Auntie toasts the VRMMORPG

81. THE DUEL - ROUND TWO

Flora found herself back in the antechamber.

"That went quite well. Good job, everyone."

No joy tinged Flora's voice. From the perspective of someone who just wanted to win, the round went perfectly, but from the viewpoint of someone who wanted her son to have a competent partner, abysmal.

All cooldowns had reset, so Flora reapplied the buffs.

<Tinker: Octopussy>

Buff: Tinkered: Improves the Macro-Control by 5 OV; time remaining: 10 min;

<Thaumaturgy: Trap Throwing Toaster>

Last round, she cast it on herself and got a bit mana-reg for it. This time, she tried it on the toaster.

Buff: Touched by Divinity (Evailyn): 50% reduced Cooldowns; time remaining: 5 min;

"Nice. Much more useful."

Right before the countdown ran out, she cast Water Shield to get the full duration of 25 seconds of it during fight-time. The splash effect of her new focus activated, and around one of the turret-traps formed a watery layer.

As soon as her feet hit the arena floor, Flora sprinted towards Ressa's spawn point.

Something ran in her direction. Her brain needed a second to process the sight: Ressa had strapped a full-length mirror on the back of the tiger. With the cat's head down, the mirror shielded it from frontal laserbeams.

"Finally, a good move. Take the flanks. Turret-Trap 1-2 left, Turret-Trap 3-4 right." commanded Flora while sending a rocket to it. "And where is Ressa?"

<Astral Vision>

Even after activating the spell, Flora couldn't find her. Almost she forgot to initiate the explosion, but a beep from Aito reminded her.

"Behind the tiger, Milady."

The rocket detonated above the tiger and cracked the mirror.

The explosion masked the incoming plasma slugs from Flora, which whizzed by next to her head. For a second, she was elated because they missed, but then two of her turrets went out.

"At least, now I know Ressa's position."

Both opponents glowed orange and red with the Fire Enhancement buff. It caused all of their attacks to deal additional fire damage.

"They need dousing."

<Acid Rain>!

Flora positioned the spell to hit Ressa as well as the tiger.

Then, hell broke loose.

The Arena exploded in fiery lights, and detonations assaulted Flora's eardrums. Even the ground shook.

When Flora could see again, the area she was covering with Acid Rain was empty. Ressa had cartwheeled out of it, and stood, both guns extended, next to the wet patch.

Her gaze met Ressa's. The will to fight with no regrets shone in her eyes.

They were the only two combatants standing. While Ahoncartyr picked himself up from the ground, the octopussy resumed firing after being flung back by the explosion.

The only other robot still working was the trap toaster. It threw a final trap before Ressa's next shot killed it. In one smooth motion, the woman turned around and sent the next fiery slug flying into Flora's direction.

A skull appeared above Ressa's head−Aito's signal to focus all attacks on her.

Flora cast Acid Bolt right when Ahoncarthyr pounced. She went down under his weight, but the spell left her hand, hitting him instead of the markswomen.