Spiteful Healer

Hae-won had her forehead pressed up against the blue barrier of the arena, causing a continuous set of magical ripples to grow outward from the point of contact. She had her staff in her right hand with the tip of it just below her mouth so that she could make use of the voice amplification enchantment on it.

Behind her, the rows upon rows of stadium seats were empty, as nearly all members of the audience stood watching the third match between Aegis and Synopse unfold.

“Both wizards are making incredible use of their cinderbolt spells to match each other's movements. Not only defensively but offensively, neither Synopse nor Pyri are managing to have any impact on the match. They are completely negating each other. This is like a completely different Synopse from what we’ve seen up until this point in the tournament. If they’re able to keep each other contained like this, the match will be decided not by these powerhouse APM players, but their teammates,” Hae-won spoke quickly as her eyes darted from watching Synopse and Pyri’s battle of wizardry towards the center of the arena, and instead turned to Aegis.

“Unfortunately for Synopse, though, Pyri isn’t the only star of Aegis’ party. Their entire group is filled with ambitious, skilled players,” Hae-won continued.

“Synopse’s party members aren't pushovers,” A VGN broadcaster jumped into the announcing conversation, speaking from his own voice amplification staff while he stood atop the raised platform. “Gunther is tying up Rakkan’s echoes with his expert use of his Warmaster skills, and Huck saw how easily Aegis was held up by a dragoon in his match versus Skar. He’s making use of that to keep Aegis busy once again.”

“Princessly, however, is clearly struggling to keep up with Lina and Darkshot’s attacks on the healer Ujak,” Hae-won interjected. “Typical parties that separate the role of tank and healer into two different players will struggle to manage the extra number of damage dealers that parties like Aegis bring to the table. Aegis is handling the aggression from Huck while simultaneously buffing and healing his damage dealers. Sure, Ujak and Princessly are a very durable combination, but neither is really applying much pressure to Lina or Darkshot. The two speed-based players of Aegis’ party are covering each other and preventing all attempts made by Synopse’s party to lock them down. Rakkan recognizes his job is to make sure Gunther doesn’t interfere, rather than him trying to get any sort of edge with his echoes. Look-” Hae-won motioned to Rakkan’s movements.

“He’s isolating Gunther while giving off the impression he’s on his back foot. Like Pyri, he’s only trying to disable his opponent from having an impact,” Hae-won clarified.

“That may be so, but both sides have yet to utilize any major cooldowns. Synopse’s party may be positioning Aegis’ party members right where they want them. A target swap and kill attempt could happen for any player, at any moment,” The VGN caster replied to Hae-won.

“You’re right about that. This match, compared to the last, is like night and day; Synopse’s group seems to be playing it out much more calmly and calculatedly. Ah- Rakkan and Pyri are pulling off their targets! Leaving Aegis and Darkshot vulnerable!”

The players altered their attack formations. A big positional shift happened in the arena, and several large cooldowns were used. “Gunther, Huck and Synopse have all swapped to Darkshot, they have him isolated in the back of the arena. Darkwing nullifies a big burst spell from Synopse at the last moment!”

“Aegis activates Avatar of Eirene, using double guards around Darkshot. He dashes towards his ranger to cut off Gunther, blocks the flying axes with his shield and wings-” Hae-won said. Both casters' speaking rate increased massively to keep up with the action.

“Huck gets around Aegis' defenses, aiming World Piercer at Darkshot. Princessly uses guards to lock down Darkshot, but this leaves Ujak more vulnerable!?”

“Lina, Rakkan, and Pyri jump on the vulnerable healer; he’s dodging very well, but it might not be enough-”

Combatant Ujak has been defeated.

“And the first casualty!” Hae-won declared. “Pyri, Lina, and Rakkan are disengaging to try to take the pressure off of Darkshot. Aegis and Darkshot carefully buy time with defensive skills and healing - Aegis’s use of guards while simultaneously blocking strikes with his wings AND healing Darkshot, and Darkshot’s familiar negating the major spells from Synopse…”

“It’s exactly as you said, Hae-won. The advantage of having your healer and your tank as the same player has given Aegis’ party a very key numbers advantage when it comes to going on the offensive. Aegis’s ability to defend his teammates and heal them at the same time, thanks to those wings and his advanced shield mastery skill, makes him a nearly impenetrable wall,” The VGN caster replied, getting so into the action in front of him that he forgot the team he was supposed to be favoring.

“As he always says, you’re not getting past his shield,” Hae-won said quickly. “If Pyri, Lina, and Rakkan can successfully execute the peel on Darkshot and Aegis and get a reset here, I don’t think Synopse’s party will be able to come back from this. They’re down a healer - they need to get a kill now, as from this point forward their hit points will only be going in one direction.”

“They seem to recognize this; they’re going all out to kill Darkshot. His health is taking some hits, Aegis is locked up by Gunther’s axes - but look! Oh no!” The VGN caster shouted in dismay.

“A clutch pinning shot from Darkshot barely nicked Huck! Pinning him down and allowing Darkshot to get some distance from the dragoon of Synopse’s party. And Pyri’s got her cinderbolts back in action, cutting off Synopse’s damage. He has a few bolts on Darkshot, but that’s not going to be enough to kill him with Aegis’ aura of healing activated,” Hae-won explained. “This might be it! Look!”

“Lina and Rakkan hard swapped to the pinned Huck! Massive damage from Lina’s smoke bomb into Shadow Dance combination and Rakkan’s rapid fire skill! Princessly is trying to protect him, but I’m not sure it’s going to be enough!”

Combatant Huck has been defeated.

“Damnit!” The VGN caster shouted in frustration.

“It’s not looking good for Synopse’s party. They’re now down two members, including their healer, and Aegis’ party isn’t even letting them regroup. Immediately after Huck goes down, they’ve all swapped to the battlemaster Gunther. His incredible use of axes is holding them back. Still, he’s so badly outnumbered I don’t think it’s going to matter,” Hae-won shouted excitedly, pounding her fist against the barrier around the arena. Dıscover more novels at Novᴇl_Fire(.)net

If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.

“Princessly moves into position to back to back it with Gunther. A battlemaster and a guardian player can hold out for a long time, even without a healer. The question is, what are they holding out for?”

“Aegis has joined in with Pyri to lock down Synopse. Aegis goes on the offensive with his claws and wings while Pyri does her best to prevent him from doing what he wants with his cinderbolts. It’s quite telling that despite both of these wizards being advanced with a plethora of spells available to them, they both keep relying on cinderbolt for the majority of this match.”

“Their APM is some of the highest I’ve ever seen - look!” The VGN caster pointed out that Synopse was now not only holding Pyri back, but managing to block attacks from Aegis and dodge his claw strikes. Aegis had gotten into melee range of Synopse, but Synopse was able to control his spells and dodge the attacks at the same time.

Combatant Princessly has been defeated.

Combatant Gunther has been defeated.

“It was only a matter of time, sadly. A relentless onslaught of attacks from those Echoes, arrows, and that shadow dance was never going to take long to finish them out without a healer,” Hae-won explained as all eyes turned to Synopse.

Darkshot, Rakkan, and Lina made their way across the arena to join Pyri and Aegis in their attack on Synopse, but something happened then that none of them were expecting.

Synopse, in the midst of incredible spell control and dodging of attacks from Aegis’ entire party, began to smile.

“Haha!” Synopse laughed loudly, audible due to the momentary silence in the arena as Hae-won and the VGN caster both looked at him in confusion.

“His whole party is down, he’s stuck playing defensively, and he’s smiling?” The VGN caster asked, confused. “He’s about to be eliminated. Why would he be smiling?”

“It’s obvious, isn’t it?” Hae-won slowly began to smile as the world watched Synopse hold back Aegis’ party for a short while by himself. Attacks were getting through and hitting him, but not many. He was smiling and laughing, but incredibly focused.

“What’s obvious? He’s got a trick up his sleeve?” The VGN caster asked Hae-won, desperate for a shred of hope.

“No, of course not. He’s definitely going to lose. He’s smiling because he’s having fun,” Hae-won declared.

Among those watching, Makaroth had his eyes wide open and locked on Synopse, studying him.

“He’s not taking this seriously?” Calikgos asked angrily as he stood beside Makaron and Lilya in the audience of the arena.

“No, that’s not it. Look at his spell movements; his APM is surpassing even Pyri’s right now. There, look - the arrows from Darkshot and the shadowstep from Lina, blocked while he dodged those two strikes from Rakkan’s echoes. All while he’s controlling Pyri’s cinderbolts and preventing her from dealing damage…” Makaroth’s voice trailed off into a whisper. “He’s just genuinely having fun.”

“How can he be having fun? He’s losing!” Liyla groaned in frustration. Makaroth didn’t answer, but a slight grin slowly crept up on his face involuntarily.

Combatant Synopse has been defeated.

Aegis’ team wins the match with a score of 3-0. Aegis’ party will move onto the finals. The next Semi-finals match will begin in 10 minutes, between the parties lead by players Seraxus hailing from the island of Puagas, representing no guild, and Feng hailing from the island of Lanusk, representing the guild The Vindicators.

The crowd erupted in mixed cheers - though most were celebrating Aegis’ victory. Aegis awkwardly waved to the crowds as he and his companions gathered and made for the door leading back to their waiting area while Hae-won sang their praise.

“So that’s it then? Who is going to stop Seraxus now?” Lilya asked as she turned to Makaroth and Calikgos.

“Aegis, or Feng, I guess. Aegis’ has the shield…” Makaroth replied hesitantly, the grin still lingering on his face, but it was yanked off of him as Calikgos grabbed the enchanted iron shoulder plate of the armor Makaroth was wearing, and jerked Makaroth's face closer to his own.

“You better be fucking kidding me right now,” Calikgos growled as Makaroth looked at him, startled. The first half of what Calikgos had said was broadcast to Makaroth’s audience before a commercial break was forced to his livestream. “You organized this event to make US the stars of the show. VGN saves the day, not this stupid ass son of yours.”

“It’s just not going how we expected…” Makaroth shrugged back at him with a smug look. Following these words, the two glared at each other for a long while without blinking, staring each other down as the audience members around them jumped up and down, cheering, oblivious to the interaction.

“It’s not like I wanted Synopse to lose,” Makaroth finally broke the silence.

“You brought Seraxus to the island with his quest objective on it, so that he could make fools of us. We lost Yumily because of that.”

“How was I supposed to know he had a quest here?”

“Yeah, how were you supposed to know? How would you know anything? How could I expect you to be able to do anything without VGN telling you how to do it?” Calikgos hissed, leaning in even closer to make sure that only Makaroth heard his words. “No wonder they put me in your guild to keep an eye on you. You’re fucking useless.”

“I put your network on the map,” Makaroth snapped back at him angrily.

“No, we put you on the map,” Calikgos sighed in frustration, seeing the livestreaming icon above Makaroth’s head blinking to indicate the commercial would end in 5 seconds. He let go of Makaroth’s armor and pulled back from him. “Like always, I’ve got to do everything myself,” He finished before disappearing from the stands near Makaroth, using his bloodletter skills to move with such ridiculous speed that neither Makaroth nor Lilya could see where he went.

Aegis and his party took seats in their waiting area and turned their attention to the livestream monitors of the empty stadium that were hovering on one of the sidewalls, none of them speaking a word.

“So… that was fun,” Darkshot said awkwardly. “One match left, right? Who do you think we’ll be up against? Seraxus or Feng?”

No one answered, but all four party members gave him a look.

“What?” Darkshot shrugged innocently while Darkwing cooed curiously from his shoulder. “Feng could win, right?”

“Maybe,” Aegis shrugged as he turned to look at the corner of the room that Serenity had been practicing in - she and her bandmates had already left and were making their way out into the stands for their next performance.

“We’ve all already prepared to fight Seraxus’ party as much as we can. At this point, there’s nothing for us to do but watch their match,” Pyri replied.

“Aegis numbers are dropping. Serenity’s up to the third slot as she’s moving to begin her performance. Seraxus and Feng are holding the number one and two slots, though.” Tommy declared in his voice call with Shinji.

“That’s to be expected for this upcoming match.”

“Use this time to take a break and rest your fingers, grab a coffee or something,” Tommy instructed him.

“Yes, boss,” Shinji replied without hesitation, setting Aegis’ livestream controls to autopilot temporarily.

“Record viewership numbers are still holding, and climbing even.” Andrew declared as he fiddled through several floating screens that hovered in front of his face within Nicholas’ office simulation.

“People are waking up in North America, and Asian and European viewership has been holding steady from the beginning. Feng and Seraxus both draw in large audiences from different parts of the world,” Nicholas replied nonchalantly, as he was monitoring several other screens that were conveying different metrics regarding the game world.

“That’s good. That means even if this tournament ends disastrously and leads to the downfall of your gameworld, at least it will have gone out with a bang,” Andrew replied with a nervous laugh that got him a death glare from Nicholas. “I’m sure Feng will stop that sword, though. Or that Aegis kid. Surely. But we’re running out of heroes to save the day…”

“All it takes is one.”