CHAPTER 108

Danny winced.

"Man..."

The sheer destruction wreaked by Spike had put a damper on the usually upbeat player. Danny and Jason were on the opposite side of the room, sitting back to back against the wall, so they were safer than anyone else. However, a sight like that frightened even the most positive player that Jason knew.

Jason grimaced. Spike hadn't lost a beat, and they already knew how deadly Castor was.

To Jason's surprise, he found himself trying to cheer Danny up--the first time something like that had happened. However, he felt more qualified working as a leader now after playing with Stephanie and the high school kids they'd met.

"Let's just stick together and play defensively. There's no need to do anything crazy. We'll make the finals so long as we're in the top 8 players."

Spike had just killed over a dozen players, meaning that they just needed to finish in the top thirty or forty percent of remaining players to qualify. Unfortunately, it seemed like other people had the same mindset.

Only a few players were still acting boldly. The rest had copied Jason and Danny, shifting to the side of the room and assuming a defensive stance. Even some of the impromptu alliances had taken back-to-back positions.

Then, a scuffle broke out as someone stabbed their erstwhile ally in the back, destroying their machine and eliminating a competitor in the finals. As soon as that happened, the other alliances started questioning their own teamwork.

Shortly after, the established line-ups like Danny and Jason or Spike and Castor went back on the offensive. As a pair of Kingbreakers squabbled, Danny surged forward, activating his Angry Duck's lottery ability. The Swiss army knife-like attachment shifted, morphing into a katana. It wasn't Danny's best weapon, but it was more than good enough to ambush the first Kingbreaker. As the other wheeled around, Jason destroyed it with a Biological Beast. The Dog savaged the machine from behind as it turned to face Danny.

Meanwhile, Castor was wheeling Spike around like a shopping cart. Watching the spider hunch over and sprint at top speed with the imbalanced Mech firing out missiles at every opportunity was an utterly bizarre sight, but it was undeniably effective. The mechanical Firefly eviscerated every Mech in its path even though the machine was shaking uncontrollably due to Castor's haphazard pushing.

In the corner of his eye, Jason saw someone shifting to attack.

He wheeled around, then found a bulky machine with a very large backpack. The Mech was a faded orange ochre with a helmet that looked like a knight's. The machine hunched low to the ground, almost like an ape, and its large pack added an additional fifteen feet to its height. The pack itself was split into several metal chutes, and just a glance told Jason that it contained maybe a hundred items.

The machine's shoulder had white dragon insignia, which was the special logo of Larsen, a talented strategist who'd played on the European server before moving to America. Although Jason hadn't encountered this pilot before, he knew him by reputation--he frequently brought a large inventory with him and he sought to defeat opponents through advance planning.

In this case, a large megaphone-like device appeared in his Mech's hands. The backpack's manipulator arm gently passed the item to the ape-like machine's hands, and then bright red lights flashed across Jason's screen.

Jason cursed.

Shit. It was the same sound technique Stephanie used, only at a much higher level. This item was a much pricier and better prepared version of Stephanie's impromptu trap. Although Jason was able to manipulate his ooze to create earplugs, it wasn't enough.

Fortunately, he had a teammate.

"Danny! I need your help clearing that Mech!"

He pinged Larsen's Mech, and Danny moved into action. The Angry Duck streaked forward, turning into a bright red blur as it moved at maximum speed. It slashed with its katana, but Larsen fell back. Although his machine looked slow, it actually had relatively low armor--the machine was large, but most of the space was used on engines and pistons so it could continue moving fast despite carrying so much equipment.

It scrambled awkwardly back to dodge the attack, but then Jason sprang into action, firing the Biological Beast Hawk at Larsen.

The orange machine dodged again, but Jason maneuvered the hawk back for a second attack. It feinted at Larsen, before crashing into Danny's Angry Duck. The blow wasn't enough to permanently damage the machine, but it triggered the Angry Duck's bonus damage ability. The Searing Anger's blazing red sword slashed through Larsen's legs, grievously wounding his machine and forcing him to retreat.

By then, the battle had gradually shifted towards Jason and Danny due to their positioning since Castor and Spike had already cleared off their side of the room. After defeating Larsen, they soon found themselves surrounded by other opponents in an ever-shifting scrum. However, most of the players weren't targeting Jason or Danny directly--they were just fighting in their vicinity. Almost everybody was focused on their immediate opponent.

However, there was one prominent exception--the Top Mech. The black machine was hungry for revenge after Jason's kill steal in the last round. On the surface, the machine hadn't been changed at all. It was a black sphere surrounded by a single deadly beam blade that rotated along its vicinity. The telltale low whirling noise told Jason and Danny that the enemy was coming right for them.

Fortunately, Jason had grown stronger since they'd last fought.

He activated his Mana Gatherer Spikes, releasing a wave of ooze that sent the top machine whirling uncontrollably off-kilter. For a while, Jason hoped that the slippery ground would be enough of an advantage, but the top then returned back into the sky, just like it had during the battle at Castle Notoria.

"Nice one!"

Danny charged forward, flying straight at the floating sphere. For a while, Jason was confused--there was no need to attack the top machine at melee range when they could hamper it from far away, but then he belatedly realized what his friend had already noticed.

The Top Mech traveled on a predictable path--it attacked by gathering enough momentum to strike, meaning that it couldn't change directions very quickly. Danny deliberately took an attack from the other machine, and the blade gouged a huge hole in the Angry Duck's shoulder. Unlike Jason's earlier strike, this was a long-lasting blow, but Danny clearly thought it'd be enough to eliminate this deadly opponent.

Pure red energy surrounded his machine's new broadsword, and then he swung.

Red light splintered through the air as his sword crashed into the top, and both machines went flying.

The top crashed into the wall before bouncing off and careening back at Danny.

Meanwhile, Danny's Angry Duck stumbled back to its feet. The red light gradually faded away from the broad sword, and Jason frowned. Danny had hit his opponent with full strength and the attack hadn't worked...if anything, the top seemed even healthier than before.

Jason stepped forward, clasping his hands together to summon the Titan's Macuahuitl. The giant bladed club emerged from his palms. The pillar of flame was directed straight at the top's path, and Jason thought his trusty weapon would skewer his opponent without any problems, just like it had so many times before.

Instead, the flames shattered.

The Titan's Macuahuitl splintered apart in Jason's palm. The scene was totally illogical. Flame should have bent and flickered, not shattered like glass. Jason had to duck and weave just to avoid the burning shards.

When he pulled up his screen, he saw that the Titan's Macuahuitl was now unusable for the rest of the melee match...

The Angry Duck's right arm shifted as Danny went for another roll. This time, he received one of his best items, the Crazy Axe. The jet black axehead had a thirty-foot-long blade and an almost comically thin handle. Thrusters ignited, boosting the axehead's speed as it started cutting wildly back and forth. The sheer velocity of the attack was enough to send the Angry Duck whirling almost out of control.

The red machine's movements became frenetic and chaotic. It was only Danny's high skill that kept the machine on a loose collision path towards the top. The force of the strike was enough to damage the seemingly indestructible wall, leaving tiny dents and gouges in the wood. It wasn't enough to break through, but the fact that the damage registered was already very impressive.

However, it wasn't enough to stop the Top Mech. Just like the Titan's Macuahuitl and the rage-infused blade, the Crazy Axe shattered. The handle went whirling through the air before nearly slicing off the Red Minerva's head. It was only Jason's swift reaction times that'd allowed him to dodge.

For a while, Danny was left helpless, then Jason pulled him out of danger with a tide of ooze. This time, he controlled the ooze almost like a conveyor belt, dragging them back so they stayed side by side.

Danny swore.

"There's some kind of trick to it...I think he's got an aura that can cancel abilities."

Jason nodded.

"In that case, let's just play defensively...I can keep him away with the dog."

However, things soon went from bad to worse.

As soon as Jason summoned his Biological Beast, Castor's voice boomed across the battlefield.

"Hey! Jason! Don't focus on having all the fun, I wanted to get a rematch!"