CHAPTER EIGHTY THREE

The BAG Guild and Jason landed on the spherical space station.

Just like before, the game system automatically loaded their Mechs into the hangar. Once again, a notification flashed across their screen.

NOTE: Save Point Space Stations are peaceful areas. It will not be possible to access your weapons until you leave the station.

The Illusionists wanted constant competition in their territory, but their influence didn't extend to the space stations, which the Overdrive Corporation controlled. The authority of the server superseded the authority of a group of players, no matter how skilled or powerful they were.

However, the Guild was still allowed to make minor modifications to the station. A small black kiosk allowed players to register for the second round of the Tournament of Assassins. Jason and Danny had to fill out a simple survey that asked them for their username and the number of assistants they'd brought with their alliance.

After finishing his registration, Danny called them over with a wide grin on his face.

"Nice work, guys."

He gestured at the wider space station behind the hangar.

"Let's go exploring. We can probably find a room here to pull up our plans. We've already got a pretty good idea of what we want to do, but I'm sure things will get a lot easier now that we've upgraded our machines and added some stronger members."

The BAG Guild quickly found an empty room near the center of the space station, and the lights flickered on as soon as they stepped inside. The bright lighting, plain white walls, and neatly arranged desks made Jason feel like he was back at the BAG Guild's headquarters above the central spawning station. All of the Overdrive Corporation's space stations were identical, so this room had the exact same layout.

But even though the room was the same, Jason felt deeply uncomfortable. The other members of the organization mirrored his discomfort. Nobody could focus as Danny tried outlining their plan again on the board.

Stephanie made a face.

"Alright. It's not just me, right? Everyone feels pretty weird about planning our attack on the space station as we're directly above the station?"

As soon as she spoke, the rest of the group let out a long sigh of relief. It'd been clear they were all thinking the same thing.

Danny laughed.

"Alright. I'll admit it. I'm feeling pretty spooked too."

Planning a mission on the space station above the planet was a natural part of Overdrive. They'd done the same thing at the Palace of Emotions. However, there was a key distinction. The Mechs in the Palace of Emotions were nominally AI. Jason knew that they were actual players, but even then, they wouldn't leave the stage.

In the Tournament of Assassins, they were up against more active competition.

Danny grinned.

"Alright, if nobody minds giving up their phone numbers, we can just log off and do a group voice call."

Jason laughed to himself as he sent his information over to Danny. Sometimes, the best way to be stealthy was to leave the Overdrive server entirely.

Moments later, Jason found himself back in his basement. He took off the goggles, tossed them to the side, and stretched for a moment. When Danny called, he closed the door to the basement and put the group onto his speakerphone. Then he got up and started pacing around the room.

After sitting around for so long, he wanted to take the call while moving around. Splitting up his playtime with physical movement was another good physical habit he'd studied after his loss to Vile. Although playing Overdrive wasn't particularly strenuous, staying in the same position for a long time still came with surprising physical risks. Jason had heard of many professional gamers who'd been forced to rest or even retire due to repeated arm and hand injuries.

Danny's voice echoed across Jason's small room.

"Alright. As I was saying, this is my current arrangement - I've shared my screen, so come over and take a look."

Jason reached over to the desk and scooped up his phone, holding it with him as he walked.

Danny's original plan had involved an inverted version of their usual arrangement with him and Jason at the very center of the Guild. The new plan involved a mild adjustment due to their new members and more powerful items.

"Alright, guys. The Partner's Lance is going to be an essential weapon for us. Let's make sure we set it up with the appropriate partners. Remember - you don't need to partner with the player you won the mission with."

The Lance only inflicted additional damage if both players were alive and fighting together. The BAG Guild had split up their strength to maximize the number of lances they could win, but they had to take the opposite approach in this battle.

They needed to partner the strongest players with each other.

For obvious reasons, Jason and Danny would fight together. They wanted their lances to remain active after landing on the planet.

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"We should match Wendy with Lynn. Wendy didn't win a lance, so Owen, do you mind handing over yours? It wouldn't be usable by the Belcher anyways."

Owen nodded.

"Sure."

The BAG Guild continued shuffling their equipment around, doing their best to optimize.

However, Lynn soon cut them off.

"It's a good idea to swap equipment. However, they are changing the descent rules this year. Too many people were cheating the system by grouping up and using meat shields. Your strategy was the meta last year, but things will be pretty different."

Lynn was on the speakerphone without her face revealed, but her voice made it clear that she was making a judgmental face.

"How do you guys not know this?"

Danny sounded totally bemused when she said what everyone was thinking.

"How would we know this? None of us have been in the Illusionists."

A few other BAG Guild members laughed, but Lynn scoffed dramatically.

"Cheating is a huge part of the tournament. The Illusionists but on a tough front, but everyone is always paying off lower members of the Guild. They just do it secretly and under the table. The Hive found out about this before the first round. You guys are lucky to have me!"

This time, nobody made fun of her.

Everyone already knew to respect her insider knowledge. The Guild was lucky to have won her over to their side. Then again, they'd also earned her respect by creating a good environment where she could grow and develop her skills. Although their circumstances were very different, Lynn had joined the BAG Guild for the same reason as Jason.

"This is what they are going to do instead..."

She trailed off and paused.

"Do you mind if I share my screen instead?"

Danny nodded and handed over the permissions.

Moments later, Lynn started sketching out her drawing of the new planetary drop process.

Unlike Danny, her artwork was transparently terrible. She just drew a mob of Mechs and a funnel splitting them apart.

However, her simple diagram still communicated her message.

"Alright. This was the old set-up. The competitors were sorted into different launch groups, and they were allowed to bring as many assistants as they could. The different launch groups basically acted like brackets - the winner of the first launch group would make the final round, then the second launch group would compete, and so on."

Lynn sighed.

"Yeah, unfortunately, the Illusionists are mixing things up again. They always want to keep the tournament fresh and avoid too much pre-preparation. This time, all the contestants are going to compete at once. The Guild is hoping that the chaos will give the advantage to competitors who are attending the event alone."

Jason frowned.

"How is that possible? There's only one Parachuter. Does that mean they'll condense this round into the final instead of having a third round?"

Lynn responded negatively.

"No. They will still have the final round of solo fights. However, they've added more Parachuters to the castle. There will be eight Parachuters total, and each alliance who grabs one will qualify for the final round."

Jason smirked to himself. It was sort of funny how things changed. Back when he was a solo player, he would have loved the chaos, but now he was worried about the additional variables.

Lynn continued.

"On top of that, the launch positions are going to be completely randomized. Instead of launching from the space station, players will have to step onto a special launching platform that will shoot them haphazardly down towards the island."

The line was promptly filled with angry curses.

Their strength was their team play, not their individual skills. They preferred grouping up, not splitting apart.

However, Danny and Steven were able to reign in the chaos.

First, Danny pointed out that the descent wasn't as bad as it seemed.

"We can group together gradually. Make sure to call out your position and stay organized."

Steven chimed in.

"Not only that. We have a lot of knowledge here."

He pointed at Lynn, Owen, and Wendy.

"All of these players are familiar with experts from different guilds. If we have a good scouting report, we'll be prepared with counters. I'm not going to pretend that we can hold off someone like Castor one-on-one, but if we all gradually damage him over time, we'll be able to win. Nobody's work is useless. If you land just a single hit, it'll add up for the rest of us."

Lynn quickly agreed.

"It'll be tough, but after I tell you guys everything I know about my brother, we'll hopefully have a better chance. I would love to get one over that brat."

She pulled up an image of his spider Hemoborn again before going on.

"His machine looks intimidating, but it's a pretty standard close combat type. It has blades and revolvers in its arms. As you saw from the wreckage outside the station, he's pretty good at fighting multiple opponents at once. However, his specialty is single combat. His Finisher creates a special independent ring that allows him to bring down a single opponent. I would think of it like my own illusion ability - it basically will take a single player out of the match."

The rest of the group nodded along at her explanation.

"Our best bet is to try and play around him. Let's make sure he can't use his Finisher on Danny or Jason. The ability requires a direct line of sight. We should try to block him off as soon as possible. On top of that, the barrier can be broken from the outside. It'll feel weird to start whaling away at a black cube during the descent, but it'll pay off if we waste his Finisher and save our teammate. Considering the Hive's policies, they've probably only got two players working together at once - my brother and the new artillery guy. With the Guild War coming up, they can't spare any other members. Everyone is out recruiting."

The Hive only kept a tiny core of players. Instead of a guild, it was more accurate to describe them as a party. The insect-focused Guild prioritized quality over quantity. However, numbers were a huge factor during Guild Wars, so they had to contract plenty of mercenaries like Wendy if they wanted to expand territory.

The BAG Guild continued going down the line, expounding on the guilds they were familiar with. Owen was next, and he explained that the Dragon Tamers Guild almost never competed in operations as an organized force.

"The sheer size of the Guild means that it's impossible to regulate it. They basically let in anyone who likes dragon Mechs. Someone with a special banner is usually pretty skilled, but there are too many of those to count. Even then, the Dragon Tamers are pretty casual. They don't have a problem with me spending most of my time with you guys. The Tamers are more of a large association than a competitive guild. They know most people have other priorities."

Owen flashed an image onto the screen.

"Basically, if your scanner picks up someone with DRT in their screen name or you see this silver dragon crest, they are probably about as good as I am. In terms of specific details, it would be easier to handle on a case-by-case basis. I'll send Jason and Danny a list of counter-strategies in case they run into anyone on the island."

Wendy's information was much broader, as guilds rarely let mercenaries know their most important secrets. When it was Lynn's turn again, she provided pretty decent information about the Illusionist's hidden defense weapons.

In the end, Jason could chip in a little bit of his own knowledge. It wasn't much, but he'd been watching the more notable streamers at every opportunity. Knowledge of his skilled opponents was his greatest asset.

The Guild worked together for the next three hours, preparing plans for the competition.

The next day, they logged on again, and their avatars were promptly teleported from the station and onto the Illusionist's floating barge.

WELCOME TO THE SECOND ROUND OF THE TOURNAMENT OF ASSASSINS