The maze’s massive concrete walls surrounded her, the only light being floating blue orbs and the many moons floating above her. Oblivia could hear the cheering of the crowd, but it was faint. The walls helped a little, but more than anything, she was just used to filtering the noise out by now. Focused on what she did best. Focused on her prey.
She rounded the corner to see a Gunslinger’s rifle trained on her. She dived back in cover, the bullet embedding itself into the wall next to her, almost drilling through the whole thing.
“Shit!” The sniper shouted as he dived back in cover, angry he’d wasted an Ultimate. He started reloading all of his weapons. As soon as Oblivia heard that, she rushed around the corner and flew down the corridor, her high DEX letting her easily run on the wall. She didn’t need to, it was probably slower, but she had an air for theatrics, and she knew the crowd liked it.
She swung around the corner, running her sword along the wall and slicing the Gunslinger’s head clean off.
KnightOblivia
Perfect Strike
----
Jjffiks
0/500 HP
Eliminated from contest.
3 players remaining.
The crowd cheered as Oblivia flipped in mid air and landed on the ground, breathing heavily. She got lucky: Gunslinger had some of the highest burst damage in the game. If that man had any more health, he could have shredded her in a second. It was hard for her to care, though. After what happened to her yesterday, after what she saw, she needed to let off steam.
She walked through the maze for another few minutes, constantly vigilant for someone about to snipe her, more blue orbs congregating above her now that there were so few combatants left for people to watch. Eventually, she finally found the last two combatants.
DijamentCorel
0/1000 HP
Eliminated from contest.
2 players remaining.
The Guardian’s bloodied body was hanging from thick, thorny vines. In front of them was a man with long blonde hair wrapped in green robes, plantlife covering all of the walls and floors. Standing before her wasn’t the best Druid player, but one that was a constant thorn in Oblivia’s side, her nemesis in modern Sable Online PvP.
“So, we meet again,” Oblivia took a deep breath, “BeetleBeetleBeetle.”
The druid turned to face her, arms widened as the Guardian’s body crashed to the ground. “All your bravado vanishes as soon as you say my name. I thought you had a stronger will, Knight Oblivia.”
“Your name is fucking stupid.”
“You’re still an edgelord. I also have way more kills than you.”
“Did you just hunker down in this one stretch of maze and not move the whole game?”
“I heard you were running on walls trying your best to look cool.”
She raised her sword. “I’ve missed you.”
The vines behind him lifted up, ready to strike. “Missed you too.”
Beetle sent his vines forward to strike and grapple Oblivia, but she ducked under them and started running forward. Beetle raised his arm, a massive flower coiled around it, and a jet of purple gas erupted from it. Oblivia choked and collapsed to her knees, her vision swimming from the gas.
BeetleBeetleBeetle
Drugged Mists
Full Bloom 3.
----
KnightOblivia
150/500 HP
Break, Weaken, Stunned
The Druid was one of the most recent classes added to the game, and was starting to become infamous in PvP. Its main mechanic of leveling up specials allowed it to snowball fast: not an issue in dungeons where it could reset often, but in the continued combat environment of PvP where it never got a chance to reset, it could be overwhelming.
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Oblivia raised her sword, swinging limply at Beetle, but he casually dodged to the side. She collapsed to the ground in front of him and he smiled.
“Well, that was easy.” He laughed. “Now let’s deal the finishing blow!”
KnightOblivia
Stun Resistance
----
KnightOblivia
Stunned condition removed.
Beetle looked confused before Oblivia stood up and ran Beetle through the chest. He coughed up blood as Oblivia kicked him to the ground, his body going limp.
BeetleBeetleBeetle
0/600 HP
Eliminated from contest
1 player remains.
KnightOblivia is victorious!
Still weak from the poison, Oblivia raised her sword above her head. The crowd cheered, the stadium lighting up around her. This was what she lived for. This is all she had left.
>>>
“To Oblivia!”
The five PvP players clinked their glasses together and downed their shots. Oblivia sat back, only vaguely watching everyone else at the table, lost in thought. The Arkvere Anteroom offered more modern and unusual cocktails than the bars on Sable.The top six players of the tournament were always given the private room after a battle to discuss the events and celebrate together. It was a relief that this group got on so well, especially when only half of them got reward money. She’d hesitate to call most of them friends, though.
“Another round, please!” Jjffiks said to the waitress, who nodded politely and left the room.
“Another fine duel,” Beetle admitted. “Even if I lost, I’m glad we managed to put on a show.”
“You still got money from coming second,” A Monk pointed out. She was a woman with tight fitting armour and short cut blue hair.
“He’s not in it for money, Carrie,” Dijament said, “he’s in it for the glory. I’m more than happy with my share. Kinda bummed it only took one more hit to finish you off, but hey, sometimes you get unlucky.”
Dijament bumped Oblivia on the shoulder and she suddenly came back to her senses. Her helmet hid how far away from the conversation she’d been. Luckily, she at least vaguely remembered what she’d just heard.
“I fought through the rest of the competition,” Oblivia said. “That’s more than enough proof of my ability.”
Beetle laughed, “Just as haughty as always. Although, I must ask: was the stun resistance part of your plan?”
“Correct,” Oblivia replied. “I had a feeling you’d use Drugged Mists on me and then spend your time gloating. If I used immunity, I’d never be able to get in. If I used resistance, you’d walk over to me and I could finish you off when the debuffs ran out. I was going to hit you with a Rising Slash, but luckily Dijament did most of the work for me.”
“Glad to be of service,” Dijament said. “Wanna split the winnings?”
She glared at him. “No.”
Beetle laughed. “You built your gear loadout around little old me, and then flawlessly predicted my movements? I’m touched.”
Oblivia laid back in her chair and scoffed. “You’re the only one here who posed any real threat.”
The rest of the table was immediately filled with shouts of indignation, some joking, some not. Oblivia did nothing to talk to them. Beetle just smiled.
“Please, children,” he shouted over the noise. “You all had access to gear with stun resistance, you all have fought me before, you all could have used a similar strategy. Why didn’t you?”
Everyone at the table went quiet, other than some muffled growls.
“How do you do this stuff with underpowered gear, anyway?” Dijament asked. “And 20 levels below the rest of us too.”
“Because I don’t want to buy the second expansion and I don’t believe in paying to win. I clearly don’t need it.”
“I heard rumours you got kicked for idling,” Carrie said. “That true?”
“I’d…rather not say,” Oblivia said meekly.
“Wait, it’s true?” One of the other players asked. They were the player who placed in 6th: a Sage who wore so much armour they could be mistaken for a Guardian if not for the hat.
“How’d you manage it?” Carrie continued.
Oblivia sighed, “Clipped out of the map, got stuck in geometry. Couldn’t press the log out button.”
The others laughed. Oblivia couldn’t tell them the truth. She had been left in undeath, broken and in constant pain until the game forcefully logged her out. Draconautis likely knew it would do that, another layer in the monster’s mind games.
“Why put it in a game with VR as lifelike as this?” The sage asked.
“In case that happens,” Beetle smiled, but quickly changed the subject, seeing Oblivia looked uncomfortable. “Speaking of clipping, I heard rumours that Nexus is back.”
Everyone around the table groaned.
“Oh, c’mon!” Dijament shouted.
“My thoughts exactly, although he did prompt me to upgrade my bank security.”
At that, another round of shots were placed in the middle of the table.
“Yeah, I need a drink after hearing that,” Jjffiks said. “How many alt accounts does that guy have? Isn’t he IP banned?”
“I’m sure the devs have tried that already.”
“Still not sure if the devs for this game are real.”
“Everyone,” Oblivia interrupted. The group quickly fell silent. “I’m not here to talk about crazy hackers or dumb glitches right now. I just want to have fun.” She finally picked up one of the shot glasses. “So, if all of you are willing to keep drinking to my victory…let’s drink!”
The group cheered and took to the next round of shots. Oblivia knew that the game was going to get more dangerous soon, and that another party would likely vanish on her watch, but now, in this moment, she could forget about that. Some kind of victory, no matter how small, was enough for her right now.
