CHAPTER EIGHTY FIVE

Jason, Stephanie, and Lynn stood at the top of the space station, waiting patiently as new enemies fell. Jason was at the ready. Not only had he lifted both his beam rifles, he was also prepared to fire his Pestilent Snipe.

However, he was only going to fire if an exceptional opportunity presented itself, like if he could kill Castor when he wasn't paying attention.

There was still a final step to Lynn's plan.

The three of them were a pretty good trio, but there were two major factors holding them back.

The first was they needed to increase their firepower.

Even with Lynn's extra illusion spells, the discerning opponents in the Tournament of Assassins would quickly figure out what was happening. They would only have a brief minute or two, so they needed to launch a maximum strength attack with all their allies.

After seeing the discrepancy in Jason and Danny's launch times, the BAG Guild had decided to split into two separate teams. Owen, Steven, and Wendy would try to join Jason on top of the UFO. Owen was already a key artillery player, and Wendy had shifted her Dehua's equipment for heavy bombardment. Lastly, Steven's transport Mech could bring Jason and Danny down to the planet at top speed. It was the perfect group to complete the mission.

Meanwhile, Anthony would lead the remaining members down into the atmosphere. Technically, the less experienced players were supposed to create a bulwark beneath the atmosphere just like the jets had.

Of course, everyone on the team knew that the groups' main purpose was to serve as a distraction. The less experienced members of the BAG Guild had already gone in knowing they would act as human shields. Their roles had shifted in a different direction, but their primary task was the same. By moving down to the island, they created a prominent distraction and allowed the critical members to slip away.

The second factor was their disguise.

After they gathered all their team members, Lynn wanted to bolster her illusory abilities further. Attacking from on top of the UFO was a cute party trick, but even the inexperienced BAG Guild had figured out her plan before long. Now that she was with their group in person, she could bolster the ruse with additional illusory magic.

Once they gathered the appropriate players, Lynn could activate her Mech's Overdrive bonus, just like she had against Jason. However, she had no interest in trapping a single player in an extremely in-depth illusion this time. Instead, she wanted to create a large and highly distracting projection that would fool the entire map. It was a less in-depth area-of-effect version of her previous attack.

To Jason's relief, things started off well.

Wendy launched shortly after Stephanie and Lynn in Group 10. Though Stephanie and Jason were ready to back her up if anything happened, she was able to slip away on her own just like Jason had. The increasing number of falling Mechs meant that nobody noticed if one fled.

Unfortunately, Owen's launch in Group 14 was much more complicated. The fat Belcher fell from the UFO, and it was promptly attacked by a coiling silver wyrm-like machine. The high-speed Mech dashed back and forth, savaging Owen's immobile machine with rapid bites. Owen did his best to ward the other Mech off, but the highly flexible machine was a very poor fit for the Belcher, especially at close range. In close combat, Owen's best weapon was his weight, but the machine's long and flexible body meant that the Belcher couldn't crush it.

Jason cursed.

"Shit...we need to bring him up here."

The fat dragon was their most valuable artillery attacker. Since Owen wasn't competing in the tournament, he could deplete the dragon's entire tank of stomach fuel without any worries.

Stephanie stepped forward.

"Maybe we should start shooting?"

Lynn quickly shook her head. Wendy, who'd arrived to join them, answered Stephanie directly.

"It's too early. We can't give away our position right now."

The silver serpent continued furiously biting the Belcher. Owen fired his main cannons, but the Mech just dodged to attack the back of his machine.

Jason cursed.

The silver wyrm's pilot knew exactly how the Belcher worked. Dodging to the back allowed them to avoid the Belcher's greatest strength - the explosive area of effect damage from its mouth.

Moments later, Jason's scanner buzzed and identified the other player's screen name. Although Jason didn't know them, he recognized the DRT tag. The wyrm was a mechanical dragon, but that still counted for the purposes of the Dragon Tamers Guild.

Crap.

The situation was even worse than he thought. Owen was up against a veteran player with equivalent skill. For all Jason knew, the other player might even know him personally. Owen said it was a big guild, but his enemy certainly seemed prepared to counter the Belcher.

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"Lynn. Is there anything you can do?"

She shook her head.

"Not from this range."

Lynn's illusions had helped her and Stephanie escape, but they couldn't be used at long ranges without her Overdrive bonus activated.

"I could use my Overdrive bonus, but then I won't be able to use it later on..."

Jason shook his head.

"No. It's too important."

Lynn's planned illusion was spectacular, and it'd buy them significant time.

Jason cursed. The wyvern had left them with no good options, but they needed to make a decision soon.

Owen's Belcher was slow and ponderous, but it was extremely tanky.

It was able to take a lot of the wyrm's attacks, and the other players were reluctant to strike him because they knew he could counterattack. By now, most players understood that hastily attacking an enemy would doom you to a future ambush.

But as the Belcher continually lost health, Owen would gradually become easy prey.

Jason deliberated for a moment, then made his decision.

"I'll bring him up."

He turned to Lynn.

"Can I have your cloak?"

He waved his wristband. Adding the Antigone Armor had forced him to unequip the Ghostfire Dagger and the Mindmeld Garotte. However, it also meant that the slots were free to store other devices. If he folded up the cloak tightly, he'd be able to carry it down to Owen. When fully extended, the large cloak could even hide the massive Belcher.

He entered a quick command, then detached his armor, restoring his Mech to its usual state. The slender cave dragon's tail flicked back and forth.

"Stephanie, do you mind carrying this again? I'll go down and create a distraction."

Jason's highlights from the first round of the Tournament of Assassins had won him a fair amount of renown. The combination of a commonplace frame with a powerful weapons system had attracted a lot of attention. He wasn't more popular than the most famous streamers, but he'd established a very distinctive fighting style.

He'd since improved his fighting style and developed plenty of new tactics. However, he wanted to keep his moves secret for now.

Using his original techniques would allow him to further distract his opponents when he showed his new moves. All the training he'd done off of the server would pay off.

Jason leapt from the space station, clapping his hands together as he landed. He aimed carefully to land right on top of Owen's Belcher.

BLAZING AVARICE: VALOROUS JI

The familiar flaming spear appeared in his hands. He struck, but the silver wyrm elegantly twisted aside. Jason was much faster than Owen, but this pilot was good.

Jason continued trying to ward off the swift wyrm, but it dodged all his attacks. Even worse, the silver machine didn't bother attacking him back. Whenever it had a free chance, it would nip at Owen again. Just as before, the wyrm was extremely careful to circle back around and stay away from the Belcher's head.

Jason scoffed to his teammate.

"Dude, do you know this guy? He won't leave you alone!"

Owen shook his head.

"I actually have no clue who he is...I think he just sees me as a good matchup."

Jason and the wyrm continued their dance, but he failed to land a single hit. The Mech was just too mobile, and the pilot was too talented. Jason's initial assumption that his old moves wouldn't be enough in the second round was correct. Everyone here was very skilled.

In addition, Jason was reluctant to chase the wyrm too closely.

The next descending group of players had left him and Owen alone. Combined, the Red Minerva and the Belcher were a potent attack force, and new players were reluctant to get into a three-way fight. However, Jason and Owen couldn't concentrate on that good luck forever.

If they focused too much on the mechanical serpent, others might see them as easier prey.

If he couldn't outthink the serpent, he had to outfight it.

Jason quickly outlined his plan.

"Alright. Let's just get out of here. We'll clear a path out the other way. Just blast straight ahead of you. If it chases us, we'll deal with it then. I have Lynn's cloak, so we can just take the long route."

Normally, they would need to go past the wyvern to reach the UFO. However, invisibility was an exceptionally powerful trait. So long as they got the cloak on, they'd be able to escape via the more comprehensive route.

Even better, Owen and Jason's obvious distraction would allow other members of the BAG Guild to slip away. Steven was

The Belcher puffed out its chest and began converting its stomach fuel into fire. The clear and obvious tell scared away all the machines in front of them.

Owen's enormous burst of fire didn't hit anybody, but it allowed them to fly straight forward and escape the scrum.

The two allies fled with the silver wyvern nipping at their heels.

"Keep going, keep going!"

The Belcher's top speed wasn't very impressive, but they'd be alright as long as they left the crowd. Without the danger of a counterattack, Jason could use his riskiest techniques.

The wyvern flew right at them just as Jason clasped his hands together.

The Titan's Macuahuitl burst out of his hands and instantly incinerated the slender Mech. As swift as it was, there was no dodging the flaming club from point-blank range.

He laughed.

"Nice. Haven't used that one in a while."

With the wyvern gone, Jason pulled out Lynn's cloak and draped it over himself and Owen. Their two Mechs, which had flown far away from the rest of the scrum, turned invisible. Afterwards, they made their way back to the top of the UFO.

Steven laughed as soon as Jason pulled off the cloak.

"That was a hell of a distraction. I slipped out without any problems. Anthony's group is heading down to the atmosphere too. They actually got way more people out than we thought they would - everyone was paying attention to the Belcher!"

Everyone on the BAG Guild but Danny had already emerged.

There were still be two minutes until Danny dropped in the last group. After then, the UFO would fly away. Before then, the artillery members needed to create the most chaos possible while bringing down the maximum number of opponents.

First, Lynn activated her Overdrive bonus.

Her Mech glowed like a star, and then she pointed directly above them.

A Giga Mech even larger than the Smoulderhulk suddenly appeared out of thin air. Simultaneously, she used the additional power granted by her bonus to cloak the BAG Guild members standing on top of the UFO.

The illusory dragon promptly started attacking. Just like the Thousand Fist Finisher Lynn used against Jason, the attacks were fake - they would cross through the machines without any problem. Indeed, the flames didn't inflict any damage to Jason or his teammates.

However...

As soon as the flames blew past them, Jason and the BAG Guild added their own attacks midway through. Jason fired the Pestilent Snipe repeatedly while adding in his beam rifles. Beside him, his teammates launched their best attacks down at the fleeing crowd.

By adding deadly projectiles inside the flames, the BAG Guild turned the fire into a real attack from the perspective of the victims beneath them. Devastation and carnage quickly reigned on the confused and shocked battlefield.