The battle between William and Gunz went on. At this point, Willaim’s drone was one hit away from collapsing.

As expected, he’s making quick work of it. William nodded. And, he even dodges the follow-up shots every now and then. As I thought, using two drones against him would’ve had diminishing returns.

An Assault Drone was slower than the Droid in practically every way, so its shots were always delayed. As such, no matter whether William summoned one drone or a thousand of them, it wouldn't make much of a difference long as Gunz sidesteps everything in a timely fashion.

Hmph. This is just more proof that I’m right. William thought. I’ve always been saying that, at high-level play, the drones aren’t nearly as big of a threat as some people make them out to be.

Willaim recalled the numerous debates he had with his fellow clubmates. These oafs had the audacity to argue that Droid was a broken class because of the Assault Drones.

Even though the class didn’t make it to the top of the tier list, some salty clubmates still complained about it just because William stomped them with Droid. Hmph, these scrubs.

So, thank you for proving my point. William praised his opponent. With that said, you could’ve taken this a step further by exploiting this mid-range fight with your cutlass. Why don’t you?

Even though Willaim was riding his momentum, it was extremely dangerous for him to confront a Pirate from mid-range. After all, Gunz could swap his gun for a cutlass at any moment and force the fight into melee range, in which the Pirate will have a tremendous advantage.

Is it because of the drone? That was William's best guess.

Fighting in melee range would force Gunz to give up on shooting down the drone. On top of that, he might struggle to sidestep the drone’s shots because they’ll come at him from point-blank.

So, perhaps Gunz was wary of these disadvantages?

But, surely a player of your skill knows how to dodge from point-blank. As long as you keep moving around, you'll naturally evade the shots.

Dodging from point-blank was both the hardest and the easiest thing to do. While it was impossible to dodge the attacks on reaction, it was very easy to dodge most of them “by accident” simply by moving around nonstop.

He should know that much, right? William wondered. Hmm. Maybe he doesn't have enough experience against Droid? It's not a popular pick, after all. Then again, this is basic execution knowledge...

It was a mystery. Even though William brought this fight into a dangerous mid-range, Gunz kept his blade sheathed. It boggled William to no end.

But, I don't have time to solve this mystery right now. William shifted his focus back to the fight in front of him. There was no time for any breathers against an opponent like Gunz.

ZAP! William fired another shot. Alas, the laser beam missed, as did the drone’s follow-up shot.

Hmph. That's what I get for getting distracted by idle thoughts. Oh well. I suppose going into the final part of the battle with equal health is fitting enough.

They were both around 50% HP. In that sense, the battle was still young. They still had more than half a health bar to go through.

Alas, William was fighting on a timer here. His damage output will drop substantially once his drone dies, and said drone was already one hit away from dying.

What’s more, Gunz's counterattack was imminent. And so, the drone’s fate was sealed...

Not if I have anything to say about it. William canceled his recovery animation into Deflector Shield, the only skill he hasn’t used until now.

The Droid summoned a semi-transparent plasma shield in front of him. It was a tool he could only produce now that he was Lv. 7, with 5 batteries at his disposal.

The Assault Drone already occupied 2 batteries, and the Deflector Shield cost another 3. Together, the two skills spent his entire “MP bar”, so to speak. But, it was going to be worth it.

The shield had plenty of HP, making it a great companion for a squishy marksman. What’s more, it was big enough to even cover the drone hovering behind William.

BAM! As expected, Gunz's retaliation came out instantly. There was no doubt this sharpshooter aimed his shot perfectly at the drone, like every time before this.

Alas, the bullet failed to hit the drone this time. It collided with the semi-transparent shield and ricocheted aside.

"Crap!" Lars blurted. Nice shield timing, dang it! That was an animation cancel, right? Yep, this dude is the real deal.

It was pretty much impossible for Lars to beat that timing. He fired his counterattack as soon as he got the chance, but it was already too late at that point.

In retrospect, maybe he should’ve taken that last hit like a man without wasting any time on sidestepping. That would’ve allowed him to get rid of that pesky drone once and for all at the expense of losing a small amount of HP.

I totally should've done that, but oh well. Lars shook his head. So, you finally popped dat shield, huh. I was wondering when it gonna come into play.

Anybody who dueled Droid before was intimately familiar with the infamous Deflector Shield, the cheating engine that allowed Droid to steamroll duels. That plasma thingy was tanky as heck, so shooting it down during a duel wasn't a real option. By the time Lars destroys it, his HP will probably drop down to like 20% or less.

I could try aiming for his legs instead, but I doubt I gonna win like this...

Deflector Shield wasn't invincible. The plasma shield wasn't big enough to fully cover both the Droid and the drone hovering over his shoulder.

Therefore, when casting the shield, the Droid had to make an important decision. He could either summon a shield that covered his body and legs, leaving only his head and drone exposed. Or, he could place the shield a little higher, leaving his legs exposed in exchange for covering his head and drone.

Winner chose the latter this time, which was rarer. Dude must be feeling really confident to leave his legs exposed like this.

And, that confidence was well-justified this time. Lars didn't see himself winning under these circumstances, not while Winner's drone was still afloat.

Welp, guess I'll have to wait this one out. Lars concluded. It’s time to back away for a bit... oh. Oh no...

He was so preoccupied with the intense shoot-out that he didn't pay enough attention to his position! Nuuuuu!

The battle started close to the tower area so Lars felt very comfy about his position. However, at some point, he strayed real far from the tower! To make things worse, Winner somehow rotated to stand between him and the tower area!

It's like we swapped places, yo! When did that happen!? It’s sick but dang it! Lars produced a dry laugh. Yo, I’m in deep shit, ain’t I? Now I get why sometimes his shots felt so predictable. He mostly shot to my left side to make me dodge right a lot! Sneaky little...!

Indeed, Winner played him for a fiddle. Dude orchestrated this whole thing!

While pretending to fight seriously, that mastermind led Lars by the nose into a disadvantageous position! How was Lars going to get out of this jam!?