Rise Online: Return of the Legendary Player

When Kaizen finally defeated the samurai, he took the opportunity to finish off the druid without remorse before looting the flaming orbs of all the dead players in this large room.

Kaizen ended up finding some interesting and not-so-interesting items, which he simply dropped on the floor to avoid having a random inventory. He also picked up some gold coins, a machete with a sharp blade, and the samurai mask, which was a collector's item that could be sold for a good price.

While examining the items, Kaizen noticed a message from the game informing him of the updated overall standings of the three groups after one hour of competition. He quickly checked and saw that he was in fourteenth place, much lower than he had expected, with a total of eleven players down.

"That's a little disappointing, but there's still time to move up the ladder."

That's what Kaizen told himself, but when he looked at the people at the top of the ladder, his eyes glazed over. There were several players with more than forty kills, and the player at the top of the rankings had already passed two hundred kills. This was simply something crazy and unbelievable. How could someone kill so many high level players in such a short time?

Kaizen was impressed by the performance of the players at the top of the rankings, but at the same time, he felt a sense of excitement about the challenge ahead. He knew that it would be extremely difficult to be in the top four at this point, but the thought of competing against such skilled players motivated him even more.

As he walked towards the exit of the large room he was in, Kaizen realized that something strange was going on in the room. He felt another shiver run down his spine and drew his sword again. Then he noticed a suspicious movement on one of the walls, as if it was moving in waves. He approached it cautiously, and upon closer examination, he saw that not only did the wall have these undulations, but when he tried to touch it with a hand, his hand disappeared, as if he were entering a river of murky water. This was definitely strange.

As Kaizen thought about the possibility that this was a secret passage, a hand came out of the wall, startling him and trying to grab him. In fact, this was a trap.

Kaizen quickly dodged the hand that tried to grab him and moved away from the suspicious wall. He quickly looked around and saw that there were other areas of the room that also had the strange ripples.

The whole room is full of traps now. So that was the reason for the cold...' Kaizen thought, immediately realizing that he had to be more careful since he didn't know who his enemy was.

He caught his breath a little as he scanned the room more calmly, watching everything around him carefully, waiting for the next attack. It didn't take him long to notice that some parts of the floor looked strange as well. The air was charged with tension, as if something was about to happen. The atmosphere was quiet, except for the sound of Kaizen's own breathing.

Suddenly, a scratching sound came from the wall Kaizen was almost being pulled towards by the mysterious hand, as if something was trying to get out from inside. Kaizen prepared for battle, held his sword tightly, and waited. Suddenly, the same strange hand as before came out of the wall and made a gesture, calling to him with an index finger.

Kaizen stepped back, and seconds later, it was impossible not to notice a strange player emerging from the wall, dressed in black and with an unsettling aura. All of his clothes were black, and they were not armor or robes, but they fit the extremely thin anatomy of his body.

"Who are you?" asked Kaizen, keeping his distance and pointing his sword at the stranger.

The stranger gave a sinister smile and replied:

"My name is Shadowkiller... It is a pleasure to meet you, Kaizen."

Kaizen felt a chill run down his spine. He had seen Shadowkiller's nickname on the ladder before, but he had never imagined he would be so close. With over thirty kills, Shadowkiller ranked eleventh in the overall rankings. He was undoubtedly a fearsome opponent, with a reputation for being ruthless and merciless.

"So you are one of the most dangerous players in the tournament, and yet you give your name out," Kaizen said, keeping his sword pointed at Shadowkiller. "If you go around telling your secrets, you'll go down sooner than you think."

Shadowkiller laughed, a strange, unpleasant sound. "Let's see what you can do first."

With that, Shadowkiller attacked, moving out of his wall with surprising agility. Kaizen reacted quickly, defending himself with his sword against the barehanded attack and dodging his opponent's aggressive blows. The environment around them changed dramatically in a matter of moments. The walls trembled and a thick mist began to form on the ground, rising from the illusory walls. The flaming orbs of the other players eerily lit up the scene, creating shadows that moved furiously along the wall. The battle was intense, each player's move calculated and precise.

Kaizen could feel the adrenaline pulsing through his veins, and the will to win only increased with each blow defended or dodged. He felt like he couldn't miss for a second, for even with his bare hands, his nails were razor-sharp and potentially lethal.

Shadowkiller had the ability to teleport between the walls and the parts of the floor that had these ripple particles, so it was very annoying when he would retreat and hide. Whenever this happened, Kaizen would concentrate as hard as he could because he didn't know where the enemy would attack from next. On top of that, the environment changed every time, with the walls and floor changing as the enemy player moved from one place to another.

...

Edited by: DrHitsuji

If you want to see original illustrations of Rise Online characters, consider helping me on pa treon: Pa treon.com/NandoFalske

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