Chapter 65

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The four Titans players shot nervous gazes at the big screen as the first game began with a random map selection. Because their team wasn’t suited to lengthy battles of attrition, maps C and D were the most advantageous to them.

Finally, the letter ‘B’ appeared on the screen, and a bout of pressure immediately befell the team.

They had never faced Lincoln before, and everything they knew about the team came from their past matches. Lincoln was a master in attrition warfare, which meant that their playstyle was the total opposite of Titans.

But the time for nerves and anxiety had long passed. While it was true that Lincoln was an expert in attrition warfare, they were not so good at dealing with intense quick attacks. Therefore, instead of figuring out how to compensate for their shortcomings, Titans should maximise their advantages.

When the opening buzzer of the first match sounded, Titans opted to launch a swift assault. However, Lincoln seemed to have predicted that Titans would employ this strategy from the start and, unlike Odin, their defence was as solid as an iron wall, making it impossible for their enemies to break through easily.

On maps B and above, the dawn alarms would start ringing after the twenty-five minute mark. A bombing zone of incoming air-dropped bombs would be there along with it, spreading towards the camp and forcing players to move as swiftly as they could.

The bombs’ explosions weren’t very powerful, but they dropped indiscriminately, causing players to lose a tenth of their current HP, experience vertigo, become weak in the limbs, and have their movement speed severely reduced.

Titans and Lincoln had already exchanged fire twice in the opening twenty-five minutes of the match, but Titans had failed to pierce Lincoln’s defences both times. Stalling their opponents until the alarms went off was Lincoln’s go-to strategy, and with the sound of the alarms, the bombing zone began to appear.

Both teams were still inside the bombing zone. The bombs that rained from the sky made the gunfight much more difficult, and it was at this moment that Lincoln began fighting back. After being consumed by the siege and bombardment, Titans lost the first match.

After seeing Lincoln’s score increase by one win, Shao Han, who was seated in the audience, tightened his grasps on the armrests of his seat, his knuckles turning white.

Noah was familiar with Lincoln’s playstyle because they were also a team that focused on attrition warfare, but they were no match for Lincoln. Yao Sen and his teammates, on the other hand, had an explosive playstyle that was clearly being stifled.

In the minute before the start of the second match, seated on the other side of the arena with Team Lincoln, Kevin was also wrapping up discussions with his teammates; the situation remained favourable, and all they had to do was maintain the status quo.

Kevin listened to his captain’s instructions with his face set, and when asked for his opinion, he simply relayed, “Watch out for their sniper.”

Sniping was one of the most effective ways to score points against teams that relied on attrition warfare, and with a sniper on Titans who almost never missed, it was logical to expect them to adopt such strategies.

Meanwhile, on the Titans’s side, Wang Yuxi couldn’t help but fume. “The pressure they’re putting on us is insane. Their defence is watertight!”

Bai Yue said, “We’ve gotta create more sniping opportunities for Lao-Song.”

After giving it some thought, Yao Sen said, “Lao Song, skip the scouting in the next round and stick with us. Their defence is too strong—you probably won’t have any opportunities to snipe them down. Let’s show them how ruthless we can be. When the time is right, I’ll signal you to set up an ambush.”

Song Mingzhe unhesitatingly replied, “Got it.”

Yao Sen then addressed Wang Yuxi and Bai Yue, “You two keep an eye on Kevin. Confirm his number, then keep him in check. Keep him in the bomb zone and leave the rest to me.”

For the second match, Map B was drawn once more. After the game began, the Titans maintained their aggressive offensive strategy. With his near-perfect reflexes and explosiveness, Yao Sen almost single-handedly met Lincoln head on. Even the two commentators couldn’t help repeatedly exclaim in admiration, describing Yao Sen as a ‘deadly and monstrous player’.

When confronted with Yao Sen’s god-killing, god-like plays, Team Lincoln automatically assumed that Titans must have a sniper lurking in the shadows, ready to strike, as it would be too risky for one man to charge at the enemy alone without backup.

Lincoln’s moves grew increasingly cautious, and they passed up the opportunity to surround Yao Sen in the clearing for fear of snipers. The moment they retreated to take cover, Yao Sen issued a command to launch a sneak attack.

Lincoln’s No. 2 was promptly taken out by a headshot from the unexpected close-range attack. They had failed to anticipate that Titans would abandon sniping as the best possible scoring method in favour of close-range combat, and therefore lost the chance to react.

Thanks to Bai Yue and Wang Yuxi’s efforts, Kevin was contained in the bombing zone. Kevin was an all-rounder, and despite not joining the ranks of assaults, his attack level was definitely not lacking when compared to Wang Yuxi, and his overall strength was definitely higher than the duo.

Kevin ultimately withdrew after killing off Bai Yue. Once he returned to his teammates, he was confronted by Yao Sen, who had anticipated that Wang Yuxi and Bai Yue wouldn’t be able to control him so easily and had thus been preparing to ambush him for some time. Firing a lightning-quick shot, Yao Sen accurately hit Kevin’s chest, which was no longer protected by armour.

Kevin’s HP was instantly wiped out, and not long after he was taken out, Titans managed to eke out a win.

The second Titans’s scoreboard lit up, the Asian fans erupted with a deafening round of cheers and applause.

Shao Han’s heart pounded violently at the sight of the small number in front of the Titans logo. At that moment, however, Yao Sen, who was sitting in the players’ seats, looked up and found him in one glance among the sea of densely packed fans.

Yao Sen smiled sweetly at him, his smile full of the charming confidence that Shao Han knew and loved most.

In the third and fourth matches, Titans abandoned sniping entirely in favour of a very dangerous close-range play. Having once been breached, Lincoln’s defences were even more impenetrable, and the game became practically deadlocked, with one side relentlessly attacking and the other furiously defending.

The third match concluded in Titans’s favour, but in the fourth match, Lincoln exchanged Kevin’s position with an assault from their team, changing him from support to assault, which resulted in a lapse in judgement on Titans’s part in the initial few minutes of the game.

As an assault, Kevin took on a roundabout approach that was impossible to defend against effectively. In the fourth match, he killed two Titans players on his own and eventually tied the game, sending it to a deciding fifth match.

Whoever won this match would advance to the finals and compete for the golden trophy.

A three-minute intermission and preparation time for the players preceded the start of the fifth match. The numbers of the three-minute countdown on the big screen were dwindling by the second, and the hearts of the crows were hanging on this moment.

Yao Sen let out a slow exhale. He looked at his teammates and spoke with certainty, “Let’s give em’ everything we’ve got. Whether we can seek revenge on Odin or not is all up to us.”

“Get out there and don’t worry about the rest. We’ll protect you with our lives.” Wang Yuxi clapped Yao Sen’s shoulder. “If he’s hoping to break through, he’ll have to cross our dead bodies first!”

Yao Sen laughed. “Thanks, bro.”

Yao Sen then went on to lay out the tactics for the final match. As the countdown on the big screen crept to single digits, the cameras focused on both team players’ faces, and the commentators couldn’t help but talk about how nervous they were.

When the countdown ended, the map for the final match was drawn. Yao Sen stared intently at the screen, unable to keep his hands from curling into fists. The four maps continuously flickered across the screen until it finally stopped at ‘C’.

Yao Sen let out a faint exhale. Twisting his fingers, he hovered his hands over his mouse and keyboard. He cleared his mind of all distractions and focused his gaze on the screen in front of him.

In this match, they employed Formation A, which meant that they would be on the complete offensive. In the front lines, Yao Sen didn’t bother hiding his identity as an assault at all, and his task was to lead the charge, leaving all the support and defence to his teammates at the rear without reserve.

Map C had traits that they were all too familiar with. They had even begun to approach the central zone after the first wave of airdrops. When the four of them reached a relatively large depression with a lake, they temporarily hid behind a boulder that was big enough to serve as cover.

The map was peppered with woods and lakes. As of that moment, Titans had yet to see any sign of Lincoln at that point, but at this rate, they figured that their opponent shouldn’t be far from the central zone either, unless they planned to wait for Titans to be delivered to their doorstep.

Yao Sen observed his surroundings carefully and strained his hearing to listen for signs of movement. The wilderness map was rife with noise and interference, demanding a high level of mental concentration.

As soon as Yao Sen ducked out and moved towards the lake, a bullet burst out of the calm waters. Yao Sen reacted swiftly by dodging to the side, but the bullet grazed his shoulder and shattered a portion of his armour.

The underwater Lincoln players instantly surfaced, ditching their oxygen tanks to avoid damage from suffocation and restore their speed, before raising their weapons and firing at the four Titans players.

Combat broke out in the wake of Team Lincoln players abruptly emerging from the woods where they had been hiding for so long. Gunfire soon erupted, and the Titans fled in a hail of bullets—only to be confronted by Lincoln, who quickly blocked their line of retreat.

Amid the sparks of gunshot flares, Wang Yuxi threw a smoke grenade. Yao Sen had memorised their opponents’ approximate positions early on, and the thick smoke had little effect on his speed; he leapt onto the boulder and nimbly switched to a more powerful but close-range gun. The first shot he fired landed squarely in the centre of his opponent’s bulletproof vest-covered chest, and the second shot hit the exact same spot.

The enemy still had a bit of HP left. Rather than wasting bullets, Yao Sen kicked him straight into the water. Struggling when wounded would only hasten suffocation damage, and that little bit of HP wouldn’t last the opponent long.

Before the smoke cleared completely, Yao Sen ordered a retreat to the southeast. At the same time, the dawn alarms sounded, and bombers hovered in the air as the bombardment began to expand from the outer zones inwards.

By estimation, it would take another five minutes for the bombers to reach the central zone. When Yao Sen retreated, Wang Yuxi still had two-thirds of his HP, whereas Bai Yue and Song Mingzhe had only half of theirs left.

Yao Sen instructed the group to quickly replenish their blood. Despite having previously knocked down one of Lincoln’s men, that player was not Kevin, and as long as they failed to eliminate him, Lincoln’s strength would not be significantly diminished.

The bombers closed in, and explosions could be heard both near and far. Lincoln, in a departure from their conservative tactics in previous matches, chased Titans down with everything they had without giving them a single minute of respite.

The two teams clashed once more as Lincoln drew closer to the map’s inner perimeter. Wang Yuxi and Bai Yue worked together seamlessly and switched from defence to attack. The two fiercely exchanged shots with the enemies outside the building, preventing them from ever taking one step inside.

The moment Yao Sen finished healing himself to full health, Bai Yue’s HP fell to zero. Yao Sen thus took advantage of the duo holding off their enemies for him to charge out of the building and directly slaughter his way through. As per usual, Kevin’s HP remained full, and they both had long figured out each other’s numbers.

Under the brunt of Yao Sen’s assault, Kevin gradually withdrew. Even though he had a strong offence, he was still inferior to Titans’s captain. Kevin’s brows wound tight; the Titans captain was too unrelenting, and aside from Odin, he had genuinely never seen a team like this. Taking cover, Kevin barked at his entire team to retreat.

Lincoln fled to a clearing outside a cluster of buildings, where a number of jeeps were parked. As the bombers were fast approaching, the Lincoln players clambered into a vehicle. At this point, their best option was to temporarily avoid Titans’s attack and seek cover from the bombs.

With the exception of the windows, the body of the jeep could survive a certain amount of bullet fire, and close-range shots wouldn’t do much damage to it. The jeep swiftly headed for the trees and out of the line of fire.

A tall building was located by the trees. Inside the car, Kevin abruptly remembered something. In the crossfire just now, he’d only glimpsed three Titans players—one of them had been missing from the battle.

It must’ve been their sniper!

The instant Kevin shouted “watch out for their sniper!”, Song Mingzhe, who had been waiting at the top of the building for some time, pulled the trigger of his gun. The sniper’s bullet went straight through the driver’s window and struck the driver’s head.

The jeep lost control, and the front of the car veered sharply and crashed into a tree trunk. The impact was powerful enough to make the whole vehicle explode. Kevin had managed to open the door and jump out of the car just a second before it exploded, landing onto the grass, but the force of the blast had destroyed his helmet and vest, and his HP reduced by half.

His current situation didn’t allow him a second to hesitate. As his HP continuously dropped from the explosion, he immediately rolled over and took cover to retrieve a med kit from his pack.

However, right then, a cocking noise came from the top of the boulder Kevin was hiding behind. Kevin, who had just switched to a med kit at that precise moment, had no time to lift his weapon before Yao Sen’s pitch-dark muzzle of his gun was levelled at his exposed and unprotected head.

The trigger was pulled.

The instant a ‘3’ lit up to indicate Titans’ victory, silence descended upon the entire arena.

☆ ☆ ☆

Thank you to Kofi Supporter and misai for the kofis!

Chapter 64 | TOC | Chapter 66

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