The Heart is a Void: Ashes to Ashes

Chapter 137: The General

As he approached the large crowd of people waiting at the entrance to the plains, Crucis saw that about ten of them were hunched up or scrunched to the ground on the left. The crowd parted slightly around these people, creating a small alcove where they lay.

As he walked through, cutting briefly through this alcove in order to get further towards the front of the crowd, he overheard a player with a strange, hybrid Australian-American accent explaining the situation to another.

"Well, you know, these guys say they're sick. I think they might just be nervous, or maybe they got pissed last night, eh? But it seems pretty serious, don't know if they'll be ready for the event. They've just been crawling on their bellies and retching for ages. One of them was my mate, he hasn't been serious injured or anything, just collapsed soon as he woke up."

A few of the sufferers had small wounds across their legs, but none seemed to have particularly dire injuries. It looked like they were ill, though Crucis couldn't tell if this was a reaction to stress or to something else.

Arrayed out in front of the crowd, there were a few stalls and makeshift Arenas where players could take on challenges for small benefits in the upcoming event. Most of them had queues, and the rewards weren't earth-shattering. Still, players went through them, with not much else to do.

He scanned them quickly, then saw one which offered Dexterity buffs from a game where players stabbed daggers into a row of targets, aiming to hit near the bull's-eye on as many targets as possible in 10 seconds. The stall owner looked like an old man with a large, white beard, but wore a green mask and massive, black coat that made it difficult to tell any further details.

Most players were a bit nervous, and fumbled a bit, but still ended up with a reward of at least 20-30 Dexterity and a bit of Divine Mana. Joining the queue, he saw a few high-Dexterity Assassins, including one from the Hashin, getting high scores and even the occasional bull's-eye. However, most players found it quite difficult.

When it was his turn, he went up and carefully studied the small, knee-high stands where the daggers were placed. One stand was next to each target, and a few players had had issues with kneeling down to pick up the daggers. He bent his knees and prepared to start.

Before starting, he received a 30 second buff from the stall owner, which decreased the timing on stab skills to around 2 seconds.

As the 10 seconds began, he moved quickly over to the first target, swiftly picking up the dagger and then straightening his knees to plunge it into the target with a quick [Panoramic Strike], that struck just in the red circle around in the bull's-eye. A near miss. He had looked across the target carefully before starting, so he was able to aim relatively quickly, despite being a bit jumpy about the upcoming event.

He scuttled sideways like a crab to pick up the next dagger, but almost lost balance as he rose to plunge it into the target. This next strike, with [Silent Stab], was slightly less accurate, hitting a yellow ring which was three rings away from the bull's-eye. However, he didn't have time to be concerned about this result.

By the next target, he had got more used to the motion, and managed a bull's-eye with [Panoramic Strike], before striking the ring just wide of that on his fourth target.

He just about reached the fifth target, but ran out of time just as he began to thrust the dagger.

The stall owner congratulated him, then raised a piece of paper with his score on it. 1087. He wasn't entirely sure what this meant, but recalled that the Hashin had a score in the 800s, and the highest he had seen was 1190, so it was on the higher end. He received a buff of 109 Dexterity for the event, as well as 54 Divine Mana.

Given that players started on 500 Divine Mana, this wasn't bad.

In fact, since he could use Divine Mana to control and enhance motion here, increasing Dexterity as well would give him a useful leg-up in the early stages.

He walked back into the crowd, and watched as other late-comers attempted the games. A few of the games involved fighting with dummies or small creatures in an arena, and one was simply a wheel of fortune that granted STR or DEX with a small chance of increasing both. Many players had already finished with the stalls, since only one stall attempt per player was allowed, and were waiting for the event or planning it out with their Guilds.

Some Guilds were already forming a phalanx of sorts, with their leadership in the centre and guarded by the members. Standing near other players created a high risk of friendly fire, so the higher-ranked players typically kept themselves more isolated in the centre while the other players clustered in a protective ring or semi-circle.

Across the crowd, players were conversing about the event, although often a bit cagily because most other people here could be a potential enemy.

They were suddenly interrupted when a black-masked man wearing a large, brown hood, and brown robes like a monk, called out to the players. "Roll up, roll up! The other stalls not enough for you? Here's your chance at a real advantage in this event! I call the bravest and strongest among you, to duel this captive prisoner of war. Bring out the brave, right now!"

Behind him stood a large cage containing an imposing figure, named [Asura General]. Its skin was a metallic grey-brown, and its eyes were shut as if in meditation. Crucis could dimly make out that it had four arms, and was holding a glowing, long, chalk-white sword.

Although most players were hesitant, one level 65 player named [eDmitri] did step up to the challenge. He was a member of the Guild named [Stranded], and wished to secure his Guild a serious advantage, as well as gain personal recognition for his feats.

His current Guild Vice-Leader was slightly controversial, and it was known that the leader was seeking out possible candidates for a new one. Although eDmitri was only an Elite in the Guild, he had a fairly solid reputation, and figured that he could be promoted to a Noble or even a Vice-Leader candidate if he performed an important role here.

"What are the rewards?" he demanded from the brown-hooded man.

"Ah, ha! Your stats will be increased to 150%, and you will get a sword named [Chosen One], which buffs your team for every monster killed. Since you are with the... Aesir, it will give your team a significant advantage."

On hearing about the team buff, the [Stranded] Leader, [BlackSTRAND], looked over in eDmitri's direction, seemingly realising that such a buff would make him a promising partner to team up with.

In fact, it also meant that his Guild would probably go out of his way to protect him.

eDmitri quickly assented, before other interested players could volunteer in his stead.

He walked up to a small, raised red platform, with blue, red, and white rings, and drew his sword. Crucis was surprised to see that this sword had lit up with a hazy, white glow, that was bright enough that it caught him by surprise and his eyes flinched away for a moment. The weapon seemed to hum lightly, although it was difficult to make out from a distance.

This must be what the board had meant when it mentioned weapons being transformed into 'Divine Weapons.' The Asura's weapon had a similar glow. Although the Asura's level was only 55, Crucis figured that this might not make as much of a difference if their weapons were

As he leaned to the side to look past the thick crowd gathering around the fight, he saw the silhouette of the lumbering Asura General walking out of its cage. A white, glowing ring formed around the Arena, preventing anyone from leaving.

"Good luck!" the man in brown said, before turning to the audience. "Get ready for an exciting fight, ladies and gentlemen! And whatever else you may be! This Asura may look like a dumb brute, but he's learned swordfighting from the great god Hvedrungr. Prepare yourselves!"

The two combatants paced on one side of the Arena, with about four metres in between them. eDmitri looked more confident as he saw his sword's new white, and the man in brown explained to him that it was a Divine Weapon. He had already read the board at the entrance, and knew about these. Although nervous, he was quite well-known among his Guild for his skill at swordfighting, so he figured he was well-prepared.

As the man in brown began to count down from 15, the Asura General reached into the large scabbard on its back and drew out three more white, radiant swords, holding one in each arm. He twirled them confidently, as he faced down his opponent.

Once the countdown ended, the Asura General stepped forwards, the loud, harsh echo of his steps filling the air.

He slashed forwards with the two swords on his right hand, targeting eDmitri's head and neck.

Although eDmitri's sword rose agilely to block this assault, and struggled to keep the swords away, soon his torso was rent in two by another sword from the left.

Finally, the last sword passed up through his chest until it split his neck vertically.

His bleeding mass fell on the ground, and the Arena was bathed in thick red.

The man in brown threw off his hood and mask, and laughed loudly. He vanished in seconds, but before that Crucis managed to make out a name-tag above his head, [Loki].

The Asura General, free, now ran back into the plains, looking to rejoin his army.

There were a few screams from the crowd, on seeing the result of the battle, but these quickly abated as players nervously awaited the beginning of the event. They held back in near-silence, with a few discordant murmurs. A few had begun to cry, but still looked with strained eyes towards the countdown above them, which showed less than a minute.

Crucis noticed that DellaB and the others with Apollo's red mark were whispering franctically with an experienced-looking player from another Guild. They seemed to be trying to get advice, due to their predicament, but Crucis couldn't make out what was being said from a distance. Whatever the advice was, DellaB looked thankful, and her tears had a hint of joy between the stress.

Soon, the countdown had ended. Players had 10 minutes to move out into the wider area, before the fighting began.

A few players from [Stranded] attempted to heave up the players lying on the right of the crowd, but stopped when the players flinched in pain and began to writhe out of the lifter's grip. Seemingly, they were not only incapacitated, but in extreme pain. Giving up after a few attempts, the [Stranded] players began to move into the plains, leaving these players on the ground.

Crucis darted forwards as soon as the countdown ended, and made his way towards a large set of mountains to the North-East of the area. It looked like these mountains had paths carved around them, and since they were far away most players wouldn't be able to make it there or climb particularly far. The paths were a fairly gentle slope, but were full of rocks and other obstacles, so they could be difficult to traverse.

Since he was an Assassin with high Agility, and had a good hang of movement in the heavens while some players were still stumbling, he figured that the mountain paths might be a good way to find a remote hiding place. Due to the lethality of weapons in this event, making any significant gains as an unaligned player would involve avoiding dangerous positions. Not many players were heading in that direction, since at first these mountains seemed to blend in with the larger mountains behind them which closed off the boundaries of the area. Once he had risen somewhere secure, he could hide or pick out easy targets nearby without as much risk of being caught up in a risky battle between many players.

It was probably more reasonable for him to stay at the margins of the event, and pick off players or monsters when possible. In the thick of things, he would be too vulnerable without a Guild to shore him up.

Most players, especially the STR-focused warriors, would probably not reach far past the plains, and most of the fighting would go on there. Due to the way that the event was set up, most of the players would be caught up in fighting large monsters on the plains, and this would probably soon develop into large-scale fighting with each other. It wasn't really safe to stay there.

In order to avoid being noticed, he mostly used [Agile Step] to clip into the cliffsides and walls across the East, since this hid him from most players. He ran into Dr1fter, Jin and Vladislav once, since they were also making their way through the walls, but they just waved and ran off towards a valley in the East.

He didn't notice many players around once he reached the mountains, though he could see a few warriors approaching slowly in order to take advantage of the Strength-favouring, steep climbs up the large rocks next to the mountain. These warriors might not get into his way immediately, but he could probably target them as the event went on, if he didn't manage to find some decent monsters on his way.

Hiding in the wall of the mountain path, and climbing upwards, he found that the path was uneven and occasionally disrupted by holes or boulders blocking the way. However, using the Divine Mana, he was able to vault over these safely, and made his way up until he was high enough to easily view the whole area.

The players below, when visible, looked like small blips on the vast, misty scenery.

Rounding the mountain a few more times, he reached a particularly thin ledge, which would be difficult for most players to ford. He decided to wait here, instead of going upwards, since from here it would be fairly obvious if another player was approaching. Anyone else here could be a threat, and he'd have to eliminate them in time, but he didn't want to be attacked right at the beginning.

With one minute until the fighting began, he waited in the wall, and scanned his surroundings carefully.

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