Fang Raon sat on the rock with shield and sword in hand.
They were all waiting to hear the whistle at this point as they had already made up their mind on the plan.
’I wonder if Machary has reached level 2 already. Everyone seems to be level 1, but if anybody has made the leap to level 2, they will have a huge advantage.
’With each level up, the player receives 100 stat points they can assign to any of the stats, which is huge.
’After leveling up, the player’s class also gets an upgrade. Warriors might upgrade into the Swordsman class, the Spearsman class, or whatever really. And they also receive one ’Innate Skill’ as well.
’Words can’t describe just how big of an advantage a higher leveled player gives to a team. If Machary has leveled up, we really don’t stand a chance.
’Unless I also level up, but I need to get six percent more, and it won’t be easy.’
Fang Raon thought to himself.
Whistle~
In that moment, the sound of the whistle went off, and their bodies turned tense with anticipation.
"Alexia!"
Fang Raon shouted.
"Yeah, yeah!"
With the Speed Hunter skill activated, Alexia ran off to the forest, and everyone ran after her, but they couldn’t keep up with her.
She ran down the forest, arrived at the mountain before anyone else, and ran up the staircase until she was standing at the top.
[Ding! Ding!]
[Red Team is the King of the Hill]
A notification appeared in the skies.
The flag in Red Team’s flagpole rose slightly. Only slightly. It was still a long way away from reaching the top.
[Red Team: 1%]
"Huff... Huff..."
Fang Raon with the rest of the Red Team arrived at the mountain, noticed that none of the Blue Team had arrived yet, and quickly made up to the mountain.
"...What’cha took you all so long?"
Alexia was sunbathing at the top of the mountain. She was chewing gum, and made it pop loudly with a smirk on her face.
"Where the hell is the Blue Team?"
Nathan asked.
"Put up the defenses first..."
Fang Raon said, but without showing anyone, he was tightly grabbing the hilt of his sword and looking around the mountaintop with a hawk’s gaze.
"Earth Wall!"
Justin waved his wand.
An earth wall rose in the stairs, blocking the straightforward path to the summit.
"...Can you sense anything with Keen Sense?"
With a whisper, Fang Raon asked Nathan, and he used ’Keen Sense’ without asking why to try to sense anything.
"...Nothing."
Nathan whispered.
"Is it possible for you to detect an Assassin if there is one hiding nearby?"
Fang Raon asked.
"If that Assassin has level 2 Stealth skill, I can’t. My Keen Sense is only level 1 since it is really hard to learn to a higher level."
Nathan said.
’We are the King of the Hill, so maybe I am paranoid, but there is something very off about this, and I have a bad feeling about this.’
Fang Raon looked towards the beach, towards the Red Team’s flagpole, and the flag wasn’t moving at all.
’It’s not moving...’
His eyes turned cold.
"Keep watch. I will rest my legs till we have some fighting to do!"
Fang Raon sat down on the ground and placed the sword beside him, but he kept his shield strapped to his left arm.
"...Alright."
Everyone looked down and tried to find any sign of Blue Team, but it felt like they had disappeared from the island.
"..."
Fang Raon lowered his head, closed his eyes, and stopped breathing, as he wanted to hear everything.
Calm. Quiet. Peaceful.
In that moment, a sound of a footstep came behind him.
With speed, Fang Raon twirled around and swung his steel shield. It connected with an invisible dagger.
Clang!
Swoosh!
The stealth stopped working, and Abdul, shell-shocked, stared into Fang Raon’s deep blue eyes.
"It’s Abdul!"
Red Team’s players shouted in shock.
Fang Raon picked up his Refined Sword, whispered, "Sword Stab," and drove his sword through Abdul’s throat.
"Gurgle... Cough... Ugh..."
Abdul fell backwards, and when his back landed against the hard ground, he shattered into glass-like pixels and disappeared.
"Those sneaky bastards... They sent Abdul to assassinate you, Team Leader!"
Trevor shouted.
"...You knew."
Nathan said with a deep look.
Everyone looked at Fang Raon, looks of, "Tell us, how?" in their faces as they really wanted to know how he knew.
"I thought it was suspicious that Blue Team never came to claim the summit. It meant that they were planning something.
"I immediately thought about Assassin, and I looked over to our flagpole and saw that the flag wasn’t moving.
"It meant that there was a member of the enemy team in the summit with us. King of the Hill was being contested.
"Then, I started thinking. Assassin could only kill one person before they get caught, so I wondered who will he try to kill?
"Maybe Markus, since he is our Helper? Maybe, but if they want to put Red Team in a panic, they should go after the Team Leader.
"Therefore, I dropped my guard intentionally, and waited for Abdul to make his move."
Fang Raon said.
The Red Team members looked at him with round, surprised eyes, and they realized he was very shrewd!
It made them think that perhaps Fang Raon was chosen as Team Leader for a reason that they had not yet discovered!
...
[Abdul has died!]
"...He failed."
Machary looked at the message in front of him, made it disappear, and looked over to the mountain.
He and the rest of the Blue Team were hiding in the bushes and were waiting for Fang Raon to die before rushing straight to the summit while the Red Team was in panic.
The plan A failed.
Now they were at a disadvantage.
"...What should we do now, Team Leader?"
Debra asked.
With a smile, Machary pulled out his long-bladed sword from his inventory and licked the blade as if it were a delicious treat.
"We fight, of course."