Chapter 42: Iron Dragon (6)

The Paladin jumped back from the thrust to create more space between him and his foe, but Thadius had hidden once again, determined to try once more. This time he came from the side, slashing at the warrior’s helmet. A brilliant flash of white left an afterimage as a deep groove was made. The result was less than satisfactory.

’If that’s the case. Then I’ll have to try my theory.

His dagger, infused with Holy Fighting Aura, could get passed the high defense of the metal. Yet, he still needed more strength to push it a little farther…

“...and let my enemy know that he walks on sacred ground.” the Paladin chanted. While Thadius had been using his time to think of a plan. His opponent was preparing for a huge skill.

’Shi-’

“SMITE!” the Paladin bellowed. A huge wave of white flames washed out from him in every direction. Thadius crouched to the ground, using his shield to take the brunt of the attack. Holy flames still licked at him from the edges, and they were much hotter than before.

“Argh!!”

[-6765hp]

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Thadius rolled into the sand to try and kill the flames. Most of them were put out, but the fire highlighted him while his presence was hidden, leading the Paladin directly to him. He rose to one knee and raised his shield to stop the Slash that aimed to take his life. Then another, and another as the Paladin slashed at him in desperation.

’Now or never!’Thadius thought as he reached out to stab the Paladin’s knee. Unlike the previous attacks, he waited until the blade was inches away from his target before he fused the weapon with his Aura. Then when the dagger pierced the armor, he returned his Aura to his body and drove the blade in with sheer strength.

The Paladin screamed as he fell to the ground. Thadius was on top of him in an instant, ready to drive the blade home. Just before he went for the kill, he pulled on the chainmail that had given him so much trouble to find the familiar chain hanging around his neck.

“Yield, and I will spare you.” Thadius declared through gritted teeth. Had he killed the man with his first attack, he would have ended yet another life. He was disappointed at himself for acting so rash.

“I will not yield! Do what you will! I will gladly go to Thena’s side.” the Paladin spat.

“Last chance. Do you really want to end your life in a coliseum when you could be out there doing your Goddess’ will?”

The Paladin lay still as he thought. Thadius watched as the emotions played on his face. In the end, he just nodded and dropped his sword.

[+12 Wisdom]

“I’m glad you saw reason.” Thadius said as he helped the warrior off the ground.

Just as they were making their way back to the gate, one of the organizers came running out to Thadius.

“Sir, this is a bit unorthodox, but we’d like you to start the semi-final match immediately. We have an exceedingly large number of bronze tournament participants today, and we would like to get the last tournament underway as soon as possible.” he gasped as he leaned over to catch his breath.

“I understand, but I’d like to have my sword before we begin. There is a dwarven smith by the name of Durnon who was working on it.”

“I’ll retrieve it immediately!” the organizer said as he ran back into the compound.

“Then I’ll take my leave. May your Goddess watch over you.” the Paladin said as he patted Thadius on the back. Life or death struggles had a funny way of making friends out of enemies.

“I’ll ask her to watch over you as well. Don’t be too quick to throw away your life in the future.”

“If my Goddess demands it, then I will give it gladly. Though… I understand what you’re trying to say.” the Paladin said as he headed back towards the gate he came out of. Just as he was leaving, the organizer returned with Thadius’ sword. Sweat was pouring down his face.

“Here..you go. The match… will begin immediately.” he said. Right on cue, drums echoed across the stadium. The organizer sprinted for the closing gate as if he gained a second wind, and Thadius turned to face a blue robed figure whos face was hidden beneath a large hood.

With a staff in one hand, he lifted the other in Thadius’ direction. Thadius braced himself for a projectile as he raised his shield, erasing his presence and moving closer to the mage in a wide arc.

Suddenly, water gushed forth from his hand, turning the field into muddy ground. The move didn’t stop Thadius’ approach, nor did it give away his position. Masters of Hide Presence didn’t leave any traces of their passage no matter what ground they walked on.

Thadius soon discovered the mage’s intentions as he pointed his staff toward the wet ground.

“Ice Age.”

A wave of frost quickly spread from the staff to the wet ground, freezing everything in its path. Unable to escape the range of the AOE spell, Thadius was instantly encased in ice.

“Not so tough now…” the mage muttered as he aimed another spell at his frozen opponent. Against really troublesome opponents, all he had to do was freeze and destroy.

He formed several ice lances to finish off Thadius, but while he was preparing the spell. Steam started to rise rapidly from the frozen man. Then the ice cracked and shattered as Thadius shook off the the frozen chunks.

“What!?” the mage cried out as he shot out his ice lances.

Thadius just grinned as he sprinted through the rain of spears. He finally got his opportunity to fight a mage. He just hoped that Curtis was watching.

The mage wouldn’t let him approach so easily, shooting out a jet of flame from both hands as he retreated further. Thadius couldn’t see the mage past his shield as he blocked the flames, but he honed in on the mages presence to drive him into a corner.

[+2409hp]

The heat of the fire started to warm the steel touching Thadius’ arm. He grit his teeth as a scream tried to escape his lips. If he threw his shield down now, he would know the true meaning of hot.

The mage shut off the flamethrower as soon as he realized Thadius was still pushing through the flames. Then aimed his staff at his hand, spraying water into his burning hand like he did in the match before. From inside, he could set the stage for some of his deadlier spells.

A dagger to his shoulder interrupted his spell casting.

’It’s a lot harder than it looks.’ Thadius thought as he sprinted for the wounded mage. He had aimed for the throat.

The mage raised his staff in his uninjured arm. Knowing he could at least give Thadius pause with his ice magic, he pointed his staff at the ground. He was interrupted again as a sword flew in his direction. He managed to dodged it, but the maneuver cost him precious time.

Thadius bashed the mage with his shield, sending him sprawling to the ground. Then he grabbed his sword and drove it into man’s chest before he could even have time to breath.

“I caught you mage! See you in a few days.” Thadius smiled as he looked down at his fellow Traveler.

The mage smiled in return. “Hellfire…” he gurgled with his last breath.

“.....!”

Thadius was immediately engulfed in flames.

[-6001hp]

He screamed as he jumped into the moist sand in an attempt to quell the fire. His skin boiled and sizzled as it burned. The smell of his own flesh rose to his nose and he gagged while he rolled.

[-6709hp]

The last of his health was consumed by the dying fire. Had he been at full health at the start of the match, he probably would have survived.

[You’ve been incapacitated

00:01:59:57]

---

It was the first message he received when he opened his eyes to his hospital room.

He took a deep breath as he looked at the figure sitting in a chair in the corner.

Curtis slowly turned around in his chair with a mocking look on his face. In his lap was a lotion for burn wounds.

“Ointment?” he asked comically.

“Shut the hell up!” Brandon laughed. As pissed as he was, Curtis had been fully prepared to rub it in.

“Man, I told you about those mages. I told you! Your face when he lit your ass on fire was like ‘Mercy!!’. Ha ha!”

“I had half my sword in his chest! I had him!”

“But you underestimated him and got roasted. Had you used your pressure, you would have completely overwhelmed him. That’s what you should have done instead of taking on a mage with any long range moves.”

“But I have throw!” Brandon protested.

“How’d that work out for you?” Curtis laughed as he removed the Deep Dive from Brandon’s head. “You just learned it, and you expect it to be immediately ready for combat? And let’s not even get started on you throwing away your primary and secondary weapon. What if he had summoned some sort of elemental? You would have been screwed, trying to get to your weapon while being attacked by a force of nature. You have much to learn my friend.”

“So it seems.” Thadius sighed heavily. “I didn’t expect my first death to be so embarrassing though.”

“You’re not dead.”

“Come again?”

“You’re incapacitated. If something doesn’t kill you outright, or kill you in less than 10 minutes, you’ll be knocked out instead of dying. Say a guy lost the rest of his health from having a Banshee burst his eardrums. It’d be pretty dumb if he died from something like that right?”

“If it doesn’t seem like it’ll kill me in real life, then it won’t?”

“Sonsoft wanted to make it as real as possible. Remember your little nap when you first went up the mountain? Had it been scorching hot that day, instead of freezing, you probably would have died from dehydration. But you would have been fine if you lost the rest of your health from sunburn. You get what I’m trying to say?”

“I follow. So I can go back in… 2 hours? Or is that how long I have until I die?”

“That’s where it gets tricky. It can vary depending on how you were incapacitated. In your case, you could wake up to unbelievable pain, wake up with your wounds fully healed, or not wake up at all. Sometimes the timer will go away entirely once you’re healed. Other times, you’ll be killed before the timer runs out. You just have to be aware of your situation when you go down.”

“Well, at least I’m not dead yet.”

“Lucky bastard. Come on, it was about time for your bath anyway. I’d prefer if I didn’t have to wash around the tech. It makes my job easier.”

Brandon had a bath and a meal before he logged back into Chaos Online. He couldn’t shake the thought of himself burning alive, but it was more like an uncomfortable nightmare rather than a vivid memory.

--

[Coolkid killed in single combat.

+822 Fame ]

[You’ve leveled up

You’ve leveled up

You’ve leveled up

.... ]

Thadius woke up on a bed with an arena organizer sitting by the bed. He sat up and slowly moved his body. He seemed to have been healed, but his Corbae robe was in tatters. It would take a lot of cloth to restore it to it’s former glory. But then would it really be the robe his master gave him? Thadius shook his head as he moved to stand up. The organizer that was beside his bed had dozed off.

“Hello, sir?” Thadius said as he gently shook the man.

“Hmm? Oh! Y-you’re awake!? To be honest I didn’t think you’d make it, sir.”

“I won’t die so easily.”

“No, not that, the tournament! The Gold tier Championships are already under way. Your match is about to be next!”

“I’ve been out for hours, how’s-”

“The bronze matches took a while since we had two royales, and we always take a break before the Walk of Champions.”

“I see. Well, I’m glad I made it in time.” Thadius said happily. As soon as the word left his mouth, the sound of drums could be heard in the distance. The roaring of the crowds was many times louder than when he was fighting. He was a little disappointed that he had missed out on watching the Gold Champion in action.

“It’s time.” the organizer said as he stood near the door. Thadius picked up his equipment that had been laid at his bed side and followed the man out.

Night had fallen over the compound, and torches lit up the space every few feet. But when they reached the arena gate, it was flooded with bright light. All along the top of the stadium were giant white orbs that blazed like tiny suns.

There was no waiting for him this time as the gates opened as soon as he approached it. He walked out into the arena to an uproar as the crowd chanted.

“”“ Silver! Silver! Silver!”””

When Thadius reached the center of the arena, the gate on the opposite opened up. A figure dashed out into the light, circling the arena at a breakneck pace. The mythril armor of the Silver Champion was completely build for speed. The legs were unprotected in the back and there wasn’t any armor to cover any joints. There were vambraces to protect the forearms, yet the arms were exposed from the elbow to the shoulder, ensuring complete arm rotation during combat.

When the champion finally came to face Thadius, the first thing he noticed was the helmet. At the top were two holes where a pair of jet black rabbit ears poked out from the top. Then his eyes fell to the large silver belt that hang on her waist.

It wasn’t until the moment Thadius looked into his opponents eyes, that he receive a shock. Staring back at him with eyes filled with amusement, was a pair of hazel eyes with a prominent green sheen.

“Surprise!” Sarene said as she lifted her hands in the air.

“.......”

“The look on your face! Ha ha!” she laughed, holding her sides.

“So the champ is pretty strong huh?” Thadius said as coldly as he could manage. The twitching at the corner of his mouth betrayed his efforts.

“Yes I am, and I look forward to our match Iron Dragon.” Sarene said as she lifted her mythril longsword.

“Well, I hope you said goodbyes to that belt. Cause it’s going to be wrapped around my waist pretty soon.” Thadius declared, taking his stance and letting out his Ambient Pressure.

He pushed his Aura out to the max. Then turned on his Concentration. From what he just saw, her speed was going to be the focal point. If he could shut that down, then he would be in good shape.

The beating of the drums signified the start of the fight, and Thadius watched as Sarene slashed more than 10ft(3m) in front of him. When he felt something cutting through his Aura, he quickly raised his shield, only to be blown back. He wasn’t knocked down, but he was knocked off balance. And Sarene capitalized on it as she rushed in at high speed.

She aimed a slice from below at his face with blinding speed. Thadius was able to see it thanks to his concentration, and he knew he could react to it in time. Yet, for some reason, his body was moving slower than usual.

’Time out!