Projekt Anima(OUTDATED VERSION!)

Chapter 6: Revenge of the Ace

And it wasn't from the wind.

Slater froze. Was it a shadowhound? Had a pack followed them up to here? If that was the case, they were as good as dead. They could probably try to outrun them, but he doubted they'd reach the town before the monsters could've shred them to pieces. If they would fight, nothing much would change. It is all worthless—a usual shadowhound pack is a minimum of 6. At worst, about 15.

The virtual gods were just not on their side.

Slater shook off that thought. He gazed at Raiden, who was frozen like him. Had he noticed the shadowing presence around them? Basing from his reaction, he probably could have as well.

The shadows started to become long and stretch across their path, eating away the feeble remaining light. Slater gulped, slowly moving his hand over to his sword. They needed to do something—quick.

"Raiden," he said, preventing his voice from trembling. "Shadowhounds. Around us."

A surprising chuckle came back. And it wasn't from Raiden. "Well, you could look at it that way. But equally worse."

"Wha-" Slater turned around, and strained to look at the stranger in the shadows. A series of rustlings resounded around them, and before they knew it, they were surrounded by an unlikely bunch.

Bandit players.

"Y-You..." Raiden said, his voice trailing. It was answered by an appreciative chuckle from the group. It was when the players emerged from the shadows did Slater finally realized who the players were.

They were the same bandits that ganged up on Raiden.

What a terrible twist of fate...or not. Could have they followed them here? It possibly couldn't be a coincidence. Slater gulped hard as the bandits revealed their weapons, each one glinting menacingly in the dark. His eyes trailed to their floating tags, and a shiver ran up to his spine. These players were killers. They probably wouldn't hesitate to add two more to their death list.

"Look at you, quite all grown up. Having fun with the terminal?" the leader, Brian taunted, sneering at Raiden. He shifted to Slater. "You must be the one who saved him." For a second, Slater shriveled under the sharp eyes of the bandit leader. "Oh well, you'll die as well."

"W-What?!" Slater said, his voice starting to tremble. "You can't be serio-"

"Fight me." Raiden said firmly. "Leave that guy over there alone. Your business is with me."

Is he really going to fight him alone? Had he lost his mind? Still, basing from the guy's actions, he had witnessed enough crazy decisions Raiden had made. He was definitely ready to confront any challenge—whatever it may be. Still...

There was silence for a second before the gang of thieves all laughed. A girl bandit approached Raiden, as she brandished her brass knuckles.

"He hasn't changed a bit," Adira said, smiling. "Hey, remember me? I'm still not done with you, ya know."

Brian faced him, pointed his dagger directly to Raiden's throat. "Don't get so excited, punk. We'll kill you anyway."

"I said," Raiden started, "Fight me. In a duel. All of you."

Okay, Raiden was definitely losing his mind. Why in the world would these bandits accept his request? They were clearly going to kill him. In a duel, a player cannot be totally killed, only reduced to about 1 hit point. Still, there was no way a player could win against 5 experienced killers, duel or not.

Brian laughed for a while, then stared at him. "Why the hell would we do that?"

"Why not?" Raiden said, starting to sneer. "You all scared?"