Hot-Blooded Challenge

Every safe zone had a specific building designed around PvP. Named the Dueling Tower, this building was meant for players who craved battle but didn't wish to risk their items. With its own ranking players who climbed higher in the tower were deemed more skilled. Occasionally Pro players would come and reach the highest point, usually only when they were bored however.

The Dueling Tower also gave access to custom matches. Games you could set up with various settings for fun duels. It's also used to settle grudges, much like Nimin's current predicament. The whole situation was ridiculous, however Nimin was aware of the confidence young skilled players had. After all that was part of the personality he was designing for Critical Shot.

If the player was skilled enough. . . well perhaps Nimin might invite them for some more difficult dungeons. He can ignore inflated ego.

Simon was desperately apologizing as they traveled, "I'm sorry, he's normally not like this."

Critical Shot: No need to apologize.

"Okay, thank you for accepting his ridiculous request."

"Ha, if only you knew how close I was to just leaving.", Nimin laughed to himself silently.

Approaching the Dueling Tower Nimin didn't bother changing up his Skills. Usually players would have different Skills depending on which content they're taking on. Due to certain Skills being more designed for PvE content. For Nimin it didn't matter.

Simon informed him of the custom match details. A standard 1v1 combat, best of three. There was no changes to any settings, so the battle would proceed like any normal combat encounter. This was the standard regarding duels, so Nimin wasn't surprised.

Loading into the match he immediately sent a message.

Critical Shot: So why exactly am I here again.

A loud voice entered Nimin's ears. He quickly went to his settings and turned down the player's voice volume to not turn deaf.

"Don't ask questions! We're here to fight!"

"Oh boy."

Pressing a ready up button Nimin was immediately thrown into the match. The room was simple, a large sand pit surrounded by walls. Having sand was an interesting choice, since some Skills could kick it up and cause some visual trouble. Yet Nimin's attention was towards the enemy user.

Grit Your Teeth: LVL 53

Grit Your Teeth, henceforth Nimin decided to call him Grit, equipped a spear and spun it about. The show of controls was proof of either a well practiced movement or exceptional skill. Deciding not to show off similarly Nimin instead controlled Critical Shot to point his handgun.

Grit was the Footsoldier class. A standard class that followed a similar concept of Gunners. Filled with simplistic yet effective Skills the Footsoldier was a solid choice for close ranged combat. Additionally it was voted to be the easiest class to grasp. Not to say it was easy to master.

The spear showed that this Footsoldier was of the Spear Variant. This meant the effective attack range was increased, but held some weakness when it came to close combat. Grit immediately charged towards Critical Shot in a straight line.

"Time to see what he's capable of at least."

Critical Shot fired a few shots. He immediately became pleased when Grit sidestepped the incoming bullets and added some movement to his charge. Not giving Nimin a clear shot. Grit closed the distance and stabbed with his spear, a basic attack. Critical Shot began to move to the side, but Nimin caught sight of the spear adjusting with his movements.

"Alright! Not bad at all!", Nimin began to praise.

His fingers increased in speed as Nimin performed a Snap dodge at the last moment. The spear flew past harmlessly and Nimin took advantage of the opening. Critical Shot leapt forward and slammed a knee into Grit. Tumbling back Grit rapidly recovered back to his feet.

When hit with a Skill that dealt knockback, or falling from a Skill that knocked you upwards, your character would ragdoll for a bit. You could cancel this by pressing an input at a proper time. The window of timing was slightly different depending on the circumstance. When you were suffering from knockback you would have to press the input when facing towards the ground. Skills with heavy knockback made this difficult if you were sent rolling at high speeds. Additionally not all knockback Skills made you tumble about, and only pushed you back. You couldn't cancel the Skills that only pushed you back.

If you were falling from the air, you would have to press the input a second before you touched the ground. Else you would crumple into the dirt. Learning the timing for this wasn't too difficult, and was a key tool to keeping up pressure in combat.

Grit knew this fact, and immediately leapt forward with a Skill. The spear flashed forward but Nimin was able to easily read the intention. Performing a standard dodge backwards Nimin moved just barely out of the range of the Skill. Critical Shot pointed the handgun forward and fired, the distance making it near impossible to dodge!

Blood splattered from Grit's head as the bullet landed. Nimin subconsciously analyzed, "There was a few frames he could have Snap dodged."

Bullets had slight stun when they landed, allowing Nimin to fire several more times. Performing the {Sweep Kick} Skill Critical Shot hands glitched into an assault rifle. Placing it by the hip Critical Shot began to wildly fire, bullets speeding across without care. A grenade was printed into the freehand and Critical Shot tossed it gently into the sand.

Critical Shot: Oops, I dropped it.

Rolling backwards Nimin canceled the {Hipfire} Skill. Aiming the moment his vision steadied he fired at the grenade resting in the sand. The explosion triggered and the force sent Grit into the air. A voice roared, "You dropped it?!"

Critical Shot: Did I?

"You said you did?!"

Critical Shot: Seems I did.

"There was no need to properly format your sentence!"

Critical Shot: Makes it easy to read.

Grit, in his rage, failed the recovery and slammed into the sand. Nimin raised an eyebrow and tossed another grenade casually. It landed neatly in the sand by Grit's head. As he pushed himself back up his vision immediately came to view the grenade. Critical Shot fired again, exploding the grenade prematurely.

Grit was sent tumbling across the sand again. Flipping about four times before he landed the recovery his voice immediately called out, "You didn't drop anything at all!"

Critical Shot: Of course not.

Nimin eyed his Stamina, Snap dodges weren't invincible. Instantly moving half a step was strong in a skilled player's hand sure, but it still ate a ridiculous amount of Stamina compared to a normal dodge. Without his full build complete his current Stamina regen rate was low, so he couldn't utilize the last second Snap dodge too much.

So Nimin instead decided to fire relentlessly. The assault rifle released a flurry of bullets, each one doing a substantial amount of damage for a level 50. However soon enough the clicking sound of am empty magazine rang true. Immediately Grit took advantage of the opening. Performing another leaping stab to close the distance.

"Is he forcing me to Snap dodge? That's not a bad choice actually."

The distance didn't allow Nimin to dodge back like he did before, else he would be hit. So instead Critical Shot tossed a grenade up. The third grenade was used so quickly, and reduced his available options. The angle it was tossed at was troubling for Grit, because a moment later his spear pierced through the center of the grenade!

Boom-!

Critical Shot tumbled back from the explosion, but barely performed half of the tumble before recovering. Casually reloading the assault rifle Nimin watched as Grit's complained, "Damn you! Who uses grenades like that?"

Critical Shot: A small sacrifice.

"You don't have anymore though! It's about time I-"

Nimin cut them short by releasing another flurry of bullets. Grit had just recovered and managed to Snap dodge to the side, but only dodged two bullets in total with the maneuver. Almost immediately after a flurry of bullets slammed into him and his HP dropped further.

"Hmm, I don't have many Skills remaining. I don't get access to more until level sixty-five either. Guess I'll just have to kite him about."

As the assault rifle fired its last bullet Grit leapt forward again. The {Leaping Stab} Skill was one of low cooldown, designed to keep the pressure of retreating targets. However Nimin disproved of its usage. That Skill shouldn't be used too much for closing the distance due to its choreographed start up. The beginning leap was like giving your opponent a giant neon sign stating your next attack. Rather it should be used the moment your opponent performs an action. As a counter to their potential getaway, or an evasive to their counter attack.

Nimin knew this so well because Sard was also a Footsoldier, granted that one was a Sword Variant. {Leaping Stab}, could be used with both weapons, so Nimin's familiarity with the Skill could easily place second with how much he studied the Footsoldier. All so he could beat the sword saint.

In comparison, this match was too simple!