Chapter 52 - The Deaf Elf

<p>"… Well, another fight with no information, I guess," I mutter to myself, flopping back onto my bed. I hadn't been able to watch my opponent's fight today, since his was at the same time. The most I could get result-wise was his face. He was an Elf, overly handsome as Elves apparently just are. <br/><br/> "Still, he looks my age, so doesn't that make him like, 400 years old?" <br/><br/> I sigh, staring out the window. The moon stares back, and still upset at it eating me in my dream, I turn away from it to stare at a wall instead. <br/><br/> "I guess freestyling a plan is what I've been resorting to half the time anyway, so I'll just do that. Nothing could go wrong, right?"<br/><br/> After setting up a potential flag for myself, I lay on my back and close my eyes. I stay that way, letting several thoughts pass through my mind aimlessly until I finally drift off to sleep.<br/><br/>- - -<br/><br/> Standing by the invisible wall, I inspect my opponent. I'm tempted to use Analyze, but the administration had warned me that I could potentially be expelled for using too much Mana before the match begins, and I think Analyze counts as something that moved Mana within me, so I didn't risk it.<br/><br/> "So… You come here often?"<br/><br/> The Elven man gives me a look of disdain, refusing to respond. Instead, he sweeps a strand of a forest green highlight back into his blond hair, pulling it back into the side ponytail he has sitting behind his ear. <br/><br/> 'Those cyan eyes are so sharp, he must have blade vision. Like Superman, but if he was as emo as Batman.'<br/><br/> Thinking of emos left a bad taste in my mouth, so I stare out the fake wall at the anticipating crowd as the announcer yells out.<br/><br/> "My wonderful spectators, your patience has been rewarded, as we are finally down to the top 8 competitors! We have two of them here with us now, and the other six are in the other three stadiums! After this match, the remaining matches will be held out in the Main Arena!"<br/><br/> Thunderous cheering fills the area, and the Elf clicks his tongue. "I can't take this any more." Reaching up to his elongated and pointy ears, he shoves what looks like a ball of fuzz into his ear, but as I watch it condenses into a small circle inside his ear hole. "Ear plugs?" I wonder quietly, and judging from his lack of a reaction, I assume I am correct.<br/><br/> ''Makes sense, honestly. Elves probably have really good hearing with those ears." <br/><br/> Still no response. 'So he can't hear…'<br/><br/> He suddenly walks out, and the announcer sputters in surprise. I grin. "Always disliked her. Good for you, man."<br/><br/> The monotonous man picks up her slack. "Making his own entrance, here comes Silun Dew."<br/><br/> The crowd cheers, but since he can't hear them, Silun has no response, not even an irritable one. He gets to his position and turns, facing a section of the wall.<br/><br/> Actually, he's facing me, he just can't see me yet. "So intense, dude. Wonder if he's ever heard of a nap. Damn, I am on fire today. It's too bad he can't hear me, or I'd kill him with sarcastic quips."<br/><br/> "A-ah. Well, let's get our other competitor out here too and get this show started!" Streimi says in her best announcer voice. She's clearly a bit upset at having her fun disrupted, so…<br/><br/> "She's gonna hate this," I giggle quietly as I don't wait for her introduction and jog out, waving to the crowd. Everyone explodes into screams of joy, and the cheers drown out Streimi completely, who looks down at me from afar with a red-hot face. I smile sweetly at her, scratching my eyebrow with my middle finger. She turns nearly purple as her mouth starts moving rapidly, but I put my cupped hand up to my ear. The viewers grow so deafening that I nearly lose my hearing, and I see her head disappear. After three or four minutes, the cheers finally die down, and the monotony voice rains on us gently, bringing with it peace and prosperity. To me, at least.<br/><br/> "Uh, I think our main announcer just quit, but… our other competitor Liwuukay, is now on the field."<br/><br/> A few more cheers come from the crowd again, but he continues.<br/><br/> "So, let's commence the fight. Three."<br/><br/> "THREE!"<br/><br/> Shutting them out, I close my eyes and take a deep breath. "Relax. Concentrate. Push through."<br/><br/> "BEGIN!!!!"<br/><br/> I open my eyes, holding out my hand to summon UnHoly Raze from the Inventory. It's barely materializing in my hand, and—<br/><br/> Whish!<br/><br/> Three arrows are headed straight for my face, twisting in spirals through the air. "The fu—"<br/><br/> Grabbing onto the sword, I slash one cut that turns at a near 45 degree angle to cut two of the arrows down, ducking under the third. It twists downwards after me, cutting lightly against my shoulder as it plummets to the ground.<br/><br/> "An archer, huh?" I say, looking at the Elf, who is notching four more arrows on his string, pulling it back to aim at his target: me. He fires, and two come straight at me, while two of them create wide arcs to attack from the sides. 'How is he doing that?'<br/><br/> Slamming my foot down for maximum grip on the floor, I push all of my force into my leg and propel myself forward like a twirling torpedo. I use the spinning of my body to whirl my blade around, dicing the forward arrows into bits, and land on my feet as I charge the man. I haven't heard the other arrows hit the ground, meaning they were still chasing me, but they couldn't possibly stay in the air forever.<br/><br/> ''If only I could have a second to use Analyze," I mutter to myself as I see the man fire off two more arrows individually at a rapid rate.<br/><br/> I dodge one, catching the other one with my hand. That is, letting it impale my hand. "Fuck."<br/><br/> Well, it was that or my heart.<br/><br/> While the Battledisks would prevent severe internal damage to important organs and our heads by using our Mana, we can still feel the pain of dying. And other things like severed limbs, arrows through the hand, etcetera. <br/><br/> However, I could still freshly remember the pain of dying in a car accident. It wasn't pleasant. So, while the pain wasn't some form of pleasure — I could definitely confirm I was NOT turned on by an arrow piercing my hand — what I could do is mostly ignore it.<br/><br/> Mostly.<br/><br/> "Ow. Ow. Ow. Ow," I say nonchalantly as I dodge more arrows, cutting several down and avoiding others. They spin and curve irregularly, always attempting to follow their kin's lead and impale themselves in me. I've noticed by now that after roughly 10 seconds, they die out and fall to the ground, but it doesn't matter much because the wannabe Robin Hood is firing out more faster than they can peter out. The worst part for me is that he was storing his bow and his arrows on a storage cube secured to the back of his shoulder. That meant I couldn't see the number of arrows he had left. <br/><br/> 'Surely he can't have that many more, right?' I ask myself. 'If he does, I'm at a huge disadvantage. Actually, I might lose.'<br/><br/> I stop deflecting at all, relying solely on dodging the arrows and using my armor as I get closer. <br/><br/> "Urg!" I clench my jaw as one arrow lodges in my left shoulder, right below the armor plate, and another digs into my right side from below.<br/><br/> On the bright side, Silun is within reach of my sword.<br/><br/>[Skill Fury Slash was activated.]<br/><br/> Clang!<br/><br/> "Now why the fuck does an Archer have a whole ass sword?" I ask in confusion as I watch the Elf deflect my blade with a long one of his own.<br/><br/> The Elf, who can't hear me, dashes forward to attack me once again.<br/><br/> Well, I still might be fucked.<br/><br/>* * *<br/><br/>[Name: Klum]<br/>[Age: 18]<br/>[Lv: 15]<br/>[EXP: 1025/7165]<br/>[Class: Sword Saint's Disciple]<br/>[Health: 29/57]<br/>[Mana: 61/76]<br/>[Stamina: 44/57]<br/><br/>STR: 14 MAG: 10<br/>AGI: 30 DEX: 17<br/>VIT: 10 INT: 21<br/>Free Stats: 11<br/><br/>ACC: 23<br/>DEF: 12<br/>POW: 15<br/><br/>[Skills: Klum's Reincarnation (Unfound), Sword Saint's Sigil (Unfound), Disciple's Mastery (Legendary), Critical Sight (Ultra Rare), Lightning Blade (Super Rare), Erratic Swordsmanship (Super Rare), Underdog (Super Rare), Analyze+ (Super Rare), Fury Slash (Rare), Skill Hermit (Rare), Sprint+ <+ Elemental Infusion> (Uncommon)]<br/><br/>[Spells unavailable]<br/><br/>[Affinities: Lightning, Dark, Light]<br/><br/><br/>[Party Leader Stats]<br/>[Name: Eniyala Ignios]<br/>[Age: 19]<br/>[Lv: 18]<br/>[EXP: 16040/21500]<br/>[Class: Spellsmith]<br/>[Health: 39/45]<br/>[Mana: 48/166]<br/>[Stamina: 21/45]<br/><br/>STR: 11 MAG: 33<br/>AGI: 16 DEX: 10<br/>VIT: 7 INT: 15<br/><br/>ACC: 10<br/>DEF: 9<br/>POW: 22<br/><br/>[Skills: Spellbind (Ultra Rare), Spell Create (Super Rare), Magic Eyes (Rare), Analyze (Rare), Magic Heart+ (Rare), Sprint+ (Uncommon)]<br/><br/>[Spells: Fist of Ignios, Ignios Familiar (Eniyala), Ignios Stand, Fiery Fingerblades, Ignios Arrows, Chains of Ignios, Ignios Smithing, Flaming Boost, Enhance, Healing Waves]</p>