Avalon Rebirth (13 page)

* * *

“
A
nd here you are
. Four prepared defense seals made from the Black Wolf Soul,” Morri said, handing over a box. “Made of the best materials and of the highest quality, of course.”

“Wouldn't expect anything else from you,” Leah replied with a smile.

“Well of course you wouldn't, but your partner in crime was complaining about how much money he had to spend on these. Getting the resources for them wasn't cheap, though. And then there's not many smiths with my skill level to make them the right way.”

“Oh, ignore him. I'm not going to complain. I still have the D-rank bow you made for me kicking around, and I'm going to use that in the tournament. There aren't many better things I can get.”

“There aren't any,” Morri corrected her with a grin. “I'm the best there is.”

Leah opened up the box and took a peek. Inside sat four seals, made of a hard black material, almost like obsidian but without any imperfections or markings. A symbol made of silver had been imbedded in the seal, forming a series of interlocking circles and triangles.

“So is there anything particular about these? Do we need a smith to attach them to our armor?”

“No, you're fine without me,” Morri told her. “All you have to do is push it on to the chest of the armor and it'll embed itself. You will need a smith to take it off, if you want, but I'll do it for free. Provided you're not doing it every day.”

“Nah, we'll be fine.”

“Alright. So that's it then. Silver Star is back in the tournament scene a little more than a month or so after their last incident. Everyone too.”

Leah looked at her, confused. “Everyone?”

“Yeah, Leo and Jon have been in here purchasing equipment for their team. They didn't have any Black Wolf Souls, but they were trying to get some stuff for two people I didn't recognize.” She paused for a moment. “Something up?”

Leah frowned. “Yeah. Leo said something about not going into the tournaments until they were ready. Something about waiting for the right time and people. I guess he changed his mind...”

“Or maybe he was just saying something to throw you off your game,” Morri suggested. “Whatever you tournament fighters do. Maybe he just wanted an extra edge.”

That was possible too, but that meant that Leo had lied to her during their last conversation. Leah didn't think he was the type to do that, but…

But that was what he had been doing over the past few months, hadn't it? He and Jon had gone along with the flow, deceiving their teammates and pretending everything was alright. Why should she be surprised that he was willing to lie to her again?

And yet, that thought still hurt her. They had been teammates for so long, and even after the betrayal, on some level she still had a bit of trust in him. Leo seemed to feel the same way, or at least she thought after their last conversation. But now? Now she wasn't sure, or rather, she didn't know what she could believe.

“Thank you for that. And thank you for the information,” she told Morri.

“Your welcome. Good luck in the tournament.”

She left the shop, her mind churning all the while. That news changed a lot. At first she thought that the tournament would be relatively simple. Even though there would be good teams in the D-rank, the combination of Raven's Call's experience and skill would trump them all.

But now they had another element to deal with, a team that had strong members as well. And both sides knew each other fairly well. If push came to shove the former Silver Star members would probably end up neutralizing each other.

It would be up to their newer members to tip the scales. If things worked out the way she thought, Leah and Darin couldn't just act as the crutches for their team.

Taji and Erika would have to prove that they belonged on the big stage.

* * *

D
arin listened intently
as Leah explained the situation to him.

“Well that's unfortunate,” he said. “But not unexpected. We can prepare for it, at the very least. Let's just hope we don't run into them before the final.”

“Wish there was something else we could do,” Leah said. “They have the advantage. They've probably started preparing for us. We don't have that luxury.”

Not with the tournament two days away. Their character builds and skill levels were already locked in. Right now the only thing left to do was to add on the seals, which were already accounted for in their character profiles. After that the only thing they could do was sit and wait for the competition to arrive.

“But it's only two members, right?” Taji asked. “That means there's two new ones.”

“That we know nothing about.”

“Doesn't the same thing go for them? They don't know anything about us, and we don't know anything about them.”

Erika looked up from reading something in her menu scroll. “Are they really that tough?”

“Yeah. They're good. Leo was our rogue, and Jon was an all-rounder with some tank tendencies. Both were really, really good. We wouldn't have been champions without them,” Darin said.

“Mmm. But doesn't that mean everyone's going to try to go after them as well? At least that splits up the attention,” she said optimistically.

Leah inhaled. “OK, we're thinking about this too much. We just had to fight the way we normally do and everything will be fine.”

“We'll pull through as a team,” Taji said.

If only she could have that kind of confidence at this point, but things had radically changed. Now they had an opponent that could clearly match them.

Confidence, though. Confidence and swagger. It didn't matter who they were facing. Raven's Call was strong enough to take on all comers and come out on top. Leah tried to keep that in mind, tried to push the doubt away. They'd win. They'd push through all obstacles, and they'd win.

They had thought about it more than enough. The time to act and execute was upon them.

D
arin stood in the tunnel
, hearing the sound of the crowd out in the main arena and the low buzz of conversation among all the other teams gathered here. Once the ceremonies began they would file out for the audience to see.

There was talk between the various teams, though they all seemed to keep their distance from Raven's Call. Maybe it was respect, maybe it was fear or maybe it was just plain disdain. After the punishment that had been inflicted upon them many teams considered the former Silver Star members to be tainted. After all, if the commission had doled out such a harsh sentence then it had to be deserved.

He tried to ignore it all, tried to focus on the task ahead of them. They had to get through the qualifiers and all the chaos and havoc that came with it. There were so many teams there, though, so many things that could go wrong. Most of them weren't very experienced, but that could also make them very dangerous. At the very least they were unpredictable, and that could be much harder to deal with than a team which was stronger but more set in their ways.

“This is pretty exciting,” Erika said, not quite able to hide the enthusiasm in her face. She stood out from the others, many of which looked like they wanted to hide or vomit.

Darin appreciated the enthusiasm. She needed to keep it controlled, but it was better than being frozen with nerves.

“This is your first tournament, isn't it,” Leah said.

“Yeah. Can't wait to see what it's like.”

“Don't go too overboard,” Taji cautioned. “It's fun at first, but then the magic fades away if you don't win. Or at least if you don't perform well.”

“You'll do fine,” Leah told him.

“Thanks. I hope I can do a lot better than the other times. The best I've finished isn't even in the top fifty.”

Darin glanced at him. “We'll do better than that. Focus on getting the top rank so we can have the nine seed. I know that doesn't mean anything for choosing stages, but it looks good.”

“Doesn't that mean that just getting eighth is fine?” Erika asked.

“Well yeah, but don't just focus on that. I want to make sure that we qualify. I don't want to just squeak by into the tournament, if we can help it.”

He had no more time to talk. The signal went up, and teams started to file out into the arena. Darin heard the roar go up from the crowd, though it was much quieter than usual. That was to be expected, though. D-rank didn't have nearly as much popularity as B- or A-rank. In fact, there probably wouldn't be a lot of people watching in the outside world through live streams. The players sitting in the stands might be it.

That was perfectly fine with him. The payouts for winning remained the same whether one or one million people watched the D-rank tournaments, and it meant less people seeing how Raven's Call was capable of performing. The more surprise they had as they rose up the ranks the better.

But the teams standing above them weren't the only threat. There were also the rivals that would come up beside them, and they might be the greater threat…

Darin looked around for any sight of Leo or Jon, but he couldn't see them amongst the huge throngs of players. That was to be expected. There were a thousand of them here, so the odds of ending up beside them were very low.

But that also mean they had to deal with their old partners inside the battle arena, and that was where things started to get dicey. Darin knew very well that both Jon and Leo were plenty capable, cagey and skilled. Even with their skill rank demotions they'd be hard to handle.

At least they'd have a few surprises to spring. Since both he and Leah had switched their magic classes they would be fighting in an entirely different fashion. The others were plenty capable of adjusting on the fly, of course, but during the initial confrontations they might have the element of surprise.

And that was what mattered right now. Rivalries and grudges had to take a back seat. The qualifying match was going to be chaos, and the only way to pull through to the tournament was to stay alert and be focused.

He felt someone nudge him.

“We're starting,” Leah said to him in a low voice. “You looked like you were zoning out.”

“Got it. Remember to find each other,” he said to the rest of his team.

The announcer's volume suddenly went up.

“Contestants, prepare to enter the battle stage. Fight hard, play fair and good luck!”

The virtual world around him suddenly disappeared into a black void. Darin took a breath and exhaled to steady his nerves. Their path back to the top started now.

* * *

S
now crunched
underneath his feet as he walked. Darin looked around the polar forest warily, wondering how close he had been dropped to the rest of his teammates.

There was one last element to the qualifiers, one quirk that changed it from an organized affair to a wild, chaotic brawl. Players were randomly dropped into the stage and separated from their teams. If they wanted to work together then they had to find their comrades and join up. That meant traversing dangerous terrain filled with hundreds of enemies, all of whom would gladly take the opportunity to swoop in for a kill.

Darin had plenty of confidence in his abilities, but he was no fool. Even if he had A-rank skills a swarm of D-rank players could overwhelm him, and right now his skills were capped. He couldn't afford to let them gang up on him.

It was all about finding the others. Darin opened up his menu scroll and looked at the map, then found where their markers were. He made a mental note and then opened up the telepathy link, keeping an eye on the tree line all the while.

“Everyone, see that rock formation a little toward the east end of the stage?”

“I see it on the map.”

“Me too.”

“Right next to it,” Taji said.

“OK. Let's try to meet up there. Taji, if you can, hold up there and keep the spot clear. Don't pick fights with overwhelming numbers, and run for it if you don't think you can hold off the enemy, but try to hold it.”

“Got it.”

“Everyone else, try to get there as fast as possible so we can provide support. Once the team's together go from-”

He didn't get a chance to complete his sentence. A blur charged out of the forest, heading straight for him. Under normal circumstances Darin might be at a disadvantage, but the snow slowed his foe's progress a little bit. He had another second to react, and that meant everything.

The enemy rogue swung at him with both daggers, but by then Darin was gone like as wisp on the wind. His enemy stopped and looked around in confusion. It was only for a split-second, but it was enough. Darin swung his halberd around and caught him square in the ribs with a strike, then whirled his weapon around and came down with an arcing blow, driving the spike right into his foe's neck. The rogue crumpled over and then disappeared in a cloud of multicolored dust.

First kill. Darin sprinted in the direction of the rendezvous point, feeling a bit of satisfaction. One kill wasn't going to win them the battle, but it was a start. Moreover, he was pleased with how the new build seemed to be working out. Flash Step had allowed him to catch another player off guard and then gave him the speed to launch the finishing blows.

He used the rest of the ability's time to make some distance, hoping that he could at least get out of the driving snow. The coating on the ground sucked at his boots, slowing him down just as it had done to the recently defeated enemy.

Darin thought about using Sky Walk to give him an unimpeded path, but that came with its own dangers. Every archer in the vicinity would see him and probably try to turn him into a pincushion. He could combine it with Flash Step once the ability recharged, but that meant using up two of his most powerful assets outside of combat.

A thicker part of the forest loomed ahead. Darin rushed through the last snowbank and sprinted into the stand of trees, feeling the ground beneath him become clearer. At least now he could run at full-

He heard a yell and saw the longsword come arcing at him. Darin jumped backward to avoid the blow, bringing his halberd up into guard position. His opponent lifted his weapon and came in for another swipe. Darin dodged again, feeling wood chips bounce off his armor and face as the sword smacked into a tree.

The swordsman kept coming, making cuts and chops at a blistering pace. On open ground they'd be deadly, but inside the forest they kept catching on trunks and branches. Apparently he only knew one way to fight with the weapon.

Darin knew more. As the swordsman came around for another strike he made a feint with his halberd, thrusting toward his enemy's foot with the spearpoint. He lifted his foot up to avoid the blow, but now he was on only one leg. Perfect.

Darin had his weapon in perfect position. He jerked the halberd upward, sending the spike arc into the meat of his opponent's upper leg. As the man stumbled from the blow he pulled back his weapon and made a thrust into his foe's neck with the spearpoint. Two kills.

“You're racking them up,” Leah commented over telepathy.

He kept running. “Just two. How are you coming?”

“Getting there, but I'm avoiding combat. Not really built for taking on people outside of a group.”

“Heh, no big deal. There's no reward for individual kills.”

Darin saw his team's total go up again, likely from Erika. Taji wasn't built to inflict kills, not without taking a lot of damage. They were holding steady too, currently at fifth place.

But their ranking suddenly dropped down to sixth, and Darin almost immediately found out why. The heat and sound of an explosion rippled through the forest around him, faint but evident. Someone had used Fire Blast, apparently on a fairly large group, and vaulted their team firmly into the rankings.

He couldn't think about it, nor allow himself to become distracted. Raven's Call needed to fight as a team, not go running around by themselves looking for kill. There was still plenty of time to catch up and get to the top. And right now they couldn't afford to be picked off one by one.

Taji's voice suddenly came over the telepathy link. “I'm under attack.”

“At the stones?”

“Yeah.” Taji went silent for a moment, probably too busy fighting to talk. “Looks like a single rogue, but she's fast. I'm going to need support.”

“Can she kill you?”

“Not unless she manages to chain several critical hits together, but I'm more worried about what might be coming with her.”

Darin took a chance and opened up his map scroll as he ran. “OK, I'm getting close. Hold out until we can join up.”

“Got it.”

The trees thinned and then parted up ahead, and Darin found himself facing a wide area full of deep snow. The rock formation lay ahead, probably about two hundred yards away or so. With decent whether it wouldn't be a problem, but the snow in front of him looked like it was waist deep. It would take a lot of time and effort to push his way through, and he'd be very vulnerable in the meantime.

That made the risk worth it. Darin activated Sky Walk and created a series of platforms leading up to the formation. It ended short of his destination, but it would get him most of the way there.

Flash Step wasn't ready yet, but he didn't have time to waste. The platforms were clearly visible, and anyone with half a brain would know what they were there for. He had to get across before every archer lined him up and shot him.

Darin leaped onto the first platform, feeling the wind buffeting him. He jumped to one, then another, then another. The stage's conditions certainly weren't helping his cause, but he could at least take a little comfort that everyone else was going through similar struggles.

“Taji, how are you holding up?” Darin asked as he made another leap.

“Uh, not good.”

“Not good?”

“I'm starting to get swarmed here,” he said. “There's-”

Taji's voice disappeared for a moment, but Darin didn't need to hear any more to know that he was in trouble. He could see it very well himself. Black dots on the snow were surging up the rock outcropping, attacking a single man in heavy armor with a shield and sword.

Apparently several of the other teams had decided that Raven's Call needed to be destroyed as quickly as possible, and they were ganging up on them to do it.

“Leah, Erika, get here quick. We're getting singled out.”

“Got it.”

“Almost there.”

So was he. Darin was in the process of leaping onto one of the last platforms when he saw the timer for Flash Step disappear. He made a quick calculation inside his head and then activated the ability.

The extra burst of speed propelled him forward as he made his final leap. Darin fell headlong toward his target, a snowbank just on the outside of the rock outcropping, and made a clean landing. As soon as his feet touched solid ground he pushed off again, using Flash Step to increase his forward momentum.

The first player in front of him met an unfortunate end on his weapon's spearhead. As his foe fell Darin continued to charge, whirling his weapon around in a wild arc. There was a time to be cautious and defensive, and a time to go for broke. Right now, faced with so many enemies, the later was necessary.