7.32 – First Assignment III


    She couldn''t actually die here, Natalie reminded herself, but it was a hard thing to keep in mind while fighting a bloodthirsty monster.


    The beast was bear-like, roughly, with dark orange fur that was filthy and matted. It stood as tall as Natalie and was many times bulkier. Vicious curved ck ws swiped with surprising speed, and even Natalie was finding it difficult to keep it in check with sheer strength. It was dumb, though, and rtively easy to outmaneuver. Though its thick hide and bulk absorbed her hammer blows with only grunts and staggers, rather than broken bones.


    Maybe it was better that she didn''t keep her partial immortality in mind, she briefly mused. Fighting for one''s life provided no small amount of motivation. Besides, she could still feel pain, and being disemboweled by massive ws would be an extremely ufortable experience, even if the Arena would somehow … put her back together at the end.


    It was the fourth round ofbat. The first had been outright trivial for delvers of her and Vta''s skill level. The second and third had been simple as well, though increasingly less so. Only now, on the fourth round, had the difficulty raised to the extent she wouldn''t call the fights easy anymore.


    Not hard though. If she were to pick a word, it would be … routine. Blood pounded in her ears, and her heart raced as she went through that deadly dance with her opponent, but it was nothing she found frightening. She didn''t even need to tap into her mana-based skills.


    Vta had imed the majority of finishing blows in their duo, but Natalie had the pleasure this time. [Valentine] crushed into the bear-like beast''s skull, and without a sound, it crumpled into the floor and went still. A second blow, an executioner''s strike, ensured the fight was over. Sure enough, the corpse evaporated, leaving neither core nor Token behind.


    They caught their breath, briefly, as two stone pirs emerged from the ground. Continue or forfeit, as the choices had gone each time before. The Arena was kind enough to let them recover between rounds. Only for a few minutes though.


    "So," Natalie said. "Time to talk about it."


    They hadn''t finished their earlier discussion, on when they should call it quits. The fights hadn''t warranted it; they were certain they''d be able to take on the next round, assuming the jump in difficulty wasn''t astronomical. So they''d kept going. With this medium-difficulty fight, though, it was technically possible they lost by some unlucky fluke on the next, Natalie had decided, and so they had to address it. Or <em>ought </em>to address it.


    "Talk about it?" Vta asked, though the sideways nce told Natalie she knew what she was referencing.


    "Not saying that was hard," Natalie said. "Haven''t even had to pull out basic skills yet, much less my heavy hitters." Vta seemed interested in that; she hadn''t seen [Smite], only her illusions. "But it''s getting there. And some unlucky misstep might end up with one of us dead." Especially Vta, the rogue. She was unbelievably skilled, but she was frail. All it would take was one wrong move. "So. Yeah. We should talk about it."


    "I guess you''re right."


    She didn''t offer more, so after a second, Natalie continued for her. "If we keep going, we might lose. <em>Will </em>lose eventually. When do you want to call it?"


    Vta shrugged. "Not yet. Let''s at least get to the harder fights before we worry too much."


    Natalie studied her for a second. She wanted to press the issue, but that would be patronizing. Vta knew what would happen if they lost. If she wanted to continue, she was weighing the risk of defeat against the potential reward.


    So, she nodded, and they pressed the stone button that advanced them to the next round.


    Two more fights followed. The first, against three tall skeletal warriors. She and Vta did best against single opponents, even if they were strong, because Natalie could distract while the assassin set up devastating nks. Even so, they dispatched the multi-enemy encounter without too much difficulty. Natalie did need to call up some illusions, though.


    The second fight was against a ck stone golem. The fight went much the same way as against the bear, but many times more difficult. The overall strength of each encounter wasn''t increasing exponentially, but even linear jumps meant they were rapidly approaching opponents that were bing too much for them.


    Against the golem, she actually had to pull out [Smite]. Vta seemed impressed by the immense ray of energy that burst from her hammer, though Natalie had only been able to charge it halfway; it was rare to find long enough openings toplete the channel.


    She hadn''t [Empowered] anything yet, and wasn''t sure if she would. These weren''t lethal fights. She had no intentions of trading permanent advancement points to get a little further into the Arena.


    Breathing hard, and bruised from a number of hits, Natalie broached the topic a second time.


    "Keep going?" she asked. "We''re getting to the point we might lose <em>without </em>a fluke. That guy was … tough."


    "Wasn''t <em>that </em>hard," Vta said.


    Natalie raised her eyebrows. Vta too was breathing hard, ck hair matted by sweat. She''d taken a ncing blow herself, which had to have left more than a simple bruise on her hip. The girl prodded at it gently, wincing, though didn''t seem to notice what she''d done.


    "Besides," Vta said. "If we really do give up, we''ve gotta get farther than <em>this</em>. The stake counts for a big portion of the reward, so we have to make up for it in rounds."


    Except they might end up paying out <em>along </em>with getting deep into the Arena, if they weren''t careful. But like before, Vta had to know that. So Natalie just asked, "You sure?"


    The rogue walked up and pressed the button to continue, which was answer enough.


    The next fight was brutal. The [Crystalline Seraph] was an angelic being made out of stained ss, and it tore into them with twin des. It was both a well-suited and a horribly-suited fight for Natalie: the former, because its ss body was weak to blunt attacks, and thetter, because it was fast, agile, and its long dual-wielded des had nearly the same reach as her massive warhammer.


    Still, they made it through,pleting round six. About an hour had passed. Natalie was aching all over, and she was bleeding from several cuts—some of them deep. She missed having a [Healer] on standby. For now, they relied on healing potions, but only enough to stop the bleeding. No point in wasting valuable resources for a non-lethal fight.


    "It''s a gamble to go again," Natalie said. "One not in our favor." The <emst </em>fight had already been a gamble. They''d eked out the victory using all their skills. Even Vta had pulled out something new: she''d grabbed a nearby shadow and had <em>shed </em>with it, somehow, dealing serious damage. Natalie would have been interested in talking about the ability with her if she wasn''t exhausted and woozy from blood loss. "Do we call it?"


    Vta hesitated. She looked away, cheeks flushing. "We can handle one more."


    No, Natalie didn''t think they could. And Vta had to know that too. The next fight would be even harder, and they were weak from their injuries. They would almost certainly lose.


    Maybe Vta wasn''t too worried about paying off their stake after all? Or was it determination and a need to prove herself, the reckless sort ofpetitive spirit that wasmon in T delvers? Either way, Vta walked up and pressed the button to continue.


    Natalie doubted they''d be surviving the seventh round. She would do her best, but she suspected Vta had just deliberately chosen to pay their stake. Which meant, soon, they would be …


    Well. She put that out of her mind. She had a fight to focus on.


    Taking a deep breath, she rallied herself one more time.