The countdown at the top of their vision HUD changed from
391:59 to 390:00 and then a sheer wall, thin as silk, appeared out of nowhere splitting the pavilion in the middle.
Mia was on the other side of the barrier, and "Aargh!" exclaimed as she suddenly ran over to this side.
Jon already reckoned the reason as he saw 1/5th of Mia's health bar go up in smokes in the party tab.
Instead, he inspected the barrier by touching the barrier or trying to as his hands just passed through it.
He let his hands pass through fully up to his shoulders but found nothing different, no kind of different sensation, nor depletion in HP.
Frowning he tried to enter halfway, but again he felt nothing. Contemplating for a while, he fully stepped to the other side and immediately felt like something stabbed him all over his skin.
His health dropped down by 20%.
"Hey, what are you doing?" Mia pulled him to the other side in an indignant tone.
"I'm just testing" Jon shrugged, "it's new to me after all"
Mia didn't mind the odd comment and started to discuss the party.
"Since I'm covered head to toe with armor, I will take the tanker and melee, do you have any range weapons?" since they have a close combatant the next thing to look for is a healer or a ranged attacker.
The game didn't have any class restrictions so anyone can wield any weapon.
"No, I didn't" Jon shook his head and then Mia's words made him remember something.
"Wait, what about the Archer guy, didn't you get his loot with the bow and arrow?" Jon asked looking at her.
'Hmm, where is the bow?' Jon blinked his eyes noticing Mia didn't have the bow and arrows. She could not have put it in her small pouch.
Mia hearing the question let her eyes wander around, "Well…I didn't get to pick it up" Mia said slowly.
She had hurried to find something to stop the pain and she spurned anything else.
"You mean you didn't pick the bow?" Jon asked for clarification, and Mia nodded back.
Mia gave the look of 'What can you do?' and Jon felt he should really not party with her.
How could she forget such an important thing? Isn't looting an important essence of Battleground-style games?
"I didn't pick anything" Mia mumbled.
Jon could only sigh; the archer's body or the loot left after his body turned to dust, is on the other side of the barrier, he can only go over and quickly pick it up and lose some points of health in the process.
Just when he resolved to do so, someone entered the pavilion from the other side of the barrier and jumped to their side.
The fatty who fell to the ground before their feet looked up in relief and noticed both of their gazes on him and he could only utter "uh-oh"
…
Samrex cursed as he finally fired a bolt through the player who sneak-attacked him.
'You are a swordsman, why are you Sneak-attacking me?' Samrex cursed as the player's body turned into dust.
He had entered a forest and picked up some berries to eat when he felt hungry, he didn't think the berries would taste this good.
As his job as a streamer dictates, he went on to explain the taste and sensation when suddenly someone fell behind him from above.
"THUD"
He didn't feel anything but a shock for a while and felt a cold itch going from the back of his shoulder blades to down his back.
A few points of his health had depleted due to the attack on his back, and he could start to feel strong pain in his shoulder blades.
The blade had cut a few inches deep into his shoulders before leaving a trail on his back.
Thankfully only the tip of the sword had struck him, or else his arm would be cut if it is possible in this game.
Then turned to see who the hell it was and found a man with a leg broken, whimpering on the ground.
He guessed the 100% realization meant the physics also worked the same.
One can't ignore the effect of gravity in this game, not to mention the pain.
He made to fire the crossbow and winced, almost dropping the weapon when his shoulder pain worsened.
"Fu*k, the game company should seriously lower the pain sensitivity" Sam cursed.
By now, the swordsman had started to move and try to attack Sam's leg using the long reach of the swords.
A quite pathetic effort since Sam easily dodges but it did worse the pain he felt from the shoulder wound and lost a couple of more points of health.
He shakily gritted his teeth and aimed the crossbow at the futile whimpering fool and finished him off.
After that he picked up the sword, it seems to be the only item in the loot, so much for the shoulder wound he got which felt worse if he moved his shoulders.
He popped a couple of berries in his mouth recovering a few points when he saw a notification.
[One hour is up. The dome will be shrinking; please proceed to the safe zone. The dome will be shrinking in 5…4…3…2…1...0]
'What? That soon?' he made a run, since he had been walking from the beach to inwards, he knows which way the dome will shrink to.
He hadn't even taken two steps when he felt something pass through his whole body, and his health bar goes down by 10 points, which is 20% of his health limit just like the rule said.
Combined with how he previously lost 17 points due to the sneak attack and gained 4 points from the berry, he is down to 27 points remaining.
He popped a few more berries and ran towards the next zone. The weight of both the crossbow and the sword slowed him down, he almost decided to leave one of them when he saw the dome barrier.
By then he is down to 21 points having lost another 10 a minute over.
'I can reach it before I lose another 10' Sam thought but his face turned awkward as he lost another 10 the next second, coming down to 11.
He didn't stop to pop more berries decidedly to reach the place. Then he saw a pavilion at the edge of the barrier and his eyes lit up, it would not be the best cover, but it will do.
He planned to enter the pavilion and take cover, scout for any enemies nearby, and plan ahead.
He ran inside the pavilion and throws his body over to the other side, sighing in relief but his face turned ashen when he looked up.
Standing there was a fully armored metal bitch and a man with a dagger eager to strike.
"uh-oh"
'I'm fucked!' Sam cursed.