Fell Champions

Finding Mid wasn’t as easy as Il-Su had hoped. The rocky pillars which had been a lifesaver before were now a detriment, turning the entire arena into a maze. The only point of reference they had to go by was the floating island above, leaving them to try to judge where Mid was based off where the centre of the island hovered.

Somehow, there were even more pillars than before, and apparently they had continued to grow in height. They must’ve been doing so slowly, imperceptibly gaining in size at a miniscule but steady rate, growing so slowly that it was difficult to spot unless you were watching for it. 

The whole while, a clock indicating their thirty minutes ticked down above them for everyone to see, a giant red warning that something would happen once time ran out. They had to get to Mid, and fast.

The problem was compounded by the fact that neither Il-Su nor Pegacorn trusted one another. Il-Su preferred to scout ahead, but she insisted he stay in sight at all times. In turn, he refused to turn his back on her, leaving them having to awkwardly walk alongside one another, constantly giving each other the side eye. 

No one spoke. Il-Su normally liked the quiet. It was part of why he preferred the name ‘Silence.’ But this was a forced, tense quiet. Pegacorn for her part seethed in his presence, and clearly had an opinion she wanted to share. Il-Su answered her only with a look of disdain, while Brock had a nervous smile on his face, clearly terrified at the idea that his own allies were about to engage in violence. 

Only Slider was carefree, leading the party and practically skipping in delight. That kid was far too optimistic. It was going to get him killed if he didn’t temper it with a healthy dose of realism.

“What happens if we run into another team?” Brock asked, voice shaky. 

His avatar was such a large man, scary in a ‘nomadic barbarian’ kind of way, but he still had the mannerisms of a man half his size who was terrified of the idea of getting his hands dirty on, well, anything. Never mind bloodshed, Brock was terrified of grit under his fingernails, or something mussing his hair. 

“I’ll kill them,” Il-Su said. “If you’re lucky, I might just wound some, let you get some easy points.”

Brock looked absolutely queasy.

“Wow, you’re full of yourself,” Pegacorn said.

Il-Su shrugged. If she didn’t know that he’d earned his reputation, explaining wouldn’t convert her. She’d probably just take it for boasting. 

“How’d you die if you’re such hot shit?” she asked.

He scowled. “I could say the same about you.”

The two glared at one another, and Brock said, “I was wandering down a path on a mountainside to a nearby town, and tripped and had a nasty spill and apparently hit every ugly rock on the way down, it was tragic.”

Slider let out a bark of laughter, and clearly not the kind where he was laughing with Brock. Pegacorn glared at him and said, “I died trying to drink some magic water at… someone’s request. Turns out, it was poison.”

“Maybe you shouldn’t be so trusting,” Il-Su said. 

He looked up at the clock above them. Ten minutes had already passed since the initial announcement. A third of their time was gone, and it felt like they were lost. 

“Oh, I’m not. Just… this guy had a very compelling argument for me to try it. So, what about you?”

“Ran afoul of Sami,” he growled.

“She killed you, huh? I can’t wait to see the clip. She was streaming it, right?”

“Don’t get too excited. She only broke my Tenacity. Some NPC stabbed me in the back.”

Pegacorn gave him a funny look. “Wild. Must’ve been weird being on that end of the backstab.”

He knew she was only teasing him. Purposely trying to get a rise out of him. He knew better than to respond, or take the bait. 

But as always when Sami was even close to the subject, emotion ruled over reason.

“You have no idea what that bitch is like. If you’d been through half the shit she put me through, you’d do the exact same thing I did.”

“Did you forget? Everyone knows exactly what ‘she put you through.’ You aired it all over the bird app, ViewToob, Spasm… gaming news sites were talking about it for ages. And every time it started to die down, you’d drop some new claim on stream and snivel over how hard done by you were. Poor guy. Living in a polycule with two hotties giving it to you on the regular, all while getting the rep as one of the greater players in the genre because your girlfriend was gracious enough to push you to your best. The incel community really loved you. You made yourself right at home with the internet’s worst.”

“Guys, this tea is great and all,” Brock said, “but can we talk about this later?”

“You’re just jealous,” Il-Su snapped at Pegacorn. “I’ve seen your type before. You’re a clout chaser. Is that it? No one wants you in their clan despite how good you are, so you look at the abuse I endured and think, ‘Wow, I wish someone would hurt and control me like that.’”

“Duh doy, have you seen Sami? She’s the hottest person in gaming. Hurt me, mommy.”

“She wasn’t even the hottest person in Pledge.”

“Oh, don’t tell me you’re delusional enough to think you were. I’ve seen your pimply ass.”

“Guys!” Brock said, his voice panicked.

“Of course I’m not vain enough to think it’s me,” Il-Su said.

“So, what? If Sediment was so hot, why did you ditch him then?”

Il-Su growled and strode away. Pegacorn caught his arm, bringing him up short.

“Oh my god, you didn’t mean him either, did you? But then…” He could practically hear her mental calculations and pre-emptively flushed with both fury and shame in equal measure. “You meant Pandemona. Oh my fucking god, that’s why you ruined the hottest relationship in gaming. You got your panties in a twist because you had a crush on a fucking lesbian!”

Pegacorn laughed hysterically, and Il-Su had to resist the urge to stab her then and there. Instead, he found himself weakly mumbling, “She’s not a lesbian.”

That set Pegacorn off even harder. Il-Su looked to Brock for support, but he had a terrified look on his face, and he was pointing upwards.

Il-Su followed the gesture, and saw a new screen window had opened, this one directly below the floating island and pointing downwards at them. It depicted Il-Su and Pegacorn, delayed a few seconds, arguing with one another.

The whole argument had just been broadcast to everyone in the arena, courtesy of Holt. Everyone would see it. Not just chat, but all the competitors. Everyone in the arena. 

He buried his face in his hands. Pegacorn only laughed harder.

“Fuck this,” he growled, and hoisted himself up one of the stone pillars. 

He’d picked one of the taller ones, and scrambled up the side, digging fingers into tiny crevices and gripping for all he was worth. One of the many things he’d trained in the outside world was rock climbing, alongside parkour and freerunning. Sami was insistent that their gaming skills be based on real world experience. The training had been gruelling, but worth it. He still continued all of them as a hobby, having grown to love the sport, even if he wasn’t as good at them in his meat as he was in his digital body. 

He got to the top easily enough, and got a quick lay of the land. In the distance, maybe a few dozen meters out, he could see an open circle where people had already gathered. He made a quick count. Enough for two teams. He cast a look about the remainder of the arena, looking for the stragglers.

With the uneven sections of the maze, he couldn’t easily spot anyone out. But along the edges, a fog had begun to gather around the arena. One that was quickly spreading.

Something moved within it.

He couldn’t tell what, but he could swear he could see a dark shape, about the size of a person, moving within one patch in a corner of the arena. His eyes searched out other corners where the fog had begun to gather, and spotted out similar dark movements within.

He wasn’t sure how many there were. Not a lot. More than three. Less than ten. Whatever was inside wasn’t stealthy, but they didn’t need to be with that kind of cover.

Il-Su looked upwards at the clock above them. It was ticking down. Less than ten minutes left. He didn’t want to know what would happen once it ran out.

Pegacorn yelled something at him. Either some taunt or jibe. He heard the word ‘lesbian.’ He ignored it, focusing on the task at hand and mapping out the path they’d need to go, and then hopped down once he was finished.

“This way,” he said.

He didn’t wait for a response, just began to push forward. Slider skipped along with him, and from the crunching of footsteps behind him, he could only assume his temporary allies followed. At this point, he didn’t care if they did or not. Nothing could be worse than this already was.

Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!