CHAPTER 17: “THE ENVOY OF DARKNESS”

Ai watched the man’s shapely back until it disappeared completely. He felt his cheeks getting hot as he gently touched the place the man touched.

He then realized that he was still just standing in public, there were a lot of players there who could have witnessed him blushing like a school boy. Clearing his throat to push down the embarrassment, he opened his inventory to check the armor he had just bought. It was a cheaper one, so its stats weren’t outstanding, but it was still much better than the one he was wearing.

[Lowly Scholar Robe] DEF / MAG DEF: 100 SPD: 20

Adding extra 20 points wasn’t too bad but it wasn’t much either. With the armor, his SPD would go up to around 40, which was double his base stats, though it was still considered low. 

[World Symphony] had the following stats threshold as to whether or not stats were considered high. For HP anything above 30,000 was considered extremely high. For MP, the 10,000 threshold was considered high. For ATK, MAG ATK, MAG DEF and DEF it was 2000 to 3000, and for SPD it was 300. 

So right now, his SPD was considered to be pretty abysmal. Well, there was not much he could do about that until he got better armor. For now, he would put this on. The armor was nice and soft, though it was a bit itchy. It was a scholar armor so it was mostly cloth and some leather here and there.

It looked pretty similar to his starting clothes; only the sleeves were long instead of puffy paired and with fingerless gloves, the coat reached his ankles instead of his thighs, and they added a leather shoulder pad as well. Looking at the other armor, it was clear that this one had a significantly less amount of leather and hard pieces, optimizing for more movement instead of protection.

Twirling a couple of times to get more used to the feel of a longer coat, Ai was quite satisfied with how it looked though he wished for more stats. The owl glanced over the shiny things once more then settled itself back on his usual spot on Ai’s padless shoulder.

Ai was wondering what he should do next when suddenly the crowd started to bustle, rushing against each other to enter the seating area of the arena. Ai was clueless, though one quick eavesdrop on a pair of female players told him what he needed to know.

“Ah, it’s the Villain’s turn isnt it?” One said. “I can’t wait!”

“Yeah, you think he’ll win again as always?” The other sighed dreamily.

As the two players walked out of earshot, Ai took the time to think to himself. The Villain? Could it be…?

Without a second thought, Ai rushed towards the arena as well, dodging player after player while the owl flapped its wings speedily to catch up with the elf.

***

The battle hadn’t started when Ai arrived. He managed to snag himself a pretty decent seat in the upper areas where he could see the entire arena in its full glory. The arena was pretty basic looking, the seatings were set like a colosseum and the fighting area down below was a raised platform with stairs leading up to it on either side.

Ai didn’t know who would be fighting right now, but if the two female players were correct then…

Suddenly the murmuring crowd came to life. On either side of the entrance, the doors were lifting open, letting the player inside to get out and look at their opponent. As the players got out, Ai’s eyes zoomed in on the familiar looking player with the blood gem sword slowly making his way unto the raised platform. His expressionless eyes were calm and focused on his opponent.

Ai didn’t care too much about the other player, all he knew that they were a paladin judging by their heavy armor but his attention was all on the dark haired man with his dark red armor, the so called Villain.

Both players finally stood face to face in the middle of the arena. Ai couldn’t see the paladin’s face due to his helmet blocking most of it but he could see the Villain’s handsome face very clearly.

Slowly, both players gripped their weapons and took it out. Each of them took their own battle stances. The Paladin held both his big shield and lance type weapon with much dignity and valor, as a real knight would’ve done. In contrast, the Villain only loosely gripped the hilt of his blood gem sword, his lazy stance giving him an elegant and gentle aura.

There was no warning, no announcement, or anything of the sort, yet the two players pushed against the ground and dashed towards each other. The Villain lightly swung his thin blade towards the Paladin, the move looked almost effortless. The Paladin however had managed to swing his heavy shield to the front, blocking the attack. Looking at such a thin blade clashing against such a heavy piece of shield made Ai shudder, fearing the blade would snap in two, but it seemed like the Paladin took more of the brunt as he almost staggered in his defensive stance.

“The Villain of the Arena.” Someone said, their voice coming closer.

Ai turned to look at his side, hesitatingly looking away from the match, and saw someone he didn’t think would meet again.

Golden eyes filled with caution, Eusyca_ stared at Ai from a distance, as if asking him if she could sit at the empty spot next to him. Though he felt kind of hesitant as he remembered Eusyca_’s condescending look from the very first time they met, Ai shrugged and let her claim the empty seat.

The other player nodded and wordlessly took the chance.

For a moment, both of them simply watched the match. 

It had gone on a standstill for quite a bit. The paladin was doing his utmost best at defending from his attacker’s torrent of attacks, while the Villain was slowly jabbing and poking at the heavy armored player with his light blade.

“The paladin is losing.” Eusyca_ suddenly said. Her eyes were trained on the players below, not breaking her line of sight even for a moment. “The Villain is trying to push the paladin’s stamina.”

Looking closer, Ai realized now that the paladin’s moves were a bit more sluggish than before. It must’ve been extremely taxing for him to be lifting all that heavy armor and shield while trying to keep up with the Villain’s swift movements.

“The Villain...what class is he?” Ai found himself asking.

Eusyca_ didn’t answer for a bit before sighing. “Yes, I forgot you don’t read the forums.”

Ai didn’t correct her but let her continue speaking.

“He’s using a unique class, a branching of the warrior path.” She said, a bit of awe in her voice mixed with a tinge of jealousy. “Envoy of Darkness. No one in this game has that class but him.”

The Envoy of Darkness….so he was at the other end of the spectrum? Ai was an envoy that stood in the middle, he was a neutral third party. Yet this player was an Envoy of Darkness, someone who stood in the dark spectrum of good and evil. So that was why he was called the Villain. He’d been so incredibly nice though…

Down at the arena, the Paladin seems to have lost most of his stamina. The Villain did another graceful sidestep and pushed his dainty sword in between the breaks in his opponent’s armor. It couldn’t have been more than a graze on his skin, but the Paladin collapsed on the ground, dark clouds starting to leak through his heavy armor.

“His blade is poisonous. Miasma.” Eusyca_ explained, cringing slightly. “I’ve seen him take down enemies with one swing because of his poison. Damned overpowered classes.”

As the Paladin was finally defeated, a ring of announcement appeared in every spectator’s [Thought System].

Player Morion has defeated Player YellowXOX in a duel!

Ai finally let out a small breath of relief. It was stupid honestly, he’d only met the man once yet his eyes couldn’t seem to stray from him. As he watched Morion with intense eyes, he didn’t expect the Villain to look up at his direction. Ai could’ve sworn that their eyes had met.

oofcat

Game Notes:

HP: Health points

MP: Mana points (Used for Skills)

SPD: Speed points

DEF: Defense points

ATK: Attack points

Ai and his new long sleeves: