself up into the room. "Just put one statue in the boat at a time. You two have been arguing about this?'"
"It's not the easy," Kylian said as he grabbed his hair and began to pull on it a little. "There's a method to it."
"Wow, I have never seen you this perturbed, Kylian," said Van, laughing a little. "It's just a puzzle. Relax."
"I know the answer!" Kylian shouted. "I was a mathematics champion in high school, okay? I just… can't figure it out."
"Because you're suffering from a very advanced form of dementia!" Sahara shouted back.
"Take it easy, everyone," Sang said as she walked up to a glowing interface that hovered above the boat. She pressed her hand against it, causing the interface to rapidly expand into a large drop-down menu.
The Dragon, Hay, and Cow Puzzle
If you want to open the door, you must solve an ancient mystery. Three statues are before you: a cow, a dragon, and a barrel of hay. The boat will only hold one statue, but all three must cross. If the cow and the barrel of hay are alone together, the cow will eat the hay. If the dragon and the cow are alone together, the dragon will eat the cow. How then, will you get all three across the river?
"Oh, I think I know this," Sang said as she looked at the statues. "I think."
"I know I know this," Kylian replied curtly. "You just need to give me a minute to think."
"Well, let's use progressive elimination," Van said as he put a hand on Kylian's shoulder. "If we send the barrel of hay first, the cow will be eaten by the dragon, and if we send the hay, the dragon will eat the cow."
"But even if we get it across, we still can't leave them alone," Sang said as she crossed her arms. "Meaning that we're going to have to make multiple trips, right?"
"Yeah…" Van muttered. "Okay, let's do wha
t we know first: let's send the cow across the river."
Fredlin and Kylian grunted and groaned as they grabbed the statue and dragged it over to the boat. The boat immediately began to move to the other side of the water, and there it slid the statue off. It then turned around and floated right back to them.
"Now what?" Sahara said. "If we put either of these across the river now, someone is going to get eaten."
"That's where you're wrong," Sang said as she waded across the water. "Whatever you send to me, I'll just send the cow back. So, send the barrel of hay next!"
Van complied, and shoved the large bronze statue of hay onto the boat. The boat drifted over to Sang's position, where she swapped out the hay for the cow, sending the cow back to them.
"Oh, I got it now!" Kylian exclaimed as he helped pull the cow off of the boat and the dragon back on. "This wasn't so hard after all! I was just overthinking it."
They sent the dragon across the water to Sang, who then quickly took the dragon off and returned the boat to Van and the team, so that they loaded the last statue and crossed the river.
"Are you sure you're okay?" Van asked Kylian as they walked through the water. "I have never seen you perturbed about anything."
"I'm fine, Van," Kylian said. "I just go crazy when I can't figure puzzles out."
"Well, Sahara wasn't helping either," Van said as he looked over at the woman. He couldn't quite figure out her age, but she never acted like an adult. When pressed, she always said she was a 35-year-old woman from Oklahoma, but that didn't seem right.
"I was just messing around," Sahara said. "It's not like we were going to go any deeper into the dungeon anyway."
Once the final statue slid onto the ground, there was a loud clicking noise followed by the grinding of a door slowly opening up. The words Puzzle Solved: 125 points floated in front of Van. Not bad at all.
"I hope we don't have much left to go," Sang said as she pointed to the set of stairs the newly opened door had revealed. "Up is good, right?"
"We're at 640 points," Van said as he took the lead and began to ascend this new set of stairs. "I doubt there's much left for us after this."
They made their way to the top of the stairs to discover a ten-foot-tall and ten-food-wide cube made of green ooze that was directly blocking their passage through the hallway.
"Look!" Sahara said as she pointed at the cube. "I can see the finish line on the other side."
"What the hell is this thing?" Sang asked as the cube slurped and burbled at them. It slowly began to creep towards them, but it was moving at a snail's pace.
"Dungeon Cube," Van said. "Don't touch it, or it'll suck you in and slowly digest you."
"But you'll suffocate before you get digested," Fredlin added.
"Well, it's coming towards us," Sang said as she fired an arrow into the creature. The word Ineffective hovered above the thing as her arrow slowly sank into the ooze. She could see the arrow slowly beginning to disintegrate from being inside of the green slime. "What do we do?"
"Kill it, I guess," Van said as he craned his neck to see if there was any way around the creature. From the looks of it, the monster was unavoidable. There was nowhere to go behind them, either. Going back down the stairs wouldn't help, because this thing would probably just squeeze itself down the stairs and follow them. They could theoretically lead it to the water of the last level they'd been at, but at the speed it was moving, it would probably take them almost all day.
"I've got just the spell," Fredlin said as he raised his hands. "It's a powerful enchanting spell that imbues a weapon with the power to affect creatures which are immune to regular damage!"
"Ooh, pick me!" Van said as he raised his warhammer high. "I'll kill it!"
"Perfect!" Fredlin said. "Now, hold still!" He raised his hands high and began to mutter arcane words as little bolts of energy flew from his fingertips to Van's warhammer. The hammer glowed brightly as the power radiated around it.
The words Your Weapon Has Been Enchanted hovered before Van as he read the new stats.
Enchanted Warhammer
Damage: 225
Speed Rating A+
Special: Weapon overcomes damage resistance and weapon immunity.
"Perfect!" Van said as he triumphantly swung his warhammer at the ooze that had moved a few inches towards them. The hammer crashed into the creature and the words Hit 100 damage hovered above the Dungeon Cube's top.
Then Van went to pull his weapon out, but he felt a sharp tug pull him forward instead. It seemed that even though he'd done damage to the creature, his weapon hadn't bounced off. Rather, the Dungeon Cube was pulling his weapon into itself.
"Crap!" Van shouted as he dug his feet into the ground. "Need some help here!" His strength score was high, but the creature was far stronger than he'd anticipated, and it began to pull him deeper toward it.
"I gotcha!" Sahara shouted as she ran up behind him, wrapped her arms around him, and began to pull at him hard. "You smell nice," she whispered as she nuzzled against his head.
"You've got to be kidding me," Van grunted as he leaned back into his ally, pulling with all of his might. "Fredlin! A strength spell, please!"
"Oh, right, right," Fredlin said as he placed his staff on the ground and began to mutter more arcane words. This time, energy flew into Van's body and he felt a powerful force erupt within his arms.
"Haha!" Van shouted as he watched his strength score shoot up to nearly 40 points. "Now this is a buff spell!" He ripped the weapon from the creature's body and smashed his hammer into the Dungeon Cube again, dealing even more damage.
"Make it count," Fredlin said. "I'm just about out of spells here."
Van made short work of the creature with his new strength, hammering on it over and over again until there was nothing left but a small green puddle on the ground.
The words Optional Monster Defeated! +100 points floated above Van's head.
"What in the hell does 'optional monster' mean?" Van asked as he turned around to face his team. They hadn't said much during his interaction with the monster, and had seemed perfectly content to just watch him in silence. "And why weren't the rest of you helping?"
"I dunno," Kylian said, chuckling a little. "I think you got a good handle on it."
The rest of the team all burst out into laughter at the same time, utterly confusing Van.
"Guys, what the hell is so funny?" Van asked.
Sang pointed to a rope that was hanging off to the side. Van looked at the rope and followed it with his eyes, realizing that the rope led to a ledge by which they could have easily circumvented the monster.
"What? Why didn't anyone point that out?"
"Because, Sang and I had a bet about how long it would take for you to notice!" Kylian chuckled again. Van glanced over to see that even Sang was laughing. That was a rare sight indeed, but he welcomed it. He began to laugh, too, finally, and for a very brief moment, everything was okay. The moment didn't last for very long, however, for Van soon glanced at the timer on the side of his vision and shook his head.
"Alright, guys, let's finish this out!" And with that, the entire team rushed over to a large red ribbon that was waiting for them. The words Finish Line hovered above the ribbon. Van hurried through, breaking the ribbon and causing a menu to pop up in front of him.
Congratulations on Completing the Race in 1:57:32. You have earned 500 bonus points. Your total score is 1,140 points. You qualify for the next event! Your current ranking is 3 out of 500.
"Awesome!" Sahara exclaimed. "Can you guys believe we're ranked 3?"
Yeah, it's pretty great," Van said as he looked around the end of the dungeon. There wasn't anywhere to go.
"So, do we just hang out and wait for the rest of them to finish?" Sang asked as she sat down. "Who knows how long these guys will take?"
"I, for one, welcome a chance to rest," Kylian said. "That dungeon was pretty fun, but exhausting."
"Yeah," Van said as he leaned against a w
all and closed his eyes. "Rest sounds like a good plan."
Sang opened her eyes to realize that she was no longer in the dungeon. Instead, she was in some kind of a field. The wind was whipping hard against her back, and the transition had been sudden. Moments ago, everyone had been sprawled out on the floor of the dungeon, playing twenty questions to pass the time, and now she was lying on the grass on an open plain.
The sun was unrelentingly hot against her skin and the brightness caused her to squint hard. The darkness of being underground, with only torchlight to provide sight, had made for a very painful transition into regular daylight.
"What in the hell?" Sang asked as she scrambled to her feet. Another dragon, one with bright yellow scales, flew overhead. Sang glanced around to see that the rest of her team was there, as well. Across from her were more players. Each player's position mirrored one of Sang's own team members' positions. She realized that they'd been placed in a stand-off.
"Greetings, players, coming to the second round! The goal is a simple one: you must retrieve your opponent's flag before they steal yours," the dragon boomed. "Behind you is your base. There are five of you and five of your opponent. Each time you die, you will respawn in exactly five minutes. How, then, will you attack and defend at the same time? You have 60 minutes to steal their flag and return it to your base. If neither team has scored by the end of the 60 minutes, respawns will be disabled until someone has scored a point. This is an elimination challenge. The team that wins will move on to the next challenge, and the team that fails will be ejected from the tournament. Ready? Begin!"
A loud horn blared after the yellow dragon's shout, signaling the start of the event. The yellow wyrm then flew off into the distance.
"Crap!" Van shouted as he pointed toward four players who were rushing towards him. There were two women and two men, and they were all armed with axes, swords, and knives.
