FB: Chapter 30 – Cat Dance

The champion’s waiting room was much nicer than the regular waiting area with free food and drinks being available. But it made sense, since it wasn’t an easy title to get. The fight with Cat Dance wouldn’t be easy either. I had reviewed her matches and fighting style to refresh my memory and plan out my strategy. I was sure she would be doing something similar. I would rate her combat level as A+, which meant I wasn’t overly concerned.

She used a combination of throwing weapons, claw attacks, and high precision movement to overwhelm her targets. Once she got in close, she wouldn’t let up for a second. The platform in the room began to glow. I went over and stood on it.

I was transported to the arena and instantly began to advance. Cat Dance approached as well as the crowd cheered louder than ever before. There had only been one Champion fight previous to this. So, it was a big deal. She clearly wasn’t in the mood for pre-fight banter.

Now, would she commit or attack from a distance to try and wear me down? She threw her throwing knives, one after another using the skill Accelerate Throw. Most physical skills only required you do the action, not call out the skill. There were visual effects from the daggers glowing, which allowed me to instantly recognize the skill. I had a small circular shield in one hand. But her aim was very good, hitting my legs. At least my head was protected so I didn’t get hit with a critical hit, but the knives still managed to graze me and do some damage. I avoided any crippling attacks.

She was keeping just outside of the range of my Murk Barf. She had clearly studied the range of the skill. I pulled her knives out of the ground where they had fallen and put them into my inventory. That didn’t count against my item limit, removing items from the field. One of the many tricks I knew from the future. Leaving throwing weapons scattered about was a bad idea. I then advanced. She threw more knives, damaging my legs, but I just kept advancing and pulling them out while she retreated.

“Command remove health potion,” I said while keeping an eye on her. I faked drinking it, and she rushed in. She couldn’t let me heal up, otherwise she would lose. I unleashed Murk Barf at her and she cartwheeled to the side, my stream of barf lagging behind her. I uncorked the health potion and she made to rush in again, but it was clearly a feint, since she knew I could do two attacks in a row. I rushed at her like I was going to attack, and she quickly backed away. I swallowed the health potion and I could see the intense frown on her face, since I had managed to use a health potion without interruption.

She threw another throwing knife at my face. I blocked the knife with my small shield, blocking my vision which was the point. I just looked down towards her feet, under my small shield. Yep, she was rushing me. Murk Barf. I lowered my shield and aimed right at her. She was already dodging, but she was too close to properly dodge and was hit in a glancing manner, avoiding any chunks but still poisoned.

I freed a short spear from my belt and kept it directed towards her. She spun and threw two knives at the same time. Since she had them out before the match they didn’t count towards her item limit. The more she threw, the more the movement penalty on her disappeared. Both knives hit my leg. She rushed at me. But I just kept my stick pointed at her and used my shield in a position to block while circling. After a couple of seconds, I could see her getting more desperate.

While it might look like she was winning, I was removing her weapons from the field. Once she ran out, all she would be able to do was retreat and I would win based on aggression. Also, she had already been poisoned. I noticed she had used an antidote and pulled out another bandolier of throwing knives. That put my one item use to her two, which meant I was ahead.

She knocked my short spear to the side and rushed forward. I then unleashed a third Murk Barf right into her face. The first one I had used was from a junk skill shard, knowing she would probably dodge and to lure her into a false sense of confidence that I was tapped out right now. I was hit with several exhaustion penalties since my food and water meter were both in the negatives. I was losing health due to that on top of the poison damage.

But Cat Dance had been stopped dead in her tracks and collapsed backwards onto the ground after taking a Murk Barf right into her face and mouth. I quickly removed an ass fruit and ate it just to be on the safe side and then an antidote while retreating, using up all three items I could for the match.

Cat Dance struggled to pop an antidote and I threw my short spear at her. With Cat Dance on her back and on the ground, she didn’t notice until the spear grazed the arm she was using to pour her antidote into her mouth. Half the potion splashed on her face while I rushed forward again. Murk Barf, I sprayed my attack all over her, ensuring she was chunked and would die to poison. A few seconds after that attack, she hit 1 HP and the match was called in my favor.

Winner! Standard 1v1: 100-0 Champion 1v1: 1-0
Please return to the platform to leave the arena.

That had been close, but a bit of trickery had helped me easily pull out a win. It sounded like Cat Dance was crying as I left the arena, but it was hard to tell with the incredibly loud cheers.

The first thing I did was check in with the clerk. I got the 50 platinum prize pool Cat Dance and I had put up. As for the betting, I earned 73 platinum back and change. That meant I had made about 48 platinum from the fight and got my original 75 back, not counting all the merchandise sales which were taking off.

I also pulled out another five merchandising items and handed them over, since I had taken her merchandising rights for the coliseum. I checked if she had put up any merchandise already but she hadn’t.

Cat Dance had the right idea how to counter this type of build, but I was ready for that kind of rush. That was why I had planned a weak Murk Barf in advance. If she hadn’t collapsed from taking that third blast full in the face, I would have lost.

The match was much closer than it appeared, and she was the better fighter than me. But she just wasn’t ready for the Murk Barf right into the face. The smell, the shock, and the chunks were enough to throw anyone off their game if they weren’t ready. She clearly had trained a bit, which was why she was able to struggle at the end, but once the chunks got in your mouth, that was game over.

That was why my current build would only be good for so long before people trained up the mentality to rush me no matter what and stab me to death. I had been a number cruncher before. I wasn’t some super combatant. I just knew all the tricks I had seen before and was hoping they would be enough to carry me the distance with my build. I would put my combat level at a solid A-. I was decent, but I was no S level combatant.

My time in the Murk Swamp grinding away had helped harden my mentality and hone my movement. But I knew the truth, I lacked true combat skill compared to other people. I had knowledge and gimmicks giving me the edge, but it would be a struggle to keep up against the truly talented players as they learned the things I already knew and worked out how to handle various gimmicks.

My tricks had worked so far and now I needed to upgrade my skills to get new tricks. Also, more levels. I checked with the clerk and no other Champion had decided to challenge me after my victory. That was unfortunate.

It was tempting to cash out a lot of money now. But I would keep betting on myself and raking in the money. All or nothing, that was my plan. That was why I was going to save it all up to put a huge bet on me winning the Tournament of Champions.

Everyone and their mother would bet against me with the insane odds that would be listed with what I had planned. Even if people bet on me, they would be just small drops into my very large bucket. My hope was to more than double my money and end up with around 300 platinum. The prize for the winner was 10% of the betting profit and attendance fees that were set aside. Nothing for second place or the other losers. The winner also got all the video revenue as well from all the matches in the tournament, not just the one they were in.

The Tournament of Champions was always popular to watch and would remain a consistent source of revenue. And I needed to get ready for it, by getting another 20 levels as quickly as possible. But first the public interview.

“Foxy Blight, you just crushed Cat Dance in an epic one versus one, care to share your thoughts?” Fred asked.

“Cat Dance was a skilled opponent and deserves her title as Champion. My open challenge is still out there if the other Champions aren’t cowards,” I replied.

“Very bold words. Aren’t you worried about people working out counters to your fighting style?” Rebecca asked me.

“Then beat me. It is just that simple. Winners get to talk. Cowards are the same as losers and should shut up. If you want me to shut up, then beat me. It is that simple. Fighting me will also give you a chance to experience some of the wonderful Murk Barf chunks before the Tournament of Champions,” I answered.

“Right now, you are one of the top favorites. Any plans on how you are going to prepare?” Fred asked me.

“More levels, more skills, and more fights.” I had been thinking about this and my guess was that a true Champion would show no fear and have a lot more regular matches, even if their title was on the line. That was why I planned to have more regular matches in the hope it was a requirement to unlock a higher title than the one I knew about like the slayer title track.

“It has also come out that you are the Guild Leader of the largest corporate guild that recently formed. What is your response of accusations of pay to win?” Rebecca asked. I turned to look at her and smiled slightly letting an uncomfortable silence stretch out for a couple of seconds to make the point I was annoyed with such a got you type of question. I didn’t mind some of those questions, since that was what ENN was known for, but this was pushing on my bottom line.

“Any problem that can be solved with money isn’t a problem. Just a year ago, I was a poor high school graduate. Now I have a net worth of around five billion and a multi-billion dollar corporation that I am a part owner of. If you think you have what it takes to bring me down, I relish the challenge!” I said and pointed at the point in the air where the recording was being taken from, which made it look like I was pointing at the audience.

“And you heard it here on ENN first. Foxy Blight calls out other Champions and anyone else looking to take her on with no fear,” Fred said. They stopped the broadcast, and I agreed to an interview if there was another Champion who was willing to challenge me before the Tournament of Champions.

Once my interview was done, I took an airship to Lighthouse Town. It was a long flight, so I logged out. My phone was blowing up with messages as the video from ENN was out there. I called Anthony since he wanted to talk with me and was my partner.

“Anthony,” I greeted him over the phone.

“Quite dramatic out there. You really are going all in,” he said.

“I told you I was going to be making some major moves. Trouble?” I asked, since he had texted me that he wanted to speak as soon as possible.

“We could cut out some of the other investors, if you used the platinum you have earned,” he said.

“I am going all in on future bets and my investment into the guild is enough for right now. If there is a cash flow issue then I will look at investing more, but for now I have no issue with selling 30% for ten billion, preferably more,” I replied.

“Well people have taken notice. Good luck April,” he told me.

***

Thank you everyone for your support of this story. I have been busy re-reading and scheduling chapters the last couple of days. Lots and lots of chapters.

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