"Wha...?"

Nobody on the Coalition could believe what they just heard. It had to be a joke, right?

"Uh, Fae Sol..." Bren knitted his eyebrows. "Say that again?"

"All of you. At once. In there."

There was no mistaking her this time. She enunciated every word slowly and clearly.

"You are one incredibly stupid girl. We're students of the most prestigious Academy on the continent. It's suicide to even fight seven ordinary players alone, much less us, VMA black belts!" Kenshi fumed.

"Oh, wow!!!!... is what you thought I'd say, right? Look into my eyes and guess how much I care."

"..."

*>Liuzhi: So... what do we do?*

*>BrenT: Uh, let's vote, I guess. Who's in favor?*

*>Kenshi: No! Let's just kill her now, please.*

*>Allux: Let's humor her. 6 levels of XP will be great for all of us.*

*>Molotova: Yeah, she's lost it. Let's take all her levels.*

*>Liuzhi: Tova, you've got some nerve to accuse someone of "losing it". But, for once, I agree with you.*

*>Adverse: We should obviously take the offer for the reason Allux specified. However, what if she has a secret method to kill all of us? We should remain cautious.*

*>Rizako: ...*

*>Molotova: Huh? You're kidding, right? A secret method to wipe out *all seven* of us?*

*>Adverse: I don't think such a thing exists, either. But think about it. Why else would she be so confident?*

*>Liuzhi: Of course. This is a strange situation. I believe we should alter the settings a bit to guarantee our victory.*

*>Molotova: Wha... You guys scared of one player?*

*>BrenT: Whatever. It can't hurt to be too careful.*

*>Molotova: I- I don't get it. You think I'm crazy, and you're deciding to go all out even though we outnumber her by seven times? Who's insane here?*

Nobody had the heart to object Molotova's protests. Eventually, they ended up adhering to Adverse's advice and altered the settings according to his suggestions.

"Alright, Fae Sol," Bren said as they wrapped up. "If you want to fight us in there, these are the settings we'll use. You'll have no objections, right?"

 

---

 

"I see..."

When Jisha saw the Fixed Field settings, she sneered in her heart. They were the pinnacle of shameless!

Not only did they ambush Abandon Snow and Hearth Ember with 6 players, but they were making it as difficult as possible for her, a single enemy, to win this match. They must have assumed she had a secret tactic, item, or something else that allowed her to easily deal with the seven of them. However, they couldn't have been more wrong. She would win with raw skill!

A steely sensation hardened her heart as she recalled how the two girls met their end. If it was merely a single death in a Fixed Field, Jisha probably wouldn't have felt this way. However, with these Field settings, it was impossible for her to sit still.

The settings they'd used against their victims were, in the future, known as "No Mercy". Just the name suggested, it was the highest possible stakes PvP could offer in Synergy. It was difficult to comprehend the scope of No Mercy in the early game, but the higher one's level was, the more they'd feel the weight of this gamble.

The concept of No Mercy was simple. If you died, your account would essentially undergo a factory reset. Those who had spent years of their life raising their levels would see their efforts wiped from existence in mere moments. Time waste was life waste; these players had literally lost years of their lifespan.

This was the dark truth of No Mercy. With a loss, years of your life would be shaved off. It was inherently a fractional share of real-world death.

Of course, on day 1 of the game, it was only a few hours' worth of effort, so Bren likely didn't mean to inflict much harm. However, the most extreme cases of No Mercy losses, in which players lost 10 years' worth of efforts, were ingrained in Jisha's mind.

She smiled sweetly at Bren.

"Of course I have no objections. This is a completely fair fight, right? Let's have a good match!"

"..."

Awkward silence.

Bren, being the leader, was the first to regain his composure.

"... Yes, let's."

The eight players entered the cemetery and completed the pre-match arrangements. This was a Closed Field match, so the system designated everyone's spawn points.

The Uval Cemetery was a square whose sides were 500 metron in length. In the center of one of the sides was the grand black entrance gate. Jisha spawned directly next to this gate.

This cemetery's tombstones were seemingly randomly placed, and there was a lot of open space where nothing existed at all. In front of her was one such space - it was a clearing that extended roughly 25 metron in front of her and 70 metron to each side. Her seven enemies spawned in front of her at the edge of this clearing.

Jisha checked her status window and inventory.  

 

*>Status Window*

*>Name: Fae Sol*

*>Class: Ranged*

*Level: 0*

*>HP: 10*

*>Atk: 1*

*>Def: 0* 

 

*>Inventory*

*>Ranged Starter Pellet: 50* 

 

These were the settings Bren and co. were so adamant about instantiating. Everyone would fight at level 0 with starter items. The main reason for this was that it prevented her from using any "secret item" she might have had.

*There's another potential reason, but is it something they really thought of? Maybe... They're quite crafty.*

At level 0, there was a lack of tools at everyone's disposal. This arrangement reduced the fight's element of skill and boosted the element of luck. It was analogous to asking a newbie chef and a starred chef to create the best possible meal with only a slice of bread. The end result would objectively be similar despite the two's differences in knowledge and skill. With so few tools, the number of possible mistakes and grasped opportunities were few. Only a small variation from the starting position was possible. On a lucky day, a judge could deem the newbie chef's product the more delicious one.

Technically, the fight would be far more difficult than if everyone was level 5 with twice-evolved classes. But the end result would be the same.

Why?

If the skill difference between two parties was vast enough, introducing small elements of luck would be irrelevant. If you gave the world chess champion only a king and queen, they would still crush a newbie's full set!

*I'll show you a gap in ability cheap tricks can't overcome.* 

 

*>System message: Closed Field commences in...*

*>5...*

*>4...*

*>3...*

*>2...*

*>1...*

*>System message: Closed Field (Uval Cemetery) - Start!* 

 

---

 

The seven members of the Coalition spawned side by side 25 metron away from their target. Bren checked his party window.

 

*>Party: 7 players*

*>Name: BrenT*

*>Class: Melee*

*>Level: 0*

*>HP: 10*

*>Name: Allux*

*>Class: Melee*

*>Level: 0*

...

*>Name: Molotova*

*>Class: Ranged*

...

*>Name: Adverse*

*>Class: Ranged*

...

*>Name: Kenshi*

*>Class: Melee*

...

*>Name: Liuzhi*

*>Class: Melee*

...

*>Name: Rizako*

*>Class: Melee*

...

 

*Alright.*

Everyone's stats and items were as expected: level 0 with a default kit. No items from before the Closed Field's commencement could be used, which meant their precious healing items, the Cinnamon Buns, were off the table. However, Fae Sol wouldn't have anything special to use, either. A battle of attrition would favor the side with more resources, and their combined HP was seven times their opponent's.

Bren delivered his first command.

*>BrenT: Horseshoe formation. Molotova!*

*>Molotova: Aye!*

It was only a one-word address, yet his ally immediately discerned his intentions. In a situation where every split second mattered, callouts had to be as succinct as possible.

The Coalition was a group of seven friends that'd been playing team games together for years. Everyone understood each others' strengths and weaknesses, and they knew what they had to do in basic situations. Right now, the shot-caller's job was only to bring everyone's attention to the starting plan.

Their formation shifted. They were previously side-by-side, but the melees slid in front of the ranged units. These melees made sure to obscure Fae Sol's line of sight to their rear, and once Molotova was out of sight, she fired a preemptive attack!

Molotova was a projectile expert. The Starter Pellet was indeed within her realm of expertise. She was out of Fae Sol's line of sight, but this meant that Fae Sol was out of her sight as well. But if she couldn't tell where to launch an attack at an enemy she'd just seen, could she be called a projectile expert?

The true intention of this mini hide-and-seek game was to obscure the ranged avatars while they attacked. At 25 metron away, even a turtle might be able to dodge a Starter Pellet if it saw the entire windup process. However, from Fae Sol's point of view, the pellets would suddenly appear from the top of the front line's heads. It was a small difference, but actions that improved the odds of success by even a fraction of a percent were often worth it.

But alas, 25 metron was 25 metron, and Fae Sol was not a turtle. If the projectile were a pistol's bullet, it may have been a sufficient range to guarantee a hit. However, Starter Pellets weren't bullets. The pellets harmlessly glided by Fae Sol.

At nearly the same time Molotova fired her pellet, Fae Sol fired one at Bren. It was slow; he sidestepped. There was no winner in this exchange...

"Ah?"

... is what he incorrectly assumed. 

 

*>Name: Molotova*

*>Class: Ranged*

*>Level: 0*

*>HP: 9/10*

... 

 

The first point of damage had been dealt, and it was their loss.

*>Molotova: Are you kidding me... A little warning next time?*

Molotova realized their mistake the moment she saw an undodgeable pellet approach her. In short, Fae Sol used the exact same strategy as they did, only more efficiently.

She did not see Fae Sol's windup process, nor did she see the pellet approach her until Bren, who was only 1 metron in front of her, sidestepped.

*>BrenT: ...*

From 25 metron, he'd never expected one of their teammates to get hit. Ranged Starter Pellets traveled quite slowly, so even an aimbot would miss. There was supposed to be too much time to dodge...

But whatever. It was pointless to dwell on a small mistake this early.

The Coalition were now 22 metron away from their target, and their "horseshoe formation" began to take shape. They only had a single target, and she was basically up against a wall. This formation existed to completely surround their target. With the wall on one side and the human-comprised "horseshoe" on the other, the target would have nowhere to run.

But Fae Sol immediately dashed to her left.

Naturally, she had to sprint in one of two directions to escape being surrounded. But why left? When Bren observed his formation, he immediately understood.

The Coalition had an odd number of members. If they'd executed their horseshoe formation perfectly, there would be one player in the center and three players on each side. However, the formation contained a miniscule imperfection.

Instead of one central player and three players per wing, their right side contained three players and their left contained four. In other words, Fae Sol's less-threatened side was her left.

Bren hadn't even noticed this imperfection until reverse engineering Fae Sol's decision.

*Impressive. But it doesn't matter.*

*>BrenT: Crush her against the wall! End this quickly!*

So what if she made one quick decision? There were still 69 hit points among them, and she would have to reduce that number to zero if she wanted to win!

Fae Sol continued to dash parallel to the stone wall, and the Coalition's horseshoe began surrounding her.

*-1*

...

*-1*

...

One out of every few of her attacks would strike a Coalition member, and even fewer of theirs hit her in return. However, this wasn't a problem.

*>BrenT: Keep it up.*

Fae Sol was taking little damage, but she had to change her trajectory to dodge most of the return fire. At level 0, everyone had the same movement speed. Her quick decision in the beginning would have actually allowed her to outrun her pursuers for 70 metron... but only if everyone truly moved at the same speed.

The shortest path of travel from point A to point B was a geodesic. Deviation from this geodesic would incur a time loss.

The Coalition was abusing their massive HP pool. By tanking several hits, they mitigated this time loss. However, Fae Sol, with 10 HP, could not afford to take as many hits. She had to dodge more, and this slowed her down.

*>BrenT: Perfect. We've got her.*

At this rate, the horseshoe formation would be complete, and Fae Sol would be trapped against the wall. With nowhere to go, she would enter melee range and perish.

*It was a valiant effort, truly.*

Bren was genuinely impressed that she survived this long; even the group of five players hadn't survived much longer than this.

*-1*

...

The more hits they tanked, the closer they drew. Now, Fae Sol would be trapped within 3 seconds. Bren counted down in his head.

*3...*

*2...*

*1...*

And this was it. The final pellet. No matter what she did, she would meet her end.

Fae Sol had been hit 8 times. In other words, she was at 2 HP.

If she dodged, she would become trapped in the formation. If she got hit, she would die.

Allux, Molotova and Liuzhi all fired simultaneously. They were much closer now than they had been in the beginning of the fight, so two out of three of these pellets were guaranteed to hit.

There was nowhere to go - she wasn't incorporeal, after all!

But... Allux's pellet missed.

*>Allux: What?*

His pellet had been neutralized... by one of Fae Sol's. In other words, Fae Sol launched an attack which accurately struck down Allux's pellet mid-flight.

Though the pellet wasn't traveling very quickly, it was a fairly small target, only half the size of a human palm.

*>Liuzhi: To be able to hit that while sprinting...*

It was impressive, but it didn't matter. Two pellets still flew towards her. At level 0, one could only fire one basic attack per second. Since Fae Sol's was on cooldown, it was impossible for her to pull the same trick again.

But the two remaining pellets whiffed as well.

"What a shame. You've let me escape," Fae Sol calmly said, as if her precarious situation were an illusion.

She jumped off the ground while maintaining her speed, and with her left leg, she pushed off the wall.

It was a parkour wall-run. With this push, her momentum carried her over to... another wall that suddenly appeared on her right.

*>Kenshi: What the... That shouldn't be possible!*

The open space they'd been running in made them forget where they were. They only had 70 metron's worth of space to capture their quarry, yet this space had run out.

The "wall" that appeared on Fae Sol's right was simply a tombstone. They'd now entered a stone forest, and visibility was drastically reduced.

Despite Kenshi's words, the Coalition shouldn't have been surprised. The stone walls, as well as the tombstones, were unrefined and rough. Someone skilled at parkour could easily push themselves into the air using these walls.

They'd assumed "special" moves like this weren't available at level 0, but parkour only required bodily control - it wasn't a system-defined skill.

The carefree girl chained dizzying wall jumps in succession and became impossible to track.

The tombstone forest only became denser, further reducing visibility.

Before long, Fae Sol disappeared.