Valkyrie's Lament

Final day (part V)

Silver cursed at her luck. She brought up her card in front of her to check her status.

Name

Silver Frost

Gender

Female

Average Level

Y-

Guild

Valhalla

Guild Rank

Leader

Race

Human

Body Status

Healthy (Infected)

Age

18

Health

145/150

Height

5 ft 9’

Mana

130/210

Weight

124 Ib

Stamina

80/180

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Strength

25

Agility

21

Vitality

19

Dexterity

21

Intelligence

20

Wisdom

25

Leadership

5

Luck

8

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Magic

Ice/Dark

Abilities

Danger Sensing, Cooking, Plant and Tree identification

Items

Comet (X+), Millionaire Inventory Ring (A), Sonius (L)

Her measly eight on luck was something seriously to laugh at, meaning it didn’t even help her in the time of need. It felt like the world was laughing at her, throwing at her difficult tasks one after another until she died from exhaustion.

Increasing her luck wasn’t simple, it usually stayed at a fixed number for a very long time, raising it usually meant going through countless ordeals or using items to raise it by one. Other than that, her status showed how strong she has become in the past week. For a normal human, her stats were above average from eating the crystals, allowing her to get stronger faster than others. This was what gave her an edge in staying alive.

What else she noticed was that the Comet actually leveled up. All that slaying against her enemies had consumed the essence of the enemies life and steadily grew stronger with her. The last time she remembered Comet was in the X- range.

The only problem was her stamina that was getting dangerously close to hitting rock bottom. If she pushed herself too long and hard, she knew she couldn’t stand up and fight. She quickly put away her card, and thought over what she was going to do next.

She knew she had to stay alive for the next few hours, but the problem arose with how long would she be able to run? Should she stay on a constant run, letting her guildmates fend for themselves or should she gather everyone up, and create a land stand? Both of them had merits and demerits that made her think.

“What are you going to do now?” Ronfonso asked, he gazed interested towards her, waiting for her answer.

“Stay alive.” She pushed herself up on her tired feet, her resolution confirmed in what to do next. “I can’t stay here any longer.”

“Why not?” He tilted his head. “It’s a safe place isn’t it?”

Silver glanced towards Ronfonso, knowing full well that the words that came out of his mouth weren't the truth at all. Ronfonso didn't tell her everything that she needed to know, knowing that he revealed her suffering and pain. Oh, she so wanted to kill him for making her life ten times more difficult than it should, but she knew that he was more of an asset as time went on.

“You know just as well as I that Kushiel isn’t going to let me rest,” said Silver, “She’s more likely to stir up trouble at the last three hours of the game to make it more ‘interesting’ in her own terms.”

That ‘interesting’ was the problem for Silver, Kushiel’s sick pleasure of seeing people suffer was like an addiction to her. There was just no getting around it.

“Before she brings the trouble to me, I'd rather be ready for it.” Silver replied, she headed out the door and used the scanned ability that she had. Searching through the map, she found two yellow dots not too far away from her. She remembered that she left Rose and Tyler to fend for themselves, she knew that those two could deal with the rabbits with no problem so she didn’t bother to save them.

“Where are you going to go?”

“That’s for you to find out.”

“That’s no fun.” Ronfonso wasn’t pleased that he was left in the dark.

“That’s the point.” Silver ignored him, and went through the hallway and towards the exit on the back door. She slowly pushed open the door, peeking out from the side as she looked carefully for any enemies. So far, she didn’t find anyone present, and she walked outside as quickly as possible.

With each step, her walk became faster into a power walk. She zigzagged through the broken buildings, and carefully walked into a grocery mart. The glass door opens up for her to enter. Her map told her that two people were present inside the building, and she knew that these two could be her enemy or her friend.

“I told you to collect the necessary items instead of stuffing yourself silly!” Rose hissed.

Tyler crunched on a bag of chips as he shrugged his shoulders, not caring about Rose’s words. “I have all the food that I need, so quit complaining.”

“Bag of chips, beer, and ramen isn't something that’s going to keep you alive!” She angrily snatched the bag of chips out of his hands.

“What are you, my mother?” He grunted.

“No, but we’re still a temporary team!”

Tyler rolled his eyes, annoyed at her nagging. “Lady, when this is all over, we’re through.”

Rose scoffed at what he had said and rolled her eyes. “That was the deal, but right now we need to stay alive!”

Silver carefully walked over towards the bickering Rose and Tyler. Right now, the two of them weren’t part of her guild, and this meant they had the chance to come and attack her for the prize that Kushiel had suggestd. Even still, she walked over towards the two, but were still a good distance away from each other.

“Tyler. Rose.” she called out towards them.

Both Tyler and Rose were surprised that Silver was there in front of them.

“Oh. My. God. You’re still alive!” Rose squealed in happiness. Silver was taken back at the usual change of attitude from Rose. Her suspicion suddenly grew as her hand went towards her accessory to summon her weapon.

“Woah. Princess. Calm down.” Tyler's instinct flared up and saw the suspicion lurking in Silver’s eyes. “We heard you finally made a guild! Aren’t you going to let us join?” A half hearted grin erupted on his face.

“You’re not going to attack me?” The words slipped out of her mouth without her realizing it.

“Do you want us too?” Tyler asked, offended.

“No.” She quickly replied, shaking her head to clear her momentary pause.

“Good, so how do we sign up to join the guild like we planned?”Tyler walked over, strutting forward as if nothing was wrong. He then stopped in front of Silver, waiting for her to tell him.

“Well….” Her mind was slowly starting to pay to catch up, realizing that Tyler wanted to be part of the guild.

“Honestly, that five high level orange crystals sound ridiculously tempting, but I get the feeling that if I stick around you I would get even hell of a lot more than just five.” He grinned, showing the white of his teeth. “So, what do I do?” He clapped his hand and rubbed it.

A genuine smile erupted on Silver’s face. For a moment, both Tyler and Rose were surprised that Silver could smile so easily that didn’t look forced or a partial smile. In actuality, the smile actually brought more of her features to light, making her very beautiful. This was the look that a regular teenager should have when blooming up into adulthood.

“Wow, you can smile normally.” Tyler half heartedly jokes.

Silver’s smile disappeared like smoke replaced by confusion in what Tyler had said. “What do you mean I can smile normally? I always smile normally all the time. See?” Silver forced a smile this time her smile was more scary and a bit enchanting in its own way.

Tyler and Rose flinched when she gave them her smile.

“Anyways….let’s just move on to joining the guild.” Rose coughed, trying to change the subject as quickly as possible.

“You’re joining too?” Tyler craned his head to the side, giving her a surprised look.

“Why wouldn’t I? It has more benefits if I stay with her than attempt to kill her.” She snorted.

“Damn bitch.”

“Shut up bastard.”

“Okay, enough with the lovers squabble. So, would you like Tyler to join the guild Valhalla?” Silver stuck out her hand towards him, waiting for him to shake her hand.

Tyler glanced down and reached over to grab her hand. She laced his finger around hers into a strong grip, he squeezed her finger happily shaking it up and down. “Gladly.” With a loud boisterous laugh, he shook vigorously.

“Okay. Okay. My turn.” Rose pushed her way between the two, prying his fingers away from Silver.

Silver let go, a bit surprised at Rose’s pusy attitued, but she didn’t mind. She was glad that these two were sticking with her for a bit longer. “Rose, would you join the guild Valhalla?”

“Yes!” Rose squealed, clasping her hand together. She jumped up and down like an excited girl who just won a mega million dollars from the lotto. “You don’t know how glad I am to be in this!”

“Getting excited for no reason.”

Rose glared, giving him an annoyed look. Then she took a deep breath, and calmed her nerves. “So, was that all? Just shaking your hand and we’re in?”

“Oh my god, this girl is killing me. Look at your sleeves!”

“Shut up.” Rose glowered, she then turned to look over her sleeves and saw the insignia for the Silver’s guild. “Oh.”

“That’s not all, your card will tell you to join the guild.”

“Really?!” Rose let go, she pulled out her card to check her status. “It’s true! I’m now in the guild Valhalla! This is insane! Does this mean I can shake anyone’s hand to join the guild?!”

“No.” Silver quickly replied. She didn’t want just anyone to join her guild, she was going to screen out the best that are willing to survive and want to accomplish this game to the end. The ones who will slay the Emperor and end the game once and for all. “Only Jaspar and I could do it for now. Eventually, the others will be allowed to later, but right now, I want to keep the number of people joining the team under wraps with whom we have right now.”

“Who would that be?”

“Jasper, Ronfonso, Brianna, Sam, Brook, Rook, Tyler, and you for now.”

“What about the other four?”

“If I find them, yes, though may I look at your cards?” She asked.

“Sure, what good would it do anyways.” Rose flung the card over towards her.

Name

Rose Diamond

Gender

Female

Average Level

Z

Guild

Valhalla

Guild Member

No. 9

Race

Human

Body Status

Healthy

Age

25

Health

85

Height

5 ft 6’

Mana

90

Weight

115 Ib

Stamina

170

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Strength

10

Agility

12

Vitality

9

Dexterity

13

Intelligence

7

Wisdom

7

Leadership

0

Luck

4

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Magic

Fire

Abilities

None

Items

Fifty Holding Pouch (Y)

Silver was quite surprised at her stamina. Now she knew how Rose was able to survive the majority of the games. She had the stamina that no normal human had, giving her the edge to keep going even though it was hard. Though, she noticed her luck was abysmal, showing the usual numbers of a normal human. Stamina was still an important factor in the game and with the will to survive, she knew that Rose would endeavor to survive until the end. Other than that, Rose had the normal status of a typical average female. She gave the card back to Rose.

Quite a fitting last name, thought Silver. Diamond, it fit Rose perfectly. The first time she met her, she felt like a high class lady, all she needed were expensive clothes and jewelry to fit her body instead of wearing the tacky green gym clothes.

“Here’s mine.” Tyler gave his, not really caring that he was showing his information to her.

Name

Tyler Trent

Gender

Male

Average Level

Z

Guild

Valhalla

Guild Member

No. 8

Race

Human

Body Status

Healthy

Age

30

Health

150

Height

6 ft 3’

Mana

60

Weight

180 Ib

Stamina

130

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Strength

20

Agility

12

Vitality

16

Dexterity

7

Intelligence

9

Wisdom

7

Leadership

3

Luck

5

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Magic

Earth

Abilities

None

Items

Fifty Holding Pouch (Y)

When Silver examined Tyler’s card, she was surprised at the high level strength that he had. Normally, males would average around 10-15 at level Z, but Tyler status was a lot higher than normal. If Sam and Jasper were a one in a million, Tyler is a one in a hundred thousand.

She gave it back to them with a pleased expression. “Oh, before I forget. Make it a habit that you don’t just go around casually showing off your card. Think of it as your social security card from now on.”

“What?! Then why did-” Rose frowned, highly displeased that she had to show her card.

“She’s the guild leader. Get over it.” Tyler rolled his eyes. “Plus, I would’ve done the same to know the guild members ability.”

“But-”

“Just deal with it. It’s over and done with. It’s not like she checked out your body or something.”

Rose eventually gave up in retorting Tyler. “Fine, whatever.” She crossed her hand in front of her and shifted onto her dominant leg.

“What’s next?” Tyler asked.

“We’ll be searching for the others.” Silver checked her menu, she expanded it to encompass the whole city map and noticed that five blue dots signifying her allies, but not too far away from them were four yellow dots signifying other players.

“We need to go, now.” Silver quickly made her way out the store as quickly as possible. She went into a full out run, knowing that the yellow dots could only mean two things: they were allies or enemies, and she hoped that they weren’t enemies.

“Hey! What’s wrong?!” Rose yelled, running after Silver confused. For her to suddenly bolt out the door wasn’t what she was expecting.

“No time to explain in depth! Our guild mates have possible enemies!” She yelled as she beelined around the overturned cars, where the wreckage from the rat monster had created days ago.

“Guildmates? Who?!”

“Why do you have so many questions, woman?!” Tyler shouted annoyed at her pestering questions.

“I would like some information before I throw myself into danger!”

“Sometimes you can’t get everything!”

“Annoying old man.” She snorted.

Silver ignored the two bickering guildmates and took a sharp left. She ran forward in between the buildings, and did a leaping jump onto a metal fence causing a loud metallic clang like sound. Her feet and hands climbed upwards, she threw her leg over the fence, and landed into a diving roll to cushion her fall.

“She’s fast.” Tyler grunted, he was halfway up the fence.

“Move your fat ass old man.” Rose was scaling up right behind him.

“Old man?! I’m only in my thirties!”

“That’s old enough for me.” Rose pushed past him, jumped off, and landed on her legs.

“Bitch! You got something against me!?”

Rose snorted and laughed as she ran after Silver. She knew how to push Tyler’s button, even if she wasn’t even trying too. Tyler quickly scaled up the metal fence, jumped off, roaring after Rose.

Silver breath became sharp and heavy as she ran through the streets, watching for the upcoming building that she was looking for. She could see the four yellow dots flanking from the left, getting closer and closer to the building that she knew that Jasper was in. She knew that he could handle himself, but what she worried about was the possibility of one of them turning on the group. She didn’t want to take any chances, and she knew that she would need every single one of her teammates alive. Right now, she has enough to add ten more people. She didn’t know how many people were left, but it meant that ten more could join. The only problem was that meant three boss level monsters would be roaming around the last hour. Silver could possibly take one, two was pushing it, but three right now was impossible. Also with other people attacking them wasn’t a good sign either.

She arrived in front of a three story building, widely open up on all sides. There were barely any trees or skyscraper-like buildings nearby. It was more of a park than anything else with the open space that allowed one to see across the field. They were even a park on her left side, while a baseball field on the right, while the building that she was heading to was smack in between the two.

Off in the distance, she saw four familiar figures walking together towards the building that she was heading towards. Wearing either the green gym clothes or the school uniforms.

“Silver?” A high pitched child’s voice called out towards her in excitement. “Silver!” Salphie waved her small hand over her head and jumped up and down. Her brother Ren stopped and turned towards her direction.

“I told you! She’ll be here!” Salphie placed her hand on her hips in an exaggerated manner, puffing up her nonexistence chest.

“Okay. Okay. You were right.” Ren sighed, shaking his head at his sister. He placed his hand on his excited sister to calm her down.

“Silver? Really?” Jamie whipped around, searching for her. “Holy cow! It’s really Silver! Mom! It’s Silver!”

“Yes. Yes. I can see that.” Amy replied with a hint of relieved tone of voice. She was the first one to come over and hugged Silver.

Silver was startled by the sudden warm welcoming. It was a nice warm tingling feeling in her heart, she felt like she went on a long journey and finally came back home.

“I’m glad that you're back.” Amy gave her gentle smile, the ignorant lady was gone and was replaced by a battle hardened mother, who was touched by the death of her family and the darkness of the game.

“Thanks.” Silver cheeks turned slightly warm. She pulled away from Amy and took a good look at them. “What are you guys doing here?”

“I know. I know!” Salphie waved her hand above her head like an excited school girl. “We followed the map that led us to this location.”

“Wait, what map?” Silver didn’t like the sound of what she heard. They were given a map? Then does that mean all the other players who weren’t part of the guild also get the same map that shows where each guild member was? Such thought made her grimace, not liking the idea of the enemy knowing their location.

“The baby angels gave each one of us a map showing us which building each of the Valhalla members are. It gets updated every twenty minutes,” replied Ren.

Silver cursed in her head, she didn’t like where this was going. “When was the last time it was updated?”

“A couple minutes ago,” said Amy. She could tell that Silver was trying her best not to show her concern. “Why?”

“It means others will start heading towards us in the next twenty minutes. Right now, we’re just ending our first hour. We got two more to go.”

Everyone understood what she meant, their mood darken at the thought of the others coming towards them.

“You have two choices. Either join me and fight or Fight against me. Whatever you choose, I won’t stop you,” Silver’s whole demeanor became cold and deadly. “But remember this, I will not show mercy to my enemies. Now choose.”

Everyone gulped, knowing full well that Silver wasn’t someone to trifle with. They were all silent, thinking over what she had said as they cast each other worried glances. Salphie was the courageous one who took the first step, she stood up straighter as she looked squarely in Silver’s eyes.

“I choose against.”