Chapter 17: Vulnerable

Miguel slowed, trying to calm his own breathing and to think clearly. They would be coming after him, and it was important that he didn’t make too much noise. He wanted to be the hunter, and not the hunted.

And he should stay pretty close to the open area if possible, looking out, just as he had at the very start of this contest.

He moved closer. Up on the stage, Tarja was down – injured or dead, it was impossible to say. The remaining three contenders were as far from one another as they could be. The line of spiders was now breaking up off to his right, around half of them making for the stage, and the other moving into the long grass – no doubt coming after him.

Chloe was using the shield with some success, now, blocking bolt after bolt from the demon-orbs, and then shooting out at both the orbs and the giant beetles with her pistol. She couldn’t have much ammo left, however. And with five spiders now approaching the stage, the delicate balance between attackers and defenders could soon be tipped.

Miguel began to run once more, directly towards the stage this time. As he moved, he watched the tactics that the others had adopted. Sid was swinging his great axe any time an orb moved too close, an approach that led to him taking a lot of hits, but once again he appeared to be able to soak up much more damage than the rest of them.

Gwendolyn was still firing out blasts of mana, but they appeared to be having little or no effect on the orbs, and so she had largely taken to shooting at the beetles instead. This was, indeed, thinning their number.

Equip axe

Miguel hammered the axe head into one of the spider demons from behind, benefitting from the fact that those heading for the platform now had their backs to him. He then aimed a wayward slash at another, crushing a pair of its legs, before jumping to the platform once more.

Notification: You have gained 20XP Notification: You have gained 10XP

As he got there, he saw that Tarja was still down, and another gator-demon was now sinking its teeth into her neck.

Announcement: Tarja Tuomi has left the competition

He stepped forward and aimed a kick at the murderous gator-demon, sending it flying off the edge, but then slipping in the gore and blood that was now pooling on the smooth bronze surface by Tarja's body, and landing hard on his back.

You have lost 1 hit point. You have 6 hit points remaining.

Ouch.

And now one of the demonic orbs was closing in on him, a red light coming towards his face. He felt a buzz, and then his entire body was wracked with pain as it hit him.

You have lost 4 hit points. You have 2 hit points remaining.

He screamed, the agonizing pain of the electrical attack compounded by the feeling of frustration at the thought of having come this far, only to go down now.

But then it suddenly occurred to him that he had just accumulated more XP to spend. How many? And would he be able to use them right now?

It was uncertain.

But then, why would the game hand out XP during the final task if the players couldn’t use them?

Spend all available xp on hit points, Miguel mentally shouted, desperately hoping that this command would be understood by the system. At the same time he rolled sideways, squirming away from the oncoming orb. And then he saw a notification:

You have added three hit points at a cost of 450XP; you now have 5 out of 16 hit points remaining; 60 XP remaining.

And then, just as he wriggled away from the scene of Tarja’s death, a long-handled blade swished just above his head, and the orb was nearly cut in half, falling harmlessly to one side. As he stood up, Miguel realized that Sid had stepped forward to save him, the demon orb having made the mistake of coming with reach of the red-bearded warrior’s massive axe.

“Thanks, man,” he muttered, and then:

Equip crossbow

The array of attackers was now a lot sparser. As Miguel watched on, Chloe dispatched another spider with her katana. He then fired one crossbow bolt after another at the beetles that remained on the ground – five shots in all, of which two were hits – while Sid thudded his huge axe into the last of the blue gator-demons. Another beetle managed to get close enough to claw at his feet before he kicked it away, and shot at it too.

Notification: You have gained 20XP Notification: You have gained 10XP You have lost 2 hit points You have 3 hit points remaining Notification: You have gained 20XP

With a moment of respite, the three contenders then looked at one another, all panting hard from their exertions. All three were covered in both blood and gore, much of it from their own wounds. Miguel also noticed that the shield he had given to Chloe was now shimmering red, perhaps as an after effect of the mana attacks from the demon orbs that it had absorbed.

“Well, this is...” began Miguel.

But he didn’t finish his sentence. All three of them looked around as a vast giant centipede came crashing out of the long grass, reared up, and gave out a deafening screech.

All of them looked in silence at the new threat. Just when Miguel had begun to think that they might have a moment to catch their breath and rest before facing each other in a final duel, it now appeared that they would have to face one of the most deadly demons from the contest so far.

He gripped his crossbow, steeling himself.

But then Sid stepped forward with a snarl. “I’ve got this,” cried the red-haired warrior. “I beat then before. For New Baravia!” With this, the big man leaped down from the platform and ran towards the monstrous demon, swinging his great axe around his head in circular motions as he went.

“He’s crazy,” said Chloe softly.

“Can we shoot it?” Miguel replied, remembering his accurate shooting of a giant centipede’s eyes in the first task. But he didn’t wait for a response. Raising the crossbow and steadying himself, he shot out towards the beast’s writhing head, but missed the eyes this time, his bolt embedding just above its mouth. This resulted in a spray of purple ichor, but didn’t slow the creature. A second shot hit one of the eyes, dulling it, and then two more missed, one bouncing from its mandibles and the second slamming into its writhing flank.

And then, when Miguel tried to fire once again, there was no response from the crossbow, and he realized that he was out of bolts.

Chloe had meanwhile equipped her pistol, aiming at the demon from behind the glowing shield. As Miguel’s ammo ran out, she glanced sideways at him for a brief moment, then focused on the creature and fired twice. Both shots hit home, smashing into its mouth and mandibles and badly disfiguring it. Again, though, the monster appeared to be able to carry on.

“It’s bigger than the one before,” called out Chloe. “Tougher.”

“And I’m out of ammo. But I’m sure there must be some ammo packs hidden among the long grass...”

“I’m done too,” Chloe replied. Effortlessly, the pistol slid back into place at her hip.

Sid, meanwhile, had reached the giant centipede. An enormous swing of his axe hacked into its side, and he then got in a second blow and then a third. Its head, though – perhaps the most vulnerable part – stayed well above the red-bearded warrior.

And it was beginning to come down on top of him.

Realizing his danger too late, Sid began to back away, and then turned to run. But by this point the midsection of the giant centipede’s body was almost on top of him, enveloping him.

Still standing at the edge of the platform, Miguel threw his remaining throwing star to little effect. He was now out of missile weapons.

Equip axe

Equip dagger

And then came another notification that changed everything:

Announcement: Sid Geraghty has left the competition

Miguel glanced once more at Chloe. “It’s one of us, then, after all,” he said hoarsely.

“Yes,” she replied. “But I have one more thing to try.” She held up the round glowing shield using both hands, clenched her teeth and yelled, “Shoot!”

She then screamed out in pain, bracing herself as a huge burst of mana was released from the shield itself. This time, unlike in the previous task, the light was red in color. It streamed out like a spotlight, enveloping the giant centipede which began to writhe in pain, revealing Sid’s broken body once more. It was burning, dying, and it rolled about the area in its death throws, instantly killing several of the remaining giant beetles as it went, and squashing many a fallen corpse of the other types of demon.

Soon, as they watched on, the monster’s body collapsed in on itself.

Miguel looked around at Chloe. “Amazing,” he began, placing one hand on the handle of his axe as he spoke. “I didn’t know that the ring could absorb...”

But he didn’t say any more, for Chloe had dropped the shield to the stage with a clatter, and had equipped her pistol again.

And it was pointed at him.

“Actually,” she said, “I still have one bullet left. I really am sorry, Miguel...”