Dragon X First Strike

“I don't know what you're doing wandering this far outside of town,” said the taller of the two – Dain, I think it was. “But whatever happened to that party of yours? Don't tell me you refused our generous offer just so you could run off on your own and get yourself killed.”

“Well, I seem to be alive and kicking so far,” I replied, forcing a smile to at least partially cover the distrust in my words. “So I think the answer I'll go with is 'none of your business.'”

“So far,” the warrior shot back, his greataxe's blade scraping ominously against his armored pauldron as he lowered the weapon from its perch atop his shoulder.

“Oi, oi... What's a nice guy like you doing saying dangerous stuff like that? Wasn't it your job to help new players out?” I asked, but Dain merely smirked back at me.

“Sorry, but I'm off the clock right now.”

“Now, now. No need to pick a fight just yet,” interjected the wizard, Rozas. “I'm sure we can all be reasonable about this.” But even as he spoke, he was already shifting subtly to the side, trying to get a clear view of the person still on the ground behind me. Just as I thought, I was only an afterthought. Their target was, and had always been...

“This is why you should have left,” the Exile sighed, a long wooden staff that ended in a crescent-shaped blade manifesting in her grasp. With still-jittering hands and shaky legs, she leaned all her weight upon it and forced herself to her feet. “Like I said before, I don't believe I ever asked for your help, so just leave this to me and go.”

Rozas only smirked at this vain show of determination, and Dain gave an audible laugh. That told me everything I needed to know about her chances.

...Not that examining her didn't tell me that already. Her status had gone down to [Paralysis: Level 1] which explained why she could now at least stand – but moving from that spot was definitely beyond her, as was blocking a swing from that man's giant axe. The important thing, though, was that the Status had already gone down by one. If I could just buy her a little more time, then maybe...

“Well, as a newbie,” I began, completely ignoring the Exile's orders to distance myself as I instead stepped slightly over to the side, once again interposing myself between Rozas and her.

“Hey! I just told you to –” She started to object, but must have realized my plan, as she stopped herself short. She might not have wanted my help, but it looked like she had weighed her options, and at the very least had resigned herself to getting it.

Undeterred by her interruption, I continued stalling for time. “I must admit, I'm a little lost in all this. Why all the hostility? Did she do something to offend you? As you said,” This time, the wizard couldn't entirely hide a scowl as I threw his own words back in his face. “I'm sure we can all be reasonable about this, right?”

“Oh, right, you don't know yet, do you?” This time, it was Dain's turn to play good cop, it seemed. “In that case, why don't you take a good look at that symbol over her head?”

I had been wondering about since this afternoon, actually. If I recall correctly, Dairoku had said...

“A golden eagle insignia with three strikes... A Velkhan player-killer...?”

“Yeah. She's from Velkha, right? What about it?”

“So you do know, then. That makes this easy. She's part of another faction – or was, at any rate. In other words, she's the enemy – which means it's our job as members of the [Silver Phantom Knights] to deal with her accordingly.”

“I thought you said you were off the clock?” An absentminded voice chimed in from behind me. So even in a situation this dire, that weird train of thought of hers was still running full steam off the rails...

...But, well, I was trying to stall for time, so instead of questioning it, why not just join in?

“Not to mention that it's really not very 'knightly' of you to team up on a defenseless girl,” I added, stroking my chin theatrically. I could have sworn Dain's eyebrow had started twitching at that, but he wasn't the only one who seemed irked by my choice of words.

“Don't patronize me.” Ah. She was angry again. ...Or was she? “My level is probably higher than yours,” She continued. “And even if I am Paralyzed at the moment, I can still cast magic just fine.”

“Aw, come on. It's not often that a guy like me gets to play hero, you know. Let me have this.”

“Probably because you're so bad at it. Who drops somebody twice while trying to save their life?”

“Hey! I only dropped you once! You slapped me the second time! That doesn't count.”

“Only because you deserved it.” It was subtle, but... was she smirking at me? Now that I looked at her, although her words were still as harsh as ever, rather than being angry, she almost seemed to be enjoying this –

“ARE YOU QUITE DONE!?”

Well, someone was definitely angry, even if she wasn't. Dain's battleaxe slammed into the cobblestones of the road hard enough to crack them, and I took a quick step back, giving a sidelong glance to the Exile.

“It's rude to ignore people, you know,” She advised me sternly, shaking her head. I gave a cheeky grin back. Now I was sure she was just messing with him – and that I couldn't let somebody this amusing die without a fight.

“Nah, you're the one he's trying to murder. He was clearly talking to you.”

His partner actually looked about ready to kill both of us, but the mage once again stepped in. Why was he so hesitant to start a fight, anyway? If they just went all out and attacked to begin with, they could probably topple me before she recovered... Did they just not realize we were stalling, or was there something else they wanted?

“I don't suppose there's anything we can do to convince you to stand down?” Rozas asked me. “There's no reason for you to fight us. I don't know if you're aware, but if you force our hand and we kill you, your items will be forfeit.”

I shrugged, shouldering my own weapon and spreading my arms wide.“Hate to break it to you, but all I've got is one potion and this crappy sword. I don't really have much to lose.”

“Well, what if we sweeten the deal for you, then?” He offered. “That girl is a crafter with a wide variety of unknown potions and materials, and as an Exile with no access to a Faction bank or Guild storage, I'm sure she has nowhere to hold them but her inventory. We wouldn't be against splitting her valuables with you after she's dead.”

“So uncivilized. You could at least try and make this sound like something other than a highway robbery.”

“Why you –!”

“Tell you what,” I said with an audacious smirk. “If you do manage to kill us, try the orange one first. I hear it's delicious.” The mage in front of me raised an eyebrow at this in obvious confusion.

The mage beside me, on the other hand, had quickly covered her mouth and put on an absolute poker face – but I'm pretty sure her shaking wasn't from the [Paralysis] anymore.

So she can laugh. At least somebody here likes my jokes.

“Well then, if you're so determined to get in our way, I suppose that as members of the same faction, we can at least be sporting about this,” Rozas sighed.

“What the hell are you talking about? He's dug his grave, let's just kill them both and be done with all this,” Dain fumed, clearly having long since exceeded his tolerance of our shenanigans. “With the Guildmaster's help, it's not like we'll have to worry about the –” While I was very curious about where that was going, Rozas silenced him with a wave of his hand before he could explain himself any further.

“Now, now,” The insufferably polite mage said. “You're armored head to foot, and you're going up against a newcomer without Levels or Skills to contest you, and without any gear to protect him on top of that. Shouldn't you at least offer him a free hit?”

“A free hit?! What are you – ...Oh.” Dain suddenly seemed to realize something... then, to my surprise, he let go of the axe he had planted in the ground, stepped away from it, and spread his arms wide in mimicry of my own earlier gesture. “Now that you mention it,” He said with a smirk. “Why don't I? It's only fair that I at least give this newbie a chance.”

...Right. So this was obviously some kind of trap, and he was definitely provoking me.

But did that even change anything? Even if it was a trap, what did I have to lose? I probably wasn't even going to play this game for more than a week, and even if they killed me, they couldn't take anything from me that I couldn't easily replace.

Besides... they were doing all of this under the assumption that I was still a low-level schmuck, barely out of the starter zone. They were probably pretty high-level themselves... but who's to say that at my current level I couldn't do enough damage to tip the scales in my favor if I got a good hit in?

“No, wait!” The Exile seemed to realize their intentions. “If you attack him, then you'll –”

But it was already too late.

“[Stinger]!”

I could see Dain's eyes widen as I crossed the distance between us in an instant, and felt momentary resistance as my sword plunged straight through his breastplate, and into his chest. A spray of red pixels scattered into the air, and his HP bar dropped by a little less than a quarter.

But at the same time, something else red appeared on my screen.

A symbol, floating over my own head: the insignia of a gauntleted hand holding a white rose, stained and cut through by a single, crimson strike.

In my haste to get the upper hand, I had forgotten that there were more things I could lose than my items. And in games like these...

...There's always a penalty for friendly fire.