There was a pool of fifteen heroes that the Ythrel Nexus would choose from, but fewer than half were actually viable. Four were full decoys and four were highly situational, leaving seven primary heroes.

“I was always a decoy hero,” Carlin said, as he pulled up the stats of the enemy heroes. “I’m high enough leveled to fight but—” He cut off, face burning red. “I specced into Smithing. Level 13 is respectable, you know? But not in the right class.”

Syrene grimaced, and an unspoken look was exchanged between her and Elzio. Both knew well the frustration of undervaluing Support class heroes, especially those that weren’t just Healers. Carlin’s specialization and leveling was formidable enough, but for some reason, he had chosen a less popular class.

“I have the greatest respect for Armorsmiths,” Syrene said. “One of Pyrthet’s most valuable heroes was a smith. But I also understand the stigma. If you don’t mind me asking, how did that happen? It’s not as though you could have accidentally put 13 levels into Smithing, nor would your trainers have overlooked your leveling decisions.”

Carlin waved a hand at their map, causing all but the seven likely heroes to vanish. He sighed. “Tylin and I were barely adults when we moved to the capital. We’d both managed to make names for ourselves back in our hometown, him for his role in organization and civic duty, me for my training. No one in our village had even been leveled, and I’d managed to make level 7 on my own training.” He shrugged his huge shoulders. “When we moved to the capital, the trainers were impressed. They figured they could make this work, focus on my base attributes that let me get so accomplished. Use that to build me up as a fighter.” He sighed. “I just wasn’t very good at fighting. Took years to realize we were just spinning our wheels. And in the meantime, I’d been working on building new things, new weapons and armor, and had given myself another level in Smithing, alongside the 2 I’d finally managed in Fighting. So they made me grab 2 levels in Tank after that. I’m high enough leveled to look impressive on a docket, but no one wants a level 8 Smith with barely any fighting or tanking skills.”

Elzio looked up from the stats of the enemy heroes, fixing Carlin with a smile. “That’s a better story than I expected. I figured you were trained because your brother was on the Council.”

Across the circle, Syrene made a sound halfway between a tut and a sigh, and when Elzio looked her way, she gave him an exasperated look. Clearly she wasn’t happy with what he’d said, and judging by the way Carlin looked off to the side, cheeks flaming, he hadn’t taken it kindly either.

It wasn’t an insult, though. Elzio had genuinely figured the man had earned himself a lifetime of elevated status simply because he was related to a councilor. He was pleasantly surprised to learn that it was simply a matter of passions misaligning with foolish, violence-minded trainers. It was a good thing.

What is wrong with Smithing? Echo asked, hovering over Carlin’s shoulder. The man shuddered, clearly unused to the sheer amount of power crackling inches away. From my understanding, the ability to provide physical and potentially magical enhancements to your allies is an invaluable service.

“Lacks glory.” Syrene sighed. “I was always harshly judged for allowing Elzio to specialize in summoning after Gerome let Kia specialize in Smithing herself. The masters wanted more fighters and attack mages. They’ve always been disproportionately valued. I argued that with a talented Smith and a powerful Summoner, you could have as many attack heroes as you like.”

“Lucky for you they listened.” Carlin stared gloomily at the shining stats of the heroes before them: a level 11 Swordsman, a level 12 Axe Wielder, a level 13 Archer, a level 14 Swordsman, a level 15 Tank, a level 15 Hydromancer, and a level 18 Healer. “Then again, maybe it’s lucky Ythrel doesn’t value me.” He grinned. “I’d be fighting in that arena if they liked me. Hell, even if they just showed me a scrap of respect, I might have been just as brainwashed as the rest of them.” He gestured at the pool of candidates.

They will take the Healer, certainly, Echo said, her attention back on the heroes. She is very high leveled and will be essential for keeping their team alive. She— The nexus broke off, noticing Carlin shaking his head.

“They won’t consider you enough of a threat to summon her,” he said. “They don’t know I’ve joined you, and honestly, even if they did, I doubt they put Lissala in. They want this battle to be fast and decisive. They want to send a message, make an example of you two. Bloody and brutal. Sure, Syrene is level 25, but even she couldn’t stand against a full squad of five heroes with only a Summoner at her side.

Elzio bristle at the ‘only a Summoner’ part of this dismissal, but he understood Carlin’s point. Besides, if Ythrel knew he was a Summoner—which was a weighty if—they would probably not know he was a doppelganger specialist. He had the advantage there.

“So they’ll bring the Swordsmen, the Axe Wielder, the Archer, and the Hydromancer?” Elzio asked.

Carlin grinned. “That’s my guess, yeah. Joren’s a spectacular tank, but they won’t think they need one. Not against you two.”

“We won’t have a lot of points to work with on the map,” Syrene said. “I wasn’t considering spending 650 points on a third hero, so that significantly changes what we’d planned for.” She tapped the part of the hologram that displayed Points Spent on the current setup, and reduced it by 650 to account for Carlin’s presence. “Fortunately, knowing the specifics of the enemy hero levels means we know how much they’ll spend. They’ll use a lot of points bringing in so many heroes, and they’ll incur a penalty ensaring such a low leveled nexus, but with 9000 total at their disposal, it won’t harm them terribly. They’ll still have thousands to spend on nexus buffs.”

And debuffs, Echo said. They will likely take a Line-of-Sight limiter, which, with Carlin on our team, we will not be able to counter. And even with that limiter, they will still have just enough points for a team-wide stat hit.

Carlin swallowed hard, watching as Syrene updated the Points Spent for Ythrel to accommodate this likely debuff.

Could they really afford both an LoS limiter and a team-wide debuff? But Echo’s math hadn’t been wrong, and Elzio let out a low whistle. It was definitely going to make things harder, but he’d be lying if he said he wasn’t envious of the enemy for having so many points to play with. Echo didn’t even have half that

Maybe someday they’d have thousands of points to play with, crafting elegant maps that were littered with dangerous traps, secret buffs, hidden shortcuts and portals, magical pathways through dense foliage, components for Armorsmiths and Alchemists, allied monsters, day cycles…

But that was of no matter here. There would be another time and another day for high pointed arenas. Right now, he had to keep his mind on the task at hand.

What will we focus on? Echo asked. They will want to fight, keep us defending.

“She’s right,” Syrene said. “They’ll want to keep this quick and dirty, make sure we don’t get a chance to weasel out of our situation.”

“Which is exactly what we want.” Elzio grinned as he pulled the arena map back open, ideas flooding his mind. “We lose the extended fight. Short and sweet is exactly what we need, and they’ll deliver that to us on a golden platter.”

—

Elzio Shilon: Level 10 Summoner

Strength: 12+2 (nexus buff)

Intelligence: 21+3 (nexus buff)

Agility: 16+2 (nexus buff)

Fortitude: 12+2 (nexus buff)

Hit Points Pool: 250+50 (nexus buff)

Endurance Pool: 400+100 (nexus buff)

Mana Pool: 475+75 (nexus buff)

~~~

Syrene Wispwater: Level 11 Energy Mage

Level 6 Pyromancer

Level 4 Illusionist

Level 1 Hydromancer

Level 1 Air Wielder

Strength: 18+2 (nexus buff)

Intelligence: 40+3 (nexus buff)

Agility: 20+2 (nexus buff)

Fortitude: 28+2 (nexus buff)

Hit Points: 650+50 (nexus buff)

Endurance: 650+100 (nexus buff)

Mana: 950+75 (nexus buff)

~~~

Carlin Naryl: Level 8 Armormith

Level 2 Swordsman

Level 2 Tank

Strength: 17+2 (nexus buff)

Intelligence: 22+3 (nexus buff)

Agility: 12+2 (nexus buff)

Fortitude: 19+2 (nexus buff)

Hit Points: 425+50 (nexus buff)

Endurance: 425+100 (nexus buff)

Mana: 300+75 (nexus buff)

~~~

Even if everything went right, there was still a good chance they lost this. Elzio knew it, and he knew Syrene, Carlin, and Echo did as well. They had better odds than before, but it was still stacked against them. To level the playing field at all, they’d need something of a miracle, something none of them expected.

As soon as the stats materialized in front the heroes, Elzio realized something was off. Some of their predictions had come true—the LoS limiter was right there in Elzio’s face, stifling his ability to summon a doppelganger of anything he wasn’t directly looking at, but the numbers were wrong.

Judging by their numbers, either a miracle had happened or Ythrel was playing a very different game.

“No stats debuff?” Syrene eyed the other two as they stood in the arena, and Elzio could tell she was checking their stats, confirming what he’d also noticed.

“No stats debuff,” Elzio said. It made no sense. Not only would the debuff damage their HP, Mana, and Endurance, it would also overall lower the effectiveness of their abilities. It was a debilitating attack and always worth the points if one had them to spare. Ythrel should have, and yet it hadn’t.

“Do you think they’ve just buffed themselves more?” Carlin asked, setting up his gear for the match. He’d wasted no time upon spawning to start up his forge, a lengthy channel that required on a moderate amount of actual focus but limited his ability to do anything in the meantime. Kia had always set up her forge outside of the gate, which worked for aggressive strategies, but they couldn’t spare any manpower to guard him outside of the base.

“I don’t see why they would,” Syrene said. “Point for point it’s not worth it. With 2000 points after summoning their heroes and snaring us, a debuff is the best value purchase.” She looked to Elzio, green eyes clouded with worry. “What do you think?”

“I think that we have to carry on with our plan.” He sucked in a deep breath. Yes his mind was also racing, battling the puzzle of why Ythrel hadn’t behaved as expected, but even if he came up with some theories, they couldn’t react on just speculation. “Something hasn’t gone as expected, but it’s not something we can deduce, and we only stand to waste time thinking about it.”

Neither of them was pleased with this answer, and really, Elzio wasn’t either, but the only way they’d find out what Ythrel was planning was to venture forth into the arena, so venture they did.

Elzio had previously enjoyed the freedom that being a solo hero had given him last time he had set foot in an arena. He’d been a little anxious that this battle would bring back the frustrations he used to hold with Kia, Nance, and Bereth when the four of them fought together, but immediately he sensed a difference.

Carlin had already set up his forge by the time Elzio and Syrene even left the base, as opposed to how Kia would have only acted after every else had been reminded of their duties. Syrene had snatched three wards from the shop before Elzio had even opened his eyes, versus how Bereth would often end a game without having ever spending points on one. Within moments of checking their stats, the entire party was discussing why Ythrel hadn’t debuffed them, which drew stark contrast with how his old team would never have even noticed.

Little things like that. It felt good. Like they were all part of one machine.

Syrene stopped at the mouth of the two routes. She needed to Elzio to summon some doppels, who would run a bit of scouting before she ventured forth.

Elzio cast his spell, already grumbling at the LoS limiter. God it was going to be challenging, being only able to summon where he could see. Likely the Ythrel heroes had wanted to limit Syrene’s ability to cast abilities behind her, forcing her to constantly keep her head on a swivel. Given she would be outnumbered by the enemies, they wanted to be able to surround her and force her to be constantly turning just in order to cast spells at them.

It was a solid limitation against a regular mage, but against a Summoner like Elzio, it was almost crippling. Almost. Elzio was smarter than that, and had prepared his battle plan with the limiter in mind.

He summoned two level 4 doppelgangers. They’d be able to cast low level versions of all of Syrene’s spell—enough to stave off minions, though they would fall pretty quickly to any enemy. Still, they were only there to soak experience and provide vision. Elzio had spared some of Echo’s points for this battle to give full allied vision. Wherever an friendly hero, minion, or doppelganger went, all members of the team would be able to see on their minimaps.

This paid off within seconds of the doppels entering their roads, as their laning opponents came into vision. Elzio took a moment to read the stats of the heroes that were assigned by Ythrel to soak minion experience.

~~~

Aylssa Bleek: Level 13 Archer

Strength: 22

Intelligence: 17

Agility: 24

Fortitude: 15

Hit Points Pool: 325

Endurance Pool: 650

Mana Pool: 275

~~~

Gyrao Links: Level 12 Axe Wielder

Strength: 24

Intelligence: 16

Agility: 19

Fortitude: 16

Hit Points Pool: 350

Endurance Pool: 775

Mana Pool: 350

~~~

A bit of quick mental math confirmed that the heroes both had a standard +2 nexus buff. So the Ythrel Nexus hadn’t spared extra points on buffs.

Why hadn’t it debuffed Echo’s team?

“Do you want me against Gyrao’s in the Southern Road?” Syrene asked, snapping Elzio back to the immediate plan.

Elzio nodded. “I Just need a few more seconds to summon one more doppel, and you’ll be good to go.”

As his mana built up, the doppel in the Southern Road began attacking enemy minions, keeping its distance from the Axe Wielder.

Once Elzio summoned the third doppel, a level 2 scout, Syrene gave him a sharp nod and turned to the road ahead. She would creep to the Southern Road. Once there, she would swap places with the doppel currently battling the minions by slipping into a patch of dense foliage at the same time the doppel did.

From there, the real Syrene would soak the minion experience Southern Road, and Elzio would let the doppel disappear. But Syrene’s goal here was not to initially just attack Gyrao. She would keep the ruse that she was still a doppel—casting level 2 spells against minions in the lane and avoiding any direct combat with the enemy hero. Against Gyrao, a melee hero, she would stay out of range of his abilities.

Meanwhile, the level 2 doppel scout would be flitting about the map, directly puppeted by Elzio. There would be three Syrenes on the map, two passively soaking experience, and one moving about in the forest. The enemy heroes they would quickly—and erroneously—identify the scouting Syrene as the real one. They’d waste time and manpower chasing her. If they ever got too close, Elzio would simply dissolve the spell, leaving them to assume she’d turned invisible.

The important thing for Elzio here would be to lead the three roaming heroes on a chase around the map, buying time for Carlin to build the equipment that would really start to amp up the team. For Elzio, that would be a Mana Staff. For Syrene, a Crown of Magical Fortitude and a Piercing Shard Ring. It was a lot, but once the three were complete, Elzio would be able to summon more doppels at higher levels, doppels that would retain some of the increased Magical Force and increased Magical Penetration that Syrene’s new items would give her. As for Syrene herself, well, she was already significantly higher leveled than anyone else in the arena. She could destroy anyone in a 1v1. Probably even a 1v2 unless they got the jump on her.

Without a debuff, she was even deadlier. They just needed to buff her Chain Lightning. Elzio’s doppels would cast the crowd control spells necessary to protect Syrene.

A few minutes later, his display confirmed that Syrene had swapped places with her doppelganger, and Elzio dropped the spell.

Now it was just the mid level doppel in the Northern Road and the scout with him. All right, it was time to leave the base.

He hurried through the underbrush, doppel in tow, for several minutes before finding the small crevice he and Echo had designed, which he crawled into. It was an almost perfect hiding spot, but it didn’t need to be fully obscuring. This was where Invisibility and Ghost Form came in play. With both spells active, an enemy would have to actively blast every nook and cranny to find him. He could stay here the rest of the battle if he needed to.

He wouldn’t, not with the Line-of-Sight limiter, but at least, for now, he was able to start really making some moves around the map. The setup part of the battle had ended, and the real fight was just starting.