54

The Smell of Rain II

Pitune spread his wings. White feathers unfolded from his back as if they’d always been there, just out of view. The skill window for “Wings of Justice” popped up in Rian’s feed: a buff that Pitune had cast to grant himself flight for the next three minutes.

Three whole minutes of Rian running around the arena, trying to avoid getting picked out of the air—or what little sky there was under the arena’s dome.

Pitune descended, lunging, and swung his hammer with all the force of a falling boulder. Rian read the trajectory and dodged aside.

As the hammer struck the ground where Rian had been standing a moment ago, the floor cracked and exploded into a hail of shattered stone. Fragments harmlessly pelted him and clinked off the glass ceiling.

The time it took to swing that giant hammer was enough to let Rian evade, but it was terrifying to see how much weight was behind it.

Pitune returned to the air. The wings were only a temporary buff, which meant Rian could wait it out. But until then, he couldn’t even hope to land a hit. If they’d been fighting on the Overworld, Pitune could’ve flown away or picked him up and let him fall to his death. But instead Pitune merely stayed out of range.

And then he started casting buff after buff.

A shimmering barrier appeared around him, reducing blunt physical damage. Assuming the posture for prayer, he encased himself in rays of light—an invocation to increase his Strength, INT, and Spirit all at once.

Rian, realizing there was nothing he could do, shrugged and cast Earthen Resonance. If Pitune was going to outmaneuver him in the air, Rian could at least out-speed him on the ground.

Again Pitune descended, his wings folding, and slammed his hammer down. Energetic lines appeared around the weapon. When Rian dodged and it struck the ground again, the hammer released a shock wave. Rian had evaded the blow, but as the wave struck him it cast a debuff—one to lower his elemental resistance.

Pitune righted himself from the landing. His baritone voice filled the arena. “Ha ha! I’m getting fired up!” His hammer burst into flames—a level two fire element keyword activation, one level below what Ogrot had used.

Rian rolled his eyes at the pun. Oh my god, please.

By the time Wings of Justice had worn off, Pitune attempted to fight while grounded. His armor was insulated enough to prevent ambient damage from the heat, but just being near the hammer Rian could feel the flames tick away at his health. If he attempted a parry, the damage he took wouldn’t be worth the effort.

Letting his ground speed carry him, Rian went in and landed a combination of hits, using Vital Strike to see the weak points in Pitune’s armor. Turning, Pitune swung at him, and Rian lined up a parry with ease thanks to the Slow proc of Vital Strike.

But it seemed Pitune knew how to space his swings, extending or pulling in his arms to trick Rian into thinking he had room to parry, only to fall short by mere inches and get slammed.

So he’s not a complete idiot after all, Rian thought, recoiling from the hit as he landed on his back and slid across the ground.

The balancing effect prevented him from getting one-shot, but three solid hits would still be enough to kill him. Rian conversely needed to land several dozen hits to bring Pitune to even half health. Rian was considerably faster, able to sprint around him like it was nothing, but Pitune was surprisingly smart. He knew how to bait Rian’s approaches and punish even the slightest mistake.

In the fray again, Rian thought he saw an opening. Pitune had begun to swing too late, presenting an opportunity to interrupt the attack and open his defenses for a combo. It was the perfect chance to build meter for Charge Punch.

Except, of course, as Rian attempted to punch and swat away Pitune’s arm mid-swing, the System seemed to have other ideas. Everything froze in place for a fraction of a second, and Rian’s attack phased through Pitune’s arm. The massive, flaming hammer continued on its path toward his head.

Unwavering Devotion (Level 3)

(Passive)

With the utmost faith in the divine, the Paladin’s attacks cannot be stopped once begun. All attacks gain Super Armor and ignore external kinetic forces. -15% damage taken while attacking.

Well, Rian thought, smiling as he was sent flying across the arena, that complicates this match-up a bit.

Before long, he realized he was having fun again. He’d been missing the exhilaration of a real fight. Not just a sparring match against someone like Kat, who was always trying to keep the fight even between them, nor a one-sided brawl against randoms in the matchmaking system. Pitune offered a real challenge—one that Rian felt was just within reach of overcoming.

The timer on his gauntlets’ electrification keyword had activated, small jags of electricity sparking up and down the steel.

All right. Time for some big brain plays.

Throwing a punch at a distance, Rian let Charge Punch activate and then splayed his hand. The gauntlet flew off, propelled by the momentum of his punch.

Pitune hesitated, turning his head to watch the airborne, electrified gauntlet fly off at an incredibly wide angle, completely missing him overhead.

Rian dashed in. The distraction had worked. He hadn’t been aiming for Pitune. All he hoped now was this next distraction would work too.

With the sound of shattering glass above them, Rian planted his foot and pretended to go for an uppercut. Pitune, undaunted, raised the flame-drenched hammer above his head, preparing for a two-handed swing.

Shards of glass followed by a column of rain fell and drenched both him and the hammer, extinguishing the flames. Wincing, Pitune closed his eyes mid-swing.

Rian parried.

Everything split in two as his arm met the hammer. Like a mirror’s edge cleaving the world in half, there were suddenly two Pitunes, two glass-domed arenas beneath a stormy sky. At first Rian thought he was seeing double, but it was too clear and too visceral to be an illusion. It felt as if he’d suddenly gained a second body. Only he couldn’t tell which one was the first.

The two images began to diverge. In one, Rian’s parry negated the Super Armor on Pitune’s attack, deflecting the hammer’s momentum and sending it hurtling aside with Pitune still holding on. And in the other, the unstopping hammer crushed its way through Rian’s hand to negate his parry.

An instant later the two worlds recombined. As Rian regained his bearings, he saw that the collision of his parrying hand and the hammer had actually occurred—each had recoiled from the other as if both outcomes had happened simultaneously. A surge of wind pushed him and Pitune away from each other a short distance.

Rian’s breath quickened, not just from the stamina he’d used up. What the hell was that?

Pitune, his soaked hair plastered to his face, looked just as surprised. Breaking into a grin, he glanced up at the hole in the ceiling, the rain now falling in the space between him and Rian. “Ah! A clever tactic, my friend. Well played!”

Did he not see what I just saw?

Slightly worried that the System was glitching, or that whatever reality that held this game was breaking, Rian resumed a defensive stance and waited.

“Thinking outside the box,” Pitune said, gesturing to the broken, glass ceiling. “Quite literally. Impressive, my friend. That kind of play would make you a fine contender for the Sacred Tournament.”

Rian sighed. “Yeah, that’s not gonna happen.”

For once, Pitune seemed taken aback. “Is that not your goal here? To aspire to be one of the best? How disappointing.” He opened a menu that resembled a calendar. “I believe the deadline for the second Fata Morgana is soon, yes? Barely a week away now. With a fair bit of training, I could see you qualifying next year.”

Rian sat down to let his stamina recover. Pitune seemed to be taking a break as well, and Rian trusted him enough to not take a cheap shot like this.

Eventually, Rian said, “No.”

“No?” Pitune squinted at him as if he couldn’t quite accept that answer.

“It’s out of the question for me.” Before there was any further prying into why that was, Rian continued, changing the subject: “But I’m guessing that’s your goal—to win that tournament? You seem driven enough to go after something like that.”

“Oh, no, no!” Pitune waved his empty hand. “I am but a simple man. I care only for the attention such things bring. Not victory, but the fame, the glory of competition itself!” His empty hand curled into a fist. “To struggle,” he said, rolling the r especially hard, “to fight and aspire. To be seen in the eyes of your peers on such a grand stage. There is no greater purpose.”

“So you’re in it for the money?”

“I—” Pitune, suddenly off-guard, scratched the back of his head. “Well…”

That would be a yes, Rian thought, smiling faintly to himself.

Even qualifying for the Sacred Tournament—being at rank 256 or higher—would probably be enough to attract sponsors, as he’d heard. Some people really just wanted the money that came with being in the spotlight, even temporarily.

After all, not everyone could be the best.

Ogrot’s words echoed through Rian’s mind. He slowly gritted his teeth.

Pitune swept his hammer aside, sending a spray of water droplets from it. “The minutes pass, my friend,” he said, then brandished the hammer as if to invite Rian to stand again. “There is no time to dawdle. We all must train for what lies ahead!”

***

Ranked in the top eighty-thousand, Pitune outmatched Rian. Even so, Rian held on to his confidence, knowing there was a real chance he could win a match and all the EXP that would come with it.

He had so much catching up to do, level-wise. He wanted nothing more than to be ready—to stand alongside the rest of his guild when they cornered Ogrot in the rifts.

Pitune gave Rian a harder time than Kat. At first Rian thought Pitune was simply a better player, but it steadily occurred to him that he’d gotten used to fighting Kat, her habits, her choices. Here, he was forced to learn and adapt to Pitune’s tactics mid-fight. And with Pitune being an entire league above him, Rian felt like he was always two steps behind in combat.

Rian hadn’t won a single match against him. Hours had passed with him hardly realizing. He’d been so engrossed that time had disappeared.

The EXP gain of all the fights pushed him into level 34, and his rank had jumped into the three-hundred thousands. For hours of work, the return was pitiful. Fighting Pitune was like running into a wall. Rian couldn’t seem to find a way through his defenses, and when he did it made no difference. Even the game, with its diminishing EXP rewards, was signaling to him that he wasn’t improving.

Dammit. This isn’t getting me anywhere. I need something else.

Feeling down again, at the end of another round he checked guild chat to see their progress on chasing after Ogrot. Surely by now they’d be on their way through the Rift, given how little time they had to work with.

When he checked, not a single player in Moonlight was near the Rift of Gorgheit. None of them were even in Elmguard.

Rian felt the inner coldness settle in again as he brought up his virtual keyboard and tabbed over to guild chat. What the hell are they doing?

: what’s everyone doing in Aetheria?

: ?

: weren’t we gonna go after Ogrot in Elmguard?

: uh

: anyone wanna tell him

: do not. You know the deal.

: tell me what? What are you guys doing?

: there’s been a slight change in plans, yo

: “slight” lol

: really? You’re all just giving up or what?

: it’s not that. We’re kind of busy at the moment.

: the guild doesn’t revolve around you, buddy. There’s more going on than just what you’re facing.

: yeah…sorry Cob

: something we’d been planning got pushed forward unexpectedly

: it’s unfortunate timing, that’s all

Oh come on. They’re all gonna abandon me like this?

He noticed Kat was staying silent, but even she was in Aetheria—the opposite side of the continent—with the rest of them. He opened a separate channel to her.

You are now whispering to: Katrin.

: what’s going on?

: sorry bud :(

: something came up again

: are you kidding me? After all that talk about coordinating and everything? I thought the whole guild was coming to help.

: to be honest, there’s only about three players strong enough in Moonlight to take on Ogrot

: and, well…

: but that’s more than enough, isn’t it?

: what are you even doing that’s more important than finding Yindra?

: Cob, I’m really sorry, but I can’t tell you

: it’s something we can’t even mention or it’ll compromise the operation

: “operation”? You mean like a quest or something?

: I can’t say. It’s not safe to communicate it like this, even in whispers

: but no one can see whispers, I thought. Why would it not be safe?

: right. it’s not other players finding out about what we’re doing that’s the problem

: it’s the game itself

: that probably doesn’t make any sense, but that’s all I can say. It’s risky to even mention it like this.

: I’ll explain once we’re done. I promise. I just can’t disclose anything beforehand.

: and I’m guessing this is gonna take enough time that Ogrot will probably find Yindra in the meanwhile?

: I honestly don’t know :(

: it can take about a week to get to the end of World 3 in Gorgheit, but that’s from the outside. On the inside, it’s…

: I’m sorry, Cob. There really isn’t time to explain. I have to go.

: I can’t believe you’re just tossing me aside like this, after everything

: and for what? Why would the game care if you’re going on some kind of special quest?

: “after everything.” Why are you suddenly acting so entitled? This isn’t like you, dude

: Look, I’ll do what I can later, but you need to stop whispering to me

: we’ll find Yindra some other time

: right now you’re causing more problems than you think by prying like this

: This is bullshit.

: Cob

: I’m serious.

: I’m going to block you if you don’t stop messaging me.

Rian stood there, hardly believing what he was seeing. He could feel his chance at finding Yindra slipping away. To everyone else, it was just a side quest. An irrelevant detour.

He closed his eyes. Of course. I should’ve known.

This was what he got for relying on other people.

Your trust in Kat has decreased!

WARNING: Companionship bonuses will be lost if de-leveling occurs.

Rian closed the window, anger simmering within him again.

“Shall we have a rematch?” Pitune said, but Rian walked away without saying anything. “N-…no?” His accent faltered for a moment. “Well. Next time, then!”

Rian shook his head as he went. There was no point in continuing like this. He just wasn’t strong enough yet. The balancing effect of instanced PVP wasn’t going to prepare him for the battle with Ogrot, which would undoubtedly be inside the Rifts and without balancing. And now, with the guild throwing him to the wayside, he was virtually powerless. These PVP matches weren’t preparing him adequately. He needed something more.

What he needed was to get overpowered, and fast.

He didn’t care if the odds of winning solo against Ogrot were impossible. Right now, he had to prepare for the Rift. He would have to survive whatever the game threw at him on his way there. If there was ever a time to pool every resource he had, it was right now.

Pull out all the stops.

Opening his inventory, he scrolled over to the Ezre’s Thought, the generic Godly Fragment sitting there in the grid, waiting for him all this time since his first encounter with the Pyceian Runeknight. His ticket to a Mirage skill.

Well. Let’s see what I can really do with you.