Spiteful Healer

For the fourth time, Aegis’ party members were transported out of their preliminary match and returned to the darkened entrance hall of the Kordas arena. The tiny balls of light formed together to create their virtual avatars in front of an eagerly awaiting Yuki, Quinn, and Tullan.

The entrance hall was now completely empty of any other competing players - all others had been eliminated from the tournament. Instead, a good number of onlookers remained outside the arena, cheering in at Aegis in the hopes that he’d notice them, or feed off of their encouragement. There were a few lanterns bolted to the walls of the wide hall to illuminate it, but they did a poor job. Instead, most of the light coming into the hall was either from the entrance of which the onlookers stood on the south side, or the end of the hall on the northside where it opened up into the large open-air arena. Moon and starlight sprinkled in from those directions along with a cool evening breeze that Aegis took into his lungs, gasping for air as he’d returned to his senses within the hall.

It wasn’t just him, either. Rakkan, Darkshot and Lina were all out of breath and quickly bent to grab their knees, or started leaning up against a nearby wall. Only Pyri was keeping her composure, but had a strained expression.

“Congratulations on winning the 4th preliminary match. Your fifth match is being prepared and will be ready in approximately 10 minutes. Please wait and I will notify you when you may enter.” The NPC behind the counter spoke robotically to them.

“That one looked tough.” Quinn commented as she eyed the group.

“Of course it was. Do ya know who you were up against?” Tullan asked them.

“No… Well, Darkshot said something about it, but…” Aegis shook his head dismissively.

“They’re a famous PvP guild from Korea.” Yuki explained.

“Yeah, streamers. I’ve watched ‘em before.” Darkshot nodded in Yuki’s direction as he straightened himself out.

“They were the first fun match we had. I was worried it’d be boring the whole way up.” Pyri smiled, to which Aegis rolled his eyes at her.

“Well.” Quinn began fidgeting around with her interface. “Ren’s been keeping track of all the big teams competing. They’re all streaming - Shattered World streams are seeing record-breaking viewership numbers, more than the launch day. Almost no one has been eliminated yet, with a few exceptions like those guys you just took out.” Quinn said, pausing briefly and squinting her eyes at a screen floating in front of her face for a moment.

“Seraxus, Feng’s three teams, Makaroth’s team, then a bunch of the original big PvP team names like Schadenfreude and the Spanish Bloodletter are all still in. Only 16 teams can progress, though… so this round is going to knock a lot of the big names out. It’s unavoidable.” Quinn finished by crossing her arms.

“What you’re saying is, the next match is going to be a hard one.” Darkshot groaned.

“It can’t be helped. People with a 4-0 record can only get matched against teams who also have a 4-0 record.” Lina shrugged.

“Whatever we get up against, we’ll win.” Aegis spoke confidently. He began inspecting the straps on his shield, fastening them and making sure each loop was adjusted properly to serve its purpose. Seeing this, Darkshot began fidgeting with the strap of his quiver and shifting it around, then moving the tails of his arrows around and refilling them into his quiver from his inventory. Lina, Pyri and Rakkan all quickly found things to do as well to keep their nerves at bay, making sure all of their equipment was in order.

“You guys don’t plan on strategizing?” Quinn commented after watching them for a few moments.

“What’s the point? We don’t know who we’ll be up against yet.” Aegis asked her with a raised brow.

“Well, yeah, I know, but… Don’t you still want a game plan going in?”

“We’ve got one of those already. We know our win condition.”

“Alright.” Quinn shrugged. “Just, I noticed in that last match you guys seemed extremely reactive to your opponents. It’s good to fight with an adaptable playstyle based on who you are up against but I think you also want your own playstyle. Making your opponents play around you isn’t a bad way to PvP either.” Quinn explained. Aegis’ eyes were on hers, she could tell he was listening to what she was saying and processing her words, but he didn’t reply.

“Eh, what they’re doin’ is workin’ fer now. Let ‘em to it.” Tullan patted Quinn’s shoulder.

“You guys are doing great. Yumily said she is also cheering for you.” Yuki smiled.

“She’s allowed to cheer for us? Isn’t she a part of the VGN?” Pyri asked curiously.

“Hum, well, yes, but she’s also a part of Kalmoore so I think it’s okay…” Yuki tilted her head to the side innocently, pondering Pyri’s words.

[Your Fifth and final Preliminary match is ready. You have 5 minutes to report to a Gladiator Tournament Registration NPC to be transported to your match.]

The message popped up for Aegis and all of his companions, and they all looked up from what they were doing to stare at it.

“It’s time.” Aegis said as he waved the message away, then turned and marched towards the registration NPC behind the counter.

“Good luck!” Yuki cheered.

“Kick their asses.” Quinn added.

“Knock ‘em dead.” Tullan grunted. After hearing their words, Aegis turned to look into the eyes of all of his party members. All of them had a shared look of determination that matched his own.

“Please send us to our final match.” Aegis asked the NPC, and following these words they were all broken up into tiny specs of light. His vision went blank momentarily as his virtual avatar was removed from the Kordas arena and transported into an isolated, private arena that looked identical to all those they’d fought in previously.

His body formed out of the balls of light alongside Lina, Pyri, Rakkan and Darkshot. They stood in a blue boxed cage as the timer appeared atop his peripheral vision.

[Please wait for the match to begin.]

Match begins in: 4:36

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For the very first time in all of their preliminary matches, despite being fairly quick to talk to the NPC, they arrived after their opponents had. Standing in the blue box in the arena opposite to them was a set of five players all wearing matching bright red tabards. Aegis recognized it immediately as the Vindicators guild tabards. His heart skipped a beat as he scanned over the names above their heads.

To his relief, it wasn’t Feng’s team, but the names and levels were intimidating in their own right.

[Xiao Bai Mao - Level 161], [Xiao Long - Level 159], [Feng Zhi Zi - Level 157], [Tian Xin Tang Guo - Level 156], [Xi Ha Yu - Level 160]. A rogue, a druid, a fighter, a cleric and a bard respectively.

“Well, all things considered, it could be a lot worse.” Aegis said as he took a deep breath, looking across the arena at them. They were all glaring angrily at Aegis and his companions already, drawing out their weapons.

“Got any information on this group?” Darkshot asked him, the anxiety in his voice already audible.

“I’m going to look up what classes they are. We can tell their base beginner classes based on what they’re wielding, but their intermediates and advanced classes aren’t immediately obvious.” Aegis began fidgeting with his interface, desperately opening it up and scanning the web for information on this Vindicator PvP team.

“They’re all wearing voidsilk and iron.” Lina commented as she eyed their gear up and down. “High level leather as well. Their gear is very good.”

“They also out level us.” Rakkan added. These words made it clear everyone was worried as the timer ticked down and their opponent’s glares bore into them. Pyri, however, broke the tension with a slight giggle. She then began hopping around behind the others, her staff drawn out.

“Finally. Ooooh!” She squealed excitedly. “I’ve missed this feeling. Structured PvP against tough opponents.” She cracked her neck to the left and right. “C’mon guys, let’s kick their butts!” She added an enthusiastic cheer, and her enthusiasm caused Darkshot, Lina and Rakkan’s confidence to slowly return.

“Bloodletter, the advanced assassin class. That’s Xiao Bai Mao.” Aegis closed out of his interface, having finished his search on the internet. He pointed directly at the dagger wielding player glaring at them from across the arena. “Xiao Long is a Wildmancer, they’re like nature wizards. We’ve not fought one of those before. Feng Zhi Zi is a blademaster. Tian Xin Tang Guo is a Light Keeper, an advanced healer class based on Cleric. Xi Ha Yu is a Rythmancer, think bards but more beat, less instrumental and vocal. Drums, basically.” Aegis quickly explained.

“Congratulations. You can use the internet.” Xiao Bai Mai replied, making it clear that he was able to hear Aegis’ words. He was a demi-human cat, with long pointed white cat ears protruding out of the top of his head amongst his short black hair.

“We know all about who you are. No internet needed.” Feng Zhi Zi spoke, a halfling standing with his arms crossed, leaning up against his staff as the base of it was stuck into the ground behind him.

“Poor little boy and his loser American friends. He has so many daddy issues.” Tian Xin Tang Guo commented in a condescending tone. The only female in the group, she had long floppy yellow bunny ears not unlike Sapphire’s, wearing heavy plate armor with a shield and scepter in her hands. Her long black hair extended all the way down her sides and back, reaching her knees. As she spoke, she wagged her finger at Aegis’ party.

“You should leave your family problems at home. Gladiator tournaments are not for therapy.” Xiao Bai Mao continued.

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“Yes, just because daddy left you both, no need to be so upset.” Tian Xin Tang Guo replied to him as a devilish grin grew over their face. freёwebnoѵel.com

“It’s unsightly. Just accept you were unwanted and move on.”

“Aegis.” Pyri spoke in a deep voice, one of which none of them had heard before. Having her stand behind them in their standard formation, they were all forced to turn to look back at her and see her emotionless expression. “Change of plans.” Pyri stepped forward to the front, motioning Rakkan, Lina and Aegis to take a few steps back. “I’m killing these ones by myself.”

Match begins in 5… 4… 3… 2… 1…

“Provoking momma bear might not have been the best decision for the Vindicator’s third string PvP team, but they’ve shown themselves quite capable thus far. We’ve got a few clips of them in their previous preliminary matches up until this point where they’ve utterly dominated all of their opponents up until now.” Hae-won spoke quickly while Shinji edited small screens to play footage of the Chinese team’s previous rounds overtop Aegis’ broadcast as they were preparing to start the match.

“They haven’t fought our Aegis yet, though. This’ll be an interesting match where anyone could come out on top. If Aegis defeats them here, that means that he and his party will have qualified for the main tournament despite all the things that have stood in his way, though. Everything is on the line.” Hae-won’s nervousness could be heard in how she was speaking, but she looked on at the livestream broadcast in front of her with hope in her eyes.

The messages in his chat were continuing to zoom past, with many words of encouragement from his viewers, which helped Hae-won maintain her faith in her streamer.

“It feels like this is the first real opponent that Aegis’ team has ever had to face in a structured 5 vs 5 match, so It’s hard to not get worried for them. Let’s cheer loudly, so that they can hear us and feel encouraged!” Hae-won shouted.

“They’ll be okay. Right?” Yuki asked Quinn and Tullan as they stood in the entrance hall still, all with their livestream viewers floating up in their peripheral vision.

“Yeah. I think so… Maybe… The thing is, th-” Quinn’s response was interrupted by the sound of a large explosion. A bright flash of blinding red light erupted from the city of Kordas in the distance, sending out a violent shockwave of dust and wind from the source of the explosion.

“What in the bloody hell was that?” Tullan shouted as they all turned to face the direction of the bright red flash. Loud screams could be heard filling the streets as the many fans of Aegis’ who’d been lining the streets outside began to duck, panic and scatter about the city.

Within seconds, bright red flames could be seen rising up from the city buildings in the distance.

“We’re being attacked. Familiar eyes.” Quinn cast, quickly causing her eyes to glaze over as she took on the view of her familiar pet. It was soaring high above the city and therefore could very quickly take in the full scope of what had transpired. From the eyes of her hawk she saw the flames rising up out of the newly created Shipyard, where all three Airships that had been under construction were covered in blazing red flames. The hulls of the ships and all the work already put into them had been undone - the wood was shattered and burning to a crisp.

Worse, the fire was rapidly spreading to nearby structures within the crafting district of Kordas where the shipyard was located. NPCs and players could be seen fleeing the area to get away from the quickly growing flames.

“The shipyard exploded. An accident?” Quinn spoke to Tullan as she remained viewing the scene through her familiar.

“Eh? They’re not workin’ with anythin’ that can explode over there. At least not that I know of.” Tullan replied quickly.

“Get Trexon to head over there quickly with a team of wizards and put out the fires, they’re spreading fast. Make sure he does his best to locate the source of the explosion as well, if he can.” Quinn ordered him.

“Aye, I’m on it.” Tullan replied as he pulled up his guild interface and began relaying this information to the rest of the guild.

“Okay good.” Quinn said as she continued to steer her familiar through the skies above Kordas, looking about the rest of the city. “If it wasn’t an accident, who or why would attack the Shipyard, and why now?” Quinn asked herself. She started scanning the streets for any suspicious individuals fleeing the area around the burning shipyard. It wasn’t easy to spot anything suspicious, due to the sheer number of players and NPCs that were rushing away quickly.

Her persistence paid off eventually, however, as she’d managed to spot one individual who was walking away from the burning shipyard calmly - a tall player with a dark hood pulled up to prevent her from seeing his name. Quinn made some quick whistling sounds with her real body to instruct her familiar to swoop down out of the sky and get a closer look at who this player was.

The hawk carefully soared down from the heights of the tallest Kordas buildings, inconspicuously reaching the ground level where the player was so that she could see his face from under his hood using the eyes of her familiar. It only took her a quick glance to recognize them.

“It’s Trellin. Shit. Tullan, get Herilon and the others to the Skyport Tower!” Quinn shouted as she canceled her vision sharing and took on her true eyesight again. From there she turned and looked up at the tall Skyport of Kordas where the Sky Darling was docked. The sky was dark, but due to the lights of the nearby Kordas buildings, Quinn was able to spot silhouettes of several winged creatures flying in the sky around the tower.

“Fast!” Quinn shouted to Tullan, who nodded back nervously. “Yuki, with me.” Quinn drew out her bow and nocked an arrow before she began sprinting in the direction of the tower.

“Okay.” Yuki nodded, drawing out her giant iron needle and pursuing after her.