I get to my feet and dust off my pants and address the overly muscled sidekick. “Just a couple of pedestrians.”
Auden must have heard the comment because he turns around to sneer at me. “I’m going to let the fact that you’re dancing with my ex, pass. But you really want to walk away before I make you regret interrupting our conversation.”
I lean to the right to see Lillian. Her hands are on her hips, and she has an exasperated look on her face. I raise an eyebrow at Lillian, “Your ex? You dated this rich asshole?”
She gives a loud sigh, “Not that it should matter but yes. It was a long time ago. Before I realized what kind of guy he was.”
Jeremy steps between Auden and me and tries to gives me another shove. Jeremy may be level 11, but the goon isn’t nearly as intimidating as King Kanon or Bob the Zombie Brute. I easily sidestep the move and walk right past him towards Lillian.
Auden however, has other ideas. He blocks my path and pokes me in the chest. “Look, new guy. I’m not going to tell you again. Step away from my ex. Or you’re going to regret it.”
By now, the people around us have noticed the incident and formed a circle of onlookers. Glancing around, I’m puzzled why no one else is standing up to this guy. Isn’t this group supposed to be full of high level users with a bunch of badass powers? Is he so rich that he can get away with doing whatever he wants?
Still, I’m not powerless anymore. I have skills and abilities that give me a shot at beating this guy.
I look up at Auden and say simply and with as much confidence as I can muster, “No. If you start something, you’ll be the one that regrets it.”
Jeremy starts to laugh, and I can’t help but think that the guy sounds like a hyena. “Poor little newb thinks he can take on All-Star Auden Arschloch III. Winner of the Inter-High Dueling Championship?” Then getting right in my face, he adds, “You must be a delusional kid. No one. I mean no one challenges Auden and walks away a winner.”
I can hear Lillian yelling for me to let it go, that I don’t know what I’m doing. But I just can’t, this guy breaks my phone with his stupid coffee, then trashes my work, and now he thinks he can harass my date?
I turn to look up at Auden and say, “Well, I do challenge the high and mighty Auden.”
The smile that appears on Auden’s face instantly makes me wary.
Rothfus seems to appear out of nowhere with a microphone in his hand and announces over the speaker system, “Anthony Tinoco has issued a challenge to Auden Arschloch III.” Then speaking to Auden he asks, “Do you accept?”
Auden smiles wider and answers, “Hell yeah.” A cheer goes up from some of the crowd, and I see people whispering and taking bets on who’s going to win.
Rothfus addresses Auden again, “As the person challenged, you have the right to choose the type of duel.”
Auden grabs the microphone from Rothfus, faces the crowd and announces, “I choose a no limits duel. To. The. Death.”
Another loud cheer erupts from the crowd, with more bets exchanged. Lillian pushes past Auden and Jeremy. She grabs my arm and pulls me aside.
“Do you have any idea what you’ve just done?”
“Honestly, no. I thought I was just standing up to a bully, not challenging him to a duel. But what’s done is done. I mean, the worst that happens is that I die, right? I’ll just lose some XP and respawn at my home base.”
“No. That’s not the worst…”
Whatever Lillian was going to say is lost to the booming voice of Rothfus over the speaker system. “All personnel not participating in the duel, please leave the dueling circle.” Everyone scrambles back as the floor under our feet turns red and begins to grow outward in a circular pattern. Lillian pats my shoulder once before scrambling back with the rest of the crowd.
After a few minutes, a circular area with a radius of fifty feet is cleared around Auden and me. Then the ground rumbles and begins to transform. A chain-link fence rises from the ground around the perimeter of the red circle. Beyond that, raised seating appears, and the crowd quickly takes seats to observe the duel. Lights appear above us, illuminating the red dueling circle and darkening the area beyond it. Just past the chain link fence, I see the silhouetted form of Rothfus, tapping a blue screen. He must be modifying the space to accommodate the duel.
Rothfus’ voice comes from all around us, “Duelists. You have two minutes to prepare yourselves. When the buzzer sounds the fight will begin; This is a duel to the death. Two men enter, but only one may leave.”
Auden walks the edge of the circle and leans casually against the chain link fence. He smiles at me as if I’m just some bug he’s going to squish.
I smile back and give the guy a wink just to show him he can’t psych me out. Internally, however, I am panicking. I have no idea how fighting another User works. I mean, fighting zombies or monsters in the dungeon is one thing, but fighting another person with System powers is a whole different ballgame.
I pop open my inventory to see what I have in there.
Portable Class B Trap Construction Bench
Small Laser Pistol
Simple Hammers (20)
Floor Spike Trap (3)
Wall Nail Shot Trap (2)
Flash Grenade (1)
I’d forgotten about the traps. Since I’d gotten the trap construction bench, I’d been experimenting with several trap recipes and practicing the skill. The traps plus my Hammer Time skill give me a pretty good chance to beat this guy.
I grab one of the hammers and the flash grenade from my inventory.
Rothfus’ voice begins to countdown to the beginning of the fight: “Nine...eight...seven...six...”
The crowd starts to count down with him, “Five...four...three...two...one.”
I pull the pin on the flash grenade and toss it at Auden the moment the crowd says ‘one’ and the buzzer sounds. I close my eyes but get to see the surprised look on Auden’s face as the grenade bounces twice and comes to a stop at his feet. There is a popping sound and a flash of light that hurts my eyes even through my closed eyelids. The moment the flash is gone, I go to work, knowing my time to prepare is limited. I grab the floor spike traps and toss them on the floor around Auden. I try to install the wall traps, but the curved chain link fence won’t accept the square wall trap. I abandon the attempt and instead begin tossing hammer after hammer at Auden using the Hammer Time.
Hammers fly from my hands as I scan the ability and small red tens float away from him with every successful attack. The red health bar that appeared above Auden’s head once I attacked him only goes down a small fraction even after several hits.
Auden, temporarily blinded, tries to swat away the hammers but can’t see where they’re coming from. He realizes the futility of trying to block what he can’t see and instead runs towards where he thinks the hammers are coming from. With his first rushed step, his feet run into the floor traps I’d laid on the floor and spikes impale his feet, causing two red fives to float away. Auden screams in anger and pain. He pulls up a blue screen and taps a button there, and suddenly he’s holding a large silver Gatling gun.
My eyes go wide, and I dive for the floor as Auden pulls the trigger on his weapon, and it begins to spit out a flurry of red laser bolts. The watching crowd yells in a panic until the red bolts hit the chain link fence and disappear. Apparently, there’s some innate defense in the fence that protects the crowd from whatever is unleashed in the ring.
I activate Hammer Time from the floor, and another hammer goes flying from my hand. It arcs through the air and hits Auden in the head, causing a red twenty to float away from his skull. Auden resumes blindly firing his weapon. I’m hit a couple of times by the random shots but continue to toss hammers from my position on the floor until I run out of hammers.