Chapter 112

Big Time Hoops, Merder Stadium, Atlanta - 8:14 AM

The closer I got to Best In Show, the more suspicious I became.

As I shifted back and forth from square to square during my approach, it seemed as though the cannonball had exploded and sent the whole team to their deaths. They respawned quickly with Ava conjuring another wall with a staircase on it while Olivia and Robert collected balls and scored. But it was off, and I was about halfway there when I realized that I should have expected this outcome to begin with.

A huge cube surrounded the team, and inside this cube were colors that seemed duller compared to everything else. If my eyes weren’t enhanced by Goblin Vision, I wouldn’t have noticed until I passed through it. A quick glance towards the scoreboard showed that they were still scoring at the very least, but there was no way to know how they were preparing for me.

Regardless of the dangers, I still went for it. I made it seem like my zigzagging was deliberate, sometimes taking two or three diagonal squares at a time instead of going back and forth. The moment I was about to pass through the large illusion, a golden shield with long spikes jutting out from it emerged from thin air in front of me. No doubt Robert, the Shield Champion, had been watching and waiting.

There was no way I would have been able to stop in time, so I didn’t. I simultaneously activated Shield in order to protect myself from some of the damage and Crash Test. I flew forward, slamming into the spiked shield and pushing it back into the illusion.

Despite my protection, I felt a sharp pain pass through my body as I passed over a black square and lost 10% of my hit points. Luckily, I only passed over one thanks to my stunted Dexterity lowering the distance the skill sent me.

Robert and his shield went flying backwards from my attack. He landed on his back but rolled to his feet unsteadily immediately after. The Shield Champion didn’t look too injured despite receiving what I hoped had been the full 256 damage, and I had to assume that he allowed himself to get thrown backwards rather than facing me head on. As expected of a tank.

While he was situating himself, I looked around the area inside the illusion. The shield that Robert had shown off during his introduction, the one that looked like it was three riot shields welded together, had become huge and planted between Best In Show and Team Trouser Snake. It had been taking the cannon fire this whole time and was looking worse for wear. It had been doing its job admirably.

Ava was going up and down a staircase made of blocks with balls, and I used the tried and true tactic of Dropping in the two balls that she tossed into the basket. She was sweating and out of breath, unlike the others, and I wondered if she was the only one making baskets due to Robert keeping his riot shields up and Olivia sustaining the illusion.

My gaze finally fell on the Illusionist, who went pale as our eyes locked. Her hands glowed with magical power, and she slowly fled behind the staircase to hide from me. If she went too fast, she would lose the spell. I wasn’t bothered by her for now; Olivia’s skill set could be annoying, but unless she wanted to drop the big illusion and let Team Trouser Snake accurately fire upon them, she couldn’t touch me.

Robert grabbed my attention by moving halfway between me and the staircase, raising his golden shield again. It had lost a few spikes when I rammed into it, and I looked over at them and Pulled one to me. It was only about six inches long, but incredibly sharp.

"You won’t get through me, Warmonger!” he shouted.

“Bet,” I replied, glancing up to Drop another ball that Ava was scoring with.

I looked back down and threw the spike at his foot, Pushing it as I began running towards him. With only 14 Willpower, my Warmind abilities were severely weakened, but he wouldn’t know that. He shifted backwards to avoid it, and that was my moment. I jumped over a black square, Smash Stick raised high above my head, and I brought it down.

Raising his shield, Robert blocked my blow and the spikes attached to it grew longer in response. They attempted to skewer me, but only hit my Shield before returning to their usual size. I had damaged the man’s weapon, but not enough to break it; it was very sturdy.

I raised the Smash Stick in my left hand while hiding my right behind his shield. The Cable Conglomerate snaked out of the Vambrace of Wires and headed straight towards his leg as I hesitated to swing. His eyes met mine during that split second of inactivity and he nearly managed to take a step back. My wire rope wrapped around his knee and I yanked it back towards me. He didn’t fall as I intended, his Constitution was too high for that, but his leg did buckle.

Now I brought the stick back down. I did it over and over again, ignoring the spikes scraping against my Shield. Every time, the amount of spikes decreased until I finally broke through, smacking Robert in his arm and forcing him onto the ground. My Cable Conglomerate snaked around him all the while and, now that his hands were free, I finally pulled his arms and legs together to hogtie him.

Stepping past him, I paused to gloat. “And look at that, already through you.”

I laughed as Robert began cussing me out, and continued on my way. Ava had her hands on her knees, doubled over and breathing heavily. Her eyes flicked from me back to Robert, and she raised her hand towards him.

“I wouldn’t cast any spells if I were you,” I called out, raising my arm and waving at her with the wire rope.

Ava flinched and looked back down at me. “Please, don’t hurt me,” she pleaded, falling down on her knees. “I’m just getting points, but I’ll stop. Okay? I’ll stop.”

A whistling noise filled my ears and I immediately placed a Force Field above my head. I looked up through it just as a giant cylinder fell through the illusion and slammed down. The Force Field cracked and shattered, and the conjured item continued coming for me. Shifting, I took the Smash Stick in both hands and swung upwards.

The cylinder was heavier than I gave it credit for, but I managed to shatter the bottom and adjust its course. Splinters and shards flew down onto my shoulder, leaving me to tank the blow. My Shield flickered and I knew it was on its last few hit points. Looking back up at Ava, I tilted my head.

“Well, can’t blame a girl for trying,” she breathed heavily before unsteadily standing up.

Ava turned and it looked like she was about to fall off the other side, but I wasn’t about to let her get away. I jumped into the air and activated Air Step as I flung the wire rope towards her. My initial step wasn’t enough as I aimed for the middle of the staircase, so I used the skill a second time and made it. The conjured blocks disappeared the moment I touched them, which was a trigger a Conjurer could leave on her constructs, and I activated Slow Fall.

I fell onto a black patch of grass, and I grit my teeth as pain shot through me. Olivia and Ava were in my vision for a split second before the Illusionist took the Conjurer’s hand and the two disappeared under an invisibility spell.

The huge illusion disappeared as this new spell was cast, bringing the world back to the vivid colors I expected from the Goblin Vision passive. My rope encircled the area they were just at, but caught nothing.

Even though they had disappeared, I had an inkling of where they had gone. Glancing back up at the scoreboard, I noted the time and threw myself behind Robert’s triple riot shield. I collided with an invisible mass just as Team Trouser Snake’s cannon went off. The shield took the brunt of the explosion, but shrunk back down to its normal size and fell over, hitting the women and myself on our heads.

The invisibility spell didn’t break, but that didn’t matter. I wrapped my arms around the two of them and pulled them in close. Olivia and Ava started striking me, and one of them managed to break my Shield with a dagger to the stomach. That act did cause the invisibility spell to break, and I was face to face with the two as they struggled.

“Ladies,” I greeted amiably.

“Get off of us!” Olivia yelled into my ear.

“In a moment,” I replied.

Despite the pain and a second stab, I worked the Cable Conglomerate around them, leaving me out of it as it slipped between us. Olivia’s dagger was pinned to her side, though she still tried admirably to slice at my leg with it. Once I was satisfied, I tied the rope off with the two now pressed tight face to face and let them fall to the ground. They kicked and screamed, but couldn’t break free. Neither were built for it.

Olivia’s hand flashed and she stabbed Ava in the hip. The Conjurer cried out in pain, and I grabbed the dagger from the Illusionist’s hand. “Willing to sacrifice a teammate to get out, that’s just cold. Respect, though,” I said before destroying the dagger with my Smash Stick. “Now you two stay here and don’t get any more points, okay? Okay, great.”

I ignored Ava’s angry shouts at her partner as I glanced up at the screens high above us. There wasn’t much time left in the round, and I’d have to get moving if I wanted to meet my goals. Before I got a move on, I took my club to Robert's riot shield a few times, thoroughly destroying it.

Now that I had neutralized Best In Show, I needed to do the same with Team Trouser Snake so I could complete Sara’s quest. It would be best to do it now before the barrier separating sections 1 and 4 dropped. I had no doubt that Jamie  would be waiting to strike, and I didn’t want to have to deal with both things at the same time.

Letting my gaze fall to Team Trouser Snake’s disc, I saw that only Bill and his glass cannon were still on it. I found Daniel and James in the center of our section, scoring in the tallest of the baskets. Managing to get a Drop in at the last moment to steal their points, I couldn’t help but admire their gumption. They had taken the opportunity to go after the best method of victory despite the fact that their Glass Cannon was left all by his lonesome.

Tossing the Smash Stick back into my inventory, I began jogging towards Daniel and James. The cannon had that atrocious firing speed and, aside from a gun, its owner would be unprotected, but that was low hanging fruit; he wouldn’t be able to get any shots off if it meant he’d blow up his friends alongside me. The two who were actually scoring didn’t notice me at first.

The Guiding Light had gotten very good at anticipating the beetle’s movements and was coming back with two or three at a time. A golden glow emanated from both him and the Blasphemous Priest, which I knew was one of Daniel’s abilities. The Light of Guidance buffed the stats, abilities, and resources of all allies within a certain distance. James was able to keep his fake angel wings active for so long because of this buff.

Dropping three more balls into James’ basket, all in a row, were all I got out of the priest before Bill stopped fiddling with his cannon and started hollering. Daniel paused to figure out what was going on and his attention was soon drawn to me. Panic filled his face as he watched me jogging towards the two of them, and he tossed the ball he was holding to James.

I watched as the paladin reached into his inventory and pulled out his tower shield and a double barreled shotgun. The moment I saw the weapon, I used my Warmind abilities to pull the trigger before he could aim it at me. The gun went off, almost causing Daniel to drop it in surprise. I did it again, and the kickback caused it to fly back into the Guiding Light’s chin.

Laughing, I jumped and used his shoulder as a springboard to go after James. I had to use two Air Steps, but I grabbed the man around the waist with one hand and grabbed the rim of the basket with the other. The priest’s face was obscured by the helmet he wore, and his heavy armor certainly would have weighed me down if it weren’t for my increased Strength. Between his Constitution and gear, I didn’t think I would succeed if my Strength stat wasn’t over 60.

James struggled with the ball, but managed to pull himself up to shove it in. I, of course, denied him with Drop, but there was no way he knew that. Adjusting my grip since he had done most of my work for me, I lifted him and dumped him headfirst into the basket with my rope following after.

“What the hell, Warmonger!” James yelled, his voice muffled. “I thought we were working together!”

“Yeah, in round one,” I scoffed. “Ten out of ten, good job distracting the other team. Would work with you again!”

My Cable Conglomerate tied James up along with the basket, using up all but a few feet of rope in order to make sure he wasn’t getting out of there no matter what Bill or Daniel tried. It had to hold for almost five minutes, and that’s exactly what I intended. I heard the sound of the paladin’s shotgun closing after being reloaded and I jumped off of the basket.

The first shot peppered where I had been, and I landed hard on the ground with my back to Daniel. I dove to the side as soon as I could, hoping to avoid the second shot, but he didn’t fire immediately. He tracked me with his gun, waiting for me to come to a stop, and I glanced at his discarded tower shield behind him. With no way to reload his weapon while wearing it, he had tossed it to the ground.

I Pulled the tower shield towards me, and it slid across the ground. It was heavy, likely made of a solid sheet of metal to make use of its bearer’s unnaturally high Strength stat. Still, it was within my weight limit.

The shield hit the back of Daniel’s leg and he turned to see what was attacking him. At the same time, I Pushed his trigger in, causing him to use the second barrel and the rest of his ammunition in a harmless direction.

“Come on, Warmonger!” Daniel yelled. “We had a plan! What are you even doing right now?”

“The plan is over,” I said as I stood and pulled out a javelin from my inventory. “BYOB has been dispatched, so I held up my end of the bargain. I also incapacitated Best In Show. They should be free now, thanks to Olivia’s willingness to pretend kill Ava to remove her bindings, but there’s no way they’ll catch up in time. So now we’re on to you.”

“We could have kept working together! I mean, I don’t even know how you’re scoring points when you haven’t even touched a ball, but we could have ridden this whole thing out, man!”

I shrugged. “Hate me if you want, but our partnership is over.”

Daniel hesitated and sighed before shaking his head. “Nah, you seem a decent dude,” he claimed. “If this is where it ends, then this is where it ends.”

“Spoken with dignity,” I said, giving him a slight bow. “You make a great Guiding Light, and hopefully we get matched together for the next event.”

“Yeah, ma-“ Daniel paused, opening the breech of his shotgun so that he could reload. “How do you know I’m a Guiding Light?”

“I know many things, young Daniel, including how long it takes for your Glass Cannon to adjust his cannon,” I said, thumbing my mask’s nose.

Taking my eyes off of Daniel, I turned towards Team Trouser Snake’s disc. The cannon was pointing in my direction, as I predicted. I was far enough away from the team leader that there would be minimal friendly fire in the form of splash damage.

It would have been devastating even if I still had my Shield up. Force Field would have made it explode early, but I would still take a lot of damage from the explosion at this distance since my Willpower was stunted.

So I did the only thing I could: I threw the javelin.

Not at Bill, that would have likely killed the unarmored man and I was under restriction not to do that. Instead, I aimed at the opening of the cannon. The operator panicked as he saw me throw my weapon, and activated his own. The cannon fired.

If it had shot regular cannonballs, then everything would have been fine. It would have slammed into my javelin and continued towards me with barely a nudge off of its intended path. The ball of energy that the Glass Cannon did fire, however, exploded on contact. The two projectiles met just a few feet away from Bill and did exactly what I expected.

A huge explosion rocked the Glass Cannon and his weapon of war, sending him flying backwards. Bill hit the ground and bounced, but disappeared as he collided with the wall behind him..

The sound of Daniel running up behind me was loud due to the heavy plate armor that he wore, and I turned to face him. He had replaced his shotgun with a spear and retrieved his tower shield. I began backpedaling away from him as I looked up at the timer. It hit 8 minutes on the dot.

[[Notice]]

The following teams have been removed from Big Time Hoops.

Section 1: Best In Show

Section 2: Diamond Breakers

Section 3: Team Titans

Section 4: Adrenaline Junkies

Points have been reset but will count towards your final tally.

Sections 1 & 4 and 2 & 3 will now be merged.

The walls separating the two sections disappeared into the ground as if they were sucked away by the earth itself. I wasn’t able to keep my eyes on Daniel for long; a loud gunshot deafened the arena for a split second and I was suddenly standing back in the manager’s suite.

[[Notice]]

You have died.