The Heavenly Demon's Coaching (3)
After Enri asked me for a favor, I returned home and turned on MyTube to learn what the 5:5 mode was all about. While I would ultimately be teaching them how to fight, there was no way I could cover everything in just two short weeks. I needed to focus on the absolute essentials, which meant I first had to understand exactly how the 5:5 mode functioned as a game.
Apis features three modes. One-on-one battles that test individual skill. Three-on-three matches that quickly pit each side's strategies against one another. And five-on-five battles where groups clash in a contest of raw power.
In 5:5 mode, the victory conditions change depending on the battlefield, but at its core it is always a power struggle. Groups collide with groups, and only by seizing victory in those clashes can you win in 5:5.
It's perfectly fine to launch surprise attacks from behind or bombard from range. You can also select only close-range bruisers and crush the enemy through sheer force. Since you can freely change characters at the respawn area, choose the right one for each situation!
Here are some tips for those of you looking to play 5:5 mode...
The uploader's explanation made it clear that 5:5 mode was essentially a five-versus-five brawl. With so many people fighting at once, chaotic melees were inevitable. Victory went to whichever side achieved the win condition first after countless wins and losses within that chaos. Naturally, the win condition favored the side that came out on top in the power struggles.
My head hurts.
In a chaotic melee, there were far more things to pay attention to than when facing a single opponent. It wasn't just that there were more enemies. In a team fight you had to watch your allies just as carefully as your foes. That meant keeping track of how all nine other people were moving. The people I had to teach were probably around Enri's level, or possibly even worse. Teaching people who already struggled against one opponent how to keep track of nine others? I could already see the hardship coming.
I sighed and tossed my smartphone aside before climbing into the capsule. There was still time before I had to meet up with Enri and the others on the same team, so I decided to experience 5:5 mode for myself.
I logged into Apis, selected a normal 5:5 match, and about a minute later the game found a lobby. The scenery around me changed into a room built of brick, and a message floated up before my eyes.
Escort? I was about to look into the message more closely when a voice spoke up beside me.
“Hello.”
“What are you guys playing? I wanna go Spirit Archer.”
“What do you mean Spirit Archer? We have to escort right now.”
“How useful do you think a Spirit Archer is on an escort map!”
“Ugh. This match is gonna suck.”
The others seemed familiar with the mode and chatted among themselves. The way they were practically grinding their teeth at each other didn't make it look like they were on particularly good terms. Since I was only here to experience the game, I stayed quiet and listened.
Then one of the men looked at my face, tilted his head, and tapped at the air a few times. His eyes suddenly widened and he shouted as if he'd seen a ghost.
“Hwaryeong?! It's Lady Hwaryeong, right?”
“It is, yes.”
“Why would someone so esteemed come to a humble place like this?!”
“Lady Hwaryeong? For real?”
“Is it actually her? Not an impersonator?”
“Hwaryeong! Why aren't you streaming!”
The moment one person shouted my name, the rest swarmed me like I was some rare animal, all talking at once. In Hwaryong Muin they had kept a polite distance and watched me like a beast behind iron bars, but here they rushed in like people spotting a celebrity on the street. I should have been used to this kind of attention by now, yet it still felt incredibly awkward. Most of my life had been spent avoiding the eyes of others, after all.
When I smiled silently and put my pipe to my lips, the teammates who had been assigned to me let out excited gasps and began chattering nonstop.
“We can't run a bombardment comp with Lady Hwaryeong here!”
“Hwaryeong has to play the Heavenly Demon, right? Let's build around that.”
“If it's the Heavenly Demon, let's go with a rush composition.”
“Since Lady Hwaryeong will probably hard-carry anyway, how about a support-heavy setup?”
“That sounds good?”
What are you all deciding on your own for? I hadn't been planning to pick the Heavenly Demon at all. Since I was just here to mess around, I had been thinking of choosing a battle mage to practice magic. However, I couldn't ignore the four of them staring at me with such sparkling eyes.
Sigh. If they're expecting this much, I suppose I can play along at least once.
After all, my main goal was simply to experience 5:5 mode firsthand. When I manipulated the window and selected the Heavenly Demon, the others let out excited cheers and began coordinating their picks. How strange. The people who had been exchanging sharp words as if they might fight at any moment when we first met were now perfectly in sync. Was watching me play the Heavenly Demon that exciting?
The moment the other teammates finished choosing their characters in perfect unison, the door opened and a man wearing heavenly robes stepped into the room.
“Then, as scheduled, we ask that you please escort the goods.”
I wondered what he was suddenly talking about, but when the others followed the man outside, I did the same.
“Is this your first time playing 5:5, Lady Hwaryeong?”
“It is. What exactly am I supposed to do?”
“This is an escort map. All you have to do is protect the carriage carrying the item until it reaches the destination. On the other hand, the enemy team wins if they destroy the carriage.”
“Isn't that too unfair?”
I didn't have much experience protecting things, but I had plenty of experience destroying them. In escort missions, breaking was always far easier than protecting. The side aiming for destruction simply had more options available.
“After the escort phase ends, the teams switch and you get to attack as well. So the side that performs better at escorting wins overall.”
I see. Since both sides eventually get the chance to destroy, it becomes fair.
“What if both sides succeed in escorting?”
“Then the team that arrives faster wins.”
Hmm. At least they're making an effort to keep things balanced.
The moment the man in heavenly robes sat atop the carriage, a message appeared.
The carriage's first steps took it into a street packed with people. Crowded places like this were usually prime spots for ambushes, so I spread out my qi sense and prepared for an attack. Yet the other teammates near the carriage looked completely relaxed, as if they were certain no ambush would come.
Curious, I asked about it and received this answer.
“Attacking innocent civilians triggers a penalty. Even if you kill enemies in one ambush, they'll just respawn anyway, so there's no reason to take the penalty hit.”
“Couldn't you just destroy the carriage while no one's around?”
“That won't work. The carriage has a shield on it.”
One of my teammates touched the area around the carriage with force, and a translucent barrier suddenly appeared where nothing had been visible before.
“The goal is to break through this shield and destroy the carriage, but it won't break from a single attack. You'll need to win team fights and hit it around three times if you're lucky, or four if you're not.”
Listening to the conditions, it seemed the escorting side wasn't completely at a disadvantage. Both sides had multiple opportunities.
We continued forward while chatting, and at some point the crowd began to thin out. Tension started to show on the faces of the previously relaxed teammates.
“It's about time for an attack.”
“So there's a set strategy for this.”
“Yeah. This game's been out for a while, so everything's pretty solved at this point.”
My teammate's prediction was accurate. My qi sense picked up enemies waiting in the alley behind where the crowd disappeared. They were clearly planning to ambush us the moment we passed by.
“I'll be back shortly.”
“Huh?”
I left those words with my teammates and walked ahead alone toward the alley where the enemies were hiding. The moment I entered the alley, my eyes met theirs. Even though their ambush had been discovered, the enemies didn't panic.
“She's alone!”
“Get her!”
“Take her down!”
Instead, they realized I was by myself and charged without the slightest hesitation. Their plan was to reduce the number of enemies they'd have to face by taking me out first. It was an extremely logical decision, but unfortunately for them, their opponent was simply too strong.
I knocked down the first one who rushed in to grab me with a strike to the jaw, and a subtle silence fell between me and the remaining five.
“What are you waiting for? Are you not going to attack?”
Mochi, an Apis player who had coincidentally ended up on the same team as Hwaryeong, hurried after her. It wasn't because he was worried about Hwaryeong herself. Having watched her streams before, he knew all too well that the person called Hwaryeong was a monster beyond common sense. He also knew she could easily win a five-on-one against ordinary players.
But the other three were different. They had chosen characters that could provide support to help Hwaryeong's one-man carry. While they could certainly fight enemies since they were using Apis characters, they couldn't win a fight where they were outnumbered. The current alley was clearly a spot where the opposing players would be hiding to launch an ambush. If the carriage got attacked in this situation, the rest of the team would be helpless.
That was why Mochi had followed after Hwaryeong, intending to ask her to stay close to the carriage.
While chasing after the strangely fast Hwaryeong with everything he had, Mochi heard the sounds of fighting up ahead.
Did Lady Hwaryeong run into the enemies?!
He sped up and finally caught up, only to see Hwaryeong standing without a single scratch while all five enemies lay on the ground.
“You came? I have already taken care of everything.”
“Uh… yeah, I can see that.”
After that, whenever Hwaryeong was escorting the carriage she would slip away by herself, deal with the enemies, and return. At first the other teammates were startled by her solo actions, but after it happened several times they simply reacted with an understanding “She must have taken care of it again.”
Their only complaint was that they couldn't watch Hwaryeong fight directly.
“Thank you! That was a truly perfect escort!”
The teammates who had finished the escort without doing anything could only give awkward smiles as they received the carriage owner's gratitude. They had expected to ride her coattails since Hwaryeong was so strong, but they thought she would at least let them do some work. They never imagined she would deliver a perfectly fresh, still-twitching victory straight into their mouths.
“Then is it our turn to attack now?”
“Yes. I'll show you the attack points.”
“No need. I plan to attack from the very beginning.”
“But then the citizens will take damage and you'll get a penalty—”
“There will be no penalty.”
If she destroyed the carriage before any penalty could trigger, there would be no problem at all. The teammates blinked at Hwaryeong's decisive words.
Is that even possible?