Firestorm Online

The in-game HUD came up with our game information.

Game mode: Competitive

Mission Type: Assassination

Map: Blazing Sands

Team: Attackers

A stuttering voice came through the comms, "Hi g-g-guys, I think we should take this slow and go in togeth-"

"Rush them!" the hormonal teenager screamed.

Our team had started spread around the village, one in the West, one in the North, one in the East and two in the South. I spawned on the Western side of the map, the setting sun throwing a long shadow ahead of me.

'Hmm... this could be problematic, I'll have to be careful to limit my movements to shaded areas otherwise my shadow will give me away before I even step in the room.'

I moved from doorway to doorway, quickly getting within a hundred metres of the temple. A dull silver shone through one of the palace windows.

'Silver? Oh shit!'

I dived across the street just in time to watch the sand erupt around the area where I had just been. Bullets came thick and fast for a solid 15 seconds giving me no opportunity to peek around the corner.

The extra points I'd put into reaction speed weren't particularly noticeable but the other changes were far more pronounced, particularly my agility which had increased by leaps and bounds.

I stumbled slightly before making it into a small alcove.

'That was a machine gun, it would explain the low accuracy and high fire rate… the only gun that fits is the M249, but if that's the case then I should have at least 10 seconds before he's reloaded.'

My logic was sound, at this level you wouldn't find any ex-soldiers or mercenaries so there reload speed would be limited when handling anything other than the most basic weaponry.

With this renewed confidence I made a mad dash towards the palace, all the while keeping an eye on the game clock.

'8 seconds, 7, 6', I took a few wild shots at the palace window.

5, 4, 3, 2, 1!!!'

I threw myself sideways, crashing through a nearby window. I landed hard but my fall was cushioned by a small albeit sturdy bed. As I waited for the deafening sound of machine gun fire to renew I was left disappointed, the enemy wasn't interested in wasting his bullets by firing into a solid stone wall.

The house I was in was basic and could pass off as a poor farmer's lodging. The luxuries in this place were few and far between, a pretty but old and damaged rug filled the empty space in between the bed and the Eastern door.

I inched my way forward before tentatively poking my head out, no shots were fired.

'He's gone…' I sighed as I jogged towards the temple's high walls.

There were three generally accepted ways to get into the temple, the first was a small tower at the North-Eastern corner, it had narrow winding stairs that defenders could engage the assassins on. This wasn't a perfect strategy though as it was fairly common for assassins to shoot the wooden steps to try and get an easy kill.

The second method was on the Southern side, there was a balcony roughly halfway up the wall which led into the servants chambers. This was a fairly balanced entrance for both defenders and attackers.

The third method was on the Western side, when compared to the tower and balcony it was a very simple entrance. It was just a large doorway that led into the temple's main hall; however because of the open nature of this entrance it was known as the death trap. This was the entrance I would go for.

I was in a particularly unfortunate situation as the match's randomly selected time maximised my shadow length, thus there was no way I could slowly walk into the hall as my shadow would appear several seconds before me.

I crouched down outside of the entrance and brought up the real-time map of our match. Both the enemy and my team had 3 people left, my teammates were currently clearing the balcony room and preparing to move deeper into the temple complex. Looking at the locations of the dead players I managed to get a rough idea of where the enemy was.

'The tower should be clear but there might be a wounded enemy lying in wait around that area. The guy I saw earlier should still be on this side of the temple, my guess is that he's sitting on the walkway above the entrance. The final guy…'

At this moment gunfire rang out, my teammates were caught by surprise. One of them died quickly while the other put up more of a fight, killing one opponent before being traded.

I was the last one left, it was a 1v2 with 4 minutes left…

'How the hell do I manage this?'