"We don't have to participate in the raid," Jake said. "We can leave the best defense behind and go for the records first. What do you think about it?"
"Sounds good!" Shaw nodded.
The rest of the team agreed with this decision.
The raid portal was random.
What if the other side did not participate in any event and remained in their tower with their seven players? It'd be like shoving a head into a lion's mouth!
Of course, Jake believed that such a decision was terrible.
He couldn't exclude the possibility of it, though.
"The records portal can take up to three players," Jake said, "Damien and Rebecca must remain in the tower to protect our statues. I think Justin and Liza should be on the defensive team as well. It'd leave Arthur, me, and Shaw on the records team. Three of us have a high power and offensive potential."
Damien was the first to agree with Jake's decision. He was inwardly smiling a lot since Jake usually asked others about their thoughts. He'd say his entire plan after hearing others' opinions.
But he was more assertive now, meaning something within him changed!
Damien knew what caused such a change. He broke into a smile behind his mask because he couldn't keep it within himself for too long.
Liza questioned what made him softly chuckle, but he just waved his hand.
The rest of the team soon accepted Jake's plan.
It meant that Archer, SWalker, and I Come In Peace soon stepped into the orange portal, teleporting to the first battlefield of The International Tournament!
All orange portals disappeared shortly after.
- Find adventures at m_v l|e-NovelFire
Jake and his friends appeared in the clearing in the forest.
It was a huge clearing encompassing an arena that stretched for at least several miles. It was so huge that it could store up to twenty players, giving each enough space for a few battles.
The team from South America stared at the Kangaroo Stole My Beer team. This team was bold enough to send two mages and a healer, meaning that anyone with a melee class was raring to fight them!
Ogun from Africa didn't send any of their shamans. Instead, a tank, a thief, and a club user teleported to the arena to do their best to strengthen the core of their team.
Those guys cast glances at Blue Union.
The European team sent a tank, a swordsman, and a lance user. Triple M, a tank player Jake had the pleasure of meeting in real life, was part of this trio.
He found out about Jake.
Veins popped on his temple.
'That tank is not here... good, I will smash Joker's Mask into pieces and pummel his face so much that Meredith will never look at him the same!' he told himself.
Because of his jealousy, he came to a few speculations. He believed that Jake must have done something for Meredith to look at him differently!
He also blamed Jake and Damien for hurting his chances with her.
In reality, however, Triple M's chances have been below zero for some time now. It was because he snored a few seconds after Meredith started discussing the game's plot and story. His snoring was so loud that she was abruptly yanked off from the past.
Her glare was so intense that no team member could part their lips that day. Yet, Triple M secretly loved that and cherished this moment as it was the first time someone could wake him up from his nap with just a glare alone!
Of course, Meredith also unconsciously used her perception skills.
Triple M didn't care about that.
"We going for Joker!" Triple M howled.
His teammate, Hussar, shook his head. "What for? Shiro from the Asia Team has her eyes on him. She will either win or get severely damaged by him. We can leave those two beasts alone and go for teams without core players."
The swordsman teammate, Weis, nodded. "If we collect three records, we can summon a teleport back to the tower. If not, we'll have to travel in person to our base. We should score three easy records before daring to go for more. Meredith also told us we shouldn't try too hard in the first battle. Our survival is the most important."
"I want that man dead!" Triple M roared.
Hussar and Wise contorted their faces. 'Why didn't Hubo come here instead?! Only Meredith can put a leash on this muscle idiot!'
Hubo was Blue Union's second tank. For some reason, Meredith didn't let him go and instead chose Triple M to be the first to fight along with the others.