Might as Well

For a long moment, he stared at them, and they stared at him. Then a guy in the back snorted, and the silence was broken.

Sam gave them a sloppy smile and shrug as the rest of them ignored the guy’s guffaws and stared at him stone-faced.

“So, what seems to be the issue?” he asked. Naturally, not because he wasn’t clear on their goal, but because he hoped to keep them talking while he figured out a way to get out.

Apparently, the guy behind the encirclement was smarter than he thought. Using the entire thing as a simple bait was inspired. No matter where Sam decided to break through, they would just have to teleport there with the elite team while the rest of the force converged on the target. Hella exploitable now that he knew about it, but for the first time, it was rather annoying.

Still, all was not lost.

The guy in the lead had taken the bait, took a measured step forward, lifted his longsword, pointed it at Sam, and began talking.

“You were foolish to tangle with the Steel Lions, idiot!” He grinned, showing off his wicked grin, and the rest of his team began unsheathing their weapons. Sam could even feel mana gathering around several of them, in a few different flavors, but mostly fire. The demonic assassins slowly began to shuffle around, trying to spread out. “And now you’ll taste our power!”

‘Right, so he is not the leader. Who is it, actually?’ The guy was too arrogant to be a leader. A public puppet leader, sure. But not an actual one. ‘There!’ He saw one of the women glancing at the rogue at the back, dressed in a complete leather outfit with no identifying marks or symbols, head hidden under a hood.

“Right, that’s why you are up front, ready to be made into a meatshield…”

The guy just snorted at him.

“I lead this team, fool. What I say goes!” he declared proudly, puffing up his chest and glancing back at his teammates. Some of them gave him an insincere smile, but the rest kept their eyes on Sam. It clearly showed who was ex-military and who was just a player playing their part.

He had to admire their discipline, but it was rather annoying. Still, he had a pretty good map of the surroundings and had some idea about how his enemy would behave when the fight began.

The fight was inevitable, but Sam still wanted to see if he could talk them down, giving the good ol' charm a last try.

“I don’t suppose we could talk it out?” he asked, lowering his sword ever slightly while pretending to shuffle around in fear, but instead he took up a stance.

The future meatshield just scoffed again.

“Hah! Keep on dreaming, fool! The boss has ordered your death and we’re here to deliver your head to him!”

Sam saw several people wince when the guy said that.

“Oh, really? Your boss? Who is it? Because, honestly, I don’t remember pissing anyone off so much that they would roll out the red carpet this much…” he spoke, keeping a confused look on his face while he prepared his spells. It would be a tricky bit of timing, but he was confident he could pull it off.

“Haha, what a noob! You don’t even know who leads the Steel Lions? Let me tell you, it’s better if you learn now and bow your head because we are going to rule this game! Steel Lions is led by–“

He was interrupted by one of the stone-faced military types. “Shut the fuck up, Brad!”

‘Because, of course, his name is Brad…’ Sam mused. “What? Is it a secret?”

Brad stayed silent, realizing that he might have almost said something that he shouldn’t, and the unnamed guy who interrupted him continued talking. To Sam’s senses, he felt the most like fire. Probably one of the strongest ones in the bunch.

“You!” He pointed at Brad. “Shut up!” Then he pointed at Sam. “And you! Just fucking die!”

Instantly, at least a dozen spells were fired at Sam. Everything from Flame Spears to fireballs, to some rather weird things, including a dagger radiating heat as the blade was iridescent orange. The assassins simply vanished, but Sam still could sense their odious presence through his Mana Sense.

He simply cast a Shadow Cloud on himself, which was instantly pierced through by the spells, skills, and miscellaneous ammunition. Then he used his earth mana to open a hole under himself and dropped down, dodging all the attacks without any trouble.

They were professionals, so they aimed everywhere. To his sides, above him, and body center. Sam smirked and waited a few heartbeats for the call while he prepared the next spell.

“He is underground!” came the call, and Sam moved.

In the same movement, he affixed the Crystal Rebreather to his face, just in case they decided to use some kind of poison, and launched himself high up in the sky with his Wind Manipulation while releasing several illusions of himself with Shadow Mirage as they seemingly sprung from nowhere. They ran away, each in a different direction.

Naturally, he knew they wouldn’t fool his enemies long, but it was enough to give him a little breathing room.

He hung up in the air for a second and zeroed in one of the demonic assassins.

Sam grinned, focused on his sword to envelop it with wind, and then began falling.

“Dead!”

“Fuck! That was an illusion too!”

“Where is he?”

“I can still sense him!”

He landed on one of the demonic assassins with a wet thud, the guy just splattering into a fine mist with a little help of a small wind bomb.

Unfortunately for the group against him, he landed opposite of his starting position, directly behind the group. He could have used the opportunity to flee, but he was sure that they had something that would prevent that. No, he had to keep close to the group, which meant killing them.

As the people whirled around, he grinned, raised one of his feet, and slammed it down, letting loose a literal earth-shaking Ground Shake spell.

The stagger didn’t last long, but it was just enough for him to spring forward, skewering another hidden demonic cultist, and then he found himself awash in a sea of fire.

He could feel the Mana Shield getting damaged, but thankfully, the skill wasn’t geared toward damage but instead area and vision denial. Through his Mana Sense, he could already see them spreading around, probably expecting him to be disoriented and damaged.

The disgusting magic of the cultists surged and rushed toward his position.

‘I really need to get those purifying spells…’ he lamented to himself as he hunkered down, exactly two steps away from his original position, and summoned a shield made of wind while covering its existence with a Shadow Shield.

While the fire raged around him, he had a short second to communicate with Lucky. “Attack the mage on signal!” he blurted out, facing his own shadow. And then the demonic mana slammed into his shield.

This time, he had to actively channel mana into the shield to prevent it from breaking down. Sam gritted his teeth as he sensed another surge of fire magic heading toward him. The dark magic assaulted his shield and the sea of fire began to die down around him.

“Blessed by the forges of Tarn, let my enemies be consumed by the all-consuming fire!”

He heard the spell incantation and just let out a sigh. Instead of reacting he let the wind mana surge around him and waited for the spell while the remnants of the dark miasma splashed down on the surrounding ground, sizzling with malevolence.

The spell was a simple spear of fire that he knew would explode on hit. The incantation was much longer than the woman used, so he expected the fire would probably eat through several layers of his Mana Shield.

He straightened out, casting a dismissive glance at the warriors ready to act if the magic didn’t work, and looked directly at the mage as the fire spear sizzled about her outstretched arms and readied his own magic.

Then before he could blink, two of the warriors held out their hands, their gloves glowing in mystical runes as chains appeared around his ankles rooting him to the ground. He looked down at the glowing chains and then back at the warriors as he flexed his mana against it. The shine on the gloves intensified, and the warriors began to sweat. Apparently, the gloves, while prime artifacts, used the owners’ mana.

“So, not fair…”

“BURN IN THE NAME OF TARN!”

The spear was let loose, and a lot of things happened.

Sam used his Mana Disruption to shatter the chains and threw his wind mana against the incoming spear. True, he could’ve easily dodged it, but there were more ways to skin a cat. At the same time, the woman who cast the rather powerful spell let out a scream of pain as the giant jaws of a wolf appeared under her and chomped down on her legs.

The cracks and screams coming from her were however swallowed by the rush and roar as wind mana and fire mana clashed.

For a long moment, the flash of explosion blinded everybody as the fire raged, fanned by the wind that he kept feeding, and even he had trouble keeping the fire back.

Naturally, using his focus, the remaining two demonic assassins launched themselves at his seemingly unprotected back.

The moment the two daggers would have pierced his back, he once again activated Shadow Transformation, its cooldown finished and let the two idiots fall forward, straight into the blazing inferno right in front of him. He also, accidentally, mind you, let up on his control so the fire ‘managed’ to get dangerously close to him. The two assassins were turned into ash within a brief second by the wind-enhanced blazing inferno, fueled by the god of fire.

He didn’t have any breathing room as he could sense several groups approaching the area, while the remaining enemies rushed forward with swords and other implements of death swinging with anger and disbelief.

Sam gave them a smirk and simply stopped the wind mana holding back the fire in front of him. The blazing inferno instantly exploded, bathing the area with another sea of fire. However, this time, he wasn’t the only one suffering from it.

As the fire washed over him, he could hear the cries of pain from the remaining enemies as he rushed forward, directly at the two remaining mages who were still chanting, their words almost inaudible.

Their mana was also weird. Instead of gathering around them, it was evenly distributed around them in a wide area. Sam suspected that it was what would prevent him from leaving.

Lucky was kept occupied by one of the people with a giant shield and enough metal on him to build a bridge, so he was the only one who could take them out.

He was halfway there when the warriors recovered and the chains once again began to bind his feet. A dismissive Mana Disruption was sent at them, but to his surprise he was stuck in one place, his spell having no effect.

Looking back, he saw the singed group facing him, two people with hands outstretched and glowing while two others behind them, their hands on their shoulders. ‘Mana Transfer, huh?’

He deliberately ignored the rogue who was prowling around, as he vanished the moment the battle began. Sam expected him to strike the moment Sam thought he had won. ‘What a pragmatic guy…’ Sam sighed, half in admiration, half in exasperation.

Then he raised his sword and sent a barrage of Wind Blades at the two chanting mages. The barrage was interrupted by a thin shield that sprung up in front of them. One of the mages stopped chanting, opening his eyes and stared at Sam.

Sam simply grinned and upped the speed at which he sent the blades.

One second. The guy’s eyes widened. Behind him, he could hear cursing. The army of people was a few minutes out.

Two seconds. The guy visibly shuddered under the strain, and Sam could feel the fragility of the shield. The other one’s chanting turned a little desperate.

Three seconds. The first crack on the shield.

Four seconds. Cracks crisscrossed the shield, and the guys behind it were visibly sweating.

Five seconds.

CRACK

The shield shattered and the first mage threw himself in front of the other with a silent cry, absorbing most of the Wind Blades, falling to the ground, dead.

The chains around his legs tightened, but he still ignored them. Instead, he raised his sword again and called out while he gathered the required mana. Behind him, he could hear the unmistakable sound of a cork being removed from the bottle. Probably mana potions…

“Lucky, fear!”

Instantly, his trusty companion let out a howl that echoed around the scorched plains, causing every person to flinch a little. The chanting stopped and his sword swung down, letting loose his own spear construct of elemental magic.

The mage tried to raise a shield but thanks to the flinch, he was too late. The spear went through his torso, leaving a nice hole and a dead body behind. Instantly the weird mana began to disperse with Sam still having no idea what it did.

He turned around, still rooted to one place, the chains holding him down not vanishing just because of a small flinch.

Taking stock of his mana, he couldn’t help but wince. The prodigious mana reserves that so far allowed him to skate through everything were dangerously low. His Mana Shield had at most two layers to it and he was rather exhausted from the mental strain.

Still, as he watched the remaining players regroup around the two holding him still, while the rogue lurked behind him, observing, he couldn’t help but feel exhilarated.

This was the true magic of the game.

Elemental energies clashing, gambits played against each other, secret techniques revealed and countered.

Truly a wondrous game…

Sam would definitely be rewatching this fight after he was finished. But for now, he fought to finish before the horde of players arrived. A quick calculation told him he had around two minutes before the closest group arrived. ‘Just enough time for me to finish…’

The spell that they would have used to keep him there was gone, so he could have fled, but Sam wanted to finish the fight. It was irrational, but still, he wanted to prove to himself and to these idiots that he wasn’t somebody worth messing with.

Now the only question remained: Would Katie’s father understand that?