Rise Online: Return of the Legendary Player

"I offer these sacrifices as a token of my devotion. Allow me to join you in this endeavor," the samurai said after slashing his colleagues with his katana.

The dwarf looked at him and muttered in pain:

"Son of a bitch... I trusted you..."

The players in the other group were horrified by what they had just seen and took a few steps back. One of the two barbarians in the group said, "You're crazy! How dare you kill your own comrades! We want nothing to do with you!"

The samurai tried to reason with them, saying that he needed strong allies to stay among the last four alive in the group, but the players in the other group were undeterred. They said that they couldn't trust someone who was capable of killing their own teammates, and that they would rather go it alone than risk their lives with a traitor.

The samurai was dismayed, but knew he had no choice. He lowered his katana in dismay. He stood in the partially darkened hall and looked at the bodies of his friends.

Soon, Kaizen finally managed to kill all the annoying rats and opened the door to enter the hall from where he heard voices. He was surprised to see two groups of players, one of which seemed to be in shock, and the other larger group, on the second floor of this wide hall, seemed to be angry.

"What the hell is going on here?" asked Kaizen, not understanding anything and scratching his head with one hand.

The samurai didn't even look back, but answered automatically:

"I... sacrificed my own allies to try to join this other group."

The players in the other group looked at Kaizen, still puzzled by what had just happened.

"Hey, are you his partner too? We don't know what this guy's talking about! He just killed his own companions and asked to join ours!" The other barbarian, who was blond instead of redheaded, said.

Kaizen realized that his initial plan to follow these guys until he found a massive amount of players had gone wrong, but it still had its positives, as he had managed to climb two levels by killing the rats and also found more players than before. So it was time to start the second part of his plan, which was to kill every single player in front of him.

Psyker approached the two injured players on the ground and used the bloodied Næġling Falske to stab the dwarf in the back, killing him instantly.

[You have killed the player 'BobFoot'.]

[You gained +10000 XP.]

This startled everyone, and they looked at Kaizen in surprise, who replied:

"Huh? Why are you looking at me like that? This is a kill-or-die game, and I don't know any of you. By the way, why are you forming a group? Do you think you can't survive on your own?"

The other players were horrified by Kaizen's words and the coldness with which he killed the dwarf. They could not believe that he would kill a disabled player from behind without hesitation. So they quickly began to prepare their weapons for what seemed to be an inevitable battle. A moment later, the players in the group looked at each other, visibly tense about something. Kaizen was covered in rat's blood, so it took the players in the group a while to recognize him, so when they finally realized who he was, they scowled.

On the other hand, the samurai was still standing in the same place, looking down. He shook his head, looking resigned to the situation, but made no move to attack, flee, or look back.

Meanwhile, the druid tried his best to get up, using his staff to prop himself up, but the cut of the katana did too much damage. So he gave up and opened his inventory to get a healing item, but he couldn't do anything because Kaizen stepped on his right fist.

"What do you think you're doing?"

The druid looked at Kaizen and his terrifying mask in horror. "Please don't kill me."

"Sorry, but I must follow the rules of the tournament. It's every man for himself here, boy."

Kaizen did not use any skills, but his eyes glowed with a dark and disturbing energy.

"Be very quiet here and don't use an item, so you can watch this fight from the box, and I'll leave you last. What do you think?"

Obviously, the Druid nodded, agreeing to the proposal, too afraid to refuse an offer from Kaizen himself. The Psyker stepped forward and said with a sadistic smile on his lips:

"Let's get this over with. I don't have all day to play with you."

His words, directed at the group of barbarians, ignoring the samurai and what he was doing, infuriated them. And it made him think that everything was finally starting to make sense. In their minds, the possibility arose that the samurai and Kaizen were working together, which was why the samurai answered his question so naturally and why Kaizen ignored him.

With that, the players in the larger group moved forward, jumping up from the second floor.

The first to approach was the blond barbarian, who brandished a large two-handed sword. He let out a war cry and charged forward with full force.

"RAAAAARRRRR!"

Kaizen deftly dodged the first blow and in one swift motion, landed a blow to the barbarian's face, sending him staggering backward. The samurai watched the scene without making a move.

The second player in the larger group, a warrior in heavy armor, lunged at Kaizen with his spear. The Psyker dodged again and lunged with the Næġling Falske, which glowed with a spectral light. It landed a blow on the warrior's leg, making him howl in pain.

Meanwhile, the other barbarian tried to attack the samurai, who finally seemed to be waking up to the battle. He quickly drew his katana and faced the barbarian, even though his legs were still. The two exchanged quick and precise blows, sending sparks flying through the air, but the barbarian was noticeably weaker.

...

Edited by: DrHitsuji

If you want to see original illustrations of Rise Online characters, consider helping me on pa treon: Pa treon.com/NandoFalske

More character images in:

https://discord.gg/bpqq9u4gS8

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