Chapter 137: Team Battle

The form of chasing and being chased was extremely familiar to children. After all, before electronic games, many of the games they played in reality were that kind. There were standardized games like tag, but even without formal rules, children commonly played around with each other and chased each other like mad.

And the simple maze-style map also looked somewhat like a school, and in another way, like neighborhood alleyways, so it was easy to become immersed.

Moreover, the sight of bombs exploding one after another was simple yet intense, making it easy to catch children’s eyes.

But other than those points, something else caught Latuna’s attention.

Ah...

The red bird was busily dropping bombs and opening paths here and there, but it failed to notice a bomb planted by the opposing team and got caught in the blast. Latuna felt regretful inside.

With its body on fire, the red bird jumped up and down in place, not knowing what to do.

At first, it simply looked pitiful. Latuna was still young, so he could not think deeply about it, but if he had been a bit older, he might have complained to the game company about why they included such cruel presentation.

But there was a reason for it.

A little later, an allied weasel quickly approached the red bird. Latuna thought that since enemies were still nearby, it might be trying to take revenge, but the weasel suddenly took out a fire extinguisher and began spraying it excitedly.

Oh?

Then the flames on the red bird died down. What remained was a pitch-black, burnt red bird, and for a moment Latuna thought it was dead. But soon, white eyes suddenly blinked open from that black lump.

Then came the animation of it shivering, shaking off the black ash, and reviving.

“Wow...!”

Latuna unconsciously let out a short cry. He was happy that the red bird he liked had survived, but more than that, the system itself, where an ally came and rescued you, felt amazing.

Back when fighting games first appeared and allowed people to compete against each other, he had thought they were incredibly amazing too. But now, there was a game where players did not simply compete, but formed teams of two, cooperated, rescued each other, and fought. It looked unbelievably fun.

He and his friends stamped their feet while waiting, and finally, their turn came.

Normally, when one side won, the game returned to PVE mode, and the winning team continued progressing against the computer. But perhaps the people playing team battle only wanted one match, or perhaps they had something else to do, because they got up without continuing. Thanks to that, the children were able to play a 2v2 team battle among themselves right away.

Moreover, luckily, the players got up without turning off the machines, so they could continue directly from one team’s side. That meant they saved twenty pis. The children sat down happily.

In arcades, the unspoken rule was that in such cases, the person next in line took the seat.

“I’ll team up with Kale.”

The children quickly split into teams. In another place, they might have argued over this for a while. After all, among themselves, they knew which friend was quick and clever, and which one was a little dull.

But they were conscious of the other people still waiting, and they also wanted to start playing quickly, so they sat down without arguing much.

Besides, this was not a real-life game like tag. It was an electronic game, and it was their first time playing, so they had no way of knowing who would be good at it.

This game did not use a separate method where players chose battle mode at the start.

If only 1P inserted a coin, single-player mode began. If 2P inserted one too, co-op mode began. If 3P was added, co-op battle mode automatically started.

Because ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠of that, the children did not end up pressing random buttons without understanding and wasting money because they failed to select team battle.

They were only slightly bewildered by how the mode flashed and changed each time a coin was inserted. But since it was intuitively well-designed, they quickly chose their characters and understood who was on the same team.

When the game began and they first appeared on the field, it felt slightly awkward. It was an unfamiliar game, after all. But they roughly understood it because they had played the PC game before, or had seen a lot of it through Gamers, and today they had also stood there for a long time watching other people play.

The children quickly moved their characters and began breaking walls.

“Hey! Come quickly! We have to block the left side!”

And before they knew it, they were immersed and shouting in excited voices. Since they were still beginners, they could not use any grand strategies or tactics. They simply chased each other desperately. And when two players rushed at one person, they did not know whether that was actually disadvantageous or not and simply felt overwhelmed by the numbers, running away with all their might.

It was simple, but it had its own tension. Both the children playing and the people watching could become immersed.

Without strategy, it eventually became a fight over who made the first mistake. Texf, who had been running hard, stared only at the wall and entered an alley without realizing it was blocked.

If he had stopped there, he might have escaped somehow. But perhaps he thought he could break through the wall and run away. He planted a bomb.

But he had no path to escape from the bomb he had planted.

“Huh? Huh?”

His woodpecker character flailed in front of the lit bomb and eventually died in a spectacular explosion.

“No!”

Latuna unconsciously clutched his head. Two against one had no chance.

Honestly, his own gaming skill was not that impressive. Though Texf had just made a mistake, he had quick reactions, or rather, he handled situations unfolding before his eyes well, so having him as ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠a teammate was reassuring.

Latuna hesitated for a moment. For now, he had some leeway. Since the two opposing players had been chasing Texf, they were a little far from him. So there was a way to quickly take one of them down and turn it into a one-on-one.

But he was not very confident.

Then he needed to revive Texf as he had seen earlier, but right now, two enemies were near him from different directions. If Latuna approached, he was highly likely to be surrounded.

At that moment, he saw a path that could be opened with two bombs. The moment he saw it, his hesitation ended, and he began moving the lever again.

“Hey. Wait a second.”

Even now, Texf’s character was still jumping around while on fire. And Texf himself looked dazed, as if it was already over. Latuna urgently opened the path while whispering to the guy beside him.

“Huh? Oh...”

Fortunately, Texf seemed to realize what Latuna was trying to do, and light returned to his eyes. The problem was that the two guys on the other side also seemed to have noticed.

“Hey! He’s trying to revive ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠him! Stop him!”

Then both their characters began running toward Latuna. Latuna grew anxious. Because of that, he almost made a mistake and died to his own bomb just like Texf.

Perhaps his hands had stiffened from surprise, but his speed in opening the path slowed, while the opposing side drew closer and closer. Latuna’s breathing quickened and his heart pounded as if he were truly being chased by enemies.

“Nice!!!”

Fortunately, Latuna reached Texf first.

Revived, Texf excitedly began controlling his character again. Ten pis was precious, of course, but more than that, he was thrilled that he could keep playing a game he thought had ended.

“Ah, damn it!”

And that led to the opposing side’s groans.

In a fight between children with no strategies or tactics, momentum was everything. Once the opposing children felt that they had failed to stop the revive, they became intimidated and began being chased by the revived Texf and Latuna.

“Great! One down first!”

The weasel was the first to get trapped by Texf’s bomb and die in an explosion. It tried to escape, but since Texf’s bomb had been planted first, it could not break through the wall in time and was swallowed by ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the flames. Watching the wall he had tried to break get destroyed by the bomb that exploded afterward, Kale’s eyes turned like those of a dead fish.

His ally was still alive, and he hoped he would rescue him, but after seeing his teammate’s character, he soon had no choice but to give up.

Because after his ally was defeated, Dukachi panicked and dropped bombs wildly, only to get trapped by his own bomb and explode before Latuna even reached him.

<Defeat!>

And so, after roughly five minutes of chasing and being chased, the game ended. One side’s defeat meant the other side’s victory. Texf and Latuna celebrated by slapping their palms together.

Uh...

But although he had forgotten, beating his friends did not mean it was over. This was an arcade packed with gamers, and the winners had to keep holding their ground while accepting challengers.

The game briefly entered PVE mode, but before they could even choose their characters, this message appeared. Of course, before that, Latuna had already seen two large Orcs sit down on the opposite side.

In truth, body size had nothing to do with gaming skill, but the two young children instinctively shrank back.

The even more unfortunate fact was that the two Orcs were extremely good at the game.

“Ah!!”

Latuna was unknowingly lured into a dead end, then trapped between bombs and forced to despair as death approached right before his eyes.

Texf’s life did not last much longer either. He ran around a little longer than Latuna, but since the opposing side thoroughly guarded against reviving Latuna, Texf could only watch as Latuna turned into a lump of charcoal. Then, after being trapped between two enemies and driven into a corner, he eventually became a ball of fire as well.

“...We lost.”

And so, they had to get up from their seats sadly while looking at the message <Defeat>.

But it was fun!

The shock of defeat was not nonexistent, but winning and losing always happened when playing games. And because the thrill of victory and the tension he felt while playing had not faded, the children did not leave. Instead, they placed another ten pis down and waited for their turn again.

In this way, Bomb Special Forces Arcade began stripping coins from players, including these children.

Bomb Special Forces Arcade became quite a hot topic. It gave players the unfamiliar experience of 2v2 battles, and more than anything, it made them feel how fun team battles could be.

Game Land branches across the country—and even branches in the Brunyad Federation—were packed with people who had come for these team battles.

There were so many that every day felt like some kind of tournament was being held.

But unlike this heat inside Game Land, the response from ordinary small-scale operators was not that enthusiastic.

That did not mean it was bad. It simply did not receive as much support as Fighters’ Club or Tetris 2.

“Well, I expected that.”

Ras felt slightly regretful, but he was not deeply disappointed. After all, he had already thought that this team battle mode would be difficult to operate outside Game Land, where many players gathered.

And team mode required placing four game machines together. For small-scale operators, doing that was not easy.

Even if they had four machines, buying four of the same boards at once and swapping them in must have seemed far too risky for them.

Of course, some operators did take the risk. After all, the success stories of Meta Soft and Panchi Games were extraordinary.

In those cases, quite a few players gathered. Normally, players preferred arcades over outdoor setups, where sunlight made game screens hard to see and there was a lot of dust and outside noise. But lately, there were so many people that enjoying Bomb Special Forces at an arcade was not easy.

So when players found four machines set up outside like this, they considered themselves lucky and came over to play.