vs Stein (1)

*Let's see... 3, 6, 9, 12 players, huh? They really don't waste any time.*

Jisha was a bit annoyed when she was "ambushed" by these players, but when she realized Stein and Castle were in the mix, she perked up a bit.

She'd heard of Stein from Brookie and the four friends who claimed to be from the guild "Asunder"; he was supposedly the leader.

And Castle, well... He'd just disappeared after Jisha's War Zone battle.

*That kid... Why did he ignore my guild invitation? I'll have to give him a stern lecture about ignoring girls' messages!*

Jisha narrowed her eyes and observed the projectiles headed her way.

Out of six projectiles, four were physical while two were magical.

*Six ranged units... They're perfectly balanced. Are they here specifically for me?*

This situation was unlikely to be coincidental. She wasn't surprised that the news of the "Uval Spawn Battle", as it would eventually be called, had spread to nearby players.

Guild leaders, especially those of front-running guilds, were keen on picking up important and unusual information about pretty much anything. That battle footage could be considered as both...

By inspecting their levels, it was likely that Asunder was also a guild that focused on exploring the edge of Synergy.

The current leaders of the leveling scoreboard were level 9, and the players in front of her were level 7 or 8. They weren't far behind, which meant that they were most likely twice-evolved.

At level 5, six additional classes were available to players.

From the melee side, there were Fracasiers, Batonistas, and Neophyte Battle Magi.

On the ranged side, there were Pitchers, Slingshotters, and Neophyte Mages.

Of the 12 players, there seemed to be 2 of each type.

These 12 players had a poor encirclement since Jisha was located at the cave entrance. She had ample room to retreat backwards, but that would unlikely be unnecessary.

Despite this, their attacks were well-coordinated.

Though the melees weren't in range yet, the six projectiles covered all her escape options and left little space to dodge.

That's right - *little* space... not *no* space. Though any ordinary opponent would likely have been hit, Jisha was anything but ordinary.

Simply by abusing the darkness of the cave's shadows, the ranged attacks weren't as precise as they could have been.

She weaved through the attacks, raised her weapon, and counterattacked.

---

*>Quaterniana: Pitcher downed!*

*Damn...*

Fae Sol, or what was assumed to be Fae Sol since the name and level were concealed, seamlessly waltzed through the hail of bullets and fired a counterattack to boot.

Stein nearly doubted his eyes. His evaluation of Fae Sol increased by a notch.

Originally, he thought he could overwhelm her with sheer numbers. After all, 12 was more than 7. On top of that, each of their individual skills was higher than that of the 7 in the Uval Cemetery.

However, he quickly realized he was mistaken. Stein was a versatile commander - he quickly adapted to this situation.

*>Stein: Mage unit, take cover behind melees. Pitch unit, stay at mid range. Sling unit, keep your distance!*

Most classes in Synergy had two fundamental ways of attacking. One was basic attacks, and the other was "skills" or "spells".

Unlike skills, which consumed mana and/or stamina, basic attacks did not.

Since basic attacks generally had a far lesser cooldown than skills, he wanted to abuse the Pitcher and Slingshotter classes, which primarily used basic attacks, to create an undodgeable "zerg rush" of projectiles.

Even with all this, Stein wasn't sure if it would be enough to take out their opponent. So...

*>Stein: Melees, close in.*

All 12 players converged on a point!

Stein's formation change was most optimal in a boss fight. He placed each unit at their most effective ranges from the singular target.

However, there may have been a small flaw with this plan.

Fae Sol was a player, not a boss.

Unlike bosses, which one could usually attack fairly mindlessly, fighting another player usually required a lot of brain power.

*This is all I can hope for, though...*

This was unknown territory for Stein and Asunder. Never had they fought a single player with a raid party! As this was a new experience, it was impossible to tell whether this strategy would be effective.

It was known that Fae Sol was of the Slingshotter class which was known to be a "glass cannon". They could deal high amounts of damage but were fragile on defense.

Early in the game, this fact wasn't apparent via stats. But Stein was well aware of a Slingshotter's weakness - it had a very low attack speed!

In other words, Slingshotter was a class that focused on basic attacks, yet they had a high cooldown. This, paired with their high damage per shot, made them extremely deadly at long range.

If he could overwhelm Fae Sol with melee units at close range, it would be impossible for her to fire fast enough to retaliate.

Stein noticed Fae Sol begin to retreat backwards.

*As expected... she's playing to her class's strengths.*

If he let her stay at a distance, they'd only be picked off one by one. Stein had seen her accuracy in the battle in Uval. It wouldn't matter how many numbers he had on his side if none of them could reach her - they would lose!

Fae Sol raised her golden weapon again to fire.

When the melee units saw this, some of them used a dash, sprint, or some other skill that allowed them to move a short distance rapidly.

This type of ability, known as a "gap-closer", was something all melee units possessed. After all, if they didn't, it would be impossible for them to catch up with a retreating ranged unit.

But this type of skill could also be used to dodge.

Ordinarily, using a gap-closer to dodge a basic attack was the height of foolishness. But after witnessing the basic attack one-hit-KO a teammate, they couldn't help themselves.

They tried to predict where the pellet would head and dashed out of the way, but they immediately realized that they had wasted their gap-closing ability!

*-152*

*>Quaterniana: Pitcher downed.*