Epoch: A Berserker's Rise

Adam looked at the several hundreds of players in front of him, silent. He could see it in their eyes, most already thought the battle was lost.

He began by saying "Let me present myself, I am Valiant Heart, first player to kill an Elite Monster in the kingdom, and part of the two members party 'King's Heart' who killed the first Chieftain monster in the game!"

He began walking in front of them, left and right "I understand your doubts. White Eagle Village was wiped out, and what do we have more than them? Let me tell you, we do have something. It's not me. It's not you. IT IS US! WE, ARE, HERE!"

He said the last few words especially loud. Seeing the moral was starting to kick up, he continued "Why did you join this game? For fame? For money?"

He saw many heads lower, so he laughed loudly "Don't be ashamed, brothers and sisters! But tell me, what do you think will happen once you die here and the village gets destroyed? Let me tell you, your name will never be remembered, and you will fall behind. So why don't you show everyone else who you are, by destroying the enemy? To achieve your dreams, you must win!"

The players started getting worked up, Adam's words resonated in their hearts.

He added "Why should you settle for mediocrity? Because some dumb player failed his quest?"

"NO!!" A few voices rose in the crowd.

Adam frowned, and asked "Then, is it because others expect you to lose?"

"NO!!" This time, the number of voices increased.

Adam said "Then why did you come here? To lose?"

"NO!!!" Finally, everyone in the crowd answered. Their voices resonated far and wide, and the NPCs in the village looked out with surprise.

At the same time, a couple dozens of men walked out of the city, all of them were Level 5 guards, led by the Level 8 Arno.

Arno and Adam nodded to each other, then Adam looked at the timer of the quest. He had 5 minutes before the arrival of the monsters. That should be long enough.

He cleared his throat before shooting "As your commander, I promise you victory! As long as you follow my plan, we shall WIN!"

The players, who were already in high spirits, cheered. Adam kept a serious face as he continued "All of you, I want you to form combat units! I shall lead the charge, I want every Monk to form the first unit who will closely follow me. Gather up, and I want the higher leveled players in front!"

In the eyes of the players, Adam seemed to have become even taller. His voice carried a strange force that pushed them in following his orders. Somewhere in the mass of people, King Slayer looked at Adam with a smile and said to himself "A true leader…"

All the monks in the crowd quickly walked in front of Adam, forming one big mess. They weren't trained as an army after all, they didn't even know each other. Still, Adam was satisfied with the results.

He continued "At the start of the battle, I will pierce into their lines while you are to draw the aggro of all the monsters. Don't bother attacking, I want you to defend! Don't worry about XP, you will receive rewards depending on your achievements!"

He then turned to the rest of the players "Once the Monk Unit has taken the monsters' aggro, two units will flank them! Knights and Swordsmen will form Unit KS, and Bersekers and Paladins form Unit BP! Unit KS, on the Monks' left! Unit BP, on the Monk's right! CHOP CHOP!"

This order was a little more complicated, but the players were still able to do it quickly. There were a few who were placed in the wrong units, but those were rare cases.

He added "Following behind Unit KS and BP will be Rangers! I want all the Rangers to split in two half, Unit Ranger 1 behind Unit KS and Unit Ranger 2 behind BP! The Assassin called King Slayer is my second in command, he will help the Rangers split in two. DO IT NOW!"

Adam couldn't even see King Slayer in the crowd, but he received a message in the party, and a notification. The first message was a thumb up emoji from King Slayer, and the notification was King Slayer transferring the leadership of the party to him.

He didn't react to the messages and turned his attention back to the crowd. While the Rangers were trying to split in two units, Adam continued with his plan "I want Unit Elementalist to group up behind Unit Monk and bombard the monsters as much as they can. Unit Monk, you must absolutely not let any monster pass by you. AM I UNDERSTOOD?!"

Unit Monk shooted with more synchronization than before "YES SIR!"

Adam almost laughed when he heard how they called him, but he kept a straight face and continued "Behind Unit Elementalist is Unit Cleric! Your role is to heal Unit Monk! I don't want to see a single one of you heal anyone else than a Monk! Unit Monk is the core of the formation, they are not allowed to fall! GO!"

Another chunk of the crowd walked off, leaving slightly more than a fifty players remaining. He finished his plan by saying "Unit Summoner, you stand in the back lines! Just summon as many monsters as you can and support the other Units! Unit Assassin, spread through the battlefield and use hit and run tactics against your opponents! NOW ALL OF YOU BETTER BE IN PLACE BEFORE THE MONSTERS' ARRIVAL OR I SHALL PERSONALLY SEND YOU TO HELL!"

The last part was especially loud, and it worked wonders as the players really hurried. As he watched the chaotic scene Adam opened the party chat and sent a message 'When you are finished with the Rangers, come with me. Are you confidant in charging the tide in front of the monks?'

A few seconds later King Slayer asked 'Why would we do that?' Adam quickly replied 'We are going against an army of probably several hundreds monsters, maybe even a thousand while we barely have 500 players here. When they see the tide of monsters some will lose their morals, so seeing the two of us tear through the monsters will help.'

King Slayer answered 'Alright, I'm confidant I can do that. I'll join you when I'm finished with the Rangers.'

Adam nodded and closed the chat, and looked as the seconds passed on the timer. The players were actually oddly efficient. Adam didn't realize it yet, but although it was the first time he played a VRMMORPG, it didn't mean it was the same for the others.

Most of them had already participated in grand scaled wars, and although those games weren't as realistic, they still had some experience. Most of them were parts of different guilds who had fought wars before. Actually, some of the more experienced players in the crowd were surprised how Adam had made the players listen to him, most people would have been ignored.

Thanks to the players' efficacy everyone was in place more than a minute before the start of the battle. King Slayer walked up to Adam and whispered "I spotted two interesting players, they are quite renowned. They are sisters, the older sister is a Level 4 Elementalist and the younger one is a Level 3 Cleric. Moreover, they aren't in any guild."

Adam looked at King Slayer surprised and asked "Really? That should help us. You said they didn't belong to any guild, you want to invite them in the party?"

King Slayer nodded and said "An Elementalist should add quite a few kills and the Cleric good contribution to the party, and if this goes well we could even keep the party for the future."

Adam was quite pleased inside, it seemed that he and King Slayer both had the intention of staying together in the future. They indeed formed quite the good team.

Before King Slayer could go though Adam said "Here, take this. If they agree to join the party, give this to the Elementalist." Adam took out the skill book for Fire Lance and gave it to King Slayer, who merely nodded and walked off.

Adam turned toward the edge of the forest, where the monsters would appear, his back straight and his arms crossed. Many players would have refused giving out a skill like Fire Lance to a stranger, but Adam knew his priorities. He would rather lose a skill and increase his chances to win this war than be selfish. After all, if he lost this war, his losses would be far direr than a D Rank skill book.

As the counter hit 30 seconds, he received another notification.

[Players 'Burning Lotus' and 'Holy Lotus' have joined your party!]

The two sent a 'Hi', so Adam sent back 'Nice to meet you. You know your roles in this battle.'

He then closed the chat, and as the counter neared zero, King Slayer appeared at his side.

5…

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0!!!

Author's note: Hey so I quickly drew a battleplan, for those who want to check it out I'm leaving the link here and in the comments.

https://imgur.com/gallery/DOLMudz