[Day 14]

  I woke up to Crudia’s soft snoring and an absence in Dusk’s bed. The man probably already left, and I had to once again battle against my need to just lie down again and sleep for just a little longer. But today was, sadly, the one day I couldn’t do so.

  I sat up, still nervous from the whirlwind in my mind from yesterday, yet the night’s rest let me refocus, as if what was a struggle before became a challenge now. This was the finish line. I’d just have to stick the landing.

  And besides, my fellow teammates were far from defenceless, as was proven to me several times already.

  I stood on the cold wooden floor, cracked my fingers, and left the room. Mark and Talisha stood outside, hovering in the air, visibly bored.

  “Good morning.” I waved at them.

  “You two would sleep forever if you could, wouldn’t you?” Mark sighed, though there was a hint of acceptance in his expression. “Tried waking you several times already. You told Dusk to bugger off at least three times before he gave up.”

  Really? “I don’t remember that happening. Must just be your mind playing tricks on you.”

  Talisha snorted, turning to hover horizontally. “Dude, usually I’m all for picking on Mark, but even Bryga is up already. Bryga, of all people. You know how hard it was, waking her up each day while you were gone in the goblin land?”

  I waved her away, aiming to go get breakfast. I looked down onto the dining hall, and found it completely deserted. Very unusual. “Where’s Bryga and Fink anyway? They already ate?”

  “Yup.” Mark answered, deadpan, and moved to hover to the dining hall himself. Talisha hovered into the room I just left, probably with the goal of waking up Crudia. “They left to stand watch on the walls. There have been some goblins gathering outside the city already.”

  “Goblins? Again?” Did these gods have no sense of variance? How was I to get stronger if I kept fighting the same damn things, over and over again?

  “Don’t forget the other two armies that will come. And the fact that there aren’t that many goblins, either. Our stunt in their city apparently did something at least.”

  That was good to know. Crudia was already talking back to Talisha, easy to hear even from where we sat, and that meant she’d hopefully get here in the next 10-20 minutes. I moved toward the table we occupied during our whole stay here, looking at the leftovers that Bryga and Fink left.

  There weren’t many. Bryga was a serious eater, as I could see, but it kept surprising me nonetheless. I sat down, grabbed some eggs, and ate in silence, which was only occasionally broken by Talisha’s shouting.

  …

  I stood on one of the many fortifications around the city, watching the goblins in the distance. Only an hour passed since Mark said how there were dozens of them gathering nearby, yet what I saw now was not the reflection of that. There were so many of those damned things that I had trouble believing that such a number could have been in that one city I’ve seen.

  They completely blotted out the East side of the city, kind of camouflaged by the black grass. There were more Wurms than I expected as well - one for every tenth goblin by my best estimate.

  Worst of all, I saw one more enemy I recognized as well. On the south, there were the Archwolves that attacked me on the very first day. While it said they were juveniles before, most of them were level 20 or above now, and they looked bigger, stronger, and somehow even more fluffy. I seriously needed one. I couldn’t help but wonder how riding a beast like that would feel.

  Lastly, coming from the North, I expected to see some Clobbers or the like, but instead, there was something else there entirely. Instead of little mushroom guys or talking ants, what gathered on that side were… Lizard ladies? Or something like that? They were a strange mix - some of them looking like lizards on two legs, yet others using a snake tail to avoid having legs altogether. They looked more humanoid than almost anything I’ve seen in the tournament so far, but they were still distinctively not players.

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  What worried me about them the most was the fact that I could see them talking, laughing, and holding weapons. The wolves were just beasts and the goblins had room temperature IQ. Fierce fighters, but I didn’t fear them much. These seemed a bigger threat.

  As for their boss… I couldn’t see him yet. His soldiers were still gathering, so I didn’t think it would take long for him to show up, but his absence was worse than anything. I just wanted this to be over already! Get me into the fight!

  Anthony, sadly, was nowhere in sight. I didn’t know how he planned on getting here, or whether he’d come at all, but I still hoped that he would. The ants were a force we needed desperately, even though the number of people willing to defend their home skyrocketed since Dusk took over. While there were barely any guards when we first came here, I could not see a single adult not holding some kind of weapon. Even if it was a hammer, a machete or a rake, all the adult men and women stood at the ready, gathering around the city walls.

  It made me feel proud of them. We had an impact on them, that was sure. Hopefully they’d live to tell the tale. I would do everything in my power to make that happen, and Mark’s traps should hopefully help too.

  “See Xila yet?” Dusk asked, looking North.

  “She might not come after the ass-kicking I gave her.” I smiled and wondered for the hundredth time about when to show the leg that still sat in my inventory. No. I’d save it to show her directly.

  “You think she’s really that much of a pussy?” Bryga laughed. “I thought that she’d be more frightening, since you three kept making her to be such a big deal!”

  “I still think she’s fearsome.” Dusk mused, looking at Bryga. “Shrimpie beat her, but he had help. And she’s one of the very few people with an evolution. You can’t forget that.”

  “Eh, what does it matter?” Bryga’s voice cut him off before he could explain further. “She’s not coming anyway! I think this will just be a nice afternoon, and then we move to the next floor!”

  “I think you’re forgetting something.” Mark sighed, hovering above us.

  “Oh, I know! The dragon!” Crudia said and hopped on the spot. “We’ll beat him, though! That’s for sure!”

  “Love the confidence, girl!” Talisha chuckled. “We need to be careful, though. Remember the plan?”

  This again? The two guides droned about it so much that I probably dreamed about the stuff. “It’s literally us splitting into pairs and Fink supporting wherever he can. It doesn’t take a genius to understand.”

  “I sure hope so.” Mark said, finally coming down to stand beside me. Timmy suddenly floated next to us too, and looked into my eyes. He looked determined, that little runt. As if you were the one going into the fight!

  But what happened surprised me. He didn’t speak, of course, but he opened his mouth, as if trying to do so. I wondered, not for the first time, what happened to him. He seemed sad about his failure, but then his eyes lit up, his mouth turned to a grin, and he professed his hand in a closed fist.

  Everyone around me seemed as shocked as I was. I took the little guy as a silent observer. Hell, probably everyone but Talisha and Dusk did. But actually cheering me on? Good stuff dude!

  I returned the fist bump, chuckling as my hand passed through his.

  “And so it begins.” Mark’s voice cut in with sudden gravitas.

  “So begins what?” Crudia asked, looking from one side to another.

  …

  “The battle? They seem to be all gathered up, for the most part.” He sighed, losing the air of importance he held.

  “Was that a reference to something? I swear I heard it before.” Talisha said, scratching her arm.

  “Yeah, actually! And the fact you don’t know where it’s from makes me sad. And no, I’m not telling you. It’s whatever. You’d just say I’m a dork again.”

  What the hell were these two on? I wasn’t even sure if I wanted to listen in on that further, but I wasn’t given the chance anyway.

  Quest conditions: Fulfilled

  Starting now.

  So, you decided to defend the city after all, huh? Ignored everyone around that told you exactly how stupid it is? How utterly fucked you’re gonna get if you choose to stay here and defend the townsfolk?

  You’re fuuuuuucked, dude.

  Not only was there the opposite of this quest given out, with a similar reward as initiative, the dragon is kind of… well, you’ll see how he is. One of our gods really had a fun time creating him, we’ll tell you that.

  Speaking of gods. We’re really looking forward to this. We have popcorn ready and stuff. Honestly, big events like this usually don’t happen until several floors into the tournament. But you and one other team managed to really make this fun, for which we’re really grateful.

  Now, go out there! The reward is in front of you!

  You just have to kill thousands to get to it.

  I scoffed at the message, finding it kind of refreshing. The gods were goading us, but that meant they weren’t as sure of the outcome as the message suggested. We were ready. The traps were ready. Our soldiers were ready.

  The enemies moved, slowly walking toward the fortifications, not hurried in the slightest. The damn fuckers had no idea what they were in for.

  And that’s when a deafening roar sounded, coming from afar yet silencing all other sounds. I’ve not seen it before, since it blended with the surrounding grass.

  But a dragon was coming. It was a big one.