Chapter 127: The Game Tactics


    "Are you not going to the sses today?"


    Jim stood in front of the team inside the located game ground they hired. It was still not exceeding nine in the morning, but everyone looked so exhausted from the outside, only keeping their energy through sheer will and excitement.


    "I need to train," Jim said before turning around, "where are the girls?"


    "They are with master Mera," Rick said, "she is no less excited than all of us."


    "Hahaha, it seems our odds of winning are just getting higher by our excitement alone," Rooughed and many nodded in agreement.


    "But we have a problem," Deno said in a low tone, "I ran and checked what happened yesterday. Those five teams have used their connections and the support of many masters to attract everyone''s attention."


    "Don''t worry too much about that," Lim said as he walked through the small door to the inside, "their teams are trash, I can confirm that to you."


    "You escaped sses too?" Jim was surprised to see him here.


    "You can and I can''t?" Limughed, "I need to train more with you guys, especially since our first match will be held today."


    "The schedule is out?" Kro hurriedly asked.


    And his question made everyone nce at Lim who shook his head, "not yet but I used some connections of mine and knew the rough schedule."


    "Whom we are going to face?" Rick couldn''t refrain from asking.


    "An amateur team made of some fans to the game I guess," Lim said before adding when he noticed the look of joy over their faces, "but I''m not too sure either. Anything can happen especially if many masters are trying their best to match their hastily built teams against much weaker opponents."


    "They are trying to cheat?" Pat asked with no surprise in his tone, "just typical of them."


    "It''s not cheating," Lim sighed, "it''s the normal order here. As long as you have the means to do that and won''t get into much trouble as a result then why don''t do it?"


    His words made everyone nod in agreement despite their faces showing disdain from such actions.


    "Alright," Jim pped his hands, "let''s start training. Our coach won''te until the sses are over, so from now on I''ll be the acting coach."


    "What should we do then?" Deno asked.


    "Yesterday a list of main and second line yers were determined," Jim said before adding, "we will start ying team versus team until shees back."


    "And the ball?" Deno asked.


    "She left it for me with the gears as well," Jim waved his hand and took out many gears.


    "But these gears are only suited for the main team and a small part of the second line team," Rick said before adding, "shouldn''t we go and hire more gears from the stadium then?"


    "We should," Jim nodded before turning to Lan and took out a hundred academy coins on the ground, "go and hire us what we need."


    "Why me?" Lan was toozy to move.


    "You are part of those who weren''t selected in either teams," Patughed, "so it''s normal for you to go."


    "Tsk, I still can''t believe how you were selected and not me," Lan muttered, "I don''t have a ring to carry all of them."


    "Take this then," Jim had arge stock of empty rings so he simply tossed one to him, "don''t bete, we need to start as soon as possible."


    Lan took the ring and stuffed it with the coins before vanishing from their sight.


    "What tactic will we y with in the games?" suddenly Lim asked and Jim only nced in loss.


    "I think the Lionesse way is the best," Kro confidently said as if it was a well known fact.


    "It''s not," Rick shook his head, "their tactic depends entirely on the tankers," he added.


    "And what about them?" Roo winked, "after all you are the leader of tankers in the team."


    "As it''s bitter to admit it but frankly I don''t think our strength lies in the tankers or in the hitters," Rick said while directing his words to the two Kroaks, "it''s in our ace."


    "I agree," before any of the two Kroaks would object as usual Lim spoke up, "the other teams aces suck. All teams have strong tankers and hitters, even cunning decoys but not good aces."


    "I can shield some pressure off you guys," Jim said before adding, "but can you exin more about those tactics? The famous ones at least."


    Kro took the lead here as he cleared his throat first and took a couple of steps forward, "this is important, so all of us here should listen and learn," he said before taking out his sword and started drawing on the red sand on the side of the green grass.


    "The main tactics depend entirely on the main yers in the team. So we have the tankers tactic, the hitters tactic, the decoys tactic, andstly and most important of all the ace tactic."


    "You forgot thebo tactics," Lim interfered, "it''s the highest form of tactics in all."


    "But it''s the mostplicated one," Roo defended his friend, "I doubt we can pull that off."


    "Please exin everything," Jim said to stop this undermined battle between them, "I need to learn everything and I''m the one to decide which is the best alongside the coach of course."


    "Roger that boss," Kro said with a smile, "then we have five main tactics here. The tankers tactic is a famous tactic for the Lionesse team. That''s why their tankers are always the best in the entire league," Kro added before drawing a smaller version of the field.


    "Tankers usually are situated behind near the rear line, but in this tactic they don''t stop there all the time," he put three points near the line and started drawing arrows out of them, "they wait for a chance to advance and then move to aid the other team members. Their addition would instantly disrupt the enemy''s formation and make the odds more favorable for their team."


    "But this requires a lot out of tankers," Lim sighed, "for instance the good decision which determines the win or lose of this tactic."


    "Agreed," Kro nodded, "for example if one tanker moved in the wrong time and led to the ball being lost, that means their line of defense willck one tanker, making it easier for the opponent team to score easily in their line."


    "It''s risky," Jim noted, "but if pulled right then it will be a killer move."


    "Indeed," Rick nodded, "so I said earlier I doubt we can y by that tactic."


    "It''s hard I admit," Kro said, "but if we don''t train ordingly from day one we can never pull it easily in thetter stages of the game."


    Jim nced at his top yers and inwardly praised their mindset. They were thinking not about the uing games, but looking beyond the ace league matches.


    They never doubted their win in the preliminary stages, and that affected his own mindset as well.


    "And the hitters?" Jim asked.


    "It''s simply an offensive tactic," Kro said before wiping the three dots on the red sand and drawing five in the center of the field, "here we will use five hitters and not only three like usual. They should attack ferociously the opponent''s yers and make sure to get the ball fast."


    "But the defense it''s a really troublesome tactic," Lim couldn''t help but say, "whoever ys with this tactic usually gets many goals scored in their line."


    "But they score much more than others score in them," Rick said before adding, "it''s the winner''s tactic, no team can lose ying with such one."


    "That''s because your favored team ys with it," Rooughed while adding, "and they lost thepetition in thest few years because of that!"


    "Humph, only because the referees were partial to yourdies in thest years they ended up losing at the end," Rick said in an arrogant tone, "if it was a fair y then we would never have lost. Not even once!"


    "Empty words," Limughed, "the Dioganose lost only because they suck, everyone knows that."


    "You" Rick was enraged and stirred up the moment Lim spoke.


    "Easy boys," Jim had to interfere, "we are one team here, not fans of others."


    His words made them stop their useless debate yet their eyes told him they never dropped the topic.


    And he only could helplessly sigh for that.