Jack looked at the screen in front of him. His avatar stood in front of him while the countdown for the team round began.
Jack's heart hammered inside his chest and his excitement rose as the timer stopped. And finally, the third round started. He was ready to avenge his death from the first round.
"Calm down Jack. You will get your chance to shine later. But for now, do not forget that this is a team match. You need to stick with the strategy."
Jack bit his lower lip as soon as he was scolded by his teammate. It was beyond frustrating for him to have to hear such words from people less skilled at Echoes than him.
But he had to endure it. He had made a mistake and he needed to pay for it.
"Jack, keep in line behind me. I will guide you and support you. So, farm as much exp as you can on this map."
The beasts had started to spawn and it would be a race from here. Jack needed to hit level 20 as soon as possible.
The sword master started farming and the support mage followed behind him. They were both going to follow the same route for now.
Unlike a regular mage, a support mage did not have enough attack investment. So, it needed a little carrying in the first few minutes. The first real combat skill for the support mage would appear at level 10.
So, Jack's fingers moved over the keyboard and his avatar made clean work of his enemies.
He quickly turned to loot a new location when he noticed a flash out of the corner of his eye.
Under usual circumstances, Jack would not have paid attention to such a thing. He was taught how to focus during a match and how to not let things on the map distract him too much.
But he did not know what it was about this match that made Jack unable to focus.
"Jack, what is wrong? Why did you stop farming?"
The support mage asked his companion. Generally, the support mage would not have cared. But he was dependent on Jack for leveling up.
"Huh? Oh, nothing. I just thought I saw something pop up on my screen for a second. But it must be my mistake."
Jack quickly assured his teammate, not wanting to show how unfocused he was in the current game. But half of Jack's attention was on that flash he was seeing on his screen.
He was more than sure that it was the other team's shooter. And this time, Jack was not going to let that shooter win against him.
Jack killed quite a few monsters. But he also lost quite a few monsters in return. He had noticed his skills being stolen by someone in-between his combos.
As a result, Jack had to restart his combo a lot of times.
"Hey, the trainee is not as good as we thought."
"Yeah, I agree. Just look at his record. How many combos did he break in between?"
"He was also not able to hit the minimum number required to achieve the 'special skill' for his class."
Jack could hear the people talking and it wounded his ego. He wanted to yell that it was not his fault his combos were breaking apart.
It was all that shooter's fault.
[Calm down Jack. I know you are frustrated but you cannot allow your concentration to waver.]
This time, the speaker was his team's healer. The elder man had accidentally typed this in the world chat and not in the team chat. Even the other team and on-lookers could see that message.
"Jack, I did not mean to"
The healer started to apologize but that was the last straw. Jack was done being insulted by everyone.
'This all happened because of that shooter from the other team. If I kill that shooter, then I will be able to regain all the momentum.'
Momentary impulse was the worst thing possible. It caused the red team's plan to be thrown off guard when their sword master abandoned his post and went after the other team's shooter.
"Jack, come back. Fuck, you cannot do this to me."
The support mage cried out as he was left alone. He was suddenly left all alone in the forest. And what was worse? He was still under-leveled so he had no attacking skill.
But in the support mage's defense, who could have seen this coming? He had no reason to believe that his partner would abandon him.
'No, I can still do it. I can still level up a little and ensure I hit level 10.'
The summoner was confident in his skills. He quickly began to form again, but his health suddenly dropped.
The summoner tried to correct his avatar but it was too late. His attacker had no mercy and he was quickly disposed of.
"Tsk, stop taking my kill from me Mirai. I was the one who did all the heavy work."
Isaac scolded Mirai but she only sheepishly smiled back. It was always fun to take away your teammate's kills and then watch them get angry about it.
......….
"Alright everyone, I have successfully lured the fish after my avatar. You all need to pick off everyone else one by one."
Olivier announced as he navigated his avatar.
His focus was on running away from Jack's sword master and he needed to keep this up until Jack was the only one left on the opposite team.
"Keep it up. We are right behind you. I think Isaac and Mirai are already done with one of the opponents."
Terry was currently paired up with Clement and they were farming levels. They could see that the opposite team's healer was with their assassin while the summoner was elsewhere gaining levels.
"Clement, it is time we take out the summoner as well. Are you ready?"
Terry was a berserker with a high amount of firepower. But he had to split his exp with the healer so he was likely under-leveled for this fight.
But this fight was still 2-vs-1 and that was an advantage.
"Yeah, I am ready. Shall we head out now?"
Since the healer had hit level 15 and gained an offensive skill, it was time to head out. The real fight was just starting.
Both Terry and Clement managed to creep up behind the summoner. He had not managed to buy enough summons or level them up enough to cause massive damage.
And with that, the match had suddenly become a 3-vs-5.
"Jack, come back to the formation. We still have a healer so we can win. It is not over yet."
The assassin spoke, calling Jack back. But Jack ignored him in favor of chasing after his target. He was so close to his target and he could taste his victory on his tongue.
"Jack, two of us are already dead. We cannot afford to lose any more people."
Jack hesitated after he heard those words. He considered turning back right there and going to join his team.
But then a bullet hit him and dropped his HP by 2%. It irked him how the shooter was one level above him due to the team buff.
"Hey bro, are you going to let me go like that? I might kill you once more if I level up."
Olivier taunted the elder trainee. He needed to finish this match before the first boss showed up or their team could lose the advantage.
Jack turned back and Olivier used this opportunity to shoot at the man once more.
The constant aggro combined with the taunts from the younger was enough to make Jack snap. He rushed toward Olivier with murder in his eyes.
The summon of the red team was already dead. But he made the mistake of looking at Jack's screen, only to see him going after the shooter.
"Jack, what the hell. Did you not hear what I just said to you? You need to go and join everyone else on the map."
The summoner moaned but Jack was beyond caring. He had stopped listening to his team long before this point.
"I do not have to do anything you want me to. You all fucked up this match by dying at the hands of our opponent. Now allow me to do what I want."
Jack's anger was speaking through him. He maneuvered his avatar, using tricky ways to cover the distance between himself and the shooter. He let out a cry of triumph as soon as he caught the shooter.
But something was wrong. Suddenly, Jack was not able to move his avatar once more. It was an almost repeat of the last match.
The only difference was - the shooter had stopped moving as well at the same point.
[Sorry bro. Looks like we both fell into this trap. We will be here for about 5 minutes now]
Jack could only rage silently as he fell into the same trap again. This day was getting worse and worse.