Chapter 19 - Berryier VS KOA2468

Chapter 19 – Berryier VS KOA2468

*TRING*

Berry appeared on the field. When he opened his eyes, the not-so-vast grassland met his eyes. The field was not big. It was a bit bigger than a basketball court. Covering the grassland was a barrier.

Single Versus Battle happened in a small area because there were only two players in the battle. The battlefield for the Rank 1 battles (Level 1 to 10) would be in a barrier of about 28 to 30 meters in diameter. Since they were low leveled too, they could not pull any powerful skills and thus, they got a small battlefield.

A Single Versus Battle between higher-ranked players would have a much bigger battlefield because their battle was high leveled.

Since the field was small, Berry could see his opponent stood 15 meters in front of him. Berry looked at KOA2468's head and saw that he was level 3.

'I would love to see his stats too. His level alone is not enough to gauge his power in this game,' thought Berry. 'His beginner equipment is weird too. He is black all over. Is the black t-shirt and pants a piece of beginner equipment?'

Berry did not care about Shin's handsome face that was one of the main reasons he attracted a lot of attention, girls, the most. However, Berry cares the most about Shin's equipment and ability.

Since they were both a beginner, their stats would not be far from each other even if Shin was a level higher than Berry. So, their equipment would play a vital role in the battle. That was the reason Berry paid attention to Shin's full black clothes.

'A mask? Does the mask have any function? Increase accuracy? Stealth?' thought Shin. He had the same idea as Berry. Their stats did not matter much but their equipment would determine how the battle would go.

'Hmm… Maybe a normal mask too because a beginner will usually buy defensive gear or powerful balls. Seeing that his clothes are the beginner equipment, he must have invested his money on balls or that mask,' thought Shin.

'I cannot look down on my opponent. He may have no record in the Battle Facility but he may have fought a lot in the wild,' thought Shin and he added, 'More so, he looks calm. The three people I fought before all have this nervousness surrounding them but not this guy.'

Berry was indeed calm. He learned his lesson when he fought the first rabbit a few days ago. As long as he kept his calm, he would do better.

Berry was also taught to stay calm when he practiced martial arts and thus, it was not that hard to stay calm since the beginning. However, staying calm during a battle was still a bit hard for him because of his inexperience.

While Berry and Shin were thinking about each other, a big system screen appeared in the middle of the field. On the screen was written the words, 'Berryier VS KOA2468'.

[Time Limit: 5 minutes]

[Battle will start in 3…]

[2…]

[1…]

[Start!]

The game announced that the battle had started. As the countdown ended, Berry and Shin took out a ball each. Berry decided to use the golf ball while Shin held a tennis ball.

Shin's tennis ball was not a normal one with atk+1, it was a high-quality tennis ball with the atk+3. Berry wanted to throw the ball but Shin suddenly ran forward towards Berry.

Berry halted his throw because he was 100% sure that Shin would be able to dodge. He did not want to lose his ball and decided to move forward to meet with Shin too.

'If he wants to fight at close range, I can do it too!' thought Berry.

"…" Shin was silent when he saw Berry moved forward too. 'My previous three opponents all retreated when I come forward because it will be harder to dodge if we are too close but this guy, either he is confident to dodge or he is rash,' thought Shin while he stared at the incoming Berry.

'Or he is thinking that getting closer is easier to attack,' Shin made his hypothesis and he glanced at Berry's golf ball. 'That looks like normal-quality golf ball… but maybe a high-quality one since he did not upgrade his equipment.'

In Dodgeball Master, the balls were the weapon. There were many different types of balls and all types have eight qualities that would determine the full power of the balls. Not only balls but other equipment had the same group of qualities.

The qualities that could be bought at the shop run by the NPC were only normal-quality, medium-quality and high-quality. The higher quality balls could only be bought from other players with crafting ability.

For these three qualities, they all looked the same and the only way to know their quality was by appraising them which can be done by holding the ball.

So, based on Shin's experience and observation from what Berry wore, he had thought that the ball was perhaps a high-quality ball.

'But… that is not enough to defeat me!'

Berry and Shin got closer from 15 meters to 14 meters, 13 meters, 12 meters, 11 meters, 10 meters and when they were about 9 meters from each other, Shin suddenly fell to the ground and disappeared.

"!!!" Berry was shocked. Shin disappeared but there was no hole on the ground. 'His skill!' Berry immediately regained his calm and stopped his track. He stood calmly and prepared for an unexpected attack. Berry heightened his senses to the best of his ability.

"There it is! KOA2468's skill!" a spectator got excited. Not only him but others too.

"Berryier probably did not do his research while in the waiting room. The last two of KOA2468's opponents all knew about his skill," a spectator shook his head and already knew that the battle would end in less than a minute.

"He should run away and keep a distance but not only he rushed towards KOA2468 but he also does not budge from his current position," another spectator added.

"This may end as fast as the KOA2468's first battle when the opponent has zero knowledge about KOA2468," another spectator sighed as he felt the battle would not be interesting.

"Berryier is a beginner," Dianne agreed with what many people had said.

"I think Berry is smarter than what he shows," Daisy disagreed.

"I think you are wrong, sister Daisy. He is a beginner and this is as far as he can go," Dianne disagreed but Daisy smiled. Daisy was confident that Berry could do more.

Berry looked around to search for Shin. 'He will not disappear without any reason. He enters the ground, so, his ability is either ground or rock-' Berry was thinking that when suddenly, he saw the grass' shadow nearby moved suspiciously.

'Or shadow,' Berry smiled faintly but he kept his calm and moved around as if he did not see that. 'This battlefield is not suitable for your ability. I guess I am lucky to choose this place.'

When Berry smiled, Daisy smiled too because she saw that Berry was smiling. 'He notices it. I knew you have many potentials, Berry. My judgment is not wrong this time."

'He saw me and trying to lure me out?' Shin realized that Berry noticed him too. 'I will not let you have it easy!' Shin got more serious.

Inside the shadow, with Shin's high speed, he moved in the shadow to get close to Berry. Shin appeared 1 meter behind Berry and got out of the shadow and prepared to throw the tennis ball.

Berry was surprised that Shin could move that fast. 'He is fast!' Berry looked behind him and Shin had prepared to throw the ball.

Shin threw the tennis ball towards Berry.

Berry moved his body instinctively to dodge the ball but at this range, he knew that he could not fully dodge it. Shin's speed was unexpected to Berry that he moved a bit late.

Berry moved his hand and opened his palm.

'He wants to catch the ball?!' Shin was surprised.

However, a 2cm2 barrier appeared in front of his palm. The tennis ball hit the Barrier but not even a second passed and the Barrier broke. However, the tennis ball lost a lot of power and hit Berry's palm. Berry clasped the tennis ball and successfully grabbed it.

[Berryier's HP -0]

"!!!" Shin and everyone else who saw this were surprised. It was the rule of dodgeball that when a ball was caught successfully, the player would receive zero damage. However, what shocked everyone was not the zero damage, but Berry who thought and move fast enough to catch the ball.

Not only that, but everyone was amazed that Berry chose Barrier as his ability because it was the most useless ability in the game judged by everyone.

Daisy clenched her fist in excitement when she saw that move. She got more excited and could not wait to see Berry's next move.

Berry did not stop there as he used the tennis ball's momentum and spun his body in mid-air to face Shin. While in mid-air, Berry threw the tennis ball back towards Shin.

'Ugh!' Shin grunted but with his speed and experience, Shin got back inside the shadow and succeeded in dodging the tennis ball. However, Shin was suddenly thrown out of the shadow and a damage notification arrived.

[KOA2468's HP -2]

"What!?" Shin exclaimed in shock and he soon saw that a golf ball was on the ground where he was earlier. 'He attacked the shadow at the same time?!' Shin was shocked.

"WHOA!" Everyone was shocked too. They never thought that Berry would make two attacks in that move. He spun in mid-air and threw two balls at Shin. One was at Shin and the other was Shin's shadow.

Throwing two balls at one time was not a rare move but in that kind of situation, it was not easy to execute it. Everything happened too fast for someone to pull off that kind of move.

Berry did not stop there too. His leg landed on the ground and Berry dashed towards Shin.