50

Fundamentals III

Hearing movement in the forests behind them, Rian spotted the first of the approaching players. Wearing a poncho and a brimmed hat, it was a Gunslinger with his name—Resilver—already visible. Merely standing with his thumbs tucked into his belt, he made no overt motion to attack them, but Kat nearly gasped when she saw the text floating underneath his name.

LastWhisper.

“What?” she shouted. “That’s not possible. How can they be here?”

Her hesitation lasted for an instant. Preparing a smoke bomb, she whirled around Rian to stand between him and the Gunslinger.

“Now!” she yelled. “Run!”

She threw the item to the ground, and Rian sprinted toward Nostdal as smoke filled the air. A moment later, Kat came sprinting up beside him.

There was a nullshard fragment out in the plains, but they had put themselves far away from it to avoid accidentally walking into it during their matches. If he could manage to get there, it’d be a simple matter of waiting everything out. The players ganking them would eventually have to log off, go to half-sync, or even just go to sleep.

But that was assuming he could get there. And if there was one thing that Rian had picked up on, it was that LastWhisper was more than relentless—they were professional assholes.

As he and Kat ran up a gentle hill to get a better visual on the nullshard’s location, Rian slid to a halt when he could see the full view of the plains.

A monstrous-looking player was already standing in the way—in the exact location to cut them off.

Rian grit his teeth. I should’ve known.

LastWhisper had managed not only to cut off their escape route into the forest but anticipated that he and Kat would head for the nullshard in all this open space. As far as Rian knew, the wards themselves weren’t invisible, meaning that once LastWhisper had found them, they’d had as much time to prepare as they needed before they set off the alarm. He was certain they’d scouted the area for nullshards before tripping the wards to plan out this exact scenario.

“Cob,” Kat said, staring ahead. “That’s…”

Walking towards them, the player in their way was a level 40 Berserker with gnarled green skin and tusks protruding from his mouth. Pauldrons of bone rested on his shoulders. In his hands was a gigantic sword carved from the bone of some massive creature, the air around it filled with drifting embers and shimmering with heat.

“Hey there,” the orc said, his voice distorted into a low rumble. “Cob.”

Wait, what? How does he know my name?

And then he realized that he was looking at Torgo’s main character.

Ogrot

[LastWhisper]

Level 40 Berserker (Asc. 100)

HP: 6502/6502

MP: 2048/2048

Armor: 35

Weapon ATK: 104 (+32 Fire)

—

STR: 90(120)

[Power: 135]

[Endurance: 45]

DEX: 66(91)

[Accuracy: 32]

[Agility: 100]

INT: 18

[Cooldown: 20]

[Perception: 16]

SPR: 24

[Resolve: 40]

[Attunement: 8]

—

PVP rank: A+ (Diamond) (#504)

(632-89)

Rian skimmed over the entire page—he was screwed regardless—but managed to gawk at those PVP stats before dismissing the window.

When he looked aside for escape routes to the east or west, two more members of LastWhisper were stepping in from either direction: a rapier-wielding Duelist named Mellowbro928 and a Brawler named Craig, who was nearly as muscular as Ogrot. Arriving behind Rian and Kat was the Gunslinger from before, effectively surrounding them.

“Wow,” Ogrot said. “The leader of the Moonies is here, too? What a bonus. A real twofer.”

“How the hell did you find us?” Kat said. “There’s supposed to be another day before the ganking flag resets on me.”

Ogrot’s brow shot up. “Huh? Oh, no. We had no idea you were here.” He gestured to Rian. “It’s Cob I’m here for, not you. Unless you want to change that.”

Rian swallowed. It at least seemed like Ogrot wanted to talk for now, so as long as the conversation kept going, it would give him and Kat some time to figure a way out of this. He was already attempting to study Ogrot’s armor and equipment keywords as fast as he could.

“So you tracked me down, somehow?” Rian said.

“Of course,” Ogrot said. “Told you I wanted a rematch. You didn’t seem all that interested, so I decided to pay you a visit in person.” He hefted his tremendous sword onto his shoulder. “But—oh man—that’s just the start of it. I’ve got so much to tell you. You’re not even gonna believe it, dude.”

Hearing that monstrously deep voice talk so casually from someone resembling an orc was throwing Rian off a bit.

From what he could see, Ogrot’s armor was loaded with keywords meant to heal him on command. But nothing compared to the weapon he was hauling around.

Inferno Bone Greatsword of Rage +10 (Level 40)

Grade: S+ (Unique)

Inferno (60 MP/sec: when activated, +150% Fire Damage. Required Insulation: 2)

Rage (via Goam’s Bile: each attack inflicted or received by the wielder increases their damage by 3% for 8 seconds.)

Unbreakable (via Goam’s Bone: item cannot lose durability or be destroyed.)

Fire Damage +32

Weapon ATK +104

It was the strongest item he’d ever seen. A weapon made with not one but two Godly Fragments.

Kat suddenly whirled in place, spinning the edge of her hooded cape. Despite the speed of her maneuver, she gently tossed three glinting items into the air—colorless tesseracts—and with her other hand flipped her ice-dagger around to hold by the blade.

She threw it. The dagger spun and lodged itself into one of the falling tesseracts. The glass cube exploded with light, an aura flashing around Kat before both she and her weapon vanished. The next airborne tesseract shattered as Kat reappeared, dagger in hand, with the blade already plunged into the second cube. In an instant—faster than any of the LastWhisper members reacted—she had flickered between all three tesseracts, stabbing and shattering each, the aura encasing her body growing stronger each time.

She’s…teleporting? No information was popping up, but Rian was fairly sure it was a Mirage skill he was witnessing.

He took the cue. Casting his new Earthen Resonance skill, he surrounded himself in a momentary vortex of wind. As Kat landed on the ground, she immediately sprinted at full speed toward Ogrot. The same vortex around Rian then appeared around Kat, granting her extra movement speed.

But even with all her agility, she couldn’t reach him before the other three intercepted her. The Duelist moved almost as fast as Sidna had, stepping in between Kat and Ogrot. Brandishing his rapier, he brought Kat to a halt. The moment of interference was enough for the massive Brawler to come hurtling toward her from aside, and Kat backed away and retreated further, dodging and flipping before hurtling a smoke bomb as the Gunslinger fired multiple rounds at her.

Rian only managed to see the sheer chaos of what she was dealing with because no one had come after him—Ogrot was still standing in place, waiting with a patient expression.

“So as I was saying,” Ogrot said. “That rematch of ours.”

He held his weapon forward. The blade ignited, an enormous vortex of fire spinning around it. Rian was already having flashbacks to the fight with Torgo.

This guy really liked flaming swords for some reason.

To Rian’s surprise, the fire was so strong that it was slightly damaging Ogrot, ticking away at his massive health pool. He was lacking the required Insulation stat from his armor to wield the weapon without taking damage. Fortunately, it didn’t seem to activate the Rage keyword from the sword, but then an icon popped up next to his character and expanded to a skill display in Rian’s system feed.

Berserker’s Fury (Level 10 [MAX])

(Passive)

Skills can consume HP instead of MP. As the Berserker approaches death, they become stronger at the expense of Intelligence and Accuracy. +1 Power, -1 Intelligence(Perception and Cooldown), and -1 Accuracy per 1% of missing health below 50% of Max HP. (Stats cannot go below 1.)

So as if Rian stood a chance to begin with, the closer he got to winning the fight meant the stronger Ogrot would become. Assuming, in whatever universe, he could even come close.

Rian dashed aside and sprinted. With the other three members dealing with Kat, all he had to do was get clear of Ogrot to reach the nullshard fragment in the plains ahead.

“Excuse me,” Ogrot said, plunging his sword into the ground. “I’m over here.”

The ground broke around the blade, cracks spreading in a widening line across the plains in front of Rian. He could feel a rumbling with each step as a reddened glow emerged from below.

Rend the Earth (Level 10 [MAX])

440 MP

Cooldown: 48 seconds

Burying their weapon into the ground, the Berserker enrages the planet itself, destroying the area in a 30-foot radius and summoning plumes of lava that deal +200% Fire Damage. This skill can be directed in a widening cone or a circle.

Rian dismissed the notification just as lava began to erupt.

He wasn’t going to let himself get trapped so easily. It was an obvious attempt at cutting off his escape.

Dashing, Rian leaped. When he left the ground, his entire body felt heavier than before. His arc through the air slowed the moment he jumped—because Earthen Resonance’s speed bonus only applied while he was grounded.

Columns of lava erupted from below. Rian was still moving fast enough to clear them, but the loss of speed had allowed Ogrot to sprint around the cracks and position himself in wait for him to land. As massive as Ogrot was, his Agility stat let him hurtle himself across the plains. The ignited Bone Sword left a trail of fire in the air behind him like a comet.

“So as I was saying,” Ogrot said, winding up. “It’s pretty funny how things work out, sometimes.”

Rian was still falling when Ogrot swung. Rian gripped his fist and attempted to backhand the blade for a parry as he fell.

Then, mid-swing, Ogrot’s movement speed nearly doubled. A wind effect surged around him, his eyes glinting.

Focused Strike (Level 10 [MAX])

124 MP

Cooldown: 11 seconds

Honing their skills, the Swordsman delivers an attack with increased precision and speed. The bonus damage from Energy Strike (+50%) is converted to additional DEX for the duration of the attack. If the body is struck, weakens the target’s armor by 10%. This skill replaces Energy Strike.

Rian didn’t even have time to read it. Mere feet above the ground before landing, he had lined up for a perfect parry; the sudden acceleration to Ogrot’s swing changed all of that.

You have taken 932 (+376 fire) damage! (HP: 266/1574)

It struck his hand so hard that it spun him sideways. Bracing himself, he landed on the grass.

Well, at least it didn’t crit, he thought. Charge Punch’s meter had leaped to full as well.

Despite Rian being nearly sprawled on the ground and defenseless, Ogrot merely looked down at him before hefting the burning sword onto his shoulder again. The flames charred his armor.

“I can’t help but think it was destiny that I came across you near Elmguard,” Ogrot said. “Things work differently in Mirage, of course. The AI knows how to thread things together—farther ahead than just about anyone can know.”

Rian stumbled to his feet and turned to run. Why does everyone I fight just want to monologue?

He heard Ogrot continue behind him, “Or maybe it’s just coincidence. Maybe it really is a small world after all, or…. Hey!”

Your Armor has temporarily increased! (9→12)

You have been slowed! (Movement speed -30%) (Time remaining: 19 seconds)

Someone had cast a buff on him.

Defense of the Weak (Level 10 [MAX])

98 MP

Cooldown: 28 seconds

Coming to the assistance of those in need, the Swordsman bestows the target with +30% additional armor at the expense of an equal amount of Agility. (Stats cannot go below 1.)

Oh, come on. Rian almost felt insulted. It was a support skill from Ogrot’s base class, but it was being used to hamper his movement. Earthen Resonance was still providing a boost above his baseline speed, but there was probably no escape to begin with. Ogrot had cast the buff just to spite him.

“At least have the decency to look at me when I kill you,” Ogrot grumbled, and then Rian heard the familiar sound of a glass cube shattering, followed by the swish of grass as Ogrot began to run toward him.