The Dragon's Wrath: Shadows in the Flame (37 page)

“Well hear me out,” I said, wanting to explain my case as the realization set in. “We’re fighting on the losing side at the moment… we’re losers before we’ve even begun, it’s in the air, it’s what everyone here believes. They’ve already let that doubt cloud their mind so I’m not sure we can count on the players making a huge comeback. My bet is they turn and run at the first sign of trouble, honestly.

“So my idea is this, we start at the edge of the field and hunt down stragglers in the forest, amass a kill total and thin down their numbers as best as we can. We keep this up for a few battles until the player numbers have been reduced and then we make bigger moves, if the war hasn’t already been lost.”

Emily kept walking as she thought of her reply since time was of the essence. The designated battlefield was at the halfway point between the two castle-towns and occupied a rough five-mile radius. With a camp set up on either side, the organized battle would take place two hours and twenty-three minutes from now and that meant we would have to keep moving.

We had about seventeen miles to cover in that time.

Barik and Ethan had already signed the contract in the early hours of the morning and logged out onsite. Once it hit midnight local time, they would log on to join us. Curiously Alan hadn’t been seen since the previous month but I forgot to ask about his whereabouts.

“I don’t mind your strategy,” replied Emily after some time had passed. “The only issue I have is that we’ll hardly make an impact on the edges. There’ll be thousands of players fighting… how can we kill enough stragglers to sway the tides?”

Letting her statement sink in, thousands of players fighting on one field sounded insane as there would definitely be a mass exodus of player souls at the start. If I used lightning magic, I could probably kill ten or twenty clustered players with a single [Lightning Strike] and then retreat into the crowds, only to repeat that same tactic every time my mana allowed. That would be a single gold coin in one spell.

“Okay you win,” I said as I tossed my hands up.

“Huh, just like that?” she said quizzically as she stared me down.

“Yup, your idea is better,” I replied with a smile.

“I don’t believe you….”

Stopping at the inn where we had been staying, I turned quickly through the door and went up the stairs without bothering to reply to Emily any further. The rooms here were expensive at fifty copper a night. By comparison the dungeon town only cost ten coppers a night and provided a meal. There was no meal service here.

This was a clean inn though, in a dirty, expensive town.

Returning to the counter with all of my belongings, I checked out of the inn as I decided to keep my coin purse with me. If left my money at the inn, the potential for it to be stolen while I was gone was high. And since there was no banking system available in these parts, it was better to risk losing five-percent to strangers in battle than to lose it all.

Supposedly the largest of cities had banks but I had yet to personally see one. There were also rumors floating about that a quartermaster at the staging camp could and would hold your belongings during the fight. It seemed risky leaving valuables behind but the game had been setup that way.

It was probably the safest route for now.

“Are we ready?” I asked as the girls finished checking out.

“Ready!” exclaimed an enthusiastic Emily.

“Mm.” sounded out Valerie as she nodded.

Throwing my bag over my shoulder, the seventeen mile trip had now begun. Thankfully both girls were avid runners, though that threw me off at first as I had a hard time picturing Valerie as a runner. Well, I had lived in the same apartment complex as a blind girl in the past and she always used the treadmill, so it wasn’t all that strange to me.

It was just another preconceived notion that was hard to shake.

“Right, let’s go then yeah?” I shouted as we hit the outskirts of the town and I began to jog. Increasing my speed as the girls kept up, I continued to push the pace until they started to lag behind. Adjusting appropriately to match their preferred pace, it appeared that the trip would take less than an hour and a half. Not terrible, for in-game super humans.

Chapter 112: The First Battleground

(Wednesday, February 23rd Game Day / Saturday, May 22nd Real Day)

12:01 AM.

The battle had begun… except, it hadn’t.

Thousands of humanoids filled the field as hundreds stood on the frontlines, ready and waiting with weapons drawn as both sides decided to let the other make the first move. Crawling out of the gate and barely moving a muscle, the hordes of adventurers and innocuous inhabitants stood and watched as nothing happened.

Staring across the white and brown field filled with melting snow and mud that was hundreds of yards wide and easily twice as long as white forests flanked either side, I continued to survey the scene. The northern and southern forests were deep and went on as far as the eye could see but it was known to us that a large river ran throughout each, effectively containing us here within this prearranged field of battle.

The only true path of escape was directly behind.

Barely over a hundred yards away were the two powers of Cleftside, easily identifiable by their yellow or purple armbands that designated their allegiance. With their force on the eastern side of the field and with their backs facing the rising sun, our forces were at a distinct disadvantage as the intense light forced us all to squint. The glare off the melting snow proved nearly blinding as well as the majority of the players shielded their eyes.

Turning back to look at the men and women of varying races that surrounded me, elves of all shades, dwarves of random heights, animal-types with curious tails and ears, and even orcs of large and medium statures had filled my view. The mixture of the races was one I had yet to see in-game as the melting pot of the middle kingdoms continued to successfully bring everyone together, completely unlike the North.

Motivated by coin, quest, action, or fame everyone sought a life of adventure here in these parts. Overcrowded and filled with immense competition, most found little success but for those that did, life was good. That drive and desire to make it rich in any of the aforementioned aspects was what led to such numbers.

Four-thousand, five-hundred and thirty-seven players numbered on our side as they all fell into place, roughly twice as long on the front as we were deep with everyone wanting a first row seat for the start. A quick check of the Leaderboards told me our numbers but as for the other side, the number was capped at one-thousand and was entirely misleading.

The reality was that the other side doubled ours. Slightly wider and over twice as deep their numbers could have easily been in the five digits. Even if my perception had been warped by the sheer numbers and my mind was simply imagining the differences, the enemy looked to have considerably more. That was impossible to deny.

Staring at the rest of the men and women that made up the force, fear had invaded every single one of their minds. All except for Valerie, who strangely seemed immune to fear… she stood there and stared at the rest of them, the same way I did. No one in this game had ever witnessed a sight so intimidating, not in a game setting, not in real life.

Thousands of bodies standing shoulder to shoulder, armored and armed with weapons drawn and at the ready. The field between us was large but impossibly small with so many people amassed in front of us. The thought of running to our deaths was there as the first to reach the enemy would surely die. The first waves usually were the ones that did.

Yet we weren’t alone as players.

My original observation of the harmless NPCs in view turned out to be incorrect as weapons were spotted, reflecting in the distance and giving them away. The inhabitants wore colors on their arms as well and were hard to spot but they were there. They were different in their own way.

A small laugh escaped me as I stood at the front of the line and did my best to examine the NPCs a hundred yards out. Inhabitants weren’t supposed to be involved in the first wave, as they would only join when the battle had either been won or lost. A strange condition but one that left us adventurers in charge of their fate. This was a player war through and through.

We were only supported by the NPCs.

Though the answer to their involvement didn’t take long to figure out, as all one had to do was examine the NPCs within the ranks a few feet away. These inhabitants were either criminals or ones that were seeking a form of redemption or promotion through the ranks for some reason or another. Their lives hung in the balance as they manned the frontlines, requiring a victory and success while attempting to survive till the end.

I pitied them and their chances of survival.

They were well aware as well as they stood equally afraid with the realization that if they killed the first man or woman in front of them, they would have to then fend off the next on the left and right until the replacement filled the front again. Repeating on and on until hundreds or thousands were killed.

Survival wasn’t only about killing the one in front of you but keeping those around you alive. The more allies that surrounded you, the less likely you would die. The odds of being singled out and killed were smaller when you were surrounded by other targets.

As long as it wasn’t me,
that’s what they all thought, that’s how they all coped. It was what you had to do in a situation like this. There wasn’t much else to think otherwise, except that you would surely die.

After thirty minutes of the current stalemate had passed us by with no one willing to make the first move, my patience had started to run thin. As the sun had finally moved across the plane where it was no longer directly in my eyes, my mind turned to one of action as one disadvantage had come and passed without consequence. Someone needed to take the first step forward, yet even then it was no guarantee that others would follow.

“I’m not going to live forever!” I shouted so others could hear me.

Taking the first step towards the thousands of enemies in front of me, I increased my walking pace as I left everyone else behind. By the sound of her footsteps, Valerie followed closely behind. After that, I didn’t know if one or ten or a hundred followed. I wouldn’t turn back, I wouldn’t show my back to the enemy now. I looked straight ahead and continued to stare into the horde as the sounds of footsteps filled my ears.

More had joined, how many didn’t matter.

“How should we start it?” said Ethan as he caught up and walked to my right with a bit of a skip as he seemed eager to start.

“With a bang,” I replied as I put an arm up and pointed at the sky with a single index finger. “A fire blast there, to send the message.”

“No lightning?” he asked quickly as the distance between our armies shortened, as we both knew that his fire blast wasn’t the loudest of spells.

“I’m a warrior priest today,” I replied with a deep laugh and wicked grin.

Returning my hand to my side, I drew my axe and raised it once more as I swung it around and leaned it against my shoulder. Extending my left arm out with index finger pointing ahead, I began to laugh as I let my anger consume me.

The lightning-wielding Sigurd was still in the North… but the red-eyed berserker was here. The beard and medium-length hair long gone, the wolf pelts left behind. All that remained were my plain leather armor and axe. My hair, a buzz cut, left me a different man, one unrecognizable to anyone who had seen the footage. I wasn’t Sigurd today.

Today I was a player-killing mercenary.

Though maybe those two were one in the same.

One-hundred yards out, the sounds of the footsteps behind me began to pound in my ears as drums filled the air between. Battle drums provided by the Houses as both sides began to play their tune.

A truly glorious sound.

As the ground began to shake under the weight of a thousand steps, I continued to point directly above the enemies’ heads. Adding a little pep to my step while bobbing my head slightly with the rhythm of the noise, my pace had started to increase.

Accelerating quickly, I lowered my arm and pointed directly at the man in front of me, shouting my last words, “To hell with them!”

Focusing my gaze while entering into a sprint, my axe was held high and behind as my rage had started to spread. Eyes beginning to burn their steady and familiar burn, my other senses began to dull as the noise filtered out.

Then followed the fire, a flash instantaneous and silent sailing across the sunlit sky as muffled noises began to ring out. White noise increasing as bodies moved in reaction. Mobs of people turning, shifting in place as weapons were lowered with others leaking out. Movement in my direction as thirty yards separated the first victim and my axe.

Rushing with shouts of rage and red light streaming and trailing behind, axe lifted and dropped with momentum and an increasing pace that couldn’t be stopped. Blood splashing and splattering across my face as a head rolled and bounced along my path, only to be kicked forward and down into the next man waiting.

Legs clicking and clacking as knees hit together, shield raised and spear leveled. Heels digging into the light snow as thick mud displaced. His eyes closed, frozen in the moment. My pace still increasing, accelerating, I rushed past and towards the swordsman in my path as the faint sound of a scream reached my ears. 

Axe raised and dropped once more.

Clanging against a sword that sent it flying, the man reeled as he tried to recover. Legs weak and out of position, he twisted and turned while reaching out. Ducking forward as a spear crossed my path, I raised and swung to the left only to miss. Carrying the momentum and circling around with a spin of the axe, I released a second swing across the midsection without breaking a step. As I stepped through and onto the next, the torso of the man peeled back and flopped to the floor with legs still walking.

Entering into the wall of bodies that showed no gaps, the deafening noise of hundreds of sharp metallic objects hit my ears. The shrill clinks, clatters, and clangs immediately set off a ringing in my ears as I began to go numb to the noise. Ignoring my lost senses as an arrow brushed past my face and cut through my ear, I dropped a heavy swing on a shield-bearer that was standing in my path.

The weight of the blow shattering through the wooden shield caught the man unaware as a shower of splinters rained down on those around him. The squinting eyes of the man opened wide as panic reached him a second late, for he was already gone.

His mouth open as I yanked the axe from his chest, three spears from behind him were thrust towards my chest and face. Back-pedaling into the charge of an unseen man behind me, I twisted and spun myself around as the sudden impact nearly jarred me. In an instant the ally who had hit me fell forward, careening to the deck as two spears went straight through him.

Arms going limp, his weapon fell to the floor.

Lifting my axe again as another man bumped me from behind and shoved me to the side, I retracted and stepped back as hundreds of players clashed and crashed into each other all around me. Nothing could be heard as the ringing in my ears became nothing more than pure noise, white noise, of the battle that enveloped me.

Pulling back into the crowd with the intention to look for my crew, Barik was nowhere to be seen as Ethan was observed casting fire blast after fire blast haphazardly into the crowd. Then I spotted Emily as she jumped and delivered a flying knee to the face of an unsuspecting man, crushing his jaw in an instant as he blacked out and fell to the ground.

Hitting the ground hard herself as a sword nearly slit her throat, she tucked and rolled only to spring up and enter into a clinch with the swordsman before he could react. Pulling his head forward and controlling his movements, she denied him the ability to swing his sword with deadly force as he attempted to switch his grip on the sword to counter.

Shattering his ribs with a single powerful knee, the man hunched over in pain as she controlled his head and delivered an alternate knee strike to his nose. Dropping the man as he fell limp to the floor, she charged back into the fray in an attempt to find another challenger. Standing back as I scanned the crowd, the world began to blur around me as I tried in vain to find our healer.

At that moment a spear tip was thrust in my direction as I countered with a weak parry and then grabbed at the shaft. Pulling the man into me I kicked at his shin as he fell forward, causing him to tumble to the ground as he lost his footing in the muddy snow. Sliding past me as others continued to run by, I switched my grip on the axe and executed the man as his hands were raised in a pleading manner. Cutting through the palms and then through the face, I pulled my axe back and resumed my search for Valerie.

Then the sight of a dwarf surrounded by multiple enemies caught my eye as all of his allies were already engaged in one on one combat of their own. Defending every other blow with his large shield and only deflecting and parrying with his sword, he was losing ground as I decided to help him.

Picking up my pace as I timed my movements with that of the crowd, I side stepped and jumped while leaping and lunging through the bodies that swayed back and forth at every turn. Wayward swords and arrows nearly clipping me as I closed the distance, by the time I had circled around Barik my own situation had worsened.

Surrounded by three men as I deflected a spear and caught an axe by its shaft, a sword cut through my bear hide jerkin and pierced soft flesh beneath. Hand bruised and numbed from the impact with his axe’s shaft, I grabbed tightly as I pulled him with me.