RETURN OF THE SHADOW - Chapter 187

They continued to play under the same rules as the first match. Though it was hard, and everyone had slightly felt that they were being too reckless about their combat points, everyone soon realized that there were a few improvements in their reflexes and the way of thinking in a fight.

Shadow had been trying to replicate everything he had seen Lucius do with a spear in the fights. Having fought with Lucius for a few days, he had already taken the liberty to learn the basics of using long weapons. It didn’t have much effect on killing his opponents as he always started his attack from stealth and his high-speed coupled with a long weapon enabled him to deal enough damage to kill in a burst of attacks.

News of his antics already came to be known in the colosseum and some players already started post in the forums. It was a very weird thing for an assassin to use a spear or any two-handed heavy weapon. The more shocking thing was that he was able to even take down Shield Guardians with it.

Apart from him Tetsujin was also seeing a slight improvement in his fights and so did Tang and Sultan, but the best was from Griff who was able to use the axes with ease. He had taken Shadows rules and suggestion very seriously, replaced heavy armor from his chest with leather armor and only let the heavy armor on his limbs and head remained. Whenever, he came across long-distance attackers, he intentionally maintained distance trying to evade attacks by a low margin as suggested by Shadow and slowly improved.

It wasn’t like all their attempts were successful. There have been instances where Tang, Tetsujin and Griff died in the fight. Only Sultan and Shadow were able to survive in all matches and they were quite good in supporting as well as individual fights. These two actually didn’t enjoy the fights much as they didn’t get to fight players who were strong or capable.

After 32 matches, they heard the announcement that they had a continuous win streak of 32 and were ranked in the top 1000 of the kingdom. This was a good thing for all of them. Sultan and Shadow were happier as this put their names on the leader board and from now on there would be changes in the way the matches were arranged.

All teams on the leader board could be challenged by other teams who were on the leader board or have ever been on it before. If their opposing team won, they would be given rank held by the losing team. So, there existed quite a bit of competition between them. Most teams who were confident of themselves would want to be known in the game or seeked fame would try to challenge them. Even other teams in the leader board would challenge them.

They would be forced to accept challenges of at least ten teams ranked below them per day, if they wanted to keep their rank. But the good thing was that they can check the team details and choose. Moreover, challenging requires a team to spend 50 team points. They would be getting 30 team points from their opponent for each match they won, and the other 20 points would be reclaimed by the system. So, only the capable would usually challenge them and this was a good thing for them. They would get to experience fighting against better teams of the kingdom. Once, they have managed to finish their ten mandatory challenges per day, they would also get five chances to challenge others in the leader board for free. Losing to someone with a better rank would have no effect on their ranking.

“We got into the leader board,” shouted Tang in glee. “Isn’t this great we are going to get famous.”

“It is only going get harder after this,” said Griff. “We will be targeted by many. We are a team with no members who can do long-distance attacks and I hear that there is already a post about Shadow using a spear. They will target us for the fame. I doubt that we can continue with the previous rules.”

“It doesn’t matter. We didn’t really have an intention to get into the leader board and maintain our position. It was just a happy coincidence,” said Sultan. “At most we can try to separate into two groups, but not more than that.”

“Let us see the team composition of our opponents and see how we could do. It is best if we still fight individually. At most, we will lose the position, but we could still challenge others. We have amassed about 300 team points,” said Tetsujin.

“I am of the same opinion. We don’t need to be a team that would persist in the leader board. We won’t last long, nor will we reach the top without any long-distance attackers. We lack the balance to reach the top,” said Griff. “Let us just enjoy the fights.”

“Was thinking of the same thing,” said Shadow. “Did we receive any challenges yet?” he asked Sultan who was the team captain.

“Ya. Our team composition is quite tempting to most. About 40 teams have already challenged us,” said Sultan looking at his notifications.

“Let us choose, some easier ones. It is true that these teams will be harder and more co-ordinated,” said Shadow.

“Got one with two mages, no archer,” said Sultan.

“Confirm. I hope that after a couple of matches, we take on the harder ones,” said Tetsujin.

“Don’t worry. The requests are still coming. I think we are quite famous,” mocked Sultan as they were transported to a new map. The challenged could usually chose the map, but Sultan let it be randomly selected.

They started in the usual way with all the five spread out in the map and soon Griff got into contact with the two other players. The opponents were also luckily non mages, which gave Griff a decent chance to persist while his reinforcements arrived.

Soon, it ended up being a battle between all the members of the team. As they had expected their opponents had better coordination and were used to supporting one another. Any team which managed to reach the leader board once would have to be able to have decent teamwork else they wouldn’t be able to have managed to get their names on the leader board.

They managed to win the round anyway, but it was getting clear that the teams were definitely stronger and only Shadow and Tetsujin managed to survive till the end. Their own team also suffered losses early, as the opposing team managed regroup faster and killed Griff even before all of their team managed to come close. Even though, Griff was the first to be taken out, he didn’t want to change the rules. Tang wanted to change it a bit as it was clear that other teams would be gain an advantage, if they continued in this manner.

“I understand that the rules have their pros,” said Tetsujin. “But it is of no use if we dies so quickly.”

“Yes, it is getting increasingly hard and it will give a chance to practice for long if we move in groups of two and three. Else, we are being bombarded by attacks even before we could have decent fight,” said Tang.

After some discussion, they decided to group into three teams, Tang and Tetsujin in one, Sultan and Griff in the other and Shadow alone as he is an assassin and it would be useless to have him move slowly in stealth beside them. But they did stick to the rule that if their opponents’ numbers were lower than theirs, they wouldn’t attack seriously but stall till the others came.

The accepted challenges from other teams and their new changes proved useful in the subsequent matches. Soon, the finished they managed to finish the ten required matches for the day. All of them were tired. It was clear that fighting the other players was much harder than hunting. They decided to take a break and get away with the points.

“We can resume after a few more minutes,” suggested Griff.

“I might need to get back to my place. There is going to be some revels at my place. I can’t miss them as my brother is expecting me and there is a chance that I may have to stay there for long. It is getting close to dinner and I can’t really avoid this,” said Sultan.

“It has been more than a day,” said Shadow surprised that the Maliks would still be celebrating it.

“There are still stragglers and our family along with the Khans are banding together to get rid of them. Might even be called to participate in the search frequently after this. I have already told Merlin about this issue,” said Sultan.

After Sultan took his leave, the others also decided to play PvP individually while Shadow contacted Rudra to join them in hunting monsters. Unexpectedly, Rudra and the others also have decided to take a break and started to work on their secondary professions. Slaine was still willing to continue, but Shadow refused and got out.

After he heard Sultan that there were stragglers and his family was still in pursuit of them, he started to have new ideas. There was no response of Dave and Ryan Rowley had already reached out to him. It would be best if he could go ahead and make some preparations. That would enable him to have an advantage when he goes after Ryan.

He checked his mail and found that there was a mail from D.i.c.k informing that he could collect them as soon as possible and he would be willing to get them to him tomorrow when he comes for the party. He hoped that Ryan Rowley’s package would reach him before the party as he might need to change his plans accordingly.

He first needed to procure a plane and means to get around to other planets. He should be able to get to other planets and a crew that could help him move around. With Ryan Rowley contacting him, he might need to be able to move through planetary systems much faster than he anticipated.

He realized that he hadn’t made any preparation for a crew till now. His first thoughts were to get some men from his family, but he realized that it would be very hard to keep things secret from his family if he did so. So, the only thing he could think of was to find someone who wasn’t involved with his family.

He thought of D.i.c.k, but he had too many contacts with Bruce and even Winston. It might not be the best option. He thought for a long while and realized that the only contacts he had outside the family were military or his college friends whom he hesitated to ask. He finally decided to contact Sophia and spend some time talking with her to get rid of other thought from his mind.

“Hi Col, how are you doing? You done with your trip?” asked Sophia who had been informed by Balthazar of his voyage to a different planet.

“I am good. The trip has been quite eventful and was done quickly,” replied Balthazar. “What are you doing?”

“I am actually with you sister,” said Sophia surprising Balthazar.

“What?”

“Yes, I have come here with Rodrigo to discuss with you sister about her new model of war frames being tested on the citadel. You remember. You have signed an agreement with her company,” she replied.

“I don’t. I don’t mean that. Is she beside you?” he asked. “Don’t tell her that it was me who called.”

She giggled loudly and informed him that she had moved away to answer the call. Though Sophia and Balthazar had only been talking these days in a friendly manner, she had long been clear that Balthazar had the intention to court her and she had the same intention. Thus, she was amused and like the fact that Balthazar was shy to let his sister know about it.

“I will call you later, if it is nothing important,” she said.

“Wait! I have sent you an invite to a party. Since, you are close by I hope that you would be able to attend,” invited Balthazar.

“Oh yes, both Rodrigo and I are planning to attend your party. Did you really call me in the working hours for this?” asked Sophia. She knew a bit about Balthazar’s personality and he never disturbed her during working hours. Moreover, she was currently handling the affairs of the PK-170-B moon and citadel. So, she found it extremely unlikely that Balthazar would expect her to join him for a party that would take at least a day to reach when he didn’t even know that she was not at the citadel.

“There was one other thing and it needs to be a secret. I am in need of a crew. Any chance you can send me some personnel and a ship?” he inquired.

“Seriously, you want a ship and crew to pilot it without it being on paper? It might have been possible in other times, but currently my movements and everything is being watched by the brigadier. It would be very hard,” she said denying his request.

“Can’t you ask your family?” she asked. “Even your sister would be able to easily help you.”

“I told that it was a secret, right? I can’t let my sister, or my family know about my movements. They would try to impede my efforts,” he said.

“What are you doing, Balthazar?” she asked concerned. “The last time you kept secrets and found out about the invasion, you almost died. Do you really want to continue like that?”

“I believe the secrets were the ones that allowed us to get them unawares Sophia,” said Balthazar. “I need a reliable crew and without my posting it is going to be hard. That is why I called you.”

“That is true. If you hadn’t come to realize that our defences were down, we might have lost a lot more lives,” agreed Sophia. “I am not sure, but I think that there is someone you know that might be willing to help.”

“Who?”

“You remember, Herschel?” she asked. “The old garrison engineer who used to always fight with the brigadier about the quality of our equipment.”

“The frizzly haired dude who hated to explain operation of any equipment. The one who was asked to retire,” guessed Balthazar as blue haired man’s image went through his mind.

“Yes. He is currently running miscellaneous jobs mostly transport. He has a crew which are well armed and currently being used by Rodrigo sometimes to transport arms for his business,” said Sophia.

“I don’t really know him that well,” said Balthazar who was not sure of Hershel White as he was known to be quite an eccentric by many people.

“Really?! He says only good things about you. He also used to say that you followed the wrong path and your destiny was in tech,” said Sophia.

“You guys talked about me?”

“Ya. At his farewell party. You were some training. He seemed to be quite impressed by you and wanted to take you under his wing at that time,” said Sophia surprising him more. “Apparently, you are quite good in understanding the mechanics and tech. He also told that you gave of a honest vibe and truly believed in your career.”

“Wow! I never knew,” said Balthazar. “I will get his detail from Rodrigo then. See you.”

“No need. He is already here.”

“Oh no, is my sister with him.”

“No. You talk with him,” said Sophia as she included Rodrigo in the call.

“Hi kid, what are you up to these days? I hear that you have been very busy for the past few days,” said Rodrigo giving him a thumbs up. “Congratulations on the attack, kid. You are sure to be moving to the post of a brigadier general after that.”

“Thanks Sir. I actually wanted to talk to you about something that I need to continue in those efforts,” said Balthazar.

“About Hershel? I overheard the pair of you talking,” said Rodrigo. “I shall send you the details. I would love to further talk to you, but we have a demonstration to go to.”

“Yes, talk to you later, colonel,” said Sophia as she cut the call.