Gladiators

The five of us, Mia, Skylar, Ivy, Belle, and I, gear up, getting ready for battle. The last decision we have to make before we go is exactly which dungeon to run through. To help with our decision, I check out the descriptions for each of the new dungeon types, as well as the enemies that are available with each of them.

“Oh my god these are cool.” I say after finishing reading out the descriptions.

“What does it mean ‘if we fail’?” Mia points out.

“Yeah I have an idea about that. Remember how Elsa was explaining how Fateweavers can teleport people out of barriers before they die, with the right setup?” I ask her. She nods. “Why don’t we go ask her about it?”

-

“I think I could do that. You two, Belle, Skylar and Ivy right?” She asks for confirmation.

I nod.

“Just give me…oh wait…” Elsa trails off. “Ivy’s an artificial spirit, isn’t she?” She asks.

I nod again.

“Sorry, I forgot. She’s so much like a full human that it’s easy to forget. That’s going to get a bit complicated. I think I can figure out a way, but I’ll need a bit of time. Is that okay?” Elsa asks, a little tentatively.

“Yeah of course!” Mia reassures.

-

A little over half an hour later, Elsa comes back to us with some good news. “Since Ivy herself is sentient-” She begins.

“Sapient.” Belle corrects.

“-and she has her own magic and everything, Fateweaving still works on her as it would any other abyssal. Normally it doesn’t, but I guess Ivy is a special case. You just keep being the exception.” She says, nodding to me.

I smile, holding up my hands. “What can I say? I’m just amazing.” I joke.

“You’ve spent too much time with Mia.” Elsa jokes back with a soft smile.

“Hey! That’s Lena’s influence too!” Mia complains.

“Is it done?” Belle asks.

Elsa nods. “If any of you ‘die’ in your training dungeons, you’ll be teleported out the instant before that happens.” She confirms.

“Thank you.” Ivy says earnestly. “That’s one less thing to worry about.”

Elsa smiles at her. “You’re welcome.”

“Are we going or not?” Belle asks impatiently.

“Everybody ready?” I ask. Nods all round. As agreed in the conversations we had while waiting for Elsa, I open the gladiator waves dungeon first. Mia, Skylar, Ivy, Belle and I step inside.

“LADIES, GENTLEMAN, AND THOSE IN BETWEEN OR OUTSIDE THE CONCEPT OF GENDER!” A blaring voice begins. “WE HAVE SOME NEW CHALLENGERS! LET’S GET READY TO RUUUUMBLEEE!” I look around, trying to find the source of the voice. We’re in what looks like a Roman arena. Seemingly much smaller than the actual Collosseum, but of a similar design.

In an announcer box at one end of the slightly oval shaped arena is a human, with Observe revealing that he’s an NPC. As are the crowds of people cheering from the stands. “Didn’t count on having an audience.” Belle replies.

“None of them are real people.” I reply.

“Are they going to fight us?” Mia asks.

“Probably not, knowing how these dungeons work.” Skylar answers.

“Get ready anyway, we don’t fully know what to expect.” I warn.

“The description said gladiators, so probably something like that.” Mia jokes.

The cheers from the crowd grow louder as the announcer begins to speak again.

“THEY WILL BE GOING UP AGAINST THE BEST WE HAVE TO OFFER! ARE YOU READY TO SEE SOME BLOOD SPILLED?” The announcer yells to the stadium. Thundering cheers erupt from the crowd. I hear the clattering sound of a chain and turn to see a large metal gate opening on one side of the arena.

Out strides a big group of burly men. Gladiators. There’s about 10 of them all up. Some wear armour, some carry large shields and a gladius, while some carry a large mace or axe. “Finally.” Belle comments, storming forward despite my protest.

“Belle wai-” I start, but the announcer continues on.

“TEN ROUNDS. TO THE DE-”

Belle is upon the pack already, a vicious cut to the exposed neck of one of them, turning it to dust. Her blades whirling quick as a snake, slicing at the next one. It’s deflected by a large shield with a loud clang! One of the gladiators hits her with a mace at the same time, sending her flying backwards. I sigh. “So much for a team effort. Mia, with me! Let’s go!” I yell out orders.

The four of us are well versed in working together as a team, and at this point, even yelling the orders for our regular formation is mostly a formality. Skylar and Ivy know that their position is in our backline, just like Mia knows her position is up front with me. Although Mia isn’t using swords anymore because she’s traumatised from the experience with Max. She wants to rely on her magic alone.

It takes me a second to realise as I’m sprinting towards the enemies, but I notice Mia isn’t moving with me. I look back, and she’s rooted to the ground, an almost blank expression on her face. I turn back immediately, worried. “Mia! Are you okay?” I call out.

Blinking as if she’s just come out of a trance, she looks at me, forcing a smile. “Yeah, I’m fine.” She says.

I’m not convinced, but we have gladiators running towards us. “With me then. Let me know if you want to sit this one out.” I tell her. Without another word, she takes off in flight, unleashing a blast of air towards the approaching group of enemies. I charge after her, worriedly keeping an eye on the aeromancer.

Being only a tiny bit slower than Mia, I crash into the group just after her, stabbing one of the gladiators through the heart with a sword of ice, and unleashing a blast of raw ice magic at the next one closest to me.

I whirl around to finish off the first one, and vines rise up behind the group, binding two of the gladiators. Spears of shadow pierce through another one, sending it falling to it’s knees. I cleave through the neck of the one I attacked first, and it dissipates into golden dust.

Suddenly, Belle is back in the fight, announcing herself with a blast of red mana that takes one of them in chest, following it up with another powerful blast that kills it almost instantly. I duck a swing from one of them, countering with a blast of ice to it’s face. It staggers backwards, and I’m about to finish him off when Belle does it for me, putting a hole through the gladiator’s chest with her blades.

I turn to her as the dust dissolves into the air. “If you’re going to fight with us, you need to do it as a team.” I tell her.

“Piss off.” She replies, striking another one of the gladiators with a spiked ball and activating the kinetic **** enchantment on her weapon, sending it staggering backwards. Another air pulse from Mia unbalances the remaining gladiators and Belle and I are in the perfect position to take advantage of it.

I do my best to work with her, weaving in my own strikes and magic where I see openings in her ferocious ****. She doesn’t leave many. She’s not trying to work with me. Just doing her own thing and leaving the rest of us to fend for ourselves.

Still, as selfish as her approach to battle is, I can’t help but envy the speed she moves with. Her effective agility is double my own, and she makes incredible use of every ounce of her speed, darting between enemies like lightning. It’s enough to make me want to raise my own agility after I’m done with endurance, and knowing Mathias’ stats, that’s probably a good idea.

The first wave of gladiators is cleared within seconds of Belle and I making our ****. The announcer begins yelling across the stadium again and I drown it out to focus on my guild instead. “Belle. I know you don’t want to work in a team with us. You’re going to need to though if this is going to work.” I tell her. The redhead huffs and turns away from me.

“You’re used to overwhelming people with your own power, and that’s fine for now. It’s not going to win us the fight against Mathias though. You can’t beat him alone. He’s stronger than you, faster than you, and has more powerful magic than you. Sheer power and overwhelming strength isn’t going to work there. We need to work together if we’re going to have a shot at taking him down.” I say quietly. I don’t want the others to hear.

Belle doesn’t respond, instead walking away from the gate to get ready for the next wave. I sigh. Hopefully she’ll come around to working with us properly before the fight in three weeks. I join the rest of my guild (and Belle), in regrouping to be ready for the next wave.

At the announcer’s signal, more gladiators appear from the darkness behind the gate, a bigger group this time, looking to be around 20. They look to be exactly the same as the ones we just fought. I finally decide to observe them to see what we’re dealing with.

Simple enemies. I like that. Belle storms into battle ahead of us once more. This time I’m ready for it, and we follow after her, tearing into the ranks of the second wave of gladiators.