[First blood had been drawn. Opponent player killed by teammate 'Shadow Mist']
Those bold letters on the screen attracted everyone's attention. A cry of victory was heard from Mirai's side of the room.
"Yes. Fuck, finally. I managed to draw the first blood in a game. I cannot believe it took me so long to get this achievement. I never thought I would be capable of drawing first blood. Look at all the extra exp I got as a result"
Mirai celebrated her small achievement. But little did she know, her actions had caused the other team to shift their strategy.
Two of the highest-ranking players on the other team decided to aim for Mirai now. She was becoming too much of a threat to them and her fast-leveling curve would start to widen the difference between the two teams.
"Mirai, stop celebrating. The opponent is coming for you. It is going to be a 2-vs-1 so be careful."
Olivier warned Mirai as he quickly dashed toward her location. But he doubted he would be able to make it in time. His avatar's combination of skills was not optimized for moving around the map.
"The opponent is coming after me? Well, let them come. I am 5 levels above anyone here currently. I doubt they would be able to touch me."
Somehow, Olivier doubted these words. He had seen how swiftly the other side had changed their strategy as soon as the first blood had been drawn.
The opponent realized that letting the fast-attacking assassin live would lower their chance of getting the last kill on the main boss. So, they decided to take the assassin 'Shadow Mist' down.
"Ugh, should I head out toward Mirai to help as well? I can heal and buff her."
Clement offered to help, but he had changed directions even before anyone had asked him to.
"No, do not. Clement, you just head toward me. You are not leveled up enough to help Mirai. Olivier, you come over to me as well. We need to get you both more levels. Isaac, you go and help Mirai out. Make sure she retreats to the safe zone without dying."
Terry, the leader of this small team, was level-headed. Olivier could also see that he was experienced in Echoes' fighting environment.
His skills did not look exceptional. But there was no doubt in Olivier's mind that Terry was the best player and strategist on this team.
"Huh, are you sure captain? I still feel like I should go and help Mirai out. Her assassin is about to die."
Clement pointed this out while looking at the team report on his screen. He was currently debating if he should use his healing skill on Mirai or not.
"Even if you go, you will not be able to heal Mirai enough to help her survive. Do not worry, I will help her out. I have the highest damaging output on our team currently so I am sure the opponent will not ignore me."
Isaac pointed it out. And finally, Clement backed down.
Clement still did not feel satisfied to be backing down like a coward, but this was what his team wanted.
Olivier changed his direction as well after he was ordered to. He could have helped Mirai out even with his avatar level but it was not something worth fighting for.
Anyway, this was an online match, not a tournament match. So, winning or losing did not matter that much to Olivier. What mattered to him was the experience.
'Huh. I am sure Lucas would have a few words to say about my attitude if he was here.'
Lucas had always disliked Olivier's attitude of not taking things seriously when he was playing a match.
Soon, both Olivier and Clement managed to join Terry. His berserker had managed to level up quite well and his skill tree was all-rounded as well.
Olivier only knew that because he was able to see the skill tree from his current seat. Terry was sitting adjacent to him after all.
"Oi Olivier, stop looking away from the gaming screen. You need to see where you are going."
Ezra pointed out as she nibbled on her thumb nervously. She seemed to be taking this game way too seriously right now.
"Alright, so you both are here. I will help you farm so follow me."
Terry led them toward a patch of low-leveled monsters that were easy to kill. His berserker skill also halved the monster's current hp and allowed Calment and Olivier to kill them easily.
At their current pace, it would take them no time to cross level 20 and unlock the main skills for their class.
But Olivier could not help but feel like this farming session would be much easier if his avatar was fully optimized. The attacks that should have killed these monsters in two hits were not taking twice as long.
And this lack of skill optimization started to show itself when the bell finally rang.
The first monster of this round had appeared in the middle of the map. It was equally far away from everyone on the map.
"Shit! I do not think you have enough levels to be a tank, Olivier. We might have to give up this boss. Let me and Mirai handle this boss somehow."
Terry pointed out. The boss was level 25 while Olivier was level 18 still. He needed to be a level 20 to be able to withstand the boss's skills if he taunted it.
So, in a way, Terry was right when he said that Olivier should give up on this raid and take a step back. If they were lucky, Mirai would be able to land the killing blow with her decent level 30 skill.
But it would not be very likely if the match turned into a 3-vs-5. Their healer was under-leveled as well at this point.
Olivier knew that the logical thing would be to give up on this boss and let the other team have it. They could still farm and wait for the mini-boss to gain exp.
But it was a risky strategy. This was not a championship match where the boss's exp was managed to not allow too much advantage. This was an online match with varied skill levels for all sides.
"No, we cannot allow that. Let me aggro the boss since I am the only tank on this map. We cannot afford to lose this advantage."
Olivier was not sure why he was pushing forward with his plan. There was only one minute left before both teams would be able to attack the first boss so they needed to decide.
"B-But you will die for sure and lose a ton of exp. Won't that put us at a disadvantage as well?"
Clement warned them as he cast a healing spell on everyone.
"Boss, let him do what he wants to do. We will all be PKed by the opponent team anyway if they get the boss. I do not think we have much of a choice here."
Mirai pointed this out as she escaped from the enemy side. They had finally given up the chase now that the boss monster had appeared.
Both she and Isaac finally got time to catch their breaths. And Mirai could tell that her leader was considering her words. The clock was ticking as well and finally, the leader decided to give up.
"Alright kid, you can aggro the boss and we will take care of it somehow. Sorry for putting such a heavy burden on your shoulders."
Terry sounded apologist but Olivier was not worried. If he died here, then that simply meant that he was not good enough at this game yet. He would need to grind a little more.
"Alright, so here is the plan. Our tank will lure the boss here while our healer will provide support. Everyone else, try to kill the monster as soon as possible. I will keep the other team's DPS away from the monster."
Terry quickly formed this plan and Olivier could already see a lot of flaws in this plan.
They were utterly doomed if the opposite team decided to attack their healer Clement or the tank. They would be defenseless while they were casting skills.
At such a time, Olivier missed the presence of a summoner or another defensive unit in their team.
"Hey mage, do you have any wide-area defense skills?"
Olivier doubted that someone with Isaac's temper had such passive skills. But the older surprised him when he replied with an 'I might.'
Olivier's surprised look caused Isaac to look offended at his lack of faith.
"Hey, believe it or not, we did win the locals this year. We all have some degree of game knowledge and what skills we need to win."
Olivier remembered Clement telling him about his locals win. Somehow, that information had escaped Olivier's mind after he had put his hands on this shitty account.
"Alright guys, 10 seconds left. Let us do this."
Olivier cracked his fingers to get his nervousness out of his system. He was going to make sure this was his best performance as a tank yet. And for that, he needed to concentrate.
"Senior Ezra, do not mind me if I do not reply to you from here on. And do not touch me if I do not reply to you. It is something that happens to me so do not freak out."
Ezra was surprised at the sudden request she was faced with. She had not expected this kid to make such a request from her but she found herself looking forward to what he was about to do.
As soon as the timer hit zero, both teams raced toward the boss. The other team reached it first and decided to attack the monster. But Olivier's aggro skill worked just in time and the boss quickly began to chase him.
The sudden moment from the boss was an unexpected thing. The other team looked a little confused, but they quickly caught on to what was happening.
The small frame of time the opponent's confusion had given Olivier's team was enough for them to reduce the monster's health to 1/3rd.
Mirai being over-leveled for this fight helped.
[Shit, the boss is a goner. I do not think we can reach it before it is killed.]
[Forget the boss now. Kill the tank and the healer now. We still have a chance at winning.]
Oliver watched the other team type in the world chat. It was difficult to tell if this was a misplay or intentional to distract them from the boss.
After all, both teams had their channels for chatting.
"Do not worry about me. You all just focus on taking the monster down. It is not a league match where we cannot come back once we are killed off thrice. This is an online ladder with time restraint binding us."
Olivier yelled as soon as he noticed Terry hesitating and trying to turn around. Terry could not abandon his task of holding the other team back.
He needed to keep the other team's berserker back because that avatar had a skill that could turn the tides.
The opposite team tried their best, but in the end, they were only able to kill their healer one time. Olivier made sure to tank extra hits and step into the defense territory Isaac has set up in time.
[First boss monster killed. +1000 extra exp gained by red team]
With that extra exp, Olivier and Clement finally went past level 20 and gained their class skills. The opposite team could only watch this happen helplessly.
Mirai also made her move and destroyed the first torrent of their opponent.
Suddenly, this game was beginning to show a clear winner. And it was their team.
The match was not over by any means and there was still a lot that could be done. The blue team still had two boss monsters they could pin their hopes on and win the match from there.
There were also a lot of mini-monsters left on the map to farm. So truthfully, there was too much that could be done.
But the blue team decided they could no longer win and the match was terminated before it could truly begin.
"W-We won? I cannot believe we won. And our opponent was a high-ranked team on the ladder as well. I do not think we have ever gotten this lucky before."
Ezra complemented and Olivier pulled his hands back from his keyboard. The match was finally over and Olivier had won.