"Round 3, start!", the referee yelled.
There I was in the octagon ring, facing my opponent. His once light skin tone was now replaced with red marks and bruises from our earlier exchanges... yet he still has that piercing gaze from his bald, angry visage. It's sad to say that I was on the brink of exhaustion too.
We walked up to the middle, exchanging one last glove tap before getting into our stances, both orthodox. Both of us pawed the air with small jabs, reading our striking ranges. My opponent's name was Morris Kenny, a fighter known for his kickboxing background and nasty brazilian jiu-jitsu submissions.
In the beginning of the round, I followed the strategy I used for the whole fight, keeping my range with by throwing left front teep kicks to his stomach and keeping him at bay with straight punches. This time however, as I threw my left teep, he caught my ankle by a downward parry of his left arm, causing me to turn to my right with an exposed back. I tried to move out of the way- but a heavy low kick hit my left hamstring, sending pain throughout my leg that caused me to buckle a bit... but I can't show him that. I maintained my pokerface as best as I could, performing a stuttering step to circle to my right and reset.
"What are you doing, Marcus!? You're down two rounds and you only have three minutes left! Better fuckin' finish it!", my coach yelled as both of us stood at the center, feinting and making reads. Fuck, I was down two!? I thought I was winning... I better think of something fast. Which mistakes does he usually make? Which habits can I exploit?
My thoughts were halted by an incoming left high kick to my head which I blocked with both arms folded to the right which sent shockwaves through my arms. I can't take more of those, unless I want my arms to break.
I circle around with my footwork to regain my thoughts. One thing he likes to do is counter my left jab with a right leg kick... hence why my left leg was battered. I could- no, I'm going to fucking use that. If he wants to cripple me, then I will take his fucking consciousness with it.
I take a wider stance, planting my left foot down as I curl my posture and turtle up into a high guard, protecting the sides of my face with my arms and hands. I then extend my left arm, feinting a jab and once I started to see him move, I played into a dangerous gamble.
I leaned forward as I threw a right straight punch at the big bruise on his stomach, landing simultaneously with his low kick to my left thigh which caused that leg to buckle- FUCK!
I grit my teeth to push through the pain as I saw him fold forward in slow motion... this is my opportunity! I then follow up with a sloppy, diagonal left hook that met his jaw and sent him turning to my right before I twisted my hips, throwing a right high kick, crashing my whole right shin to his face. The impact sounded disgusting, and the crowd erupted as my opponent was sent turning around and exposing his back to me.Ā
Adrenaline took over, and I found myself lunging and jumping onto his back, wrapping my left arm across his throat and clamping my right arm around my left hand as my legs wrapped around his torso, catching him in a rear naked choke with gravity sending us falling onto our backs. I squeezed with all of my might using my arms, squeezing his neck and blocking his carotid arteries, closing my eyes... until I felt someone forcefully prying away my grip. Upon opening my eyes, I saw that my opponent's arms were already limp, and the referee broke through my hold to care for my opponent. I... won.
"And tonight's winner, through a submission at Round 3, now with 13 wins and 7 losses, Marcus "Demolidor" Pereira!", the announcer yelled.
...
"Damn, it feels good to watch that clip over and over again.", I said to myself as I held my phone after watching my victory earlier this night. I swear, I could just lean back and pass out... wait, have I done my dailies? No...
I then limped to my PC set up nearby, yawning as I booted up League Wars and opened my character. Must... finish my daily quests.
Today's daily quests were easy to do, thankfully. Kill a dozen slime monsters, visit a vantage point in a jungle map, and participate in a world boss event. It should be easy with my badass, greatsword wielding warrior.
As I moved to a plains map with plenty of slimes, I switched into a long bow because I was too tired for complex rotations. One thing I liked about League Wars is how you can change your skills with just a simple weapon change and have class-based utility skills to go along with it. However, certain weapons are locked into certain professions, and each profession has different skills with the weapon. For example, a warrior would fight up close with an axe at hand, but a ranger will throw them at mid-range instead... and a warrior cannot wield a scepter."
I took care of those slimes in no time with a barrage of arrows from afar. As I teleported to the jungle map and ride my dragon mount, I glanced at my mailbox which had a new notification. It was a mail from one of the GMs... what?Ā
I hit the auto-walk button as I read the letter. ""Greetings, DemolidorXLV! We have reviewed the earlier survey results and we found your answer, "MMA Fighter" the most intriguing. We'll be hearing from you soon." - [GM] Anders", the letter said. Right, the game did send out surveys asking for our jobs for some reason. I wonder how they would hear from me. Should I mail them back?
I then closed the mail menu for now as my dragon mount docked on a sturdy branch protruding from a giant tree. Upon activating the vantage point, the game showed me a beautiful overhead view of my location. Okay, one last quest.
I checked the world boss schedule and saw that "The Great Jungle Worm", a massive carnivorous green worm was currently terrorizing a forest map. I teleported to the nearest waypoint and rode my raptor mount to the location. I see the world boss at 25% health but... I can feel myself nodding off to sleep. Must... reach... the boss...
I forced myself to dash into the heat of battle and spin around with my greatsword of destruction, dealing a whirlwind of deathly cuts upon the world boss and slowly dwindling its HP down until I can feel my eyelids being too heavy. I already did damage, so I can take a short nap now, yeah...
...
I was jolted awake by the sound of something loud. I glance to my left and saw that it was a boulder demolishing the city's gates and sending a row of soldiers back. Screams of anguish filled my ears and I glance up as I saw a flaming vase falling onto the ground, spreading fire to nearby houses. ...What the fuck just happened?
I ran to the sides for some cover as I see four legged creatures flood the gates and trample over the soldiers- are those centaurs!? ...Isn't this the tutorial area for humans? Am I really in the game right now! Questions upon questions flooded my mind, but I saw a weapon rack in the corner of my eyes so I approached that. I must take something!
I attempted to brandish a spear until my hand was torn away from it by an invisible force. In my sight, an error message in red appear, stating "Weapon unusable by current profession!". I tried taking a greatsword instead, but the same error occured. In a panic, I tried the axe, the sword, a staff, scepter, pistol, rifle, mace, and warhammer... but the same message appeared over and over again.
"Weapon unusable by current profession!", the error message stated again.
"Then what the fuck is my profession!?", I yelled in frustration. Shortly after, another message box appeared which stated: "Profession: Brawler (MMA Fighter)". ...Are you fucking serious?
Before I can fully comprehend the situation, I turned around as I heard galloping and saw that a centaur warrior, a beast with an upper half of a human and lower half of a horse was approaching me, initiating combat.
As I raised my arms to guard, it swiped at me with its long spear and instantly, I felt a hot and searing pain on my stomach. To my horror, my own blood was gushing out, and as I looked up at it again, I was met by a merciless thrust to my throat, leaving me bleeding like a pig as I fell to my sides, desperately gasping for air. The heat from my wounds soon turned cold... unbelievably cold, and everything around me darkened. Have I... died?
Another message box appeared, which said "You have perished." with a choice that says "Return to previous checkpoint".