As Sora observed, a countdown appeared in the sky, ticking away the seconds. Most players used the time to mentally prepare themselves, focusing on the upcoming battle.
The counter hit zero.
Suddenly, flashes of light ignited across a hundred fighting arenas. It was impossible to track all the battles, so Sora focused on the fights involving his company soldiers. Coincidentally, two squads from his company had been chosen.
Sora quickly assessed Richard's team : a healer, a buffer, an archer, and a wizard. Without hesitation, Richard activated his transformation and charged at the enemy, pulling them toward him with a crowd control skill to keep them within his reach. He locked his focus on the opposing healer, grabbing him by the neck while pushing the enemy tank aside with his other hand. Richard’s teammates poured all their firepower into the helpless Dark Elf healer.
As the healer's health dipped dangerously low, Richard delivered one last punch, finishing him off. From there, the fight became a clean sweep. Richard controlled the battlefield, and overpowered the tank opposing him, ensuring his team stayed safe as they dismantled the opposition. Within 30 seconds, all five enemies had fallen to Richard’s strikes.
Sora received a series of notifications:
[Your Team Vice Captain Richard Dosse Squad won a Squad Fight. +5 points.]
[Your Team Vice Captain Richard Dosse Squad won a Squad Fight Flawlessly. +5 points.]
[Your Team Vice Captain Richard Dosse Aced in a Squad Fight. +10 points.]
Sora’s eyebrows shot up in surprise. He hadn’t realized that a flawless victory and an “Ace” bonus could add so many extra points. This was valuable information.
In another arena, a different squad from his company was battling level 78 enemies, with an opposing squad leader at level 88. Their melee fighters charged forward, attempting to lock down the enemy’s ranged attackers and control the fight. But while they managed to take down the enemy wizard, the rest of the skirmish didn’t go their way.
A notification appeared:
[Your Team Soldiers Ryan’s Squad lost a Squad Fight. +0 points.]
[Casualties: 5 Players.]
Death was only possible in the second phase. Sure enough, Sora spotted Ryan’s squad members reappearing nearby, looking disappointed but alive. Richard approached them, thanking them for their efforts and congratulating them for not allowing the enemy team to secure a flawless victory.
“They had a Vice-Captain, and they couldn’t even get a perfect win,” Richard commented with a smile. He seemed to have a keen understanding of the enemy's ranks and team compositions.
Sora joined him, and together they watched the ensuing battles, studying the other squads until, finally, it was their turn.
As the last wave of the first round approached, [Squads who have been notified, advance to the field number prepared for you, and fight] appeared overhead. A hundred squads from each side moved into position.
Both Sora and Kara’s squads were chosen.
Kara glanced at him, her eyes fierce with confidence. “Let's grab those 20 points,” she said.
Sora nodded.
They appeared on their respective rings alongside their teammates.
Kara took her position behind her squad, rallying them with a commanding shout, “Go all out, I’ll keep everyone alive!”
Sora stepped to the front of his squad, turning back to his team. “Make sure you don’t die. I’ll handle the rest.”
As the fight began, Sora activated [Mana Shield] on each of his teammates, and then gripped [Ruyi Jingu Bang] tightly. He infused mana into the legendary staff, causing it to expand as he swung it. His first target, the enemy squad leader, rushed to block the attack. However, as the staff made contact, the leader’s defenses crumbled. His shields shattered, and even his armor seemed useless as he was hit with overwhelming force.
The enemy leader was nearly folded in half by the strike, colliding into one of his own teammates, dazing both of them. The other three opponents, caught off guard by the speed and power of the attack, couldn’t react in time. The staff plowed through them, reducing them to light particles instantly.
In a matter of seconds, only the injured squad leader and the stunned soldier remained. Without hesitation, Sora released two [Wind Blades], cutting down the last two enemies.
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Notifications flooded his vision:
[Your Team Squad won a Squad Fight. +5 points.]
[Your Team Squad won a Squad Fight Flawlessly. +5 points.]
[You Aced in a Squad Fight. +10 points.]
[XP Gained : War Experience boost x5]
[Level Up!]
Sora clenched his fists from excitement ! He didn't have enough time to reach a higher level when training. And now he could slowly catch up to others who were level 80 on this battlefield.
He smiled slightly, feeling a rush of satisfaction as he read the rewards. This battle was only beginning, but already he could feel the thrill of growing stronger through fights.
As Sora reappeared in the stands, his eyes instantly found Kara's fight below. She had taken a strategic approach, choosing to hide her offensive abilities and focus on supporting her squad.
He watched as Kara activated [Soul Link] with each of her four teammates, letting her absorb any damage they took. The opposing team struck with brutal force, but thanks to Kara’s seemingly endless life force, every hit was little more than a drop in the ocean—absorbed and instantly healed.
Choosing not to buff her team, she wanted to see what they could handle on their own. They had to learn to stand strong even if she wasn’t there to buff them in future fights. "Don't hold back; focus on taking one of them down!" Kara commanded.
Her teammates, though weaker, became emboldened as they realized what she meant by "keeping them alive." They began to take risks, lunging at the enemy with newfound bravery. With the quicker enemies slipping out of reach, they had no choice but to focus on the one target they could contain. After a few exchanges, they’d settled on such a dumb strategy: ignoring the usual approach of targeting lightly-armored enemies and instead focusing all their attacks on the Dark Elf tank.
'Going after the tank? They sure trust me to keep them alive ,' Kara mused.
Her squad consisted of four melee fighters, and they worked together to corner the Dark Elf tank, hammering him relentlessly.
Sora said to Richard "What an embarrassing team.."
Richard added, "The enemies aren't idiots. They'll target Vice-Captain Kara soon enough."
Sora smiled at those words but did not answer.
As if listening to Richard's thoughts, the Dark Elf Warrior shouted to his teammates. “Carl, Trek—go for their leader! We need her down if we’re going to turn this around!”
The assassin moved like a shadow, slipping past the melee brawl, while the archer readied his bow, sighting Kara.
She didn’t flinch, sidestepping arrows with an agility that made her appear like an agility class herself. Her focus was locked on the assassin as she maintained [Soul Link] with her squad.
"[Life Prison]", Kara muttered.
A cage of light dropped from the sky, trapping the area just as the Dark Elf assassin appeared.
She had used [Life Detection] to track his path, knowing exactly where he’d emerge. He was trapped, the duration of his imprisonment tied directly to the power gap between them—and from the look of things, the odds weren’t in his favor.
“It says I’m stuck here for 24 hours! This is some high-level cage skill—she probably can’t use more than one at a time!” the assassin relayed frantically through their voice chat, clearly panicked.
"We can't let her stay alive—she's carrying their whole team!” the warrior growled. “But with a skill like that, there’s no way she has more than one in her arsenal!"
"What about Dre? He's being bombarbed" asked the archer, glancing back at their tank struggling under the onslaught.
"Forget about Dre, take care of the girl !" The warrior quickly answered
With their tank pinned down, the Dark Elf archer and warrior shifted their focus entirely to Kara, charging at her with everything they had. As the archer let loose a charged arrow, and the assassin reinforced it with a damage boost, the warrior barreled toward her, determined to shatter her defenses.
But as the warrior closed in, another light cage materialized, blocking his path. He looked down in shock, his attack bouncing harmlessly off the barrier. He swung his weapon, hacking at it in frustration, while the archer’s arrow whizzed past Kara, barely missing her.
Watching from the sidelines, Richard let out an impressed whistle. “Now that's the kind of healer I want on my team. Not one that cries about having no survival skills.”
Sora chuckled, his eyes never leaving the fight. “Their strategy might have worked against any other healer, but Kara is in another league.”
The battle raged on as Kara’s squad pressed their advantage. They pummeled the Dark Elf tank until he finally fell to their assassin’s high-damage strikes. Without a moment’s hesitation, they turned to the trapped assassin, who disintegrated into light particles within seconds, followed soon after by the warrior.
Now only the Dark Elf archer and healer remained. The pair tried desperately to escape Kara’s relentless team, turning the fight into a frantic game of cat and mouse. Kara sighed, half-amused and half-bemused by the spectacle before her. 'How have these four survived this long?' she wondered, then remembered that this was only the war’s “greetings” phase, where death wasn’t permanent.
She cast a speed buff, amplifying her squad’s speed, and within moments, the assassin caught up with the Dark Elf healer, stunning him through his shield. Her teammates closed in, breaking his defenses and finishing him off with a final, coordinated strike.
The archer, now alone, raised his chin defiantly as he glared at Kara. “This isn’t over, healer,” he spat. “This was an unfair fight, and you’re only winning because of your special skill. We’ll have our revenge on the main battlefield. Don’t get too comfortable.”
Kara returned his stare with a calm, steady gaze, unfazed. ‘If only you knew how little I’ve actually done,’ she thought to herself, holding back a smile.
Sora received a notification as her final strike landed, showing the rewards for an ace and a flawless victory, and smiled. This was expected, and she even managed to hide most of her strength.