Chapter 43: Eternal Winter Graveyard (3)
The trio of friends didn't care about Blake's decision.
They stepped forward and played rock-paper-scissors to decide who would be the first to fight five opponents at once—opponents who happened to be other players. By chance, the tank went first.
He stepped forward and waited for the enemies to break formation. Soon enough, five players, forming a perfect dungeon team, walked over to Kyria.
Kyria scanned them before looking one of his healers in the eye. "You can't let anyone's health points fall below fifty percent. If you do, you're out of the tournament."
"Yes!" the man replied like a soldier.
Then Kyria turned to his tank. "The healer can't be touched at all."
"Yes!" the tank answered with the same conviction.
All three DPS received the same directive. "Each of you must deal at least twenty-five percent of the damage he takes. Also, don't kill him. I have some suspicions."
"Yes!" the three shouted in unison.
Turning in sync, the five chosen players walked into the arena, grinning at Blake's tank, whose confidence sank at their disciplined display.
He gulped, charged in—and lost spectacularly.
The fight resembled a group of school bullies ganging up on one person. Instead of raising his hands to defend himself, the tank relied on his shield. Although he was decent at defending and keeping enemies focused on him with taunts, his skill with a broadsword left much to be desired.
That loss destroyed another person's confidence—this time, the mage's. He wasn't sure if he should test his luck. Still, he'd been angry with Blake for a while, so he wanted to change his fate and possibly join a good guild.
He walked in, cast a few fire bolts—and got punched in the face.
He lost even more miserably than the tank. Because he had no defensive skills, he was in serious trouble once his enemies closed in, ending up with a black eye to show for it.
Anonymous House's players tossed him aside like trash.
At last, Silver Dash stepped into the arena.
He eyed his opponents for a few moments, then locked gazes with Kyria and bowed, pleading loudly, "I have a sick mother!"
Kyria lowered his military cap over his eyes. "Oh, it's you."
"You know me?" Silver Dash looked up, hope sparking in his eyes, perhaps believing Kyria might grant him mercy.
"Yes, I do. Of course I do," Kyria said. "A deep sense of gratitude binds people more tightly than any contract with slave-like clauses."
Silver Dash's face fell. Kyria's bluntness confirmed he didn't believe the sick-mother story.
Kyria continued, "Even if you were talentless trash, there'd still be uses for a loyal dog. But you're a liar. I looked into you and uncovered your lies. You're a normal student from a normal home with plenty of opportunities others would kill for, yet you choose to lie in a video game. You're miserable."
"How… did you even…" Silver Dash stammered.
"It takes no effort to find someone on social media using only a picture," Kyria replied.
True, Silver Dash hadn't changed his in-game appearance, but it still didn't quite make sense to him. Nonetheless, he stood there with slumped shoulders, as pitiful as Kyria described. His lips twitched, as though he wanted to speak, but it only made him look worse. Something finally snapped inside him, and he whirled around.
He pointed at Blake and shouted, "Your luck ends here!"
Suddenly, thunder boomed. A second later, Anonymous House's archers and mages fired simple skills—an arrow shot and fire bolts—skewering Silver Dash. He coughed up blood and collapsed to his knees.
Kyria walked over and looked down at him. "That's my line."
Ignoring Kyria, Silver Dash once again raised a trembling finger toward Blake, as if condemning him in Kyria's place. "You're finished! Your armor and katana won't help you against more than thirty players! Your little pet won't cut it, either! Haha! I hope you drop at least one piece of gear so your money goes to waste!"
It should have been him.
He should have been the one wearing cool armor, owning all sorts of pets, and having women fawn over him like he was a novel's protagonist!
He should have been as strong as Superbia!
If only he possessed this man's items… In his last moments, all of Silver Dash's jealousy poured out toward Blake.
Kyria glanced at Blake. "As I suspected, it was all you."
A silence, colder than the graveyard itself, settled over them.
Blake didn't say a word. He only stared at Silver Dash. He couldn't even describe what he felt, which was odd. He had faced many kinds of jealousy before, mostly from beta testers.
During this dungeon expedition, Silver Dash had stirred up a lot of Blake's old self.
So why, this time, when Silver Dash let his envy loose, did Blake feel nothing?
Was it like a person stepping on an ant?
He simply couldn't be bothered with an ant called Silver Dash.
"Kyria," Blake said, catching Kyria's attention, making Silver Dash twist his face in a demon-like rage. "You've studied the MMO handbook well. Your guild members' discipline is proof of that. I respect you more than the teammates I've cleared dungeons with."
Silver Dash and his friends stared at Blake in disbelief.
The mage tried to complain, but nobody listened. One glare from Kyria silenced him.
Blake drew his katana and held it horizontally at his side. "But in this game—in this world—numbers hold the second-highest value. You're the first player I respect in this official release, so I'll show you the bearing of a victor."
He spoke those words so naturally, as though it was second nature.
Kyria's guild members chuckled, but Kyria himself stood at attention.
Blake closed his eyes.
Among his skills lay one that would usher in the second coming of The Hollow King. So many parallels between him and The Hollow King made him hesitate to use it.
He had taken a step forward.
How could he step back, all the way to the past?
Fortunately, Blake had learned how to be honest and how to ask for advice.
"Beatrix, Sol, will you surrender yourselves to me?" he whispered.
Sol whimpered happily above him, and Beatrix's gaze from within his shadow radiated nothing but support.
Buoyed by these companions—who had prevented the second coming of The Hollow King—Blake cried out at the top of his lungs, "HUBRIS!"
On that day, the sun shone on The Eternal Winter Graveyard for the first time since its founding.