Outside of the game, inside the school gym. Dan had just exited out of his VR headset. He was free to stay in the game and watch from the ghost view but Dan felt uncomfortable wearing the VR headset. As Dan took off his VR helmet, he could see the coach of the Hershal team smiling.
He had a smug look on his face as if his team had already won.
"You really think we have no chance of winning, don't you?" Dan said.
"I commend your captain for trying such a brave tactic but it is clear to anyone who has won this game."
The Montem students didn't like Burney either but they knew that it was unlikely that Montem could now make a comeback. They were already struggling even with Dan.
"Let me ask you something, do you have a player on your team that can stop bullets?"
Burney thought Dan was perhaps speaking metaphorically but even then, he had no clue what the boy was talking about.
After saying those words Dan decided to walk off and join the Montem students that were supporting his team. A group of girls came up to Dan each holding plasters, bandages, towels and all sorts.
"Dan you should go to the hospital, or at least the nurse's office, let me take you there?" A girl asked.
Dan looked back at the projector and his teammates. The screen was currently showing Scarlett shooting arrows as fast as she could to take down the next tower.
"I can't go yet, I need to see the end of this game."
****
As soon as Alex saw Dan burst into blue flames, he knew the whole game was in jeopardy. The team was already having a tough time dealing with four of them against five and now they had three.
"Fall back!" Alex shouted.
Alex had made the tough decision to regroup and head back to their tower. He had no choice; their team was flustered. What Alex didn't expect though was while they were retreating, the Hershal team had decided to follow them.
In Alex's mind, the correct choice would have been to leave them three and head back to stop Scarlett. Did their team really look that weak? Alex thought. Alex clenched his sword even harder, he was angry at himself for not being a better player. If he was more skilful then perhaps, they wouldn't have had to rely on a tactic such as this.
But Alex was not the only angry one, Novis was also filled with rage. If Dan hadn't stopped that blow, he would have been the one to burst into blue flames.
On the run back, Novis picked up the spear of the ground that he threw earlier and then switched back to his duel blades. The duel blades were one of the lightest weapons in Novis possession, so it allowed Novis to move a little faster.
Alex and the others had finally reached their tower and when they turned around, they could see Hershel right on their tale.
"What do we do now?" Ashley asked as she was sweating even more than before.
Ashley was clearly not used to having prolonged battles. Even when she thought in kendo, the matches were over extremely quick compared to this. George watching the whole thing made note of this.
Alex was silent for a while but he knew he needed to think of something fast, as the next wave of NPC knights were coming forward.
"We have no choice, we stick to the plan."
The two teams then battled it out. Montem was struggling but they hung in there. Luckily for them, Hershal was a bit too cautious. They were very careful to make sure not one of their players would get hurt.
Staying by the tower also helped and Alex, as he was starting to see patterns in their formation. In a way, Hershal's fighting style was very predictable. When fighting a team you usually had different playstyles but each player in Hershel fought the same.
This allowed Alex to give instructions to Novis and Ashley of when to go in and when to fall back. Using this strategy, the fighting suddenly became easier. The team was doing something similar to kiting, where they would attack then quickly after, fall back.
"Dammit were wasting too much time!" Frank said.
"Should we go back and go after the girl?" One of the Hershel members suggested.
Frank was busy thinking, it seemed like they were so close to beating the Montem team but whenever they thought they were winning, Montem would run back behind the tower.
Frank could tell that their captain was special. He was able to assess the situation and make commands on the go. Something that Frank himself as a captain should also be able to do.
Frank was worried that even if they went as a group to attack Scarlett, that Alex would be able to easily inform her and she would be able to hide in the forest. Then the Montem team would be able to attack elsewhere, while they were busy chasing Scarlett.
But right now, Hershal had Montem on a tight rope, where the team couldn't help out Scarlett or move. The coach had told them to always move as a unit but Frank feared that they may lose this game.
"You guy's stay here, I will go after the girl!"
After saying that, Frank himself quickly left his team and decided to chase after Scarlett.
"Alex, did you see that?" Novis said.
"Yeah, but for now let's stay put."
"But what if he gets Scarlett!"
"Just trust her."
The 3 members were now fighting against the four remaining Hershel members. The fight was going even more smoothly now than before. Their formation was starting to crumble as their leader Frank left.
But it was still a tough battle as now the Hershal team were focusing more on defence. It was as if the roles were reversed and now Hershal was buying time for Frank to deal with Scarlett, then he would come back and help them out.
Novis could see that dealing with the remaining Hershel players would take some time. Perhaps too much time. Novis was unsure of what to do, whether he should go and help Scarlett or stay with the others.