Seen from above, the New Leaf Plain was a sea of feathery white. The chickens were encircling the training camp, eager to destroy it. Hundreds of players were valiantly blocking their path.
In the camp, Jack fought while observing the horrible situation they were in. The florist was about to show up, and the result would be disastrous!
His face hardened as he explained their predicament in a solemn tone as he kept fighting.
"The guy coming to our help is a man obsessed with magic, who has no regard for braves. What do you guys think will happen once he shows up?"
"We'll miss all the loot and XP? All our efforts will go to waste?" CPR dude tentatively proposed.
"Oh no! He'll take care of the problem as quickly as possible, right?!" Bubblegum cried out, her voice shaking.
"Exactly…" Jack nodded somberly.
"Wait, isn't that a good thing?" CPR dude remarked, perplexed.
"Not if the chicken army is anywhere near our base." Jack sighed.
"Oh crap! He's going to nuke the entire place?! Just to kill chickens?! How do we stop it?" The CPR dude asked hurriedly.
"We don't mess up, and we kill this boss before the NPC shows up. That's the only way!" Jack seriously uttered. The other players in the group couldn't help but gulp as they realized the enormous challenge. This was now a race against time!
The stress was getting to them, but then they began shouting to pump themselves up:
"Roger that!"
"Let's kill it then!"
"We just gotta git gud!"
"If we don't get hit, we'll live forever!"
What they lacked in experience they made for with drive. A serious glint appeared in their eyes as they looked at the boss differently. Before they were having fun, but now it was time to get real.
Jack got serious too. From this point onward, he began calling the boss attacks. His deep voice was akin to the beat of a war anthem, resounding every goddamn second.
"Peck forward."
"Side Peck."
"Backward Peck."
"Dash front-right."
"Dash left."
"Feather Cleave!"
The many players were all taken aback. How was he doing this?! It was as if he was a prophet. Every random sway of the monster feathers he would associate to an attack pattern. How?!
For Jack, it wasn't that complicated. The color of the chicken's talons would shine a subtle red before every dash. As for the cleave, it would barely compress its feathers in preparation for the ability.
In his eyes, these were clear tells after honing his skills through years and years of practice. It was similar to how newborns would take a while to learn to recognize faces, but the gamer version.
Ever since Jack's calls had begun, people were dying less and less. It also helped them to learn the attack patterns. Soon enough, they were able to dodge without his help. After all, it wasn't rocket science. There were two different attacks: peck and cleave.
They began grinning full of confidence. Many were so sure of their upcoming victory that they began happily shouting:
"We totally got this!"
"Die, you fake OP chicken!"
"It's over! We cracked the code!"
"Peck all you want, you're going down!"
But Jack's worried voice quickly brought them back to reality. "This won't be enough. We have a clear working method, but we need more time. Way more time! At this rate, the entire camp will get blown up!"
"What if we ask some defenders to help us? It won't take long to kill the boss with a few more hands." CPR dude proposed.
There were constantly players who were reviving and rushing back to the frontline. They could ask a few of them for help. Jack didn't even have to reply. Bubblegum did so in his stead.
"We're already at the breaking point. A bit more pressure for a few minutes, and the line will collapse. Plus, it will take them some time to get used to the boss attacks." She explained.
Seraphine had just realized how eerily precise Infinite was. It had generated a monster army with the perfect power to push them to their very limits. Was this all a coincidence? She didn't think so!
She suddenly clenched her fist as she came up with a plan:
"I'll take care of it. Count on me. I'll delay the NPC and buy as much time as possible. You guys kill this arrogant chicken!" She exchanged a glance with Jack, then rushed toward the village.
Jack appreciatively nodded. She was already thinking outside the box. In other games, events were precisely scripted, but not in Infinite. Whether she would be convincing enough to drive the NPC away…they could only hope.
That is how they kept going. Would everything be okay now? It seemed like they could finally relax. Alas, would it be so simple? No way!
As their group was focusing on the fight, they suddenly heard dying screams. What was happening now?! Were the players getting tired? No, the adrenaline was still high, and many hardcore players were encouraging the crowd relentlessly.
These hardcore players were, in fact, the issue. Many of them had suddenly disappeared?! That's when Jack suddenly understood. It was a ridiculous yet straightforward issue, one that had completely slipped his mind. After all, he had missed the Infinite launch in his previous life.
Jack turned toward the others, quickly ordering:
"Half of you stay here, and the other half head to the battlefield. You'll have to shout as if your lives depend on it. Repeat after me: System, disable the Auto-Logout Function! Make sure others follow!"
The players gasped in astonishment. This was the cause of this crisis?!
It wasn't a big deal— or it shouldn't have been usually. After a few continuous hours of play, the system would log the users off for a break.
Why did it even activate during combat? Probably because this place was technically a safe zone. Since the players wouldn't lose anything in-game by dying here, their mental health had been 100% prioritized.
Luckily, the logged-off players would be back in seconds, and the situation was easily salvageable. The real problem would happen in a few minutes when too many players would disappear all at once.
In the distance, the fried chicken shouts were replaced by players begging the Infinite AI not to log them off. They were so close to victory! Through the power of silly chants, the tragedy was avoided!
The raid members came back, sighing in relief. The way they glanced at Jack was now highly peculiar. How the hell had he known about this?! But they didn't raise a fuss. Instead, they obediently took their positions and resumed hitting the boss!
The crazy pummeling continued with full raid power. The boss could only cluck out in pain as its ass was getting beaten over and over. At this point, it was almost magical how their brains had begun filtering the clucking cacophony out.
The raid members even began conversing as they fought:
"Guys, this is weirdly calming."
"I think I might have a talent for this, haha!"
"You're definitely a professional meat beater."
"A pervert even! You're not even wearing clothes!"
But, the peace was suddenly shattered:
"G-guys. I can see the NPC! Oh, fuck!"
"Less talking and more pummeling!"
"I'm already pummeling as fast as I can!"
Jack made a quick mental calculation. At the pace the NPC was walking, he was going to arrive in about 30 seconds. They would need a full minute at least to finish the boss. They were so close! What could he do?
Ask help from the defensive line? No, it would collapse too quickly, and there would be small chickens everywhere inside the training camp. The NPC would nuke the place regardless.
Convince instructor Igor to deal with the angry incoming magical florist? Perhaps this could work.
"Instructor Igor, could you go talk to your colleague to buy us a little time before he takes matters into his own hands?" Jack begged.
"Nope, but don't worry. It's not a big deal if you guys lose the training camp. We can rebuild it tomorrow." The instructor nonchalently replied.
One slightly naive player couldn't help but shout in shock. "Wait, was the pulled muscle fake?! You were— are trying to test us!"
There wouldn't be any reinforcements from either players or NPC, and he was sure Bubblegum had already tried her best to delay. What could he do?! There had to be a minor detail he was missing!
That's when he looked at the boss. His eyes just happened to land on its beak.…wait, what if?! In a few weeks, there would be an update that added enemy weaknesses. What if vital spots were already in-game and players just didn't know?
Jack was grasping at straws, but that was all he had left. If he could land a few vital strikes, they had a chance! It would only increase the damage by a few points, but a few points were huge when your damage was 0-1!
Jack voluntarily positioned himself in front of the boss, baiting it to attack him. As it did, he dodged with minimal movements. The creature's bloody beak created a gale that ruffled his hair as he could feel its fetid breath.
Jack did a beautiful combo of powerful and precise punches: right into the beak! They landed on the creature's pink triangular tongue with all the punches connecting!
Jack's heart was beating fast as he eyed the damage numbers.
-0
-1
-0
-1
-0
-1
-1
-0
RIP!
Jack swallowed hard, his heart heavy.
After so much effort, it had ended up in a failure. All he could do now was to reflect on his mistakes. He really should have gone all-in from the start. If only he had known about the NPC in advance...
In the distance, he heard an angry bellow: "You stupid chickens. You keep clucking and clucking and fucking clucking! Just let me research in peace! See how I deal with you all!"
Wait, what if this was all his fault? He had given the NPC a dagger to research. This had led him to get angry at the chickens for disturbing his research. Was this karma?
That is when a green light filled the area. The NPC was about to strike. Oh god, this would hurt a lot! Poor training camp...
That's when Jack noticed something weird.
The damage numbers from his latest combo began glowing a bright purple. What the heck was happening?! Then they suddenly began morphing as if the numbers were evolving?!
-5
-10
-5
-10
-5
-10
-10
-5
Holy shit?! 60 Damage?! This was a third of the Boss's HP in one go! Had his actions prompted the game to update?!
This was Infinite, a game in constant evolution. The system was always trying to perfect itself and had now just learned from Jack's moves. Was this how Vital Strikes had come about the first time too?
Jack couldn't help but grin as the boss began dissipating into glowing red lights. This would be windfall….
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[A/N] Thank you Ragewaar for the ?! Another Message Feature. OP! OP! OP! RPP is popping off right now! Hell yeah! I definitely have to write more chaps now ^_^v
Creator's Thought
The firsts to be logged off were the ones who hadn't bothered with dialogues or character creation. Had I not taken a break I would have been amidst them. Me prioritizing eating with my sister had unknowingly saved me. She really was my good luck charm!
