Renegade Dragons

Chapter 5

Chapter Five

Adrenaline coursed through my veins and I felt the excitement pound in my chest. Five more enemies, three more enemies, one more enemy.

With a harsh flick, I let my avatar jump to the right as I shot a perfectly timed combo to the last player. From the corners of my eye, I counted the six defeated players slumped at the bar and knew I was up against the one of the only other females in the tournament.

The idea of her joining the Renegades and spending time with Martin sent a wave of fire through my system. The keys clacked under my fingers as I danced them over the keyboard, sending a string of fast-paced attacks to my opponent. Even through my headset, I heard the girl gasp behind me and I knew I had her on the ropes. Her health was already dwindling down, but I wouldn’t give her the chance to heal. A quick stat check left me confident that I’d be able to throw one last combo of fire at her and with a rapid tap, I shot a ball of flames at the water dragon.

Miss.

Shit. That wasn’t good. With my own mana down to virtually nothing, I ducked behind one of the walls and counted out the three seconds it would take to consume a potion. If she was smart, my opponent would be using the small respite to heal. And she was indeed smart.

As I popped back up and shot a single attack from behind my defences, her health bar flashed back up and it was indeed back to full. Damn, that was a full heal. Now I needed to start from zero again.

A thunder roared through my speakers and I held my breath. The final boss was appearing and I was still engaged in full battle with LastKing. f**k. If I was unlucky, he’d appear on my side and I’d get caught between two fires. If I was lucky, he’d attack her first and take down her health enough for me to finish her or end the boss. Either would secure my victory, but honour wise, I wanted to take both of them down.

Another shriek echoed through my headset and as I turned my avatar around, I faced the ugly face of the final boss. Damn it. So I drew the short straw. Damn, there went my chances. I was stuck and LastKing knew it.

Unless… If I gauged her right, she was a smart player. One that used proper tactics and not just raw power. If I could keep her believing I was stuck between the two of them, she’d get overconfident and go for the easy kill. Me. Which would make her the perfect target for the boss.

Right…

I had five seconds before the boss’ first attack. Even without seeing his label, I knew it was a cave troll. One of the hardest creatures to beat, but luckily weak against fire. But a simple fire rain wouldn’t do, he was far too high levelled for that. Judging from experience, I could take one basic attack and still have some health left. I’d just have to take his first attack, throw a smoke to distract LastKing, slip out of the tight net I was in, push her in the middle, attack her while the boss did, and win the whole tournament. Easy peasy.

The cave troll growled and energetic music blasted through my headset. The adrenaline pumped through my veins as I made the last play of this set. The screen shook as I took the shower of rocks and with ragged breath, I watched my health bar slink down. I needed to get a move on now. If even one of his smaller attacks hit me, I was a goner. But I wasn’t about to wait for that.

The smoke hissed as I cast the barrier in front of me and I quickly danced out of his reach. Now I just needed to approach LastKing and fire—

Hang on… That was what I’d expect her to do, so she was probably waiting for this to happen. If I got in her reach, she’d blast me with her twister and the match would be over.

No, I needed to do something else, something unexpected.

I checked my inventory and instead of running towards my opponent for an anticipated sneak attack, I ran back towards the cave troll. If I judged the distance right, I could run through his legs to the safe spot just a bit behind him. With two seconds to spare after healing, I could actually fire off my own attack before his second blast came in.

The timer ticked infuriatingly slow as I applied the health potion but relief flooded through my system as my red bar sprung back to full. I was back at full mana from before, so I could do one of my favourite power combos. With a rain of fire to keep LastKing at bay, and a targeted rocket straight at the cave troll, I brought my mana bar to two thirds. Another smoke bomb to keep her in the dark and two fire blasts later, I dodged for cover as the cave troll roared a sandstorm around.

That was great, if LastKing came too close, she’d have been hit by this too. And she’d take more damage as I did with her water armour. That would be in my favour.

I held the adrenaline rush back and rapidly clacked the keys for the last combo I had. A string of fire for the cave troll and a blind shot into the mix of smoke and dust. If I judged right, that should be a headshot to my opponent and take her to her last leg.

With ragged breath, I counted down the seconds that it would take the cave troll to recharge and ran through his legs once again. With the last of my mana, I spewed another rain of fire around me and prayed I was close enough to both to hit them with the flames.

CONGRATS.

My screen flashed green and as it counted up the hit points I collected in the quest, I saw both LastKing and the cave troll vanish into glitter in the background. I did kill both.

Yes! I won!

With fire pumping through my veins and the victory coursing through my system, I threw my headset down. I nodded at LastKing in acknowledgement and pushed myself out of my chair. The muscles in my back twinged, but I didn’t care. I f*****g won.

I caught Rachel’s curious look from across the room and I grinned. I gave her a thumbs up and a proud smile danced around her lips. Her unwavering support warmed my heart and gave me the courage for what I was about to do next.

The beaming smiles of Martin, Hector, and another guy caught my attention and I had no doubt they were the three members of Renegade.

Martin looked at me, hope glimmering in his eyes. He really was adorable. And so were his friends.

I flashed them a confident smile as I stopped before them. This was it.

“And?” Hector asked, a cocky glimmer passing over his face.

“I refuse.”