CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT

Jason didn't hesitate.

He immediately started running.

Jason wasn't used to working on a team or taking commands from others. Normally, he would hesitate and analyze the situation for himself before blinding listening to another player's directives.

In addition, they were here to assassinate the King of Thieves. There shouldn't have been any reason to try and flee.

However, the sword had once belonged to Jason's ally.

He knew it better than anybody.

On top of that, Jason had already seen the item's capabilities. Now, it was empowered by the Paragon class's almighty Liquid State Eternium buff.

It was time to get the hell out of the clearing.

The Lucky Duck stumbled on a tree branch, and Jason caught it.

He used the Red Minerva's muscular arms to toss his lightweight partner forward as the blade continued charging after them.

The sword moved in a straight line, shearing apart tree after tree. The blade's strength meant there was no need to dodge the obstacles.

From what Jason could tell, the blade was trying to encircle them.

It was moving straight forward to try and cut them off. Only after getting ahead of them would the sword twist back to attack.

As Jason fled, he paused only for the briefest of moments.

He knelt and grabbed the discarded Ghostfire Dagger by the crossbow Mech's corpse. He scooped up the powerful item and deposited it in his wristband.

Although it was a bit of a risk, Jason wanted to keep his options open.

The dagger was a powerful weapon specialized for assassinations.

Leaving it behind could punish him later. The Red Minerva's wristbands made small items like the Ghostfire Dagger all the more powerful.

Speaking of the Red Minerva...

An exciting thought crossed Jason's mind.

As he leaped over a downed tree, he began replaying the sword's movements in his mind. By now, he'd seen its movements several times before.

The blade was incredibly swift.

Jason and his ally had only managed to avoid it for so long because of their head start.

Based on what Jason had seen so far, the sword's expansion rate was about 70% higher than the Red Minerva's maximum running speed, and that meant...

Jason took three more steps, then whirled around.

He swiped with his left hand.

Although his Mech had grown far faster and stronger, its overall weight and proportions were the same as the old Red Minerva.

As a result, Jason had no issue factoring the increased performance into his calculations.

His left hand struck true, slapping the side of the blade right when it was about to pierce him in half.

Black fire burst from the Red Minerva's left palm as the Hand of Destruction began breaking down the twisting and twining sword.

An evil hiss crackled through the forest as the narrow blade smoked and smoked.

The first forty percent or so of the narrow sword crumbled to ash, and for the briefest of moments, Jason dared to hope.

But then...

Bright red letters flashed across Jason's screen.

CANNOT ABSORB

ITEM RESTRICTION

Jason swore, but he felt no genuine anger.

Deep down, he'd expected something like this to happen.

Earlier, Jason had noticed that the type and performance of the Lucky Duck's summoned blade were purely determined by luck.

The slot machine-esque machine was a hostage to fortune.

In exchange for the overwhelmingly powerful blade, it was cursed with chronic inconsistency.

That powerful item likely came with plenty of balance restrictions, including a limitation on the kinds of enemies that could claim the item for themselves.

For Jason's purposes, the sword wasn't an independent item. It was a special weapon generated by the Lucky Duck's slot machine-based weapons system.

The Blazing Avarice couldn't copy a single aspect of an item.

Rather, it could only copy an item in its entirety.

If Jason absorbed an item, he had to accept the weapon's downsides in addition to its strengths. However, the sword had its own independent generation system - the Lucky Duck's slot machine weapons system. As a result, the Blazing Avarice couldn't simply copy the sword. It had to copy the entire swiss army knife like hand and accept its luck-based weakness.

On the other hand, the King of Thieves's theft ability operated on a totally different axis. The Mech's magnetic palm was able to steal already-generated items.

It was unfortunate.

Claiming the bending sword with the Blazing Avarice would have made his machine unbeatable.

However, Jason deeply respected the importance of game balance.

He'd always try to push the limits, but he never complained if he hit the restrictions imposed by the Overdrive Corporation.

He'd been on the wrong side of overpowered attacks too many times before, and he knew that battles were only interesting if there was a legitimate challenge.

Although the sword was damaged, it continued twisting forward.

Because the item could increase its length indefinitely, it could effectively regenerate.

The crumbly and burnt portions cracked and fell to the ground as they were replaced by fresh metal.

Jason's partner let out an urgent cry.

"Run! That was a nice trick, but it didn't work. You shouldn't try that again. We need to run until I get a good roll!"

Jason knew that trying to catch the sword again wouldn't work.

He'd gotten lucky the first time.

His sudden turn had caught his opponent completely off guard, but this time, they'd be ready.

They would simply dodge the left hand then skewer Jason's legs to stop him from fleeing.

However, Jason had another plan.

As the sword surged towards him, Jason clapped his hands together.

BLAZING AVARICE: TITAN'S MACUAHUITL

The flames burst forth as his Blazing Avarice weapons system summoned the gigantic club.

The blade darted right at the Red Minerva's Macuahuitl, and Jason let out an inadvertent gasp of shock as the twisting sword shattered the flame to pieces.

In the face of the deadly and overpowered sword, Jason's titanic club had acted like it was made of glass. The stolen sword had destroyed his club, ignoring all the laws of physics to do so.

The scene was just like something out of a comic book.

This time, it was the Lucky Duck pilot's turn to yank Jason away as he gaped in surprise.

"Get out! Get out!"

Jason cursed.

Shit!

He should have listened to the other player.

His initial heuristic had been correct - his ally had far more experience with the sword than Jason did.

The Titan's Macuahuitl had inflicted significant damage to the blade, which granted Jason and his partner far more leeway to escape.

However, it was still a very bad trade.

As he fled, bright red letters flashed across Jason's screen.

TITAN'S MACUAUHITL DISABLED

The Lucky Duck build was completely ridiculous.

Jason had no idea why somebody would use a machine that was entirely dependent on luck.

Jason hated the idea of variance. He wanted reliable weapons that worked in every situation.

The machine's concept horrified him, and it clearly came with some extreme downsides.

After all, the other player had been forced to wait a full twenty minutes before finally making a move. He'd likely spent that time rolling and re-rolling his weapon until he got the best possible option.

Jason's first instinctive explanation was that his teammate was some kind of role player.

There were many players who adopted a specific persona while playing Overdrive. Their favorite part of gameplay was using the game's rich world and weaponry to tell their own story.

Considering the other player's extremely friendly demeanor and their luck-based Mech, it felt like they were playing as some sort of Lucky Hero.

It wasn't Jason's preference, but he had no issue with roleplayers.

In fact, the other player's friendly persona had actively helped Jason.

A less generous player would have simply destroyed the King of Thieves with their overpowered sword while nobody paid attention.

However...

Jason hoped the Mech would get lucky again soon!

Clank. Snip. Snap.

Clank. Snip. Snap.

Clank. Snip. Snap.

Jason heard the loud footsteps and the sound of cracking branches before he saw their opponent.

The first of the enemy Grunts had arrived.

To Jason's surprise, both he and his partner reacted in the same way.

Most players would flee at the sound of Grunts.

After seeing the enormous army, it was natural to fear the enemy's raw numbers.

However, the Grunt had clearly been moving very quickly.

While it was still a harbinger for an advancing army, the main force was still a good bit behind it.

The Grunt was likely piloted by an inexperienced pilot who'd sprinted forward in the hopes of proving themselves.

As a result, it was best to deal with it as soon as it appeared.

There was a reason why Grunts moved in tight and disciplined formations.

A lone Grunt was more or less a free kill.

The Lucky Duck dove forward, falling through the air in an awkward belly flop right as the Bandit Grunt Mech emerged.

Despite the Lucky Duck's low statistics and highly imbalanced frame, the pilot moved extremely comfortably.

The machine kicked off the debris and trees in order to speed up its movements. The skillful player took full advantage of his machine's wide feet.

The Lucky Duck crashed on top of the Bandit Grunt, slamming it onto the ground.

Like Jason, his ally had rightfully identified that there was no need to stay quiet.

Their cover was totally blown - they had a homing sword chasing after them!

It was far more important to clear the obstacles in their path as efficiently as possible.

Once again, Jason was taken aback by his partner's skill.

Attacking an enemy with a tiny kitchen knife was almost impossible.

Instead of relying on the weapon's stats, Jason's teammate used the Lucky Duck's weight. By putting his whole weight behind the blow, he was able to greatly increase the applied force.

Overall, the Lucky Duck was a very light Mech.

Most of its weight was in its weapons system.

The rest of the limbs were spindly, and the slot machine chest seemed like it was hollow.

Jason judged that the machine weighed about thirty-five percent of a normal unit.

However, even a light force could inflict significant damage when properly applied.

The knife inflicted severe damage but failed to kill the tanky Bandit in a single blow.

As a result, Jason quickly summoned the Valorous Ji to help.

He clapped his hands together and pulled out the blazing spear before slamming it into the Grunt's chest, finishing it off.

But despite their success, Jason's mood was grim.

The Grunt army was quickly approaching, and the deadly sword was still chasing them.

Suddenly, the Lucky Duck's pilot let out a joyous cry.

This downside hadn't come up during Jason's experiments, simply because he'd never encountered an item powerful enough to destroy the Blazing Avarice's replicas.

Per the notification, destroyed items couldn't be summoned again for the rest of the battle.

Jason grit his teeth.

The situation was going from bad to worse.

They'd stalled for too long, running from the other machine.

The Grunt army was sure to return, and now, Jason didn't have his most valuable anti-Grunt tool.

They were truly beholden to his partner's rolls.

Until he finally got an item powerful enough to counter the twisting blade, they were screwed.

Jason shook his head in disbelief.

"Okay! Nice! I can roll again! Come on! Come on! Big money!"

The left-hand lever-activated, and the numbers began to spin.

Even though both of them were still running away, Jason couldn't help but stare at his opponent's slots.

They were the team's last hope.

To Jason's immense relief, the three symbols matched.

In addition, the displayed item was a shield.

His teammate cheered.

"Yes! Yes! Thank god!"

The Lucky Duck abruptly turned around as an enormous gladiator's shield emerged from the swiss army knife.

Like the knife and the elongated blade, the shield's appearance was nondescript and unimpressive.

During his time on the server, Jason had seen plenty of grand and beautiful shields.

Some of the beautifully painted and forged works of art reminded him of Achilles's shield from the Iliad.

In contrast, this shield was actually just a gigantic rounded disk.

However, Jason hastened to get behind the enormous steel circle.

By now, he trusted his partner's skills and knowledge.

The Lucky Duck's pilot had celebrated when the shield emerged, so Jason suspected that it would work.

Indeed, there was an enormous splintering crash.

The sword was instantly obliterated.

The seemingly invincible blade burst into a billion pieces.

However, the shield crumbled as well.

Countless shards of metal went spinning through the forest, cutting down trees as they went.

To Jason's shock, he even heard the sound of Grunts exploding far in the distance.

The sheer force of the collision had even sent deadly shrapnel hurling towards the still distant Grunt army.

"Ooofff..."

Jason's teammate let out a long and relieved sigh.

"Thank god we got that roll. I think we were done for if that chase went on for much longer."

A nervous tone entered the other player's voice.

"I'm so sorry about that. I can't believe he let him steal my sword."

Once again, Jason was automatically reminded that his teammate had only lost the all-powerful sword because of Jason's own error.

If the Lucky Duck hadn't saved Jason's machine, he could have won the match.

Thunk...

Thunk...

Thunk...

The footsteps were still distant, but it was a reminder that the danger was growing more and more.

The enemy Grunt force had lost a single member, but they still numbered over a hundred strong.

"Man. Do you have any plans? I can't do anything for another minute."

The nervous tone in the other player's voice grew more pronounced, and Jason understood why.

During the high-stakes chase, Jason's teammate had focused solely on the battle. The adrenaline had made him excited and buoyant.

Now that there was a reprieve, stray thoughts were creeping into the other player's mind, and he was beating himself up.

He was clearly frustrated - not at his own position, but because he couldn't help Jason.

Regardless of whether or not the other pilot was some kind of roleplayer, he was clearly a good person.

On top of that, Jason definitely owed the other player a favor.

However, Jason didn't know how to make people feel better.

He wasn't very good with words.

In fact, he didn't even know the other pilot's name.

After all, Jason had cut the other player's introduction off to disable the crossbow Mech.

Jason wasn't a man of words, but he was definitely a man of action.

"Come with me."

Without the homing sword, their options had opened up substantially. The destroyed weapon was no longer the fastest moving object on the map.

Jason grabbed his ally and began charging underground.

This time, he didn't bother covering up the hole in the earth.

For one thing, covering his tracks was less useful when faced with many opponents.

With so many enemy Grunts, it was extremely unlikely that none of the enemy's hundred troops wouldn't notice a small abnormality.

On top of that, the other team had possibly uncovered Jason's tunneling abilities examining his spate of kills on the eastern quadrant.

After all, the King of Thieves had marshalled all of his soldiers - they would have noticed that some were missing.

Finally, the enemy team had spotted Jason head-on. The Red Minerva was an uncommon low-level frame that was only available on an obscure One Star Boss mission.

However, Jason knew the power of a well-organized hive mind.

If any one of the troops recognized the Red Minerva, the entire force would identify Jason as a digger.

However, knowledge wasn't everything - raw stats were just as important.

With his ally in tow, Jason was surging back towards the King of Thieves at maximum speed.

It was an all-out race with the game on the line.