First Blood

Much of the Town of Starfein was a tightly packed, confusing labyrinth of randomly constructed buildings. There were narrow alleyways and winding roads, with shops and workshops sprinkled randomly throughout.

However, at the center of the town, everything was organized in a neat grid pattern, with large open streets and plazas, all of which rested beneath the shadow of the town's castle.

Raven had spent the time leading up to the Battle Royale travelling through the most dense, impoverished parts of the town. Here, he could find many empty rooms and lonely alleyways where he could freely use his [Blindside] ability.

He was using it now, having it expand out as far as he could. Raven was hiding in a musty, empty room at the top of a building. Very soon, the Battle Royale would begin.

Raven fiddled with his dagger, looking at the quest screen.

___________

Quest: Win Shadow Guild's Battle Royale

Expected difficulty: Immense

Reward: TP, variable amount. Loot from players. Apprenticeship with the Shadow Guild.

Start Date: 5 minutes.

Players Left: 24

Players Killed: 0

___________

Raven put his dagger away, and began stretching his body. As he did that, he went over the information he had gathered already.

'So far, I have spotted four players myself. Two were together as they entered town, and then split off. A girl; short and burly, pink hair and horns. She has been standing at the center of the town in its' plaza.'

'The person she entered with snuck away before she entered the plaza, and I could not keep track of them. They were tall, lanky, and had dark blue hair.'

'I guessed they were players based off their equipment, and how they interacted with the NPCs.'

'The third player was a massive beast of a man. Tall, dark hair, and rippling muscles. He has spent the past few hours constantly running around, finding isolated NPCs, breaking their legs and then burning them alive.'

'The fourth player was incredibly hard to keep track of. If I hadn't been constantly using [Blindside] to keep track of his cone of vision, I would have lost him. He has been sneaking throughout the town, and doing some rather unsavory things to any women he could isolate.'

After finding the fourth player, he had decided to constantly stalk him. Otherwise, he would lose his location. Right now, the player was in the next building over, and currently distracted with another NPC.

'That's not all, though...'

Using [Blindside], Raven focused on the three cones of vision that had been following him for the past several hours.

'Three or so creatures have had their vision directed towards my location, following me for the past couple of hours. They are probably players, and I am pretty confident there are three of them...'

It was difficult to figure anything out using [Blindside]. All Raven could do was guess based off the areas where his [Blindside]'s senses couldn't enter. In a town, however, there were many eyes looking all around.

Still, vision emanated from people in a cone like shape, and Raven could easily tell when he was being watched. Then, he could follow the cone back to the location it was coming from. This was how he could tell there were several people watching him.

One thing about them worried Raven, however.

'They have kept track of me even as I have teleported, and seem to know my location even when they don't have a direct line of sight... they must have some ability to track me. Since they haven't attacked yet, they must be waiting for the Battle Royale to start.'

Raven had no idea what would happen if he killed players before the Battle Royale actually started, so he had decided to play it safe and wait.

'Now, will they attack as soon as the Battle Royale starts, or wait for me to ambush the player I have been stalking? I can't wait to find out~'

Three minutes went by, and Raven had finished his stretches. Raven drew his short sword.

There was a closet in the room where Raven's prey was enjoying himself. Since it was consistently out of vision, Raven decided that was where he would emerge from.

'After that, I will be able to teleport two or three times before needing to regenerate my Aura...'

Another minute went by, and Raven got ready to teleport.

With each second that passed by, Raven's excitement grew. Adrenaline pumped through his body, and his heart pumped faster and faster.

Eventually, a ding resounded in his mind

"Battle Royale has started! Six players failed to arrive, and have been ex-qualified. 18 players remain."

As soon as Raven heard the notification, he teleported. Holding his breath, he slowly opened the closet.

The room was dirty, and smelled moldy. It was sparsely decorated, with only a single, musty bed in the corner. On Raven's left side, there were two windows. They had wooden shutters, which were open a sliver. Right now, the player was enjoying himself with a rather unhappy NPC.

Raven slowly, silently inched forward, keeping track of the players who had been stalking him.

'It seems they were ready for me to teleport... Right now, two are inside the building across the street, and are looking in the room through the windows. The third disappeared into the crowd on the street below. They will probably be entering the building from there.'

As he was inching closer to the player, the woman beneath him made eye contact.

Raven put his finger to his lips, and the girl looked away, pretending to not have seen anything.

Raven could barely contain his laughter.

'Damn, that idiot probably thinks I am going to save her! Welp, sucks to be that bitch.'

Raven was now standing right behind the player, who was still distracted. Raven raised his sword. Then, he finally released his pent up laughter.

"Hey, dumbass!"

As the player froze in shock, Raven drove the sword down, stabbing through the neck of the player, and penetrating the NPC below him in the stomach.

Grinning, Raven quickly turned towards the windows.

At that moment, two players crashed through the windows of the room. They had leaped across from the building across the street!

Their bodies easily broke through the weakened wooden shutters, and they quickly reoriented themselves, preparing to fight, however...

Raven leapt forward with explosive speed, tackling one of the players who jumped in.

Then, they both fell through the broken window, tumbling down towards the street below.