35 Of Ice and Men (1/2)
As my body was slowly healing and mending the numerous wounds, I suffered in that fight, I started to ponder about my first encounter against magic.I have to remember that I am currently fighting against novices. While my cheap tricks and diversion may work against a group of people who underestimate their enemy and lose their focus if things become too dull. But if I ever would have to face, a squad of veterans I would be toyed to death by them. The sad thing is that if even a veteran squad as weak as the players I just faced can beat me, I do not want to imagine how strong a real veteran of war is.
Watching the little ants systematically devouring every single object in the close vicinity, I started to worry how much had to be destroyed every time he would get hurt. Even though his body becomes slightly stronger after each wound he takes, he still gets hurt at the moment and that makes my body even more vulnerable in that fight.
There was no feeling of actual risk in all of that fight, but at the end when I was about to give the finishing blow to that girl I was just barely able to beat, there was a very strong feeling of imminent doom if I were to get any closer, This lingering sensation, was so strong, that even I was shocked. I have seen many men and women, but this sensation was something otherworldly. So I threw one last glance at the sleeping beauty and got the hell out of there. The feeling of doom only disappeared after having moved away for close to 4 minutes. This lady is pure trouble, I will avoid her as much as possible.
Come to think of it, I have killed my first 2 humans there. Normally there should have been some sort of emotional response. Be it disgust or even satisfaction, but there was just the confirmation in my head both of them died due to my hands. Well, maybe I am subconsciously aware, that they will respawn anyway. There is just no need to spill tears over such a silly topic.
After 5 Minutes my body became whole again. After not looking like a humanoid version of swiss cheese anymore, I started to cover as much ground as possible, because the destruction left behind by my ants, is quite similar to a distress signal. But instead of help, it leads me into danger.
I started to think about it, what the possible consequences of my actions are. The system has no direct influence on me, so I do not have to worry to be just deleted. But I don't doubt that if anyone is able to link me to the whole shitshow that keep on happening around me, that they will try and find a way to get rid of me. I wish I had a way to understand them, without the help of the Observer, I am utterly lost in translation.
The language barrier also leads to the escalation of the fight in the first place, so I either have to avoid coming into contact with other players or learn the language if I do not want to provoke everyone left and right. I mean they just could have asked how the weather is and the felt irritated because I just kept staring at them and did not answer at all. But in the end, regardless of the context they had the choice and decided to start the fight, even though I gave them plenty of time to reconsider their actions.
Although I have to admit, fighting against the last lady, was really fulfilling. I hate to admit it, but there would be no winner at all in this kind of fight if I had avoided getting hurt. Also, it hurts to say so, but most likely I only won due to her not being serious from the start, I had the feeling as if she wanted to crush my illusion of being able to beat her no matter how hard I try. But if you play with fire you will end up getting burned sooner or later.
As I was walking forward I came to the conclusion, that I have to fight many more times, to get stronger. I had to develop and heighten my senses, have to be able to fight for a long time, without losing focus in the mind, because the higher the stakes get, the more likely it is for one mistake to prove fatal. A fight against 3 little girls already proved to be this difficult and if I face enemies with a multitude of different spells, the things I have to be aware of add up quite fast. What if they had a water mage. Even if the water alone does not hurt me, but what if the water is combined with ice magic and wind? Can the freeze me on the spot if I am covered with water? Each battle has mana variables I have to know, before making a plan on how to fight them. Relying on basic instincts is only helpful if you want to escape or find a gap. If you want to win the war you have to be prepared.
After walking for an unknown amount of time, a group of wolves stares at me viciously, tearing me apart with their eyes alone. But instead of starting to attack them, I waited for their attacks. I have to be able to dodge with my body as well, relying on my rocks to carry me into a direction, takes away many options to attack. It should only be used as a last resort.
The wolves closed in on my growling and without waiting for any kind of response from my side they began to engage. When wolves hunt in a pack, they normally expect that their prey begins to run. They deal many small wounds, on the chase until the prey bleeds out. At least that is true for the wolves I knew from Planet Earth, but I have no clue where the similarities end. So I was extra careful and always had a way out in mind. One wolf started and aimed for my thigh, it was quite easy to dodge it, buy simply sidestepping it, without being able to execute this action safely, the next wolf began to aim at my torso, I was forced to divert its launch with my right hand, leading the wolf to hit nothing but air.
Not even a single second passed, before the next wolf was already pouncing towards me, suppressing the urge to just kick the wolf right there, and decided to avoid it by jumping over it. But after landing 2 wolves started to attack simultaneously and I was forced to use my rock to get pulled out of that situation. Training like that is a lot more tedious, than I previously imagined, as soon there is some sort of coordination, my possible movements are getting less and less and right now I still am unable to react subconsciously that takes away precious time that would be needed to dodge.
Iguess it is not enough to just dodge the attacks, the key to such fights is to anticipate their movements and move accordingly to get the most out of such a situation. So now I have to start and take notice of the group dynamic as well if every wolf moves according to a pattern, then the wolf who is going to attack becomes predictable. The wolves attacks also expect a certain kind of defensive movement and attack the weak point, that an evasive movement would produce.
There is always a leader, who orders the wolf-pack. So I have to see, how they react to certain situations, even though that trial and error period will lead to some injuries here and there. But as long as I am covering my weak spots I do not have to be afraid of bleeding out. My body got much stronger since the last time I got bitten by a wolf, let me see how much damage they are still able to do to me now.