Page 40 of I Ran Away to Evil
Henrietta
The fighting arena was carved into a plateau higher up on the mountain. A system of caves had been cut into the rock that included a resting area, some changing rooms, and a bathroom which I made use of. When I finished, I checked my gear for safety and then strode out onto the plateau.
There were men and women from all three Naga clans present. Some were fighting among themselves, and others holding practice bouts between families. Everyone came to a stop when they saw me.
“Um, hello,” I said, giving a small wave. They all continued to stare at me in silence, so I scratched my head. “I was wondering if anyone wanted to spar?”
Suddenly, I was overwhelmed by very tall, very enthusiastic naga all looming over me. They argued among themselves until a member from each clan was chosen.
“I am Terra, from Lamia,” Terra said. She tapped her fist to her heart in salute.
“I am Collin, from Kidna,” Collin said. He tapped his fist to his heart in salute.
“And I am Shade, from Melusine,” Shade said. She too tapped her fist to her heart.
“Excellent! I am Henrietta,” I returned the greeting then waved toward a practice ring. “Shall we?”
The three shared a look before Terra asked, “Which one of us would you like to fight first, Princess?”
What a silly question, but I kept a straight face.
“I’ll fight all of you, of course.” I unsheathed my blade and checked my character sheet. My [Sword Aura] skill could last two hours before I needed acooldown. “If I fight teams of three or four at a time, then I should get through everyone before dinner.”
I closed my logs and looked up at my opponents. They wore a mix of awe, insult, and stoicism. Terra was the calm one, and immediately entered the ring. She unraveled her long snake body, freeing up her tail and looking ready to whip me. The others followed shortly.
“After what you did to my brother, I hope the three of us can give you a good warm-up,” Terra said.
I cracked my neck and got into a casual fighting stance. “On the count of three?”
I won.
The girl, Shade, from Melusine had been the most challenging. She had a shadow-walker ability that let her teleport through shadows and into my blind spots. Terra fought similarly to Marik, with brute strength and heavy spearmanship. My [Quick Step] perk let me prevent getting blunt force trauma to the face from the butt of a spear, and my [Sword Sense] helped me [Parry] stealth cuts to the gut from Shade. Collin actually held off for most of the fight, and I didn’t realize until later than I cared to admit that he was a sort of buff ranger type.
He could have enhanced his own weapon and attacked, but instead, he was defending from a distance and providing buffs to Terra and Shade. When Ididrealize what was happening, I jumped over the two in the vanguard and landed on Collin with a clean boot dagger.
I loved hidden daggers. No one expected a Heroine of Justice to fight dirty, so they focused mainly on the sword. Also, throwing knives at lesser targets while challenging a dungeon boss made it easier to clear floors faster.
Knives were wonderful.
I tapped Collin’s nose, flat side down, and said, “You’re out.” Then returned to fighting the ladies.
Without their enhanced attributes, Terra and Shade were quick work. Honestly, with at least thirty levels between us,everyonewas quick work. Still, I tried to give every warrior on the plateau a good fifteen-minute bout.
“Phew,” I said after fighting the last challenger. “I actually worked up a sweat!”
My stamina was pretty big, and it refilled very quickly, but working against teams of enemies made for good exercise. Eventually, my [Sword Aura] had run out, but by that point I had been fighting the lowest-level newbie fighters, and I didn’t need anything special to defeat them.
“Thank you again, Henrietta.” Terra came forward and offered me a waterskin. I’d beaten a few heads together before everyone started calling me by my name. I liked being a princess … but I’d grown very fond of my real name. People might as welluseit.
“My pleasure, Terra.” I hesitated only a second before I asked, “How is your brother?”
“Embarrassed.” The naga woman smiled. “But he’ll feel better after he finds out about what happened here.”
We both looked over the exhausted, bruised, and defeated group of naga—all of which were incredibly excited and already practicing ways to improve their fighting based on my recommendations.
“That’s good.” I nodded. “Tell him he shouldn’t interrupt people like that. I almost dropped my gift!”
“Speaking of,” Collin cut in. He and Shade joined them. No one had outright said it, but I assumed they were all pretty high up in their clan’s hierarchy. “Whatwasthat? It was delicious!”
