Return to Jorgaldur Volume III: blood warrior

Challenge

"You really are beautiful," Coinin said while approaching Gjaki.

Her eyes looked at her with desire, as if bewitched by her.

"Okay, that's enough! Stop now! I have deactivated the spell! I know you're faking it!" the silver-haired vampiress panicked.

She had wanted to try Temptation with the approval of her friend, but she hadn't stopped after cancelling it. Gjaki moved back, while fearing that the effect might last longer. She didn't want to imagine what would happen if it became permanent.

She collided with the wall, which prevented her from running away. The moment of distraction was enough for the rabbit-vampiress to pounce and hug her.

"I caught you!" she said amidst laughter.

"I'll never ask you for anything again!" Gjaki exclaimed, nevertheless relieved. Her friend was really faking it.

"Ha, ha. You're so cute when you're like this. No wonder Chorni is so crazy about you," Coinin mocked.

"Just drop it already! Now, seriously, does it have any effect or not?"

"Quite. I was really attracted. It's hard to explain. Has it really not affected Chorni?" her friend was surprised, and still attached to her.

"No, he said he didn't feel anything," Gjaki reaffirmed.

"It's strange. Maybe, it doesn't affect men? Well, there could be another explanation. Maybe, he's so crazy about you that he can't be attracted more," the demihuman vampiress suggested, half seriously half jokingly.

Her words managed to embarrass her friend again, at the possibility that they were true. Amused, Coinin was rubbing her friend's cheek with her own when Gjaki tensed.

"Is something wrong?" Coinin looked at her worried.

"Someone is attacking the barrier. I'll take look. Tell them not to go out," her friend explained, very serious. Immediately, she went out the window in the attack direction.

Gjaki wasn't sure if it was just a somewhat rude way of knocking, or if there was actually hostility. She had seen through the mansion's cameras who was hitting the barrier, and she had recognized him. To her surprise, he was a player.

She hoped that he was just there to greet her. Perhaps, he had come to share experiences with another native of their homeland world, with another visitor. However, she hadn't gotten along with that particular player in the past.

He had accused her of cheating, using bots or other tricks, and she had simply ignored him. Her response had been an even more resounding victory in their next confrontation.

She knew that he had accused her on Internet forums, where there were also those who had defended her. She had stayed away for various reasons. The first, because her old self was used to being talked about behind her back, and she didn't care, or so she told herself.

The second and most important reason was that, to defend herself, the only way for her was to reveal that she had Premonition. That would probably mean the losing of a secret advantage. It wasn't something she was willing to give up.

She couldn't help but wonder if he held a grudge against her, if he was as vulgar as his arguments on the forums. For now, she decided to be prudent.

"Wasn't it easier to knock on the door?" she greeted him after arriving in front of him, in a neutral tone.

"So it's really you, you're back too... It's fate. You need a lesson now that you can't cheat" he scorned.

The vampiress frowned. It was evident that he hadn't come with good intentions.

"What do you want?" she demanded.

"I was thinking of giving you a beating, but I didn't remember you looked so hot. So if you surrender, I'll spare your life, and you'll have the privilege of being my slave," he offered.

"Are you kidding, or are you really that stupid?" she replied dismissively.

"How dare you!? It'd be your honor! If not the easy way, it'll be the hard way! You may be able to escape, but it won't be so easy for those who live inside. For now, I'll start with that city. Surely, they are guilty of helping a vampire. Maybe, I'll even find some pretty slaves," he threatened. He was inspired by Krovledi's suggestions.

Gjaki felt her blood boil at those words. She couldn't have imagined that this visitor was so depraved, so disgusting. She wanted to go out and teach him a lesson, but he wasn't alone.

The mansion's sensors didn't end at the shield, so she knew there were others hiding nearby, at least twenty. She was thinking that, in addition to being disgusting, he was also a treacherous coward. Although perhaps, there was a way to prevent him from having reinforcements.

"Will it work?" she wondered.

She looked at him challengingly. If he was as arrogant as he seemed, maybe she could provoke him. It would make it easier.

"Do you really think that a loser like you can beat me? You say cheating... If you always lost, it's because you're a failure," Gjaki provoked him.

Although she had come to loathe him for his accusations, and now she despised him, Gjaki actually respected him as a rival, though not as a person. His way of fighting wasn't very complex, but it was efficient and difficult to counter.

"Damn bitch! Why don't you come out of that turtle shell and fight me!?" he challenged her.

"You alone?" she wanted to say.

However, that would have revealed information that gave her some advantage. Instead, she activated a feature in the game that she didn't know if it would work. Not only it didn't have much sense, but she had tried it with natives of the world, and it hadn't. Nonetheless, it was worth a try, because in the game, it only worked with other players.

She activated the function as it was done in the game, though instead of pressing a button, she just imagined it. To her surprise, unlike her previous tests, a small floating screen was displayed in front of her.

Her face was on one side, and Black Wolf's on the other. Under their faces, there were their names. Below Gjaki's, there was a green confirmation mark. The title of the window was "Duel".

She saw in the surprise on her rival's face the confirmation she needed. The vampiress didn't quite know what would happen if he accepted, but she expected it to be just like in the game, one on one combat.

"Okay, bigmouth, a lot of talking, but I'm still waiting," she urged and sneered at him with an expression that wanted to be mocking.

"I'm going to wipe that smile off your face..." he threatened, while waving his hand in the air, on the invisible screen that only he could see.

At that very moment, Gjaki saw on her screen the green mark under Black Wolf. An instant later, said screen began to light up with various effects like the ones in the game. The duel had been accepted.