Ryu figured he couldn’t fight conventionally. It was just too inefficient. If it took him four direct hits to kill a mage, how was he supposed to kill someone actually wearing armor?

So he needed a new target.

“LEFT FLANK LEFT FLANK!” shouted people around him.

Heads turned, and the battlefield turned dark. A fortress equal part metal and magic was falling from the sky, blotting out the sun as it descended in a deafening howl.

Ryu wasn’t the only one to mumble “what the fu-”, before the fortress collided with the earth, throwing rocks into the air as it towed itself forward through sheer momentum. The shockwave alone pushed people off their feet, and pulled dust and grit into the air.

Unable to see further than a few meters, Ryu focused on steadying his balance as the earth shook beneath his feet.

*Ding*

[Quest Update: Die an honorable death]

“Ohh c’mon! That’s OP!” shouted someone on Ryu’s side.

Someone echoed a calm reply. “NUKED FROM FUCKING ORBIT!”

“Why did I start in Sanctuary…” mumbled Ryu.

It was the priestesses and their damned short skirts.

“I ask for a new target and this is what I get?!”

As the dust in the air began to fall, an eerie silence lingered in the air. Ryu’s eyes glued themselves to the fortress which cast a sharp shadow across the battlefield, until someone in the distance made the first move.

The clang of iron on iron spurred people on, and in seconds the battlefield became a moshpit of haphazard screaming and shouting as people hacked at each other. In every gamer’s eyes that fortress could only mean one thing: the quest was coming to an end!

Ryu needed points. But he couldn’t kill shit, so he’d have commit the ultimate sin. Ryu set his eyes on a battle between two warriors, both sparring furiously in an attempt to prove they were the superior swordsman. Ryu lurked at the edges of the fight, keeping his head low to avoid being spotted, until the time came. He jumped at the enemy warrior, stabbing them at the crux of the battle, moments before his ally could.

“Hey don’t steal my kills!”

Ryu shot his comrade a grin. “I’m not stealing kills. I’m securing them.”

Like the wind, Ryu vanished. The rogue and assassin he’d overheard from before were still at each other necks, and Ryu couldn’t tell who was winning. He needed to tip the scales, but Dot was too occupied with analysing the chaos around him to offer any help.

Stabbing the ground, Ryu dug up some dirt and made eye contact with the rogue, who nodded their head. The rogue made their move, an overhead slash that left them wide open, and the assasin’s eyes gleamed as they spotted an opening.

The assassin dipped their head low and leaped forward, and the rogue stepped to the side as Ryu threw the dirt into the assassin's eyes. With too much momentum to stop and no sight, the assassin ran themselves into the ground.

“Thank’s man,” said the rogue, raising their blade up to finally claim the kill.

Ryu grinned. “Oh, you don’t need to thank me.”

The rogue only understood the meaning of those words after Ryu had driven his blade through the assasin’s back.

Ryu continued his escapades, ‘securing’ kills left and right until through sheer coincidence he had amassed a small army of salty comrades chasing after him. Friendly fire was punished by a point deduction, but Ryu doubted any of them cared as he kept running, using other combatants as cover.

Other players saw the crowd of angry players charging towards Ryu, who happened to be running towards the oddly inactive fortress, and they joined in. Soon enough the battle flowed in a new direction - towards the fortress, and it’d all started with a single player being a little shit.