Avalon Rebirth (10 page)

Somehow it managed to survive the first shot, but just barely. It stumbled around, one leg hanging limp. Even at this distance Darin could see its health bar was firmly in the red.

“Why didn't you do that before?” he asked.

“Because you told me not to,” she retorted. “And because you were way too close to it and would have taken damage. Count yourself lucky I decided not to. If I had fired off a shot like that the rogue attack that hit you would probably have killed you.”

“It's still alive...”

Leah drew back her bow again. “Not for long. Guys, I'm firing a Force arrow. Plan accordingly.”

A moment later a shockwave ripped through the chamber, putting the archer down for good. For one awful moment Darin thought Erika had been caught up in the blast as well, but the figure that flashed away was a doppelgänger. She remained upright and fighting with relatively low damage to show for it.

The timer disappeared. Darin quickly cast heal on the entire party, then grabbed his halberd in both hands and charged back into the fray. Two down. Taji still stood, facing off against one of the rogues and taking continual damage. He wouldn't succumb, but he also couldn't hit his fast-moving opponent.

Darin could change that in a flash, though.

“Taji, I'm coming up beside you. Watch where you swing.”

“Got it.”

Darin watched the rogue's moves carefully, trying to decipher its movements. The figure traveled fast, though it was clearly visible and definitely not using flash step. If it had been there would have been nothing more than a blur. It would be difficult to predict where the rogue would turn up next.

But that was where his weapon came in. Darin didn't have to be precise like Leah or Erika. With such a long reach all he had to do was swing it in a quick, wide arc, and chances were that he'd hit something.

Darin did just that. He swung, expecting to feel the impact at any moment. But there was nothing. Absolutely nothing. He frowned and adjusted his grip, reversing the swing and coming back around with the spike of his weapon. If he couldn't get it moving forward…

He saw the enemy rogue come in for another attack and realized his strike wasn't going to connect. Darin tried to shift his aim again, but he didn't think he could reverse the swing in time. The rogue was going to be in and out before he could adjust. If only-

The impact surprised him, so much so that he almost dropped his weapon as the shaft reverberated from the blow. It took Darin a moment to even realize what had just happened. The enemy rogue had jumped right into the path of his swing and suffered a grievous blow. Darin brought his weapon around and prepared to finish his foe off, but he never got the chance. A rapier slid right into the armor joint on the neck, killing the rogue instantly.

“So, that's the end of them all,” Erika said.

“Wait, so you finished off the other one?” Taji asked.

Darin made a face. “You killed it in a one-on-one duel? How'd you manage that?”

“I had reach, and my weapon is really quick and easy to maneuver. I used that to keep the enemy at a distance and then I picked my spots. It took a while, but I was able to finish it off without taking much damage.”

“You put all of us to shame,” Leah said. She walked up to join them, free of her bindings. “I got one kill because I hit it with two destruction spells, and the other two just ganged up on their kills.”

Darin looked over at Taji. “So did you swing at the second one?”

“Yeah, I was kind of hoping that we could at least corner it. And it worked out for the best, because I wasn't expecting it to just jump into your swing.”

“Limitations of an AI,” Leah shrugged. “It's better than anything out there in the cave, but it still can't completely replicate human behavior.”

“I'll take it. That thing was really starting to get annoying.”

Erika knelt down. “Speaking of which, any idea what these things are?” She lifted up a black stone that glinted in the low light of the cavern.

“Never seen it before,” Leah said.

“Yeah, neither have I. Are there more of them?” Taji asked.

The group quickly searched the rest of the chamber and found three more.

“I guess that it's a loot drop from the boss battle?” Erika said. “But it doesn't say what it is.”

“That probably means it needs an appraisal,” Leah said.

Darin nodded. “Yeah, that's probably in order. I have a friend that can do it. But first we have to finish this place up.”

“Aren't we done?” Erika asked.

“With the fighting. But not with what we came here for. There's one more chamber,” he said, pointing to a tunnel that had just opened up at the far end of the room. “That confirms we completed the Cave of Origin, and it also has a teleport portal to the outside. Unless you want to walk all the way back?”

“I'll pass, thanks.”

A stone pedestal stood in the center of the next chamber, waiting for them as they approached. As soon as all of them were inside the passageway behind them shut, and the pillar lit up with lines of brilliant yellow light.

“What's our team name going to be?” Taji asked.

Erika smiled. “Putting us on the spot, huh?”

“No, I mean we don't actually get to choose a name. The cave randomly selects one and gives it to us. That's how every team that takes part in the tournament gets them.”

“That sounds kind of disappointing. What if you don't like it?”

“They tend to be fairly neutral names at worst,” Leah told her. “Nothing embarrassing.”

“But still, wouldn't you like to have the ability to make it up?”

Darin shook his head. “I never really thought about it that way. I guess I always believed that it was the team that made the name, not the other way around. That our performance in the tournaments would be what made the name famous.”

“I agree with that,” Leah added. “We weren't great because of Silver Star. Silver Star was great because we made it that way.”

“Huh, that's pretty profound, actually. Almost sappy, in a way.”

Darin cracked a smile. “Well, let's not stand around all day. I want to see what name we earned at least.”

He walked forward and put his hand on the pedestal. The light shinned ever brighter for a moment, before it arced up into the air and formed a series of letters.

Their name was Raven's Call.

T
hey had cleared
the first hurdle, but that was only one step in a long journey to the top. The newly-formed Raven's Call might have qualified for the D-rank tournament, but they still had many things to completely before they were fully prepared.

Leah walked along the streets of the main hub, shopping, observing, picking up information and gossip wherever she could. Her team had the skills to challenge for the top, but they also only had very basic equipment at this point. If they wanted to make a serious challenge to move up to C-rank they needed as many advantages as they could get, even if they were small.

But it wasn't just a matter of buying the equipment with the highest stats and using it. There were always restrictions as to what they could use depending on their rank. A-rank equipment was better than B rank and required a higher skill level to use, and so on and so forth.

Their skill level was a point value directly tied to how many enemies they had defeated, and in the case of the tournaments it worked in tiers. A D-rank player could have killed the exact number of enemies that an A-rank player had, but once they stepped inside the arena the cap went into place. The players could only use skills and equipment up to a certain level until they progressed to the next rank.

And then there was the issue of the point values that came along with everything. All players had a point value determined by their equipment and skill level, which translated into how powerful the team ranked and how many points their foes received when they defeated them. A team in the D-rank with maxed-out skills and equipment would be worth 20,000 points, 5,000 for each individual player.

It seemed like nothing more than a formality of the scoring system, but Leah's time in the A-ranks had taught her far differently. The tallest blade of grass was the first one to get cut, or so they said, and it was no different in the Avalon Online tournaments. In multi-team matches, the strongest team was often targeted by all the others if they had a significant advantage.

And strength was a relative term anyhow. Support magic was considered to be less powerful than destruction magic by the points system, but used correctly it could be just as strong, or even capable of exceeding it in some cases. Her team's fight against the Black Wolves had been proof of that.

The enemy archer had also given her some ideas about a possible new character build…

But there was another quirk to the points system, one that many teams tried to manipulate to their advantage. There were dozens of stages that a match could take place inside, ranging from forests, to swamps, to mountains, to caverns and many more locations. Every place had its quirks, its secrets and pitfalls that could greatly influence the outcome of a battle.

That was where the points system came into play. In every matchup, unless the stage was already defined, the lowest-ranking team was given the choice to pick the stage. There were limits, of course: once a team used a stage they couldn't pick it in any successive match-ups should they advance in the tournament. But even so, that gave the lower team a great advantage.

It was enough to spark upsets in the first round, since the lower team had the ability to know what stage they were picking and plan accordingly. Some teams even used that as a central part of their strategy, relying on terrain to carry them to victory. If they knew what they'd be up against then they could lower their point values just enough that they'd be able to pick the location in every matchup. That was plenty possible as well, and Silver Star had done it more than once.

There was risk when choosing that strategy, of course. Since the point totals were gathered up to the deadline and release en masse there was no guarantee that a team could accurately predict what the others would do. They could lower their point totals even further to make sure that they were always able to pick the stage, but then they ran the risk of being severely underpowered. A team had tried that once against Silver Star, making an elaborate plan that relied on the swamp stage. It would have worked perfectly, except for the fact that they were too weak to stand against a powerful foe. Once Silver Star had figured out the enemy trap they had simply steamrolled over them with brute force.

That was just one of the parts of the metagame that went on in the tournament scene, with teams trying to gain even the slightest edge over their opponents. Leah didn't think it would be much of a problem in the D-ranks with so many inexperienced teams starting out, but habit made her think about it anyhow. And if they were going back to A-rank then it wouldn't do to have that skill wither away.

She was in the process of moving to another shop when a voice called out to her.

“Out on the town alone?” Leslie asked as she walked up, her long black hair flowing behind her almost like it was being tugged at by a gentle breeze.

“Still have the hair effect on, I see,” Leah commented.

“It looks good. Especially for someone in a team called Night Dragon,” Leslie said. “Besides, I want to look stylish, if I can. If you can't be the best, at least be entertaining.”

“Oh I can't argue with that. How have you been?”

“Been better. We lost in the tournament semifinals, though it was pretty close. But we still moved up in ranking since we finished third.”

“Wouldn't everyone since there was one less team?”

“Yeah, well, we moved up four spots anyhow, so it wasn't just a reshuffling because you guys weren't there.”

“I wouldn't be surprised if you were up at the top before long.”

Leslie laughed. “Ah, thanks for the vote of confidence. And this is probably going to sound horrible, but I'm not so sure. That's the goal. Getting to the top, I mean. I'm just not quite sure we have what it takes to do it. We can get near it. It's just that one little hump...”

“I know what that's like.”

“Huh, do you really?”

Leah looked up as another voice joined in the conversation. This one was male, and it sounded very familiar…

She recognized the newcomer at once, but she didn't quite believe it either. The person before he was familiar enough: a medium build and height, light-colored skin and short-cropped blonde hair, but he wasn't dressed in silver like she had usually seen him wearing.

Leslie looked over her shoulder at him too. “Well, you seem to have a lot of nerve, just interrupting us like that. And for even showing your face around here for that matter.”

Leo shrugged. “I'm not sure what you're getting at. I'm a player here too.”

“You know exactly what I mean. I-”

Leah interrupted her. “It's fine. I'm sure he's smart enough to know that there's bad blood all around. Though coming around just to taunt someone is pretty low. Way lower than I thought he'd go.”

Leo gave her a confused look. “I'm not here to taunt you.”

“It sure sounds like it,” Leslie observed. “And why should she believe you? You're the reason they were busted back down to D-rank.”

“The commission-”

“Yeah, the commission said this and that, but only an idiot believes them. Anyone with a brain knows who's actually at fault. We watched the match. Are you really going to claim that Darin and Leah are at fault for that?”

Leo shrugged. “We suffered the same fate as them.”

“Yeah, I bet. Except you were probably planning on something like that happening, weren't you? So can you really count that? Or are you just going to keep going on and on about some sob story that no one believes. And-”

Leah cut her off. “Hold on a second.” She turned to Leo. “What were you saying about me knowing something?”

“Oh, that. I was wondering if you really knew what it was like not to be able to get over the hump, that's all,” Leo told her. “Not like that was really ever much of a problem.”

“So what are you doing?”

“Walking around. Talking. Recruiting. You wouldn't be willing to join a team, would you?”

“Is that even a serious question?” Leslie spoke up.

“That depends on the answer. Her answer,” Leo replied with an acidic tone.

“Sorry, but there's too much going on there. Plus, I have my own team.”

“With Darin, huh? Figures. You were always the loyal one in the group. I would have asked for you to join us, but I think you would have given the game away.”

Leah looked at him in disbelief. “What… What did you say?”

“OK, that was a poor choice of words. But the scene at the top was becoming pretty lonely. Did you really want things to stay the way they were? Where we were all just four soulless robots putting on the same show year after year?”

“You had no problems taking the money from that,” Leslie pointed out.

“Maybe I should have had problems with that. Maybe not giving back all the money from that makes me a hypocrite. But it doesn't mean what I'm saying isn't true either.”

“So this was planned from the beginning?” Leah asked, wondering if she should delve any further.

What did it matter? She had a new team that with a clear goal in front of them. They needed to focus on the D rank tournament if they wanted to have any success. And yet, she still wanted to know. Her questions about the betrayal hadn't been answered, and as loathe as she was to admit it, Leah at least wanted to know why it had happened.

“Define beginning.”

“You know, you're starting to become really insufferable, and I don't remember you being that way,” Leslie said.

“Maybe it's because I started seeing things a different way and got sick of just going along with the flow,” he retorted. “If that makes people hate me, so be it. I'd rather be honest with myself than pretend everything is fine just to get along.”

“You certainly did a good job of it up until you stabbed us both in the back,” Leah commented. “Would it have killed you to warn us about that before or after the match, not during it?”

Leo looked away. “Yeah, I wasn't happy about that either. But that was how things worked out.”

Leah felt a flash of anger despite herself. The way he had just casually responded irked her. She felt the urge to punch him, but tried to restrain her anger. It wouldn't do her any good, and she didn't want to lose face by striking out at him. Instead, she responded with words.

“So that's it? You're not happy that you threw away our name and got us all punished, just because you and Jon couldn't be bothered to bring this up outside of a match?”

“You're really looking worse and worse here,” Leslie said.

Leo looked down at his feet. “Yeah, I know. And I'm not happy about the way I acted. But it was what I thought I had to do at the time.”

“What you thought you had to do?” Leah asked.

He looked straight at her. “Yeah. I'm not proud about the way it went down, but it happened. And the breakup had to happen too.”

“Why?”

“Did you not see it? Did you really not see it? What happened to us while we were at the top? Once we took the top spot everything became about winning. When was the last time that we went out into the overworld, huh? When was the last time we did anything other than fight in the arenas?”

“So that's it?”

“What do you mean, that's it? Are you really happy with that? We were nothing more than a machine. Everything about us was focused on winning and nothing else. And the four of us were just cogs in the machine. There's nothing left of the old Silver Star. It's dead, and I couldn't be happier. That thing we were at the end was an abomination.”

Leah didn't respond. She couldn't, not when she had similar thoughts in the past. They weren't as strong or as disdainful as Leo's but still, she had felt something like that as well. Silver Star may have been a triumph, but their reign at the top of the A-rank division had changed something, fundamentally altered they way they looked at the virtual world. When it stopped being about adventure and goals and just became a matter of numbers and tactics, that as where the magic of this place died.

And they must have felt it. From what Leo had just told her Jon believed it as well. The team's soul had been ripped out as they fended off challengers to their throne. At first they fought with the same fire they had while they pushed toward the top, but gradually it died away. What replaced it was cold, efficient, effective. It had brought them a lot of success, fame and wealth, but…

But it was a shell of what they used to be, and Leah had felt its effects even as they fought to stay on top. Nothing except winning mattered, and everything was focused on it. Even when she was outside of the virtual world she thought about it constantly.

“I can't argue about that,” Leah told him quietly. “I know how you feel. I felt it too. But there were better ways to go about it.”

“I know that.”

“So does that mean you're out of the tournament?” Leslie demanded.

Leo turned around. “For now. We'll be back to claim the top spot with a new team. And we'll do it the right way. But for now we'll take the time to regroup.”

“Don't drag another team down with you like that,” Leah said.

“I could tell you the same thing,” he replied. “You're in the next tournament, right? I know very well that neither of you two can sit out. You're both too competitive.”

“Darin is the competitive one, not her,” Leslie said. “Though I don't see how that's even a relevant part of the discussion.”

Leo shook his head. “They both are. She may have a bit more control over it, or maybe she doesn't want to admit it. But she's still ridiculously competitive.”

“Everyone in the tournaments is competitive. Everyone at the A-rank level is ridiculously competitive. Are you sure you're not just lashing out because you couldn't hack it at the top of the division?”

“I said that, did I? That I was sick of the whole thing at the top. And I'm sick of the attitude up there too. Everyone thinks that there's only one way to do it, and everything has to be treated seriously. Everything has to be taken seriously and there's the right way to do things. What happened to it being fun? What happened to being able to take some joy out of it? We're all just mindless drones.”

“And you're just going to complain about it, huh?”