My tail twitched in anticipation from the upper nook I was hiding in as I waited for the other back guy to turn away from his partner. I jumped on the sniper character, and clawed at his virtual face as he screamed. His partner was a mid range fighter so I needed to get out of his sights. I jumped off the sniper guy, and scaled the wall with my sharp claws as I tried to avoid getting shot. Three shots hit me, and a dull sense of pain shot through my body from my neck, leg, and tail as I whipped myself up over the edge.
"Dammit," one of them shouted, "I'm blind."
"Keep it down," the mid range guy snapped, "What was that thing?"
"All I know is it scratched out my god damned eyes," the sniper complained.
I peeked over the ledge carefully. The mid range guy was trying to calm down the sniper, and quiet him down. I looked at the gap above them to the half collapsed building on the other side. It was about fifteen feet. I could make that.
I backed away from the ledge, and got a running start before jumping. I landed on the other side my claws scraping at the concrete as I tried to stop myself from falling off the ledge.
"What was that?" The mid range guys gun clicked as he swung it around.
I climbed down from the little ledge into the collapsed building. My small body easily sliding through the gaps as I headed towards my prey. I stopped just out of their line of sight picking up a rock, and throwing it as far away from me as I could. Which was a lot further than I was expecting. The rock cracked against something I didn't see, and both of them whipped around to look towards the sound even though one couldn't see.
I poured on speed. Jumping on the blind dude. Gripping his body with my feet, and tail as I wrenched his head around so it was facing me as his character burst into green particles.
90/200 xp until level 4.
Satisfaction rolled through me as I jumped on the other guy. He tried to get his gun between me, and him, but I already had my tail wrapped around it. He couldn't raise his weapon to me as he tried to knock me off. He got a grip on my long neck, and held my teeth away from his face. I clawed at his arm with my hands since I couldn't reach anything else.
He broke his water bottle open, and the water didn't pour onto the ground. It came up. Freezing into a spike as it did. Then he tried to fling it at me. It shattered on my face splintering apart without so much as scratching me. I growled at him as the wind started circling around me.
I could feel the wind circling as if it were an extension of myself, and brought this force of air at my enemy full force. His eyes squinted as his body was tilted back from the force of the air. I used this distraction to get a good grip on his arm, and pushed both hands together hard. His arm broke in my grip, and his hand went slack as I rushed forward with the wind. My teeth closing on the first thing they came into contact with.
He cried out in pain since I'd apparently bitten off his nose. I drew my head back, and went for the throat. He burst into green particles, and then I was alone in his place. I snorted readying myself to go after someone else. Then I felt a sharp pang through my middle as I burst into red particles. I was then thrown into some sort of lobby area that overlooked the battle below.
115/200 xp until level 4.
New skill. Wind burst level 1.
I switched back to my human form quickly, but not before several other players in the lobby saw me.
"Hey," The sniper snapped, "You scratched my eyes out you jerk."
I held up my hands in a placating manner.
"It's just a game man," I backed away, and noticed their usernames were floating above their heads.
"What the hell are you?" the mid range dude came up to me.
"Oh," I rubbed the back of my virtual head glad that nobody could see my face, "I'm a mage. I wanted to train my magic transformation ability."
"I didn't know mages could play this game," another lobby guy spoke up.
I turned to watch the rest of the match. Ethan was still in as well as one of our random teammates. That stay out of my way dude was cocky for a reason. According to the readout he had five kills under his username.
***
Unknown to Wyatt as he focused on the match below there were several players saving Wyatt's username. A mage in the game. Everyone there wanted to see that how he did in the game. Not many people got to see mages fight. Wyatt didn't know it, but admitting that he was a mage would make his username go viral.
Right now only the players in the player lobby knew his username, and soon it would spread to the players that were in the observers lobby. Wyatt's game character would be famous by the end of the week.
***
Ethan ended up getting taken out by a sniper later on in the match. He was one of the last five in the game though. He could hear the green team complaining loudly somewhere behind him as he watched the match carefully. Apparently they relied on the back to guys I killed to keep people from sneaking up on them. They're arguing changed to a quiet strategy discussion after a while.
Ethan, and I both observed quietly. Neither one of us wanted to discuss my abilities in front of the other players. Eventually a winning team was announced, and we went back to our white room. Just me, and Ethan.
"Let's go again," I smiled, and Ethan clicked.
We got three different random players this time on our time.
"This time see if you can track me down," I shouted as I shrank, and ran off.
This time the map was a forest setting. I went up into the trees, and darted through the branches as quietly as I could.
Stealth level up. Stealth now reduces users sound by 10%.
Awesome. I stopped when I spotted something moving. My tail twitched as my vision zoned in on the team of five moving through the trees. I moved slower as I approached them. I wanted to level up this round if I could pull it off.
I needed to get four guys if I wanted to level up.