The first one to notice something wrong was Allux.
*>Allux: Bren's dead. I'll be taking command.*
*>Molotov: What?? How?*
It didn't take long for the Clan to recognize the odd circumstances surrounding his death.
Bren had simply died way too fast!
*>Allux: I don't know! How would I? Look for yourself!*
The group chat had status symbols next to their names. "Brent" was a light gray, indicating that he was not alive. However, in the next second, it turned green.
*>Brent: I've respawned and am trying to make my way back. Obviously, since I'm not there, Allux is in command.*
*>Adverse: What happened?*
*>Brent: She attacked me in a way where each hit did 5 damage. I'm not sure how. Anyway, try to engage her when you're level 1. You'll have a significant stat advantage. No matter what she pulls, it'll be impossible for her to kill you.*
*>Allux: Roger. Finding her is top priority. Since she went on the offensive, she shouldn't be trying to escape. Search the nearby area. Break formation and search in pairs! Don't get caught out alone.*
*>All: Yes!*
Bren had immediately respawned in the Safe Zone of the hamlet and was rushing over to the fight as quickly as possible. He had lost all of the experience that they had worked so hard to collect, but it wasn't the end of the world. As long as they killed Fae and reclaimed some of it, it would still be worth it. Even if he wasn't any closer to level 1, the rest of the Clan would be.
*I was so close to leveling up, too...*
He was blindsided a few mere moments before leveling up. For better or for worse, there was no death timer at level 0, allowing him to respawn instantly and communicate with his team.
Even though Bren had died, good news reached the ears of the Clan.
*>Ryozaki: ... Level up.*
Ryozaki had leveled up!
Liuzhi, who was right next to Ryozaki, was almost blinded by the white light exuded by Ryozaki.
The rest of the clan, who couldn't see him directly, also witnessed the phenomenon in that area.
There was also one more observer on the battlefield who bore witness to the sight.
---
*Yup. There it is...*
Jisha observed one of her foes level up. This meant that the rest would shortly follow, which was bad news.
"Tch. It wasn't enough..."
Jisha miscalculated; she didn't receive enough experience to level up from her kill. In a War Zone, killing an opponent would net you 100% of their experience lost.
*But apparently that's not the case when you're level 0???*
As an extremely high leveled player and someone who didn't fight at level 0 in her previous life, there was no way she would have known this.
*Literally what's the point of this feature.*
There was no explanation she could think of other than the system wanted to screw with her at this moment.
Fortunately, Jisha still knew of a way to snag experience in the cemetery.
*Shahar, I'm coming for your loot.*
---
Brent received the good news from the group chat.
*>Brent: Alright! Whoever hits level 1, start attacking the tombstones. Some of them are weak enough to break in one shot. If they don't break, don't bother. Some of them won't break no matter how many times you hit them.*
This was another advantage Bren was hoping for with level 1 players. Her stealthy behavior was indeed troublesome, but with the tombstones out of the way, Fae would have nowhere to hide.
*CRACK, CRUMBLE*
Every second, Ryozaki swung his Melee Starter Stick at a tombstone. And every few seconds, a tombstone was pulverized, clearing some line of sight.
Though the speed between his attacks remained the same, it was clear that the power was on a different level. Luizhi bore witness to this phenomenon. He knew that even though he hadn't tried breaking a tombstone yet, it would take him many, many shots to even make a dent in one, much less collapse one completely. It wasn't just the force behind the swings, there was *something* intrinsically different about the way the attack connected.
*>Liuzhi: ... It's a huge difference. No wonder Bren felt no doubts about level 1 characters against level 0's...*
*>Adverse: Really? Hey, Ryo. How different is it?*
*>Ryozaki: ...*
At this question, Ryozaki stopped attacking tombstones and started looking around.
*>Kenshi: Why did the attacks stop? Does Ryo have a new idea?*
Though Kenshi couldn't see Ryozaki's attacks directly, he could still hear the tombstones fragmenting. Since he couldn't witness the attack power directly, he could only assess it through extrapolation. However, he thought that destroying the obstacles that obstructed vision was the best option at hand.
But Ryozaki didn't think so. After a few more glances, he kicked off the ground and ran up the side of a tombstone with a single step. He looked around, and when he couldn't see anything, he jumped straight up. He was hoping that the extra height would allow him to view his surroundings more clearly. It seemed to have helped. His eyes went wide, and he jumped off his vantage point and ran in a straight line, breaking away from the group.
*>Liuzhi: He's noticed movement.*
*>Allux: Great! Everyone, you can see which direction he ran in. Follow him closely.*
*>Liuzhi: That may be difficult due to his increased speed.*
*>Allux: Were my orders not clear?*
*>Liuzhi: ... Yes.*
---
*Looks like I've drawn him out.*
Of course, Jisha noticed Ryozaki climb up before he noticed her. She deliberately showed herself to judge the enemy's reaction. And now that he had been separated from the group, it would make things easier.
*The best option was to wait until the rest of you guys leveled up... But even then, you'd have no chance.*
The Clan's best move was to force Jisha into a 6v1 situation.. They decided that it would be better to 1v1 with a level 1 against a level 0. This line of thinking wasn't wrong; they must have assumed that Jisha would level up soon from killing Bren. However, this wasn't true. Jisha would have to stall for around 20 more minutes if that was her strategy. The other logical reason was that a level 0 couldn't beat a level 1 in a straight fight.
*But who said I'm going to fight him fairly?*
At this point, Jisha was relatively far away from the rest of the group. They had been searching the nearby area, but Jisha had already run away. Obviously, she wasn't spotted while making her escape.
Deciding that concealing her location any further was useless, she hopped up onto the next tombstone, once again in split-step fashion, and continued running. Though everyone could see her now, only the lone level 1 would catch up to her in a reasonable amount of time. And once he did, it would be the end.
*Here it is.*
Jisha found her target. It was a tombstone that was slightly taller than all the others.
She jumped on top of it, performed a pirouette, and sat down to face the lone wolf's arrival.
---
"..."
"..."
Ryozaki arrived, and he commenced dialogue with his signature catchphrase. Fae Sol responded in kind, thus an awkward silence ensued.
Fae was sitting down with her legs dangling off the side of her perch with a hand on her chin in a most whimsical manner.
"Aren't you going to do anything? What was the point of coming all this way by yourself?"
And in this manner, Fae was taunting him.
Ryozaki remained stoic. The distance between them was less than 5 metron. Within this range, all Ryozaki had to do was close in on her and hit her once. A level 1 unit with 10 ATK could kill a level 0 unit with 10 HP in one shot.
"How are you going to attack? Will you climb up here to hit me? Will you destroy the tombstone below me? Will you throw your weapon at me, sacrificing it in the process? Or will you wait for your teammates to show up? Show me!"
She smiled.
Ryozaki wasn't the sharpest bulb on the tree, but he was still decently capable at problem solving. Every move that he could think of had been stated out loud, and he couldn't conceive of how they would end positively for her. Yet she wasn't just unconcerned, but jovial. Since he didn't know what could cause her to feel this way, the only thing he could do was act.
He performed the most complex action his simple mind could muster. He jumped and wound up an attack...!
"You can't reach me like that."
Fae must have assumed Ryozaki was going for her directly, but that wasn't the case. With the power he built from his backswing, he unleashed it on the tombstone she was sitting on.
If it broke, it would have brought Fae down to level ground. If it didn't, Ryozaki could use the momentum of his jump to kick off the side and reach her in a single bound. Whatever happened, Ryozaki was confident in his victory. However, neither of these occurrences came to fruition.
Instead, for Ryozaki, the tombstone disappeared completely and the rest of the world turned pitch black.