Chapter 61 – A Simple Fireball
The explosion and the commotion of the stolen truck also caught the attention of the players who were busy shooting at zombies.
Dove looked back at the flame and the smoke from the wreckages. Curious, he used his [Sage Eyes] to examine the scenes from afar.
A runaway truck with a trailer of weaponry and five pursuing APCs came to his vision. As he zoomed in further, he could see the face of the truck driver and the name indicator of the person.
Misha.
"!!??"
Dove was astonished. Her red name revealed that she was an outlaw, and the government soldiers were chasing after her!
"Did she join the rebels!? Wait, this is a game for the education, right? How did the government allow her to join? Is there even such a feature!?"
Puzzled, confused, and shocked, Dove opened the ranking menu by instinct.
In the level ranking, Dove found his rank fell to second place as Misha overtook him by 10 levels.
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1. Hunter Division Trainee - Level 52 – Misha
2. Psychic Trainee - Level 42 – Dove
3. Psychic Trainee - Level 25 – Pioneer King
4. Psychic Trainee - Level 24 – Homeless Billionaire
5. Psychic Trainee - Level 24 – DaVinci
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Dove was confident that he gained a couple of levels from killing the zombies, and nobody should be able to pass his level within today. On the contrary, Misha's level increased many times in a short period by destroying missile trucks.
Furthermore, her class changed from Air Force Trainee to Hunter Division Trainee! This was enough to confirm that Misha switched sides.
"Is this how you grind your EXP, Misha? Well, good! Challenge accepted!"
His competitive spirit rose. He broke away from the zombie fighting teams and ran back toward the nearest supply trailer.
Judging that ordinary rifle and Anti-Hydra bullets would not be enough in a fight against mech units, Dove took an additional weapon which was similar to what Misha was carrying, a rocket launcher.
He packed two more spare rockets and dashed toward the frontline where the mechs were fighting. With the mindset of a gamer, Dove did not fear death in the game.
The situation on the frontline was not favorable to the government army. Because of Crystal's coordination and their satellite real-time view, the rebels dominated the battle as they could see everyone while the government army could not.
At this moment, the Tautog mechs wiped out 12 out of 20 government robots and had deleted all light tanks. On the other hand, the government army only managed to disable five mechs of the rebel's robots.
It showed that if the players did not contribute to this battle enough, the local government would naturally lose.
Dove got closer to one of the government's broken tank to get proper cover. As he observed the situation around him, he found a crippled robot of the rebels.
The chest hatch of the cockpit had opened, and the pilot inside jumped out of the mech.
'If I destroy this mech, will I get more EXP?'
Dove aimed the rocket launcher at the mech. Unlike the sometimes-derpy Misha, he locked on the target before he pulled the trigger.
*PWOOSH*
The rocket flew toward the disabled mech and headed toward the cockpit.
*BOOM*
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Dove clenched his fist. His tuition was the correct choice.
Killing a green zombie at his current level yielded only 50 EXP. Moreover, he had to compete with other players and the local reserve troops to get the kills.
On the other hand, if he took the risk and jumped into the frontline, he could get the bigger fishes.
*BANG*
Dove could feel that something burning went through his left chest and his heart. Upon looking in front of him, a mutant who looked like a lizardman pointed a pistol at his direction. The bullet should have come from that muzzle with a smoke.
That was the last thing Dove saw today.
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Dove reopened his eyes again and found himself in a white room. He was lying on a bed naked.
"Wow. That was quick."
Dove did not expect that he would get killed in an instant that he blew up the rebel's mech. He rechecked his status again to see if there was a death penalty.
His level went down to 46, and five of his status went down according to the reduced level.
"Figured. But man, this game is harsh. One death and the event is over."
As Dove was complaining, he looked around him to see where he could exit this room. The opened door was in the corner of the room, and several empty beds had been arranged in rows like in a hospital ward.
*VRRR*
Strange sounds came from another hospital bed on the right side of Dove's bed. A neighbor manifested out of thin air, and a naked body of a player appeared on the bed.
It was Pioneer King. He widened his eyes in horror as if he had experienced a terrible death.
"Damn that stupid monster! It ate me!"
Dove had a wry smile on his face. He felt that it was fortunate that he died by a bullet instead of being eaten alive by a monster.
*VRRR*
*VRRR*
*VRRR*
Several players respawned in the hospital at once. They sat up and screamed.
"What the hell is this Zeris One!?"
"Dafuq is this Zeris One!?"
All of them seemed to have died by something called Zeris One.
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Meanwhile, Misha was driving the missile truck with a solemn expression.
The wasteland geography was never a paved road suitable for any vehicle. It was a bumpy and unleveled terrain that Misha felt like she was driving on a rocky mountain.
Behind Misha's truck and her trailer, five APCs were chasing after her. Fortunately, they wanted the vehicle back in one piece, so they had not fired their main 30mm barrel cannons yet.
Although they did not harm the truck, it did not stop them from shooting at Misha. Soldiers mounted the secondary gun on the top of their APCs and aimed their machine guns at the driver seat.
*TATATATATA*
*CLANK*
*CLANK*
*CLANK*
Bullets hit the aluminum door and the front hood of the truck. A bullet went penetrated the metal frame of the truck and went through under her seat, which she could even feel that something had moved under her butt.
'Oh shit. Oh shit. Oh shit!'
Misha sweated bullets as she glanced at the side mirrors. The speed of these vehicles could easily surpass 200km/hour, which she had experienced driving one of those APCs before. Thus, she knew that they would catch up to her and get into the position to snipe the driver in a matter of time.
"Tama, hold your breath and grit your teeth!"
*Mew?* (What is breath?)
Misha transformed to Mia and pointed his palm at the oncoming APC at the side of his truck.
Fireball!
Although the branching skill of Mia's Pyrokinesis was named [Fireball], the manifested flame coming from his palm was a magma boulder or a burning meteor at the same size as the APC instead of a common small fireball.
As Mia had once trained in the military for two years, the control of his fire type psychic abilities had been honed. The game system also evaluated that his Pyrokinesis: Fireball was at the max level!
The APC's driver's eyes almost ejected out of the sockets as he was shocked by the sudden large flame.
*BOOM*
The fireball meteor collided with the vehicle. The impact of the fire boulder flipped the vehicle 360 degrees in mid-air, and the fire engulfed the APC and the people inside. The burning APC rolled and crashed on the ground before it exploded from the delayed effect of the fireball.
The other four drivers of the vehicles behind the truck steered their wheels, avoiding the destroyed APC.
"What the hell!?"