Artificial Fantasy

Chapter 71: Duel

As I am enveloped by the light after the announcement, I feel a mix of nauseous and drowsiness as I find myself in some sort of a strange white place. But once it starts to dissolve, I notice that I'm not in the central district of <Initio> anymore. Rather, it's a flat rocky field with no signs of greenery and building around us with a barrier surrounding us and a crowd of players gathered outside it. As I look up, the sky is a strange mix of purple, red, and cyan with magenta clouds above me, and right in front of me is the player that I'm facing up against.

[Welcome to the [Duel Plane], participants. This is where you conduct several [Duels] and official PVP battles created by the admin.]

[Duel Plane], huh? I guess this is the developer's answer to avoid senseless violence in towns and cities in this game. Although, Kazu is so much of a stickler for worldbuilding, so I wonder how this strange space fits into the game's lore.

[You have 1 minute to prepare and double-check your skills for battle and 20 seconds to assume your positions. The first one to defeat their opponent or the highest [HP] after timeout wins. This [Duel] will use the [No-Potion] rule and the timer of 3 minutes. Also, experience gain to all [Masteries] will be disabled for this feature.]

I see. In other words, we have to fight without relying on potions to fight or increase our stats. The rules are okay, but I doubt that jerk will battle fair. In any case, I'm okay with my current equipment for now and as I check through my skill and [Mastery] menu, I'm hoping that my skillset should be enough to help me gain an advantage for this [Duel].

But as I focus on my [Mastery] and skill menu, I hear my opponent snickering behind his menu windows.

"Don't act like you have some powerful skills with you. I bet I will dodge every arrow you throw at me. Even if you hit me with them, you can't penetrate my powerful armor made from the toughest materials from the new dungeons nearby."

Yeah, yeah. I get it, show-off. It's not like I can use my bow and arrows for this fight too much. But he's right. If I want to survive this bout, I need a plan to penetrate that armor. I know everyone has a weakness and that includes his so-called powerful armor.

[30 seconds left.]

As I turn off my menu after deciding on my skillset, I notice in the crowd outside the battlefield that Kazu is there, leaning against the invisible wall with Star and Annie by his side. Of course, my brother's very concerned about me for making such a reckless challenge against that rude party leader. Still, there's no turning back now. All I can do is to flash a grin to him and give him a thumbs-up as a sign that I got this. I'm his older brother and I'm going to teach this jerk not to mess with Kazu while I'm around.

[Preparation phase has passed. Assume your positions, participants.]

Upon hearing that announcement, I slowly bend my left knee and kneel as I reach the hilt of my sword. If I want to get an advantage, I need to get a headstart. Besides, I see that my opponent pulls out a large sword from his back (which how in the world can he do that in here?!). Knowing how he acted towards me and Kazu earlier, I can guess his fighting style just by his equipment. But there's no time to analyze him. It's almost time.

[5... 4... 3... 2... 1...]

Once it reaches 1, I took a deep breath...

[Begin!]

With that declaration, the rude player slowly charges towards me and raises his sword above him. Then as he swings it downward, I grab my sword and use its blade to block it. While it's a smart move for me to use a defensive move for my first action of this [Duel], I began to notice a flaw in this as I feel the weight of the sword is starting to push me down.