7 Chapter 7: Tournament Time

Summer turned to winter as the months passed and Hanzo was currently solo farming once again.

Despite solo farming, Hanzo had no issues operating alone in the deeper areas now.

This was due to an ability of his called 'Oppressive Dominance' from the 'Dragon Imperator'. Once every 72 hours, Hanzo can summon a Dragon ally up to the 7th Tier. As a result, it made it easy for him to farm alone as he had a dependable tank on his side.

"That's a good warm up"

Hanzo had come to the farming area today in order to warm himself up for what was taking place within an hour.

The World Tournament.

He had spent the past week gathering information after signing up for the Helheim roster. Luckily, he managed to secure a spot in Helheim and was not transferred.

Today was the day of the tournament, and he was waiting for the forced teleport that will signal the start of the event.

Currently, he had no idea who his opponents were, except for the foolish few who had flaunted about it on the forums.

As he had spent the majority of his time grinding, Hanzo had managed to bring himself up to level 92. He had purposefully left some space open to ensure that he could get the World Champion Class without having to remove anything. This was considered fairly high as there were still very few Level 100s in the game since most had started to focus on gathering equipment.

According to the rules, they would be given 5 minutes between matches to set up their equipment, but they cannot leave the World Tournament area. It is an isolated space than can only be left by forfeiting, losing or disconnecting from the game.

Checking over his equipment and inventory, he went over the rules in his mind and made sure they abide by them.

Rules:

-Only two health Potions per match

-No Cheating or Exploitation of combat glitches

-No World Items

There were a few other technical rules however, they were not very important as it was mainly common sense.

As Hanzo finished his checks, he heard the sound of a bell tower. Being in the middle of a bog, Hanzo knew this was not an environmental event. Confusion set upon him as he looked around for an elusive bell.

Answering his confusion, his vision started to fade into darkness as a message popped up.

"Joining World Tournament, would you like to continue?"

A confident smile sat upon his lips as he chose the 'Yes' option without delay.

Immediately after accepting, his vision was restored as he found himself in a small confined room, two monitors were the wall in front of him. One displaying the matchups whilst the other seemed to be used for watching the matches of other players live.

As he took in the sights, the monitor showing the matchups flashed, and a completed roster was shown.

Overall, it seemed there were 200 players in the Helheim tournament alone. A look of shock briefly flashed past his face as he saw the low number of participants. Considering how large the event was, as well as the direct reward from a developer, he assumed the numbers would be much higher.

"It seems we're going straight in"

Hanzo murmured as he looked at the top left of the roster. It was a small clock that had started to count down from ten.

He closed his eyes and didn't bother to look at the name of his opponent.

As the seconds passed, a mechanical voice sounded out.

"3"

"2"

"1"

"Let the battles begin!"

Hanzo felt the same weightlessness as he did whenever he was transferred. Snapping his eyes open, he observed the arena in front of him. It was a typical gladiatorial fighting arena with his opponent on the opposite end to him.

A man clad in bright white armour and a golden spear stood opposing Hanzo. Judging by his body shape, he predicted the man to be a human or at least a of the Human Racial Class group. His equipment seemed to be the High Tier Class with a couple of legacy class accessories.

Hanzo smiled at this opponent. It was a good warm-up that wouldn't force him to reveal too many of his secrets right at the start.

The boxes containing the two slowly started to fade from existence as the sound of a gong reverberated throughout the arena.

"Looks like these are going to be quick fire matches"

Hanzo gripped his sword and charged forward towards the armoured human. His aim this round was to only use his Knight abilities and Racial abilities.

Activating his skill, Style Change, Hanzo was able to set his abilities to purely physical, thus if he tried to use magic, it would be akin to a paper cut however his physical abilities drastically increased. This was an ability gain with the Magic Knight job class.

Darting towards his opponent, Hanzos speed shocked his foe as they hurried to get into a defensive position. His sword started to glow crimson as Hanzo triggered the ability 'Serpent Slice'

His sword struck his foe at the waist knocking the enemy player to the side of the arena.

Not giving him enough time to recover, Hanzo lunged toward the enemy and activated another skill. This time, the sword didn't glow however an invisible force seemed to be pushing the sword forward.

"Piercing Strike"

Hanzo sword struck the foe in the knock, seizing the opponents movement completely.

Looking down at the enemies corpse as it turned into golden particles, Hanzo felt a sense of disappointment.

"Two strikes... I mean i will take the easy win, but come on. Its hard to keep myself in serious mode when I am overwhelming opponents."

Hanzos complaints fell on deaf ears as he was transferred back to his waiting space. It may sound like pointless and perhaps stupid complaints, however for Hanzo, he wanted to maintain his serious attitude but it was increasingly harder to do when he could settle battles in 2 strikes.

He wasn't waiting long as the next round countdown started after the last match of the round finished.

Easily winning his way through the tournament, Hanzo found himself in the top 4 of the Helheim tournament. Currently, he had just finished his battle and was waiting for the next round to start.

So far, he had not had to use anything other than his physical abilities, although he had to use some of his Racial Class abilities to get through. This was due to the large amount of data crystals Hanzo had put into his items and the diversity of the items he brought. Confidence oozed from his avatar as he sat crossed legged on the floor of his room.

Suddenly, he once again heard the mechanical voice declaring the countdown.

"3"

"2"

"1"

"Survive!"

Hanzo chuckled at the simplistic instructions. It felt more like the start of a Survival Mode than a PVP battle.

As his vision cleared up, he looked at his opponent. Immediately, a frown formed upon his face.

The foe was an Elf with light armour and what seemed to be duel-wielding daggers. Despite this, Hanzo would not have felt so threatened by this, after all he was confident he could win. What did make him anxious however, was the daggers glow.

Hanzos eyes glared at the weapon of his opponent, these were Dragon Slaying Daggers.

Although that was not their true name, they had been given an enchantment known as 'Dragons Bane'. This was shown by the dark green glow of the weapon.

Subsequently, Hanzo had to be wary as a Dragonoid. His skills are limited with this weapon on the field since he cannot activate his 'Draconic Form' unless he wants his stats halved after being hit. Additionally, he has a natural weakness to 'Dragon slaying' weapons, meaning his defense is essentially halved at the base level the moment he engages in combat with his opponent.

"I should have kept my loud mouth shut..."

Hanzo berated himself internally. Unfortunately, he wasn't able to regret for long as the box surrounding him faded.

His opponent smirked as he saw the scales upon Hanzos neck.

"Nice, an easy fight this late in the game? I am pretty sure the developers want me to win"

The Elf gloated as he drew his daggers.

On the contrary, Hanzo took a few deep breaths before activating his 'Style Change'.

Originally, he intended to use his Magic to combat the blade dancing elf, nevertheless against an opponent that is fatal when up close, it is best for Hanzo to prioritise Physical Defense and Physical attack.

Seeing this, the elf dived towards Hanzo, his blades slicing through the air reaching towards Hanzo.

Trusting his reactions, Hanzo dived to the left and activated his 'Scale Mail' skill. His defense rose as his body tightened slightly, alas immediately after Hanzo felt an impact on his shoulder followed by a huge chunk of his health being lost.

Sensing the danger of the situation, Hanzo propped himself up and swung at the elf as he tried to backstep. The blade cut into the arm of the elf sending him tumbling backwards.

"Shit! They hurt! I knew my build was weak to those, but that is ridiculous."

His health was slowly regenerating, however the chunk that was taken indicated how fast the fight would be if Hanzo didn't find a way around those daggers.

Testing the waters, Hanzo lunged towards the elf and raised his sword up high, his sword sparkled slightly as he activated one of his skills.

"Comet Crash"

Hanzos sword plummeted down to the ground like a comet, directly onto the back of the dodging Elf. The elf grunted as he was sent flying further back, his body hitting the ground like a bouncy ball.

Successfully hitting, Hanzo jumped back and made some distance. He was wary of the blade dancers skills, after all, he had so far not seen any besides the first charge.

The elf stood up with a look of pure rage. The usual handsome Elven face was distorted in a bestial wrath that seemed to want Hanzo dead.

The elf gripped his daggers and sprinted once again, however this time his footwork seemed different. The Elf's feet weaved along the ground much like a snake in the grass, as he got closer, the Elf dodged left causing Hanzos defensive sword swing to miss.

Seeing his opportunity, the blade dancer pierced his daggers in between Hanzos armour causing critical damage against him.

Recoiling at the damage and impact, Hanzo spun his sword around in what appeared to be a whirlwind causing the blade dancer to back off.

He had not used a skill, but in fact as scare tactic to get the Elf to back off, so he could recover.

"Shit. I'm below 50% already?"

The critical hits had done major damage on him.

"I need to end it now, there no way I can hold out and win a battle of attrition"

Meanwhile, Hanzos opponent was not faring any better.

"He should be dead! I got two crits on that fucking lizard!"

The Elf glared at Hanzo, his blood boiling as he realised he had fallen for the bait and retreated.

"The next strike, I am going to end him. He's actual garbage, sat there using a Heteromorphic Class just for the stat boost"

Thus, the Elf decided he would end everything with his next hit.

Surprisingly, Hanzo made the first move. He placed his sword into his hilt and quickly used 'Style Change' causing his build to become that of a magic caster.

The Elf jeered at him as he did, instead of rushing to end it, the Elf slowly strolled up to Hanzo with his daggers twirling around his hands.

Hanzo silently looked at the ground around the elf and silently thought of his spell.

'Boost Extend Magic: Fire Cell'

Suddenly, a magic formation formed in Hanzos hand and below the Elf. Without delay, Thick torrents of flames shot high into the sky before joining together at the top like a bird cage.

The elf was startled by the sudden display of High Tier magic display, nevertheless Hanzo did not plan to humour his foe.

He pointed his hand out once more and yelled.

"Twin Maximize Magic: Vermilion Nova!"

Once again a magic formation formed beneath the Elf, but immediately was replaced by a high density torrent of fire that directly struck the Elf.

His enemy screamed in panic as he saw his Health drop rapidly by the second, the Elf frantically tried to break free of the cage, alas it did not help. The flames were strengthened by an accessory Hanzo had equipped when he put away his sword, as well as the spells tier being boosted by the Maximize Magic.

A satisfied smile sat upon his lips as he watched the Blade Dancer fall over, his body then turning into particles.

"I guess it's the final now..."