NOVEL NEXT Chapter 27: The Offense
With only a minute left to prepare, Scott’s team had to get their respawn setup ready. Like the other group, they each received a thin wooden wall to cover themselves. They could easily be broken, but they were planted on the ground so hard by Panda that it would be impossible to move them. Taking this into consideration, Scott had to think hard about the position of each wall, but it looked like he already had a clear idea of what to do; he just didn’t know how to describe it to Panda. As he explained the formation of their starting position, Panda asked him to repeat himself several times to set them up correctly. Scott was very precise and detailed with his orders, and while it took some time and left Panda confused, even annoying him to a certain degree, he managed to get his orders right and set everything exactly like Scott wanted.
In the end, their starting positions consisted of two lines of wall, but not parallel to the enemy base like Turtle’s team in the previous match; they were set up one behind the other, alternating sides to create a zig-zag pattern. Each wall was set up around five feet behind the other, with a gap between the other row of around seven feet, leaving a clear path between both lines, though leaving little space to cover behind each wall. Their formation seemed useless, as they were still quite close to each other, with the walls in front being quite exposed to the enemy as they were located right behind the middle line.
Despite Panda questioning Scott’s decision and planting some doubt in his teammates, they all seemed pretty satisfied with their setup and assumed their positions. Scott took the lead, staying at the front of the left line, with Zoey right behind, who was third in order, as Jumbo was actually leading the right line, with Alex seconding and Charlie behind him at the very end. Once they were in position, Scott looked back to check if they were all ready, and although Jumbo’s wall barely covered his whole body, he didn’t seem too concerned. He was still anxious and even starting to sweat from the pressure as the match was about to start, but like the rest of the team, he was eager to fight.
–Okay, remember, we stick together and then take them out individually. Don’t get distracted or provoked by them before we make sure we are in their base, otherwise, this won’t work…– Scott reminded his team with a serious, commanding demeanor. He almost sounded mature, and while his teammates seemed amused by his attitude, they were all obedient and responded with firm nods as they took his advice to heart. On the other side, Shane’s team kept fooling around with their weapons and even started mocking the other team for their odd formation, but they were just as eager for the game to start. Luckily, the preparation time had finished, and as Panda left and Frost stood up from his table at the bleachers to approach the field, the waiting was over.
–Ready? Time starts…– Frost began announcing, creating excitement in both the audience and the players in the field as the anticipation built up. The attackers gripped their weapons and stayed low to cover themselves and not give their opponents any ideas, though they didn’t seem to be paying much attention as they basked in the cheers from the audience. But as all the furor died down, in its place, a tense silence immersed everyone into a state of overwhelming suspense, the atmosphere lingered for a couple of seconds before Frost put an end to it with a loud shout.
–NOW!!– Frost signaled, officially starting the game as Panda activated the timer. However, everything became silent for a long time, leaving the audience dying to see some action or even the slightest bit of movement.
On the offense’s side, there was dead silence, not even discussing any moves in secret, all while the defense stayed quiet in hopes of hearing any movement. They were left perplexed as they looked at the two lines of walls on the other side and saw no one coming out of them. The attackers were clearly still there; there was no doubt, but they just didn’t move. Shane tried peeking out of the holes in the wall to see what was going on, but as he saw that their opponents were not doing anything, he began laughing. His teammates joined him as they chortled and cackled loudly for all to hear, mocking Scott’s team for being too scared to attack, just like they did in the previous match. Their classmates in the audience were left disappointed to see the same outcome, but before they could get a chance to laugh at the offense, they were all startled when they finally decided to put their plan into motion.
Without any battle cry or anything flashy, each attacker came out of their starting position at the same time, confusing the defenders long enough to be able to get into formation without being shot. As soon as they moved, each member of the team stepped into the middle to form a single line. With Scott at the front, holding his shield high to cover his teammates, the rest followed right behind, staying as close as possible to stay within the safety of the shield. Since Jumbo was right in front of Alex, Charlie, and Zoey, they were extra protected, though they did leave their weapons exposed to prioritize covering their bodies. And with no vulnerability to their formation, they began advancing slowly to the other side.
The defense began showering with arrows after Shane’s closest friend, Bryan, the one that was always right next to him yesterday, called the others to start shooting. Arrows began raining down around Scott, most of them landing on the shield, which prevented any of the attackers from getting hit but slowed their pace down. The defenders kept shooting for a few seconds until the push from the attackers drew to a halt. Charlie handed one of the small dirt bags to Alex, who handed it to Zoey, and so forth until it reached Scott. They had to be careful handling it, as it looked like it was about to burst into one wrong touch. They made sure not to grab it for too long, and once Scott had it in his possession, he immediately put it to use.
Struggling to hold the shield and the bag at the same time, Scott ordered Jumbo to hold the shield for him to take care of their only means of protection. He did, though he was nervous as a couple of arrows were still landing near them. But as they eventually stopped coming, Scott waited for a while until he made sure the defenders weren’t attacking. He tried peeking out of the shield, but he stopped himself before he gave in to the urge. And while he didn’t look too certain, he had a clear motive as he tried to place the bag right on top of the shield before ordering Jumbo to push forward.
After seeing more movement, Bryan ordered another attack, and arrows continued flying at their opponents. Scott had exposed himself for a brief second but was barely able to get his hand out of harm’s way as he managed to center the dirt bag on the shield so it wouldn’t fall. Out of pure luck, he dodged an arrow coming for him before cowering behind Jumbo and closing his eyes. His teammates did the same, but not out of fear; they were anticipating their next move, which luckily was handed right to them by their own opponents.
The attackers on top of the wall kept shooting until they didn’t see more movement, but the last arrow shot by Kenny connected with the dirt bag. As soon as it hit the bag, the arrow applied enough force for it to break, and since it was so tightly shut, the impact created a dirt explosion instantly. The attackers behind the shield flinched as they heard the bag burst, unleashing a cloud of dirt big enough to mask an entire circle surrounding the shield. From the defender’s perspective, it looked like a big fog that engulfed their opponents, but they could still barely notice they were still there. However, as the wind kept spreading the dirt and making it harder to figure out what had happened, they could only wait for it to fade away, which it did fairly soon. But once the cloud was gone, so were the attackers.
Shane laughed in the safety of his position after seeing the dirt cloud disappear, but after checking again through one of his peepholes, he wasn’t too eager to see that the attackers had a new formation. They took advantage of the dirt distraction to get in a new position, and now, instead of a single line to advance at a snail’s pace, they had formed two once again. Jumbo, Alex, and Charlie now began moving to the right, just like they were lined up in the starting positions, with Scott and Zoey doing the same on the left. However, now their pace was much faster, catching the defenders off guard as they charged directly at them with no fear.
Bryan couldn’t make up his mind on who to attack since Scott and Zoey were approaching fast from the left, with the former now carrying his shield again, but Jumbo and the rest were completely unprotected. He didn’t focus on a single target and just ordered the others to shoot at anything that moved. At first, they tried to spread out their shots to scare off their opponents since they couldn’t lock their sights on them. But as their arrows just flew by them and they just kept running forward, the defenders were forced to change their strategy as soon as possible.
After a bit of an argument, they began shooting equally in both directions. Scott and Zoey kept charging in a straight line as they could block all the shots with the shield, but Jumbo, Charlie, and Alex tried to weave spontaneously to dodge as many arrows as possible. But since they didn’t have anything to protect themselves, after a few successful weaves, Jumbo was shot right in the stomach. Lenny and Grant high-fived and laughed after they both landed a hit on Jumbo, but then were left stunned as he just became limp.
Instead of running back to the starting position to quickly respawn and join his teammates in the fight again, Jumbo just stopped moving after being taken out, acting dead, and letting himself be pushed by Alex and Charlie, who struggled to move him due to his weight but used his large size to their advantage as they kept charging. Now that they didn’t have to dodge, they both stayed behind Jumbo, and as they began to push his body, they were able to block the incoming arrows with their new meat shield. They even managed to collect some of the arrows shot at them as they just slid off Jumbo’s body.
–What the… Umm, Shane, you got to see this!– Bryan exclaimed in panic while trying to shoot arrows as fast as possible. He was beginning to shake and couldn’t grab his bow properly, with his teammates confused as to who to shoot. They looked at Frost to see his reaction, but as he was just as entertained as the audience and didn’t seem to mind the unique approach their opponents took, they began to look for Shane for some guidance.
–I see it, keep shooting, idiot!– Shane replied aggressively, just as agitated, if not more than his teammates, as he couldn’t do much to help. Since he didn’t have a weapon to fight at long distance, he just stayed grounded, only being able to watch through the peepholes as his enemies approached rapidly. Bryan ordered his teammates to focus more on Scott and Zoey, who were closing the distance pretty quickly, almost reaching the wall. And while they instinctively kept shooting at Jumbo since it was an easier target, they noticed that Alex and Charlie were falling behind a little as they were running out of energy.
–Ready?– Scott asked Zoey as they approached the wall, a little out of breath from holding the shield high. She nodded and took a big breath before sticking closer to Scott, as they were now being shot from above. Now that they were at the base of the wall, in front of the barbed wire, the defenders had an almost straight shot on them. And since the shield was barely big enough to cover both of them, Zoey had to ask Alex and Charlie for help, who were about twelve feet away, slowly getting closer to the wall as well.
–Here!– Alex shouted at Zoey before throwing some of the arrows he and Charlie managed to collect. She swiftly grabbed a few of them while Scott positioned himself right in front of the wall, getting as close as possible to the barbed wire without actually touching it. There, he could see Shane’s eye peeping on him, becoming furious as he had no power to stop them from coming so far. Scott ignored him, though a smirk appeared on his face as he prepared for the next move.
Shane tried to attack through the wall with his mace, but the spikes on his weapon weren’t long enough to reach Scott. And like that, he panicked as Scott lowered his shield at the same time Zoey stepped out of cover. He watched arrows rain down but barely missing him despite being so close. He yelled at his teammates above again, this time being heard by Charlie and Alex as well, who noticed that he had accidentally distracted his own team with his fit of rage, allowing them to keep pushing forward and get in position.
Zoey took her opportunity as well, jumping on top of the shield to use as a platform, which Scott struggled to hold as soon as she stepped foot. But before he could fold under her weight, he used all of his strength to push the shield upwards with both hands, boosting her as hard as possible so she could ascend. She had to time the jump perfectly, and after reaching the maximum height while standing on the shield, she ended up flying a few meters up.
Scott immediately tried to peek around the shield to see if she had made the jump, but he froze for a moment as Zoey only reached a bit more than half the height of the wall before coming down. He stared anxiously, mortified by the chance of her falling back on top of him. But right as she began descending, she stabbed an arrow through one of the multiple holes in the wall, barely getting a grip and being able to hang before using another arrow to start climbing the wall.
–Watch out!– Scott shouted to warn Zoey about Bryan and the other defenders as they had shifted their focus to her. They were right above, and even though they didn’t have a clear shot on her as the protruding points they had set up blocked them, Bryan was ready to kick her off to the barbed wire below as soon as she tried grabbing the ledge.
But after hearing Scott’s warning, Zoey reacted quickly and pulled out one of her daggers, which she hurled as hard as possible at Bryan to distract him. She almost lost her balance as she had to hang by one arrow with her left hand, but her sword did manage to buy her more time. Bryan was forced to block her dagger with his bow, which almost broke instantly from the impact, knocking him back a bit and even startling his teammates. But since Zoey was still making her way up to the top, they couldn’t afford to check on Bryan and kept shooting at her.
Luckily, Scott threw his shield up in the air to block some shots, which saved her for a second but still left her exposed right as she was about to reach the ledge. He started panicking once he saw the three defenders aiming at Zoey, and since he couldn’t do anything but try to distract them, he began kicking the wall. He did more damage to himself than the sturdy structure, getting a laugh out of Shane on the other side, who couldn’t contain himself despite the current situation. Scott tried to dismiss him after he got a glimpse of the big grin on his face that was impossible to ignore, but then made sure to keep his attention as he stared back to let his teammates help Zoey in his place.
–Oh no, they are going to shoot your gir-... Aughh…– Shane teased in a condescendingly childish voice before Scott stepped out of the way and surprised him as Alex charged at Shane, striking him on the chest with his spear. It went right through the hole below the one he was peeping through, and while Alex couldn’t take him out since the point of his spear was too big, he still managed to knock Shane down to the ground with the spear’s handle.
Shane stopped laughing as he tried to compose himself on the ground. Scott saw the attack coming and immediately joined Charlie as he left Jumbo behind and came running at the wall to fight with his war hammer, swinging it as hard as he could to strike the wall. He used all of his strength in one hit, and while it seemed to stun him and hurt his wrist, the impact made the entire base tremble. One strike was all it took to cause the defenders to lose balance on their platform. Their wall was sturdy, but it was quite thin at the top, leaving very little room for them to stand and run around. So, to avoid falling, they had to kneel and keep their balance until the trembling stopped.
But as they fell to their knees, they allowed Zoey to climb to the very top, even though she almost fell after the tremor. She boosted herself with the pointy ends of the ledge to jump all the way to the top. But as soon as he joined the defenders on their high platform, she was met by Bryan throwing a ruthless punch in her direction. She was barely able to react, ducking instinctively but losing balance, which led to her slipping accidentally once again, sliding through his tall legs to get behind him before almost sliding off the wall and into Shane’s reach below.
She saw her opportunity immediately and didn’t waste it. Before Bryan could turn around, she stood up and kicked the back of his knee to make him kneel like the rest of his teammates, all while they tried to readjust their bows to shoot at her. They couldn’t stand up, though; Charlie kept bashing his hammer against the wall over and over again, which now started creating some cracks in the foundation from the sheer force of his hits. Even Shane could feel them behind the wall, and as he tried to get up the platform to help his friends, he lost grip and fell on his butt every time Charlie attacked.
–Here…– Alex said to Scott as he handed him the other dirtbag for him to hold carefully. He accepted it with a mischievous but slightly anxious smile before they both nodded and got in position.
Instead of throwing the bag instantly, Scott kept holding it while Alex inserted his spear in another hole right above them, making sure that it was deep enough for him to hang on firmly. But as Shane caught on to what they were planning, he tried to pull the spear to his side, forcing Alex to fight him for it and keep the spear in place long enough for Scott to make his next move. He quickly placed his shield against the wall, on top of the large bush of barbed wire in front, using the shield as a ramp to climb it, only to then jump onto the spear. He managed to place both feet on the spear before it broke from his weight, though he managed to boost himself once again to reach the top of the wall, or at least grab onto the ledge with one hand as he had to hold the dirtbag with the other.
–Zoey!– Scott exclaimed as he dangled above a ten-foot drop, just like in the obstacle course, except he was already slipping. Zoey noticed immediately and ran to his aid, with Alex staying right under him in case he needed to catch him and break his fall. But right as she grabbed his hand and started to pull him up, Charlie struck the wall one last time with his hammer, which ended up bending the head of his weapon, but at the same time, it finally cracked down the wall.
Shane shrieked in terror and rage as he saw his base falling apart, with the wall splitting in half from bottom to top and cracking right next to Scott, separating him and Zoey from the other three attackers. But before she could pull him up, Bryan stood up and approached from behind her, pulling her leg with one hand as he reached for the dagger she had thrown earlier. She managed to hold Scott’s other hand, which almost broke the dirtbag, but she wasn’t able to help him further as Bryan began restraining her, turning her around to stab her.
She resisted and kicked the dagger out of his hand, but as he was impatient and just wanted to take her out, he turned her to her side and tried pushing her off the wall. She was right on the edge, with her back facing a tall drop to the barbed wire. But as Bryan swung his foot at her stomach, Alex’s spear struck him right on the crotch. Despite being broken, the upper end of the spear with the head was still useful and was even easier to throw, delivering just as much force since the hit caused Bryan to collapse immediately with a loud groan.
–Hey! What’s going on there?!– Shane shouted in panic at his teammates, being obscured by the platform above as he could only hear them struggle. The wall began splitting up more, opening a gap on the platform for him to get a glimpse of the situation, though he didn’t realize that Bryan had been taken out. But he couldn’t focus on his teammates now that Charlie was trying to get in, so he prepared his mace to fight him. But right before he got the chance, the other three defenders jumped to the other side of the platform to fight Zoey and Scott with their bare hands.
Grant, Lenny, and Cody jumped at Scott as soon as he managed to pull himself up. He didn’t even get to pull his sword before they overpowered him and tackled him to the platform. He was running out of air as they began crushing him. But instead of trying to get them off of him, Zoey quickly reached for one of their bows and dropped it to Alex below, who was ready to receive it and charged an arrow hastily. He turned a bit nervous as he saw Scott getting beat up, but since he couldn’t get a clear shot on any of the defenders on top of him, he just waited for a signal. Scott struggled for air with a pile of brutes on top of him, and even with Zoey trying to help him, he couldn’t even move, causing Alex to grow more anxious.
But as he finally was able to raise his hand, still holding the dirtbag, he began extending it as far as possible. The defenders tried to pull his arm down, but as they were hitting each other and didn’t distinguish Scott from their own teammates, he held the dirt bag as high and steady as possible, which became extremely difficult now that his opponents began trying to knock him down. He received a few hits on his back and the sides of his stomach, making him flinch and lose grip on his hand, but he still kept it raised and prayed that Alex made the shot.
–GET OFF HIM! YOU ARE GOING TO KILL HIM!– Zoey screamed in genuine fright as Scott seemed to be about to pass out. He held his breath and closed his eyes as his arm slowly lost strength, but he managed to keep himself conscious for one more second after hearing Zoey, who also closed her eyes to not watch him suffocate. But as he let go of the dirtbag, letting it roll out of his hand right as it was about to drop, Alex landed a perfect shot, connecting the arrow before it fell off the wall.
Zoey and Scott kept their eyes closed as another dirt explosion occurred, being the only ones not affected when the dirt spread through the air in a big area, even getting in Alex’s face, as well as reaching below the platform, obstructing Shane’s view as Charlie broke into his little shelter to fight. But the plan worked; the dirt caused the defenders to choke, letting Scott free and allowing him and Zoey to fight back while they were down. They had it easier since their opponents couldn’t even see them through the dirt cloud and were taking out in quick succession. They took two each, with Zoey hitting Bryan again just to be sure, even though he had already been eliminated by Alex’s spear. The audience was absolutely bewildered after seeing a second dirt explosion, but even more amazed as Frost followed with the announcement of the four defenders’ eliminations.
–Oh, oh! Looks like there’s only one left…– Frost exclaimed with a malicious laugh as he, Panda, and Tricky watched up close in great bemusement. His announcement didn’t really sit well with Shane, who was still dumbfounded by the dirt explosion and tried not to cough. He was both frustrated and motivated to defeat every single opponent with his mace, even showing enough contempt to take down everyone single-handedly. Charlie noticed his lethal weapon and kept his distance from him, but Shane didn’t hesitate to charge at him right after he poked his head into the wall, swinging furiously with a bloodthirsty grin, aiming right at his head, which got a girly squeal out of Charlie.
The audience was left in doubt, as now the only fight was taking place behind the wall. They saw that Alex was trying to help Charlie while Scott and Zoey tried to get on their feet on top of the wall. The other classmates tried to move to another side of the field to watch what was happening, turning to the back side of the defense’s base to get a good view. But before they could reposition themselves, they watched as the platform on top of the wall suddenly collapsed. Zoey and Scott jumped off to safety right as the platform and part of the wall collapsed in on itself.
Charlie had inadvertently caused all the destruction with a simple instinctive reaction after dodging a feral attack from Shane. He accidentally hit one of the only remaining stable beams of his own base, which supported the platform above and the wall in front of him, creating a large dust cloud but also causing his own teammates to fall right above him, with Bryan falling head first onto his butt. Charlie backed away and ran back to Alex before seeing Scott and Zoey land on the other side as the dust settled. They stood awkwardly for a second before looking at Alex on the other side, with all three entering the now-broken base to check on Shane.
The last defender remaining had been crushed by his own teammates, and as their opponents gathered around them and took a moment to catch their breath, even though Scott’s team couldn’t believe it at first, they smiled at the sight in front of them. Shane was unable to move, not even being able to reach his mace just a couple of feet away, resorting to cussing quietly out of frustration and ignoring his opponents as they all mocked him. Just seeing this was enough to make them cheer, but since there was quite a bit of time left until the match was over, Scott and his teammates relaxed and made sure to enjoy the moment before properly celebrating what was clearly a secured win.