1 day, 12 hours, 59 minutes, and 5 seconds.

Horn entered the arena with his troops. The latest summons allowed him to bridge the gap, and he even had to leave a few warriors behind. His troops consisted of eight squads: two sergeants, each with four boar riders and a single adept. Three groups with a sergeant with four melee, two ranged warriors, and a healer. A duo of pathfinders worked as its own squad, which left his surprise squad with eight in it and the final one with himself, Goran, and two additional riders. In total, fifty dwarfs. They were given the best gear they had, which didn’t account for much yet.

Horn himself took a few items from the loot gathered in the dungeon. On his fingers were three new rings. One increased his total mana by another five points, and the remaining two added five health each. He leveled up to eight, which gave him normal attribute spread and a single free skill to learn and also took time to drink Elixir of Power and pumped both the free point and the two from potion into Mind.

His character was starting to turn out nicely. Finally, he had some mana to spare and a bit of sustainability. Sadly, he couldn’t level up to his cap, as he just didn’t have enough personal Essence. Still, it was beginning to look nice.

Name: Horn Skysmith

Race: High dwarf

Allegiance: Lightforge Clan

Level: 8 (248/800) /0/0

Current class: Battle Adept

Previous classes: -

Health [Regeneration]: 73 / 73 (83/83) [33/h]

Stamina [Regeneration]: 70 / 70 [30/h]

Mana [Regeneration]: 72/72 (92/92) [32/h]

Attributes: [0 free points]

Might: 18

Reflex: 12

Mind: 14 (15)

Endurance: 24

Spirit: 24

Ability: 17

Presence: 10

Skills [1 free skill slot]: Combat proficiency level 2, Cure Wounds level 3, Radiance blast level 2, Blessed weapons level 1. Riding (Exotic beasts) level 2, Inner Fire level 1, Lore level 2, Battle Caster level 1, Flame Strike level 1, Leadership level 2, Shield of faith level 1

Traits: Chieftain, Dwarven Endurance, Low Magical affinity, Magical Resistance (Minor), Low light vision

Titles: Outnumbered specialist, Slayer I, Dungeoneer I, Dungeon Master I,

Magical equipment:

2x Rings of Minor Health

2x Rings of Minor Mana

1x White Fur Cloak

1x Gray steel heater shield of reflection

The shield was the newest addition to his arsenal, a part of the crafting challenge reward. Since seeing it being enchanted, Horn was enamored by the gray slab of metal. On top of that, he had his leather armor, iron hand axe, a simple dagger, and four potions, two of healing, two of mana, each regenerating ten points.

Snouty decided to break his majestic entrance by suddenly jumping, almost throwing him off as he fought to regain his balance. While the rest of his troop appeared behind him.

“Welcome, challengers! Your first fight will begin in forty-five minutes. Your leader will decide who will fight first. Good luck!” The deep voice from earlier spoke again. The dwarfs quietly listened, then broke into chatter, spreading around the hall. They moved their special surprise and animals into the middle, while jugs of light ale and cold snacks almost magically appeared from bags.

Horn stayed a moment with his people before deciding to take a look at the arena. As he climbed the stairs, sounds of the crowd began to reach him from above. He emerged from the staircase and just stood there, trying to gather his jaw from the floor.

The stands were packed full of people and monsters from all races. There were hundreds, maybe thousands of them in there from humans, to dwarves, elves, beastkin, goblins, orcs, ogres, and even sentient undead. Every imaginable race seemed to be present. He finally gathered his senses, but instead of heading into the crowd, he rushed down the stairs.

A few minutes later, he was back in the cavern and sent out his workers to gather everyone remaining. Another few minutes of chaos ensued, but more and more of his clanmates arrived. As they all gathered, he announced, “Lightforge! We’ll be moving through the gate into the arena in a few minutes, you’ll have the opportunity to watch our warriors in the fight, but more importantly, the stands are full of every race imaginable, meet them, talk to them, try to gather any useful information, try to find potential allies and enemies. We’ll discuss more after the event.”

As they waltzed back in the waiting room, the timer was already down to less than fifteen minutes. Horn just directed his clanmates up the stairs and sat down, preparing for the fights ahead. With the timer coming down to ten, a window appeared before him. A list of his fighters was on the left side, and a bracket took the remaining space. First with a single name, then with five slots, and finally full fifty.

He quickly pushed his own name into one on one, then he wanted to add himself again in five on five but couldn’t do so. The interface was blocked. “I cannot use the same fighter twice?” He wondered aloud.

Not even a second later, the ethereal voice replied, “Indeed challenger, the same warrior cannot fight in both single and party combat. However, all can fight again in the grand melee.”

“Huh, so one on one or party combat.” He wondered,

He was pretty sure he could handle one on one. With his equipment, levels, and the amount of crazy combat he was in lately, he felt confident. However, he was a support class. He could do quite a lot in party combat. His adepts had similar abilities but on a smaller scale. Their stats were lower, and none of them were battle casters.

On the other hand, if he couldn’t fight in the first round, then who could? Goran was a tank – a natural party fighter. Ingrid maybe could do a solo against someone, but she wasn’t combat-focused. None of his single warriors would be able to stand against an enemy champion, and Horn was sure that he’d be facing a champion at least.

In the end, it all came to mathematics. He put himself in the first combat, as he was probably the most likely to win. The second group consisted of Goran and a mounted squad to get their mounts into play with an adept in support. He gave him the option to adjust the squad if needed, as he wanted to be at the stands for the fight. Then the last one was all in.

Locking the choices, he felt his anticipation raising the same way the countdown went down to zero.

Finally, the grate to the main arena opened. Horn received a prompt requesting him forward, and he eagerly directed Snouty forward, but as they reached the barrier, it wouldn’t let them go, and the voice said, “In single combat, only bounded beasts are allowed.” Shrugging, Horn hopped off the Warboar and continued. As he crossed the threshold of sand, a cacophony of sounds hit him like a sledgehammer. He lost a step in surprise, a moment ago, it was completely quiet. The stands were packed full, people talking, laughing, and drinking, just like a scene from Gladiator. There was even an empty VIP lounge.

On the opposite side, a similar gate opened, and from it, a figure emerged. They began walking towards the middle, and Horn started to notice details about the newcomer.

She was a humanoid, almost human, but with clear feline added into the mix. A slender body, showing a lot of grace and agility in every move, almost mesmerizing Horn. A round head, covered in a delicate grayish fur, with large round green eyes, a small nose, and tight lips. A delicate smug smile finished the impression, so fitting to a cat. She was in sleek dark leather armor, with a longbow over her shoulder, a pair of long daggers or short swords dangled from her belt. As they approached within thirty yards of each other, the organizer’s voice drowned out everyone present. “Welcome challengers and spectators! The fight between Horn Skysmith of the Lightforge clan and Ellaine Ha’shir from the Shadow Paw tribe will commence in a few moments. The fight is to the death, with no restrictions on used items and spells. Good luck!”

“Horn? The winner of the last Global?” Ellaine asked,

“That’ll be me, a fellow gamer then?” Horn answered, activating the skill Lore,

Ellaine Ha’shir, Shadow ranger level 5-10

“Shadow ranger? How did you get a class like that?”

“A woman has to have her secrets,” She replied with a smile. It was both beautiful and terrifying, as it showed rows of pointy teeth, adding a predatory look to the mix.

“Oh c’mon, it’s not like we’ll meet again. The world is supposedly huge.”

“It is. At least the books say so. Let’s play a game then. A question for a question?”

“Sure,” Horn replied, but then the arena spoke, “Three, two, one, BEGIN!” a loud gong echoed, and Ellaine jumped to action.

With a few quick leaps, she opened more distance, drew her bow, and launched an arrow towards Horn. He wasn’t passive, already had his shield ready, and with a loud cling, he intercepted the shot. Not wishing to miss the opportunity, he shouted over the noise, “So about the class?”

Ellaine stopped for a moment, then smiled and launched additional two arrows in the air in two seconds with an amazing show of marksmanship. She shouted back, “Used the bonus reward from the conquest challenge! My turn, how did you know my class?”

Horn crouched behind the shield to present a smaller target and quickly cast Flame strike, a wave of fire launched from his hand, crossing the distance in seconds. He noticed the wave seemed hotter and much bigger since the last time he used the strike. Probably due to almost doubling the Mind attribute since then. However, his thought was interrupted by a yelp of surprise and a hiss of pain coming from the feline. Smiling behind the shield, he yelled back, “A Lore skill, you can buy it at the soul well. Did you find the hidden challenge in the puzzle challenge?”

Ellaine reappeared from behind the raging firestorm a moment later, her fur was singed, and part of her leather armor burned off and still smoking, but she didn’t seem to care. Instead, she raised her bow and held the arrow there for a few seconds. Horn saw the arrow gain a greenish hue before it launched, crossing the distance in a blink of an eye. He managed to raise his shield in time, but the impact threw him backward, and to his surprise, he saw that the arrowhead pierced the thick metal with enough force to scratch his forearm. A hissing sound and a flare of pain erupted from the wound as poison or acid began eating through his flesh. He winced, his health dropping by ten points, but he decided to ignore that for the moment. Instead, he launched into Inner fire cast.

Ellaine didn’t stop there. As she saw him casting something, she started to run around him while launching more arrows. She shouted back at him, “Yes, I did, and did you solve the dungeon challenge?”

He finished his cast, energy spreading through his body. As it touched the arrow wound, the hissing dropped a tone, almost disappearing entirely. He kept tracking her, holding the shield between them, while he called back, “That’s cheating! But yes, I did. Now answer the first question.”

“I’ve answered the question, not my fault you’re bad at asking them!” She said, stopping again for a powered attack. As Horn saw her stop, he immediately began casting a Fire strike, the two attacks launched simultaneously, narrowly missing themselves in the air. The raging inferno again covered Ellaine while the arrow sailed under his shield, lodging itself in his ankle. The flare of pain almost made him drop the guard, but he persevered. He felt the arrow digging deep, probably stuck in the bone itself. For a second, he wondered what’d happen if he didn’t have resistance buff on himself but only winced at the image.

In the meantime, the feline jumped out of the fire and was already charging another arrow. Horn grimaced at that and started his own cast. They again finished almost at the same time. The arrow flew in the air, only to be stopped dead a foot from Horn, as his Shield of faith sprang into existence. He used the skill for the first time. It created a half-dome facing the direction he wanted, of slightly shimmering air, which condensed into a force field when struck from outside. The appearance of the barrier took Ellaine by surprise. She lowered her bow for a moment, deciding on how to proceed. Horn took this opportunity to shout, “Fine, I’ve answered mine also, so how did you solve it?” then immediately launched into casting yet another Fire strike.

His call broke her stupor, and calling back, “The reward chest is a puzzle!” she disappeared. The flame strike flew through the empty space she had just vacated. Quickly scanning the arena in front of him yielded nothing. Then his brain kicked in, shouting, If she’s not in front, then she’s be…

But the warning came too late. Horn felt two blades digging into his back, and his health plummeted with astonishing speed. Only by instinct, he shouted, “Radiant blast,” the light shot out, and the yelp of surprise from behind him told him he succeeded. The blades retracted, allowing him to catch a breath and cast quick Cure wounds, almost bottoming him out of mana.

As his wounds closed, he caught up to the nimble cat-lady and slashed with his axe. She had just recovered from the blindness but still managed to interpose her blades against his. However, she didn’t expect the strength behind the blow. He easily broke through her parry, his axe digging a deep gash on her chest. Horn quickly followed up with a backswing, scoring another hit, but Ellaine recovered from the shock. She dropped one of her blades, grabbed something on her belt, and threw it at their feet. It exploded into a cloud of black choking smoke.

Horn threw himself back, throwing the remaining mana into Cure wounds, this put him into a good flat zero in the mana department, but his wounds closed. Gathering his senses, he checked around, only to again be surprised by an arrow digging into his back. Thankfully, it seemed to be a simple one, as he didn’t feel burning pain radiating from the wound.

Seeing her now, he turned and presented his shield. Another arrow harmlessly planked against it. Ellaine began imbuing another arrow with magic. She looked like a mess. Blood dripped from long gashes at her torso. Her armor was in scraps, burned and cut. The arrow kept growing with a greenish hue, and black highlights appeared throughout the lengths after a moment. Horn knew that one would hurt, but he had just an ace for that. He only hoped that it would count as a magical attack. The arrow flew, air distorted by the passage of the mighty blow when Horn shouted “Reversal!”.

His shield enlarged, covering his whole body and for a moment turned into a mirror. The arrow smashed into it, disappearing without a trace, only spreading ripples over the surface, but a heartbeat later, it shot out with the same speed towards the unlucky archer. The victorious gaze turned into one of panic when Ellaine’s brain realized what had happened. The arrow slammed straight into her chest, the force of impact sending her flying. Even in the air, the toxic energy spread through her body, killing her instantly. She was already dead even before crashing into the arena wall.

“Horn Skysmith of the Lightforge clan wins!” The disembodied voice said over the roar of the audience. The crowd, already vastly interested in the atypical fight, roared with cheer at the latest turn of the tables. Horn threw his arms in the air, chanting, “Mess with the best! Die like the rest!” these were the moments he lived for, the roar of the crowd praising his name. This was the way to live!

Throughout the bleachers, many present players took note of the strange dwarf. Some decided never to get on his bad side, others started planning how to eliminate the competition, but one of them, a massive ogre over ten feet in height, just smirked under his nose, mumbling, “Oh, you’ll die, a long, painful death.”