CHAPTER SEVENTY TWO
His Mech's health bar flashed, and Jason registered the hit.
It flashed again, and he marked that hit down as well.
Then he pulled up the health report.
Head: 63%
Torso: 32%
Left Arm: 51%
Right Arm: 58%
Left Leg: 44%
Right Leg: 30%
He frowned.
He understood what the haphazard damage report meant, but he still couldn't tell where his opponent was attacking him from.
The veteran pilot groaned.
It felt like he was playing Battleship instead of Overdrive!
He had no idea what was going on!
For a brief moment, Jason considered thrashing out and trying to get information through blind luck. Considering his partner's low base defenses, she'd take a little bit of damage if he struck his opponent hard enough. That small percentage adjustment would give him invaluable information, but it might also scare off his opponent.
He didn't know much about her, but both times they'd fought, she'd displayed exemplary caution.
But nothing happened.
Jason couldn't see a consistent pattern. He could roughly tell where his opponent was striking from, but lashing out randomly and haphazardly would be dangerous.
He was gathering better information, but gathering information was very different compared to counterattacking.
He needed to kill his opponent in a single blow. Otherwise, he'd tip off that he knew his opponent's strategy.
His health continued dropping.
Head: 63%
Torso: 29%
Left Arm: 41%
Right Arm: 58%
Left Leg: 44%
Right Leg: 30%
Jason winced.
Just twenty-eight percent on his torso…
Jason would have a much higher margin for error had he kept the Antigone Armor.
He needed to get much more comfortable with the heavy equipment. He'd abandoned it this match to go all-out, but that was also a sign of his inexperience - in an ideal world, he'd be able to fight at maximum comfort level with both modes of his machine.
As his health continued decreasing, Jason realized what he needed to do.
Right now, Jason had his hands on the thrusters. In addition, he'd dove down towards the ground earlier. At the moment, his Red Minerva was in a strange and unpredictable position. If Jason really wanted to analyze his opponent using his health data, he needed to control all variables.
As a result, Jason fell over flat on his back in a streamlined position, almost like a swimmer kicking off the wall to start swimming backstroke.
Jason's pose allowed him to analyze his opponent's damage in a more reliable manner. With the Red Minerva's whole body taut and in a consistent pose on the floor, Jason narrowed down the angle his opponent could attack from.
Everything would come straight from directly above him.
The downward blows continued, and his Mech's health bars flashed.
Head: 63%
Torso: 29%
Left Arm: 41%
Right Arm: 58%
Left Leg: 36%
Right Leg: 21%
This time, Jason realized what was happening.
First, his torso and left arm had taken damage.
Then, both his legs had taken damage.
His opponent wasn't fighting barehanded. The hands of a Spell Titan were small and narrow. The impact would only land at a small point. Instead, his machine's entire arm flashed right whenever a blow made contact. Sometimes, the strike would even stretch across both his limbs now that Jason was lying in a streamlined position.
His opponent was using a weapon with a wide point of impact that inflicted very low damage - perhaps a fan or even a scarf.
The blows were randomized and haphazard, but now all of them were coming from an over-headed angle.
Jason counted out the pattern of the blows.
The strange hunched-over machine was slow and unwieldy.
There was roughly a 2.2-second gap between each attack.
Although it seemed like just a short time, that was an eternity in the fast-paced world of competitive Overdrive duels. Leaning over and striking an opponent shouldn't have taken that long.
The enemy pilot was using a base frame with no movement speed modifications. The ponderous number of Mana Gatherer Spikes stunted their physical abilities.
With the pattern discerned, Jason readied himself.
The entire lower part of his torso lit up as another blow landed. Jason could almost imagine his foe's hand stretched up just above it. The thin Spell Titan was totally exposed.
Normally, Jason would use the Blazing Avarice, but the move was too slow.
By now, the move's effects were somewhat well-known. He'd used them many times on stream at the Tournament of Assassins. Players knew to watch for an attack when the cave dragon clasped her hands together.
Fortunately, Jason had a new technique he'd developed just for these moments.
The Red Minerva was lightweight, but Jason's slender opponent was in the perfect weight class. Between a frail hermit and a skinny dragon, the dragon actually had an advantage.
After counting out the 2.2-second interval, Jason lunged upwards with his upper body, shifting from his streamlined position to a sitting position. At the end of his sit-up, he moved his arms forward.
He didn't hear anything, but the slight flashing on his damage chart showed that his hands had smashed into an object at top speed. He wrenched the control board back, jerking his thrusters. His machine fell back onto the floor, but this time, the strange cloaked machine was right on top of it.
Afterwards, he flipped his Mech around, shifting the controls so that he'd land on top.
As he did, he re-activated his machine's senses, once again turning on the Red Minerva's eyes and ears. For a moment, all his screen displayed was the countless thundering hands from the Fist of Thousand Mech, but then…
BANG!
The loud sound reverberated through the Palace of Emotions like a gunshot, and the illusion immediately disappeared. The red carpet on the floor was totally normal. The rest of the BAG Guild was watching Jason from above.
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His opponent was lying beneath him. One of the fragile Mana Gatherer Spikes had erupted under the weight of Jason's partner. The explosion sent both machines flying apart.
The Red Minerva somersaulted awkwardly through the air as Jason fought for the controls.
The other Mech had remained on the ground.
Explosions reverberated through the other Mech, and it spasmed wildly and uncontrollably. The frail hunchback looked like it was about to split apart at any moment, but to Jason's surprise, they were able to contain the damage.
Pale and ghastly light built at the other machine's hands, and then…
Crsshh….
The other pilot plunged the hand straight into their own machine, cutting off the damaged Mana Gatherer Spikes and preventing the wildly reverberating magic from contaminating the rest of their machine. A twisted foot lashed out, kicking the damaged energy core across the room before it exploded in a wild shower of sparks.
Jason grinned.
He pulled up his speaker to give kudos to his opponent.
"Dang! That was a pretty good move!"
The other woman had finely manipulated the mana around their hands and transformed it into a solid blade. The technique was identical to Vile's use of the Devoted Monk, but there was a critical difference.
The Devoted Monk had special focusing equipment in its gloves. His opponent had controlled her machine's rampaging energy with nothing but her own control skills. It was like a miraculous doctor who could conduct surgery with their bare hands.
His opponent's fine Mech control clearly wasn't just for show - it could also be used in combat.
The hermit-like Spell Titan got back onto its feet.
"I followed you guys three hours to get here! I'm not going to give up now!"
The Mech's brown cloak wrapped around its body. Jason caught the brief glimmer of a faint gray scarf as the machine hastily hid it. The scarf's gray cloth thrummed with magical power.
A hood emerged from the back of the cloak, wrapping over the machine's head. The whole thing flickered, and then his opponent turned invisible.
However, Jason could still use his machine's other senses. The other Mech was slow. If Jason could use his machine's hearing or smell to find their foe, he could take them out on the spot.
Jason's first step was lunging to grab the two discarded beam rifles on the Antigone Armor. His opponent's only weapon was a scarf, and the item might have acted as a partial summoning focus. Getting hit by the scarf would increase the damage he'd taken.
He pulled up the two watchdog screens, and then he facepalmed.
Thunk.
Thunk.
Thunk.
Thunk.
From the sounds of it, over a dozen machines were running across the floor.
With their Mana Gatherer Spikes damaged and their Overdrive bonus depleted, the other machine could no longer flood Jason's senses with a ridiculous storm of illusions. However, they could still use their base abilities.
Jason deliberated for a moment, and once again, he was able to find a solution.
The veteran pilot grinned.
His time at the Good Game Shoppe was really opening up his thinking.
First using the damage gauge, then lying on the ground, and now this…
Coming up with his own solutions felt good.
His opponent might have obscured the Red Minerva's senses, but there was one thing they couldn't deceive - his partner's new Bloodlust bonus.
Jason spun around in a wide circle, firing rapidly with his beam rifles.
Green light shot wildly around the floor. As it did, Jason carefully watched the energy gauge on the weapons. Although the beam rifles weren't physically part of his machine, a Hemoborn's bonuses also applied to their weapons.
He tracked the beam energy meters, studying when and where the rifles boasted higher output. The total compiled information was like a radar map - due to his Bloodlust bonus, the weapons grew more powerful the closer they came to his opponent.
Once he tracked down his invisible opponent, he bombarded the area with heavy fire. There was a limit to his opponent's illusions. Once he hit her, the beam stopped mid-air as it smacked into the invisible obstacle.
To Jason's surprise, the invisible Mech doggedly pushed forward, but they didn't make it.
Before long, his opponent's cloak exploded, and they were forced onto the floor.
The Spell Titan had been critically damaged. Jason's attacks had ignited the Mana Gatherer Spikes yet again, and this time, the wildfire had spread, practically cutting the machine in half.
The two halves of the machine were connected only by faint traces of wires and a few shards of crushed metal.
However, the majority of the enemy machine - including its long hands - was still protected by the dense protective cloak.
Jason stepped forward.
Steel creaked as the Red Minerva peeled apart the machine's outer core, revealing the damaged mechanical corpse underneath. The proud dragon-type Mech looked almost like an overeager squirrel peeling apart a fruit.
The gangly machine was covered in ash, and large holes had been blasted straight through its narrow frame. Jason's attack had savaged the Spell Titan's internal wiring. The backlash had completely overloaded and subsequently destroyed nine of the machine's Mana Gatherer Spikes.
The machine's cockpit was still intact, and the pilot avatar was alive, but the machine was no longer operational.
The Spell Titans were incredibly weak to critical hits - even a single misplaced strike could lead to total disaster. That was the price they paid for their incredible offensive strength. Even specially customized machines like the Deadeyes Lionknight or the Glass Jaw were subject to the crippling weakness, and The Illusionist's machine had been no different.
The machine's slender right arm had been completely destroyed. The reverberations had snapped his opponent's joint beneath the elbow. However, the left hand was still intact, and it was still clutching tightly onto the badly battered scarf.
ITEM IDENTIFIED: MINDROT SCARF
Description: The Mindrot Scarf is an item that specializes in deception. As soon as the scarf hits another machine, the scarf will input a series of false images of the user's choice. With repeated use, the Scarf will begin affecting a Mech's auditory and olfactory abilities. Over time, the scarf also has a backlash on its user. At max strength, even the scarf's owner will only be able to see a faint outline of their opponent. The scarf's range and ramp-up time can be mitigated with Enter the Infinity.
Jason's heart thrummed with excitement.
He stepped forward, and then he caught himself and laughed at his own single-minded stupidity.
Wait a second…
Stealing an opponent's rare item after a friendly battle would be a total dick move! What was he thinking?
Although it'd been difficult, this wasn't a boss battle or anything like that. It was just a friendly match! The rules wouldn't even let him steal items in the first place!
The BAG Guild cheered loudly from the upper floor.
Steven cheered and threw both his machine's arms in the air.
"Yeah!"
Anthony hooted and hollered.
"I knew you could do it, Jason!"
Danny cheered so loudly it sounded like he had won the match himself.
"Great battle! Great work!"
Jason smiled happily. Winning in front of his new teammates felt good. It was nice to have allies who were just as proud of your accomplishments as they were of their own.
Stephanie laughed.
"Okay, let's be honest, guys. I'm sure Jason had a great battle, but none of us could see for shit that whole time! It was just smoke, and then the machine turned invisible!"
Before long, the rest of the group was laughing too.
Bzzt.
The damaged Spell Titan sent Jason a message. Without its Mana Gatherer Spikes, the machine couldn't even move, but its cockpit was technically still intact.
"Thanks for the battle! Do you mind if I travel with you? My brother is always talking about how important it is to move from guild to guild to learn and get better. I'm hoping to do the same."
There was a bit of an awkward pause.
Jason frowned.
That was strange.
The BAG Guild was normally very welcoming.
Although this player had hired other pilots to attack them, these kinds of clashes occasionally happened in open space. Very few groups took things like that personally. Events like the Guild Wars meant that skilled pilots and mercenaries switched allegiances all the time. Jason didn't see why the BAG Guild would have a different perspective.
It took a beat later before Jason realized what was happening.
Jason thought that she'd used her speakers, but it was just a private message to him. He'd expected Danny to answer the question.
Jason shook his head.
"Hey! You know, I'm not the leader of this group. I'd rather you ask Danny, he's the one in the Lucky Duck Mech."
It didn't feel right to speak for the rest of the BAG Guild. Jason had become an unofficial member over the last week, but he just couldn't see himself in a leadership position. He had no interest or aptitude for leadership., Steven and Danny were so much better at it than he was!
The other woman responded immediately.
"Oh! I see!"
She shifted over to the overall line before asking Danny for his permission to play with the BAG Guild.
The permission was granted shortly after, although Owen grumbled jokingly about killing her and sending her back to the spawning station in revenge for the last clash.
Clank.
The Lucky Duck leapt from the upper floor before landing beside the damaged Spell Titan.
Moments later, Steven's Transport Mech joined the BAG Guild's captain. A long rope descended, and the Lucky Duck's thin manipulator arms strapped the damaged Spell Titan onto Steven's machine.
Danny called out to the team on his speakers.
"We'll take her Mech back up to the space station so she can switch to a different build. It's too damaged for our Medic Packs. I'll escort her over."
The rest of the group nodded.
That made sense. The transport hovered into the air, and the Lucky Duck followed it.
Before taking off, Danny called out to the BAG Guild one last time.
"Jason - how are you feeling? If you're up to it, Owen can give you his Medic Pack. You and Stephanie can take my spot."
From the upper floor, Stephanie made an excited noise. Unlike Jason, she'd been standing around for the last thirty minutes. She was raring to go.
Truth be told, Jason was pretty tired after that intense battle, but that was the funny thing about having a guild and a community - they made you want to elevate your game.
In this case, he wanted to show off!
He turned to Owen's Belcher.
"Yeah, do you mind passing over the Medic Pack? Let's do this!"