My Level Zero System

"Got it."

Mera couldn't help but cheer, even though she didn't know if this was a flag or not. But according to what Kain had told them before, whatever they dug up from the sand could be a flag, even if it didn't look like one.

That pedestal looked too ordinary, it didn't seem like it, but that floating cube clearly looked much more magical, it seemed like this thing was the "flag".

Mera unconsciously reached out to touch the cube, but her reason quickly suppressed that instinct.

Because Kain had said that contact with this thing would most likely result in a mark, and the pillar of light still moving above was the best proof.

"Elna, come down here!"

Mera called out, a few seconds later, Elna also jumped down below.

"What did you call me for?"

"Give me some water."

"Huh?"

"Wait a minute."

Mera then covered the cube with sand.

"Now pour water on top of this, no need for too much."

Elna seemed to understand Mera's intention, pouring some water onto the sand.

Because of the addition of water, the loose sand grains quickly bonded together. Forming a half-soft, half-hard mass, Mera compressed it, then used a piece of cloth to wrap it tightly.

This way, they can avoid contact with the cube while still keeping it on their person.

Of course, Mera had thought about just using cloth to wrap the cube, but she didn't dare to try, what if the thin cloth didn't work?

If so, Kain's plan would be a failure.

In no time, Mera and Elna climbed out of the hole, and Mera had an extra cloth bag on her side.

"Is everything okay?"

"I can handle it."

Mera gave a thumbs up.

She then proceeded to fill in the hole beneath her feet, then continued following Kain's instructions to move towards the edge, as far away from the fighting area as possible.

…

Time passed, except for Kain's pillar of light, although no other pillars of light continued to appear. However, that was because some of the students had already reacted in time, they did not dare to almost directly take the flag anymore, but only found and hid it, waiting until the time was up to use it.

During this time, Kain had to fight a few times other than running, however, even he was almost overwhelmed by the large number of enemies, so Kain still mainly used the tactic of fighting and running.

What's more, he didn't directly eliminate anyone from the match. The opponents Kain targeted were only weakened to a certain extent, which wasn't enough to constitute a condition for elimination.

This is also his strategy, parallel to the guerrilla strategy.

If he eliminated a part of a team, they would know that they were at a disadvantage because they had lost the ability to capture the flag. So they would try even harder to chase and eliminate Kain, because they had nothing to lose, it was better to take a chance, even if they couldn't make it to the next round, they would still have to perform a little better.

So it's sometimes strange to find that those who have no chance tend to try harder than those who still have a chance. They're still wary of being eliminated by Kain, so they don't push themselves too hard, for fear that they'll miss their chance to capture the flag.

Taking advantage of this mentality, Kain still maintains this thin line, escaping capture from other students many times.

However, this balance was fragile and could be broken at any moment. Once the time limit was reached, the other students will not hold back in attacking Kain.

So, Kain implemented a third strategy, called retrenchment.

Many students find finding the flag akin to looking for a needle in a haystack, so they aim for "easier" targets like Kain.

In that case... Kain will help them find it.

With Jocelyn at his back, Kain roamed the middle and center of the map, pulling out flags whenever he came across them. But instead of using them for himself, Kain left them behind, all alone.

Understandably, this would lead to a scramble, aimed at reducing the number of enemies that would seek to pursue Kain.

But this is only the superficial part of his retrenchment strategy.

Kain wanted the other students to realize that, besides him, it was very likely that the other teams, the teams that had secretly found the flags, hid them, because they did not want to follow in Kain's footsteps.

They realized this because the teams that successfully captured the flag did not have any light pillars appear. This made them know that contact or something similar would cause the light pillars to appear like Kain, otherwise, the teams that secretly obtained the flag could be completely fake that they did not have it, in order to avoid attacks and capture by the teams that did not have the flag.

In this way, Kain spread mutual suspicion among the Crew, making them both greedy and wary of each other.

And if the other side had succeeded, Mera and the girls would have been safe in the suburbs by now, far away from this fiery war zone.

At this point, Kain had done all he could.

Suddenly, a voice appeared in the ears of all the remaining students in the desert.

It was the principal's voice.

"Students, all of you have ten minutes left to get your flags."

As soon as the principal finished speaking, a giant hourglass appeared in the sky.

Grain by grain of sand from the top of the hourglass began to flow down, signaling the countdown.

At the same time, sixteen pillars of light rose into the sky, or to be more precise, fifteen, because Kain's pillar of light was already high up.

"Looks like this is the most crucial moment."

Kain had thought about it before, what if the students couldn't find all sixteen flags? Would they randomly choose to fill the gaps? But the academy had of course already considered this.

This is going to be the most stressful ten minutes, for both the flag-keeper and the flag-capture side.