Our enemies noticed Saber's approach right away. Before the Mace-bot reached Hei, it made a U-turn to flee. The Archer frantically retreated while firing arrows at our paladin. Saber conjured her crystal wall behind them to cut off both their escape routes. They skidded to a stop before crashing into the wall, then scrambled to pivot and circle around. Before they could flee, all three of us – Saber, Hei, and myself – caught up.
Seizing the chance, we unloaded every attack and every ability we had upon the robots, and in seconds we obliterated them both. The wrecked robots disintegrated into motes of light, leaving nothing behind. We then killed their golems and toppled the damaged tower. I basked in our survival thus far, and fell back to lie on the grass momentarily, panting and damp with sweat.
「Green team has slain an enemy.」
「Green team has slain an enemy.」
「Green team has destroyed a bottom tower.」
The disembodied voice broadcasted one announcement after another.
"Saber," I finally greeted her. "Wow. Glad to see you're alive."
She gave me a thumbs-up. “I need to head mid. I saw the enemy jungler pathing there to ambush Jack. Godspeed.”
And with that, she ran off.
"She sure is doing her thing," I said to Hei. "Wanna head back?"
We both channeled our Rings of Recall. As the channel finished, a blue flash consumed my vision. In the blink of an eye I found myself next to the vending machine. Hei popped into existence beside me a split second later.
I managed to afford two Potions of Arcana, and drank them as I waited for the vending machine’s aura to heal my wounds. These bubbled like sparkling water and tingled as I gulped them down. After emptying them into my stomach, faint glowing wisps leaked out of my hands, which looked pretty badass and indicated my power-up. Hei, meanwhile, helped himself to a Potion of Max HP and a Potion of Physical Damage.
"Nice work,” I told Hei. “As long as we play it careful, I think we got this in the bag –"
「Green team has slain an enemy.」
I blinked. “That was fast.”
Was it Saber and Jack that made the kill in mid-lane? Or Mr. Atlas, alone up top? As Hei and I jogged back toward bottom-lane, I checked my notebook. I found half a page of writing already there…all Saber’s. Oops, I should probably have read that earlier.
“Will come bot in 10 mins -Saber”…”Jack careful, enemy Jg pathing your way, stay safe under tower -Saber”…”Enemy Jg Death Ward broken -Saber”…”Double kill on bot and support -Saber”…”Coming mid next, bait them in -Saber”…”Enemy Jg killed -Saber”…”Play safe Jack, I'll help Atlas take tower. Sophia & Hei, do pronged attack on bottom lane -Saber”
I scribbled in my first message. “On our way. Keep enemies busy up top. -Sophia”
Hei and I soon made it past the midpoint of bottom lane. I launched a Vortex Shield to clear the enemy golems ahead of us. To my surprise, the water shaped itself into countless little sickles as it surged forth, lacerating the golems. An effect of having more Arcana Points, perhaps?
No one came to stop us as we ushered our own green golems to the enemies’ inner-bottom tower. Not too surprising, considering they only had two robots left to go around the map. We toppled that tower too, then we blew up the golem-fabricator hiding behind it. I felt thrilled, liberated even, certain that we'd all make it out of here alive. Only when we reached the tower by the Base-Core did both remaining robots come to stop us. They stayed under the safety of the tower, then killed off what golems we had remaining on our side.
「Green team has destroyed a top tower.」
"Saber and Atlas, I'm assuming," Hei said.
Hei and I decided to retreat for the meantime. We recalled again, and I bought a third Potion of Arcana. We then marched down bottom-lane yet again with our golems, hopefully for the last time. The robots shouldn't be able to withstand our three-pronged attack much longer.
“This actually feels easier than the stone giant, isn’t that weird?” I asked. Usually, you'd expect the first round of a game to be the easiest.
"I'm not sure," Hei replied. "Assuming players are on equal footing as the robots, half the time it'll be the players that lose their Base-Core, and everyone dies. And even if they win, there'll likely be casualties. Those are not good odds."
That was true, especially considering all the ones who had perished in the past two days. So, then, our triumph stemmed not from our enemies’ weakness, but indeed our strength, our intel, our training. The knowledge we gained was paid for in blood by the players that preceded us. Behind every blow we dealt was their sacrifice.
Without any enemy towers or golems remaining along bottom-lane, we soon stormed into the enemy base. Only one robot defended the lone base-tower from our golems; was the other one still in top or mid lane? This one dual-wielded two axes, and stood the tallest and bulkiest among the robots I’d seen so far. Dried blood stained both its weapons. Perhaps the blood belonged to the players that had perished. Perhaps it belonged to our teammates.
"Bring the tower down before reinforcement comes," I told Hei. "I'll hold this one off."
Hei allowed our golems to advance ahead of him to draw laser-fire from the tower. He then followed in, chipping away the stony column with throws of his heavy spear. The robot charged at him in a predictable, straight line, while swinging its axe in wild arcs.
I raised my palm toward the enemy and formed a Frost Missile. As I charged it with spin, blue light leaked out from my hand and coalesced into floating, almost solid shapes and patterns: lines and arcs arranged to form complex geometric constructs, and strange runes and formulas orbited around them. They were written in glyphs I had never seen before, yet I already knew what they said.
I recited from them as I steadied my aim. "Oceans, roar. Darkness, mourn. Fourfold testament. Lone sparrow. O night of winter, descend upon this earth and become my spear."
The Frost Missile grew to twice, no, thrice its size. Trailed by a jet of frigid mist, it shot forth. The robot altered its course as fast as its heavy frame would allow. It narrowly avoided the missile – only for the projectile to hit the ground at its feet and rebound back into its flanks. The trick that wouldn't work on Saber, worked here.
A shower of broken ice exited from the other side of the robot's torso, carrying with it a spray of splintered wood. My attack had blown a hole straight through it. As though consumed by a berserker's rage, it pressed onward toward Hei with its broken body. Only to be hit by my Vortex Shield – and collapse for good.
As it dissipated into light, the voice announced:「Green team has slain an enemy.」
I noticed a red laser dot shining on my chest. Oh no. I had stepped too close to the tower. As I retreated away as fast as my legs would move, a red flash came upon me. Searing heat stung my back. I smelled burnt flesh. Biting my lips and dizzied by pain, I forced myself to keep running. The tower fired a second shot at me, but it missed a few feet too short. Looked like I made it out of range, having taken 200 damage from that one tower shot.
"I'm OK!" I shouted to Hei between labored breaths. "Keep going"
The tower went back to blasting at our golems. As the agony on my back subsided to an endurable burn, I recognized the pattern. Both the enemy golems and towers…they seemed content in ignoring us and only attacking our golems, unless we attacked one of the robots. Their actual "players," I presumed.
Hei toppled the tower with one final Graviton Joust. I pulled myself together and joined him in breaking the Base-Core.
Behind us, the last remaining robot came running into the castle. Saber followed it in hot pursuit, with Jack in tow. She walled it off from us. I could not see past her golden crystal barrier, but I heard the shriek of steel against steel.
「Green team has slain an enemy.」
The Base-Core broke open down the center. A white flash burst out, engulfing the enemy's castle. When the light faded, I blinked my eyes, expecting to find myself descending down a column of light, back into the arena. Instead, my eyes saw nothing.
The whole world had vanished, and all my teammates with it. I floated weightlessly and alone in a dark, empty void. Just as I had when I fell down the slopes of the mountain. The same sort of void where I first received my magic.
I heard the lady's distant voice:
「Sophia. You no longer belong here.」
Our enemies noticed Saber's approach right away. Before the Mace-bot reached Hei, it made a U-turn to flee. The Archer frantically retreated while firing arrows at our paladin. Saber conjured her crystal wall behind them to cut off both their escape routes. They skidded to a stop before crashing into the wall, then scrambled to pivot and circle around. Before they could flee, all three of us – Saber, Hei, and myself – caught up.
Seizing the chance, we unloaded every attack and every ability we had upon the robots, and in seconds we obliterated them both. The wrecked robots disintegrated into motes of light, leaving nothing behind. We then killed their golems and toppled the damaged tower. I basked in our survival thus far, and fell back to lie on the grass momentarily, panting and damp with sweat.
「Green team has slain an enemy.」
「Green team has slain an enemy.」
「Green team has destroyed a bottom tower.」
The disembodied voice broadcasted one announcement after another.
"Saber," I finally greeted her. "Wow. Glad to see you're alive."
She gave me a thumbs-up. “I need to head mid. I saw the enemy jungler pathing there to ambush Jack. Godspeed.”
And with that, she ran off.
"She sure is doing her thing," I said to Hei. "Wanna head back?"
We both channeled our Rings of Recall. As the channel finished, a blue flash consumed my vision. In the blink of an eye I found myself next to the vending machine. Hei popped into existence beside me a split second later.
I managed to afford two Potions of Arcana, and drank them as I waited for the vending machine’s aura to heal my wounds. These bubbled like sparkling water and tingled as I gulped them down. After emptying them into my stomach, faint glowing wisps leaked out of my hands, which looked pretty badass and indicated my power-up. Hei, meanwhile, helped himself to a Potion of Max HP and a Potion of Physical Damage.
"Nice work,” I told Hei. “As long as we play it careful, I think we got this in the bag –"
「Green team has slain an enemy.」
I blinked. “That was fast.”
Was it Saber and Jack that made the kill in mid-lane? Or Mr. Atlas, alone up top? As Hei and I jogged back toward bottom-lane, I checked my notebook. I found half a page of writing already there…all Saber’s. Oops, I should probably have read that earlier.
“Will come bot in 10 mins -Saber”…”Jack careful, enemy Jg pathing your way, stay safe under tower -Saber”…”Enemy Jg Death Ward broken -Saber”…”Double kill on bot and support -Saber”…”Coming mid next, bait them in -Saber”…”Enemy Jg killed -Saber”…”Play safe Jack, I'll help Atlas take tower. Sophia & Hei, do pronged attack on bottom lane -Saber”
I scribbled in my first message. “On our way. Keep enemies busy up top. -Sophia”
Hei and I soon made it past the midpoint of bottom lane. I launched a Vortex Shield to clear the enemy golems ahead of us. To my surprise, the water shaped itself into countless little sickles as it surged forth, lacerating the golems. An effect of having more Arcana Points, perhaps?
No one came to stop us as we ushered our own green golems to the enemies’ inner-bottom tower. Not too surprising, considering they only had two robots left to go around the map. We toppled that tower too, then we blew up the golem-fabricator hiding behind it. I felt thrilled, liberated even, certain that we'd all make it out of here alive. Only when we reached the tower by the Base-Core did both remaining robots come to stop us. They stayed under the safety of the tower, then killed off what golems we had remaining on our side.
「Green team has destroyed a top tower.」
"Saber and Atlas, I'm assuming," Hei said.
Hei and I decided to retreat for the meantime. We recalled again, and I bought a third Potion of Arcana. We then marched down bottom-lane yet again with our golems, hopefully for the last time. The robots shouldn't be able to withstand our three-pronged attack much longer.
“This actually feels easier than the stone giant, isn’t that weird?” I asked. Usually, you'd expect the first round of a game to be the easiest.
"I'm not sure," Hei replied. "Assuming players are on equal footing as the robots, half the time it'll be the players that lose their Base-Core, and everyone dies. And even if they win, there'll likely be casualties. Those are not good odds."
That was true, especially considering all the ones who had perished in the past two days. So, then, our triumph stemmed not from our enemies’ weakness, but indeed our strength, our intel, our training. The knowledge we gained was paid for in blood by the players that preceded us. Behind every blow we dealt was their sacrifice.
Without any enemy towers or golems remaining along bottom-lane, we soon stormed into the enemy base. Only one robot defended the lone base-tower from our golems; was the other one still in top or mid lane? This one dual-wielded two axes, and stood the tallest and bulkiest among the robots I’d seen so far. Dried blood stained both its weapons. Perhaps the blood belonged to the players that had perished. Perhaps it belonged to our teammates.
"Bring the tower down before reinforcement comes," I told Hei. "I'll hold this one off."
Hei allowed our golems to advance ahead of him to draw laser-fire from the tower. He then followed in, chipping away the stony column with throws of his heavy spear. The robot charged at him in a predictable, straight line, while swinging its axe in wild arcs.
I raised my palm toward the enemy and formed a Frost Missile. As I charged it with spin, blue light leaked out from my hand and coalesced into floating, almost solid shapes and patterns: lines and arcs arranged to form complex geometric constructs, and strange runes and formulas orbited around them. They were written in glyphs I had never seen before, yet I already knew what they said.
I recited from them as I steadied my aim. "Oceans, roar. Darkness, mourn. Fourfold testament. Lone sparrow. O night of winter, descend upon this earth and become my spear."
The Frost Missile grew to twice, no, thrice its size. Trailed by a jet of frigid mist, it shot forth. The robot altered its course as fast as its heavy frame would allow. It narrowly avoided the missile – only for the projectile to hit the ground at its feet and rebound back into its flanks. The trick that wouldn't work on Saber, worked here.
A shower of broken ice exited from the other side of the robot's torso, carrying with it a spray of splintered wood. My attack had blown a hole straight through it. As though consumed by a berserker's rage, it pressed onward toward Hei with its broken body. Only to be hit by my Vortex Shield – and collapse for good.
As it dissipated into light, the voice announced:「Green team has slain an enemy.」
I noticed a red laser dot shining on my chest. Oh no. I had stepped too close to the tower. As I retreated away as fast as my legs would move, a red flash came upon me. Searing heat stung my back. I smelled burnt flesh. Biting my lips and dizzied by pain, I forced myself to keep running. The tower fired a second shot at me, but it missed a few feet too short. Looked like I made it out of range, having taken 200 damage from that one tower shot.
"I'm OK!" I shouted to Hei between labored breaths. "Keep going"
The tower went back to blasting at our golems. As the agony on my back subsided to an endurable burn, I recognized the pattern. Both the enemy golems and towers…they seemed content in ignoring us and only attacking our golems, unless we attacked one of the robots. Their actual "players," I presumed.
Hei toppled the tower with one final Graviton Joust. I pulled myself together and joined him in breaking the Base-Core.
Behind us, the last remaining robot came running into the castle. Saber followed it in hot pursuit, with Jack in tow. She walled it off from us. I could not see past her golden crystal barrier, but I heard the shriek of steel against steel.
「Green team has slain an enemy.」
The Base-Core broke open down the center. A white flash burst out, engulfing the enemy's castle. When the light faded, I blinked my eyes, expecting to find myself descending down a column of light, back into the arena. Instead, my eyes saw nothing.
The whole world had vanished, and all my teammates with it. I floated weightlessly and alone in a dark, empty void. Just as I had when I fell down the slopes of the mountain. The same sort of void where I first received my magic.
I heard the lady's distant voice:
「Sophia. You no longer belong here.」
