The Grand Duelist

[The seed of discord has been planted into the minds of you and your allies.]

[You cannot resist.]

[Friendly-fire has been activated.]

"What...?"

These were the only words that Slice of Life managed to utter as the attacks from his allies that should've passed through his body and safely landed on their enemy, struck him squarely on his chest and body.

Some attacks even landed on his butt, making him feel as if his bottom was undergoing a cataclysmic tragedy.

Kristian, William, and Vladimir weren't spared. 

Attacks rained down on their bodies and the three had no choice other than to dive forwards and place their bodies onto the ground, reducing the surface of their bodies, thus reducing the damage that they had to suffer from the attacks of their allies.

"What the fuck is going on?"

"The seed of discord?"

"What is that? A debuff? Supports, what the hell are you guys doing?"

Vladimir angrily cried out.

"I'm trying, sir! I'm still chanting!" A response came quickly in the form of a direct voice message.

It came from Mapo Tofu, the Priestess of Guild Crimson.

However, her face quickly changed when she realized that her spells weren't giving any benefits to her allies. Instead, all the heals and buffs that she used went towards Joseph.

"Sir, there's a problem! All the spells that I am trying to use to support you are going to the enemy!"

"What?" Vladimir asked in shock and visible confusion.

William also received a similar report from the Theologist of Guild Knights of Justice, Forest Rain.

He then turned to look at Kristian and said, "Sir Kris... The bastard is absorbing the support of our healers!"

"Then, what are you waiting for? Stop your healers from giving out support!"

"But what should we do now, sir? If this continues..." William glanced at Joseph's direction and he found that Joseph was already taking advantage of the chaos by killing several members of both guilds in quick consecutive flashes of his Rapier.

William tightly clenched his fists.

Vladimir detected his anger but he could only let out a sigh as he said: "Don't think too much about it, William! We're going to get the hell out of this shithole after this ordeal. We're going to start anew! Don't think too much about those losses!"

William glanced at Vladimir.

It was clear from the shocked look on his face that he really didn't expect that Vladimir was the one that would comfort him. Out of all the people on this battlefield, the person whom he regarded as his life-long rival would actually be the one that's trying to calm him down?

What the hell is he trying to do?

William inwardly scoffed.

But on the outside, he faintly nodded his head towards Vladimir's direction, seemingly in thanks and gratitude.

After all, even though he hated Vladimir. He didn't want to come across as an ungrateful brat. That would hurt his prestige and dignity if his subordinates came to know that he was someone like that.

But since he disliked Vladimir, he didn't say anything. He merely gave a faint nod.

Vladimir noticed William's irritation towards his goodwill.

He faintly shook his head.

He knew that William wasn't someone immature. Their rivalry just went for too long and at this moment, no amount of goodwill could possibly make the two join their forces together. In fact, if not for the powerful deterrence that Kristian had due to his guild...

These two wouldn't probably even cooperate with each other for this mission.

Kristian gave a glance at the two.

But after this glance, he didn't pay any attention to them anymore as he kept on chugging Health Potions. The attacks that came from the elite members of his guild and the members of Guild Crimson and Guild Knights of Justice proved somewhat difficult for Kristian to endure.

Despite the numerous passives that granted him immunity to disables and reduced physical and magic damage received. The damage that he took had reached at least six digits in just a few seconds. The number of casualties within the battlefield also soared.

Kristian sent Spatial Locks after Spatial Locks, but it proved ineffective for the battlefield was in too much chaos. The players from Guild Crimson thought that those from Guild Knights of Justice had betrayed them, while the latter also thought that the former had betrayed them.

A fierce fight ensued, only stopping when the effect of Strife ended.

Strife only lasted for five seconds, yet it turned the battle around into Joseph's favor.

At this moment, only nine people from the original twenty-four remained.

Guild Crimson lost their Crusader, Tempest, Knight, Kung Fu Master, and their main support, the Priestess Mapo Tofu. 

Only Vladimir, a Grappler, and Ako Si Sean, a Destroyer, along with MartyrNoble, a Gunner, remained standing in their team.

As for the Guild Knights of Justice; they lost their Barbarian, Paladin, Grappler, Elementalist, Destroyer, and their main support, the Theologist, Forest Rain.

Their situation was even bleaker than Crimson.

At least Guild Crimson still had three players remaining including their Guild Leader. 

Guild Knights of Justice lost most of their elite members due to that clash, and what remained were William and a particularly bright Gunner who stayed away from the battlefield as soon as he saw the system notification regarding the friendly-fire.

None of the remaining forces from Guild Strongest Under Heaven died from that onslaught.

Although their health was quite low, it wasn't something that a Health Potion couldn't solve.

Joseph stood at the distance and gave out a light smile.

A pale look could be seen on his face.

His crude tunic had towns from all sorts of places and it looked like they were about to collapse at any moment, revealing Joseph's birthday suit to the world. 

Nevertheless, the languid smile on his face never disappeared.

He stared at the remaining players from a distance and said, "Are you guys sure that you still want to continue this? Take a look at the corpses on the ground and count how many of your so-called elite members I killed, even though I'm alone..."

Joseph's sharp words stung deep into the hearts of the three Guild Leaders. Death within the world of Victory had harsh penalties...

Aside from the fact that a single item would always unconditionally drop from the bodies of the dead.

The dead also had their Experience Points deducted.

And if their Experience Points were low enough, they could be demoted back to the previous level.

A single percentage of Experience Points were extremely valuable for these elite players.

After all, an MMORPG was an unfair game that a single level difference could be enough to swerve the tides of the battle to one side. A demotion, may it be only by a single level could mean the difference between being at the top and second place.

Kristian gnashed his teeth. A particularly vicious light flashed across his face as he said: "You may have won the battle, but there's no saying who will win the war! You might have killed a lot of our men, but do you really think that you can be the victor in the end? We will have the last laugh!"

Kristian's words gave courage to the remaining people within the battlefield.

But there was no way to know if this courage only came from Kristian's high Dignity stat, or could it be because these players really did believe that they could still win against Joseph by overwhelming him with numbers.

Nevertheless, Joseph was quick to knock Kristian down from his pedestal as he said.

"The last laugh, you say? Well, I'm already laughing here!"

A mocking expression flashed on Joseph's face. 

Kristian painstakingly suppressed his anger when he realized that his opponent was purposely riling him up. In a battle between experts, a single difference could mean defeat or victory. That also included the difference between your mentality and your opponent's mentality.

Anger often caused tunnel vision, and going tunnel vision in a game like this that had a lot of variables and required a lot of micro-plays in order to achieve victory was a death sentence.

Joseph was taken aback by the fact that Kristian didn't bite his bait.

Sure enough, Kristian was still quite a sensible man. 

Even though he was arrogant and full of himself, he still had a few brain cells.

Joseph inwardly chuckled.

"Are you guys coming for me or not?" A confident look appeared on his face as if he wasn't severely injured himself.

William and Vladimir glanced at each other.

At this moment, they really couldn't understand where Joseph's confidence was coming from.

Just a single look on his face made it clear that his Health was less than thirty-percent.

It was also obvious that he didn't have any Health Potions.

After all, if he had those then why wouldn't he use it sooner?

William and Vladimir became cautious.

Kristian turned to look at them and whispered a few words.

"Really?"

"That can definitely work! I still have a Gunner and Guild Strongest Under Heaven still has that Assassin. We can zone him out with my Gunner and if he manages to slip past our Gunner's firing zone, the Assassin will meet him halfway!" 

William exclaimed in excitement. It was clear that he liked Kristian's plan.

Vladimir also had a light smile on his face. He was itching for a fight.

Joseph furrowed his eyebrows but he didn't stop his enemies from talking to each other.

After about half a minute of waiting, the remaining players of the three guilds started their move.

Both Gunners from Crimson and Knights of Justice, MartyrNoble and Look At Me ran backwards and made sure that they could see the entire battlefield from behind.

The Assassin, Slice of Life also entered Concealment and hid within the shadows.

The Barbarian, No Sucker Punch rushed towards the front lines along with the Knight, Big Boss.

Vladimir, Ako Si Sean, and William accompanied them on their attack while Kristian stayed behind.

Joseph's furrowed his eyebrows.

A look of astonishment appeared on his face when he suddenly saw Kristian open several bottles of Health Potions and chug them down his throat at once.

What the hell is he doing? Is he not going to attack?

As a player that had a Legendary Class, Kristian's DPS was far stronger than anyone in this battlefield, except Joseph.

It didn't make sense that he wouldn't enter the battle along with his comrades.

Why would he stay there and chug Health Potions instead?

Joseph swept his gaze at the battlefield.

He saw the Gunners standing from way behind at the distance. Their weapons were ready, yet they weren't aimed directly at Joseph.

Instead, it was aimed at a location that was directly ahead of Kristian. It was as if they were planning on zoning out whoever it was that planned on approaching Kristian.

Wait...

Joseph's pupils constricted.

A foreboding sensation enveloped his heart.

"This strategy..."

"This is Protect the President!"

Joseph had no more time to think as the attacks from the remaining members of the alliance of the three guilds descended onto him.

Finally, the battle was on its climax.