Ultimatum: The Proving Grounds (23 page)

Bulorn nodded a few times as he pulled the axe out of the dirt. “You can hit, and you can take a hit. Ironblood suits you. Unfortunately, it won’t last-” His voice cut off as Soulbreaker struck him again. The sword’s hilt stood out of his back, the blade standing out from under his chin.

The large man turned with a roar and swung with all his might. The attack was far slower than the last two. Toby managed to duck low and avoid the first and sidestep to avoid the second.

Soulbreaker reappeared in his hand as he moved.

Speed was not the large man’s strong suit, then. Either he or the axe had some ability that made the blows
seem
faster, but it wasn’t a constant thing. He had deliberately paced those attacks to fool and confuse Toby.

If Toby could keep him on the defensive, or keep him mad enough to not bother trying to be creative, he might have a chance. His hit points were not full anymore, but he had to have more than Bulorn.

Well, hopefully.

Toby waited for the next slow swing, but instead of moving out of the way he ran headlong in and battered the axe aside. He swung twice as quickly as he could, getting the duo and trio effects in the process before he backed away again.

The axe bit into the dirt where he had been standing.

He was fortunate that striking Bulorn’s axe counted as a hit as far as the combo system was concerned. He hadn’t dared to count on the effect.

Bulorn narrowed his eyes at Toby. “Yes. Very quick bunny. You know, you really might have a chance here.”

Toby leveled his sword, not willing to drop his guard for a moment. “Thanks. That’s a spiffy axe.”

“You like it? Not something you’re likely to come across, it only applies to PVP fights, really. Here, let me show you.”

He stood still a moment before the axe head appeared right next to Toby.

There was no time to move. No time to react. The axe bit into his left arm and red tinted the edges of his vision. His hit points were below half.

But he got it now. He understood.

He backed up a step and chuckled.

Bulorn raise his chin, seemingly unsure what to make of the gesture.

“It’s faking your movements. It has some cool down, but when the effect is available and you swing it doesn’t start the attack animation until it’s nearly hit. You seem fast with a slow weapon, but it’s all smoke and mirrors.”

Bulorn blinked a few times before barking out a laugh. “You think so? Even if that’s true, knowing that doesn’t really help you, now does it?”

Toby shrugged. “I don’t actually know much about this game. I learn from what I see. Now I learned about you.”

Bulorn smiled. “Oh?” He raised his axe but stayed where he stood, well out of range. He swung the axe down hard, burying the axehead in the dirt.

The ground shook as rocks burst from the earth making a beeline for Toby. He held up his sword to block, but he was still knocked backwards.

His health had taken another hit.

Bulorn stood with his axe on his shoulder. “You only know what you’ve seen? Then you know nothing at all. I could have a hundred abilities. More. Every last one a surprise to a fucking noob like you.”

Toby rubbed at his chin. “And here I thought we were becoming friends.”

“Hardly. I almost had respect for a fellow warrior, but I can’t have any for someone so weak.” He shook his head. “You’ve already shown me all of your cards. Combo strikes, shock wave, and a unique skill on the sword. Not so different from my axe, except that it’s less useful. The throw doesn’t even hit as hard as a normal swing.”

Well, that was news. He hadn’t ever exactly gauged the skills. It always
looked
more impressive… but it wasn’t an ability anyway. If most people threw their weapons they didn’t get them back.

Bulorn shook his head. “And you’re the big bad of this event. Fucking hell. God damned pathetic. I’m not even sure I want to kill you. I don’t want to be associated with this shit.”

Toby hefted his sword. He had a few tricks left…

“Well that’s not very nice.”

He swung horizontally, well outside his melee range. A shock wave appeared and pelted Bulorn as he stood.

Toby didn’t wait to see his response. He swung the sword back the way it had come, sending out a second. He’d never tested the idea but…

The second shock wave was bigger.

Bulorn raised his axe to defend himself, but only just as the second landed. He still took a hit from it, though the damage was reduced.

Toby didn’t care. He swung again. The third attack in the combo, the shock wave that flew out was wider and the leading edge was bright white with the energy trail fading to red at the back.

It knocked Bulorn hard enough for his guard to break, his axe falling to the side as the wave overtook him.

Toby swung again and again. He sent another set of three at the man as he reeled. All three landed and Bulorn lost his feet.

The axe was strong, and it had a unique effect. But it was still slow. The sword had no such disadvantage in speed and the skills he had chosen paired well.

He hadn’t been entirely sure they would… but he seemed to recall the shock wave counting as the first hit in the chain before. It triggering all three was a guess… but Bulorn was right, he didn’t have much else to fall back on.

Bulorn lay still.

19

Toby kept his sword high as he approached. The man wasn’t dead yet. His people certainly would have acted if that was the case. Was he giving them orders? He might be using the time for that. Trying to distract his opponent.

Or just lying there chugging a gallon of health potions and eating ten whole cheese wheels.

Or maybe just playing opossum. He wasn’t moving, so that one seemed more likely.

Once again his inexperience with the game was proving detrimental. Miller had chosen his champion for this cause poorly… or well, if he had intended for them to fail from the start.

Toby closed to a few feet away. Just outside of melee range.

Bulorn remained motionless.

He was planning something… hell with it. Toby raised his sword high and swung straight down. He didn’t intend to play along.

Bulorn disappeared.

Toby nearly fell backward when the large man reappeared with his axe high overhead and already descending.

He hadn’t teleported. He’d waited. Waited for the axe’s effect to be ready and for Toby to be close enough for him to make use of it.

And he’d fell for it.

Like a damned noob.

Bulorn laughed as the axe blade careened downward and struck deep into the dirt behind where Toby stood.

His laughter stopped as Toby remained upright. He glanced up. “Wait… what?”

An icon blinked off to Toby’s left, beside his hit point bar.

Uncanny Dodge had just gone off. The minute long countdown for it to function again was ticking and the stack was reset back down to five percent.

Bulorn didn’t known everything after all.

The axehead was buried in the ground beneath Toby, the haft between his feet.

Toby swung hard at Bulorn. He pelted him again and again with sword blows. The final trio attack hit him twice. In his haste to get away he left his axe where it was trapped. Another gamble… but it had always taken him a moment to free it from the dirt when it stuck there. Toby wasn’t about to give him that time.

The larger man pulled a dagger and slashed, catching Toby on the leg.

He didn’t care. He swung the heavy two handed sword again and again.

Bulorn cried out and tried to climb to his feet but Toby would always strike him to the dirt again.

His hit points couldn’t hold out forever.

By the end he was practically crawling in the dirt, his heavy breaths easy to hear.

Toby held the sword high. “I don’t suppose there are any women who will lament your death?”

Bulorn’s eyes shifted around. “What?”

“Damn.” Toby drove the sword home, burying the black metal blade into Bulorn’s chest.

He stopped moving.

And his name plate vanished.

Bulorn the great and mighty was dead.

And Tobin Ironblood had killed him.

Toby wasn’t entirely sure how he felt about that… but he didn’t have time to ponder it. He wrenched his sword free of the corpse and turned to the line of Bulorn’s people still waiting.

He raised his chin. “Your leader is dead.” He hooked his left thumb over his shoulder. “My people have had time to heal and prepare.” He held up Soulbreaker, still red with the digital blood of their friend. “I don’t see any benefit to this fighting. So what happens next is up to you. Will you join him in the dirt?”

White light played over him, followed by green. He didn’t need to look back to understand what was happening. Claire and Jesse were patching him up. Good thing, too. He was pretty low for a bit there. If Uncanny Dodge hadn’t gone off…

A burst of black smoke appeared beside him.

Eh? What did Tim want. Coming out here was dangerous and-

He barely moved his head in time. The wicked curved dagger had jabbed straight for his face.

Another burst of black smoke revealed a second attacker. They swung a mace low.

Toby backed up a few steps.

There were more attackers than they had seen… and those they could see were purposefully misleading them.

Damn it.

Those in plain sight were moving now, already firing up at the wall and throwing spells as they ran.

He was out front, alone… and the mob was pressing in.

Toby dodged another swing from each of the rogues, but an arrow from a third caught him in the shoulder.

Damn it all.

He was going to lose. Everything was going to be lost. They didn’t care about Bulorn. He had just played his part to get everyone they couldn’t seen in close.

Fuck.

Toby gritted his teeth. He swung to get the rogues to step back. He raised his voice as high as he could. “Everyone stay on the other side of that damned wall!”

He swept his hand at the button off to his left.

The world became awash of red before fading to black. Sound departed, leaving him in silence. Countless bright red and white swirling shapes barely discernible as people filled out the world ahead.

His character’s voice erupted into a wordless cry he didn’t give as he charged forward, already swinging.

Their swirling ghostly appendages tried to hit him, but their attacks meant nothing. He didn’t notice them do any harm. Wet noodles thrown at a wall.

That wasn’t to say they weren’t hurting him, but his hit point bar was missing in action at the moment. For all he knew he could be perfectly healthy. Rage was supposed to reduce incoming damage as it buffed the damage done. With any luck, they had sent Bulorn out to fight because of how long it would take him to die. And if that was the case, it meant the rest were all weaker.

Red and white shapes faded away as he barreled forward. He slashed and chopped. His could sort of see the Duo and Trio effects, as well as shock waves, but they were all muted and quickly faded into the darkness around him.

All he knew was black and redish white.

And redish white was bad.

Ironic, since they were the color of his own attacks. There might be some self loathing worked into the rage ability. Or it was just a class color thing, regardless of the ability used.

There were a lot more red and white shapes about than he would have thought. Clearly there were more sneaky types trying to stay out of sight than he had thought. But he could see them now… now that he had no way or actually
telling
anyone on his side where they were.

Unfortunate.

That wouldn’t stop him from going to town on them.

Which he did.

Part of his mind was trying to remind him that this effect was not going to last forever. He was getting further and further afield, deeper into enemy territory. He might have already left the range of Paul’s Guard effect and the reach of the healers.

On the other hand, just because he could see someone now didn’t mean he would see them after the effect ended. Since they were actively trying to hide that was unlikely. Better to be rid of them now.

He cast Soulbreaker into a tightly knit group. Most of the shapes scattered away, though one fell to the ground and vanished as the sword reappeared in his hand.

Definetly weaker than Bulorn.

The red and white shapes were thinning out. Some simply ran, and their ghostly shapes faded as they ran from him, but many had fallen. Not all of it was his doing, many of them fell without him ever getting close. Those on the wall were fighting as well, they were just being more sensible about it and fighting from range.

A bright spot played across his darkened vision. Red and white shapes flew away from it. Jesse’s lighting, no doubt.

Bits of sound from the world around him began to reappear. The darkness shifted before his eyes. Seemed like the effect would end soon. It hadn’t cost him his life, so there was that at least.

He turned, looking for the wall. There were swirling red and white shapes up high… maybe the way to run… two shifting shapes were just behind him, already swinging.

Toby swung without wasting time to consider. His health could be low. He wasn’t about to risk death needlessly… more than he already had, anyway. The rage was ending, he would be more vulnerable.

He managed to strike both of the shapes with one swing, and followed it up with a second.

Teach them to try and sneak up on him. It had been a stroke of luck that he had turned in time.

He turned back to see far more shapes crowding in. Where had they come from?

His hopes faded as he watched… until the two lines met.

The newcomers stopped when they met up with the old red and white shapes. Some vanished. One here, another there…

The blackened effect washed away, returning the world to full color and sound. It hurt his eyes and ears for a few moments.

The fight he had feared… was not the fight he saw.

Those that had just arrived were not decked in dark armor, and they didn’t bear red names. Theirs were blue… and they had flanked the attackers.