Yes, we knew it was risky and illegal. We perfectly understood that we would be thrown out of the university with a whistle if our activities in organizing commercial tournaments for network games, and especially sweepstakes on them, were revealed. However, we deliberately took this risk. Why? Hard to tell. At first, everything was simple and understandable - the very first tournaments were organized by me and my two roommates in the hostel solely for the sake of money since we desperately needed finances as semi-poor students. And then, when some kind of cash allowed us to take no more risks, we simply could not stop, and money no longer played the main role here. Adrenaline, excitement, respect among classmates and interest from students - that's what moved us and made us take risks.

We were well aware that the scale of the tournaments is gradually growing, the circle of initiates is inevitably expanding, and it is becoming increasingly difficult to keep a secret from the teachers, police, and security services of our university. All the tricks we took to preserve the anonymity of the participants and the organizers of the tournaments themselves could only work until the moment when we were actually taken care of by professionals in the field of information security. We understood this very well. More and more often, in conversations with my friends, it flashed that it was time to close the shop, that the next online tournament should be the last. But it was followed by another tournament, then another, and another ...

A grandiose PvP tournament between student hostels in Moscow, which began at noon on Saturday, dragged on until five in the morning on Monday. Out of eight hundred players, thirty-two participants made it through the bracket of qualifying battles to the final. Among them was me. Yes, unlike my roommates, who dealt with network equipment, traffic encryption tools, and accepting bets, I often participated in network battles myself. And he even often won, while tearing down very good cash prizes.

Moreover, I have never used any "codes for immortality", cheating mods, and other dishonest tricks. A powerful computer with the best video card and a good processor, fast ping, knowledge of game maps and weapons, and most importantly hands growing from the right place - that's all, I didn't need anything else to win. I always participated under different gaming pseudonyms and I was sure that none of the ordinary players guessed that the same person was hiding behind many prize-winners and winners of recent tournaments. 

And now I'm playing. With a virtual reality helmet on my head, with my fingers on the buttons of ergonomic gloves-manipulators, I was completely immersed in the process. The world outside the game temporarily did not exist for me ...

***

Running up the steep steps of a spiral staircase to the third, topmost floor of a rich mansion. Stop to take a breather. Endurance went almost to zero, my thick column legs were trembling, and my sides swelled like bellows. I wheezed heavily and opened my mouth like a fish washed ashore. There was definitely not enough air. How difficult it is to be a giant!

The idea to choose a hand-to-hand ogre came to my mind spontaneously just a minute before the start of the final, when a random lot drew us a card for the last game of the tournament - a medieval castle with its huge semi-dark halls, narrow passages, and steep stairs. An extremely uncomfortable map for a drow archer, with which I successfully passed all the qualifying stages, and therefore at the last moment I decided to change my game character.

I had never played a giant before, so the inconvenience of their overweight body came as an unpleasant surprise to me. The three-hundred-kilogram carcass was unable to run and climb the ropes, and even an ordinary steep ladder became a serious obstacle for the ogre, devouring all stamina when climbing. The giant's body reacted to all my commands with almost a second delay, which was especially difficult to get used to.

Such inertia of movements almost cost me my life in the previous fight with the nimble human assassin, who easily dodged the blows of my bulky two-handed axe. Then I had to act non-trivially - at some point, I imitated the swing of my weapon, but instead of a blow, I rushed forward, spreading my arms wide and knocking the crouched man down. Then I was wildly lucky - I managed to crush the nimble opponent to the floor with my carcass. After depriving the assassin of his main advantage - mobility, I easily dealt with him, simply by twisting his neck with my bare hands. That assassin was already my fourth frag in the final, but I myself had only thirty-seven percent of my life left. Too little to survive. Even critically small.

While stamina slowly recovered, I opened the statistics table. Of the thirty-two participants in the final, after almost an hour of play, only four remained alive - my ogre, the spearman, the elf archer and someone else unknown, whom none of the players could ever notice, and therefore in the table opposite The race and class of this character still stood as question marks. Meanwhile, this unknown man managed to kill three already. Cool, though. Apparently, some invisible stealth, covertly attacking from the back.

A signal sounded, notifying the participants that five minutes remained before the end of the tournament. We had to hurry. I opened the map. Judging by the plan of the building, a long, straight corridor awaited me behind a closed door. If I were an elf archer, it was there that I would guard my opponents, shooting opponents from afar. A very convenient place for her, this had to be taken into account.

Deliberately opening the door with noise, I took a decisive step forward, and then abruptly recoiled back. And then a long arrow with red plumage stuck into the door frame at the level of my head! I was not mistaken - the elf archer hid exactly where I expected. Without wasting a second, I rushed forward, growling terribly like an animal - a loud cry sometimes really helped, causing stupor, confusion, and fear in opponents. Especially when it was a deafening roar of a huge cannibal giant.

Even the greenest beginner understands that one arrow to the chest cannot stop such a massive living machine of death. Where would a fragile archer rush to, on which a huge brutalized ogre rushes? It was a headshot that did more damage. Therefore, at the moment when the elf let go of the bowstring, I shielded my face with a wide ax.

Trenk! Lucky - the arrow with a rattling sound ricocheted off to the side. That's a stupid girl! She would shoot at the legs, slowing me down and thereby gaining time for new shots. But the pointy-eared elf acted too predictably, and after the failure, she was completely confused, hesitated, dropped the next arrow, and then belatedly tried to run away from the approaching melee. Well, I do not! I slashed down from the right, and a beautiful, long-eared female head rolled over the stones, cut off by a terrible blow from a heavy axe. Fifth frag! And even without losing health on my part!

I stopped and opened the map again. There was little time left. Where to look for two more enemies? And at that moment, as if answering my question, literally twenty steps away from me, a distinct scream was heard behind the next door. Another negative enemy. I wonder who died this time? I opened the table with the list of participants. The name of the spearman faded, but in front of the last remaining opponent, a four appeared, meaning another frag. And again, the victim did not have time to see his killer. Skill, infection, to be sure ...

A timer ticked alarmingly in the upper right corner of the screen, indicating that there were less than two minutes left until the end of the finale. If there are several survivors by the end of time, a replay will be scheduled - the eight best cyber-athletes according to the results of the final will meet again on the same map. Oh, how I would not want to - I was already barely thinking after many hours of gaming marathon. In addition, today at the third pair at the university, an important control test was to be held, for which I would like to prepare, and before that, at least a little sleep. So go ahead, take the risk!

Slamming the door open, I immediately staggered back, repeating the trick the archer had bought into. But no one attacked me. Strange. After calming down a bit, I looked around. A tiny dimly lit room filled with furniture, from which two exits at once led from different sides to the same semicircular balcony covered with ivy. A round hatch in the ceiling and a hanging rope ladder. Perhaps the mysterious invisible man has already climbed up in this way. But most likely my opponent was somewhere here in this small darkened room, hiding in invisibility and waiting for my mistake. Now I was faced with the task of somehow detecting him without exposing my vulnerable back at the same time - for many game classes, hitting an opponent in the back was considered critical and caused increased damage.

I cut the ropes of the ladder, then crisscrossed the air with my axe, then sharply drew the blade along the floor a couple of times. Empty. Either my opponent was so skilled that he dodged my attacks completely silently (which is unlikely), or he was not here at all. But then where is he? Upstairs? It is unlikely - he, too, probably wants to finish the final here and now, and not participate in a replay. Is he waiting for me on the open, well-lit balcony? Come on, some kind of nonsense, why would a “stealther” give himself away and come out of the shadows?

I looked around again. There was absolutely nowhere to hide in this small room. Bedside tables, a small table, an open wardrobe with lopsided doors. Once again slashing the space of the room with my weapon, I again made sure that the enemy was not there. The siren howled disgustingly - the last minute of the final went. So, it was necessary to decide - through the right or left the door to go out onto the balcony. Behind one of these doors, a rival was waiting for me, probably now from invisibility watching my mental torment. It's a pure lottery whether I can go head-to-head and kill him using the giant's strength advantage, or whether a choice mistake will result in the invisible one going behind me and winning.

Sighing heavily, I made a decision… and with all my strength, spending all the accumulated stamina at once, I slashed the wardrobe with the ax!

My heavy weapon cut into something soft. Eat! Bingo! Instead of boards and chips, blood-spattered, a halved body collapsed to the floor. A metamorph that takes the form of objects. Waits for prey and attacks unsuspecting prey from behind, usually killing with one blow. A class rarely used in online tournaments due to its slowness, the need to be very close to the victim, and absolute helplessness if the first attack did not lead to the killing of the enemy. An unexpected choice, but it must be admitted that he almost led to victory.

- How do I do it? Have you seen it?! I shouted enthusiastically to my roommates as I removed the VR helmet from my head.

And froze...

In the dorm room, there were many people in gray spotted police uniforms. My friends were sprawled on the floor, their wrists cuffed behind their backs.

“Yes, we saw it,” a mustachioed man with a shortened machine gun in his hands, apparently the leader of the group, grinned. “Come on, fall on the floor too, legs to the sides, hands behind your back. And don't make me repeat my words twice, champ...