Inside, an enormous field was jammed with thousands of people with their eyes glued to the massive screen. Beyond the field, millions of people all over the world were looking at the same screen on their devices, all waiting to find the winner.
To find the winner of the biggest VR sport in the world with a billion dollars on the line and to see who would get the title of the ultimate hunter.
On the screen, the viewer saw the top four guilds surrounding a massive prehistoric beast from all sides to slay the beast.
This was the ultimate beast of the game, HUNT 4.
The commentators pointed to the timer. "30 more minutes, and we will be going to find who among the four guilds will take the billion dollars."
The screams of fans echoed in the stadium, each cheering for their favourite team. The social media was in chaos, with constant name spam from four guild fans.
In the game, a big man in red armor with a massive great sword on his back commands a few members to climb a small hill on the back side of the giant beast, Jugaza. The 156 members of the dragon guild swiftly moved toward the hill.
On the left side, the 126 members of the spider guild, in green armor, lay still on the massive trees with long-range guns and rocket launchers in their hands. Even though they were far from the beast, that did not mean the beast was out of their range.
But the true daredevils were the Machine Guild. They created an invisible dome just 200 meters away from the beast's mouth. One mistake: the entire guild could be annihilated at any moment. Even with only 92 members, they carried the most advanced laser technology.
Finally, the fan favourite, the guild, with a mere 73 members, was slowly crawling in foot-long grass toward the beast. This was the guild of powerhouses, with five core members in the lead.
Even though all four guilds were in position, none wanted to make the first move.
Time continued to pass, and soon a commentator pointed out, "only 15 minutes. If no one kills the Jugaza before that, then the game will enter the second phase."
The second commentator asked the old guy next to him. "Sir, Mica, can you share with us what this mysterious catastrophe will be?"
The crowd went silent, waiting for a response.
Mica shook his head. "To know that, you have to wait for the timer to end."
The commentator looked frustrated at this, as he knew the crowd did not want to hear something like that, but there was nothing he could do.
Sir Mica sensed that and added with a low-tone sinister smile, "I can only hint that when the catastrophe starts, everyone will regret not making a move before."
The commentator, along with the crowd, gulped down. They knew they could not take anything lightly that came out of this person's mouth. After all, he was the sole developer of the game HUNT.
To ease the mood, the second commentator said, "Well, we should never expect the billion-dollar game to be that easy." He looked at the crowd and said in a dreadful voice, "Yes, as you guys know, today's winner will take a freaking billion dollars home with them."
Many in the crowd's eyes shone as they heard that, especially those with low experience, while the veterans in the crowd wallowed in misery as they had already lost.
The countdown continued: 10 minutes, 8 minutes, 5 minutes... The anxiety among viewers worldwide increased, but those inside the game were the most anxious.
Each of these players had a headset that not only connected them to other players but also to the game analysts' teams in the outside world.
A big part of these guilds being here was the massive information processing team behind each of them. Each guild had its own separate team, and at this moment, all heads of the information team told their players the same thing: "to wait."
As the timer continued to tick down, the team leaders kept shouting at their information heads, "When do we make a move?"
"Wait..."
"But for how long?"
"Until someone else makes a move."
It was a similar command for everyone. When the timer moved to the 3-minute mark, movement started. Two gunners from the Spider Guild walked in a specific direction.
This move confused the commentators, but the Stars' Guild finally received a different command. "Back down. Abandon the position. Move. Spiders are targeting you."
This confused everyone in the Stars' Guild. Eric, the guild leader, asked in confusion, "What? Those guys are on the opposite end. How can they target us?"
The analyst's head shouted. "There's no time! Move down fast."
Eric looked at the Jugaza and said in frustration, "Even if we move, I don't think we can safely get out."
"We have to, or we might face annihilation. Abandon the slow ones."
Everyone in the guild heard the same thing. Brian, one of the core members next to Eric, shouted to the head, "Are you stupid? How can we do that? After facing this big loss, are you sure we can win?"
Head paused for a moment and said in an uncertain tone, "We can't predict the future, but moving ahead is bad."
Liya also shook her head. "That's a terrible option."
Head insisted, "Ah, we don't know, but moving forward is not an option."
Brian shook his head and pointed to the beast. "I say, let's rush it. With my strongest attack, I could chip away at least 30% of that guy's health. At that time, you guys also attack with your best moves."
The head of the analysis company shouted, "No, don't do that!"
Eric shook his head. He was not sure about the head decision this time. "We don't have a choice. We will make a move."
The head analyst shouted, "Ah, Damit, then wait for my command!" None of them refused.
Inside the tall building, the analyst's head removed his headset and looked at the 100s of staff all monitoring the game situation.
He shouted, "Change of plans. We are going all in. Decrease the surveillance on other teams and increase the number of members on fight stimulation. I want team 3 to focus on two gunners fast!"
With this command, many shifted their viewpoints on computers. Alex zoomed out and looked at the entire island. With only 3 minutes left for the next stage, he started looking for clues.