*Let's see... 3, 6, 9, 12 players, huh? They really don't waste any time.*
Jisha was a bit annoyed when she was "ambushed" by these players, but when she realized Stein and Castle were in the mix, she perked up a bit.
She'd heard of Stein from Brookie and the four friends who claimed to be from the guild "Asunder"; he was supposedly the leader.
And Castle, well... He'd just disappeared after Jisha's War Zone battle.
*That kid... Why did he ignore my guild invitation? I'll have to give him a stern lecture about ignoring girls' messages!*
Jisha narrowed her eyes and observed the projectiles headed her way.
Out of six projectiles, four were physical while two were magical.
*Six ranged units... They're perfectly balanced. Are they here specifically for me?*
This situation was unlikely to be coincidental. She wasn't surprised that the news of the "Uval Spawn Battle", as it would eventually be called, had spread to nearby players.
Guild leaders, especially those of front-running guilds, were keen on picking up important and unusual information about pretty much anything. That battle footage could be considered as both...
By inspecting their levels, it was likely that Asunder was also a guild that focused on exploring the edge of Synergy.
The current leaders of the leveling scoreboard were level 9, and the players in front of her were level 7 or 8. They weren't far behind, which meant that they were most likely twice-evolved.
At level 5, six additional classes were available to players.
From the melee side, there were Fracasiers, Batonistas, and Neophyte Battle Magi.
On the ranged side, there were Pitchers, Slingshotters, and Neophyte Mages.
Of the 12 players, there seemed to be 2 of each type.
These 12 players had a poor encirclement since Jisha was located at the cave entrance. She had ample room to retreat backwards, but that would unlikely be unnecessary.
Despite this, their attacks were well-coordinated.
Though the melees weren't in range yet, the six projectiles covered all her escape options and left little space to dodge.
That's right - *little* space... not *no* space. Though any ordinary opponent would likely have been hit, Jisha was anything but ordinary.
Simply by abusing the darkness of the cave's shadows, the ranged attacks weren't as precise as they could have been.
She weaved through the attacks, raised her weapon, and counterattacked.
---
*>Quaterniana: Pitcher downed!*
*Damn...*
Fae Sol, or what was assumed to be Fae Sol since the name and level were concealed, seamlessly waltzed through the hail of bullets and fired a counterattack to boot.
Stein nearly doubted his eyes. His evaluation of Fae Sol increased by a notch.
Originally, he thought he could overwhelm her with sheer numbers. After all, 12 was more than 7. On top of that, each of their individual skills was higher than that of the 7 in the Uval Cemetery.
However, he quickly realized he was mistaken. Stein was a versatile commander - he quickly adapted to this situation.
*>Stein: Mage unit, take cover behind melees. Pitch unit, stay at mid range. Sling unit, keep your distance!*
Most classes in Synergy had two fundamental ways of attacking. One was basic attacks, and the other was "skills" or "spells".
Unlike skills, which consumed mana and/or stamina, basic attacks did not.
Since basic attacks generally had a far lesser cooldown than skills, he wanted to abuse the Pitcher and Slingshotter classes, which primarily used basic attacks, to create an undodgeable "zerg rush" of projectiles.
Even with all this, Stein wasn't sure if it would be enough to take out their opponent. So...
*>Stein: Melees, close in.*
All 12 players converged on a point!
Stein's formation change was most optimal in a boss fight. He placed each unit at their most effective ranges from the singular target.
However, there may have been a small flaw with this plan.
Fae Sol was a player, not a boss.
Unlike bosses, which one could usually attack fairly mindlessly, fighting another player usually required a lot of brain power.
*This is all I can hope for, though...*
This was unknown territory for Stein and Asunder. Never had they fought a single player with a raid party! As this was a new experience, it was impossible to tell whether this strategy would be effective.
It was known that Fae Sol was of the Slingshotter class which was known to be a "glass cannon". They could deal high amounts of damage but were fragile on defense.
Early in the game, this fact wasn't apparent via stats. But Stein was well aware of a Slingshotter's weakness - it had a very low attack speed!
In other words, Slingshotter was a class that focused on basic attacks, yet they had a high cooldown. This, paired with their high damage per shot, made them extremely deadly at long range.
If he could overwhelm Fae Sol with melee units at close range, it would be impossible for her to fire fast enough to retaliate.
Stein noticed Fae Sol begin to retreat backwards.
*As expected... she's playing to her class's strengths.*
If he let her stay at a distance, they'd only be picked off one by one. Stein had seen her accuracy in the battle in Uval. It wouldn't matter how many numbers he had on his side if none of them could reach her - they would lose!
Fae Sol raised her golden weapon again to fire.
When the melee units saw this, some of them used a dash, sprint, or some other skill that allowed them to move a short distance rapidly.
This type of ability, known as a "gap-closer", was something all melee units possessed. After all, if they didn't, it would be impossible for them to catch up with a retreating ranged unit.
But this type of skill could also be used to dodge.
Ordinarily, using a gap-closer to dodge a basic attack was the height of foolishness. But after witnessing the basic attack one-hit-KO a teammate, they couldn't help themselves.
They tried to predict where the pellet would head and dashed out of the way, but they immediately realized that they had wasted their gap-closing ability!
*-152*
*>Quaterniana: Pitcher downed.*
*>Stein: What?*
None of the melees that were charging at Fae Sol were the intended target. Instead, from a ridiculous range, Fae Sol sniped another Pitcher off Synergy's surface.
*Why?*
Stein couldn't understand why she'd gone for a risky shot instead of landing a guaranteed hit on a melee that was posing more of a threat. But there wasn't any time to think about that now.
*>Stein: Melees, use everything you have to close in. Ranged units, don't let up!*
Melees who hadn't used a gap-closer charged forward. In the time Fae Sol's basic attacks were on cooldown, they had to make a significant move. If they couldn't...
*We'll actually lose?*
This unsettling thought arose in Stein's head.
---
*They're good.*
Though Jisha was thinking this, this battle was a walk in the park for her. Even with a Tier 0 physique, the pace of this battle was abhorrently slow for her.
After experiencing the superhuman worlds of higher tiers, everything that was happening at the lower levels was at a snail's pace.
Yes, they were only "good" for beginner Synergy players but nothing more.
Jisha raised her weapon and fired at the backline once again.
*-133*
With that, an enemy Slingshotter was killed.
*9 to go, huh.*
Though Jisha felt like she could do almost anything here and still come on top, she didn't want to accidentally "throw" the battle.
Since the ranged units were the only threat at the moment, it was best to take care of them first.
Pitchers had rapid attack speed which made dodging their shots extremely annoying. Thus, she took care of them immediately.
The slingshot users, who were theoretically deadly at long range, weren't much of a problem. Unsurprisingly, they both wielded the Wooden Slingshot. If even Jisha had never heard of a Golden Slingshot until this lifetime, it was nearly impossible that anyone here had, much less have acquired one.
Slingshots were only deadly at long range if the attacks connected. Unfortunately, slingshots were extremely difficult to use. The only reason Jisha was one-shotting everyone like it was nothing was because she'd used the weapon countless times before.
The only true danger came from the "Targeted Sling" ability. This was essentially a system-assisted basic attack. It was guaranteed to be accurate.
But not only could it be dodged like any other basic attack, its cooldown was a whopping 10 seconds.
In other words, newbie Slingshotters were simply decorative...
*Hmm...*
She observed the melee units drawing nearer. They still weren't at a range to be a threat, so Jisha glanced at the three remaining ranged units.
At this moment, Jisha noticed the Mages in the backline finish casting their spells.
*I see...*
Neophyte Mages had two "high-damage" spells. One was a laser-like beam that dealt high damage to a single target. The other was an "area-of-effect", or AoE, spell that appeared on the ground and dealt damage to everything in it.
Of course, before the spells took effect, there was an indicator of where they were cast. If this didn't exist, it would be impossible for new players to dodge them, and the class would be "broken" beyond belief.
So when Jisha saw the circles on the ground along with the Slingshotter's attack (lol) patterns, she immediately knew what their strategy was.
*Not bad. Guess I'll play along!*
---
*She fell for it?*
Never would Stein have expected this strategy to work on Fae Sol.
This was a basic tactic known as "zoning". It was basically forcing an opponent to dodge into a trap. In this case, the Slingshotter basic attacks along with the Mage AoE spells would zone Fae Sol straight into the melees.
In this situation, every move Fae Sol attempted would be a losing one. If she were to retreat backwards, she would take a lot of damage from the AoE spells. If she were to stay in place, she would be pelted by slingshot ammunition. If she were to move forward, she would enter the embrace of the melee units that were charging at her. And since she was still inside the cave's entrance, there was little room to dodge to the sides.
Stein was a bit surprised that Fae Sol chose the "worst" option - dodging forwards and leaving the cave. There was no way for a Slingshotter to win at melee range. At least if she'd dodged backwards, she'd have taken damage but would have still remained at a distance. However, she was entering the range of 6 melee units... including the two most skilled of the group, Castle and Stein.
Yes, Stein was about to face this menace head-to-head. During an engagement, Stein would not be able to command his subordinates through chat; it was impossible to focus on two things at once. He and his five allies would have to focus on wordless communication.
The two parties were now less than 5 metron away from each other. Stein and the other Neophyte Battle Magus in his party would be the first ones to engage. Out of these melee classes, they had the longest range.
In addition to basic attacks, the Neophyte Battle Magus had two skills: "Mana Punch" and "Mana Palm Strike".
*>Stein: Cargo!*
The other Magus in the group, Cargo Biscuit, understood Stein's command. As they were both experienced players who had worked together many times in the past, one word was usually enough to convey intentions.
Cargo Biscuit charged his Mana Palm Strike and threw it out. As this was currently the longest-ranged "melee" attack, it was used to engage. This, along with the Pitcher and Mage basic attacks that weren't letting up, forced Fae Sol to move even closer to the melee group.
All this time, Fae Sol had taken 0 HP of damage. Though this fact unnerved Stein, he knew that was about to change.
Fae Sol raised her weapon once again.
Stein and the others braced for impact.
Even though they were at this close of a range, a Slingshotter could still fire. In a strange way, it made them even more deadly, since even a complete noob was unlikely to miss from this close.
*-320*
And as if she were showing off, she fired a perfect vital strike.
A Fracasier, one who had wasted their gap-closing ability earlier, was dead.
Fae Sol's attack was now on cooldown. Everyone was in melee range. Everyone knew what to do.
The instant she fired, Castle used a skill which allowed him to attack with a flurry of punches.
"I've got you now!"
This skill was the manifestation of Castle's rage. He was only taking revenge for the humiliation he suffered earlier. The punches relentlessly rained down.
"You won't embarrass me again...?"
But... none of them connected.
Castle was flabbergasted.
He didn't understand how.
Slingshotters didn't have any movement abilities. Nor did they have any defensive abilities. The only thing they could do was fire basic attacks. Their only skill was a "targeted attack" which was nothing more than an enhancement to basic attacks.
She'd just fired, which meant that she should have no cards left to play.
When he looked at how his attack was blocked, he saw that Fae Sol was no longer holding a slingshot.
He looked up with a bizarre expression... only to see the brightest of smiles on a beautiful avatar.
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