Chapter 4: Clever tactician.

Meanwhile, in the lobby of the first floor 200 screens were highlighting the best points of view of the players who had the best performances in the game. After getting a 15 kill streak Kortef the Silver Battle Droid shows from time to time. The technicians quickly displays the basic information of the player in a side of the screen while showing the best moments of that player.

“Hey, look at that Battle Droid. It’s pretty good.”

“How do you jump so much?”

“Berserker Pacifist? That doesn’t even make sense! What kind of cheat is that?”

“Look, he made another double kill.”

Kortef is displaying a high quality use of guerrilla tactics to kill and escape with only 2 minutes left in his match. He is trying to make his way to the two story building in which Blue Hawk is located but the fact that he is being pursued constantly by 2 or 3 players makes it almost impossible.

When at last Kortef thinks that he is in a good position to assault the building, 4 Mutants with heavy weapons start to shoot burst after burst to him. He had to duck, crawl, and roll to evade. All of the missed bursts collide with the two story building causing it to collapse.

Apparently Blue Hawk somehow survived the collapse of the building but at the same time he was trapped. Kortef decided to pay him no more attention and he continued his killing spree.

The fact that he is killing and fleeing and he is not able to backtrack to loot the scattered tags to complete the 50 tags transformed the map from “Tag hunt” to “Tag search”. Some people where shameless enough to make truces, instead of killing each other they collect the tags in the ground left by Kortef.

After the timer ran out, Kortef classified as 2nd with 41 tags collected.

“Mmm, that guy seems interesting.” An elderly man with a grey suit says while staring at a screen.

“Who are you talking about Mr. Smith?” Another elderly man with a black suit and a red tie asks to the grey suited elderly man.

“That Battle Android named Kortef.” Says Mr. Smith while pointing to a screen.

“The silver one?” Asks the black suited elderly man raising an eyebrow.

“Yes, yes. That one.” Replies Mr. Smith with a grin.

“I thought the same, but my son told me that he is just garbage.” Replies the black suited elderly man with an indifferent tone. If you look closely you could see a hint of arrogance in his eyes.

“Oh? So little Ackerman says that Kortef is garbage?” Mr. Smith says trying to hide his surprise.

“Yes and I trust his judgement.” He turn to his left and raises his voice while waving his hand to call someone. “Alfred, come here.”

After some moments, a handsome man in his mid-thirties approaches the two elderly men. “Did you call for me father?”

“Yes, let me introduce you to Adam Smith, president of this branch of Blue Moon Enterprise and main host of the tournament.” The black suit elderly man introduces Mr. Smith to his son.

“Oh, it’s a pleasure to meet you in person Mr. Smith, I have heard a lot of you. I’m Alfred Ackerman, you can call me just Alfred.” The handsome man offers a handshake to Mr. Smith.

“Hoho, the pleasure is mine Alfred, it’s always a good thing to meet the young generation of the competition, my sincere apologies for not being able to meet you earlier.” Mr. Smith politely answers the handshake.

“You flatter me Mr. Smith. And don’t worry about that small matter, I imagine that you must be as busy as my father.” Alfred answers while showing respect towards Mr. Smith.

“Right. Alfred, do you remember what you told me earlier about the Silver Battle Droid?” Mr. Ackerman reminds why he had asked his son to come over.

“Yeah, of course, why?” Alfred replies with a confused look.

“Well, I was curious as I think that that player seems interesting, but it seems you think otherwise.” Mr. Smith intervenes. He possessed a calm tone in his voice but his look was full of stubbornness.

“Oh that, well, I was watching by coincidence the highlights of the server No. 37 because a friend of mine was playing there as a Specter, so I noticed the underhanded methods of that Silver Battle Droid.” Alfred replies, there is a hint of displeasure in his voice.

“Underhanded you say?” Mr. Smith frowns.

“Yes, underhanded. He used a set up I have never seen of a Berserker with light weapons to have the upper hand in the first round. But since Berserkers relies on killing multiple targets to activate their feature and the next two rounds are a team competition and a one vs. one, his set up will be a huge draw back,” Alfred pauses for a moment, “No one in their right minds uses a Berserker class in this kind of tournament, so I think that he was hired to stop potential threats to someone else in the first round.” He says that last sentence with disdain in his voice. ‘Yeah, that was why that Kortef killed so many times Silent Warrior, he must be hired!’ Alfred thinks inwardly.

What Alfred didn't know is that Marcus and Ana deciphered the ambush pattern of the Specter easily, and since Kortef’s first death after his return was the ambush laid by the Specter, Marcus just took revenge. Also the specter was a sweet farming target.

“Mmm interesting, interesting.” Mr. Smith strokes his chin and then turns to Mr. Ackerman with a huge grin on his face. “Well, how about we make a bet Mr. Ackerman?”

“A bet you say?” Mr. Ackerman raises an eyebrow again.

“Yes, yes, a bet. Since you trust your son’s judgement, how about we make a little bet?” Mr. Smith says while he continue to stroke his chin.

“Well, speak up.” Mr. Ackerman shrugs slightly.

“I bet you 200 big bucks that Kortef will classify to the third round.” Mr. Smith says casually, as if that amount was a small thing.

“200.000 dollars?” Mr. Ackerman couldn’t hide his shocked expression at this “casual” offer. He turns to face his son who nodded as if saying “there’s nothing to worry”. He faces again Mr. Smith and offers a handshake. “Of course I trust my son’s judgement, it’s a deal!”

“Yes, yes, deal then.” Mr. Smith answers the handshake with the same huge grin.

♫ ♪ ♫

‘A second place is good for me, I classified to the second round, that’s what matters.’ I am quite satisfied with my performance in the Tag Hunt. I sit straight in the chair and issue some orders to the system to safely shut the VR gear without damaging my nerves. After that I begin to remove the helmet with both hands.

“Kyyaaaaa we did it, we did it!” Ana is incomparably happy and threw herself towards me in what I assume was a hug.

‘Oh, this is heaven.’ I think inwardly. Since I am sitting in a chair and Ana is standing, instead of a hug what she is doing is more a face massage with her breasts than an actual hug. Ana seems so happy and I don’t know if she is doing it on purpose or if she didn't seem to notice what she was doing, because she was doing it shamelessly.

Fortunately we are in the 3rd floor and nobody notices us. ‘This softness feels quite good.’ Ana’s breasts are pouncing in my face and as a man I am enjoying it, a lot.

‘Although I’m not an expert, this pair definitely must be natural, the skin is tender and smooth too.’ My thoughts are overclocking and I couldn’t think clearly.

After some moments Ana notices that I am just acting like a puppet in her embrace that just moved at her rhythm. Ana thinks that something is not right so she puts her hands in my shoulders and make some distance between us, looking me straight in my eyes.

“Uh? Marcus, are you alright?” Ana tilts her head to the right focusing her sight in my face.

“What? Yes, I’m alright.” I felt the terror of the gates of hell opening in front of me. ‘She can’t blame me! She was the one who shamelessly rubbed her body in my face! I was just a victim!’ I try to come up with an idea to my self-defense and swallow a mouthful of saliva. I start to perspire.

“Are you sure?” Ana narrows her eyes and focus harder on my face.

“Y… yes, I’m sure…” My voice trembles. I clench his fists, shut my eyes, and grit my teeth. Beads of cold sweat start rolling down my face. ‘Will it be a slap?’ I say to myself while I wait for the punishment.

*Drip*

“I knew you were not right, your nose is bleeding!” Ana pointed at my nose.

“Bleeding?” I reach my nose with the tips of my fingers and indeed, there is blood in my nose. Of course any man’s nose would bleed after experiencing that feeling!

“Are you ill or something? Here use this, or your uniform will stain.” Ana hurriedly takes a handkerchief from her breast pocket and put it on my nose. The sight of seeing where the handkerchief came from and the actual sweet fragrance of the handkerchief caused my nose bleed worsen.

‘What the hell Ana, do you want to kill me of blood loss?’ I think inwardly, “I’m fine, don’t worry, it must be stress or overwork.” I stuff the handkerchief on my nose and avert my gaze from Ana’s cleavage.

“Overwork? But you only played for half an hour.” Ana is trying to help me but I don't let her.

“I’m fine, trust me.” I forcefully smile towards Ana. “Bring me some water and I’ll be fine.” I point to a counter where there are a lot of snacks and drinks for the guests and participants. ‘I truly deserve hell.’ Although Ana did it seamlessly, I feel ashamed for enjoying it.

“Okie dokie Captain Kortef.” Ana smiles sweetly and happily goes to bring some snacks and drinks.

The participants has a 20 minutes recess before having to log in again. I use this time to calibrate some sensors while chatting with Ana and discussing some strategies for the next game.

"Sniper’s Territory" is a triple team battle, each team formed by 4 players. One of the 3 teams starts as the sniper team in a fixed base. The other two teams, known as the assailants, start 1 km away from the snipers. The terrain could be either uphill, downhill, or in flat land.

The mission of the assailants is to get as near as possible to the sniper base within 5 minutes. Each time a player dies they respawn 200 meters away from the spot they died and the respawn timer increases a bit. If a player crosses the distance with spare time, the team get bonus points. If multiple players crosses the distance, they get a team bonus score multiplier.

After some time I log in again and wait patiently in the lobby.

“Battle starts in 10 seconds, the map will be Snowy Hills.”

“This map… Ana did this map underwent any change?” I hurriedly ask. There’s a trick I know and I want to try it.

“Not that I know, why?” Replies Ana.

“Hahaha, use the team chat and tell one of the guys to follow me, I’ll use that strategy.” I say while laughing confidently.

“What? But you don’t have any demolition type weapon!” Ana replies with a shocked tone.

“Trust me! There’s no time, hurry up!” I say while waiting for the start of the match eagerly.

♫ ♪ ♫

- (Kortef) Slave Orb: Hey guys

- (Team) Funter: Uh? Is that a girl’s voice?

- (Team) Mega D.: Yeah, I heard a girl’s voice too!

- (Team) xXPozeidonXx: What’s going on? There’s no player named Slave Orb in the party, who are you?

- (Kortef) Slave Orb: SHUT. UP!!!

“…”

- (Kortef) Slave Orb: Ok, now that I got your attention, I’m just Kortef’s carrier orb, I need someone with good speed that follows Kortef uphill, and the other two to hide on the forest to the right.

- (Team) Mega D.: What? But the point is go…

- (Kortef) Slave Orb: Thank you Mega D. for choosing to go uphill.

- (Team) Funter: Wait, wait, besides, there’s turrets in the fore…

- (Kortef) Slave Orb: You don’t need to go deep, just be near a tree when the signal is given.

- (Team) Mega D.: Signal? What are you talk…

- (Kortef) Slave Orb: ANY OBJECTION?

“…”

- (Kortef) Slave Orb: That’s the attitude! *chuckle*

“Battle starts.”

♫ ♪ ♫

Mr. Smith being the president of the Glassglow branch of the company naturally abused a bit of his power. He ordered to highlight in 30 of the 200 screens the match were the guy who he bet 200.000 was. “I either win big or lose so miserably that I can laugh at myself.” That is the line of thought of Mr. Smith.

Just as the battle starts a Mutant and a Battle Droid of the Yellow Team start running to the top of the Snowy Hills at a fast pace. The other Mutant and a Hybrid of the same team take shelter behind some trees in the forest near them and do nothing else. The second assailant team, the blue team, start cursing them.

“You bastards, if you want to quit don’t drag us down!”

“Shameless! How much the red team paid for you to surrender?”

“I’m reporting this match to a judge, just you wait!”

On the other hand, the red team is quite happy. With less people running downhill they have less work to do and can score more points.

“Noobs running uphill. Lol.”

“Free points are free.”

“Don’t lower your guards! If the yellow team is quitting it means that we will be alone too when its blue team turn to snipe.”

“Yeah, right, let’s concentrate!”

In the lobby a lot of people were puzzled. They didn’t understand why that match was being highlighted, and not just highlighted, highlighted in 30 screens. Normally the technicians, when they see that a match is boring, swap to another player point of view. Right now there are 192 players in the amateur category but there were more on the other categories, using 30 of the screens to highlight that seemingly boring match caused a reverse-psychology effect, which drew the crowd’s attention.

Mr. Smith is stroking his chin. Mr. Ackerman is laughing heartily while chatting at his side in the VIP zone. Behind them was Mr. Ackerman’s son, Alfred, with a confused look. ‘There’s no way that he is going to do that in those conditions, right?’ Alfred says inwardly.

Since the beginning of the match 40 seconds have passed. The Red team had killed each member of the blue team twice, while the other two members of the yellow team remained hidden seeing to the top.

Suddenly the Battle Droid and the Mutant stop running halfway to the top. In the screen, the Battle Droid is making some signals and gestures to the Mutant. After the gestures the Battle Droid quickly distance himself from the Mutant about 10 meters and the Mutant cups his hands and falls to one knee.

The Battle Droid rushes towards the Mutant at top speed covering the distance in the blink of an eye, his last step fit perfectly in the cupped hands of the Mutant and this one, using the borrowed momentum of the rush, plus his arm strength, plus the stored spring-like strength by being in one knee, tossed the Battle Droid with all his might to the air and without thinking it twice rushes towards the forest of the side of the road.

The Battle droid reaches a height of 25 meters in the first 2 seconds. He reaches the peak of his bizarre jump at the 6th second with a height of at least 80 meters.

“Seismic Strike Module: full force!”

*Ziup.*

*Thud.*

*BOOOM.*

The 80 meters of free fall were covered in only 0.7 seconds! The force of the impact is tremendous. Utterly devastating. The Battle Droid alone caused a mini quake scattering snow everywhere.

*RUMBLE, RUMBLE, RUMBLE.*

The peak of the mountain starts to tremble. The ground is shaking violently. A thunderous sound covers all the area in Snowy Hills. The blue team and red team stare slack-jawed at the enormous avalanche that is incoming at an absurd speed towards them. All the spectators are stupefied at the sight.

Moments later, the only ones who came out unscratched are those seemingly idiotic players who climbed thick trees and the Mutant who propelled the Battle Droid to the air who did the same at the last moment. The rest of the players were buried alive. The funny thing is that the avalanche just trapped them and they would probably not die by lack of oxygen because the high tech gear they were using.

The Battle Droid shattered himself in the impact but it is just a matter of seconds before he respawns.

“Ha ha ha, double or nothing for the third round?” The voice of an elderly man wearing a grey suit resounds in midst of the silent and tension filled crowd. He is happily patting the back of an elderly man with a black suit. The face of this black suited elderly man is ugly to behold. Behind him, a handsome man has her forehead full of perspiration and is madly biting his nails.

END OF CHAPTER 4