It is Raining Somewhere [closed]

Perhaps he had grown overconfident or that the players had more skill than he had expected or the fact that they were players who had been clever enough to come together in a group, in the end, the gatekeeper found himself more than overwhelmed. The fighter had smirked, emerging from the clouds of dust and dirt triumphantly after the burst of energy tore through the field. One of the rangers had been caught, but was swiftly managing to free herself and prevent her avatar from being torn from her position. And the last one had managed to trick his magic and play him a fool until Richter could no longer pinpoint where exactly she was.

His tongue clicked against the side of his roof as the golem's remains scattered to the ground like bones, and before the Wicken could register that Mackenzie was right behind him, an arrow impaled into his cloak and ripped it apart. It didn't stop at the dense fabric, continuing well past until it penetrated deep to his core. He would've thought that, at this level, players wouldn't have been using their skills much.

He was wrong. Very, very wrong.

It had been proven once in his first fight. The next two fights didn't, so he thought the first was a special case. The fourth utilized it as well, and now this?

This was ridiculous.

They were smart players, in the end. Bringing his arm up with a surrender, the gatekeeper gruffly spoke for the first time to the players, "You pass." The words were minute as his HP diminished to nothing, his figure breaking pixel by pixel as the gate grieved in response, breaking into shards with its own tremor. They fell like snowflakes, drifting to the ground or melting in the heat before the new level sprung forth.