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Finally, Teddy broke free, covering the distance to the wizard in a few powerful leaps. He was already ripping the wizzy's shield apart when a new spark glistened in my opponent's hands. I barely noticed his smirk as I hurried to bring my hits up into the yellow zone, restoring about 30% life. It wasn't fair. Fortune shouldn't be so one-sided!
The skies flashed with another tracer. Bang!
Servitude Mirror effect activated. The damage dealt to you has been reflected toward your summoned creature.
Lady Luck, I was wrong. Thanks! Furious, the wizzy began casting a new spell when Teddy and myself finally broke through his fifteen-hundred-gold shield. His blood flew everywhere. Enraged, the demoness broke free, too, forcing the wizzy to drop his spell.
Then he surprised me. He cast a Random Portal, a quick spell which allowed you to evade an attack. Only workable within the limits of the arena, it was still enough to help him retreat. He went flying about twenty feet, unable to begin a new spell. My beasties went for him. Another teleport, this time to the far end of the arena, was some three seconds' run for my pets. He sent two fire bolts my way and teleported again. We started playing chase: a fire bolt, a teleport, then another, all over again.
His tactics were quite original. All those aerobatics had equaled our DpS. In theory, whoever had the most mana could now win. If I lost mine, I would be dead within a couple of minutes, unable to restore life. Actually, I shouldn't have blamed the rings. Now that I had enough stats, Lady Luck seemed to become more balanced. I kept resisting every third spell and avoiding quite a bit of damage. My two beasties kept getting to him so by the time both of us ran out of mana, he only had half life left.
By then, I was already empty. My casting looked more like hand-waving. Mentally, I was apologizing to everyone who was about to lose their money.
The stands shook with the fury of all those who'd counted on a quick 30 or 50% to their money. Now their stakes were about to give up the ghost.
The wizard pirouetted once more and froze. But unlike him, I still had my guns about me. In a spray of blood, my pets had finally sunk their teeth into sweet magic flesh. The wizard raised his hands in the air. Was he going to surrender? If he was a perma or playing in full immersion, then it could hurt, of course. Not much—a bit like being attacked by a swarm of mosquitoes on a summer night. Not that it mattered. The rules didn't provide for surrendering in the arena. My shark-tooth pups were welcome to him. Like myself when nervous, I too started eating all sorts of junk.
Congratulations! You've won the semi-final of the East Castle Guest Tournament!
400 points Fame received!
I left the arena to the audience's uproar for the third time that day. I was all done in—a slack mass of burned-out nerves. Wonder if in the virtual world your digital nerve cells could regenerate?
I turned and walked into Taali's hands. A very excited Eric was prancing around us. "Dude, we did it!"
Yeah, right. He'd been a big help. But I was too tired to protest, so I just nodded to him, smiling. After all, I'd just earned myself a grand, another six hundred for my girl and two grand for my friend. Plus I'd saved a whole lot of strangers' money.
Talk about the devil. Dan didn't fail to show up. I just hoped he wouldn't ask for a confidential report in triplicate.
He was in a good mood. "Way to go," he slapped my shoulder. "He had a trick or two up his sleeve. All those teleports and the opening sequence, all those meteors—it's not the school of Fire, but an Air and Earth combo. When I saw the third one coming, I thought that was the end of you. Great job, seriously. Now you have fifteen minutes. You can listen to me as you rest. The rogue did the paladin in. His technique is as blunt as a crowbar. Stealth behind your back followed by a killing combo. Sprint, stealth. He's leveled for arena practice. Must be pla
Gri
Then he turned back to me. "What do you know about combat tactics? Tell me."
I shrugged and gave his words some thought. "I allow him to stealth past me, then take out the Torch. It allows me to see the target. Then I kill him."
Eric grunted, impressed by my brevity. "Well, right. Don't forget to control him. He knows you will, so he's wearing the right gear. You need some different control spells that won't allow him to break free and hide in stealth."
"Did I say otherwise? You have something to offer?"
He nodded and reached into his bag producing a pair of enormous, weird-shaped steel gauntlets. He pressed a clasp or something which rattled, releasing silvery blades.
Wi
Item class: Rare
Weapon type: for combat mount only
Damage 46-58, Speed 2.4, Durability 190/220.
Effect: Gives a 11% chance to blind target with moonlight, paralyzing it for 1.6 sec.
Awesome. Teddy would love them. I would love them myself if I could afford them.
"Aha. Claws of Wi
Dan produced a handful of rings and poured them into my open hand. "These will bring you up to the limit. Wi
Oh. I'd hoped he wouldn't remember them. Never mind. My i
The sight of my agony made Dan laugh. "I promise you that if you win the final, I won't ask for this stuff back. Whatever you have is yours. Wait a sec. I got a message."
His eyes clouded as he switched to his inbox. "I see. Bets are six to one against you. Don't put too much pressure on our broker. If you want to bet, go to the other two."
The more you have, the more you want. I had three grand, Taali only two. And this seemed to be a safe thing. We could be missing out on a whole lot of cash. It was sink or swim.
I turned to Dan. "I don't suppose you could lend me some money for half an hour?"
He gave me an appraising look. I hated to be indebted to him of all people, but we were already up to our ears in his little schemes so the least we could do was put the situation to good use.
"Very well," he finally said. "I have some idea of how much you've bet. I'll send word to Mr. Simonov and he'll double it. Good enough?"
"Perfect. Thanks!"
"It'll all come good," he said slowly, making it clear it was no free ride.
Taali gave me a frightened look as if saying, are you sure we have to do it? I lay a soothing hand on her knee: cheer up, babe; we'll make it.
Dan jumped to his feet. In a typically digital gesture, he squinted his eyes at the virtual clock. "That's it. You've got five minutes. Better get ready."
I knew what he meant. I summoned Teddy and showed him his new outfit. He even seemed to stand taller when he clicked the blades in an out a few times sending sparks flying over the paving stones. I leaned back against his warm side and closed my eyes. Hummungus froze as if afraid of disturbing his master. Was it my imagination or was he really changing? Growing more, er, alive? Showing some glimpses of emotion? Or was I going off my trolley?