Contest (The Stork Tower Book 6)

by Tony Corden

  Ivan continued to dodge the arrows, and his next two chakram were sent in straight and vertical, each one slamming into Yuè Fēi’s shield and dimming it significantly. Yuè Fēi responded with a barrage of arrows which had Ivan ducking and weaving as he was bombarded with poison, explosions and a vine which grew out of an arrow and tried to crush him in its coils.

  The long-range attacks continued, with each warrior having the edge at one time or another. One of Yuè Fēi’s arrows arced in as Ivan was throwing a larger than usual chakram. Leah thought he had time to dodge, but he stepped the wrong way as he let go of the disc and was knocked off his feet, sending the disc flying too high and arcing behind Yuè Fēi. Yuè Fēi quickly had two arrows in the air and heading for Ivan as the disc dug into the dirt at his back. Ivan used the war axe to deflect both arrows, but one dissolved into needles which exploded past the axe and embedded themselves in his chest and face.

  Leah watched as Ivan stumbled to his feet with blood pouring from his face. One eye was gone, and he was wearing a huge grin. Looking over at Yuè Fēi, she saw him step forward to fire another volley when the paw of Ivan’s bear familiar ripped out his throat. It had crawled from the earth where the last chackram had landed. As Yuè Fēi disappeared, Leah could hear Ivan’s bellowing laugh drowned out by the cheering crowd.

  47

  Chapter 47

  December 17, 2073 - MERKIZE CONTEST - Part 16

  DUNYANIN - CONTEST

  Noah was shaking his head and said, “Everyone has secrets. I’ve been watching Ivan for a year ever since I knew he’d found one of the discs. I knew we would end up fighting each other. Not once in all that time did I see him use either a ranged attack or cast a spell except for a simple Heal. I wonder how much more is hidden away.”

  Leah smiled and said, “Ivan’s my friend, and I was sure Yuè Fēi was going to win. I’ll tell you what, Flood. You tell me what you have hidden, and I’ll do the same.”

  Noah laughed and said, “Not going to happen. I trust you to keep your word, but I’ll need all my secrets for next time.”

  Leah laughed, and they continued to chat as Ivan and Yuè Fēi entered the room to talk with Deathmaster. When they’d finished the interview, the two men headed over to sit with Noah and Leah. The four of them sat and discussed the fight until the trumpet sounded, and the next bout began between Princesa_Amazônica_23 and Královna_Kouzel_666.

  Both offered signs of respect and waited till the second trumpet blast. Immediately, it was obvious that this was going to be different than the battle between Královna and Merideath. Neither of the two launched massive assaults but started sniping at each other. Královna sent a blood spell toward the ranger which separated into small darts of blood which sizzled and burnt when they landed. Princesa_Amazônica_23 had moved but the darts arced through the air to follow her. Two of the darts reached her, but her shroud deflected them. In return, the beastmaster had sent a volley of spelled arrows, three of which exploded against the dark mage’s shields while the others had been deflected.

  The first five minutes followed a similar pattern before the ranger started to move closer. Her two attempts at raising beasts had failed because of the distance. Královna had plenty of time to prepare spells to deal with them. Moving closer not only increased the pressure on the mage, but it gave her a stronger attack as well. Leah was again impressed with how Královna was able to make the mana form into a shape and then reform it after the cast. She would send a bolt of fire at the ranger who would counter with an exploding arrow shield of water. Královna would rework the firebolt to freeze the shield and then explode to rain shards of ice onto the ranger.

  Princesa_Amazônica_23’s move toward the dark mage allowed her to fire arrows with less time for Královna to evade as well as giving her greater control of the beasts she sent. Leah observed that the size of the beasts also increased. Ten minutes into the bout and neither player had suffered much damage, although they had both used a prodigious amount of mana. Princesa_Amazônica_23 stopped firing arrows and took up station behind her shroud shield and began to chant in a language the automatic translator either couldn’t or wouldn’t translate. Královna hurled spell after spell at the shield, but nothing could penetrate it.

  After the chanting had been going on for almost a minute, Královna also began to chant. Unfortunately, although Leah could not understand the words she had heard the particular cadence several times, and she almost raised a shield of her own. The ranger finished her chant first, and with a cry, she clenched her hands together and pointed them both at Královna. The earth in front of the beastmaster began to boil and shift. Then from the shifting dirt, an Ozgurian Hydra appeared. The body was that of a dragon, although sturdier to support the nine elongated serpentine necks with a slightly narrowed dragon’s head at the end of each. Each head was covered with dark metallic scales, each in a different colour. The deep crimson head spat fire, the orange vomited magma, the green spat poison, the purple produced acid, ice shot from the blue, lightning flashed from the yellow, the brown spat tar, the silver spun web like that of a spider, and the black ejected disease and death.

  The hydra looked around and then all its eyes focused on the dark mage, who had cut herself several times and was spraying blood on the ground as she continued the incantation. As the hydra stepped toward Královna, the earth in front of the mage rippled like a mirage, and a demon appeared. It was no larger than the mage until she pointed it toward the ranger and it saw the hydra. Slowly the demon grew until it was standing with its head on the same level as the swaying heads of the hydra. With a savage cry, the demon leapt toward the massive dragon-like creature.

  Both players stepped back to watch the fight. It was clear that although the hydra and the demon were fighting independently, their existence depended on the mana and skill of the players. Princesa_Amazônica_23 was standing still, her mouth moving silently as she maintained her hold on the hydra. Similarly, Královna_Kouzel_666 was continually dripping blood onto the ground, which then flowed toward the place the demon had emerged from before seeping into the ground.

  The two summoned creatures tore into each other with a ferocity that was at least one step above anything already seen that day. The demon seemed to be made of rubber and iron from the way it could bend and twist to avoid attacks and yet whatever it hit broke or bent. In addition to its claws and teeth, which it used to rend the hydra’s flesh, it also had some small skill in magic and would send fireballs and shards of obsidian flying at the heads or body of the hydra. On the other hand, it had to deal with nine independently thinking heads who were also able to coordinate their attack as a single entity. The necks were flexible and fast as they whipped around, trying to destroy the demon. The hydra occasionally also attacked with both its sharpened tail or its front dragon claws.

  The end, when it finally came, happened in the blink of an eye. The hydra and demon had fought for just under five minutes, and both were wounded terribly. Whether it was an accident or part of the ranger’s instructions was unclear, but suddenly the hydra swung its body around, pivoting on its front legs using the heads to provide momentum. The tail lashed out and neatly sliced through Královna’s neck.

  Královna’s body fell to one side with blood pouring from her carotids. The blood rushed toward the demon’s entry point and was greedily absorbed. The demon, who’d taken a beating, began to heal and its form became more corporeal. Královna’s body disappeared, but the demon didn’t. The beastmaster had already released the hydra which had sunk into the ground. The demon looked over at the ranger, and an evil smirk covered its face. It took a step toward Princesa_Amazônica_23 before the developers realised that with Çaresiz just come online, the rules had changed allowing summoned creatures from Çaresiz to remain wherever in Dunyanin they’d been summoned to.

  As they scrambled to remove the demon, Princesa_Amazônica_23 discovered that because she was still in a combat situation, she didn’t disappear either. Unfortunately, she’d
used up most of her mana to summon the hydra. All she could do was raise a small shield between herself and the approaching demon.

  During the battle, Leah had been thinking about how the best way would be to fight each of the players and their creatures. She was also used to making quick decisions. She equipped her dragon armour and simultaneously cast Grow as she teleported to the arena. Arriving behind the demon, she thrust her staff forward and cast a beam composed mostly of her shroud’s divine light, but with elements of lightning and gravity straight into the demon’s back. The demon screamed in anguish, and it began to lose its form as it was sucked into a vortex forming at the end of Leah’s staff. Leah remembered some of what Lady A’lev Sevgilisi had done with her eggs, and she added this and some more gravity to her spell. The demon started to flow like water into the gyre, its limbs frantically trying to claw its way out of Leah’s spell. Within moments, the demon’s shrieks faded and all that remained was a ball a quarter the size of Leah’s spell-enlarged fist. It was mostly a translucent dark demon shade of crimson, with a point of brilliant white light at its centre which gave off a constant barrage of lightning type sparks that blazed around the sphere.

  Messages flashed across her vision but disappeared as Gèng moved them aside. Leah cancelled grow and stood in front of the half meter wide orb. She was hesitant to touch the orb and said, “Gèng, are there any warnings about touching the orb?”

  “None. It is safe to hold, although, like the Lanetli, I suggest you keep it safe.”

  Leah transferred it to one of her storage slots, then looked over to the ranger who disappeared with a stunned look still on her face. Leah half shrugged and teleported back to the bar. She’d been gone less than thirty seconds, and none of the others had moved. As Leah reached for her beer, the three warriors turned to stare at her. When she didn’t say anything, Ivan said, “Why would you do that?”

  Leah shrugged and said, “I’d been thinking of how to kill the thing, and suddenly there was this opportunity, so I took it. I know it’s probably irrational to some extent, but I hate the things. Also, with Çaresiz being opened, I hoped to find a way to get there. I’ve witnessed a few portals, and so the spell I cast was designed to begin opening a portal back to Çaresiz through which to banish the demon, but then to lock it in a form of stasis until I needed it.”

  Yuè Fēi said, “Was that Fae magic then? They have spells to control time.”

  Leah shook her head and said, “It was a combination of several types of magic. I did use some Fae magic, but the stasis spell was draconic. I have some dragon eggs which are held in stasis, and I just adapted the idea from what I saw the dragon do.”

  Noah sat forward, looking thoughtful, and he said, “Are the dragon eggs you have available for purchase?”

  Leah shook her head, “No, sorry. They are part of a quest. I do have some Adamantine Mamba eggs for sale if you want something for a mount.”

  “How big do they get?”

  “At Level 214, one was over fifty metres in length.”

  “I’m interested. How much and can I see it?”

  “I’ve no idea how much. I have a broker for that, but I do know he hasn’t sold them yet. If you want, we could arrange a time for you to drop over and have a look, or I could have my broker visit you.”

  Ivan stood and said, “I have to go get ready for the bout, but if you can, I’d suggest going to visit Atherleah. It’s worth the visit.”

  Noah really liked the idea of a huge reptile for a mount. He and Leah discussed the option with Yuè Fēi until the trumpet rang for the fight for first place in the contest between Боевой_молот and Princesa_Amazônica_23. The two warriors acknowledged each other and then as the second note rang out, Ivan started running straight at the elven ranger, each step he took increasing his speed and throwing him forward further than one before. The beastmaster shot two arrows, but they veered out of his way. She summoned several large cats in front of her, placing them to block his path. Her jaguar was one of them.

  Ivan didn’t slow, but timed his step to land several metres in front of the leading cat. Instead of stepping forward, he did a baseball slide under the jaguar, opening it with his knife from neck to tail. He pulled out of the slide took two steps and brought his war axe around to slam it into the elf’s shields. The shields held for a moment, driving the ranger backwards and then shattered as the axe bit deep into her chest bursting her heart. From beginning to end, the fight had lasted less than ten seconds. Ivan raised his axe above his head as the crowd screamed his name. Turning full circle, he lowered the axe and disappeared.

  Leah, Yuè Fēi and Noah just looked at each other then Noah said, “I have to be honest and say that today was one big surprise. The more I think about it, the more I realise I’ve been getting old, treading water, and living in the past. What Ivan did just now I should have been able to do, and I know I would have done it ten years ago. I’ve let myself get bored. Atherleah, I have to apologise, I thought you were just a punk-ass kid who’d gotten lucky. Over the last few weeks virtual, I found myself starting to feel all superior. I thought for a bit that Merideath with all her talk of dumb young upstarts had a point. Honestly, I still think you’ve been lucky, but you are a very capable operator. I promise not to take you for granted in the future. This has been a wake-up call. Next time, Ivan is going down.”

  Yuè Fēi said, “Indeed, and if you are not up to it, then I will do it. He and I have sparred occasionally, and I realise he has been fighting with one hand behind his back. Next time he will learn not to be patronising.”

  A soft tone got their attention, and an announcement said the presentation of prizes would begin in two minutes. All players were either to make their way to the operations room or be prepared for teleport. Leah finished her beer and walked through to the room where it had all begun just over six hours before. Ten small daises were ready, each slightly higher than the last. The orc administrator listed the players in ascending order of rank. Seishin_no_kage_12 had placed tenth, but Leah was confident that would change. Gottes_Krieger_10 wasn’t at the presentation and had placed ninth. Atherleah came eighth with Мастер_Cмерти in seventh, he also hadn’t stayed for the presentation. Delta_Knight_01 and Merideath both had two wins and a loss to place equal fifth although only the knight was present. Královna_Kouzel_666 placed fourth and was given a small chest which she didn’t open in front of everyone. In third place was Yuè_Fēi_Lóng who also received a chest. Princesa_Amazônica_23 was second and received a chest for being in the top four and a slightly larger chest for coming second. Боевой_молот received two chests for coming first.

  As soon as the presentation was over and Leah had congratulated Ivan, she was transferred back to the glade from earlier that day. From there, she logged out of Dunyanin to the Tower.

  Diary - 17 December, 2073 - Afternoon

  I was reminded again that showing respect earns respect while demanding it just makes people lose it. Would it have done any harm for Merideath to bow a head? Or for the Paladin to raise a hand? I’m almost convinced they would have won their bouts if they hadn’t pushed their opponents to respond with everything they had. On the other hand, my respect for Noah made me lose because if I’m honest I wouldn’t have healed Gottes_Kreiger_10 if he’d been lying there. I’d have blasted him into tiny pieces. Well, I suppose I did do that. Why then did I ask Namus to show mercy? Was it the small amount of respect I have for his strength and prowess? I don’t think so. Truth is, I have no idea why I asked for that. Was it as Umut suggested, hope itself makes us better people.

  The biggest surprise though was Ivan. I think he probably could have won without showing so many new skills. What struck me most was the thrill he seemed to get out of the bouts. He enjoyed himself. Both Noah and Yuè Fēi seemed energised by him. They’re going to be hard to beat next time if they start playing like Ivan. I seriously hope I get the chance to just play for fun. Actually, that isn’t really true. I have the choice now
to stop. I could walk away, but I choose not to. Perhaps what I need to do is to stop complaining about what’s happening and own it. I’m in the situation I’m in because I choose to be. If I don’t like it, then it’s my fault. I want to beat Meredith. If I went to Nathan and handed him what he wanted and told him I’d stay away, he might even agree. That option is something I hate, but it is still a choice. I might only have choices I don’t like, but the truth is I get to make them, and I need to own them.

  48

  Chapter 48

  December 17, 2073 - Afternoon - Part 1

  STORK TOWER

  Leah slumped onto her sofa and said, “Gèng I’m later than I planned. I really didn’t think it would take almost seven virtual hours. Can you remove the neural stimulation until the end of the day?”

  “Yes. I had Stephen check, and without giving any details, the information he has is that even though one game requires stimulation, that doesn’t affect the twenty-four-hour break you can have. I have restricted neural stimulation and on the advice of Dr Roberts have set it to five per cent. She pointed me to several studies which suggest some small stimulation is better than none.”

  “Great. I’m off to Pneumatica and then a break before meeting Wisp in Cosmos Online. I’m finalising the decoding at the moment. I also wanted to ask if you noticed any changes in my neural connections in the last bout with Yuè Fēi and when I captured the demon? I felt that I was able to manipulate the shields concurrently against Yuè Fēi, almost as if I could multitask. Then when I cast the spell on the demon I know I cast four separate spells. I think I cast them simultaneously, but I’m not certain.”