72 Intermission 2
On the training field.
Inside the partitioned perimeter assigned for single-tower matches, Irvine was confronted by the pincer attacks of the two newly admitted 3rd string players on the one half of the field.
Ella stood to his left while Wilson to his right next to her.
Both of them were charging towards Irvine together at max speed, trying to prevent this freshman regular from reaching their tower.
.
Truthfully speaking, this sort of practice arrangement couldn't really be said to be the most ideal form of training for all three of them to simulate.
Between Wilson and Ella, only the former were of Guard position while the latter was a through and through Fielder ever since her first year of high school.
Although the secondary job of a Fielder was still to protect and reinforce their tower whenever their team went on the defensive, when compared to an actual Guard, their exposures to experiencing fights within their own tower zones like this would always be far fewer in comparison.
From this perspective, a Fielder's ability to knock and push enemies away from their towers wouldn't take much precedence when compared to their abilities to accomplish their primary task. Which was to open the path forward while carrying and protecting their Solvers at all times.
This time, a simulation training where the two of them had to protect a single tower from Irvine's invasion might not be as useful for Ella who's a Fielder as it was for Wilson who's an actual Guard.
But nevertheless, to them, playing against the team's 1st string regular player like Irvine in a mock battle was not an opportunity that they could afford to pass up considering their current position in the team.
Which was why when the chance had finally arrived for Irvine to invite the two to do some morning practice this Saturday, neither Wilson nor Ella had had any thoughts of refusing it, no matter what the content of the practice might be.
.
'Speaking of... This sort of mock battle arrangement was also not too fitting for a normal Solver, but--'
In the middle of her charge, Ella had also thought about how Irvine's role as the attacker in this practice was also not much suitable for his position as a Solver.
But not a fraction of a second later, these thoughts of her were quickly discarded when she suddenly felt a stinging pain on the knee of her front leg that prevented her to complete her rush forward!
*THWACK*
Within that split second before she could reach him, Irvine had already successfully completed his lunging drop kick that he aimed towards Ella's knee joint!
Subsequently, he also made use of the collision between the sole of his foot and Ella's kneecap to propel himself towards Wilson on the right afterwards.
Realizing that he had been too late in reacting to the opponent's retaliation against their pincer attacks, all Wilson could do at that moment was to raise both of his arms in a cross-shape over his chest to protect himself from Irvine's second thrusting kick.
*BAM*
Fortunately for him, this last second defensive measure that he'd employed had seemed to be quite effective when he noticed that the HP percentage of his exosuit hadn't dropped quite as drastically as he'd initially predicted after getting his arms out in front to guard against it.
'Nng!! ...Okay, it's not that bad--' Wilson grunted.
However, Irvine's chain attacks didn't stop there.
In his first move, Irvine had kicked the ground to intercept Ella's charge with a [Joint Break] to her knee.
and then, after using her leg as a bridging foothold to lunge towards Wilson with his second kick, Irvine's next course of action was to heavily rotate his entire floating body in midair!
In that one powerful spin, Irvine successfully brought his back foot forward to perform a follow-up chopping kick that was once again aimed at Wilson. Specifically his covered neck!
Irvine's second attack on him had arrived so quickly before Wilson could even properly recover from the previous one,
*BAM!!!*
"--Gah!!" This time, he noticed that his HP bar had dropped even further than before.
With his balance broken, the only thing Wilson could feel next was of his arm getting pulled and his body being thrown towards the direction of his only other teammate Ella, who's standing at the side.
*swish* *THUNK!*
The sounds of two metallic exosuits colliding resounded loudly throughout the surrounding.
Everything that'd happened had occurred within the span of a few seconds!
Within that short time frame, Irvine had fluidly executed each of his moves using only his two legs, jumping and dancing around the air between the two people, breaking apart their stances and formation little by little.
His few steps and moves were so smooth that any outsiders who'd seen the spectacle might even mistake those few seconds of action for a choreographed sequence of moves or something similar to that effect.
'How can a person even move like that...!' Was the only thing Wilson could afford to think in-between his spinning surroundings.
And when the two of them had eventually recovered their bearings, the first thing they noticed was the figure of the forward-facing Irvine now standing in front of them while patiently dismantling their tower's upper section unimpeded.
*click* *clack* *swish* *tap*
...
.
.
Needless to say, throughout their continuous runs from morning till noon, not once had the two freshmen ever managed to stop Irvine from successfully dismantling at least one section of their tower within the appointed time limit.
*Huff* *Huff* *Pant*
Currently, Wilson and Ella were both sprawled on the ground huffing and panting with sweats covering over all their faces after their helmets had been taken off.
Even Irvine who was standing by the side and just about to take his own helmet off couldn't help but to feel a bit sweaty after such rigorous and non-stop combat simulation training.
In the first place, the difference between the two sides' Physical States was not so large that Irvine wouldn't feel tired after handling them for hours on end.
Add to that, the fact that the training was purely done without any usage of Gene Mod Ability for the sake of fairness, the entire time, Irvine had solely relied on his own combat and solving experiences to deal with the two.
The main reason that he could still stand and not breath so heavily like the other two was more on the account of his Stamina-oriented Gene Enhancement rather than the fact that he was a Stage-2 Human himself.
*Pant* *Pant*
The incessant heavy breathing of Wilson and Ella hadn't stopped even after a minute had passed.
*Phew* Irvine let out a single large breath after drinking from his water bottle before continuing to speak,
"Good work guys." He addressed the two with a smile.
"Good..." *Huff* "...Work." Ella tried her best to reply to him under her breath.
"^&$%..." Wilson on the other hand, could only answer him with a series of incomprehensible mumbles coming out of his mouth.
From the start at 09:00 AM to 12:00 PM, neither of the three took more than a couple seconds of breaks between each sessions of the practice or whenever they had to reassemble the tower back.
And with how high of an intensity Battle Arena combat originally was, it took almost everything the two of them had had to complete the training course on time for the arriving lunch hour.
"How is it? Your first-hand combat experience against the weaker half of the regulars?" Irvine asked the other two for their impressions with a bright smile.
*Pant* "We can't... Stop you at all..." *Pant*
This time, Wilson had recovered just enough to reply to him with bits and pieces of his words.
"Well, in the end, you guys are still going against a player one stage above you in terms of physique. But if it was the Captain, the scores taken from you guys might've even been double or more from my current one." Irvine replied with a consoling tone.
"...So all the regulars' Solvers are this strong?" Ella asked curiously. Of course, she knew that right now Irvine was referring to none other than the 'Untouchable' Renee Morgan, Ace Solver of the Illusions.
"Well, with the Captain, it'll be more like you guys won't be able to even hit her at all. On the other hand, she probably wouldn't attack you as much as I did."
"..."
"That's right, you-- At that match..." Wilson then started to fully recall Irvine's performance against the Western Zeta Armadillos a couple days back.
The two of them had also seen the match just like the many other members of the team.
In that match, with both Derrick and Naomi at his side, Irvine alone had gone back and forth between suppressing the enemies with Derrick, and helping to solve the tower sections to score one point after another consecutively.
Even after realizing the difference in strengths between the two teams, both Wilson and Ella still couldn't help but to feel that it was truly a sight to behold.
A Solver who fights openly!
The most important point was that, Irvine's playing style was truly fresh on the eyes compared to the many other skillful but orthodox type of players.
...Not that it was an unusual sight to see in Ravenville with its many unique and 'unusual' players over the years.
"Will you guys also go with the same tactic for your next opponent...?" Ella asked another question probingly.
"...Probably not. The Head Coach is not too fond of allowing others to gather too much information for one of his tactics or plays."
"By the way, the next opponent is--" Wilson turned to Ella for confirmation,
"Port Town College Pirates." She answered.
Although the team was quite noticeably stronger than the bottom rung Armadillos within the Zeta City Tier-1 League, unfortunately for them, they were also included in one of the teams that the current Ravenville had the utmost confidence in winning against.
"--Bluntly speaking, until our match against Verdante, there probably won't be many things that'll go wrong." Irvine added.
Even though saying this might seem arrogant, this statement was already based on their team's scouting against the enemy's newest line-up.
No matter how weak the opposition might seem, Ravenville's team of coaches and scouts weren't so blindly proud as to not do their homework against the other party first.
And the confidence that the regulars held in their words were not an attempt to slight their opponents, but the proof of their hard work in getting to where they were now.
"Anyway, you two--" At this point, Irvine stopped the talks regarding the tournament and changed the topic once more.
"You guys should've already realized it by now right? Even though getting your license and Gene Mod might raise your combat capability drastically and allow you to directly enter the 2nd string, there's no point to it if your foundation and understanding regarding your own combat styles and roles are not strong."
"Abilities are not omnipotent, at the very least, a top class player should still be able to contend against others of the same level without relying on his/her Ability."
"The one big difference between those veterans in the 2nd string and the regulars of the 1st string was almost always that the regulars each has their own values and unique weapons that can contribute to the team."
""...""
"So if there's one advice that I can give you for your current selves, it would be to patiently strengthen your foundation while finding your own 'thing'." He concluded,
"Don't rush your development to Stage-2 and impatiently get your license and Gene Mod before that, lest you become just like some of the 3rd years in the 2nd string. They too have rushed their licenses without first finding their own unique strengths, in the end..."
As he finished saying his piece, Irvine once again felt that he had reiterated this point too many times to too many people.
From his sister, Medea, and now to Wilson and Ella.
He felt that he couldn't really help it. Maybe it was because this was the crucial point he'd missed during his previous development as a player.
Just aimlessly strengthening his Physical State over and over without thinking what it means to be a good player or even a proper Guard.
'Mindless hard work will never yield the desirable result.' This was one of the lessons he'd learned from his past.
'But mentioning this stuff over and over do make me feel like an old man trying to preach about life.' Irvine could only smile wryly with this thought in his head.
