The referee was startled, after seeing Adam walked to him, he smiled, "Oh, Sir Adam. Good afternoon. I have never imagined we will meet so soon. May I help you?"
"Although there are no other people, please don't call me with 'Sir'. When I'm here, I just battle ball player, not anybody else," Adam said while holding out his right hand.
The referee hesitated for a moment, but finally, he chose to shake Adam's hand, "Please call me Geo, May I help you Si-Mr. Adam?"
"We wanted to rent the 3 on 3 field. May we?"
"Of course Mr. Adam. 2 silver for 60 minutes."
Adam then gave the coins, "Please make it private."
"Of course Mr. Adam."
Every member of the hellcat then entered the area. After making sure everyone was in, Geo activated the formation and then a dome-like transparent barrier covered the entire field.
"This is for renting the field," Ruby gave Adam two coins of silver.
"That won't...," Adam actually wanted to say that won't be necessary. But looked at Ruby's determined expression, he had to swallow his words. He then smiled, "Of course. Thank you, manager."
Geo then came to them, while looking at Adam, "May I know if there are new players that need to register?"
"Are they that obvious?" Adam smiled.
"Hahaha, I have become a referee for almost 10 years. Of course, I knew orc and elf. I forgot to ask you yesterday. I should register your summoned creatures who will participate in the match."
Adam then explained Ural and Haldir's skills. For Haldir's, there was no problem. Although shadow dive and shadow bind were pretty domineering, they were still legitimate skills.
The problem was Ural's Roar, it was classified as AoE (Area of effect) skill. Most AoE skills were banned to use in battle ball because they broke the balance of the game. Geo then asked Ural to demonstrate Roar. Ural then sought Adam's permission. After Adam nodded, he roared.
"Roar!"
Then Geo became stiff for a moment. After the effect of the skill disappeared, he then looked at a book-like device. After inspecting it for a while, he said, "Passed. Although the skill was categorized as AoE skill, but the effect was only effective in a radius of 5 meters, and its effect was only startling targets for 1 to 3 seconds."
Adam and the others finally heaved a sigh of relief. They actually were pretty nervous, when Geo said Ural's Roar was an AoE skill. Pete and Logan's face even went pale. Fortunately, everything was fine.
After making sure that nothing was wrong, Geo gave everyone time to prepare. Actually, there was nothing to prepare. Because it was just a practice match. But, The coach of the Hellcat team seemed wanting to say something, "Guys, please give your best for this match, because I need accurate data for planning your personal practice menu. And the manager will give a reward for the winners."
"Yes, 3 silver coins will be given to the winning team. So, work hard!" Ruby shouted.
"Yeah~!" All players shouted, including Ural. As for Haldir, he still put on a cool vibe.
Unbeknownst to others including Adam and Eve that summoned creatures looked detached from others were because they felt different. But if a stimulus was given like competitive activities for the Ural, they would gradually open up. And it would take some time for Adam and Eve to realize it.
"Now, for the team. Adam, Ural, and Haldir are the members of team A. As Pete, Cleon, and Logan are the members of team B. As for Gavin, he is a substitute. The first ball was given to team B. I will give you five minutes for discussing the strategy. Go! Go! Go!"
***
"So, what's the plan?" Logan asked Pete.
"Uh, Sir Adam was a newbie in battle ball. But from the last match, we saw his basics were solid. His obvious flaw was his experience, so I will mark him tight, making him irritate and destroy himself," Pete said.
"But, isn't that too awful? If he loses his confidence, it's a loss for the team," Logan said.
"You don't know him. He was the person who made history by defeating the pain. He will be alright," Cleon grinned
Pete said, "That's true. Furthermore, it will be embarrassing to lose to a newbie."
Cleon and Logan were stunned for a while and then nodded.
"Right," Logan said.
"Destroy him!" Cleon shouted. Everyone in the area then looked at him weirdly.
***
'Hahaha, looked at Cleon. It's clear that they want to win so bad. So what do you think?' Adam tried to make Haldir and Ural getting used to communicating by the mind.
'I'm ready! I will crush them,' Ural said.
'I'm your blade, master. It's my job to get you victory,' Haldir said.
Adam had already made them learning the football skills mastery last night. So ability-wise they were ready to play battle ball. But Adam also realized they were just newbies in this sport. It's difficult for them to win this game. Adam determined to use their mental connection to compensate for their lacking of experience.
'Okay, then let's beat them!' Adam said.
'Yes!' His two summoned being answered simultaneously.
***
Three meters in front of Adam was Pete. He would do the kickoff. As a note, the kickoff in the 3 on 3 was a little different than in the battle ball. If the kickoff in battle ball was like in soccer when a player in the center of the field kicked the ball to the player beside him. The 3 on 3 kickoff was done by a player in the center on the opposite side of the goal to one of two teammates.
Pete passed the ball to Logan. But before the ball was received by Logan, Haldir intercepted it fast. After that, he kicked the ball soaring to the goal. In everyone's view, it would be out of bounds. But then an orc ran fast entering the goal area. Everyone was surprised except Adam who ran slowly to the goal area.
Ural whose height was 223 cm then jumped to the ball and headed it down to the ground. The ball bounced to the goal
"Roar!" Ural then roared to the sky.
1:0 for team A.
***
"Wow, team A is doing well," Ruby who sat on the bench with Gavin and Eve said.
"This is just the start, manager. In 3 on 3, it is normal for the score to reach double digits. This game emphasis a fast playstyle. The key of 3 on 3 was stamina, so the team that can persevere till the end usually become the winner," Gavin explained.
***
The game continued. This time Logan didn't dare too far away from Pete. After successfully received the ball, he made a long pass to the front left. Cleon in beastman form ran fast to chase the ball. Actually, this form was pretty powerful. The reason Cleon didn't often use it because its feet that like feline weren't suitable for kicking the ball.
But before he could take the ball. From the ball's shadow, emerged a humanoid creature, who was Haldir. Haldir used shadow dive to steal the ball. After getting the ball, he dribbled the ball to the goal area. Cleon behind him chasing fast but it looked like he wouldn't able to stop Haldir. At the distance of 3 meters, he kicked the ball and it went in.
In the second minute. 2:0 for team A.
***
"Wow, it's a goal again. By the way Gavin...." Ruby said.
"Yes, manager?" Gavin answered.
"What will happen if a team was left behind with a great score in the first half, can it reverse the score in the second half?" Ruby said.
"...," Gavin couldn't answer.
***
After that, team A always pressured team B. But team B somehow was able to contend with Team A stormy attack by slowed down the game tempo. They used short passes to force Team A to play in a restrictive playing style.
And it worked. Team A that all of its players were newbies often made mistakes. Inaccurate passes, missed shot, and holding the ball for too long that gave Team B a chance to isolate that player and then stole or seized the ball.
But this kind of playing style also made team B couldn't make a goal. In the first place, these were not their specialties. Cleon's style was to run to open space and waiting for a pass. As for Logan, he was somehow able to adapt well to this kind of playing style. His combination with Pete in passing worked well. But he didn't have any initiative to make a goal, it then made the game became boring and in a stalemate. Pate was helpless. He was in a dilemma. Their spearhead Cleon was the only choice to score a goal, but with this kind of playing, like Haldir and Ural, he was also was sealed.
'I need a chance. A quick moment to let Cleon score a goal,' Pete thought.
Adam was also helpless. In this game, he chose to become an anchor. He guarded Pete who was the playmaker of team B well. He knew he should content with this result. They had already led with two goals. Even if, they stayed like this to the end of the game, they would win. But Adam knew this game's goal was not to knew who was better but to show everyone's abilities and habits. When he contemplated everyone's playing styles, suddenly, he was tripped not by Pete, but by a grass knot, causing him to fall face first.
'Eh, how come there is a grass knot in this field?' That was what Adam thought when he kissed the ground.
"Cleon, go!" Pete then shouted.
***