Chapter 25

“You want to be the Order?”

“I heard about it. The condition you made for joining the team, Dami.”

Shin Aram said she had heard about my request to change the Order before I joined the team.

She said she also felt responsible for the team’s collapse this season and had agreed to change the Order.

But her asking to be the Order again now wasn’t for any other reason than to get one last chance, right in front of me.

She just wanted to try it one more time, nothing more.

I nodded, saying I understood.

This wasn’t a League match, just a practice session.

A game that would have no effect on our season record.

If she could completely let go of her lingering attachment with this one game, I had no reason to object.

‘She seems to have a lot of lingering feelings about being the Order.’

The position of Order wasn’t an easy one.

Since you had to voice the team’s opinions, you were always treated as the culprit if the game fell apart. You also had to use your head a lot more, constantly predicting the enemy’s movements and drawing out the overall picture of the game.

I had always been the Order for Magnus, but when I recalled my time on the national team, I remembered that my games went better when I could just listen to someone else’s Orders and focus solely on my own play.

The pinnacle of multitasking was being the Order, where you had to perfectly execute your own role while simultaneously checking the movements of your teammates and the opponents.

There was no reason to stop her if she wanted to walk this path of thorns herself.

And so, my first team game with Super Sylph began.

Universe Arena, a game where you could vividly experience combat on a Battlefield that wasn’t Earth.

After finishing the Tutorial and training against bots, Users would mainly choose to enjoy one of two game modes.

First, Solo Rank.

Literally, it was a game where you participated alone, forming a team with a random group of people to play.

Since none of the five members knew anything about each other, it was a matchup that placed more weight on individual skill than on Teamwork.

You didn’t need to schedule anything and could play a game easily at any time, but its disadvantage was that you couldn’t know the skill level of your teammates beforehand, so the state of each game often fluctuated wildly.

The luck of who you got as teammates was what decided the Win-Loss.

If you weren’t going to play Solo Rank, the other option was the team Rank Game.

In the case of a team Rank Game, the difference was that you gathered people and started with a predetermined set of members.

Since you were playing with people you knew, you could try out Strategies that were difficult to attempt in Solo Rank, and it was a match where the importance of Teamwork rose significantly.

So, which of these two games was more popular among Users?

The answer to that was clear.

The higher the Tier, the more overwhelmingly popular team Rank Games were.

-Looking for people to join a team rank. Position doesn’t matter. Grandmaster or higher only.

-Looking for one Attacker with a good Match Record.

-The Zeus Clan is looking for people to try out. Master Tier and above can apply!

When playing the game, there were situations that Users commonly avoided.

For example, cases where the game fell apart due to a foolish decision, or where you were helplessly defeated after being matched with a terrible player on your team.

In team Rank Games, you could at least prevent such cases in advance.

By giving the player a simple test of their skills beforehand or by checking their Match Record, you could obtain a basis for judgment, thinking, “This person is trustworthy enough!”

That’s why in the Upper Bracket Tiers, team Rank Games were matched much faster than Solo Rank.

8 PM.

The time when many UA Clans were playing team Rank Games, engaging in active Engagements.

Especially at this point in November, after the League Season had ended, team Rank Games were a varied period where you could meet all sorts of experts.

This was because pro players, who rarely appeared in Rank Games due to their focus on the League, were now showing up in droves.

-Met another pro team and got my score wrecked;;

-We just met Volcano and got steamrolled without being able to do anything.

-First Division League pro teams are a disaster.

-There’s an emergency alert in Grandmaster right now. Seems like half the teams are pro teams.

Just until the end of December.

UA granted the Legendary rank, signifying the best User, to the top 500 Users who enjoyed Rank Games.

Only 500 people.

Getting into the top 500 on the East Asia Server, where three countries—Korea, China, and Japan—were matched simultaneously, was by no means an easy feat.

China alone had over 20 pro teams in the men’s First Division League.

And what’s more, there was no gender restriction in Rank Games.

When you considered the total number of male and female players, this Legendary rank was practically the exclusive property of pro players.

‘I hope we get a reasonably strong team.’

The team Rank Game scene was even more chaotic due to the influx of pros trying to catch the last train to the Legendary rank before the Rank Season ended.

Since we were practicing anyway, I wanted to face a strong opponent to check my teammates’ skills.

I had watched their practice from the outside last time, but there were definitely things you could only see when playing with them from the inside.

And if we met a team that was too weak, it would be difficult to properly assess Shin Aram’s ability as an Order.

“Your outfit is pretty.”

“You think so?”

“Uh-huh. It suits you.”

In the in-game Waiting Room.

While waiting for Matchmaking, I had discarded the outfit I used in Universe Cat and procured a new team uniform with the Super Sylph logo.

In UA, outfits were skins that could be changed at any time, but they had no particular in-game effects.

It varied by team, but while some teams had everyone wear the exact same design, others let players keep the outfits they had been using since their amateur days for the sake of their Performance.

Super Sylph was somewhere in the middle; the clothes weren’t all identical, but you could tell they were all tied to a single concept.

“So smooth~.”

Hwang Jua fiddled with the logo on my tights.

By now, I’d given up on saying anything, figuring this was just how she was.

It wasn’t like she was bullying me, and it was a sign of affection because she liked me, so it would be weird to act like I disliked it.

“But why are you here too?”

“Why me?”

Jung Yunseul clung to my side with a look of complete innocence.

With Hwang Jua on my left and Jung Yunseul on my right, I just waited for a match to be found quickly.

“We got one.”

A match was made.

In team Rank Games, you could enter a team name and logo before starting.

Well, if you didn’t have a logo, you could just leave it blank, but pro teams and famous Clans often displayed their existing marks proudly.

[Blue Team Super Sylph vs. Red Team Rose]

“Oh. It’s the Rose Clan, isn’t it?”

Kim Dain adjusted her glasses and explained that the opponent was a rather famous Clan.

I heard that it was a Clan run by a group of amateur female Users, and their skills were so good that pro teams often sent recruitment offers to the Clan’s top players.

‘Not a bad opponent.’

At the very least, a Clan that produced pros would move differently from a team of five random people who just gathered in the evening to play a game.

And so, the game began.

A best-of-three series.

The first Set’s Battlefield was a Domination Battle, Garden of the Gods.

Garden of the Gods wasn’t originally a UA Map, but a Map from the neighboring game, Gaia. It was a Battlefield that came over when the two sides had a collaboration and exchanged one Map each.

This Battlefield had a round Control Point in the central area, and a vast, terraced terrain reminiscent of Machu Picchu spread out.

The two ends were each team’s starting point, and various Objectives that enhanced a player’s stats would appear over time in various spots on the Map, so how many of those you could secure was also one of the key factors in winning.

“Who wants to be the Sweeper?”

“I’ll do it.”

Yunseuli, the youngest, raised her hand, volunteering to be the Sweeper.

A Sweeper was a teammate who was solely responsible for going around the outskirts of the Map and picking up the Objectives that appeared.

These Objectives, which shone in various colors like blue or red, would increase your Attack Power, Defense Power, Mana, and so on for that Set each time you acquired one.

“Then the rest of us will go to the center. Dain. I need you on backup.”

“Okay.”

Because the central Control Point was at a lower elevation than the starting points, Garden of the Gods was an especially good Map for a Sniper to run wild.

If you got a good position, you could survey the entire Battlefield and pour down powerful attacks.

So, with Jung Yunseul leaving as the Sweeper and Kim Dain also leaving at an appropriate time to find her position, there were three members heading to the center.

“Enemy positions?”

-Can’t see them yet.

Communicating with the positioned Kim Dain, Shin Aram began to check the enemy’s location.

The enemy’s movements were quiet.

Kim Dain continued to survey every corner of the Battlefield using her Sniper Rifle’s high-magnification Scope.

-Enemy team! Two Sweepers!

“Two?”

Shin Aram’s expression hardened for a moment at the news that the enemy had two Sweepers.

The opponent had chosen a Strategy of sending two players to the outskirts to secure a large number of Objectives.

This meant that as time went on, the power difference between the two teams would become severe.

No matter how fast Jung Yunseul ran, she wouldn’t be able to pick up more Objectives than two enemy Sweepers.

“Pushing in.”

The deliberation wasn’t long.

Shin Aram ordered a Point Recapture and forced a push.

If the opponent had sent two players to the outskirts, we had to use our numbers advantage to fill the Point Gauge first.

In a Domination Battle, no matter how many kills you got or how many Objectives you took, it was all meaningless if you couldn’t ultimately capture the Control Point.

If the enemy was aiming for the Late Game by sending out two Sweepers, we just had to end the game before that.

As Shin Aram entered the Control Point with her Shield raised, Grenade Rounds began to fall in an arc from ahead.

It seemed they had used a Rebound Force Enhancement Skill, as Shin Aram couldn’t advance and was pushed back.

It was a classic time-stalling tactic.

‘Now, what will you do?’

I looked at Shin Aram’s back, which was shrouded in silence.

The main enemy force seemed to have no intention of engaging us head-on.

A natural decision, given their lack of numbers.

Their plan was to just delay the time it took for the gauge to fill, and then crush us with the widening power gap.

I knew how I would move in this situation, but the Order right now was Shin Aram’s role, not mine.

Besides, hadn’t she asked for just one more chance today?

If Shin Aram wanted to continue being the Order, she had to prove her qualifications in today’s game.

“Dami.”

“Yes.”

“I’ll draw their attention again with my Shield up and push in, so you and Jua flank them from behind. Can you do it?”

Well, look at this.

The corners of my mouth lifted without me realizing it.

The answer Shin Aram came up with was close to the correct one.

If the opponent kept cowardly backing off and only thinking of pushing us back, the standard response was for us to attempt a more daring Breakthrough.

Of course, if it were me, I would have attached the Supporter to the tank and gone around to strike the enemy by myself.

But this was an understandable decision, as Shin Aram didn’t yet know the extent of my skills.

I said I understood and immediately started moving.

As I used Acceleration and dashed forward, Hwang Jua jumped in surprise and stuck close.

“Let’s go together!”

As I ran along the wall surrounding the Control Point, the wind rustled my hair.

‘The enemy has at least two to three.’

With two Sweepers out on the flanks, there would be two if the enemy Sniper was positioned elsewhere, and a maximum of three if they were all gathered together.

“I said let’s go together!”

<Is it okay to leave Jua behind?>

‘If an Attacker moves while accommodating a Supporter, they become sluggish. If Hwang Jua wants to improve her skills, she needs to learn to move quickly.’

<I see.>

Just as the distance between me and Hwang Jua was widening due to my proficiency with Acceleration, a loud bang erupted and sparks flew before my eyes.

While a startled Dami screamed, I reacted unconsciously, twisting my head to dodge the sparks.

‘They said it was the Rose Clan? They used their heads a bit.’

Unlike Kim Dain, who had taken a position on high ground and assumed a backup posture while observing the entire Map, the opponent’s Sniper had been attached to their main force from the start.

It seemed they had predicted that if they used two Sweepers and stalled for time with a push-back strategy, there was a high probability that we would attempt a flanking attack.

So they had placed a Sniper and fired a predictive shot.

‘But I guess they didn’t expect me to break through?’

A breathtaking moment where my head was almost blown off by a Headshot.

As I, having survived the crisis, continued to charge, a look of astonishment crossed the enemy Sniper’s face.

It was a look that said, You dodged that?

“She broke through!”

The Sniper, having failed to snipe me, shouted.

Startled, the enemy players turned and promptly pulled their Triggers.

The Firepower from the three enemy players grazed past the spot where I had been standing.

But my body had already been floating in the air for a long time.

A Battlefield with only one-third of Earth’s gravity.

And with the added speed from Acceleration, I flew through the air like a bird.

The moment my body was above the enemies’ heads, the Rifle in my hand flashed repeatedly, piercing through their heads.

A perfect hundred out of a hundred shots.

It was an undeniably perfect shot.

“Seo Dami~! What was that!!!”

“High-five! High-five!”

The first Set was a complete landslide victory.

No matter how successful a Clan was, it wasn’t easy to face a pro team.

Of course, I had the biggest influence on it becoming a one-sided game.

During the short one-minute break while waiting for the second Set.

I walked over and sat down next to Shin Aram.

“Unni.”

“Huh?”

“Your Positioning this Set was good.”

“Ah, really? Thanks. You played well too, Dami.”

“I’m always good.”

It was true.

As a Defender, Shin Aram knew very well which areas to lock down.

I had noticed it when I played team Rank Games with Coach Bae Yungi, but she was a friend who knew how to play a Defender well.

And the most important thing, the Order.

It wasn’t as bad as I thought.

What on earth had happened?

The Super Sylph matches I had reviewed before signing the Contract had been a complete mess.

‘I think I might know what it is…’

With a feeling that I was on the verge of understanding something, we entered the second Set.

It was Boundary, a Deathmatch Battlefield.

In order to get even one more kill than the opponent, intense firefights erupted everywhere.

“I’m breaking through!”

It was then.

The moment Shin Aram moved diagonally, stuck close to the entrance of the building next to us, and personally secured a Breakthrough Route.

Seeing that, I gained a conviction, a feeling of this is it!

‘This was it!’

I did a forward roll into the building and slapped my knee.

The reason Shin Aram’s Orders were surprisingly clean.

And the reason this team’s Game Performance had been a mess.

To think it was all connected as one!

Shin Aram, after confirming I had entered, also hid her body inside the building.

Amazingly, the Vision Shin Aram had of the game right now had reached the level of the First Division League.