System Break

Chapter 82: Round of 16 - The Forest versus The Alphas

The chancellor followed an old diplomat with grey hair and a walking stick. He was guild ambassador for three of the beta guilds. 

"Sir, this is Fevrus leader of the Alphas," the ambassador said.

"Hmm?" the guilder leader turned. "Our second team is about to fight."

"And you were knocked out by the reds, so this your last team," the chancellor said.

The guild leader frowned. "Are you here for a reason?"

The chancellor looked out on to the field where the fight was about to begin. "They only have two adventurers. The two on the outside. The inner three are locals and if you kill them, they'll stay dead."

The guild leader shrugged. "We'll do what we need to - to win. If they're worried, they shouldn't have entered."

The chancellor chuckled dryly. "This is useful information. The male without a bow is not a warrior as far as I can tell. It's a weakness that you can exploit."

"Our main concern is getting within striking distance before they kill us with arrows," the guild leader said.

"Do what you must," the chancellor said. "But if you kill all three locals, my duke will grant you a guild hall in Loctris itself."

The guild leader gawked. "There are no guild halls in Loctris."

"Not yet," the chancellor said and left.

"Who was that?" Fevrus asked his ambassador.

"The Chancellor from Loctris," he said and smiled thinly. He turned and followed the Chancellor.

Fevrus turned to his second. "Get word to the team. Take out the three in the centre. As in dead, no surrender or maiming."

.

They faced each other in lines of five. The Alphas were brawlers, rogues, and a swordsman. The three melee warriors carried large wooden shields which covered them from head to ankle. The rogues carried two loaded crossbows each.

Gisael was in the centre flanked by Reyas and Nej. She wore her brown troll leathers which hugged her lithe physique. Her brown dreadlocks flowed behind her as she peered across the expanse at the enemy.

She looked at their shields and turned to Reyas. "Surprise them," she said simply. Her eyes focused enemy and her bow was drawn as she waited on the adjudicator to drop the red flag. She could see it out the corner of her eye as she aimed for one with a crossbow.

The red fabric rippled in the wind as it came down and she loosed an arrow. It struck the crossbowman in his right eye just as he released his bolt. The bolt flew up into the air and sailed over their heads. The other bolt flew true and hit Reyas in her left arm. She grunted, dropped an axe but kept running.

Gisael did not hesitate and let fly at the second crossbowman. He stepped to the side as soon as she loosed her arrow. He panicked when her arrow curved and followed him. It grazed the side of his head taking his ear clean off on its tip. He scrambled to pick up his second crossbow, but Sakaala shot him in the shoulder. He cried in pain, dropped the crossbow, and raised his hands in surrender before more arrows made a home in his body.

The swordsman and two brawlers jogged with their shields held out in front. They couldn't see a thing unless they stuck our their head, but it kept them from dying to an arrow. 

Ailen kept his bow trained on them waiting for one to peak around his shield and as soon as they did, he let fly. Another arrow thudded into the front of their shield. They'd run thirty yards and both rogues were already out.

"Faster," the brawler in the centre shouted. They engaged qi-body and ran as fast as they could.

A moment later there was a loud crack and the swordsman's shield splintered. Then another crack and he dropped it. The raven-haired warrior kicked it and sent him flying backwards. The shield broke and cartwheeled away in three separate pieces. 

"Keep going," the leader said, and the other brawler ran on. The leader, however, dropped his shield and launched himself at Reyas.

One of her arms was limp and he aimed a kick at her good one. She was quick and stepped back. Her eyes were wide, and she waited to see if he was off balance before striking. She remained wary of the swordsman.

The brawler moved to lunge and an arrow flew between them. He swore and spun avoiding another arrow by a hair.

He swore again and grumbled, "I can't fight like this." He ran towards the far archer as fast as he could.

The swordsman engaged with the raven-haired axe maiden while he made his escape. The swordsman kept her between him and the archers as best he could while kneeling and aiming a sweeping arc at her knees.

He had the reach on her, but she was agile and easily jumped over his blade. With one step she closed the gap and her axe came down. He lifted his sword at the last moment trying to parry and an awkward ring echoed across the battlefield. 

She grinned as his sword made the tiniest of sounds. A small crackle. It had cost him a fortune and it was useless. One more hard blow and it would snap in two.

The leader leaped at Ailen who fumbled his shot under pressure. The other brawler was busy with Gisael and Nej. While Sakaala tracked the swordsman waiting for an opening.

Ailen yelped and ran towards Gisael but he was too slow. The brawler was on him and raining blows onto his back, shoulder, and head.

Ailen moved to raise his arms from the ground to surrender but the brawler was too quick and knocked him unconscious while he lay prone on the ground.

Gisael adeptly dodged the brawler and flicked her wooden sword at his wrist. He was laughing until it sliced his fist clean off. Her sword-hand came round following the stroke her the butt of her sword met his nose and smashed it into his face.

Moments later his hand was in the air as blood poured from the raised stump which accompanied it.

Gisael bared her teeth and faced the last brawler who had laid Ailen out. He leaped at her and she moved aside easily while he flew through the air. Her sword flicked out at him, but he was wary and parried her wrist with his own.

He landed and skidded. Nej was on one side of him and Gisael was on the other. He grinned. "At least I'm not getting shot with arrows."

The brawler kicked out at Nej who jumped back and then when Gisael lunged and punched out at her. His martial skill was well above someone who had only trained since entering the game.

Gisael aggressively attacked him and he skipped back. Nej was very passive and the brawler picked up on it. He danced past the gatherer placing the male Svartalfar between himself and Gisael.

He lunged and grappled with Nej, grabbing his knife hand by the wrist and he turned him as Sakaala fired. She swore as her arrow missed Nej by a hair and the brawler by a lot.

"Hold fire," Gisael ordered.

Nej struggled to break free and stifled a scream when the brawler twisted and broke his arm. The snap was audible, and tears came to Nej's eyes. The brawler still held his arm and continued to twist.

Nej screamed and dropped one of his knives. His free hand swept up towards the side of the brawler's head and Nej planted his skinning knife through the brawler's ear and into his brain.

The brawler fell to the earth and did not move. Nej fell to his knees and nursed his limp arm which was twisted at an awful angle.

Gisael turned to look at Reyas smashing the face of the swordsman with her one good arm. He lifted his arms, surrendered, and she pouted.

The crowd roared. The Forest had won. It was over but this time they had sustained injuries. 

Gisael moved to Nej. "I need my herb pouch," she said. "Hold it like so until we can numb it. It will hurt when it is set."

The stretcher bearers removed the dead adventurers from the field first taking them directly to the bright blue tent. The healing tent was white, and the wounded made their way there.

Ailen was carried to a bunk, while Reyas and Nej walked under their own power.

"I will be back," Gisael said and she ran to their guild hall.

Sakaala stayed with Ailen who was coming to. "There are three matches tomorrow," she said. "If we were to make it to the final."

Ailen moaned but did not answer for a while. "Was I hit by a bus?" he said finally.

Sakaala looked at Reyas. There was a crossbow bolt embedded in her arm and it needed to be dug out. She had a few other scratches.

"Can you use your arm?" Sakaala asked.

Reyas stared back and said nothing.

Ailen moaned. "I hope she can, archers are useless unless we have melee cover."

Sakaala looked at her brother. "It could be worse."

"It could be better, where is Benzhi?"

She sighed. "I don't know."