PK

August 25^th, 2075, 15:42:

“And that is how the dragon Therinfew was knighted, becoming the forever champion of the fair Princess Red Velvet. And they all lived happily, ever, after. The end.”

Arron clapped as Slayer closed the book. “Yaaay!” he said excitedly. “I knew Therinfew could do it.”

“You’re such a nerd Arron,” said Cassie who had been pretending not to listen as she watched E-sports on the TV.

“Nuh uh!” cried Arron. “You’re just jealous that he’s not reading one of your stupid books.”

“No I’m not! Besides, unlike you I can tell he really just wants to be left alone so he can go play his stupid game,” she said crossing her arms.

“That’s not true,” said Slayer. “I love hanging out with you guys.” As he spoke his cell phone dinged with a text message. He pulled it out and saw it was from one of his guild mates.

Slayer stared at his phone contemplating what to say.

“Told you so,” Cassie said as she seemed to suddenly materialize behind him.

Slayer nearly dropped his phone as he jumped in surprise. “Jesus Cas, don’t sneak up on me like that!”

“You’re gonna go play your game now aren’t you?” she said crossing her arms.

“I never said that.”

“But you’re thinking it. That’s why you didn’t just text him back and say you’ll talk to him later.”

“Well…” He considered lying to her but knew she would see right through it. “Alright yea I wanna go play, but I can hang out with you guys for a few more hours and join up with them later.”

Cassie’s eyes narrowed into a glare. “How dumb are you?”

“Only as dumb as always.”

She rolled her eyes. “Arron, we should probably go walk the doggies. That way we can get back in time for our show.”

“Oh yea! We should hurry,” he said giggling with excitement.

“So we’ll be gone for about an hour and then have our show until dinner, which we should make because it’s his birthday, right?”

Arron nodded vigorously. “Yup.”

Slayer looked from Cassie to Arron. “Would you like for me to join you?”

“No,” Cassie said flatly. “We want you to go play your dumb game and be ready to join us for dinner dummy.”

“Yea,” Arron said with much less bravado.

Slayer chucked then held his arms up in surrender. “As you command General Cassie.”

“Good. We will see you in a bit,” Cassie went and collected their masks.

“Bye!” Arron said before running over to give him a big hug. “See you for dinner.”

“You got it bud.”

A minute later they were gone, leaving him alone in their small messy apartment. Slayer pulled back out his phone.

August 25^th, 2075, 16:19

The party walked thought the thickly wooded Oleg forest talking jovially among themselves as they made their way back to town.

“I’m telling you man that thing only had eight arms last time!” said the party ranger.

“Dude either your eyes weren’t working, or you got the brain power of a mosquito, its always had ten arms,” said the party mage.

“Nah man I know what I saw they must have changed it with that new patch, its attack patterns were all different bro.”

“The patch doesn’t drop for another hour, that’s the whole reason why we did the raid now.”

“Either way,” interrupted the guild leader, a paladin. “You guys did well today,” he said to the eight remaining members of their twelve-man raid team.

“Would have gone better if Leon hadn’t charged in at the start,” muttered the ranger.

“Nevertheless, let’s get back to town and sell the spoils before the update. Rumor has it the NPCs are going to start paying less for monster parts with the next patch.”

The party groaned.

“Why are they always lowering the payout for parts?” the ranger asked exasperatedly. “It’s how we make most of our money.”

“Because it’s how we and most other guilds make our money,” said the mage. “They’re just trying to shake things up. See if they can’t get us to try other parts of the game.”

“Yea, whatever,” the ranger said putting his hands in his pockets.

“Shouldn’t you be up front looking for traps?” asked the mage.

“Oh come on, none of the monsters in this area set traps and we’ve walked this route a hundred times. You’re just trying to get rid of me.”

“Well, yes I am, but also you should be looking for traps.”

The ranger opened his mouth to respond, but the guild leader interrupted their argument. “He’s right. Come up here with me. You can never be too careful.”

The ranger glared at the mage, flipping him the bird before walking up to stand next to the paladin. “Fine, but I’m just going to say it now, there is no need for… wait.” The ranger grabbed the paladin by the arm, stopping him midstride.

The paladin looked down and saw a crudely made tripwire hooked up to a suspended log. The ranger motioned for everyone to step back then carefully disarmed the trap and lower the log.

“What do you think set that boss?” one of the knights asked the paladin.

“Not what, but who,” said the paladin gravely. “It was probably a group of player killers.”

There was a grumble of discontent from the party as they all pulled out their weapons and started scanning the tree line.

“They must be new to PKing,” said the ranger. “That tripwire was really obvious.”

“They also probably don’t know when we’re coming and set this trap because it makes a lot of noise when it’s tripped,” added the paladin. He looked around at his party and hummed to himself thoughtfully. “Alright, most of us don’t have the stealth to sneak around, or the perception to sniff them out, but I bet we have them outnumbered. We can’t waste any time if we want to make the patch update, so here’s what we are going to do. There’s a clearing about two hundred meters ahead of us. You’d be able to hear the trap from there, so that’s probably where they’re waiting for us.”

“What’s the plan?” asked the mage.

He pointed to the ranger and the team’s assassin. “You two stealth around the clearing and see if you can’t catch them by surprise. If you can’t, or hear the fighting start we’re going to need you to hit their back-liners if they have any.”

They both nodded and crouched before disappearing into the trees.

He pointed to the mage. “You’re all the heavy firepower we have left, so drink a mana potion and stay back in the trees. Keep an eye out for assassins and don’t reveal yourself unless it’s absolutely necessary. The rest of you, stick with me. Remember these are players, they won’t have attack patters so be ready for them to switch things up.”

The remaining players nodded in agreement.

“Alright, let’s get moving.”

The entire party was silent as they continued forward, their conversation completely dying as they scanned the trees. As they approached the clearing the paladin slowed his pace to give their stealth team a bit of extra time to hopefully find their assailants. Unfortunately, they received no signal or message and they soon entered the cigar shaped clearing.

The mage cast an invisibility spell and hid behind the closest tree as the frontliners began to spread out. They continued scanning, half expecting the PKers to start shooting at them with ranged weapons from within the trees. However, to their surprise as they began to form up three men entered the clearing from the opposite side.

The two men in front were large and imposing. One of them wore patchwork furry leather armor and carried two double headed axes, one resting on each shoulder. The second wore a full suite of dark metal plate, and a helmet with a crown of spikes atop it while carrying an absurdly massive greatsword. The man behind them was a far less imposing, but his long-hooded robe and gnarled wooden staff were proof enough he should not be underestimated.

“MEN! BATTLE FORMATION!!!” shouted the paladin. They outnumbered the PKers eight to three. With the ranger and assassin off in the woods, and the mage hiding in the back, they were left with five remaining fighters who formed up into a four-man frontline, with their two heavily armor knights in in the middle, and their great weapon wielding barbarians on the flank, with the paladin in the back to provide healing.

As finalized their formation the enemy mage pointed his staff at them and began chanting aloud. “ChenmoH a…”

“CHARGE!!!” shouted the paladin, recognizing the fireball spell as he heard the first word, hoping to rush the mage before he could finish the incantation.

Everything seemed to go wrong in the same moment.

They charged forward, but after only a few steps the ground beneath their feet collapsed as they activated a hidden pit trap. The paladin reached out and just managed to catch one of the knights, while the other three fell down into the 20-foot-deep hole. The fall damage was not enough to kill them, however the three of them were stuck down out of there until someone lowered them a rope.

With three off them effectively neutralized, the mage decided it was time for him to join the fight, assassins be damned. However, as he was about to take his first step he heard the quiet whistle of a dagger in flight and felt a sudden pain as something struck him in the shoulder. He tried to cry out in pain, yet he could make no noise no matter how hard he tried.

“Now now, can’t have you going out there to help,” an unfamiliar voice said from behind him. “Little piece of friendly advice, next time don’t hide behind the tree directly next to where you went invisible.” The mage could do nothing, not even turn towards his assailant as they grabbed him by the back of the head and jammed a dagger into the side of his head. “Good luck next time buddy,” he said as the mage’s HP dropped to zero.

Meanwhile on the opposite side of the clearing, the two larger PKers sprinted forward and leapt over the pit trap.

“qI’yaH ngoQ…” continued the PK mage as the ranger aimed and fired from their hiding spot within the tree line. His shot was on target, yet as soon as he released the mage suddenly ceased his incantation, twirled his staff, and deflected the arrow.

Seeing the mage had been left undefended the assassin burst out of the tree line in a low crouch, both his dagger drawn and ready. His stealth skill high enough that even as he sprinted his feet made no sound on the soft grass. However, as he drew near the mage suddenly dropped their staff and spun around to face him.

The turn almost caused the assassin to falter, but if he got the mage into melee combat he knew he could take them. He pressed forward and lunged at them with his main-hand, ready to follow up with an off-hand slash. Neither dagger made contact though as the mage drew a shortsword from underneath his robes and deflected the assassin’s first dagger before catching the off-hand by the wrist with his free hand.

The assassin stared at the mage in disbelief, too shocked to pull himself free until the mage stepped forward and bashed the pommel of his sword against the assassin’s temple. The blow caused him to stumble back, his vision blurring as the mage let go of his wrist to grab the hilt of his off-hand dagger and slip it from his grasp.

The ranger knocked another arrow and fired, but the mage dove to the side, narrowly avoiding the arrow as it cut through the air where he once stood. Then, before the ranger could fire another shot, the mage bounced up to his feet, his cloak billowing as he maneuvered so that the assassin was directly between them.

The knight and the paladin spread out, hoping to coax the PKers into one-on-one fights, a wish they seemed more than happy to fulfill. The knight, who was armed with sword and shield, squared off with the dual axe wielder. While the paladin, armed with a greatsword, was left to fight the man with the crown of thorns.

The dual axe wielder clapped the heads of his axes together in a rhythmic clang, clang, clang as he circled with the knight. As the two glared at each other the PKer just shook his head dismissively. “You ain’t good enough buddy,” he said as he charged, raining down a flurry of axe blows against the knight’s shield like a tornado of death.

The knight held strong as the glancing axe blows sent sparks flying in all directions. His defense was stout, but he could not find an opportunity to attack through the unrelenting onslaught. In the same moment he had decided to tank a hit to land one of his own the PKer hooked his off-hand axe on the shield and wrenched it to the side before bringing his main axe down on the knight’s head.

The assassin, who was down to one dagger, and the mage danced around each other, the assassin trying to give the ranger a clear shot, but no matter how hard he tried the mage seemed to predict his moves as if he could read his mind.

A smile grew on the mage’s face as the assassin’s patience started to run thin. Then it hit him. The mage was not attacking at all. He was just stalling them until his friends could come bail him out.

As soon as this realization hit him he stopped their dance, dashing back a good distance and lowered himself into a slight crouch with his dagger down by his hip, readying a charge attack. He had unlocked the quick and dash charge abilities, which meant in less than a second he would launch forward, dealing weapon damage and causing a bleed effect on the mage.

The ranger, who recognized the assassin’s stance, knocked a new arrow and muttered, “Fanget piske,” enchanting the arrow so his next shot would root the mage to the ground and give the assassin a chance to finish him off. He held the arrow to his cheek, waiting for the assassin to dashed passed the mage, and gave him a clear shot.

For the mage’s part, stood his ground, either too unobservant or uncaring of the attack that was about to come his way as he watched the assassin, his eyes hidden underneath his hood.

The man’s calm demeanor was almost unsettling enough to make him cancel the attack, but as soon as he felt the familiar ping of the charge completing he threw caution to the wind and unleashed it. His body glowed dark purple, a familiar sensation of energy washing over his body as he felt his body being carried forward.

As soon as the assassin moved the mage too took a quick step forward.

The assassin smiled as he rapidly closed the distance. Too late ass hole.

The two guild players hopes were dashed though as the mage dropped into a slide, sticking out a leg so that as the assassin’s dagger sailed just over his head and he tripped over the mage’s leg, flying through the air a good twenty yards before landing face first and slid painfully across the dirt.

The ranger stared in disbelief at the assassin, losing focus long enough for the mage to switch his stolen dagger to his main hand and throw it at him. The dagger whistled through the air in a high arc, giving the ranger enough time to regain focus and take aim just before the dagger struck him directly between the eyes, dealing a critical hit.

The assassin looked over his shoulder as the ranger despawned into a burlap sack, his eyes widening as he realized the distance was well beyond the basic range of a thrown weapon. “The hell kind of mage has long throw?!?” the assassin cried.

“Who said I was a mage?” the PKer asked as he turned back to the assassin.

The paladin and thorny helmed PKer stood with their oversized swords in mirrored stances. Instead of circling one another like the other two they stood unmoving just out of the other’s striking range as they shifted from guard to guard, neither of them seemingly willing to make the first move.

“You’ve fought players before,” the player killer said knowingly, his voice echoing slightly inside of his helm.

“In tournaments, and against other PKers like you lot,” the paladin replied with more than a hint of annoyance.

The PKer chuckled. “Not like me, nor any of us.”

He raised his massive greatsword into a high guard and took the single half-step forward to begin their engagement. The paladin dropped his blade into a defensive low guard just as the PKer brought his sword around to slash at his legs. He took a quick step back avoiding the slash but the PKer was in hot pursuit. The large PKer somehow halted his slash halfway through, turning it into a lunge aimed for the paladin’s face.

The paladin reacted just in time, raising his sword to block the PKer’s. Yet as he deflected the other man just took a step to the side and brought his sword around for another slash to the opposite side.

The paladin grunted as he took a quick step back and brought his sword around in a quick arc down onto the PKer’s blade, deflecting it towards the ground. With it out of the way the paladin brought his greatsword around in the same arc, this time aiming to bring it down on the PKer’s head.

Despite both his and his weapon’s size, the PKer was far faster than he had expected, and he darted back a step out of range of the paladin’s strike. Then before the paladin could recover he stepped back in and landed a heavy slash against the paladin’s chest.

The paladin let out a grunt of pain and jumped away.

The PKer chuckled as he watched him retreat. “What did I tell you?” he taunted.

The paladin looked up at his HP bar and winced. Despite his heavy armor and constitution that single strike had cloven through over half his health.

“Ae cýra,” he muttered, closing his eyes as a white light washed over the wound. The healing spell raised his HP back to around 80 percent, however with the knight down he knew the chances of him leaving here alive were slim to none.

The PKer just stood there, waiting patiently for him to be ready as the dual axe wielder paced impatiently in the wings.

Now would really be a good time for some back up, he thought to himself as he raised his sword back into his low guard. Wordlessly the PKer returned to his own high guard and stalked towards him.

He feigned a lunge, pulling back just as the paladin went to block and rotated his blade around for a slash which the paladin only just managed to block. As soon as he blocked the strike the PKer pulled back and started rapidly smashing his blade against the paladin’s guard.

He held his blade firm, ignoring the pain each blows sent shooting through his arms as he backpedaled away. The PKer stayed on him, raining down blow after heavy blow against his guard.

In desperation the paladin ducked underneath one of the slashes and attempted to lunge, yet in his desperation he was sloppy and the PKer easily deflected the lunge by slapping the flat of his blade with his hand.

The paladin took in a deep breath and looked up to see his stamina bar nearly empty as PKer raised his greatsword high above his head. He raised his own weapon, placing his hand on the blade to brace for impact.

The strike landed with such force that the paladin let out a groan as pain ripple through him from his arms down to his toes.

Before he could recover the PKer pulled back and threw the strike again, this time knocking him to a knee. The paladin gritted his teeth, as he looked up at the PKer just in time to see him raise his sword above his head again, this time pausing at the apex until his weapon began to glow a vibrant blood red.

The paladin considered going for a shield of faith spell, but knew it was too late. Their blades crashed together, a shower of sparks raining over the paladin as his sword shattered and the PKer’s glowing blade cleaved through the top of his head.