Arenas…The hearts of PvP. The three maps in Helios are bona fide classics….Back in the day we used to have to study every nook and cranny of every single map in the game, but rarely were they voted into play in upper leagues.
I was hit by a wave of heavy nostalgia. Back in the first few years when a new region was added, I was excited to experience the map for the first time. While it felt like back then, it also felt different at the same time standing in front of the Arena in person.
“Well this place is much more different than what I remember” I commented
“Oh ho ho…it’s a whole new experience in there as well….especially if it’s your first time away from a mouse and keyboard.” Jun replied to that
And as we were contemplating about the experience, I suddenly felt a sudden weight on my shoulders as if a wall of bricks collapsed onto me
“Oniiii-chan….you might want to watch your back next time” as usual, her speed and unpredictability always have me guessing….all the more reason most of her death traps are effective against their poor victims.
“Alright, alright...you win” I conceded to get her off me. And it worked
While I got on one knee to get the walking disaster off me, she followed through and hurried back to the side of her much more reserved younger sibling.
“What have you two been upto?” I inquired
“Just checking everything out. Meguru has been my personal lookout for the entire time” She said while surprise hugging her sister.
“Onee-chan…..give me some room will you?” Meguru tried to push her clingy lookalike away.
I got back up and regained my balance and let out a sigh of relief “Good to know something hasn’t changed in here” I told myself
I turn around to spot Jun’s attention being diverted towards the distant entrance to the arena
“Something wrong?” I inquired
“Those guys…. Meguru, any idea why they are here?” Jun asked
Ducking under Mai’s hold, she finally broke free and left her sister floored for a moment. She approached us, fixed up her glasses and answered Jun’s query
“Collectors are all over the place, groups of at least four at every entrance. They seem to be scaring people away from the Arena and they seem mostly successful. If they are doing the same to the other two Arenas in the city, I’d say that our chances of being matched up with any clans from Helios would be low” Meguru let us in with her observations
“Meguru, you meanie” Mai commented from behind her on the floor
She immediately turns around and tends to her sister, going back to her usual self “ Ah! Sorry Onee-chan, I wasn’t expecting to drop you”
“Tsk, these bastards are getting persistent. Scaring off PvP groups and pushing them into more World Quests…where they fall victim to the absurd taxation” Jun commented
“I mean, it won’t be affecting us right? Even if there aren’t anyone queuing in Helios, there has to be people in the other cities in the Bronze layer queuing for PvP”
“I don’t think it’s that simple…I mean think about it. Notices for Ascension BRs start once there is at least two hundred teams at RP Cap-” But as Jun tried to finish his sentence, Meguru did it for him
“Twelve cities in the Bronze layer, thirty Arenas in total, and approximately millions of players. Jun-nii is expressing the fact that how come there aren't at least two hundred people who have hit RP Cap yet, even after two months.” Meguru preached, looking at us with a blank expression
Jun shivered “Yeesh….been my sister for all this time and it still sends chills down my spine when she does that”
“So I guess we are not the only ones with problems to deal with” I commented
“They might not have to deal with these assholes….but chances are they have their own disruptions to deal with”
“What’s their deal anyways?” I inquired
“What do you think? If you want to be the king of the castle, you have to make sure that no one else sits on the throne. The taxation is in place to slow RP gains and maximize losses….these assholes can’t tax PvP since only solo or registered clans can queue for matches. Noone in this elo can sustain going for long days of PvP grinding alone. Ammo and utility are expensive, and the only way to make a proper amount of Rels for PvP is through PvE quests” Jun let out a final comment, putting his hands behind his back like he is lounging, but he looked anything but relaxed. “Fuck…I really don’t want to deal with these assholes right now”.
But after a moment of thought based on something I recalled Tadano-san saying. That gave me an idea
“I’m going to need ya’ll to trust me on this” I said looking at the group
“Ahhh nope…..I know that look. You are going in alone for Hail Mary play” Jun read right through me
“It might be a Hail Mary, but it’s the best shot we got….look this goes south, the whole of the New World Order will collapse onto you…Think about them” I nod to the side to let Jun know I was meaning the other two
“Nii-chan….you really have to give us more credit than that. We can handle ourselves” Mai commented while puffing her chest forward, picking up on my gesture
“I’m sure you can, Mai…. But don’t forget…. golden rule of team fights.”
“Never fight greater numbers than your own. If you are one, you fight only one” Mai recited in sync with me... But Jun was quick to cut me off, redirecting my own advice at me
“But what about you…if it goes south for you, it'll be a 1v god knows how much, since you’ll have an entire army after you. What then?” Jun inquired looking concerned
“I don’t fight, I run….basically make enough noise that they will be forced to focus more on me and less on others”
Guess that is something I am not unfamiliar with
“That is the worst plan you could’ve ever come up with, Akio… remember what you said to me about shouldering too much-”
“And do you remember what you said? That you won’t hesitate to leave me behind if it means your sisters get to live even a while longer?” I countered
“Jun-nii” Meguru said with a tone of disapproval
“Really?” and so did Mai come in with the follow-up with a similar tone
“Akio, I-” Jun showed a hint of regret but even he knew that what he said had only lead to this
“It’s fine…really. I mean…you guys are family…of the same blood. I’m just a guy who lost everything he cared about, who is here to have his skills used. But just for old times sake, if I could do anything with my meaningless existence, I’d gladly help you guys survive for a while longer.”
I looked back at my objective, quickly darting my eyes around in case there are any unnecessary surprises I am to avoid, but I spot none.
“I should go….lets hope that it does go well”
I slowly backed off and started approaching the Arena before I let any of them convince me otherwise. Jun couldn’t find the right words in time to stop me, and so couldn’t the twins
Here’s hoping that my plan would work….for their sake.
I’ve already survived a tussle with their leader, I don’t think I should be any more afraid of his goons. With that mindset, I put up my hood and blended into what little crowd there was. I had the entrance to the Arena in front of me, and it was getting closer with every step I took. As expected, things did not go smoothly. Suddenly, a group of six closed in on me, circling me from all directions
“Arena is closed for the public, if you want to grind, why not fancy some PvE. I heard there are some new quests and raid bosses in” The man in front said
They were all wearing the same outfit. Full black with visible body armor, and with the same orange logo on their sleeve.
“Says who?” I asked
“Says me” he replied, closing his distance to me in the hopes of scaring me, but just like I did to their main man, I held my ground without showing any signs of fear or intimidation from them.
“I’ll see it for myself. So if you could just let me through-” I moved to go around him, but he repositioned to cut me off again
“Are you right in the head? DID YOU NOT HEAR WHAT I JUST SAID. THE ARENA….IS….CLOSED”. He exclaimed and pulled my hood off, but I didn’t have to worry about any pre-emptive strikes as they clearly didn’t recognize me
The whole surrounding came to a stand still for a split second after he shouted and all eyes were on us. The fact that I remained unrecognized to the crowd was a good sign that my pinch penny bounty was not something people either cared about or was willing to claim. The noise just bleeded back in, and so did the tension in the air. In the corner of my eye I saw Jun and the twins approaching, to which I made eye contact for a moment and nodded them off
“You really do have the audacity to look away, don’t you? So let me break down what’s going to happen if you keep bothering us…. You walk away and find something else to do with your time, or we toss your carcass in the ditch where we dispose of the other people that try to defy us” and it is topped off by the faint laugh by the other three around me
“Let's say I do go against you…. You really think that Isaac would stand it if you kill someone he told you to leave be?” I said to reveal my trump card.
That completely caught the group by surprise, as they suddenly took a couple of steps back.
“How do you know that name?” The same guy asked
“Victor…his arm, it’s him” said the goon behind me. The man in front of my face tilted his head down and looked at my left arm…guess they figured it out from the gauntlet. He looked back up and clicked his tongue in disapproval
“Yeah, thought so” I said as they cleared my path, but I knew that look all too well…..their pride was shattered which certainly means they will look to retaliate. I best not drop my guard
My bluff worked, and what Tadano-san told me was right… Isaac really has told everyone to not fight me….The question I have is…why?
I open the huge doors into the Arena and they open all the way themselves. And just like that, the previously wary crowd starts to crowd up for PvP.
The staff at the Arena sensed the coming storm and moved fast to have everyone line up in an orderly fashion. Since I was the first to enter, I moved fast and got ahead before the queues piled up.
“You really did have a reputation for pulling wins out of your ass without anyone to back you up” the voice of Jun beside me throws a sarcastic remark my way
“Yeah….this is why you should give others a bit more trust than you usually do”
“Look, Akio…about before-” but just as he started, the counters for PvP matching started, and being first in queue, I was called over
“Save it for when we get back?” I asked
“Yeah…sure” Jun replied hesitantly. It was clear he wanted to set things straight as soon as possible
“Welcome to Helios Arena Two, please place your hand on the table so we can get started” the woman at the reception said, to which I complied. A beam of green light went under my right hand on the table as if it was scanning me. “Thank you for your compliance, Mr….Nakamura. I see that you don’t have a prior record in PvP as of yet, would you like to go through the tutorial-”
“I’ll pass…thanks”
“Alright, please be aware that you need a team of 6 to participate in an Artifacter PvP match, are you looking to queue alone or with your clan?”
“With my clan please”
“Most certainly, data of Clan Scarlet Knights, ready to be sent to the Public Matchmaking Space. Please be aware that you’ll be paying 50RP per match and it will be returned along with another 50RP additional if you win. However-”
“I’ll spare you the effort, I already know how the system works, you can rest easy” I assure her
“Uh!...Finally…I already was sick of explaining the tutorial and basics to every new player that walked in here” Huh!…wasn’t expecting that reaction from a Spark of all people. “It’s either read the same thing over and over and over again or fend off all those random creeps hitting on me…Ahhhh…This job is going to be the end of me” She started to let loose all of a sudden
“Uh…you are on the clock you know?” I said
“I know, but who are they going to replace me with?” she said casually
“Yeah well, you don’t have to worry about him trying to hit on you…. He is physically incapable of doing that” Jun leans his head in and adds
“Can you not for a second?” I told Jun and waved him away
She chuckled “That’s fine, it’s nice to have your job made easy once in a while”
“Final thing I want to let you in on, you can challenge or even be challenged for PvP matches for RP gains of your choice, would you want to-”
“Thanks, but-” but just like I interrupted her, I was interrupted by someone I wasn’t surprised to see.
“He’ll take on a challenge” said the group from before. I knew presuming that they tucked tail and ran was too good to be true
“Oi, Victor… What are you even doing? Do you even know who he is?” said one from his group
“Marshall brought me up to speed” While he was at the opposite counter to me, he left the line and found himself in front of my face and continued
“The Japanese legend of the CG League who was known for bringing a knife to gunfight….Let me tell you something Namakura”
“It’s Nakamura” I corrected him
“Oh he is so getting ass whooped” Jun commented from the back
“I don’t give a fuck even if your name is Crocodile fucking Dundee….you think you are a big shot in here just because you made a name for yourself out there? Then let me give you a quick reality check…. Just because you did good behind a mouse and keyboard doesn’t mean jackshit in here….It’s the survival of the fittest, and you are about to be taught that the hard way.”
He returned to his counter “As a matter of fact, I’m going to make sure you remember this loss. I’m putting 300RP up for grabs.”
“Victor, are you insane….Remember what the boss said-”
“The boss said not to kill him, he didn’t say anything about knocking him down a peg. Besides, I’m sure the boss would be happy that we took much more RP off the table than usual”
“What it going to be, legend?…You going to stand up like a man, or are you going to cower like the fake you are”
Overbloated ego, overconfidence, underestimating their opponents. I am certain on what I want to do now, and I’m pretty sure the Kanies do too.
I turn back to the lady at my counter
“Can I take that challenge?” I asked
“Well, you don’t have anything in the terms of individual RP, but you do have three teammates with enough RP. You can participate but if you lose, it will put you in minus” she informed me
“What happens if I go minus?”
“You would have to get back to zero RP playing World Quests” he answered from the other counter
“And don’t you worry, I’ll make sure I am very generous with how much I’d tax you…. And besides, I’m pretty sure the boss would be very grateful if I was to keep you on a short leash” he tries to intimidate me and get into my head, and I fire back with my usual type of responses
“Man, keep your kinks to yourself…. And I will let you know, I don’t swing that way” however, what I wasn’t expecting was a reaction out of Jun from that instead of the NWO goon.
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
“Hi…Hello…Excuse me for a moment there, I’m just going to borrow Mr. Tactless over here for a few seconds” Jun leans in to intervene, and leaves after putting his hand over my shoulder and pulling me down
First taking a deep breath, he asked me “Do you want to die a painful death?”
“Relax, I got this” I reassured him
“Yeah, I can see that….that’s exactly why we're talking like this right now. 300RP on the table, we lose this, we are down back to square one. And you really don’t want to piss these guys off, common grunts or not” I was reminded of the situation we were in
“Who you calling a common grunt?” The main man of the group said, overhearing our conversation. At least he had the decency to give us a time out I guess, or is he that overconfident?
“Look, you wanted me to lead, this is my call. It all comes down to if you trust me…. Whatever happens, we have been through bigger shit shows than this…. And I’m sure this isn’t something we can’t handle. Mai, Meguru, Jun… I need to know you guys are with me on this one” I asked looking up at the duo and beside me at the big brother.
They first look at each other and nod at each other and then at me, letting me know they got my back. I look at the overconfident man “Alright, challenge accepted” I said while accepting the challenge request that prompted in front of me. “See you inside”
“Oh and I forgot to tell you one more thing, no randoms allowed to fill your team” he said with a condescending smile on his face.
“Hey, that’s cheating” Mai was quick to express her view
“It’s a pity I forgot to mention that, and I am not nice enough to have a couple of my teammates sit out” and he started to laugh maniacally.
“This bastard” said Jun
“Don’t worry, we got this” I look at Jun and reassured him
All three of them looked like he was mesmerized for a second.
“Yeah… You are at the wheel…Leader” Jun reassured me
And off we went.
The door to the matchmaking room opened and stepped into what looked like an extremely massive stadium. What followed was the door closing behind us, and us suddenly teleporting into the spawn room…. I walked ahead, turning around to look at everything… It really was a one of a kind experience to witness the maps I used to study, in person.
“Not gonna lie, this is really fucking cool” I was suddenly taken away by the flood on nostalgia, so much so it completely drowned out the voice of Jun calling out to me
“AKIO!” Jun’s scream snapped me back to my senses.
“What?” I asked in annoyance
“How are you out there?” Jun inquired looking surprised, so did the other two
“What are you talking about?” I asked in confusion
“You are outside spawn…noone can leave spawn till the match starts.” Jun iterated and he demonstrated by trying to leave himself, only to be stopped by what looks like an invisible wall
“What?” I ran back to where they were and placed my hand on the so called ‘wall’, but it was completely permeable to me….as if it was not even there
Suddenly a wave just passed right under my feet, to which I turned around and witnessed the whole map devolving. The finely built structures and walls suddenly became shorter, absent and full of gaps.
“Welcome to Psyphon Foundation '' said the P.A voice straight into our heads.
“Foundation type Psyphon Labs… well, this is going to be annoying” I thought out loud
“Hope you are not getting cold feet, Nii-chan” said Mai with a smug face.
“Heh… I don’t do cold feet, I give them….. God, that sounded a lot cooler in my head”
Jun had his hand on his head and sighed “ Even put through the boiling pot of Hell, and he still is the usual doofus”
“Countdown…begin. Match starts in sixty seconds” The voice of the announcer said
“Can you move out there?” I was asked by Jun
“I think so” I replied
“We are down two people, but we have an advantage. You can scout out their positions before they set up and we can set up for a dive ambush. The earpiece that materialized…” I touched my ear and it was the first time I noticed it “ It’s set automatically to team only, push the button on it switch from team-chat to all-chat. If you don’t switch it back to team-chat after that, it will do it on it’s own after thirty seconds”
And that is exactly how much time we had left till the match started, as announced
“One last thing, don’t be afraid of death, you can respawn in here. A button should pop up on your interface when you are below 25% HP….use it to conserve HP potions. Twenty seconds….go” Jun immediately sent me off to make our advantage count.
I give him a quick nod of approval and break away to make use of this head start. I had two options….One, do what I am supposed to do and take any high ground away from the enemy, forcing them to play low and giving them less cover and space to work with overall. Two, I sneak onto their side and go for a surprise attack. While I was tempted to opt for the latter, I still didn’t know how different PvP was in here compared to the old days, and the one thing I don’t want to do right now is overextend and start my first match in this new game with a death. So trusting my instinct, I made my way to the lab building and climbed all the way up with my innate mobility and scanned the whole area around the enemy spawn, to give myself a quick refresher about the points of interest of the map.
Normally, Psyphon Labs is a technical map with a lot of low and high ground cover and not many open sightlines. These are the kinds of maps I excel at, as I can close the distance to enemy players without being seen and pounce on the weaker members when they least expect it….That is, if this was the normal map at least. Unfortunately, what we ended up with is the foundation variant, which has a lot of exposed gaps in walls and many pieces of cover which are there in the base map are either missing or only half present. Foundation type maps are the playground for players who use precision weapons, so this is more up Meguru’s alley but is disadvantageous for me, Mai and Jun. From my observations so far, the odds are heavily weighted against us.
No, no,no… Snap out of it, Akio. The moment you think the game is lost is when you truly lose….you’ve won games short of players before, this time is no different. Alright, focus…identify their weapons, predict their positions, find their anchor, find their weakest link….Distract or assassinate.
Usually a razor focus is enough to get me into the zone back in the day, but the unpredictability and the unknowns in this new strain of PvP is preventing me from getting there. And right now, all I can do is to focus on the basics and play the team game. And it was about to begin
“5...4…3…2…1…Engage” the voice announced.
Spawns were open and everyone was made haste to take up power positions. In a game where information is key and it being my job to get that initial bit, I run into the risk of either being outpaced and beaten to the best position by the enemy scout, or the enemy sniper sets up early and takes my head off before I can get any early game value. With the spawn advantage I had, I didn’t have to worry about either of them as I was already set up before they even came out of spawn. A few seconds later, my eyes caught movement…. A group of six appearing around a corner one by one into the main path and four of them, in groups of two, split into the two different directions taking the high ground on either sides. Each spawn had a path leading to a building in the middle, a.k.a, the building I am currently on top of…. But the map wasn’t symmetrical… if they were to push towards us, we would be in a pinch as the cover on their side is much better compared to ours. However, that would be the case in any other situation, as I noticed one detail that had me dumbfounded.
“You are our eyes and ears right now, Nii-chan ....what do we got?” Mai inquired over the comms
“Uh….2-2-2 split, one group on each of the three map lanes.” I replied
“They are playing standard tactic…. what are they running?” Jun finally asked it
“They… are running assault rifles” I answered
The comms were silent for a second as they were expecting me to answer with more
“Well, go on. How many ARs and what else?” Jun reiterated
“Uhhhh….” I took a couple of seconds to reassess my answer, and I came to the same conclusion, further cemented by the fact they started to all focus fire on me up high, with none have a chance of hitting me. “Six ARs” I answered
Another moment of silence came over the comms, and Jun came back on “I’m sorry….run that by us again?”
“Six ARs...that's it. All mid rangers who can’t even hit the broad side of a barn right now” I scream through the comms as the suppression from the barrage of gunfire coming my way from below is almost deafening. Doesn’t help the fact the roof also has a fair amount of soft floors and gaps that I could potentially get shot from.
“Artifact isn’t spawning for another sixty seconds, logic out of the window maybe, but what’s the plan, Leader?” asked Meguru over comms
I really didn’t have to strain my brain over this, as they were playing like real amateurs. Everyone was mirroring the other, no one was flanking or attempting to sneak up on me. Best course of action was to end this while they were acting predictably.
I started to relay my plan on the comms “We play Dual Disaster Defense and Clean-up. They are all going to start reloading in a few more seconds, I divert their attention away from here and towards their spawn…use that time to approach and set up. Mai, Meguru…you guys are our anchor. Meguru, you set up on my position and provide overwatch…Mai, you might want to polish off your aim with that bow of yours. You are our mid to long range pressure.”
“Sir…Yes, Sir” said the duo in unison like this was a boot camp. Brings back memories of the good old times
“Jun, you put pressure on mid-range and keep them busy until I set up. Once I go in or get seen before I strike, you cover me and make sure I don’t get jumped?” I let Jun know about his part in the fight “We good?” And I make sure that everyone is on the same page.”
“With you all the way” Jun replied
And as we finished, the moment to strike had arrived, every gun except one stopped firing as everyone emptied their clips onto my position in the hopes of possibly weakening the little bit of cover I had. But it was safe to assume they clearly didn’t know how to abuse high ground advantages if that was really their game plan. Once the shooting settled and everyone was reloading, Jun was quick to fire a few controlled bursts from his AR dealing the first damage in the game. They were in a tight spot….Most of them with empty guns scrambling to get fresh mags out of their inventories, and while they didn’t have a solution to Jun’s pressure, they were sent further down the pit once Mai’s bow came into play. So much so that a moment later, one of her arrows found the head of one of the enemy players which turned into dust and back to spawn. Unlike outside of PvP, the one’s taking damage were not bleeding, rather, it was as if their skin was rupturing like glass, exposing what looked like a hollow vessel of white inside. The flying bits of shards once someone takes damage was what gave away when shots connected onto opponents and vice versa.
I used this moment to jump off height and snuck behind the whole enemy team. Three of them headed back and were trying to use potions to heal up, which was my chance to strike. Catching them off guard, I started my attack by jumping out of my hiding spot and buried my blade deep in the neck of one of the enemy players. I recalled that none of them had reloaded after their exchange with our mid-range pressure meaning they only had a few bullets worth left to shoot. To avoid getting massacred, I turned the body of my first victim around and used him as a human shield, to which the remaining two predictably emptied their guns into, sending their friend right back to spawn. I loaded a trio of kunai onto my hand and threw it at the closest assailant that was trying to reload, which lodged itself into his shoulder and chest. He tried to quickdraw his pistol to fend me off but he was already in my effective range. I knocked his gun away and floored him with a quick leg sweep. These guys were completely defenseless against my aggression and the three at the front were torn between helping their backline or keeping the barrage of arrows and bullets coming their way at bay. They were in full panic mode and I couldn’t have hoped for a better outcome.
The third was more resilient against my offense since he had a blade himself which he took from his inventory. While he had no advantage whatsoever with his bought blade against my Cyber-Gear, a one second stall is all you need to turn fights around. But just as he was parrying my attacks, he fell down to one knee as one of his legs shattered upon a deafening sound of a large gun. Meguru had setup and now we had the advantage of overwhelming pressure against them. I used this advantage to get a strong left punch in, which depleted the rest of the remaining HP he had, sending him back to the spawn room.
“Akio-Nii….Artifact incoming to your right” Meguru gave me a heads up from her bird’s eye position
“Artifact spawns now active, obtain and deposit the Artifact” said the P.A all of a sudden
The Artifact was in my sight, and the one I floored earlier also had his eyes on it. However, with me being on my feet I don’t think twice about running for it. But as I was going for it, the floored enemy took a couple of shots with his handgun and happened to put two in my back. I turned around and blocked three consecutive shots thrown my way with my blade, until Meguru put a bullet in his brain. Unfortunately, his stall proved effective as now the three that were opposing Jun and Mai were coming my way, and they had a lot more than handguns equipped. I leaped at the Artifact and got possession of it, and immediately got up and ran around a couple of corners crouched down in an enclosed area. While I was running however, I managed to get hit, all that with the two handgun shots I took had put my health bar into the red. But it didn’t help the fact that I had left a blood trail behin-…..Wait, what?
I managed to touch my wounds and they weren’t cracks, they were actual gunshot wounds. It even felt real. The lack of pain at first slowly builds up to a burning sensation.
“You are in a pinch, Akio….Best if you force respawn” Jun recommended
And that was a fair recommendation, to which I planned to follow through, bringing up my interface.
“Nii-chan, you might want to respawn. One guy got away from my line of sight and they are closing in on you” Mai warns me, not aware of the more imminent problem here
I deduced that they were converging on me from the sound of the footsteps getting louder, I guess they are also being aware of Meguru’s line of sight as I wasn’t hearing any sniper shots going out
Jun started becoming impatient as he noticed the same “Akio, what’s taking you so long. Hit the damn respawn button already so we can-”
“I CAN’T” I screamed over the comms “The button is grayed out for me. It’s not letting me respawn…. And I’m bleeding Jun… If I am bleeding and can’t respawn, it could mean-”
“It could mean game over for you if you die” Jun suddenly came to the realization “Oh god fucking damn it…. Akio, listen to me…..find a way to buy me a few seconds, I can get an angle on these guys but I just need time. I am not about to let you die…..I am not about to let anyone die under my watch ever again” He clearly sensed my panic over the comms “ Listen, take a deep breath…and calm down. Remember that panicking is the bane of our craft. I will get you out of this” He said clearly trying to not panic himself.
I tried to calm down my heavy breaths. The burning sensation of the gunshots I took was rising to the point where it started to become excruciating, but I had to grit my teeth through it, as using an HP vial is not the best course of action right now, especially if I am to stall for time. I took a quick look through my inventory to see if I had anything that could get me out of this situation. And that is when I saw it….the smoke grenade I was given by Jun back at the market. These guys never used grenades this entire match, so it’s fair to assume they don’t know how to play around smokes.
I pulled the pin on the smoke and held it in my hand. The room started to fill up with smoke, obscuring my vision as well as everyone who peaked inside to kill me. I could only hope that they wont high tail it through the smoke and run me down. I could see silhouettes of the enemy trying to dissipate the smoke with their hands but to no avail. I might not be able to hear their comms, but I was certain that they were screaming out of their lungs trying to find either me or each other. And this happened to be the opening the Kanie’s were hoping for. Jun and Mai were quick to throw fire the way of anyone who was trying to escape the smoke, and they were being pressured either into making exploitable mistakes or right into the sight of Meguru’s sniper scope. And quickly, the area around me was cleared of enemy players, which allowed me to breathe for a second.
Jun approached me being on guard….usually this isn’t a luxury we would have but since the enemy is more bravado than skill, we had a lot more time to recuperate than usual. And after learning about my critical weakness, I definitely could use a couple of minutes right now.
“You are bleeding” said Jun in a concerned tone.
“Really? I hadn’t noticed” I fired back with some light sarcasm “Are you telling me that I have to play PvP all the way to Immortal, without dying a single time? Even my ass knows that is borderline impossible”
“Since when have you been afraid of the impossible?” commented Jun “ Look, you can feel overwhelmed after we finish this game, right now? We need you….I…need you” he extended his hand to me.
I took his hand and got back up on my feet, but the problem I had was my health bar. I popped a health potion to subside the pain, which led me to my next observation….I was healing as fast as a normal player would
“Head in the game?” asked Jun
“Hell yeah” while I wanted to be a bit more enthusiastic about it, but the doubt and my new found fear slightly showed itself in my tone, which I felt cracking.
I quickly glanced at my interface to check the scoreboard, which accurately gauged how this match was going. Out of the required 100 points to win, the score was 37-0….not a single death on our side and while Jun and I had a half a dozen kills between us, it’s the Dual Disasters that had been doing all the heavy lifting.
“Meguru…how is it looking from up there?” I inquired over the comms
“I know I shouldn’t be undermining opponents, but the training dummies in the barracks put up more of a fight than these guys” Mai answered instead…being blunt as usual
“They are running split defense. I’m guessing that they are expecting us to push inwards with the Artifact, and then rack up kills playing the backfoot. Their leader seems to be screaming a lot though from what I see on the scope right about now” Meguru lets us in on her observations
“Just as I thought. Noone is driving the ship on that team….they are all doing their own thing and are falling apart.” And I let everyone in on my pre-game deduction
“Just like a bronze game…where everyone just keeps playing the blame game without owning up to what they are doing wrong” Jun contributes.
“Looks like we caught a break…. Let their infighting do the work for us, force them to make mistakes and wipe them out…. Jun, you are my backup….keep them off me while I go for the bank” I laid out the plan and just like the Zero days, they put the trust in my instincts….Well, it’s not like we needed to pull out anything but the most basic of strategies at this moment anyways.
The game was so one-sided that spawn protection kicked in a few times…. And it worked the same as it used to…..vacate enemy spawn area for 15s to let them take back positions for a fighting chance. But no matter how much times they were given chances to reset, they just kept getting overwhelmingly outplayed.
These guys had no strategy in mind. They trickle in one by one and get picked off before the rest of their team can help them, and while they do take high ground, they have no idea how to use it as an advantage. The match went on but it was nothing but bullying at one point.
42-0, 58-0 and 74-0 and the end was finally nearing with a kill and an artifact bank away at 84-0. Throughout the game, the duo on overwatch remained unchallenged, accumulating more than half of our team’s total kills. While I had the threat of permadeath looming over me, the long-cultivated synergy between me and Jun in covering each other’s weaknesses was another question the enemy didn’t have an answer to.
With them getting thoroughly steamrolled, the morale of the 6-man team was barely existent, they were all huddled up near the wall of their spawn; it was the only area that was out of sight from the glint of a sniper scope. But it’s only in that moment of pressure that they remembered to use a crucial mechanic in the game…utility.
Catching our sniper’s nest off guard, smokes started flying all over the place. They weren’t strategically used to allow the enemy some breathing room, rather thrown out at random places in the hopes of an unlikely comeback. Usually, this would not be something I would be alarmed by, but the run-of-the-mill strategy we were using is one that is used to steamroll through lower ranks at ease…Ranks where utility usage is near non-existent.
We had no time to reset and replan as if I decided to do so, it would just shift the momentum of the game in their favor, we had to improvise… Deep down I know there is no way that they could win this, but I have learned it the hard way many times over that one of the biggest mistakes you can do in competition, is underestimating a desperate opponent whose back is against the wall.
“Smoke is cutting off our line of sight…. It’s a 2v6 till it clears out” Mai let us know over the team comms.
“New plan?” Jun inquired from right next to me as we were positioned on the right lane high ground.
“No…we adapt” I passed the glowing matchbook sized artifact to Jun, who caught it with his off-hand without dropping his stance with his Assault Rifle. “Jun, you are on smoke defense. I’m moving left flank….The moment you count 5 kills, you run through to bank the artifact.”
“What?” Jun inquired, with a sense of doubt in his face
But there wasn’t time to explain what I had in mind. “Trust me on this” those were the only words I let him in on before jumping off and circling around to the leftmost lane where I suspect a flank is coming from.
I gained the height advantage by climbing to the window on the left lane and assessed the situation first before dropping down into the flank route. But just like most of the time, my intuition was spot on this time as well. From the flank under me, I spot one of them trying to get a sneak attack on Jun from a distance, readying his underbarrel grenade launcher. I reacted quickly and jumped on him from above to get a pre-emptive strike in, blade in hand and heart in mouth….but his reactions were quick. He faced me while I was mid-air and fired at me…. Unfortunately the trigger he pulled was of his grenade launcher and not of his rifle.
The grenade barely missed me and it made contact with the window I jumped through. I had to abandon my attack as both of us had to jump away from the collapsing rubble. My unconscious groan from the pain of the shrapnel that pierced my back from that explosion leaked through my communicator to the rest of my team.
Mai, Meguru and Jun attempted to all check up on me simultaneously, creating a chaotic mix-up of voices over the comms. But however I instinctively knew what they were trying to ask
“I’m fine….Stick to the plan” I said to them from the floor.
The explosion had floored both me and the enemy, who I looked up and recognized as their leader. It was a race for who got back up on their feet first and it became difficult to decide who the winner was…Not that it mattered anyway as both of us were equally whiplashed to the point we barely could stand straight.
I suddenly found myself in a little bit of a sticky situation…. While my only escape route was cut off by debris, he didn’t have any issues as such, as a few dozen steps back and he could turn the corner and back to his team… And my only hope right now was for them to not be wise enough to come help their leader which would turn my odds from bad to crushingly worse.
“How is this happening… This isn’t a game anymore….HOW AM I GETTING ROLLED BY A GROUP OF NERDS?” It appears that the explosion had damaged the leader’s comms, and now everything discussed between them was now audible to anyone nearby….Well, not that they were discussing anything I could use against them anyways
“Victor, we are getting our asses handed to us here…We won’t be able to-”
“SHUT UP…ALL OF YOU, JUST SHUT UP. YOU’VE BEEN DOING NOTHING BUT DRAGGING ME DOWN THIS WHOLE MATCH. AT LEAST TRY TO MAKE YOURSELVES USEFUL AND GET AT LEAST A KILL” this ‘Victor’ guy screamed, and I heard it all. He was more frustrated than focused and that showed through his voice
I matched the field by switching my comms to all chat as well “Uhhh…just so you know, I can hear everything”
“Yeah…why does it even matter, unless we pull off an impossible comeback, my life is over anyways. To think that I took in with me a team that was all bark and no bite” he said while stabilizing himself and readying his weapon, “Tell me something, Nishimura…. How did you do it? How did a group of good for nothing brats, who only knew to press buttons on a keyboard, overwhelm ones who had actually been in fights?...On second thought, it doesn’t even matter does it. That bastard Roland is going to kill me once he finds out I used their clan’s name and lost a day’s worth of RP.” He pointed his rifle at me, holding it on one hand “But for my luck, I happen to find myself face to face with the weakest member of the group….I’ve played this thing long enough to know how weak melee/projectile builds are, and as my last act. I will go down knowing that I at least won against the man that our spineless boss is so afraid of” And once again, he readied his gun and was looking for a chance.
“Since it doesn’t matter anyways….I don’t mind letting you in on your deep doubts. I mean, it’s not like you would care either way, if you are that convinced that you won’t live to see another day. Number 1…. I don’t spend this much time talking in the middle of a fight” I said, meeting his eyes with a challenging gaze of my own.
This didn’t sit well with him as he immediately did as I anticipated and started firing at me. I used my blade to block the short bursts he fired at me. It’s a tactic that I usually won’t rely on, but considering how bad his recoil control is, I only had to block a few bullets at a time, which I was able to manage.
“Number 2….” I tossed a trio of kunai at his head height to blindsight him, the moment he ducked down to avoid them was the opening I needed. “I don’t let my opponent figure out my next move” I said, being only inches away from his head after I rushed him while he tried to get back up. Two quick blade swipes, one vertical found his torso and his skin had cracked along with his body armor, and one horizontal, which had cut the bottom of his loaded ammo clip, leaving his rifle with only one bullet in the chamber without a reload. He dived backwards to avoid getting hit by any more follow-up strikes and found himself on the ground, trying to crawl away from me and reaching for his handgun.
“Number 3… I might be the weakest, but I always blame myself and learn to do better” He tried to buy himself some time by using an impact smoke, but just as we predicted earlier, they have no idea how to utilize them. He gets back up and fires his handgun in my general direction, but I was long gone by then. He had no line of sight on me, and was looking around to spot me in a clear panic.
“Number 4… I never blame my teammates, I play off them”
“Scarlet Knights….Match Point” said the P.A right on queue…..Time to end this
“One last thing” I stayed low and rushed him from his blind spot, going for the finishing blow “The name is Nakamura” and the finale found my blade buried deep in his chest, turning the flashing red health bar on top of his head into fully empty, and right in front of me, his body shatters into dust.
“Match Concluded. Score 100-0. Winner…Team Scarlet Knights” said the P.A, and moments later a prompt appeared in front of my view, notifying me about all the RP I just gained.
The adrenaline washed over me and all the exhaustion and the damage I took from earlier started to catch up to me.
“So no dying for me in PvP even in high rank….What next does this place have in store in the hopes to screw me over” I thought out loud, hunched down trying to catch my breath. The thought of it was immense pressure for me, as dying and resetting fights is a crucial tactic in PvP. I just got lucky this time that the enemy team had no idea what they were doing
Suddenly, the whole map suddenly reverted back to its blinding white colosseum-like state, where all the building and rubble sunk into the floor, leaving nothing but a clear circular arena behind. And just like a proper arena, there are elevated seats where people were watching our game from. It’s quite impressive since I didn’t not even notice the spectators even once during the match…. Guess I found what I’ll be doing once I get some spare time.
While I chugged down my last remaining HP vial in my inventory, Jun who was at the closest proximity to me during the match, approached me moments later
“What the hell was that all about?” he inquired
“Saved your ass from eating a noob tube to the face……you’re welcome by the way” I replied
“It really ain’t that much of a threat to me unlike it is to you, either way, thanks for the save….but did you really have to crush the poor man’s morale that way?” Jun questioned me, clearly sensing my ulterior motive.
“As a matter of fact, I had another plan in mind….We are still here, what happened to the losing team?” I inquired from the more experienced PvP player among the two of us
“They exit first through the spawn room? Why does that matter?” Jun asked me back
“No time to lose, I’ll fill you in later” I started to pick up speed and hightailed it towards the exit, as my window of opportunity was closing fast but I managed to spare a few seconds as I turned back towards Jun “Hey….once we get back, drinks are on me” and I went back onto my mad dash out of here
“Oi, Akio….What’s all that about?” I could hear Jun’s fading voice behind me as I get further and further away from him, and a moment later, I barely avoid crashing into the Dual Disasters as well
I ran through the spawn gate into the main lobby, and I had found myself a minute too late to catch him. A group of people had been floored and they were still mad about it, chances are that he is still not too far ahead.
“What happened here?” I asked one of the floored gentlemen, hoping to get a faster answer on which direction Victor went.
“That damn group of collector scum, just ran through the crowd knocking everyone down. He was flailing around like a cornered rabid dog.” Said the man I helped up
“You saw where he went?” I inquired
“Yeah, him and the rest of that group just turned left and hightailed it just a few minutes ago”
That’s all I needed to hear, and hence I left with haste. I knew that this was going to happen. Eventhough he very well knew he made a fatal mistake; no man would willingly offer up his life on a silver platter. Chances were, he would’ve tried to escape. I had to be quick as if he is given time, he could very well disappear out of everyone’s sight.
This guy could act as a crucial source of information. From what I saw, he was a higher ranked officer of the clan, hence he wouldn’t have been given the chance to lead anyone…this might be the break I needed to relax the grip of Isaac’s hold on Helios, if I was to point him towards someone interested in taking Isaac in…some like a self-proclaimed Sheriff.
The crowds were dense but there were a lot of telltale signs that hinted the direction of which they had gone. Distraught groups of people and the chaos that this chase had caused along the way served to guide me to right where they were. After following the main road and into a more secluded part of town, the sounds of a fight around the next corner leading to the alleyway signified the fact that I had caught up to them. But what caught me by surprise was the fact that one of them was backing out of the alley, as he was afraid for his life
“Wait, wait, wait” the man said, backing out of the alley but was suddenly met with a bullet to the head followed by a loud bang.
Acting as a warning sign for me, I quickly took cover behind the wall at the entrance but due to the low visibility in there, all I could catch glimpses of was of two silhouettes in battle. One of them completely overpowering the other. I couldn’t make a move since I had no information on what was going on in there and I didn’t want to risk climbing the roof and him slipping out of my proximity again.
“Stop…You want to know where the boss is, I don’t know but I know who does”” said Victor from the alley, sounding hurt and defeated, and after taking a moment to catch his breath he continued “The person I report to is Roland, one of his lieutenants. But I’m fresh off a bad gamble, if I go back, he’ll gut me alive…. Here, all I know is we are supposed to meet his middle man at this bar after collections, he’ll know where Roland is, and he’ll know where the boss is” he spilled the beans extremely fast.
“That wasn’t so hard now was it?” That voice…. “Now as a favor, unlike your buddies, I’ll make sure your end is quick and painless”
“Wait, I remember you…It’s you isn’t it? The man who started it all. The Immortal Tyrant”
Why? Why now out of all times?