"Wow! Bro, they actually turned on the betting for the event!" Rey was elated.
"Liam! We need to make some bets. Shall I use the guild gold coins?" Alex's hands were also itching.
It was tiresome to be poor in this damned game. Everyone became anxious to place bets. This was a really good opportunity to do some quick gold farming.
But what about the other side of the coin?
"You guys… aren't you all a bit too confident?" Liam shook his head helplessly, irrespectively he waved his hand. "Yup, bet all you want. If we don't take risks now, when are we going to."
Everyone immediately brightened up and started tapping at their system interface furiously. Only Liam focussed on the format of the next contest, the group fight.
In both his lifetimes, he personally had never participated in these group fights, but he had surely witnessed some. These were a completely different affair compared to the normal PVP fight.
In this, there was a special factor that determined a team's victory or loss and this factor sometimes mattered more than talent itself. This factor was the terrain!
Depending on what terrain the fight was based on, a team might win or lose. Everything could be decided by this one thing.
Liam currently was mulling over this but he wasn't too worried about it. The only terrain that could give him a problem was something that Alex and Mia would be strong in.
Ding! Ding! Ding!
[Ding. The first battle is now starting]
Soon the system announcement rang loudly.
"Hey! I hope your luck works this time too and we get a free ride." Alex smirked but before she could finish talking, another announcement popped up.
[Ding. Match 1: Team 10 vs Team 7]
And their group was team 7!
"Damn it." Alex cursed. She absolutely did not want their group to be the first one but it looked like they had drawn the short straw.
"Relax." Liam on the other hand was calm and composed. He was in fact slightly looking forward to this.
Not long after the announcement, a countdown timer started and the two teams assembled on the plain looking battle arena.
Liam, Mia, Alex, everyone walked onto the arena stage one after the other. The opposite team as well stepped onto the same stage. All the other eighty eyes silently watched them in anticipation.
"Bro… I am feeling nervous." Rey could barely contain his excitement. Only he was enjoying the attention and the environment. The others were trying to figure out whom they were up against.
"This is definitely not Madan, or Anya. It has to be one of the top guild teams in the Kingdom." Liam typed in the chat.
"There are 5 warriors/ berserkers in their group. They will probably try to use a close up approach on us."
Before anyone could observe more details, a bright light surrounded the entire arena and all the players standing inside the arena completely disappeared.
"This is also a modification of the teleportation scroll?" Liam was amazed.
Everyone still had their consciousness, and as the light faded, a new world opened up in front of them.
"So windy!" Mei Mei's slender body was shaking, and she was almost about to fall over.
"Everyone, be careful!" Liam immediately shouted. "Watch where you are standing. Don't move. Don't take another step."
Only after he warned everyone realized where they were standing. All the ten players were currently standing on top of tall spikes.
In fact they were standing, on a sea of spikes. Some of them were tall, some of them were short. Some of them had pointy tops and some of them had slightly flatter tops, only enough space for a single person to stand.
Balance was absolutely crucial on this battlefield. Even one slip up would make them fall on the side and get them impaled by another spike.
For normal people, this kind of balance was unimaginable, almost impossible. However, every single player standing here had trained in physical combat to some extent.
Every time they faced a beast, they were taking this combat training subconsciously. So not only Liam but the other nine team members were also able to balance themselves on top of these tall spikes.
Everyones' hearts were racing wildly, but at least the initial disaster of losing their balance, falling over, and toppling to their deaths was averted.
"Moving on these things is not as easy as standing still, so everyone be very careful," Liam shouted as he swung his purple sword at one of the spikes.
Surprisingly the spike was extremely sturdy. A huge clanging noise resounded, and a tremor swept across Liam's body.
Clearly, breaking these spikes to create a more stable base was out of the question. There was no other choice but to themselves on these death spikes. This was going to be very risky.
No one made any move. Everyone looked at their surroundings first. This was a group fight so they had several other things to take note of also, for instance, where their enemy was.
"Bro, the others are over there! I can see them!" Rey shouted. He was using [Hunter's eye], one of the skills for a Hunter class player. This helped him see better than the others so he was the first one to spot the opposition.
After he pointed it out, Liam and the others could spot the other group as well, their figures appearing blurry for them from the distance.
They also had a chance to get a grasp of the whole field and where exactly they were standing in. However, this did not make anything better.
The current battlefield they were all transported to was basically a sea of spikes. This sea of spikes was split into two parts with something in between.
They couldn't see what it was from their location, but the gurgling sounds indicated that it was a river or some other water body gushing through at a rapid pace.
The two teams had transported on the two sides of this river. However, that was not all.
Just as everyone was trying to figure out the best method to go about this, suddenly, a huge shadow appeared ahead of them, and when they looked up, they saw a giant bird or something.
"Fuck! EVERYONE! DUCK DOWN! NOW!" Liam demonstrated first by climbing down off of the spike he was standing on. Now he was no longer standing on the spike, but he was clinging to it like a monkey on a tree.
The others stared at him in confusion for a second, and then they understood what he was doing. Everyone else copied him and did the same.
They climbed a good distance down the spike, so they were not standing atop like juicy prey waiting to be devoured by the giant bird.
Luckily, they were able to do it just on time.
Scree! Scree! Scree! The huge bird screeched and flapped its wings and tried to swoop down, but it couldn't get very far because of the spikes that were in the way.
It looked like the spikes were impenetrable for the bird as well.
Phew! Everyone collectively sighed in relief, seeing that their strategy had worked. This was a close call.
They looked up at the bird to see that it had left their side by now and moved onto the other side, and from the looks of things, they were also doing the same.
"Bastards! They are copying us!" Mei Mei shouted.
"Yes, little sis! This is unforgivable!" Rey also shouted after that.
The two of them seemed to be on the same wavelength, and Liam ignored both the idiots. His gaze swept across the battlefield once, and he knew how to win this thing.
"Everyone, we can't stay here for much longer. We need to move to the center where the river is running quickly. Whoever gets there first will win this fight!"
Liam did not have to repeat his words twice. Once he pointed it out, it was obvious. Whoever gets to the center first would be in a better position.
They would be able to aim for the other side and bring them down. Considering the wind, the bird, and the deathly spikes, this was checkmate. The only option was to run to the center.
Liam hurriedly started moving, swinging from one spike to another like a monkey. He rotated his mana core to push some of his mana to his legs and strengthened his jump.
Derek, Alex, Mei Mei, Rey, and the two other players also did the same, but Mia, Shen Yue, and the thief followed a different approach. For them, it was easier to balance themselves on the tip of the spike, so they did that.
But overall, the entire group hurriedly started moving from the edge to the interior of the sea of spikes. Of course, the other group saw this, and the next instant, they started copying the move.
Now, this battlefield suddenly became a race to see who would reach the center first!
