Authors: Mitchell T. Jacobs
Avalon Rebirth (19 page)
He whipped his head around, following the damager's line of sight to the upper part of the ravine. There. He spotted the archer, partially concealed behind a rock.
Darin couldn't afford to wait around. He activated Sky Walk and charged up the created pathway. The archer was out of range of challenge call, so all spells would do full damage. Another hit and they might have four kills…
He didn't mind that, but the points total was a different story. It would put Golden Ram firmly in the lead, and the only way to take them down was to completely eliminate their team and cut their points total in half. That meant racing against the clock, and Darin didn't want to take that chance.
He only hoped that his enemy didn't score a lucky shot…
An arrow whizzed past him, deflecting off his armor and nicking off a bit of health. Darin jumped to the next platform, weapon at the ready. His quick reaction might have caught the enemy off-guard, but it didn't mean he was safe. If the archer created a Crush arrow and held off until he was at point-blank range…
He was on the second to last platform when the timer for Wraith disappeared. Darin made a split-second decision and activated the ability, hoping it would provide him with a little bit of protection.
The archer drew back his bow again and fired, another spell swirling around the tip of the arrow. Darin launched himself off the final platform, hoping he wasn't the target. If the archer didn't sense he had moved to the right side of the wraith formation…
The arrow zipped through the centermost figure, crushing it into oblivion. As the archer realized his mistake he tried to retreat, but at this point it was far too late. Darin made an angled slash, catching his target square across the chest with a powerful leaping blow. He followed up with a backhanded sweep and cut the archer down.
Darin took a glance at the points totals. Raven's Call was ahead by several kills. His delaying tactics seemed to be paying off.
“Leah, you there?” he asked over the telepathy link.
“I'm here.”
“How are you doing?”
“Well, we just took care of Crimson Flame's rogue. The three of us managed to gang up on Leo and killed him. I see you got a kill too.”
“Yeah. Golden Ram's archer.”
“We still can't find their rogue, but we're headed toward you.”
“We're getting close,” Taji added.
Darin glanced down at the scene below. The truce between the teams had broken down, and all three were in the midst of combat. He still had to account for the last member of Golden Ram, but-
The rogue materialized out of nowhere, charging straight for him. Darin saw the blur, but he didn't have time to react. All his abilities were spent. He had fought a long, grueling battle and given his team the edge, but this was the end of the line for him.
Still, he tried to fight back, sweeping his halberd around in a horizontal arc. It probably wouldn't do anything, but at least he'd go down fighting.
He braced himself for the inevitable stab, but it never came. Another blur charged across his line of sight and forced the other to deviate from its path. Darin saw the attacking rogue stumble with a wound and struck out. He caught his assailant in the ribs with a stab, and a moment later a rapier thrust finished him off for good.
“You OK?” Erika asked.
“Could use some healing, but yeah, I'm fine.”
Leah's voice came over the telepathy link. “I'm coming up to meet you.”
A moment later she jumped up from Erika's platforms with Taji close behind.
“Wow, you look like you're a mess,” she said, nonchalantly casting heal on him. “So that's it?”
Darin looked back down at the chaotic fight happening below. “Yeah, that's it.”
“Well, we killed the other three rogues. The archers too, so that means we could just hide up here until the timer expires.”
“If Crimson Flame manages to kill all four of them down there...” Taji said.
“No need to just stall,” Darin said. “I've done plenty of that already. We have all four of us to their two. Let's finish them off and win this.”
He leaped back down the Sky Walk platforms, the rest of the team following behind.
* * *
D
arin could remember
few victories that had come with this amount of satisfaction. There were plenty of others where his team had fought through much tougher challenges. And there were many more where the rewards at the end far exceeded what they earned from the D rank tournament.
But this was a triumph that he could treasure. Even if fortune had favored them, even if their dominance was due to the other teams making mistakes, it felt like validation. Not only had Raven's Call staked their claim as a serious contender, but Darin's faith in his team had been rewarded.
He looked back down the podium at the other teams, paying special attention to Iron Titan. Even after losing two of their members they had fought on, scoring enough kills to put them in third place. They had barely edged out Crimson Flame, and Golden Ram continued to fight until the end as well. Darin was fairly certain they hadn't seen the last of them, and they'd learn from their mistakes in this match.
But for now he'd savor the moment, soak in the cheers of the crowd and the elation of victory. The looks on his teammates faces were prizes enough.
“Good work everyone,” Leah said. “This is what it feels like to be a champion.”
“I think I like it,” Taji grinned.
Erika nodded. “I'll second that.”
Darin looked at both of them. “Good. There's not many times you'll get this feeling inside this world.”
“Now we just have to maintain it all,” Leah said. “Challenging up to the C-rank...”
“Weren't you the one that wanted to take it slow?” he asked.
She laughed. “I was. I still do, sort of. But we have the opportunity in front of us, so we might as well take it.”
Darin nodded. They may have won their first tournament, but this wasn't the end for Raven's Call, just one step on the journey up to the top. He looked at the rest of his team.
“Enjoy this, because we're going to be feeling this a lot more. This is just the beginning.”
