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"What the hell was that!?

" Elizabeth shouted as everyone arrived back in her virtual home. Players being transported to where they last were before entering the matches.

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"You know I don't like waiting,

" Judith replied matter-of-factly.

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"I am not asking you, I expected you to do something dumb. Eldrian, what the hell?

" Elizabeth balled her fists.

"I didn't expect you to actually charge ahead of Judith.

"

nCaught off guard by being shouted at and questioned Eldrian faltered in replying, only managing to say sorry and that it won't happen again. He himself was unsure what had happened, one moment he was trying to catch up to Judith, the next he was in front of their opponents.

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"Good, there is no reason for us to come up with a plan if you guys are just going to ignore it!

"

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"But, that fight didn't really need any planning.

" Judith countered.

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"True, but we can't go in expecting that. We have to be prepared to face a team of our level or even stronger. Remember we aren't just doing this for fun, our aim is to win!

" Elizabeth shouted, hoping to get everyone to understand that they needed to be serious.

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"In any case,

" Therdul interrupted,

"From that match, we can conclude that all or most matches will be in some neutral area.

"

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"Maybe, maybe not.

" Ilmadia countered,

"We will have to have a few more to confirm. Though I do expect that there won't ever really be an arena.

"

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"Now then, are we going to queue for our next match or is there something more anyone wants to add?

" Nikki asked, Eldrian and Erik staying quiet as they still felt like outsiders in the group.

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"Let's queue, no point in waiting when we are going to have to wait in any case,

" Elizabeth replied, shocked when the counter was just one and they disappeared with almost no delay.

n...

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"The hell?

" She complained as they now found themselves in a sparse forest. Quickly everyone turned around to look for their opponents and trying to overcome the shock of there being almost no pause.

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"There, a group of archers it seems. No two melee classes, four archers, and I assume the others are mages.

" Zyviss said, having quickly moved out of the group to better scout.

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"Therdul take the front,

" Elizabeth shouted as she pulled out a shield for her to hide under. Everyone did the same and seeing their action's Eldrian followed. In the end, Erik, and Judith, and Zyviss were the only ones without a shield. The latter because using one would make using his bow impossible, the others because they had no shield in their inventory.

nLast time, in the five minutes they had been given to explore the grassland, they had found that they could connect fully to their inventory. Eldrian even found that he could connect to the ring which Myropsis had given him. As such he had his pile of 'useless' weapons he could pull from.

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"Seems like this group is more careful. They have also spotted us. The melee classes are in heavy armor and are carrying tower shields, the mages hiding behind them. The archers are splitting up.

" Zyviss reported as he let an arrow fly at one of the archers. It landed short by around five meters.

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"We are about fifty meters apart,

" Zyviss reported after that shot, not at all embarrassed that he missed his target by so much.

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"Alright, let's take it slow. We don't know what the mages can do, hence forming a shield wall might not be smart.

" Elizabeth said, quickly being countered by Ilmadia.

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"I disagree, the mages might be able to do some damage, but shields can block most of it. The only problem would be fire spells, but they generally don't do much upfront damage. So let's group together.

"

nHearing this everyone did just that, Eldrian took the left flank and Judith the right. Erik hid behind everyone along with Zyviss who also had no shield and didn't wish to be made a porcupine. From time to time he would raise his head to look over and then duck back down.

nSlowly both groups moved closer, none of the archers firing until they were thirty meters from each other. Once they reached this point the archers of the opponents ran to flank them while letting arrows fly.

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"This isn't going to work,

" Eldrian said as soon as he saw the opponent trying to flank them. If they turned to block the arrows then that would simply open them up to the mages' attacks.

"I am going to go for the second to left one, Judith you run right. Everyone else simply aim for the mages.

"

nAs he said this he ran and so did Judith. Eldrian found it quite funny how she didn't argue or anything and just did what he said. She probably just wants to fight, Eldrian thought.

nWith both of them charging the others had to react quickly, and they did. Ilmadia decided to cast Kafsilos where the four remaining opponents were waiting. Forcing them to slowly burn to death or move. With this, their opponents should be unable to use their charge as an opportunity to hit them.

nAs soon as he had started running Eldrian had moved his shield to block the arrows flying at him, and had pulled the best one-handed sword he had from his inventory.

nNaturally, his opponents didn't just stand and wait for them, the two Eldrian was chasing split from each other and fired an arrow every now and then. They struggled to be accurate as they tried to kite Eldrian, but the arrows did cause him to often need to pause and block or dodge.

nScrew this, two can play at that. Eldrian thought, throwing his sword at the archer he was chasing. Seeing it the girl jumped to the side to avoid the blade, which was her mistake. Following behind it was Frost Needle, and seeing her jump Eldrian changed its direction to where she would land.

nWith that he turned and ran at the other, the guy completely caught off guard when he received the notification that his companion was dead. He didn't understand how and that few seconds of disbelief gave Eldrian the time he needed to maneuver and use Frost Needle again along with another random sword.

nThat wasn't too bad. Eldrian thought and turned, only to be shocked as he received two notifications.

nTeammate Judith has been killed.

nTeammate Ilmadia has been killed.

nWhat the hell? How? He asked and looked, only to see a melee going on where the two heavy armored opponents were holding Therdul and Nikki off. One of the mages was facing Elizabeth and the other was free to cast spells.

nFurther back Judith's body lay on the ground. Six arrows in her chest and four through her legs. Evidently, she had failed to dodge and without a shield, she was an easy target. Erik was hovering over Ilmadia and trying to heal her, an ax stuck in the center of her chest. Upon hearing the notification Erik knew he had failed and stood up.

nZyviss had been trying to follow Judith and while he had wounded one of the archers, he was forced to dodge and weave through the trees to not die by the other's hand.

nShit, what the hell happened? Eldrian wondered as he rushed over, the mage preparing a spell just barely realizing someone was charging from the side. Turning he shot out an earthen spike, Eldrian jumping to the side to dodge it and sending his own Frost Needle at the mage.

nThe mage jumped to the side and managed to block the spell with his arm. This saved his life but needing time to cast a spell, it did not last long. After recovering from his dodge Eldrian sent another Frost Needle and charged at one of the heavy-plated men to get closer and a better angle.

nHis spell landing accurately this time on the mage as this mage couldn't understand how Eldrian cast his spells so fast. In his charge, Eldrian suddenly heard the whistle of an arrow and was forced to jump back. Shit, that was close. He thought, only to suddenly feel a stinging pain in his leg. Double shot?

nWithout delay, Eldrian ripped the arrow out and used Thera and Anthizo to slightly heal the wound and give him a burst of energy. Luckily at this time, Therdul managed to overcome his opponent. Just as he wanted to charge at the archers he saw Erik already running at them. He was certain to die, but his doing so allowed both Eldrian and Therdul to focus on the remaining mage and fighter.

nEldrian pulled another random sword and threw it at the mage while he was healing his leg. The mage didn't even realize what was going on as he was fighting Elizabeth to a standstill. While the sword did not hit with its blade, the impact caused the mage to falter and Elizabeth to just barely land a direct strike.

nTherdul on the other hand had tackled the person fighting Nikki. Pinning him down had made it easy for Nikki to cut off the man's head. As she did they got a notification that Erik had died. Followed not long after by Zyviss dying.

nCursing Eldrian cast Mifotia to burn his wound closed and grouped with the rest. Together they searched for the remaining archer or two, unsure if it was just one or not. Finally, the whistle of an arrow was heard and they lost another player as Elizabeth didn't manage to bring up her shield in time.

nEldrian immediately set off in the direction of the arrow, barely seeing the silhouette of the archer between the trees. As the archer turned to fire at him, Eldrian cast Frost Needle and the archer loosed his arrow. Eldrian bringing his shield up to block and the archer forced to sacrifice his arm as he found the spell changing direction after he dodged.

nStruggling to stand up the archer was not willing to give up, but another Frost Needle made his determination moot.

nCongratiolations on your win. As this is the first day and the strength of parties has yet to be tested, the point reward will be determined by Tier difference. As such you gain 7 points.

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