NOVEL NEXT 133 - The Tournament: Part 3
Somewhat disappointing first match aside, I was having fun. It was unfortunate for Kabal, but my being immune to most, if not all of his spells was simply unfair. And while I wasn't too hyped about getting a freebie like that, there was a quest on the line for me, so I wouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth. Even though I couldn't help but suspect that the bracket had been rigged by the system for some reason. Suspecting the system would get me nowhere, though, and the convenient match-up could just as well have happened due to my luck stat.
With my match over, the first round of the tournament had come to a close. With the system pushing things along and providing healing and repairs, things were moving quite fast. Just a bit over an hour had passed since the start and we were already moving to the second round of fights. Not giving the crowd or the fighters any time to relax, the system pushed along merrily, a neat animation in the air displaying the new bracket, showcasing who got eliminated and who advanced. The new bracket hovered for about a minute before two names lit up and floated up and away from the bracket to announce the next match.
Rollo vs. Skiny
And there it was, the first fight between contestants from the same side. Surprisingly enough, the first round had ended with four fighters from each side moving on. Lophan was doing better than expected, but the unsurmountable wall of Rollo still loomed up ahead. In his first match, he'd ended it in an instant, barely giving poor Garam a chance to fight back. I was curious to see how the assassin Skiny would handle Rollo, and if he even stood a chance at all. Fortunately for me, the system banned throwing a match under threat of punishment, so I'd get to see both of them fight honestly, allowing me to collect some more data on the fist-fighter.
Before long, the match began and I locked in. Skiny opened the hostilities with an illusion spell, sending three copies of himself running in different directions. I almost missed it, but he also cast another spell that made him invisible, meaning that all three illusions were distractions while he positioned himself in relative safety. Unfortunately, not even I could track him after he became invisible, so I watched Rollo's reaction instead.
The asphon simply stood there, calmly observing the three copies rush at him, each equipped with two simple daggers. There was a liquid sheen to them, implying they were coated with poison. Seeing another poison user was nice, but I should probably keep my poison spells sealed if I could help it at all. Even if it was incredibly slim, there was a chance for my poison to kill my opponent immediately. I wanted to avoid irreversibly killing during the tournament, and the only way to do that was by instant kill.
While I considered this, Rollo finally entered a stance. He lowered his center of gravity, spread his legs for more stability and readied his fists, ready to strike in an instant. Either he had some skill to tell him or was operating on pure instinct, but Rollo completely ignored Skiny's copies as they attacked. There was apparently no trick to the illusions and they simply phased through Rollo without doing any damage. I had to wonder if he was simply gambling on nothing happening, or if he simply knew about Skiny's moveset. Maybe they were used to sparring together?
For a while, nothing happened as Skiny was still invisible and Rollo was content with waiting for his chance. Realizing that there was no opening to exploit, Skiny switched up tactics and almost imperceptible needles started to appear out of thin air, flying at Rollo with incredible speed. They came from different locations, implying that Skiny was moving around the arena at incredible speed, and by the time the first needle reached Rollo, six more were already flying at him from different angles.
Rollo sprang into action, his arms moving in a single fluid motion as he expertly deflected every single needle, barely moving from his starting spot while doing it. I was watching the almost ethereal display of skill so intently that I almost missed a few tiny vines appearing from cracks in the ground beneath Rollo's feet. How they managed to break the supposedly unbreakable stone was beyond me, but they sure did. Maybe the system made exceptions for certain spells to keep things fair?
Rollo was busy deflecting an ever-increasing amount of needles, tens of them already lying strewn around the ground next to him, making it unclear if he had noticed the sneaky vines. Then, finally breaking the stalemate, a javelin appeared about five meters behind Rollo, somehow flying even faster than the needles. For the first time, Rollo had to take a proper step to defend himself as the javelin appeared from an awkward angle, but that was what Skiny was waiting for.
The vine sprung into action, wrapping around Rollo's right ankle, and yanked hard. Rollo was thrown off balance, the javelin barely passing by his defense and hitting him in his left shoulder. While all this was happening, Skiny appeared out of stealth, right in Rollo's blind spot low to the ground, two daggers already flashing upward illuminated by the glow of a skill.
The whole situation was carefully orchestrated to land a fatal strike, and it was beautiful. Maybe I should go and talk to this guy after the tournament to up my assassination game a bit. Just before the daggers hit home, though, Rollo's entire body flashed blue briefly, the glow shattering away like glass immediately after the strike. A defensive skill perhaps? Whatever it was, Skiny was in trouble. His assassination had failed, and once that happened, assassins were usually at a disadvantage.
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Especially if their opponent was Rollo.
Rollo's entire right leg took on the glow of a skill and, after casually ripping the vines still grabbing him, he drew a beautiful arc with his leg, slamming it into Skiny's head. The vicious kick sent Skiny crashing into the ground head-first and a follow-up strike was already on its way, but Rollo froze just before striking, the match called off by the system's horn. Once again Rollo had ended the match in a single strike and the crowd went wild.
As for me, I had learned my lesson. If I dared to get close to this guy even once in our match, I'd probably lose instantly. That was just fine with me. I was pretty squishy and preferred fighting from a distance anyway. It was a bit cheap, but maybe I should just teleport as high as the system would let me and glide around out of reach while bombarding him with spells. Well, I would get to see him fight at least once more, so I still had time to refine my strategy.
Rondel vs. Nimma
With barely any time in between rounds, since the system kept pushing forward, I wished Nimma good luck as she stepped out of the waiting room to face her next opponent. Which, just like in the last fight, was somebody from our own side. Rondel, the water mage. He had a somewhat easy time in his last fight, since his opponent employed a more defensive style of fighting, but I was willing to bet that Nimma should be able to give him a run for his money. She was quite fast on her feet, had ranged options, was a demon in melee range, and had some good defensive skills to top it all off. This match would be an all-rounder against a specialized mage, and only time would tell who came out on top.
The two of them were no strangers, bantering with each other as they entered the arena. Supposedly they occasionally sparred with each other during joint training exercises, which should make for an interesting fight since both knew how the other fought.
The horn blared and Nimma sprang into action, rushing toward Rondel, who was in the process of casting spells. Similarly to his first fight, an icy sheen started to spread from his position, making the ground more slippery. He didn't seem to be affected by this at all while Nimma would have to step carefully. Rondel began to retreat, expertly dodging Nimma's telepathically controlled sword as if he'd seen it a thousand times before. Rondel then proceeded to summon some water golems in the shape of various animals.
A small feline, some kind of bird, and something that may be some sort of bear. It was hard to tell what they were exactly since they were made of constantly shifting water, although I did notice that their claws seemed to be made out of ice. The trio of summons rushed down Nimma and impeded her way, forcing her to engage with them, giving Rondel some time to cast a higher-tier spell for the first time.
Nimma wasn't content with just letting him do that, though, and an occasional energy blade shot toward the casting mage. Dodging them disturbed his concentration just enough to slow down his casting, almost making him fail the spell, even. Yet, when Nimma finally found an opening and managed to slip from the harassment of the summons, it was too late.
Rondel slammed his staff into the ground and a truly massive amount of water sprung forth, creating an all-consuming wave within a second. Nimma came to a screeching halt, almost slipping on the ice, and scrambled to run away from the wave bearing down on her. The tsunami was almost ten meters high at this point, spreading in every direction. The arena was big, but Nimma only had seconds before the weight of several tons of water would crush her against the arena's wall.
As she ran toward the wall, her feet began to glow, indicating a skill. It became clear what kind of skill she used almost immediately, as she simply ran up the sheer wall of the arena as if gravity had shifted sideways. The wave crashed into the wall, temporarily robbing me of my vision since all I could see was water. Thankfully, there was a screen in our room as well, just for occasions like this. Nimma barely managed to clear the wave by somersaulting over it and I breathed a sigh of relief. What a nasty spell to use in an enclosed space.
Rondel wasn't done, though. He had used the time free of Nimma's harassment to continue casting, and the entire wave froze while Nimma was still in mid-air. He shouted something while pointing his staff at the frozen wave, a small beam shooting into the wave, causing the entire thing to explode. In an instant, all hell broke loose as the arena was filled with ice shrapnel and an icy fog, once again obscuring my vision. Not even the screen helped this time.
I did happen to catch that Nimma's entire body was enveloped by skill light, so I had to assume that she somehow managed to defend against that admittedly wonderful combination of spells. Judging by the fact that the system hadn't called it yet, she must have pulled through. What followed was a confusing mess of an occasional flash of a skill being visible through the fog, accompanied by more explosions and rumbling, as presumably more ice was shattered somewhere.
This went on for about a minute, before the system's horn blared, declaring victory for somebody. Almost immediately after, the entire arena was cleared of the fog, not a single speck of ice or water remaining behind. And off to the side, Nimma stood, one foot pressing down on Rondel's torso, pinning him to the ground. His staff lay off to the side and his hands were raised in surrender, carefully unmoving so as to not accidentally cut himself on Nimma's blade that was trained on his neck. Nimma wasn't looking too hot, bleeding from several cracks in her exoskeleton, smaller chunks missing entirely in some places.
They remained like that for a second or two, before Nimma removed her blade and reached out a hand to help Rondel up. He gladly accepted it, and the two of them made their way back to our waiting room, back to their casual banter as the system announced Nimma's victory.