"South, 900 meters away, two players. 100 meters west from them, there are 10 bots. East to Kedarji, there's one ranged player, probably a DPS. Above Kedarji, their intel, one player. The rest gathered west of Kedarji, seven players, dozens of bots, probably around thirty," Zhendra reports while observing their enemies from a distance atop a hill not far from Kedarji —more precisely, northeast of Kedarji.
"Dens, confirm," Preta communicates through their intracom connection.
"Vector can use his skills to debuff three players, Natasha is safe —ready to use whenever, Hexon will launch a surprise attack after Crocils success slows their response time," Dens responds from a hill opposite to them, quite far south of Kedarji, still connected through their intracom.
"Crocils, confirm."
Alone and far west from them after diverting the enemy team's attention, Crocils hides while gathering energy. "Negative. Still on cooldown, can you give me a few more seconds?"
Preta glances at Gans without saying anything, but Gans understands what's implied.
Preta and Zhendra then run away from Gans, heading down the hill eastward, distancing themselves from Kedarji and the enemy group.
Gans watches Preta and Zhendra running, waiting for them to disappear from his sight.
"Gans, don't attack, just get their attention. Got it?" Preta commands.
"Understood. Attack them in," Gans responds.
"DON'T! Don't attack, just keep them busy. Got it?"
"Understood. Finish them off."
"GANS! What the heck did you hear? I said don't attack them!" Preta yells through the intracom.
"Understood. No mercy."
The conversation between Preta and Gans seems endless. While Zhendra, near Preta, just laughs hearing it.
"Relax, he knows what he's doing. He's just kidding," Zhendra tries to calm Preta down.
Preta stares at Zhendra, a terrifying look for Zhendra, who instantly stops laughing. "Don't be foolish. You know he can mess things up and get us all killed."
"Preta, just trust, they're not difficult opponents for us," Natasha speaks through the intracom, having listened to all their conversations so far.
"Still, even with level 1, we can't let our guard down. Victory must be ours tonight before the update."
"Chill, man, you're too serious," Vector chimes in on the intracom.
"Whatever, as long as you all don't mess up. YOU UNDERSTAND, GANS?" Preta still looks upset, raising his tone toward Gans.
"Understood. Are you both safe?" Gans replies while still keeping an eye on Preta and Zhendra, although they're no longer visible to him.
"Guys, hurry. My bots are under attack," Crocils says, accompanied by his short of breath.
"Execute!" Zhendra orders after checking the distance and visibility between himself and Preta with Gans' location.
Hearing the approval from Zhendra, Gans immediately activates his skill, summoning ten level 50 drones into the sky.
The drone's size depends on its level and type. Gans uses lightning combat drones, small and sleek but armed with a high-speed minigun that, despite firing bullets that aren't very painful, has an exceptionally high rate of fire.
The lightning type's primary advantage is its difficulty to detect while moving due to its very high and erratic speed. Additionally, Gans' upgraded drone components make it hard to spot directly as it uses camouflage technology and can teleport within short distances, useful for evading attacks.
However, its main weakness, apart from the non-painful shots, lies in the drone's armor vulnerability, making it highly susceptible to destruction with just a few precise hits. Also, its sleek body and small size limit its ammunition capacity and the types of ammo it can use.
Gans uses his lightning drone specifically to draw attention from the enemies and keep them busy, primarily to provide their team with time, especially for escaping. Hence, Gans equips his lightning drone with low-explosive ammunition that activates upon hitting their target. The low-explosive ammunition can 'blind' enemies momentarily upon impact.
"Gans, attack!" Crocils requests as he loses his bots again due to the enemy team's assault.
"It's showtime," Gans says, followed by all his drones emerging from dense foliage, beginning an attack on a player atop Kedarji and another player below.
Thousands of bullets rain down on both players in a short time, but even so, their HP doesn't decrease much—almost seems like it's not decreasing at all.
Kedarji is a castle ruin with a medieval-future theme dominated by rocks and high towers that equipped with futuristic weaponry and technology like the Highly Concentrated Laser (HCL) weapons and rocks coated with high-pressure air shields.
Kedarji was built by a group of players, not developers, but due to the Shared Player Driven Impact (SPDI) system, everything done by players that affects the game's world environment stays the same and doesn't revert to its original state. As a result, the ruins of Kedarji from the massive war (MW) that happened a few years ago in the real world remain same, with some changes over time due to the real-time environment, allowing the game's AI to adjust it to seem realistic.
The Watcher Tower of Kedarji is the only tower left from many that existed before. And, one enemy player hit by Gans' drone attacks is standing right on the top of watcher tower, trying to take cover.
However, even though both players can withstand Gans' drone attacks, they face another challenge when the already damaged Watcher Tower, due to long neglect, worsens with a continuous onslaught of low-explosives from Gans' drones.
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It doesn't take long for the Watcher Tower to tremble heavily. The enemy player previously standing firm on the tower's peak starts feeling panicked.
The fall damage he'd receive if the Watcher Tower crumbles isn't enough to kill him, but it's still painful, especially since he'll likely get stunned, providing a prime opportunity for his enemy to attack.
The enemy player below also feels the same fear. The imminent collapse of the Watcher Tower would deal significant damage to him, and he'd also get stunned. Anticipating this possibility, he immediately seeks an escape route, at least getting away from the Watcher Tower.
Gans emerges from the dense foliage, revealing himself to the two enemy players. "Now, here's my second gift," mutters Gans, unheard by anyone but thinking it sounds cool.
Gans takes out a long, curved weapon. The weapon looks like a traditional bow but lacks a string to shoot arrows because it doesn't need one.
The C-Bow is a weapon looks like a traditional bow but without a string. Its ammunition consists of highly concentrated lasers with high-power intensity capable of penetrating almost anything depending on the ammo's strength level.
Gans' modified C-Bow is capable of firing seven lasers simultaneously, following the curved path of the bow.
Gans gazes at the two players relentlessly enduring his drone attacks while also seeing the Watcher Tower weakening.
"Ta, the WT will collapse. If you agree, it'll stun both players," Gans communicates through their intracom.
"Wait... Crocils, how's your condition?"
"Safe, can you guys hold on for another minute?"
"Dens, confirm the enemy."
"Two players south of Kedarji responded to Gans' attack, while the rest are still searching for Crocils."
Preta and Zhendra, having descended the hill, pause. Preta looks at Zhendra, "You go to Dens and monitor, don't go out."
Zhendra nods, saying, "Got it."
Zhendra deploys his detection bot on the ground, which will signal his if any other player or NPC approaches their location. Then he rushes back to the hill where Dens is hiding.
"Vector, Hexon, attack the players in the south once they head to WT. Natasha, back them up. Dens, only come out if their main forces divert. I'm handing the south to you," commands Preta through the intracom while running toward the Watcher Tower, "Gans, destroy it. I'm on my way."
Receiving the order, Gans smiles and activates a heavy attack on the Watcher Tower. The attack makes the Watcher Tower tremble intensely, and some large rocks start to crumble.
The enemy player at the top of the Watcher Tower stops enduring Gans' drone attacks and rushes inside the tower to descend.
Meanwhile, the enemy player below the Watcher Tower, searching for an exit, has to endure for as long as possible and think of another way out because Gans has directed his attack around that player, leaving no escape route.
After the cooldown ends, Gans once again launches a heavy attack on the same spot of the Watcher Tower, and a critical hit causes the Watcher Tower to collapse.
#- South of Kedarji Watcher Tower -#
Two enemy players at the south start moving as soon as they hear about an attack aimed at the Watcher Tower from their friends.
Unfortunately, they don't realize they've been targeted by Vector, who immediately strikes as soon as they turn away.
Vector's attack isn't lethal, just tickling the enemies' HP. But his electric elemental attack is seriously annoying to anyone hit, as it can paralyze them for a few seconds.
This becomes a golden opportunity for Hexon to get closer and start destroying the bots.
The enemy's bots are soldier bots, controllable by the player, acting like the player's troops. Of course, this is useful for large-scale battles rather than PvP.
Generally, bots are easier to defeat than players, including the enemy bots now. However, their larger numbers are quite annoying and deal significant damage. Therefore, Hexon prioritizes destroying the bots first while both enemies are still paralyzed and unable to act.
"Natasha, start healing," Vector says, realizing his elemental attack's time is ending soon.
Natasha joins them, coming out of hiding, seeking new cover while preparing to heal Vector and Hexon.
Hexon manages to destroy four bots and paralyze two others, while Vector succeeds in destroying one bot.
Hexon then deploys his soldier bots to deal with the remaining enemy bots.
After Vector's attack effect ends, he immediately activates his skill to give himself and Hexon a buff. Meanwhile, Hexon activates his skill for a surprise attack, ensuring the next strike is a critical hit and increasing the damage by 50%. With this combo, Hexon attacks one of the enemy players, reducing his HP to less than 10%.
However, as the reaction of the enemy player's passive skill, Hexon gets stunned, unable to move for 5 seconds.
Fortunately, Vector still has some skill points (SP) left to anticipate this situation, using it to activate his skill that frees Hexon from the stun.
Hexon breaks free from the stun, but the buff given by Vector earlier disappears. Nonetheless, it's not too much of a problem.
Hexon uses some of his bots to keep the other player busy while taking advantage of that moment to kill the player whose HP remains at less than 10%.
That player had lost his armor due to the earlier attack, so one heavy attack from Hexon is enough to finish him off. Especially since Hexon, being an expert in critical hits, manages to land one.
#- West Kedarji -#
Crocils is fully recovered now. All of his HP and SP are back. Crocils then runs towards the northern path, avoiding direct confrontation with the enemies.
Crocils sees the enemy starting to split up. Three head south, where Vector and Hexon are battling two enemy players. Three others move north, where Gans is destroying the Watcher Tower in a fight, while one is still searching for his position.
"Three to Gans, Three to Dens, one holds. Orders?" Crocils communicates through their intracom.
"Can you handle it alone?" Preta asks.
Crocils takes a serious look at who he is about to face alone, the player who stayed while searching for his position.
As Crocils focuses, the player becomes clearer, and Crocils gulps, "Negative, it's Seamons."
"Clarify. Sea monsters or Seamons?"
"Seamons, not Sea monsters," Crocils answers, immediately hiding as Seamons glances in his direction. "Seems like he knows my position, need reinforcement, please."
"Shit! Zhendra, are you in position?" Preta asks Zhendra through their intracom, who's still running toward Dens' location.
"Negative," Zhendra replies, breathing heavily, showing signs of fatigue.
"Crocils, can you identify the other six players? How strong are they?"
"Negative, if he knows my location, he'll take me out."
"In that case, just run, use your skills to run away. Take a longer route, but head towards Dens. And Dens, once you spot Crocils, assist immediately," commands Preta. "Vector, Hexon, how are you guys?"
Vector and Hexon remain silent, and Natasha takes their place, saying, "In battle. We need time."
"Me too. Crocils, whatever happens, avoid and keep away from Seamons. He's at least a dozen levels higher than you."
"Got it," Crocils replies, running away from Seamons, but his position has already been exposed.
Seamons launches successive attacks towards Crocils, cornering him. Crocils is forced to use his teleportation skill and moves to a location he marked earlier.