“So, now that the first round has finished, what do we know about the rest of the participants?”
I look first at Clara. She’s looking back at me with a straight face but with vacant eyes. We all agreed to make a little research about the other teams, but it’s clear she didn’t and is now trying to prevent me from noticing it.
“So you didn’t make any research, huh?”
“N-no! I did it, ok!? It’s just that…”
I’m sorry, Clara, but it’s impossible for you to deceive me like this. I’ve known you for way too long. I’m not going to achieve anything by arguing with her now, so I’m going to skip her.
“...Laura, how about you?”
“Hey, Andreu! I swear I did some research!” Is that so? Why are your eyes swimming like this, then? “I-it’s just that… I got too absorbed in watching the gameplays and I forgot about everything else…!”
“...so, Laura. How about you?”
“Hey! Don’t ignore me…!”
“But you don’t have anything at all, do you?”
“I-i don’t, but…”
“But nothing. We have a short time to prepare for the next match and I don’t want to waste it. Don’t worry, I’m not angry.”
A little bit exasperated, maybe. But not angry. It would be very immature of me to get angry at something I already knew was bound to happen.
“...but…”
I leave my pouting little sister alone and turn to look at Laura. After calling her two times, she already knows what I want.
“I investigated quite a bit the other teams and how they played in this first round, and I must say we got quite lucky with our matchup. The other team was made of good players, but they didn’t work very well together. Their teamwork was lacking. Maybe they were a hastily made team to participate in the tournament… Anyway, I believe we passed this first round because we got lucky. With our lacking preparations and lack of offensive plans, we would have lost against most other teams.”
“I too think we were kind of lucky… In the end, you died and Ricard was forced to defend the core alone. We were very close to a draw… We might even lose the match if I didn’t destroy their core.”
“That’s true.” Adds Ricard.
“I did my job properly, didn’t I, Andreu!?”
“Yeah, you did your job properly by stalling for time. If that dwarf player got to the dungeon core, we wouldn’t be here, talking about the next match.”
“Hehehe…”
It’s true that Clara did a good job. I’ve seen the replay and she managed to stall for time against a group of dwarves that behaved almost like a trained army. By the end of the match, they only managed to reach the entrance to the second area defended by her: the crumbling buildings floating in the void that connected to the dungeon core.
I get goosebumps thinking about having to fight against them instead of the goblin and orc horde that poured through my portal. I’m sure I would have been forced to retreat, like Ricard.
How the heck can you make the AI behave like that!? I’ve tried lots of things and improved their AI as much as I could think of, but the Stitched are still soooooo dumb! In comparison, those dwarves were better than real-world armies! And with magic!
Though I don’t know what’s scarier: the dwarf army, or the monstrous horrors with my little sister dragging enemies into the void. I don’t want to face either.
“Leaving that aside… what do you think about the next match, Laura?”
“I know it was our first match and we still didn’t know how to play, but playing defensively without any plan won’t work anymore. We must either act aggressively but still be able to defend the core, or at least have a counterattack plan.”
She takes a look at everyone present before continuing.
“Just look at the other team’s plans, they were simple, but so much better than ours! They invaded from all three entrances at the same time but also had one portal right next to the dungeon core so they could come back to defend it very easily. If not because you countered completely the enemies coming from your portal, Andreu, and the player didn’t have time to warn his teammates, there was no way for us to win. We got very lucky there!”
“Yes, I agree. We won the match because I could kill one player in the first minute of the match.”
When one player dies during the match, the game forbids him or her from communicating anymore with the rest of the team. This is to prevent abuses from the player’s side, like killing themselves for the purpose of warning the teammates about an enemy going for the core. Or telling someone’s weakness after being killed by them.
And messages using the game’s system aren’t allowed either. So each team must create its own means of communicating… unless it can afford to be unaware of what’s happening.
We had the colored bulbs for this first match, but I’m sure we’ll need something better for future matches.
“Laura, anything else you want to say about the other teams?”
“Not really…” She briefly stops as she strokes her chin. “Well, there are two teams we should be very cautious about.”
“Oho… which ones?”
That’s interesting. Which two teams are good enough to catch Laura’s attention in just the first round?
“The first one is called Dragon Warriors. I don’t know how to explain it, but it’s as if they know everything that’s happening. Their coordination is amazing, they can not only predict what the enemies are doing but also move ahead of them… It’s weird because it’s as if they experienced these kinds of fights a lot of times already. But we’re in the player level 5 tournament, so it shouldn’t be possible… those kinds of players should be playing at higher levels!”
Clara and I look at each other and nod.
“We know about that team… The Dragon Warriors is the team our older sister trained.” I say.
“What do you mean by this? Your sister?”
Asks Laura. Ricard is also sending a curious gaze, so I decide to tell them about the conversation I and Clara had with my older sister the other day; as well as the fact that she’s been in the top 100 players ranking for quite some time already.
“Hmm… if only she could train our team too… Maybe I should ask Andreu to introduce his older sister to me…”
Both Laura and Clara send Ricard murderous gazes. We can hear you, Ricard!
“Um, guys!? I-it was a joke! A joke! As if I wasn’t enough to teach all of you how to improve in this game! Hahaha…! What I mean is that I’m clearly the most experienced one here…”
He tries to make excuses, but he’s instead slowly but steadily digging his own grave. With each sentence, he only manages to make the hole deeper.
Hey, Clara! Don’t point your knife at Ricard! I stop her before we appear in tomorrow’s news. That was dangerous!
“So, Laura. What about the other team?”
I force the conversation to return to the original topic.
“The second one is called Sword&Sorcery. I’m not so sure about them because this was the first match, but they are very coordinated and their plans and countermeasures were amazing this time.”
“Ooh, that one!”
Ricard jumps at the opportunity to explain about them. Literally, at the chance to ‘explain’ something. I’ve been intentionally leaving him for the last one, but he found a chance to wiggle his way into the conversation and is now ready to use his unique innate skill: ‘knowledge drilling’.
“I too watched the video of their match and they looked amazing! It’s funny how they call themselves by their nicknames: Wizardess, Rogue, Barbarian, and Druid. But their teamplay is no joke! They believe in everything the Wizardess says and follow all her plans. It’s almost impossible to beat them as long as she’s alive, but killing her isn’t easy either because the others protect her all the time! And also…”
“Ok, Ricard. Let’s leave it here for now. Before we fight them, and assuming both win every match, we must first face three other teams, the Dragon Warriors included.”
I interrupt him before asking Laura yet again.
“Anything else?”
“I also investigated the team we’re going to face next, but I believe you’ll know more about them than me…”
“I sure do. Though I would prefer to not know anything at all about them…”
*Sigh* I’m getting a headache just thinking about the next matchup. Why did someone like them have to appear in this tournament!?
“...the ‘All Shall Despair’ team.” After saying their name out loud, I can’t hold myself back from adding. “Now that I think about it, even that bunch of weirdos have a better name than we do…”
“Yeah, yeah! Why couldn’t I be the one to decide our name!? ‘League of Evil’ is too lame! I could think of a better name in less than a second! For example… ‘The Cute Nightmares’. Isn’t it like a thousand times better!?”
Clara, please… don’t start with this again. Also, I don’t want to be in a team with the word ‘cute’ in it. Though I honestly can’t say which one is worse.
“Hey! ‘The League of Evil’ is the best name ever! You should thank me for thinking about such a great name instead of complaining about it!”
“Yeah, yeah… Whatever so say, Ricard… And we can’t change the team’s name anymore, so stop fighting over it already!”
I don’t want to argue about this yet another time, so I stop everyone before it’s too late and it escalates out of control.
“Let’s move to the next one!”
“I…”
“Ok, then I’ll go next as we’re already talking about the ‘All Shall Despair’ team.”
Yes, I can see and hear you, Ricard... but I interrupt him before he can start talking. He’s looking at me with those dangerously shining eyes, and almost jumping around in excitement.
I’m sure once he starts talking about his ‘investigations’ he’s going to keep talking for a while. A veeeery long ‘while’. That’s why he’ll be the last one to talk.
“They are… a bunch of crazy people… maniacs, lunatics! Believers in something that doesn’t exist! Fanatics, you could say. And it’s kind of my fault that they’re here. Don’t misunderstand, I’m not the one who created the group and I don’t have anything to do with them at all! It’s just, that… you know… they are kind of my followers...”
“Your followers…?”
Clara makes a weird face at my words. Please, don’t tell me you want to join them! If you do, your brother will hang himself out of shame!
Both Ricard and Laura already know a little about what I mean, it’s only Clara who doesn’t understand what I mean because she isn’t interested in other people. Other people that isn’t me, I mean.
“I’m sure you all know about the rising popularity of ‘The Mad Rat’s Lab’.”
The three nod at my words.
“I usually don’t look at the forums too much, but sometimes I like to see what the players who enter my dungeon say. In the beginning, it was mostly players complaining about how difficult it was, or showing off to the other players how they beat it…”
I make a short pause. I really hate to remember what comes next. But I must continue! I need to make sure they don’t suspect me from having anything to do with them at all!
“...but then, some… let’s call them fanatics for now. Some fanatics appeared and started to preach about something along the lines of ‘equal despair for everyone’ and similar stuff. I don’t know if they were already crazy or if they turned crazy because of dying repeatedly in my dungeon, but that’s what happened. You can’t imagine the headaches they’re giving me with all their bullshit…”
“Pffft! Hehehe! Andreu, your face’s so funny right now! You have to look in the mirror!”
This isn’t funny, Clara! What if the people think I’m their leader!? Imagine being ridiculed because of being the leader of a bunch of lunatics! I don’t want to have anything to do with them at all!
“Puhahaha! But don’t worry, Andreu. I’ll be there to help you with anything you need! It isn’t your fault, and I’ll make sure nobody thinks you’re related to them!”
My mood slightly improves at Clara’s words. Sometimes I think I don’t deserve all her attention, but at the same time, I also feel proud about it. Your brother loves you too, Clara.
“Thank you, Clara… *Sigh* Returning to the topic… this team, called ‘All Shall Despair’ comes from some of those fanatics. I think they call themselves Mad Cultists, and the group is called Mad Rat’s Cult. Why did they have to put my champion’s name everywhere!?” I shout in exasperation.
Nobody talks for a while. Ricard is looking at me with a smirk on his face, and Laura is sending me a worried look.
“So you’re their leader after all, Andreu…”
“No I’m not! I already told you I have nothing to do with them, Clara!”
“Pfft… Hehehe…!”
She continues to laugh at my exasperation. Luckily, Ricard and Laura aren’t so childish and ask me to proceed with the explanations.
“So… what else can you tell us about the team they built?”
“About their team? Not much. They were wearing hoods and cloaks that hid all their features in the previous match, so I’m not sure which factions they’re from. Except for the leader, who I’m almost sure is from the Flesh Monstrosities too. As for the reason they wear hoods, I’m sure it’s for some stupid reason we can’t even imagine. I mean, they are crazy!”
“...ok. Is that all?”
“No, there’s something else you must know. Because they’re so obsessed with my dungeon, I’m sure they know everything that I have, maybe even better than I do. And with this I mean traps, monsters, skills, tactics… the only thing they shouldn’t know about is our trump card, the Grand Finale skill.”
“Hehehe, you’re useless for the next fight. Poor brother… destroyed by your own followers…!”
“I told you I don’t have anything to do with them!” I shout. But then, I stroke my chin and add. “...though I must say they did help me develop my dungeon. I mean, they are fanatics that only come inside and test all kinds of things, most of the time dying… they are a good source of cp and xp. Fufufu!”
“What do we do now? Doesn’t this mean we can’t use any of your units? We’re lucky we can use units from the four of us, but still… limiting ourselves like this, even if it’s only for a single fight, can be detrimental.”
“I would suggest…”
As usual, Laura is the one thinking about the tactics we’re going to use. Ricard takes this chance to try to say something, but I interrupt him yet again before he can start with his ramblings.
“Well… they know everything about my dungeon and my monsters. And they’re incredibly used to traps and dangerous and unexpected stuff because they spend lots of time inside my dungeon. I’m sure they’re going to use those tactics against us in the next match.”
I look at the rest one by one. Ricard is starting to get desperate to talk. Like a bomb about to explode. Laura has her eyebrows furrowed. I’m sure she’s planning our next match with what I’m explaining. And Clara… she has finally stopped laughing at me and is listening properly.
“I only see two options left. We either forget completely about deception and surprises and look for a straight fight, or we double on the craziness and give them a taste of their own medicine. But the latter will be difficult.”
I suspire one last time before allowing Ricard to talk.
“That’s it for me. Now, Ricard… It’s time for you to explain your investigations.”
Omg, I’m so going to regret this. I got a headache when talking about the next opponents… Usually, it should go away shortly after forgetting about the stuff about the Mad Rat’s Cult, but It’s only going to get worse now.
But we’re here to talk about the other teams after all, so there’s no way around it.
“Nice!”
I swear I saw him jumping excitedly, but it was so fast my eye couldn’t catch his movement properly.
“I’m going to start with the ‘All Shall Despair’ team and then move on to the other teams we might face so we’re prepared for anything, ok? I’ve watched their replay and looked for some more info and…”
Yep, I’m already regretting it. Laura’s bored face and Clara’s almost closed eyes, ready for a sleeping session, tell me I’m not the only one in this situation.
In what looks like a dark cathedral, with no light at all coming from the large windows, several hooded figures sit at a long table. The shape and size of every figure are different, but they all have one thing in common: from inside the hood, a pair of dangerously glowing eyes can be seen.
Those aren’t the eyes of normal people.
The one sitting at the table’s end, the most important position, stands up and slowly sweeps its eyes through the rest of the figures.
“Brothers, we’re here today because our time has finally come!”
His voice travels through the whole room. His conviction and feelings so strong that any normal person would have goosebumps just listening to him.
“Our time has come!”
The other figures, still seated, repeat the first’s words at the same time.
“I know you’re as excited as I am! Because the time to show our beliefs to the world is near! We must not fail! The time to show the world what true despair is here!”
“Show the world true despair!” Echo the other figures.
“In our next match, we’re going to finally reveal ourselves! We’ll leave the hoods behind and reveal our faces to His great persona. We’ll get acknowledged for our devotion! We’ll get His blessing! And then, we’ll show Him the greatest despair!”
The hooded figure makes a short pause before continuing.
“Because even He must be allowed to feel despair! He’s the one who has shown us the greatest truth, and as His most devoted followers, we must help Him to feel despair too!”
He jumps on top of the table before spreading his arms wide and continuing.
“Fuhahaha! We’ll be the ones to bring Him absolute glory and despair! And show the world His greatest teachings! Get ready, everyone! The moment of truth has come! Everyone’s equal in front of true despair! All shall despair! Fuhahaha!”
“All shall despair! All shall despair! All shall despair!”
A chorus of several voices repeats the Leader’s words as he keeps laughing. One time, two times… it doesn’t look like they’ll stop any time soon.
Soon, one of the most famous matches in DMA’s history would happen. The sheer craziness contained in it made most players look in awe at the Flesh Monstrosities faction, as well as the two players behind everything that occurred in that match.
Radosh
The time has come! I'm sure some of you were waiting for this since long ago, maybe since before they were introduced.
“So, now that the first round has finished, what do we know about the rest of the participants?”
I look first at Clara. She’s looking back at me with a straight face but with vacant eyes. We all agreed to make a little research about the other teams, but it’s clear she didn’t and is now trying to prevent me from noticing it.
“So you didn’t make any research, huh?”
“N-no! I did it, ok!? It’s just that…”
I’m sorry, Clara, but it’s impossible for you to deceive me like this. I’ve known you for way too long. I’m not going to achieve anything by arguing with her now, so I’m going to skip her.
“...Laura, how about you?”
“Hey, Andreu! I swear I did some research!” Is that so? Why are your eyes swimming like this, then? “I-it’s just that… I got too absorbed in watching the gameplays and I forgot about everything else…!”
“...so, Laura. How about you?”
“Hey! Don’t ignore me…!”
“But you don’t have anything at all, do you?”
“I-i don’t, but…”
“But nothing. We have a short time to prepare for the next match and I don’t want to waste it. Don’t worry, I’m not angry.”
A little bit exasperated, maybe. But not angry. It would be very immature of me to get angry at something I already knew was bound to happen.
“...but…”
I leave my pouting little sister alone and turn to look at Laura. After calling her two times, she already knows what I want.
“I investigated quite a bit the other teams and how they played in this first round, and I must say we got quite lucky with our matchup. The other team was made of good players, but they didn’t work very well together. Their teamwork was lacking. Maybe they were a hastily made team to participate in the tournament… Anyway, I believe we passed this first round because we got lucky. With our lacking preparations and lack of offensive plans, we would have lost against most other teams.”
“I too think we were kind of lucky… In the end, you died and Ricard was forced to defend the core alone. We were very close to a draw… We might even lose the match if I didn’t destroy their core.”
“That’s true.” Adds Ricard.
“I did my job properly, didn’t I, Andreu!?”
“Yeah, you did your job properly by stalling for time. If that dwarf player got to the dungeon core, we wouldn’t be here, talking about the next match.”
“Hehehe…”
It’s true that Clara did a good job. I’ve seen the replay and she managed to stall for time against a group of dwarves that behaved almost like a trained army. By the end of the match, they only managed to reach the entrance to the second area defended by her: the crumbling buildings floating in the void that connected to the dungeon core.
I get goosebumps thinking about having to fight against them instead of the goblin and orc horde that poured through my portal. I’m sure I would have been forced to retreat, like Ricard.
How the heck can you make the AI behave like that!? I’ve tried lots of things and improved their AI as much as I could think of, but the Stitched are still soooooo dumb! In comparison, those dwarves were better than real-world armies! And with magic!
Though I don’t know what’s scarier: the dwarf army, or the monstrous horrors with my little sister dragging enemies into the void. I don’t want to face either.
“Leaving that aside… what do you think about the next match, Laura?”
“I know it was our first match and we still didn’t know how to play, but playing defensively without any plan won’t work anymore. We must either act aggressively but still be able to defend the core, or at least have a counterattack plan.”
She takes a look at everyone present before continuing.
“Just look at the other team’s plans, they were simple, but so much better than ours! They invaded from all three entrances at the same time but also had one portal right next to the dungeon core so they could come back to defend it very easily. If not because you countered completely the enemies coming from your portal, Andreu, and the player didn’t have time to warn his teammates, there was no way for us to win. We got very lucky there!”
“Yes, I agree. We won the match because I could kill one player in the first minute of the match.”
When one player dies during the match, the game forbids him or her from communicating anymore with the rest of the team. This is to prevent abuses from the player’s side, like killing themselves for the purpose of warning the teammates about an enemy going for the core. Or telling someone’s weakness after being killed by them.
And messages using the game’s system aren’t allowed either. So each team must create its own means of communicating… unless it can afford to be unaware of what’s happening.
We had the colored bulbs for this first match, but I’m sure we’ll need something better for future matches.
“Laura, anything else you want to say about the other teams?”
“Not really…” She briefly stops as she strokes her chin. “Well, there are two teams we should be very cautious about.”
“Oho… which ones?”
That’s interesting. Which two teams are good enough to catch Laura’s attention in just the first round?
“The first one is called Dragon Warriors. I don’t know how to explain it, but it’s as if they know everything that’s happening. Their coordination is amazing, they can not only predict what the enemies are doing but also move ahead of them… It’s weird because it’s as if they experienced these kinds of fights a lot of times already. But we’re in the player level 5 tournament, so it shouldn’t be possible… those kinds of players should be playing at higher levels!”
Clara and I look at each other and nod.
“We know about that team… The Dragon Warriors is the team our older sister trained.” I say.
“What do you mean by this? Your sister?”
Asks Laura. Ricard is also sending a curious gaze, so I decide to tell them about the conversation I and Clara had with my older sister the other day; as well as the fact that she’s been in the top 100 players ranking for quite some time already.
“Hmm… if only she could train our team too… Maybe I should ask Andreu to introduce his older sister to me…”
Both Laura and Clara send Ricard murderous gazes. We can hear you, Ricard!
“Um, guys!? I-it was a joke! A joke! As if I wasn’t enough to teach all of you how to improve in this game! Hahaha…! What I mean is that I’m clearly the most experienced one here…”
He tries to make excuses, but he’s instead slowly but steadily digging his own grave. With each sentence, he only manages to make the hole deeper.
Hey, Clara! Don’t point your knife at Ricard! I stop her before we appear in tomorrow’s news. That was dangerous!
“So, Laura. What about the other team?”
I force the conversation to return to the original topic.
“The second one is called Sword&Sorcery. I’m not so sure about them because this was the first match, but they are very coordinated and their plans and countermeasures were amazing this time.”
“Ooh, that one!”
Ricard jumps at the opportunity to explain about them. Literally, at the chance to ‘explain’ something. I’ve been intentionally leaving him for the last one, but he found a chance to wiggle his way into the conversation and is now ready to use his unique innate skill: ‘knowledge drilling’.
“I too watched the video of their match and they looked amazing! It’s funny how they call themselves by their nicknames: Wizardess, Rogue, Barbarian, and Druid. But their teamplay is no joke! They believe in everything the Wizardess says and follow all her plans. It’s almost impossible to beat them as long as she’s alive, but killing her isn’t easy either because the others protect her all the time! And also…”
“Ok, Ricard. Let’s leave it here for now. Before we fight them, and assuming both win every match, we must first face three other teams, the Dragon Warriors included.”
I interrupt him before asking Laura yet again.
“Anything else?”
“I also investigated the team we’re going to face next, but I believe you’ll know more about them than me…”
“I sure do. Though I would prefer to not know anything at all about them…”
*Sigh* I’m getting a headache just thinking about the next matchup. Why did someone like them have to appear in this tournament!?
“...the ‘All Shall Despair’ team.” After saying their name out loud, I can’t hold myself back from adding. “Now that I think about it, even that bunch of weirdos have a better name than we do…”
“Yeah, yeah! Why couldn’t I be the one to decide our name!? ‘League of Evil’ is too lame! I could think of a better name in less than a second! For example… ‘The Cute Nightmares’. Isn’t it like a thousand times better!?”
Clara, please… don’t start with this again. Also, I don’t want to be in a team with the word ‘cute’ in it. Though I honestly can’t say which one is worse.
“Hey! ‘The League of Evil’ is the best name ever! You should thank me for thinking about such a great name instead of complaining about it!”
“Yeah, yeah… Whatever so say, Ricard… And we can’t change the team’s name anymore, so stop fighting over it already!”
I don’t want to argue about this yet another time, so I stop everyone before it’s too late and it escalates out of control.
“Let’s move to the next one!”
“I…”
“Ok, then I’ll go next as we’re already talking about the ‘All Shall Despair’ team.”
Yes, I can see and hear you, Ricard... but I interrupt him before he can start talking. He’s looking at me with those dangerously shining eyes, and almost jumping around in excitement.
I’m sure once he starts talking about his ‘investigations’ he’s going to keep talking for a while. A veeeery long ‘while’. That’s why he’ll be the last one to talk.
“They are… a bunch of crazy people… maniacs, lunatics! Believers in something that doesn’t exist! Fanatics, you could say. And it’s kind of my fault that they’re here. Don’t misunderstand, I’m not the one who created the group and I don’t have anything to do with them at all! It’s just, that… you know… they are kind of my followers...”
“Your followers…?”
Clara makes a weird face at my words. Please, don’t tell me you want to join them! If you do, your brother will hang himself out of shame!
Both Ricard and Laura already know a little about what I mean, it’s only Clara who doesn’t understand what I mean because she isn’t interested in other people. Other people that isn’t me, I mean.
“I’m sure you all know about the rising popularity of ‘The Mad Rat’s Lab’.”
The three nod at my words.
“I usually don’t look at the forums too much, but sometimes I like to see what the players who enter my dungeon say. In the beginning, it was mostly players complaining about how difficult it was, or showing off to the other players how they beat it…”
I make a short pause. I really hate to remember what comes next. But I must continue! I need to make sure they don’t suspect me from having anything to do with them at all!
“...but then, some… let’s call them fanatics for now. Some fanatics appeared and started to preach about something along the lines of ‘equal despair for everyone’ and similar stuff. I don’t know if they were already crazy or if they turned crazy because of dying repeatedly in my dungeon, but that’s what happened. You can’t imagine the headaches they’re giving me with all their bullshit…”
“Pffft! Hehehe! Andreu, your face’s so funny right now! You have to look in the mirror!”
This isn’t funny, Clara! What if the people think I’m their leader!? Imagine being ridiculed because of being the leader of a bunch of lunatics! I don’t want to have anything to do with them at all!
“Puhahaha! But don’t worry, Andreu. I’ll be there to help you with anything you need! It isn’t your fault, and I’ll make sure nobody thinks you’re related to them!”
My mood slightly improves at Clara’s words. Sometimes I think I don’t deserve all her attention, but at the same time, I also feel proud about it. Your brother loves you too, Clara.
“Thank you, Clara… *Sigh* Returning to the topic… this team, called ‘All Shall Despair’ comes from some of those fanatics. I think they call themselves Mad Cultists, and the group is called Mad Rat’s Cult. Why did they have to put my champion’s name everywhere!?” I shout in exasperation.
Nobody talks for a while. Ricard is looking at me with a smirk on his face, and Laura is sending me a worried look.
“So you’re their leader after all, Andreu…”
“No I’m not! I already told you I have nothing to do with them, Clara!”
“Pfft… Hehehe…!”
She continues to laugh at my exasperation. Luckily, Ricard and Laura aren’t so childish and ask me to proceed with the explanations.
“So… what else can you tell us about the team they built?”
“About their team? Not much. They were wearing hoods and cloaks that hid all their features in the previous match, so I’m not sure which factions they’re from. Except for the leader, who I’m almost sure is from the Flesh Monstrosities too. As for the reason they wear hoods, I’m sure it’s for some stupid reason we can’t even imagine. I mean, they are crazy!”
“...ok. Is that all?”
“No, there’s something else you must know. Because they’re so obsessed with my dungeon, I’m sure they know everything that I have, maybe even better than I do. And with this I mean traps, monsters, skills, tactics… the only thing they shouldn’t know about is our trump card, the Grand Finale skill.”
“Hehehe, you’re useless for the next fight. Poor brother… destroyed by your own followers…!”
“I told you I don’t have anything to do with them!” I shout. But then, I stroke my chin and add. “...though I must say they did help me develop my dungeon. I mean, they are fanatics that only come inside and test all kinds of things, most of the time dying… they are a good source of cp and xp. Fufufu!”
“What do we do now? Doesn’t this mean we can’t use any of your units? We’re lucky we can use units from the four of us, but still… limiting ourselves like this, even if it’s only for a single fight, can be detrimental.”
“I would suggest…”
As usual, Laura is the one thinking about the tactics we’re going to use. Ricard takes this chance to try to say something, but I interrupt him yet again before he can start with his ramblings.
“Well… they know everything about my dungeon and my monsters. And they’re incredibly used to traps and dangerous and unexpected stuff because they spend lots of time inside my dungeon. I’m sure they’re going to use those tactics against us in the next match.”
I look at the rest one by one. Ricard is starting to get desperate to talk. Like a bomb about to explode. Laura has her eyebrows furrowed. I’m sure she’s planning our next match with what I’m explaining. And Clara… she has finally stopped laughing at me and is listening properly.
“I only see two options left. We either forget completely about deception and surprises and look for a straight fight, or we double on the craziness and give them a taste of their own medicine. But the latter will be difficult.”
I suspire one last time before allowing Ricard to talk.
“That’s it for me. Now, Ricard… It’s time for you to explain your investigations.”
Omg, I’m so going to regret this. I got a headache when talking about the next opponents… Usually, it should go away shortly after forgetting about the stuff about the Mad Rat’s Cult, but It’s only going to get worse now.
But we’re here to talk about the other teams after all, so there’s no way around it.
“Nice!”
I swear I saw him jumping excitedly, but it was so fast my eye couldn’t catch his movement properly.
“I’m going to start with the ‘All Shall Despair’ team and then move on to the other teams we might face so we’re prepared for anything, ok? I’ve watched their replay and looked for some more info and…”
Yep, I’m already regretting it. Laura’s bored face and Clara’s almost closed eyes, ready for a sleeping session, tell me I’m not the only one in this situation.
In what looks like a dark cathedral, with no light at all coming from the large windows, several hooded figures sit at a long table. The shape and size of every figure are different, but they all have one thing in common: from inside the hood, a pair of dangerously glowing eyes can be seen.
Those aren’t the eyes of normal people.
The one sitting at the table’s end, the most important position, stands up and slowly sweeps its eyes through the rest of the figures.
“Brothers, we’re here today because our time has finally come!”
His voice travels through the whole room. His conviction and feelings so strong that any normal person would have goosebumps just listening to him.
“Our time has come!”
The other figures, still seated, repeat the first’s words at the same time.
“I know you’re as excited as I am! Because the time to show our beliefs to the world is near! We must not fail! The time to show the world what true despair is here!”
“Show the world true despair!” Echo the other figures.
“In our next match, we’re going to finally reveal ourselves! We’ll leave the hoods behind and reveal our faces to His great persona. We’ll get acknowledged for our devotion! We’ll get His blessing! And then, we’ll show Him the greatest despair!”
The hooded figure makes a short pause before continuing.
“Because even He must be allowed to feel despair! He’s the one who has shown us the greatest truth, and as His most devoted followers, we must help Him to feel despair too!”
He jumps on top of the table before spreading his arms wide and continuing.
“Fuhahaha! We’ll be the ones to bring Him absolute glory and despair! And show the world His greatest teachings! Get ready, everyone! The moment of truth has come! Everyone’s equal in front of true despair! All shall despair! Fuhahaha!”
“All shall despair! All shall despair! All shall despair!”
A chorus of several voices repeats the Leader’s words as he keeps laughing. One time, two times… it doesn’t look like they’ll stop any time soon.
Soon, one of the most famous matches in DMA’s history would happen. The sheer craziness contained in it made most players look in awe at the Flesh Monstrosities faction, as well as the two players behind everything that occurred in that match.
Radosh
The time has come! I'm sure some of you were waiting for this since long ago, maybe since before they were introduced.
