Azimuth: The Elden Throne (New Version)

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/A few moments earlier…/

8 people walked down the streets of Resko at a fast pace.

"Come on, we're almost there!"

One of them was really impatient, making a fuss along the wall.

He was running, then stopping, screaming something, then running again…

But the others didn't seem to mind, in fact, they seemed used to it.

"Sigh..."

One of them decided to speak up, perhaps fed up with their companion's actions:

"Why are you rushing? You almost stepped on my foot!"

"The barrier is still up, no one can enter the Southern Fields nor can the players in the forest return unless they take a long way around."

"There's no point in this!"

The one who spoke was none other than Dale's handyman, Rodi!

After discussing with his team, he and the others had decided to move toward the Fields in order to see with their own eyes what was happening there and also to be present in case anything interesting were to occur.

As players who sought the honor to be called 'pros', they needed to be ahead of any other player...

Be it in terms of information, items, levels, or even personal skill.

"Huhh? You are the last one I thought would disagree with me!"

"Especially after what you said!" The running man remarked as he pointed at Rodi

Rodi rolled his eyes.

Instead of bickering further, he ignored the overexcited man, turning to the side and asking a girl with long black hair:

"How's the situation?"

"Ha! What else?"

The girl shrugged, moving her hands disorderly in the air as she swiped the many system windows in front of her eyes, saying that the stream had already ended.

But she still gave them a small debrief of what had just happened:

"Pretty much all players have died and all streams have closed."

"And given the stream I was watching was on the backlines, it's pretty much safe to say the Vanguard's down and that they're all dead by this point…"

Midway through her sentence, the excited man said:

"SEE! So hush hush! Each minute walking is one less watching those bastards get beaten up!"

A small girl with a hoodie said:

"Are you there to work, or are you there to watch those guys?"

"The latter obviously, did you ever think otherwise?" The man said with determined eyes

"... Forget it." She replied as she shook her head

Another person was quick to interrupt:

"Look, we can already see the gates, so calm down you two, we don't want to end up like those guys…"

/BOOOOM!/

/Tremble…/

"?!"

The ground suddenly trembled slightly…

"Look!"

Someone exclaimed, pointing at the sky.

A mushroom cloud could be faintly seen, rising further and further into the blue ocean…

"Damn… OI!"

"Don't die yet! I need to laugh and point at you all!" The man said as he started to run

And before Rodi even had the time to say anything, the overexcited guy had already run past the gates...

"Shit..."

Rodi grunted as he got up from the ground.

The problem with being a damage dealer with low reflexes was that he was one of the last to recover from such debilitations and crowd control abilities..

Looking at the man running away, and then around, he said:

"He is really a pain sometimes…"

Everyone nodded.

"Alright, everyone, we can't let him kill himself... Again."

"So let's get our pace up."

Shaking their heads, they ran forward…

/BOOM!/

Amidst the continuous sounds of explosions…

…

/Back to the present/

Rodi and company finally arrived at the entrance for the extensive green fields... Catching up with the excited man.

On their way, the barrier covering the Green Fields broke into many pieces soon after the Community Event Quest failed as the last player died...

However, upon arriving, they saw that their friend was currently in a trance, extremely focused on something...

Not only he, but everyone around them also.

/Whispers.../

"It's rather crowded..." One of them pointed out

They weren't the first ones here, but they surely wouldn't be the last…

Every second, more and more players swarmed the gates, gazing into the distance.

"It surely is." Rodi replied

'I can see people from other Clans, they must've had the same idea as me.'

'Most of them aren't really a threat, being small size Groups at most.'

'All of the promising small groups are already on my radar, but most of the people here seem to be casual players...'

'Well, whatever, I came here to see how this event would play out, not exactly to compete over items.'

'It would be bad if we somehow became enemies with all of these players.'

Rodi smiled.

'And as long as it's an event that does not require player vs player competition, then I'm confident in lasting through.'

'Since... I'm currently the player with the highest Reputation in Resko!'

/Boom!/

"Hum?"

As he thought, an explosion rang in the fields...

/Tremble.../

They couldn't see very well what was happening since the fight was happening far away, but they could see the destruction caused by their clash.

The green fields were burning, many craters could be seen scattered all around, and dust covered the sky…

/Boom!/

Sometimes, screams echoed from the plains, together with massive fireballs and thunder, setting the green fields ablaze...

However, it was as if there was an invisible ring in the fields, preventing the fight from escalating beyond it.

Because no matter what happened, the fight never reached even half a Km close to the Crop fields.

It seemed that the warriors were being careful of where they clashed... At least one of them at least.

/THUNDER!/

The tall green warrior burst into exotic flames, a pillar of dark light that reached the skies surrounded him as his roars were overshadowed by the constant sounds of rumbling thunder…

He seemed to be preparing a super move, making many of the players gasp in awe.

It was very cinematic, so much so Rodi unconsciously opened his stream...

"Wow..."

"That's pretty sick…"

Rodi's companion, the one who rushed ahead, finally opened his mouth to speak, getting out of his trance:

"... It is indeed oddly beautiful..." He said in a melancholy tone full of emotion

"No, you're just weird." The girl with the hood replied plainly, shooting him down instantly

"..."

...

This brutal fight that was finally coming to a close made all of them stop breathing as their hearts rose to their throats.

Their bodies tensed, feeling the chaotic energies surrounding the two beasts...

Most of the players were impressed by this, some even felt as if they could feel the violence of the warrior, his anger, his determination…

And some felt fearful, what would come of their clash?

"FLY!"

The Knight raised his spear, gathering power into it before releasing, his own answer to the green giant's attack.

Time seemed to stop, on one side, a man with his spear, ready to throw it, on the other side, a giant held his cleaver, aiming at the skies above.

/Boom!/

"ARG?!"

This 'peaceful' scene came to a halt as their ears were assaulted once again by the loud thundering sound of the Sonic boom caused by Dale's spear throw!

As it cut through the air, it left behind a spiral of blue and red, leaving a tail behind like a comet striking through the night sky.

To most, they couldn't even differentiate the colors due to how potent the flash of light produced by the spear was, but Rodi and a few others were able to see the "truth", even if only a portion of it.

/ROAR!/

The target of the spear, the Karkavan warrior, roared with a maddening resolve, slashing his cleaver one more time horizontally as he stepped forward to meet the spear, not shinning away from it!

Putting all of his weight into that strike, he chose to rise to Dale's challenge head-on!

/BOOOOM!/

[You have taken…]

[You are currently stunned]

Just as the spear was thrown, breaking the sound barrier, it clashed with the Karkavan warrior.

Only a few managed to witness it in the air due to how fast it was, even then, it wasn't long before the two collided.

With a thundering explosion, all of the players were pushed backward.

Some even took damage, others suffered even more, going into critical condition…

And all of this merely due to being a tad too close to the explosion… Meaning...

The clash between the two was so intense it almost killed them!

...

The seconds passed, and things started to calm down, no more colliding sounds, no more explosions, only an odd silence...

It seemed the fight was over, but there was no way to confirm until the dust settled.

Some of those that recovered quickly, or were a bit further away managed to see a figure walking from within the dust cloud…

It was a man clad in heavy armor, holding a spear in one hand, and… The defeated Karkavan warrior in the other!

Given their differences in size, he could only drag Muddan around by grabbing his hands, creating a long trail behind him on the dirt as he was pretty heavy.

Surprisingly, even when unconscious, Muddan still held his Cleaver, or perhaps, this was to be expected of him.

Although this only made things harder for the knight as the cleaver itself seemed to weigh as much as the Karkavan himself... 

/Fwoosh…/

From within the dust clouds, a sword slowly levitated behind the knight, following his steps, parting through the dust like a ship through the sea.

From their clash, the victor had been decided!

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Notes