Second World-Novel

Team Section Match 4: Human Vs Dwarf

Human Team

Giant Steve, level 46 Sentinel

Storm Wind, level 43 Blade Dancer

Red Death, level 46 Assassin

Yellow Death, level 46 Gunner

Princess Purple, level 46 Priest

Vs

Dwarf Team

Longstick, level 46 Paladin

Hideout, level 45 Bard

Sierra, level 46 Elite Marksman

Jet Hung, level 46 Beastmaster

Outdoor, level 46 Druid

*

The two teams entered the portal and found themselves coming out in an apocalyptic landscape, it was a deserted city with dilapidated modern buildings and half-destroyed tall buildings.

"Isn't this set up a bit too non-fantasy?" Jack remarked after seeing the landscape.

No one answered. Red Death and Yellow Death just strolled off in two different directions.

"Wait! We need to figure out how to deal with their scout who can disappear!" Jack called.

"I will know if he comes anywhere near me," Red Death replied without stopping.

"Mind your own business!" Yellow Death uttered.

'These two…,' Jack gritted his teeth.

Princess Purple was already sitting on a chair with a table. There were lots of broken furniture around them, she had managed to find a fully intact chair and table to use.

"You want me to stay with her again?" Giant Steve asked.

Jack sighed. "Yeah, you do that. I will try to find the enemies and finish this as soon as possible."

He then ran off taking the center pathway. He looked around the broken buildings as he passed. There were too many places for that Bard with the Hide skill to hide. But no matter, he won't get a jump on him or Red Death who had mana sense. Giant Steve also possessed some basic mana sense already. Even though Steve couldn't sense mana as well as Red Death and Jack, it should still prevent him from getting backstabbed if the enemy tried to sneak behind him.

*

On the other side, the dwarf team gathered together to have the last discussion before moving out.

Jet spoke to them, "Remember what we have discussed yesterday? Hideout, you walked ahead, we will follow close-by. Remember to avoid that multi-class kid and the red-haired woman. They will know your location if you go too near. Make two taps if you see them, we will move away. If it is the gunner, send us three taps. If we don't meet any of them, we will proceed to their spawning position."

Everyone nodded. Hideout moved away and turned invisible. They no longer use the powder trail anymore. Everyone had seen that trick from the previous match. They will easily be found out if they still use the powder trick.

The four from behind were following Hideout with not as far a distance from the previous match. Hideout made a regular one-tap sound using a stone on the ground or the nearby wall then scratched a direction after every tap. This allowed his friends following behind to know which direction he was heading in.

Jet looked around as they moved.

'This terrain is perfect,' he thought.

*

At the place where the human team came out into this dimension, Princess Purple was again coloring her fingernails. Giant Steve no longer dared to comment about it.

Steve was bored, though. He thought this tournament would be a glorious fight. The others did, as he had watched. But all he did till now was just stand and do nothing, the match ended when the enemy team meets Jack. Maybe he should have asked Jeanny to give him the individual match instead.

He thought back to the third team match between the Orc and the Draconian teams. Now, that was a battle. If only they could have an exciting battle like that. While having the thought, he looked back at Princess Purple and sighed. It was a tall order to have that kind of team battle with team members that hated each other.

Bored, he started to practice the martial arts Domon had taught him. Steve was using a war hammer in his right hand and a tower shield on his left. Domon had Steve practice a lot of swinging since a hammer was Steve's preferred weapon.

A hammer was mainly a weapon for swinging, it was not designed to thrust. It was a weapon that utilized momentum to give a powerful impact against heavily armored opponents. Armors were basically useless considering a hammer could damage the opponent without penetrating the armor. The hammer in this game-world reflected that property. Every blunt weapon like a hammer always possessed an ignore defense stat of at least 20%.

Princess Purple glanced at the giant man when he started swinging his hammer around, but soon lost interest and returned to her fingernail polishing.

After practicing for a while, Steve looked up at the words in the sky. No names were grey out yet. It had been some time. Had none of them met the enemies yet? He wondered.

As he was still gazing at the words in the sky, he suddenly sensed something from behind. He quickly positioned his tower shield at his back, just as a series of hard impacts forced him back. At the same time, he heard Princess Purple scream and utter, "Who are you, people?!" To which Steve thought was a stupid question, considering they already knew their opponents before they entered this dimension.

Still, he was surprised that these opponents had slipped through their three teammates who had spread out in three different directions. At least they should encounter one of them, shouldn't they?

The one who had forced Steve back was Jet Hung, while his four friends surrounded Princess Purple. The dwarf team had indeed met one of the three from the human team, the red-haired woman. Hideout made a two-tap sound once the red-haired woman came into view. Hideout led the others away from where Red Death was heading by making low tapping sounds.

Jet had instructed them to avoid Jack and Red Death. Jack was obvious. For Red Death, they could surely beat her if they worked together, but it would still take up time, which opened the risk factor in case Jack happened to be nearby. So they took the prudent choice and avoided her.

Giant Steve was trying to get to Princess Purple to help her. She was a priest, she won't be able to survive on her own against four opponents. Yet, Jet blocked his way. Each of Jet's fist strikes using his Katar sent Steve back even further. Steve could feel from the impact on his shield that this old dwarf was using mana manipulation in each of those strikes. Not as powerful as Domon's but still enough to make him step back.

Steve cursed himself. He shouldn't have positioned himself so far away from Princess Purple. His only job here was to protect her, after all. He was currently more than thirty meters away. He needed to get into that range before he could use either Share Damage or Urgent Save to help Princess Purple.

Urgent Save was a Sentinel's level 45 skill. It was used by marking a target. When the target's HP fell below 30% during the five minutes after the mark was placed, the Sentinel would automatically teleport to the target and performed cover. All damages received during the cover were reduced by 70%.

Steve needed at least thirty meters from the target to place the mark. Once a mark was placed, the target could move far away and he would still be teleported when the target was near death.

"Move away!" Steve shouted as he used Shield Bash, trying to forcefully charge through.

Jet performed a double-handed punch at the shield. It was his martial arts called Yin Yang Fists. The punches effectively canceled the knockback effect of Steve's Shield Bash. Steve was instead forced back another step again. Frustrated, Steve made a wide swing using his hammer accompanied by Power Strike.

Jet stepped forward, allowing the hammer's head to hit the air behind him while he caught Steve's swinging arm. He grabbed and pulled the arm and kicked Steve's legs at the same time, making him lose balance, before throwing Steve's huge body away, sending Steve even further away from Princess Purple.

When Steve got up, Prince Purple's name on the sky had turned grey. At this time, the four others from Jet's team came over.

Seeing the situation, Steve decided to turn tail.

"Hehe, too late," Jet said and used his Call Wolf Pack. Six wolves appeared. They ran with high speed and blocked Steve's advance. Steve's slow movement was not able to outrun these fast creatures.

Steve performed Death Carrying Cyclone. His war hammer swung in a wide circle, bashing all six wolves aside.

"You learned Domon's move, not bad," Jet commented. He had arrived near Steve again while the Sentinel was busy with his wolves. The other four dwarves placed themselves in four different directions, sealing Steve's escape path.

"There is no escape, boy. Just accept your fate," Jet said.

"GRAAHH…!!!" Steve couldn't bear to just roll over like that. He used all his skills and abilities to drag the fight longer. In the hope of giving any of his teammates time to return here. But with five expert players ganging at him, he couldn't last long.

His name in the sky was also greyed out.