10 One-sided
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In standard Arena matches, the positions held by your allies and enemies were distinguishable through the shapes of their exosuit's helmets.
Guards, Rangers, Fielders, and Solvers all had differently-shaped helmets that indicated their positions, and therefore, zone restrictions.
When Dylan saw that the approaching group from Red team consisted of only 1 Fielder and 2 Solvers, he initially thought that he had a chance of repelling them without waiting for reinforcement.
He thought that if he managed to deal enough damage to either of the 2 Solvers that's disproportionate to the damage they would deal to his tower, then they'd be forced to retreat back to the halfway line even before reinforcement could come.
After all, more Solvers meant more target for him!
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But sadly, he was proven wrong a minute later.
The number 7 Solver from the Red team hadn't tried to find a chance to solve the tower the moment he'd entered the zone.
No, instead he had chosen to engage him without concerns for his own HP!
At first, everything was still going according to his plan.
Although the number 7's fighting style had caught him off-guard at the start with punches and kicks that specifically targeted his elbows and knees, in a prolonged battle, Dylan with his blunt battle mace also managed to get a couple hits in that equalized the damage outputs between them.
The weakness of Joint Break was its small damage output because most joints were located in areas less covered by the exosuit's damage sensor.
Within a couple seconds of their bout, Irvine already stood at 90% HP while Dylan was at 87%.
The numbers were roughly the same even though Irvine had gotten much more hits in.
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Unfortunately for Dylan, everything started going wrong the moment the Red team's Fielder began to join in their fight.
The reason that Irvine was caught in a prolonged battle in the first place was because his Fielder had initially prioritized the protection of his Main Solver who's actually making progress in solving the tower.
However, after another couple seconds, the Red team Fielder had finally realized that something was wrong and caught on to Irvine's strategy.
He was of no use protecting the Main Solver when the tower's Guard had been fully occupied by Irvine.
Because Irvine had been doing the job of a Fielder ever since their match had started, he had forgotten one important fact.
Irvine was a Solver!
With that realization, the Red team's Fielder quickly pivoted his stance and charged towards Irvine and Dylan's battle.
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With him getting outnumbered 2-to-1, it didn't take long for Dylan to be successfully grappled and locked in position by the Fielder.
And the moment he was grappled was the moment Irvine had been waiting for.
He took a step back from the battle and shifted himself to run towards the direction of the first tower, where the Main Solver had been freely solving the upper section for about half a minute or so.
He positioned himself across the Main Solver and started to help in dismantling the upper section as quickly as possible.
*CLICK* *CLACK*
By this point, the frontline's momentum had once again settled on the Red team.
Dylan managed to break free from the Fielder's grapple in just a matter of seconds, but when he started targeting the Solver again, Irvine also stopped his solving once more in another attempt to engage him a second time.
With Joint Breaks restricting his moves, the familiar scene appeared once again with the Red team's Fielder chasing after him and successfully performing another grapple with the help of Irvine.
Once grappled, Irvine also went back to solving the tower. The loop continued on for a while.
This was the first time Dylan had seen such a spectacle.
Usually, a 2-on-1 was a normal occurence for Guards since they're usually prepared to fend-off both a Main Fielder and a Second Fielder to reach the Solver.
If Irvine had actually been a Second Fielder, he would've had a far easier time with him. Because then, Dylan only needed to fully avoid him at all costs before aiming for the actual Solver.
However, Irvine was also a Solver!
He was also one of his targets, which made him the perfect bait for Dylan to fight!
After all, it's not like he's not dealing damage to Irvine. The trade-off for his Fielder-like fighting style was that he also sustained the same amount of damage a Fielder did, but as a Solver.
But for Dylan who'd been either grappled or outnumbered 2-to-1 everytime, instead of feeling like he was confronting a Solver who can fight,
'Doesn't it feel more like... Fighting a Fielder who can solve??'
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The scenes continued as predicted, with Irvine confronting Dylan whenever he's free, and solving the tower once he's grappled.
This went on for another half-minute until Medea could no longer hold back the Blue team's Main and Second Fielder because of the interruptions by the other side's Ranger.
But taking the attention of three people for a full-minute was a monstrous feat on its own!
Medea had unleashed a barrage of well-timed headshots with her arrows where, at the end, the Blue team's Second fielder was left with the most damage sustained at 82% HP left.
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On top of the first floor viewing fences.
The owner Mister Faulkes and Scott were both watching intently, looking at every aspect of the match with varying expressions.
"Why is Dylan having that much of a hard time facing 2 people? I've seen him fight 2 Fielders without problems many times before..." Scott was confused at Dylan's current performance.
"That's because this time, one of the enemies is a Solver. A strong one no less!" The boss started to explain his observation,
"You see, when a Guard confronts two oncoming Fielders, they already had a strategy in mind to push one away while avoiding the other one. This is the standard tactic."
"If the Guard manages to execute such tactic properly without outside interruptions, he will be able to reach the Solver sooner or later."
"But what if one of the people he's confronting is the exact target that he has to eliminate?"
"!!"
"The Guard wouldn't want to avoid him, he can't. Which only leaves him with either pushing back or fighting head-on. But this task becomes increasingly difficult with the presence of another Fielder added to it."
"...I see!" Scott seemed to finally understood Dylan's current predicament, and he suddenly had a thought,
"Wait, won't this be a perfect strategy against any Guards then??"
"It's not that simple." Mister Faulkes shook his head.
"In the Olympus Pro League, what kind of Guards don't have a special trick or two. And plus..."
"This kid, Irvine Lang was it? Currently he's playing like a Fielder with the ability to solve rather than the other way around. Meaning he focuses more on protecting the Main Solver instead of solving himself."
"But if the overtime damage he sustains is on the same level as a normal Fielder, then his trade-off wouldn't pay-off all that well."
"Why is that?" Scott really enjoyed this kind of talk, it's like he's listening to a sport analyst on TV.
"Think about it, his strategy and playstyle have probably cost him more than half his normal solving speed. His existence doesn't exactly double the team's dismantling rate, it's more of a 20% increase at the most."
"If, add to that, he sustains the same amount of damage as a normal Fielder, then he'll just be like a Fielder with zone restriction rather than a solving Fielder." The owner concluded.
'It all depends on his ability, but...' He continued to put his hand on his chin in deep contemplation.
'With all that's been said, this kid pretty much invented a whole new playstyle for himself didn't he?? What a monster...'
The most thought-provoking thing for him was that, even with all the pros and cons of Irvine's playing style, the owner couldn't find any possible reasons why this playstyle couldn't be implemented on a higher level like the Pro League.
He was currently going through many theoretical situations with many different pro teams and players in his mind, but the more he thought about it, the more it seemed feasible to implement such a playstyle.
'Can it really be further developed...!?'
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Back on the field.
At around 3 minutes and 10 seconds since the game had started, the first section break on a tower finally occured.
Considering this was only the first wave after the first halfway line battle, the speed could be said to be unprecedented if this was a Pro League match.
The dismantling of the upper section was completed seconds away before the Blue team's Main and Second Fielder returned back to their front tower zone.
The Red team's trio swiftly retreated carrying the shocking achievement with them.
As they retreated, Irvine gestured for a fist bump at both his Fielder and Main Solver. A gesture that was returned passionately by his two teammates.
They had truly won big in that wave. Irvine was left with above 84% HP while the Fielder had his HP at slightly below 79%.
But the most amazing thing was that their Main Solver had retained 97% of his HP!
Even with the whole struggles throughout the match, from the halfway line battles to the tower zone's fights, the Red team's Main Solver was left nearly untouched.
A very contrasting condition to the front Guard Dylan that only had 77% HP left from the continuous losing bouts.
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Even Medea thought that the results were far beyond her expectations when she'd seen it through her interface.
'They really managed to accomplish a section break in a single wave. How did they do it...?'
She personally couldn't wait to watch the recorded footage after the game, but she knew that now wasn't the best time to get distracted.
During a retreat like this, just like during a breakthrough, it was a time for battle between Rangers to set up the pace for the next phase.
This was her battlefield.
*SWISH*
A single crossbow bolt was shot from the forest thicket to the side of the halfway line!
The trajectory was consistent with Irvine's movement path as he led the group to retreat.
But suddenly,
*SWISH* *THUNK!*
Another shadow of a projectile also flew over from the other side of the field right across the first one. This time, it was an arrow that somehow miraculously able to intercept the crossbow bolt trajectory with its own!
The two ended up colliding mid-flight without any of them managing to complete their supposed course.
Irvine was truly surprised at the scene!
'Mid-flight Interception!! Even most pro Rangers couldn't do that 100% of the time, what crazy accuracy...!' He commented in his mind still with his mouth agape.
'Her timing and precision talent had already started blooming. Apollo's Daughter... An apt title indeed.'
With that show of skill, the rest of the retreat became smooth without a hitch.
Medea continued to attack agressively towards the origin location of the first crossbow bolt after her successful Mid-flight Interception.
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The rest of the match had gone the same as anyone's guess.
With overwhelming advantage in both halfway line battles and tower zones attacks. The current Red team had proven to be an incredibly strong offensive team in its own right.
They took the momentum on most of the subsequent waves after that.
There had been one time when the Blue team tried to employ a full avoidance tactic on the halfway line, not engaging in any battles with the Red team's advance group trio and directly sprinted towards the Red team's first tower.
They had been successful on the first two waves of their plan, managing to almost dismantle the Red team's first upper section before retreating.
But the counter-attack for that plan had come almost immediately in the form of the Ranger Medea.
On the next wave, Medea single-handedly took on the Blue team's advance group by herself while Irvine and the other two employed the same avoidance tactic to reach the Blue team's zones.
The result had been very devastating for the Blue team.
15 minutes into the match, Dylan and the Blue team's Second Fielder had been eliminated following the dismantling of their first tower's lower section.
At the time, the Mid and Rear Guards of the Blue team had activated their Disablers together by pressing a button on the right ear side of their helmets.
They rushed forward to surround Irvine and the rest hoping to eliminate at least one of them.
But with the fall of Dylan and another teammate, the Blue team's player count was finally not enough to stop the Red team from advancing.
After that, the Red team hadn't had the need to retreat anymore.
Though the Blue team playing defensively while crowding their second tower had made scoring that much harder. The consistent and patient play of both Irvine and Medea together had still allowed them to score one last section break before the time was up at minute 45.
*BEEEEEEP*
[MATCH END]
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And the Final Score ended at 4-0 with the overwhelming victory for the Red team.
In Arena, every dismantled tower section was considered 1 point with a maximum of 9 points for a team.
*Huff*
Irvine let out a loud huffing sound at the beep that signaled the end of the friendly match.
His leftover HP at that final moment was 33.9% as shown by the helmet's interface.
It was a rather low evaluation for a normal Solver, but for what he was trying to become...
'It's not bad for practice!'
