"Waaaaaa~"
*loud cheers*
The harmonious sounds of the majority audience from Ravenville cheering on the match could be heard resounding throughout the stadium.
For any matches, it would be a rare sight to see a straightforward halfway line battle ended in such a quick and decisive manner!
Furthermore, all the members from the Illusions' advance group were all part of the new regulars! This truly goes to show that the new generation of Ravenville's Arena team this year would be just as strong if not stronger than last year.
Since that was the case, there's nothing weird for the school's Arena supporters to cheer louder than usual for but the first breakthrough of the match.
"Great play!!"
Blending in together with the mood of the people around her, this time, even Althea had fully stood up from her seat and raised both her hands in cheers.
The player that initiated the first move of the combo down there was her brother!
.
On the other hand, both Troy and the Defenders' scout both held a rather surprised expression with pairs of eyes widened on each of their faces.
"...Maybe we might not even get to see Baron in action today." The scout wryly exhaled a mouthful of breath while wondering to himself,
'I wonder what that coach was thinking lowering the chance to expose Baron's skill when we've clearly stated that we might be watching?"
At first, he had thought that Ravenville's Head Coach had had the mind to showcase Baron a little bit more for this match with the intention of rising their attentions towards him.
The fact that the guy himself had been positioned as the starting Front Guard had even made him more sure of this guess.
But then, the no holds barred performance from the advance group just now had allowed him to rethink the entire situation.
At least, the three players that're in front right now looked like they had no plans on letting the Armadillos to go on the offensive in the first place.
And there was also one more thing that had appeared in his mind,
"...So he's not really a traditional Solver either, huh?" Beside him, Troy said the thing that both of them had been thinking about with a wry smile while watching Irvine who had gone on the attack just now.
"Clearly." The scout replied to him with a nod,
"It's... Unconventional for sure. If what I'm guessing is correct, then his true worth could only be displayed on the zones."
After all, without a tower to attack or defend against, a Solver that's actively taking part on battles would only be like a Fielder with movement restrictions attached.
"This is interesting stuff! Also, his Gene Mod is [Blast] so he's clearly already committed to this playstyle, whatever THIS is." Watching the sort of scene that even he hadn't seen before in the Pro League was a very refreshing experience to Troy.
He was someone who didn't like to put on airs even when he's clearly a famous all-star and one of the best on the field.
Putting his love for Arena first and foremost, if Troy saw something interesting happening in a match, he would just watch on with sparkling eyes and a learning attitude.
.
.
On the Ravenville's team corner, behind the floor-to-ceiling glass window that separate the rest of the subs from the outside, Lark had also looked on towards Irvine's play just now on the field below.
His face hadn't shown much of a surprise because to him, it was not that much of a shock at all.
Still, as he watched on, Lark couldn't help but to let himself get taken back to the hour before the match where Irvine had taken the initiative to approach him to ask one very blunt question.
(Sir, will there be any Lambda Defenders' people coming to the match today?)
The out-of-the-blue question had made even the usually pokerfaced Lark to widen his eyes in surprise,
(...) For a few seconds after that, he could only turned silent before eventually regaining some of his composures back and continuing with their conversation,
(...You've put that together yourself?) He would know that no coaches under him would be that much of a blabbermouth to disclose personal information of a player to another.
And for that matter, there hadn't been that many coaches who'd known about Baron getting approached in the first place.
(Yes sir. --Well, I needed to ask Wallace first regarding last weekend's scheduled matches held in the Northern Sector.)
(And you narrowed it down to the Lambda Defenders. Why not any of the other Northern teams that also had similar matches against each other?) Lark had become very curious on this point.
(...Based on the results of the last 2 seasons of OPL, I made a calculation that no Northern team would put their highest recruitment priorities on Guard players for the next draft. There might be some on the other Sectors, but the one who's coming here last weekend was only the Defenders.)
Irvine had lied through his teeth on this one.
Although that reasoning might well be true if one were to ask a speculator, Irvine hadn't had the time nor in-depth analytical prowess to directly eliminate the possibilities of other teams wanting Baron for the next draft.
The main reason he had been very sure was because in his memory, the player called Baron had never entered any of the Northern pro teams in his career after college.
(...You should consider becoming our analyst instead.) With that as his reason, Lark couldn't have done anything else but to shake his head.
(You're right. Although they only said it in passing last week, there is a real chance that people from Defenders might watch our opening match today.)
'As expected!' Hearing the Head Coach himself admitted to it, Irvine had finally been given the confirmation that his guesses were correct!
But he had still needed to make sure of the coach's attitude regarding this fact.
Specifically, whether or not he would arrange for something to increase Baron's chances of exposure.
If he truly did, then Irvine would have had no other choice but to comply to it.
After all, Baron had earned this chance himself, Irvine was not about to jeopardize the team or his teammates just because of his greed for future success.
(...And would there be any changes to our strategies, then?) He had asked with obvious implication in his tone,
Of course, Lark had also understood what Irvine had wanted to ask of him just from the flow of the conversation alone.
In this particular case, Baron having the position of Guard was a bit unfortunate.
Because a Guard's job was to defend their post, for Baron to display his qualities, the team would first have to be forced to go on the defensive at least once.
Which was actually not an unreasonable demand with the nature of the sport.
But with the current weaker opponent of Ravenville, arranging for Baron to take the center stage might prove to be very tricky, especially if one had to take into account the attitude of the Defenders' representatives should they found out that the school had orchestrated such a play.
Baron himself had been the most clear on this point, and had made the conscious decision to stoically reject Lark's offer the moment he had made it.
That's why, towards Irvine's question, Lark could only reply with a simple,
(No.)
(No...?) Irvine had asked once more just to make sure, which had prompted the Head Coach to shake his head in confirmation.
(--Listen, you may do what you will on the match with this information since you've discovered it yourself, Lang. but as I said before, our strategies do not change. Meaning whatever you plan to do, it must still be within the scope of those strategies.)
Lark had stated clearly his stand on the matter.
(Understood. Thank you, sir!)
.
After such a conversation, Lark had not been too surprised when Irvine had decided to perform in a more proactive way for that opening.
In the end, as long as the guy didn't use his [Impact Armor] or [Air Pistol] when they're still in the lead, he had no plans to rain on his parade.
And plus, him going for a more blatant display of skills would also help both Derrick and Naomi who're also part of the advance group to shine as well. All in all, it's not really a bad thing to do.
As a Head Coach, he could at least understand the desire of players who planned to go pro to stand out when in front of pro teams' scouts. But,
'He calculated it he said...?'
In the end, the only thing that Lark still found unbelievable was the fact that Irvine had managed to guess correctly the pro team that had approached Baron through the eliminations of other possibilities.
.
.
After that breakthrough,
The rest of the match could only be described as brutal.
Even with the reinforcement of Armadillos' Ranger and his futile attempt at interference, the Ravenville's advance group continued on unimpeded towards their tower with the support of Clint.
Compared to their match against Magnolia. The Armadillos could be said to be very much inferior in their defensive capabilities!
Clint alone could hold back their advance group trio for quite a long time after that first breakthrough had been made by Irvine's group.
At that time, Clint had finished his preliminary scouting of the enemy's frontmost tower's location.
With their smooth travel route and the delayed enemy's reinforcement from the back, the first point of the match was so easily taken from the Armadillos in that first breakthrough alone!
.
When they'd first reached the enemy's tower zone, Irvine and Derrick had once again teamed up to deal with the posted Guard in the shortest time possible.
Their combination move was even the same as the last time, with Irvine knocking and pushing the enemy towards Derrick with [Blast], and him successfully grappling and damaging the opponent with his [Shock] Ability!
But after that, the eye-opening moment then came for the audience...
Right up to the moment that the Armadillos' Front Guard was grappled, most of the audience had been fully convinced in regarding Irvine as the team's second attacker because of his aggressive behaviours.
This was even true despite the obvious helmet shape that indicated his position as a Solver!
It's not really as if the audience weren't aware of it. They simply naturally forgot to take it into account because of their immersion in his offensive playstyle that was still very much unorthodox for a Solver in the year 218.
But then,
The moment that Derrick had successfully locked the Guard in-place, Irvine had immediately shifted his attention towards the tower section that Naomi was solving in an attempt to help dismantle it faster.
This action of his had brought the many audience back to their realization of the fact that Irvine was also officially a Solver in this match.
"Ohh!!" One person shouted amongst the crowd.
"That's right, he's a Solver so he can also help in scoring points in the game too! Combat and solving... Why haven't anyone thought of this sort of role before?"
"Right? Isn't this type of position very versatile for teams to use?"
"It's the Illusions after all, year after year, they never skip out on bringing us surprises. Remember last year when they revealed the twins with their [String] Abilities?"
"Go Ravenville!!"
"Hmm... But they can only do this now because the opponent's weak though? Otherwise, a Solver like him might take too much damage to his HP from being active in combat that it's not worth it."
"Yea... There's also the fact that now, the only Fielder of the team also become the sole anchor for 2 Solvers. This is always the main problem with 1 Fielder formation, the mobility of the advance group becomes too restrictive."
"So then..."
"Hm..."
"..."
After the initial shocks from their own realizations, many students were thrilled that once again, their school didn't disappoint in terms of coming up with interesting and unpredictable plays!
However, what came next was that one after another, the more analytical part of the audience had also come out to give their opinions as to the more obvious cons to Irvine's playing style and Ravenville's current formation.
At the end, many of those types of people had come to the early conclusions that this was not really that revolutionary at all, and might not even be a viable move when applied to fights against similarly leveled or stronger teams.
Of course, just like how there're the more analytical type of Arena fans, there're also those who're directly involved in the field and had to consider things on a deeper level first before spouting out what they could see from the surface.
Needless to say, when the Defenders' scout saw what was being displayed on the match, he was not so quick as to dismiss the unorthodox playing style with its cons.
"..." Even he needed to digest all the facts and the implications that came with it first before he could come to a conclusion.
Battle Arena was ever evolving.
With the discovery of new Gene Mod every couple years, and the ever increasing standard of players, one should never take the conservative viewpoint when it comes to strategies and plays.
Unlike most of the normal audience, both he and Troy had already expected what Irvine could do should he ever arrive in the vicinity of a tower.
But even then, Irvine's implementation of his playing style was too smooth and well-timed that even he, for a fraction of a second, was almost naturally convinced that this was the birth of a new type of Solver for the Pro League.
Beside him, Troy had also fallen into a bit of a trance while thinking of the many possibilities and restrictions that could be derived from such a style.
Could this be taken to the higher level of the Pro League?
If so, what kind of player would best suit this type of role?
Which pro teams would be able employ this type of players in their repertoire of tactics?
Such questions passed by his mind in a flash.
'What am I doing? ...Why am I thinking so much of these stuff when all I'm watching is just a college game between 2 completely different leveled teams?" In the end, even Troy could only shake his head with shame.
Though if Irvine could hear the man's thought right now, there's no doubt that he would chalk it up to the guy's superior instinct for the sport.
After all, Irvine's probably the only one who could confirm that this playing style would become more popularized in the future.