King Agviðr’s Arena (Now with refreshments!)

Had John been the same man he was only 2 days ago, he would have fallen then and there to the draugr warrior who charged him. The moment the king yelled out his command, the two warriors dashed to John and Talia, blades raised and ready to cut them down in one strike. Thankfully, both of them were quick with their reflexes and had practiced enough with the blades to raise them up just in time to block the attacks. John reached up and held his blade in place, the draugr putting all of his strength into trying to break John’s block. It gave John enough time to get a good look at his opponent, and a good sniff of his opponent’s stench. While whatever magic and science had kept the undead warrior in one piece, the fact was that his opponent reeked of **** and slow decay, and it was causing John’s eyes to slowly water. Just as John tried to shift his stance to throw off the draugr, his finger shifted slightly over one of the runes in his blade. John smiled as he recalled the secret surprise of Firebite, muttering the rune’s name to himself and activating the Kenaz rune. Instantly the blade burst into flame, startling the draugr enough for John to push back and get some distance between himself and his opponent.

He quickly glanced over to Talia, who had managed to break away from her undead warrior for just a moment. She rolled her shoulders, cracked her neck, and then charged into battle while yelling a mighty war cry.

‘Damn, she is sexy.’

John turned back to his opponent just in time to dodge an overhead swing. He quickly countered, striking half-hazardly at the warrior, but his sword harmlessly bounced off what little of the armor was left on the draugr. However, it did manage to catch some of the cloth still attached to the armor, and John could see a few strings were glowing brightly. If he kept this up-

His thoughts were interrupted as the draugr continued his ****, causing John to simply react and rely on his Swordsmanship skill to keep him alive. Parries, dodges, and basic backing away dominated John’s thought process, trying to use any moments of freedom to think of a way to hit his opponent.

This draugr struck faster and with more tenacity than the ones Talia and he had faced off against earlier. John guessed that this was due to these being the king’s elite, and they had probably been the best of the best in life. John countered another blow, catching the draugr’s sword with his own flaming blade.

It was this that reminded John that he had a small advantage over the draugr. To quote Ursula from The Little Mermaid, “And I fortunately know a little magic.”

John waited for another opportunity, this time coming as the draugr made another strike and John managed to trap the draugr’s blade beneath his own. He placed his foot on his sword, holding both weapons down, before using his free hand to trace a quick rune on the undead’s chest.

“Kenaz,” John spoke, and the familiar orange rune glowed brightly before erupting into flame, along with the draugr’s armor.

8 Dmg!

The draugr did not seem to care, simply wrenching his blade free from John.

8 Dmg!

He took another swing at John, which John quickly sidestepped.

8 Dmg!

At this point, the armor of the draugr had burnt to a crisp. John decided to use this to his advantage and took a quick swing at the unprotected zombie chest.

27 Dmg!
8 Dmg!

The draugr seemed to glare at John, despite his expression having never changed during the entire fight. He took a slow step towards John, but already John could see his legs were starting to crumple beneath him. John quickly took a stab at his opponent, hoping to finish him off.

24 Dmg!
8 Dmg!
Elite Draugr Defeated!
+50xp

John grinned as the light left the draugr’s eyes, the body slumping forward on John’s blade. He quickly removed his sword from the undead warrior and watched as he fell to a crumpled heap on the ground. However, an odd thing occurred at that moment. The body had a small sparkling effect that popped up around it, almost like the corpse had been secretly stuffed with glitter. John stuck his sword into the ground, leaning on it and peering down at the fallen warrior. He reached out slowly, and the second that his finger made contact with the draugr, a popup infiltrated his view.

Loot
Bones x2
Burnt Leather Strap x1
[ ] Take All
[ ] Take One

John jumped back in surprise for a moment, reading through the message before giving a small smile. He should have figured that if he could loot broken traps, he would be able to loot enemies. This also implied that he would be able to do more than just fix traps or build buildings with this loot system, that he might be able to craft weapons and tools to aid him. ‘Maybe one day I will even be making skyforge steel.’ He chuckled at his own reference before standing up and turning to Talia. Just as he suspected, she had already killed her enemy and was currently pulling her sword out from its head.

“I think he’s still moving.” John called over.

“Well,” Talia grunted out, one foot on the draugr’s shoulder and the other behind her as she tried to yank her sword out. “That could be because he has my sword currently embedded in his NERVOUS SYSTEM!” She gave another hard pull, and with a disgusting squelch the sword emerged from the rotten warrior. She gave it a quick wipe, and turned to look back at the king. John followed suit, figuring the king would send down the next wave.

"Imponerende! Jer fire. I er de næste!"

“Any idea what he’s saying?” John asked Talia, rolling his shoulder as he watched the king gesture to the warriors, causing four more to slowly get up.

“Nope. It’s neither Elvish nor English. Best I can guess is that it’s some form of Viking language. Now shut up and fight!” She quickly charged ahead, getting a quick running strike at one of the warriors that dropped down on her side. John shrugged and turned to face his adversaries.

Wave 2/4
Begin!

John decided to pull a Talia and quickly charged ahead, swinging his sword at the first of the two draugr who were still recovering from jumping down into the arena. John’s sword met the draugr’s throat, quickly getting a solid slice in.

Critical Hit! Damage x3!
81 Dmg!
Decapitation!
+50xp

The draugr’s head flew from his shoulders, landing with a loud plop in front of the now headless body before the aforementioned body collapsed, the severed neck still ablaze from John’s rune. John gave a bit of a startled laugh, not knowing he had the ability to do something so badass or so unexpected. The sound of a body hitting the ground next to him shifted his attention, and he raised his sword to the ready position as the other draugr warrior did the same.

Both of them swung their blades at each other, metal meeting flaming metal, sparks flying, sweat dripping, adrenaline pumping. They broke away, John swinging high with the draugr pulling up a quick block. The draugr shoved John back, creating a couple feet of distance between them. He reached down and pulled off the metal shield that had been strapped to his fallen comrade’s side. He raised it and screamed at John with an unholy roar.

John faltered slightly. He was sure that if it were simply blade versus magic blade, he would win every time. However, he wasn’t sure if he would be able to get past that shield, or if what little damage he could cause would be enough to kill the draugr. He made sure to keep his distance, running though all of his runes.

_‘Kenaz? No, the last draugr didn’t care about being on fire, I doubt this one will. Aki? Not the time to run. Ankh? Maybe if I lose too much health, but won’t help me kill the draugr.’ _Then John recalled a brand new rune he had gotten at the beginning of the dungeon. If he used that, he might have a chance to fry the draugr before any damage could be done. He drew his sword and charged at the draugr, making it seem like he was going in for a heavy strike. The draugr, understandably, readied himself by widening his stance and holding his shield up to defend. However, John ignored him and ran right past him, hoping that by the time the draugr knew what was happening, it would be too late. John turned on his heel, quickly tracing in front of him the lines his magic had already memorized for him.

_‘Let’s hope that shield is conductive.’ _He traced out the symbol before him, creating a straight vertical line before drawing in a small triangle on the right side. The draugr then noticed that John had not hit him, and lowered his shield just in time for John to finish the rune.

“Thurisaz.”

John punched the rune, somehow knowing this was the proper and most badass way to cast it. The rune exploded as his hand touched it, lightning arcing off his fist and shooting into the shield. Bright blue-white lightning illuminated the space between them for just a moment, with the charge lingering on the shield and therefore the draugr as well. His advance stopped as lightning shot through his body, frying his insides.

13 Dmg!
Conductor Hit! Repeating Damage!
13 Dmg!
Conductor Hit! Repeating Damage!
13 Dmg!
Conductor Hit! Repeating Damage!
13 Dmg!
Conductor Hit! Repeating Damage!
13 Dmg!
Conductor Hit! Repeating Damage!
13 Dmg!

John pulled back his fist, his hand still smoking a little. Small arcs of lightning still shot from the shield, and the draugr was smelling rather ripe at this point after getting fried within an inch of its afterlife. John slowly walked up to the draugr, sliced off its head in one clean swing, and collected the reward of 50xp and another piece of burnt leather. He looked over to Talia, who had locked blades with the second of her draugr, the other one stabbed through his chest… with his own sword.

John would have to ask her how exactly she managed to do that.

He walked over towards her, raising his hand to cast a spell and aid her. However, right as he was about to start the first stroke of the rune, she headbutted the draugr, causing the undead warrior to be knocked back far enough for Talia to get a clean swing at his neck, beheading him

John stood there, his mouth agape as he watched her flip her hair off her face, wipe off the blood on her forehead, and then place her hand on her hip. She gave him a smile and a wink.

“See something you like?”

‘... I have the weirdest boner right now.’

“Earth to John…”

John shook his head. “R-right! Sorry. Just… Um… See, I…”

She giggled, patting his shoulder. “Just get ready for the next fight.”

“R-right. Sorry.” John cleared his throat and stood back to back with her, holding up his blade and trying not to focus on the fact that his butt was touching hers.

‘Focus, man. You still have draugr to kill.’

“Storslået...” the Draugr King said, stroking his chin with an odd look on his undead face. “Kom alle! Angrib krigerne!"

John and Talia watched as the rest of the draugr, six in total, got up a bit more quickly than the last group. However, this group was slightly different than the last two, as they got prepared while standing above them. John watched the three standing before him as one of them pulled out a huge battleaxe, a wild look in the undead berserker's eyes. The one in the middle pulled out his shield and sword, but unlike the last shielded warrior, he had a helmet that covered the sides of his neck.

The final draugr was the real problem. He pulled from his back a bow, and despite his arrows looking quite old, John had no doubt in his mind that this draugr would be the most problematic to deal with.

The draugr dropped down, keeping their approach slower as they tried to surround Talia and John. John tried to run through strategies in his head, unable to quite figure out exactly on how to beat all three of his guys at once.

“John,” Taila said, interrupting his thoughts. “I can take on the berserkers pretty easily. I am better at dodging and sidestepping strikes. I can take care of them if need be.”

John nodded, and realized that this battle was going to be one that they had to handle together. “R-right. I can take care of the shielded guys. If they have metal shields, I can one shot them with a lightning spell.”

He felt Talia roll her shoulders. “And the archers?”

John looked at the archers, who had just jumped off the sides and were joining the ranks of their brothers. “Keep the other guys between you and the archers. They won’t fire unless they have a clean shot. If you get hit, I still have a healing spell or two with my current mana.”

“Right. And John?”

“Yeah, Talia?”

“Good luck.”

John was about to reply, but at that moment one of the berzerkers broke from the ranks and charged them. This one was wielding double battle axes and screamed with unholy fury.

“DODGE, JOHN!”

John quickly dashed ahead, not even watching the berzerker as he started to draw out a Thurisaz rune in front of him. He quickly traced it, dodging an arrow that nearly hit his ear before he punched the rune and casted his lightning spell at the first of the shielded guys.

He didn’t even have enough time to watch the warrior get damaged as the other shielded one slammed into him with his shield. John swore he could feel his ribs crack under the pressure, despite the fact that he knew that his Gamer’s Body would not allow for such injury

-15 hp!

John let out a grunt as the warrior pushed him against the wall. He could feel the wind get knocked out of him, but he knew he had to move. That hit took out nearly a third of his hp, and John was certain a hit from the sword would knock out the rest of it. He turned his head to look at the draugr, his free hand close to his enemy’s head. He drew with what energy he could summon a very small Kenaz, but it managed to do its job as the draugr’s head was caught alight. Now, while the draugr didn’t seem to care if its armor was on fire, it did seem to care a bit more about its head. He pushed back away from John, dropping his sword and shield as he tried to pat out the flames. That gave John enough time to catch his breath, and also let him see one of the archer draugr nock an arrow and draw it back.

John thought quickly, grabbing the flaming warrior in front of him and pulling him in between the archer and himself. John could feel the impact from the arrow just in time to watch the arrowhead pierce through his meatshield’s stomach and nearly hit John between the eyes. John felt the draugr in his hands go limp, becoming significantly heavier to hold up. John looked around, seeing his sword lying flame-less between him and where the archer last was. Without a second thought, he pushed the body to the side and dashed forward, grabbing his sword as quickly as he could before he slammed into the draugr.

-5 hp!
15 Dmg!

John grunted from the hit, but the distance had become optimal for him. He grabbed the draugr around the throat, and without even thinking he repeatedly stabbed him over and over and over in the stomach, not even caring when the warrior was obviously dead. The adrenaline, the fear, the ****, and the excitement all got to John as he only saw red and an enemy before him that needed killing.

-20 hp!

John stumbled forward, dropping his victim as his hp was put in the 10s. He turned around to see the final archer nocking back another arrow and slowly drawing his bow. John huffed, his body exhausted and not able to make the distance he needed to save his own life.

Just as the arrow was about to fly, the bow itself was suddenly cut. Talia had shown up just in time, her blade cleaving through the bow, the bowstring, and the final draugr. Her body was covered in small cuts, as she was not as good at dodging as she wanted to be. But with her final strike, she saved John’s life and finished the third round.

John sighed, letting his sword drop to the ground as he placed his hands on his knees and tried to catch his breath. True, Gamer’s Body kept him from getting hurt, but that battle had taken a lot out of him.

“John! You… you’re hurt!” Talia dashed over to his side, quickly putting her sword away as she checked on where the arrow still was.

“Y-you didn’t e-escape unsc-scathed either.” John said, giving her a tired smile.

She smiled at him, shaking her head. “I’m fine. You look a little worse for wear.”

Just as John was about to reply, a booming voice reminded him that there were not three, but four rounds.

"Godt gjordt, I unge krigere.” John looked up and saw the king dig his sword out of the earth and swing it around, resting it on his shoulder. The largest of the draugr leaped off his position and landed with an earth shattering thud before them. He rolled his shoulders before pointing at them and then himself.