"Welcome, players, to Battleworld - New Earth. The all-new player combat mode 'Hero Strike' is officially beginning. System matching... Matching complete. Heroes, grab your weapons and prepare for this ultimate showdown!"
Above a blue planet, several figures gradually appeared in the space capsule. As light illuminated it, the space capsule flew toward Earth like a meteor.
On the vast polar ice sheet, a fine white mist rose from the ice surface. Penguins slid down the ice mountain one after another on their bellies. A seal flipped over, jumped out of the ice hole, and slapped its tail. What crashed onto the Antarctic ice like a meteor was a silver space capsule. After the hissing release of air, a figure emerged from within.
"Hello, welcome to the Hero Strike matching mode. Next, I'll introduce the basic gameplay of this mode.
In the combat mode, your main enemies will be other players. Harsh natural conditions and beasts could also be formidable foes. There might even be mysterious creatures that pose a significant threat. You must handle the environmental dangers with caution while dealing with attacks from players.
This combat mode uses a grid-based battle system. When you look down, you'll see the grid you're standing on. The upper right corner of your field of vision displays your Action Points, which you need to spend to leave your grid. Performing ordinary attacks and using skill cards also consume Action Points. Please allocate your Action Points wisely to avoid being unable to execute your desired actions due to insufficient points.
The battlefield has various terrains. You must avoid obstacles, but you can also use them to create trouble for your opponents. Meanwhile, some of your actions may trigger random events. There will be no warning before these events occur, so be prepared at all times.
Your companions are providing remote assistance from the nearest research station. Please press your headset and listen to their voices. Good team coordination is your path to victory."
"Zzzzzz—" A burst of static noise came from the headset. Then, a female voice appeared in the headset: "Bruce, are you okay? I saw your space capsule landed. I'm already in position at the research station."
"I'm fine, Selina. It's really cold here. I knew those administrators had no good intentions."
"Did you hear the rules just announced? I can see your environment comprehensively through the monitoring screen. However, I haven't spotted your opponents yet; they should be nearby."
"Oh, really? How far can you see?"
"Let me count... 16 grids in all directions. To your left, 6 grids away, there's an iceberg. Besides that, there are no other obstacles."
Bruce looked down at his feet. As his gaze focused on the ice, a blue glow began to manifest. He discovered that about 5 meters away from him, a wall of blue light appeared at the same distance in every direction. This means one grid is roughly 100 square meters.
Considering his body size, these 100 square meters seemed quite large. But for combat, combining both sides' grids would only be 200 square meters. That's barely enough space for maneuvering. It seems this instance has very tight restrictions.
Moreover, when Bruce looked into the distance, his view extended to only about three grids, or roughly 30 to 40 meters. Only Selina, who could see the monitoring screens from the research station, could view situations beyond 100 meters.
"Which way should I go, darling?" Bruce looked around. Due to visibility limitations, he couldn't even see the iceberg Selina mentioned, making it impossible to determine which direction to proceed.
"I suggest you go straight ahead," Selina said. "I can see the temperature of each grid from here. You're in a low-temperature zone. Moving forward would be slightly warmer."
Bruce glanced at the Action Points above. There were a total of 5 points. He wanted to move forward one grid to see how many points it would take, but when he tried, he couldn't pass through the blue wall.
"Oh, wait, let me operate it." Selina's voice came through his headset, "Look ahead, there's an arrow. Walk in that direction, and you shouldn't be blocked."
As Bruce looked up, he noticed the fog ahead thinning slightly. He saw an arrow about five grids away, marking a particular grid. It wasn't until then that the blue barrier vanished. But as soon as Bruce stepped onto the new grid, the wall reappeared, indicating that there's no free return trip.
One grid costs one Action Point. Bruce walked 5 grids, using up all his Action Points. However, neither of them knew how to replenish the points.
After several tens of seconds, Selina said, "A countdown appeared on my display. This should be the end-of-turn countdown. This means all the contestants are operating in real time. Maybe some haven't finished their moves yet; we'll have to wait for them."
"You're amazing, Selina. We'll rely entirely on you this time." Bruce sat on the ice, hands in his windbreaker pockets, and said, "I doubt it will be this easy. This round is just a beginner's tutorial; I'm afraid we'll soon face tough opponents."
"Okay, you're not going to skate by flattering me. It's not that complicated so far; I can barely keep up. Soon, I probably won't be able to."
With over 20 seconds left on the countdown shown on the screen, Selina frustratedly ruffled her hair and said, "Isn't the first turn just walking? How can they take so long? Can't they hurry up?"
"So, what exactly should we be doing? Why not end the turn?" A yellow figure bounced around on the ice. Pikachu adjusted his goggles and asked.
"You don't understand, it's a kind of tactic," Peter replied. "I call it the 'Burn Rope Tactic.' Reserve one Action Point each turn, but don't hit the end action button until the countdown finishes. This way, you can drag each turn to the longest time possible until they lose patience."
"You're definitely going to get beaten up for that," Pikachu said. "Considering it's me standing on the battlefield now, do you want me to be ganged up on?"
"This tactic can't always be used. Right now, nobody has encountered each other, and no one knows who's burning the rope, so we can drag time like this. If we meet up, we can't use this tactic," Peter said. "Also, I've never seen you wear clothes. It's absolutely hilarious!"
Pikachu also looked down at his body. Now only his head was exposed, and he was wearing a full set of winter clothes seemingly tailored for him, complete with boots, gloves, and a scarf.
The problem was, he's a creature with no neck, resembling a seal not far away. Not only does he lack a neck, but he also has no waist. This resulted in the clothes wrapping around him like a ball. If he had fallen just now, he might have rolled all the way to the Pacific Ocean.
"Who do you think we'll meet?" Pikachu asked again, "I have a feeling Batman will be there. I've wanted to zap him for a long time."
After speaking, he stretched his tail forcefully, but it didn't spark electricity as usual. Peter said: "I also think Batman will be there, but whether you can zap him still depends on how this mode is designed."
"Didn't you design this?"
"I just made some suggestions, and now it looks like they've all been implemented. However, you know, Doctor Shiller won't let us off so easily."
"I heard he's also participating. Who do you think he'll team up with? It can't be himself again, can it?"
"That's hard to say," Peter shook his head and said, "I don't think so. The Doctor has changed a lot recently. No one can guess what's going on."
Peter looked down at the screen. Within his field of vision, there was an iceberg on the left. In order to use the burn rope tactic, they hadn't moved at all this round, keeping a certain distance from the iceberg, but he had an instinct that there must be enemies on the other side of the iceberg.
His guess was only partially correct. There was indeed something on the other side of the iceberg, but it couldn't be considered a person, because it was a mass of gray mist.
At this moment, the mist was hovering among a heap of winter clothes, scarves, and gloves piled on the ground, looking like some kind of horror movie scene. As if someone suddenly turned into a misty state and all their clothes fell to the ground.
But in reality, it was very unjust to him because he didn't even have a human form. It was just that the system forcibly generated a set of clothes for him. Gray mist sighed and said, "Maybe I should put the clothes on. Otherwise, they might think I killed a player and stole their clothes. Isn't that terrifying?"
"The problem is that putting on clothes in your current state is even more terrifying," Greed said in his headset, "Imagine seeing someone wearing clothes walking towards you, only to find it's just a mass of mist up close. That's more like a horror movie, right?"
"Ah, I said I didn't want to come, but you insisted. I wanted to follow the agent to Hawaii to see if there was Stitch there."
"You really need to work on your combat skills," Greed said with annoyance, "You can't just scrape by every time you fight, can you? You are, after all, an Outer God."
"But I'm an Outer God with self-reliance, not one of those fools." The gray mist surged a moment, then said, "I've never spiritually polluted the human race. I'm a good Outer God."
"Wait, it seems someone is coming," Greed said, "You really called it. The tagged name is Batman, though it's unclear which Batman it is."
"Could it be the Arrogant's student? I heard he's participating too."
"Probably not. Bruce is no longer Batman. He specifically sought out Lucifer to correct his title, so Battleworld doesn't tag him as Batman anymore. This one seems more like the traditional kind... Oh, you're screwed."
"What happened?"
"Lord Batman. As in Justice Lord Superman's Batman."
"Then it should be you who is screwed. Because I'm up against Lord Superman's Batman, and once it's your turn, you're up against Lord Superman."
"Oh damn, I forgot about that. But I think there might not be a simultaneous switch. Maybe I can choose not to go out."
"Avoidance is not a solution."
"Yet you didn't want to come earlier."
"I see them," Lord Batman said, "I've never heard of a hero called Gray Mist... God! What the heck is that?!!"
Meanwhile, in the research station, Lord Superman immediately switched the view to the first-person perspective and, upon seeing the gray mist floating over a pile of clothes, instantly had a flood of horror movie scenes in his mind.
"Don't get the wrong idea!" Gray Mist shouted, "I'm a player! I'm not a monster, don't attack me!"
"Can you use your brain?" Greed said in his headset, "I told you this is a player-versus-player game. If you say you're a player, that's why he'll hit you!"