Swoosh!
Fang Raon respawned back at the Red Team’s flagpole, and he was still able to hear the constant sound of fighting coming from the mountain.
"...Well, shit."
Fang Raon sat down, and started thinking.
Meanwhile, more deaths happened.
[Nathan has died!]
[Alexia has died!]
[Markus has died!]
[Lucy has died!]
[Justin has died!]
[Trevor has died!]
The entire Red Team was annihilated, and Blue Team took dominant control over the King of the Hill.
At the Blue Team’s base, the blue flag started to slowly rise up the flagpole.
In that moment, Red Team’s members respawned, but they looked defeated, and their morale was gone.
The first round was a dominant victory by the Blue Team, and Machary’s strength struck fear into them all.
"...How can we beat that monster?"
Nathan grabbed his head and sat down. It felt like there was an unsurmountable mountain ahead of them.
The camera hovered high in the air, showing Miranda’s stream the reaction of Red Team’s members, and they have all came to a single conclusion.
Red Team had given up!
...
Somewhere in the real world.
"...Blue Team is impressive, and I am sure Machary will become an important member of the guild in the future."
In a room that screamed "feminine!", a beautiful blond-haired young woman stared at the stream on her computer screen.
She was the Guild Master of the Rose Records, Della Rose!
"It looks like it is over. I’ve seen this before, and Red Team is completely demoralized. I don’t want people that are willing to give up so soon in my guild..."
She turned off the computer, let out a cute-sounding stretch yawn, and then entered the Virtual Reality Pod.
...
"..."
Fang Raon tapped his foot on the sand.
It looked like he was thinking, but it didn’t matter to the Red Team, as they didn’t believe in him anymore.
With his defeat against Machary, it didn’t only demoralize them. It also took away their trust in their "Team Leader" for good.
"...It looks like we’ve lost this one. Machary sure is good, haha... Oh man!"
At that moment, Fang Raon said with a laugh.
It pissed off the members of Red Team, as they already knew that, but it pissed them off greatly to hear him say that aloud.
They felt like beating him up.
"...Why don’t you all just attack that mountain? Since we are going to lose either way, you can at least show Rose Records that you aren’t a quitter.
"You can also show a little bit of your skill."
Fang Raon said.
"...Fine."
"...Whatever."
"...This sucks. We got such a shitty leader."
Red Team walked away with disinterest, and they dropped all notion of "teamwork" and were just going to solely work alone.
"..."
Fang Raon stayed quiet, but after they were gone, and the camera left to follow the Red Team, he stood up.
He picked up his sword.
"Huff!"
He swung the sword in a wide arc—it was a really good swing—and he then rolled down the sand.
[Hard Slash Lv. 2 - Mastery: 44% → 45%]
[Dodge Roll Lv. 2 - Mastery: 16% → 17%]
"Huff..."
Fang Raon looked more concentrated than ever before.
...
[Blue Team: 49% → 50%]
The blue flag was halfway up the flagpole, and on the other side of the island, the red flag was still at the bottom.
[Red Team: 5%]
At the mountain, Red Team attacked the top, but Blue Team had good defenses up, and they were unable to make any progress.
Red Team wasn’t working like a team. They all attacked on their own. The viewers saw that and shook their heads.
With a disappointed look, Miranda watched from the watchtower and thought that Red Team was extremely disappointing.
As it looked right now, she didn’t want to keep any of them and wanted to kick them all out.
If the match ended like this, she was going to kick them out of Rose Records at once.
’...And where the hell is that bastard?’
She wondered and then saw Fang Raon at the beach, just swinging his sword for some reason, and she felt pissed off.
’Rock, you put your faith in the wrong person. I didn’t think that even the Demon Instructor would be wrong for once.
’Fang Raon is not a team player, and I don’t think he will get far in the tower.’
...
It was turning midday.
"Huff!"
At that moment, Fang Raon swung the sword one more time. His arms ached. It felt like his arms were spaghetti at this point.
However, his sword swing felt fluid, like he was born with a sword in hand.
[Hard Slash Lv. 2 - Mastery: 58% → 59%]
[Next Level: 99% → 100%]
[LEVEL UP!]
In that moment, Fang Raon dropped his sword to the ground and looked up at the notification with a tired look on his face.
He was breathing heavily, like he had just swum around the entire Battle Island.
[Choose your class!]
[=LEVEL 2=]
[Swordsman - Innate Skills: Blade Mastery/Aggressive Footwork/Duelist Instinct]
[Shieldman - Innate Skills: Shield Discipline/Brace Stance/Guard Reflex]
[Recruit - Innate Skills: Eager Learner/Unsteady Guard/Rough Slash]
’I am aware that the player’s playstyle determines the classes. Like, Warriors who use a spear can get a class like Spearsman and stuff.
’Players who like using horses might get a class called Horse Rider and stuff.
’I got Swordsman because I use a sword, of course. I got Shieldman because I use a shield, and Recruit I got for... I don’t know, because I’ve been learning under Rock?’
He could only choose one class, and each class had three Innate Skill he could choose from. It wasn’t possible to have all three Innate Skills.
’...I won’t choose Shieldman, that is obvious, and Recruit doesn’t really excel in anything. It is just a class with high adaptability and decent balance.’
Fang Raon quickly made his choice and chose the "Swordsman" class, which Machary also had, and then, another window appeared before him.
[Choose your Innate Skill!]
[=INNATE SKILLS=]
[Blade Mastery: The Swordsman deals slightly increased damage with all sword attacks]
[Aggressive Footwork: Moves faster when advancing towards an enemy]
[Duelist Instinct: Naturally good at 1-on-1 fighting]
"...I feel like Machary chose Duelist Instinct. It is clear that he is specialized in 1-on-1 fighting, and if I choose any other Innate Skill, I cannot defeat him."
Fang Raon thought out loud.
Thus, he chose the same path as Machary and chose the "Duelist Instinct" Innate Skill.
[You have received 100 stat points. Please allocate them wisely!]