Assassinate Wonderwind [Book 1 Completed!]

For the second time in my life, Dragrath’s katana cast death onto my shoulders.

My feet protested as I stepped back, barely avoiding the tip of his blade. Dragrath wasn’t testing me or gauging me for strength anymore; my inventory was packed, and he wanted it all.

Practice from my last week in Art Of Steel kicked in as I stepped back, out of his range. I watched his footwork—the mesmerizing movement of the rank one assassin—and I immediately saw he was in a different league, even better than Erick, the Grandmaster I’d fought in Steel.

He planted his foot on the ground for a swing more aggressive, more committed than what any Steel player would have dared. I saw no angles to punish, not with my legs in awful shape.

I continued stepping back, only for a sting to shoot up my leg as my foot wouldn’t move, stamina at completely zero. I screamed in my head and lifted my daggers for a block.

If not for [Absolute Zero] shooting toward his feet, I would have died. The pace didn't slow by a second, though. He swung at me, only to [Shadow Dash] straight to Veyra.

Veyra redirected her spell, predicting him, and the frost of [Absolute Zero] hit in front of her, where the cut would come. In turn, Dragrath overshot his [Shadow Dash] and landed a decent distance away. Neither player dealt damage, both predicting each other.

This is insane, I thought. How did the level of skill still feel out of league? It didn’t help that I couldn’t move properly!

“Here!” Veyra shouted, tossing me something. A green vial.

A stamina recovery potion. I uncorked it, gulping it down. Dragrath tried to throw a shuriken at me, but I blocked it with my sickle. The stamina potion didn’t help much—the effectiveness was akin to an energy drink as a replacement for sleep. Still, better than nothing.

Spirits flew around Dragrath, further buffing him with an unknown effect. My spirits had run out, now on a five minute cooldown.

The same was true for Veyra, but that didn’t stop her from dual casting [Hex Of Dawnbreak] and [Frost Storm]. Leaves and flowers froze, the violent frost filling nearly the entire cavern, with much more power in an enclosed space. The edge of the globe was mere feet away from my face.

Dragrath ran through the frost, and his weapon separated to three as he slashed at me. He held his main blade normally with the two separations floating alongside two inches to each side, following the trajectory as if by levitation.

That’s not an assassin skill! I thought as I once again desperately escaped his range. Either a new item or a spirit effect. All three blades appeared solid with no indication of being an illusion or afterimage, and his swing speed didn’t seem to slow down at all.

I gritted my teeth. All this practice, and Dragrath still had way too many tools to counter all of the approaches I could take.

But I had Veyra beside me. We had our own bullshit tools as well.

Dragrath swung at me, and I [Shadow Dashed] through, behind, and I countered with a dagger to his nape with the same trick I’d used to assassinate hundreds of players in the past.

By the time I was behind him, Dragrath had already used his own dash. I swung around, and my dagger met one of his three blades.

In Steel, a katana would have overpowered my dagger in a direct exchange. Wonderwind, however, was much more fair. Our blades clashed, momentarily binding against each other.

Another [Absolute Zero] shot underground like a torpedo of frost. Dragrath hopped back to avoid it, like using [Sword Dance], though he lacked the class and didn’t get buffs.

Not that his katana needed any buffs to crush me with a good hit. After the single hop back, he dove for my head with aggression I’d never seen in Steel, overextending without a single fear for his life, yet the slash was so insanely fast that only a maniac would dare try to punish it.

Slipping past the wide blade of his three swords was too risky. I only had one advantage: a single second of difference in cooldowns. I’d used my dash before him. Combining that with my boots, my dash would come up slightly before his.

Veyra shot an icicle, which Dragrath cut down, simultaneously slashing at me, forcing me back. Two more dodges, I thought, calculating my cooldown. My eyes stayed firm on his footwork.

He swung, one-handed, with yet another reckless attack, though this one appeared simpler. Dodgeable.

Almost like a trap.

His left hand reached for a shuriken, aimed at my leg.

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I turned my hip, dodging it just like Erick had dodged my thrown dagger. And just like I had, Dragrath followed the throw with his katana.

With every last ounce of strength my muscles had, I dove at him, straight at his sword.

I saw death as his katana blew into a clean, masterful arch, the most beautiful swing I’d ever seen. I was way overcommitted with no chance to dodge.

My dash came off of its cooldown.

I [Shadow Dashed] through his blade, to his nape for a clean cut.

My dagger hit skin, slicing something, though I missed his vitals, leaving a deep cut to his upper back. His health bar dropped to 38%.

[Ray Of Time] blasted him from the side, about to finish him off, when Dragrath [Shadow Dashed]. I slashed behind in case he appread there. He didn't. I glanced at Veyra, but he hadn’t dashed for her either. The dash particles instead went into the storm and through.

“He escaped!” Veyra said.

“No, he’s recovering and coming back,” I said, biting my lip. My legs screamed in pain by now. Adrenaline struggled to keep me up. Even if I’d won one exchange, that was by no means an even exchange on our stamina bars. I would collapse first.

I held Veyra’s hand to check the teleport timer.

[You have partaken in excessive combat. Teleportation blocked.]

[Duration: 0:14 minutes]

Fourteen seconds. That was more than enough for Dragrath to drink health potions, recover, and reassess.

“They’re here!” a voice shouted behind us.

Shit. That sounded a lot like GodWall. The friendly Brazilian now yelled like he was hunting a wounded lion that had just eaten his family.

We had no chance. Hiding was the only option. I grabbed Veyra’s hand and pulled her to the dark, purple bushes on the side—the ones that hadn’t been. Veyra canceled [Frost Storm]. Little particles of ice clung to almost every surface, like a lawn after a cold night.

Footsteps rushed in, mere feet away from us. “There was a fight!” GodWall shouted. “Mick, do you feel them?”

“It’s on cooldown,” said a man who sounded like Creator. “Fifteen seconds.”

I really hoped he was referring to [Super Sensitivity]. If he activated that, we’d be found in an instant. “Burn the place down, I’ll run after them!”

FireBrand was already casting before the command came, as [Infernal Blast] lit the cavern in red, overpowering the dim purple. I felt the heat of his flames from the other end of the cavern.

I checked the timer again.

[You have partaken in excessive combat. Teleportation blocked.]

[Duration: 0:04 minutes]

FireBrand fired [Fire Bolt] at the next patch of vegetation, missing us by mere feet. I gritted my teeth, while spamming the teleport out of there. He kept casting.

[Duration: 0:01 minutes]

The teleport finally began channeling. FireBrand shot yet another spell, burning the vegetation close enough that I found it a miracle I didn’t take damage. He turned his flames to us, the final patch of vegetation, and a casting circle of doom pointed directly at my face.

I closed my eyes, and the world went black.

***

For a moment, I thought I entered the afterlife. The heat stopped burning my face, and the bright red no longer shone through my eye-lids. Whatever had happened, we were out of there.

Did we die?

I blinked myself awake, and the wooden interior of Veyra’s childhood home welcomed me in.

“No way,” I said under my breath, mouth hanging open.

I glanced to my left, where Veyra’s expression shared the same shock. This wasn’t the menu screen. We weren’t timed out. The teleport had gone through.

I released my breath, utterly in disbelief, heart still racing.

Holy shit. Did that really happen? We actually escaped.

Slowly, I grinned at Veyra. We chuckled a little.

Then I tackled her into a hug and burst into a laugh. “Oh my god!” I yelled out. “We fucking did it!”

She tackled me back, pushing me. I fell on my back, onto the couch. “You just beat him!” she rejoiced. “You won against Dragrath!”

I held her tight. “And you mastered dual casting already? It’s been less than a week!”

She kept laughing.

“We got literally everything!” I yelled, hardly containing myself. “Everyone’s gear pieces! And holy shit, Annath’s sword!”

I rolled around on the couch with her, laughing, until I found myself on top of her.

Her red hair was turning to a mess, sprawled on the couch. Her cheeks were red. The softest things in the world. And her eyes—pupils wide, staring back at me.

Next to me, three system notifications had stacked up on each other.

[We have detected another player making physical contact without consent. Push them away? y/n?]

[We have detected another player making physical contact without consent. Push them away? y/n?]

[We have detected another player making physical contact without consent. Push them away? y/n?]

“Aiden?” Veyra asked, breathing heavily

“Yeah?”

She stared at me, saying nothing.

I trapped her in a hug and kissed her.

Her arms wrapped around me, pulling me closer, our lips touching. My hand slid down across the fabric of her robe, down to her thighs.

Until suddenly, my consciousness blinked black, and the game kicked me to the main menu, as if our deaths were merely delayed.

What?

[You have been timed out for 2:00 hours.]

[Reason: Sexual Content]

Goddammit. This stupid game. We were just kissing!

Assassin: “Sorry, did you get kicked as well?”

Veyra: “Yup”

Veyra: “(⁄⁄•⁄ω⁄•⁄⁄)”

Oh my god, her face. She’d looked even cuter than usual. The most huggable creature in the world.

Assassin: “Can I come over?”

That one didn’t get an immediate reply. The Veyra is typing… text moved in and out.

Veyra: “To be honest, I really don’t want to log off. I felt awful before getting in. It’s a miracle I wasn’t kicked out during the fight. I feel good in VR right now. I want to stay for as long as it lets me.”

Oh… So she was still sick.

Goddammit. Our celebration got cut way short. There was nothing I wanted more than to see her—to just gush over the items we’d gotten and have a good time.

I was about to send her a message to say that I could come help her out if she needed something, and that it was fine if we didn’t do anything in bed, but Veyra sent me a message first.

Veyra: “I can invite you over to one other place though.”

[Veyra has invited you to play Movie Night Simulator]

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