The Dragon's Wrath: Shadows in the Flame (23 page)

Twenty plus players remaining, I signaled to my units as I began to cast the next spell. Watching out of the corner of my eye as the shadows of my troops disappeared from my peripheral vision, the twenty or so players were within ten yards now as their voices could be heard. Static having been built around me as I kneeled down on the ground, the first five men to reach me raised their swords and spears and lunged at me without hesitation.

Believing in their speed as I remained motionless and defenseless on the ground, the first man to reach me saw at the last second the burst of electricity that surged outwards as I released a [Discharge]. Bodies collided with the wall of energy and were repelled back as they flew through the air and fell into their friends and guild mates directly behind.

Drawing my two-handed bearded axe as the wave of players crashed into me, the first victim was a female rogue that believed her reaction time was faster than mine. With my axe kept back and high while waiting for this exact moment, she lunged and attempted a side stab as I dropped the axe and sheared her shoulder clean off.

Grunting with the swing as I let out a sharp exhale, my eyes began to glow red as I entered the [Enraged State] and activated [Frenzy]. Anger and rage overflowing as my senses were sharpened and dulled at the same time, I honed in on the armless rogue before me and lopped her other arm off as she fell back in an attempt to flee.

A quick sword thrust entered my side as the man had snuck around me but in a flash four lightning bolts surged past, with one clipping the man and knocking him back. Stunned in place as a wave of arrows whizzed by and into the man and those behind him, he collapsed to the ground a pincushion filled with nearly a dozen arrows as his chest caught fire.

With covering fire now being provided, I rushed into the thick of the fight as the players swarmed around me and focused only on me. The mass of players too many to count, I cut through the first shield-bearer with ease as he raised his shield only to have it shattered as I broke through and cleaved his face. Kicking the axe free as rogues surrounded me and began to slice and stab, I repositioned with a quick [Flash Step] as I exited the circle and reappeared on the outside.

A second wave of [Chain Lightning] followed as all of the players turned and followed the trail of lightning that had been left behind by me. Distracted by the sudden disappearance of their target for a split-second, the players were hit from the side completely unaware.

As I watched the vast destruction of the four bolts of chain lightning bounce around and arc from player to player, three more bodies collapsed to the floor without a sound. Immediately in reaction, five pairs of glowing white hands appeared from the back of the pack as I realized what was happening. Raising my axe and charging back into the thick of the fight as more arrows flew across my visual screen, I brutally hacked into an unsuspecting healer as he fell to the floor separated at the waist.

Spears were shoved in my direction as retaliation as one pierced my side and another my leg but a [Holy Light] from one of my casters soon reached me and with the warm golden light engulfing me, my wounds rapidly healed. Relaxing my shoulders as the men stared at me with spears still embedded, I whipped my axe around and took a head with it. Grabbing the shaft of the second spear, I pulled on it and yanked the man forward as he slipped in the snow and fell on his face. Turning his spear around with a quick twirl, I stabbed him in the back with his own weapon and then turned to the remaining players.

Then shouts filled the air.

“IGNORE HIM, KILL THE NPCS!”

In less than five seconds the remaining mob of players dashed towards the tree line as one swordsman stayed behind to duel me. He was the same two-handed swordsman that dueled me in Dragon’s Breach… a familiar foe.

Turning my head quickly to the side, I could see that my units had already retreated and easily maintained a fifty yard separation. In my moment of distraction the man in front of me leaped forward and delivered a [Heavy Blow] that was barely countered as my axe was knocked backwards and my knees buckled.

Struggling to maintain my stance in the slippery snow, the swordsman pressed the attack as he dropped another swing from the right, arcing down towards my shoulder as I was forced to hit the dirt. Kicking up dirt and snow as I slid and rolled on the ground, the fresh powder stuck to my face and clouded my vision as the blur of a sword descended on my position.

Raising my axe to meet the blow, it shattered the shaft and landed cleanly, passing through my right collarbone and down through my chest and into the dirt below.

Instantly coughing up blood as my right lung had been wounded, the man struggled to pull out his sword as his eyes shined in the moonlight. A grin was on his face as he stared at me, lying in a pool of my own blood.

“You’ll die today asshole,” he said calmly.

“Maybe, but you’ll go first,” I replied with a grin of my own.

Shooting out a quick [Lightning Bolt] while on my back, it caught him off-guard as he seized up from the paralyzing effects. Kicking at his shins, he lost his balance and fell to the ground as I stumbled backwards and performed a quick heal. Regaining a large portion of my health and closing the gaping wound in one swift movement, the man got back to his feet with confusion clearly strewn across his face.

I wanted to use [Arc Lightning] to finish him where he stood but I needed the mana, the only problem was that my opportunity to use that mana was quickly disappearing as I looked out and saw the mass of enemy players nearing the forest’s edge. They were less than a minute away from the forest line.

“I don’t have time for you right now, so you’ll have to die,” I stated wryly as his smile had turned into a grimace, anger clearly visible on his face.

Pulling a knife out of one of my sheaths, he watched as he gripped his claymore and began to laugh. The scene in front of him must have struck him as a comedy.

“A knife? You’ll kill me with a-” he mocked but was unable to finish as I used a [Flash Step] to appear in front of him and slit his throat with the momentum carrying me past him. All of it performed in one smooth motion, his body collapsed to the floor as I continued to run. Running in the direction of the enemy players that were giving chase to my NPCs, they had nearly a thirty second head start but my in-game legs were more developed than theirs.

Gaining on them from behind as they were forty seconds away from the forest’s edge, I continued to increase my pace as I finally entered within thirty yards of them and had less than ten seconds before they would disappear into the forest. Stopping immediately, I drew my hands together and then raised them to the sky as electricity arced between my fingertips. Starting my chant, I began to mutter the verses as the spell started to develop.

“Through power, darkness turns to light, render all to ash,” I said quietly as I focused at a point on the ground slightly ahead of the players. Five seconds to go before they would reach the edge, my location was solidified at the very entrance of the forest as the spell materialized in the sky above.

Electricity dissipating from my fingertips as a dark cloud appeared above the location that had been targeted, the two-second cast time plus three seconds for the chanted verses had been finished as I waited for the five-second delay. The dark cloud above their heads had begun to spark as lightning could be seen rolling in and out along the edges but to the unsuspecting players below, the thought to look up never occurred to them.

With two seconds to go, the cloud began to turn white as lightning filled its entirety and then after the last second passed, lightning appeared. Real lightning as a bolt from the sky surged downwards and hit the ground with a thunderous roar that split my ears and a flash that truly blinded me.

Covering my face with my hands as I stared on with blurry eyes, the scene before me was of utter havoc. Bodies of the players that had been tightly packed together in their formation now littered the floor as burnt corpses with fresh smoke rising slightly off the ground. Snow had melted from the heat as the pure energy discharged through the bodies of the players and into the ground, leaving nothing but puddles and scorched earth.

Walking up to the remains of the players, a few were still alive as a handful were slightly behind and out of the lethal range. A few had made it into the forest but by their screams in the dark, it was apparent that my troops had taken care of them.

Standing at the edge of the destruction, the remaining players struggled to their feet as I stood behind them. Turning to face me, they hesitated as my eyes continued to burn a dull red in the distance. Then the turned to the forest and found my NPCs staring back.

They were trapped and severely outnumbered.

This wasn’t the entire guild… they were missing a lot of players.

Dropping their weapons on the ground, the twelve remaining players surrendered as I looked on with head tilted to the side. Compassion pleading with me on one side to let them go as anger and rage told me to kill them all. Taking a deep breath as I tried to regain my senses, I let the [Enraged State] pass as my eyes returned to their normal color.

No longer glowing in the darkness of the night, the soft light from the moon served to barely illuminate the field as the remaining white snow barely glistened. Completely surrounded, the players turned to me as they sat down and waited for my decision. Some were more eager than the others… one in particular, was scared beyond belief.

Examining the kid that was practically crying with snot pouring down his face, he had stumbled backwards from his knees and onto his ass as he tried to distance himself from me. He hardly looked twelve… there was an age limit of eighteen for the game but one could bypass it if the proper consent was given… yet clearly, he was too young.

These kids couldn’t enter brothels and the game was slightly censored but still… he was far too young to be playing in this game. I would have slit his throat or beheaded him in actual combat, regardless of his perceived age. Of course this did assume his appearance was similar to his real one but judging from his current state, it seemed likely.

“I-I-I’m sor-r-ry,” he stuttered as he covered his face in fear.

“Are you hurt child?” I asked while kneeling down with knife tucked safely away.

“N-no,” he whimpered as he peaked through his fingers.

“Son, how old are you?” I questioned calmly.

“El-l-leven,” he replied as he began to cry.

“Go on and log out son, you don’t want to be on for this,” I said with some remorse and sadness in my voice.

Watching him do as I asked, he ran off into the distance and exited the combat area then logged out. As his body disappeared from sight, I turned to look at the rest of the supposed adults remaining nearby.

I was angry now, more so than before that they involved a child in their affairs and let him run amuck. They brought a child into this war and now I had likely traumatized him. He ran forth in excitement thinking he was one of the big boys, then found himself on the receiving end of arrows, spells, and other such sights as people died all around him.

“Who’s the kid?” I asked angrily at the remaining survivors as they all kept silent. “Alright, don’t want to talk? You get to die then.”

Extending my hand and shooting out an [Arc Lightning], the electric tether quickly drained the closest man of his remaining life as he struggled and squirmed in place before falling onto his back, now a fresh corpse.

“Who’s the kid!?” I asked again with an even angrier voice, practically shouting.

Silence filled the air for another moment as my face began to twitch and I raised my hand, intending to cast another [Lightning Strike] down on them. Realizing that my mana was too low, I lowered my hands as one person spoke up, afraid of what would come next.

“He’s… the son of a guild member,” mumbled a person in the back.

“And you let him come out here, to fight?” I said with disgust as I spat on the ground.

“You attacked us,” shot out another guild member. “You’ve been terrorizing us for weeks now, you’re the monster don’t try to put the blame on us!”

“I attacked you?” I repeated as I held my ground and let my rage flow through me. Eyes turning to a bright flashing red as my body began to shake, I wanted to rip them into pieces with my bare hands. “I ATTACKED YOU!?”

“I-I think he uh, meant… that you attacked this time,” one man clarified as I tried to regain my composure. “We aren’t uh… saying, you like started this… we’re guilty too.”

Calming down as he was technically correct, my eyes returned to a dull red as I began to pace back and forth. I was tired of this war and wanted to wash my hands of it. This would be the last discussion… I would end it here with these people as witness.

“You started this war and I intend to finish it,” I said loudly for all of them to hear. “Look at your village now, as you abandoned it in order to meet me on the field of battle.”

Pointing towards the village behind us, my second longship was visible in the distance as the entire player village had been engulfed in flame. A giant ball of fire in the distance, filling the night sky with smoke that obscured the stars.

“I had ZERO interest in your affairs until you launched your surprise attack on my village,” I said through clenched teeth.