"Urgh, that is disgusting," Van said, wincing as Sahara touched it. "No one has any medical skills, so let's just leave it in there. I don't think I’ll get any additional damage from it."
"Well..." Kylian said as he picked the bow up and grabbed an arrow off the dead body of the murderous archer. "Here's the thing… Legolas over here only has one arrow on him. He missed with one earlier, so that's two. That one sticking out of your arm makes three."
Van grimaced. "I really, really don't want you to – ouch!" he shouted as Kylian seized the arrow and tore it right out of his arm. Blood gushed from his wound and the words 5 damage hovered above his head.
"Ahhh!" Van gasped.
"Sorry, Van," Kylian said as he reached down to tear the tunic of the fallen player apart, making bandages with the fabric. "But we need that arrow more than you need those hit points."
"Over there," Fredlin whispered as he pointed to a small group of people walking toward the water. They were heavily armed, carrying swords, maces, and clubs.
Sang could see two players total. One was wearing what looked to be plate mail armor.
"Ah, man, that's a serious set-up they have going on," Sang said. "Why the hell couldn't we get gear that good?"
"Finding that water early was pretty valuable," Fredlin replied.
"Not as valuable as that mace," Sang whispered. "Unless you can light them all on fire, I'd wager to say that we can't win this one."
"Yeah, my spells aren't that powerful," Fredlin said. "But I do have a few tricks up my sleeve. If we get some arrows, I can bless them to ignite."
"Beautiful," Sang said. "I just hope we actually get some arrows."
As they watched the players fill up on water, a woman carrying a dagger ran up to them. She was pointing behind her frantically, and Sang could barely make out what she was saying.
"There's three of them!" the woman said. "They killed Yil and Grex!"
"What kind of weapons do they have?" asked the one in plate mail.
"A longsword and a warhammer," the woman replied. "And our weapons now."
"Damn it. Okay, were they hurt?"
"Yeah, one of them was."
"Then they'll need water. Let's hide and ambush them when they come by," the one in plate mail said. He knelt down to finish filling his canteen with water and pointed toward a few trees. The three all moved into position, hiding behind the three trees that were directly beneath Sang and Fredlin.
Fredlin looked up at Sang and mouthed the word "Plan?" to her. She shrugged at him. The one in plate mail had serious armor, so he would be hard as hell to kill. Between her dinky dagger and Fredlin's hand-crafted spear that was more of a pencil than a proper weapon, they wouldn't have much of a chance. She wondered if the woman had been referring to Van and the rest of the team. She had said there were three players and that one had a longsword. That matched the description, although Sang didn't know if Van had found a warhammer or not.
Sang slowly moved across one of the tree branches and crouched down. She could theoretically leap down and stab the woman directly beneath her – that would be enough to kill her. Then Sang would be able to grab the sword that was hanging off of her belt. But could she take two people down at once? Did she have to? The man in plate would be too slow to catch her. Maybe she should just adopt guerilla tactics here. There were a lot of things to ponder, and the finality of it all was growing heavier on her shoulders.
"Perfect is the enemy of success," Fredlin whispered. Sang looked up at him and nodded.
She leapt down from the tree and came crashing down on the woman's back with all of her might, thrusting her dagger right into the spine of the fallen warrior. The words Sneak Attack Lethal Blow floated above her head.
"The hell!" shouted the man in plate mail. He grabbed his mace and bellowed at her before charging at her as fast as he could. Fortunately, he wasn't nearly as fast as Sang was, due to his armor, and she deftly dodged out of the way. She darted away from him and dodged his ally, who came at her with a wooden club.
"Up here!" Fredlin shouted, throwing one of his stick spears at the man in plate mail. The stick harmlessly bounced off of the armor, but it was enough to distract him. He turned around to see Fredlin above him. "Come on and face me!"
Sang rushed through the woods, but the man with the club gave chase. He was just as fast as her, and was gaining on her.
"Crap," Sang said as she realized she'd forgotten to grab her slain foe's sword. A dagger against a foot-long club was not going to be a fair fight. Her stamina bar was also rapidly draining, adding to the stress. She ran up to a large, fallen log and scampered atop it. The she stopped abruptly and stood in a battle stance, holding the dagger close to her side.
"Come on, let's see what kind of color you bleed!" she shouted, trying her best to sound like a wicked woman.
"Oh, I'm not gonna be the one to bleed," the man replied, thumping his club against the log. His teeth were clenched and she could see utter rage in his eyes.
Sang crouched a little, preparing to spring towards him. The moment he rushed her, she'd lunge at him and hope that she could dodge the club long enough to get her blade into his throat.
The man moved in a circle slowly, but didn't move. Sang realized that she had stopped breathing. In any moment, he could strike and, if she delayed by just a second, he'd wallop her good, probably hard enough to knock her down or kill her outright. She didn't move from her stance, but instead chose to stay perfectly still, following him only with her head.
The man swallowed hard and took a single step forward, but didn't raise the club. Sang tensed the muscles in her leg. Should she strike now? He was hesitating because he was afraid. They made eye contact and Sang could see how dilated his eyes were from the adrenaline. She wondered if her pupils were just as wide as his. An idea flashed to her mind then and she abruptly darted her eyes to the right, as if she'd seen something. She quickly returned eye contact to him in the next moment, but slowly glanced over one more time.
The man's grip tightened around the club and he took a step back to check behind him. As he stepped back, Sang leapt off the stump and rushed toward an oak tree that had a natural foothold.
"Damn it!" the man shouted as Sang deftly leapt into the tree and scrambled to safety.
"You get to live another day if you just go away," Sang said. "But you gotta put that club down to get up here!" She tried to activate her stealth skill, but the words Opponent's spotting is too high floated above her. She walked along the limb of the tree and stared directly at him.
"You think you can just kill one of my friends and get away with it?"
"Oh no," Sang replied, "I think I can kill one of your friends and kill you shortly thereafter." She wasn't going to risk leaping on him, as he was at full health and was a much bigger guy than the woman had been. Still, he seemed to be backing away from the tree. It was clear that she was too much of a threat to him, and he was starting to balk a little.
"Don't think I'm going to just let you off the hook!" he shouted as he took a few more steps back. There was some shouting coming from the direction where his ally had been. He growled at Sang and turned to run back to his friends.
"Whew," Sang gasped as she sank down to sit on the branch and catch her breath. Her heart was pounding so hard that she wondered if her character was able to die from stress. There was a brief flash of light in her UI and the words 18 players left in the game appeared in front of her. It looked as if the numbers were dropping steadily. How many more people would she have to kill? Did it matter?
CHAPTER TEN
Van glanced at the body of the woman. She was dead, alright. Her body was lying on the ground in a heap, blood running from the back of her neck. There was no sign of Fredlin or Sang anywhere.