Victor was now fighting on the back foot. There was a slight silver lining though: now they knew the position of most of Rufus's team. Using this knowledge, Victor quickly ordered his sniper to leave his position and camp at his end of the long hallway instead.
Victor waited a couple of short moments for the smoke to thin before his sniper aimed its rifle down the hallway.
The figure of an opposing scout stood in the smoke, quickly ducking into an open doorway on the opposite side of the hall. Observing the red scout's retreat, Victor finally comprehended the ambush of his heavy weapon. The explosion from before was from one of the grenadier's bombs blasting down a section of the walls, allowing the scout bot to enter a room further down the hallway. After the smokebombs landed, the scout waited until the heavy weapon passed by before ambushing it from behind.
Since the scout was the only robot with the ability to see through the smoke, all of its shots landed accurately on the back of his robot's head. The scout had also seen the trajectory of the smoke bombs as they passed, so it was able to predict where the bombs had been thrown from and counterattack with bombs of its own before the blue bot could throw his.
Still, for the bomb to be able to arrive so quickly, the speed at which that decision had to be made could only be described as inhuman. At this point Victor was starting to get more of an idea of Rufus' ability and why he had been so confident in winning this match.
This revelation would make most people give up immediately, knowing their loss was inevitable. However, whether it was out of stubbornness or something else, Victor decided that before the match ended, he would try to drag down as many units of the opposing team as he could.
Victor was fairly confident Rufus had no idea where the last two blue units were, but that was the only advantage Victor still had.
Victor's engineer was equipped with a wrench and various traps. Therefore, he could only rely on the sniper to inflict significant damage while utilizing the engineer for utility and support.
While Victor was deciding on his next move, the red-striped heavy unit entered the long hallway, hiding behind its shield. The senses of Victor's sniper were better than most, so he was able to recognize the shadow of a mini scout being escorted behind it.
Victor paused for just a second before he ordered his sniper to continuously fire from its position. He knew the shield wasn't invulnerable, so with enough shots, the shield would eventually collapse.
He knew that the rapid fire had exposed his position, so his enemies would soon be swarming this location. Under the constant laser fire, the enemy heavy picked up its pace, and soon, Victor heard two sounds of glass breaking from the left and the right sides of the school, letting him know Rufus' bots were going to pincer the sniper from both sides.
Moments later, in the main hall, Rufus' robot made its way past a pair of classrooms. Not letting go of this opportunity, Victor commanded the engineer to emerge charging and swiftly stand behind the heavy while the wrench in its hand smashed the escorted scoutbot to bits.
Having lost visuals behind the heavy unit and under suppressive fire from the front, the giant red robot was unable to turn around and face its enemy. Victor knew he didn't have much time, so he ordered his robot to quickly arm a trap to place directly on the back of the enemy in front of him.
As the robot began its task, Victor noticed the enemy grenadier peeking its head out from the opposite hallway. He silently celebrated having guessed correctly. In this situation Victor could put up more of a fight. Now that Rufus could see the blue engineer, he was able to command the movements of his heavy unit. The red robot aimed its retreat into the closest classroom, which happened to be the one blasted open by two explosions.
Victor knew he couldn't let that happen, as it would leave his engineer vulnerable. The only reason the grenadier hadn't blasted him yet was because the heavy unit would be caught in the explosion of its last grenade.
Victor ordered his robot to dash in the same direction, causing both of them to meet at the entrance. The red heavy swung its mace while using the remaining half of its shield to block the gunfire before it reached cover.
Bang. A loud metal echo rang out as the engineer dove forward, anticipating the attack while stretching its arms forward and pressing the recently readied trap right against the body of the enemy unit. A visible current ran through the red robot as Victor's robot repeatedly swung it's wrench gradually caving in the head of it's enemy.
As the engineer raised its wrench to finish off the foe at its feet, an explosion occurred, blowing both robots to scrap. Seeing the heavy was beyond saving, the red grenadier threw the final bomb before being struck by a high-power laser beam. The bomb took out both robots in the center of the hall, but Victor, having expected that response, ordered his sniper to shoot the grenadier mid-throw, earning another elimination.
The last blue robot stood as fast as it could, dashing directly down the now empty hall, successfully dodging two beams coming from the left and right.
The scout and sniper had been the ones sent to circle the building and pincer Victor's last unit with the engineer at an unknown location. The blue sniper rushed down the hall before ducking into the closest classroom on the right.
Silence once again filled the school building as the robots stealthily moved around, anticipating their next actions. Victor's sniper bot waited with its gun aimed at the doorway. Light washed into the room from outside the window. The lone blue bot sat still and silent. Minutes ticked away on the clock before the robot sprang into action, spinning its rifle and aiming out the window, accurately piercing through the scout bot the moment it stepped around the corner.
Earning another kill, the robot spun towards the door to fire a shot at the intruder. Unfortunately, Victor's robot was two steps slower than the red one, who busted down the door, shooting Victor's last robot in the chest, ending the game.
A window appeared in Victor's vision, indicating his loss as both of the pair took off their helmets. Victor shook his head before turning to Rufus, who was frowning at the board while viewing an overhead map. Rufus rewound to the exact moment when his scout was shot and noticed that the laser was fired before the scout was even visible.
"How did you know when my scout would appear?" Rufus asked.
Victor simply rewound the footage further, pointing to a mini-scout that had been positioned outside. When Victor lost three of his units, he sent that scout far away to the field to hide among the grass while still maintaining a clear view of the right side of the school.
Seeing this, Rufus nodded in understanding.
"You know, I learned a lot today. I think I have an idea of what your ability is now." Victor then spoke.
Before he could speak any further, Rufus glared at him while cutting him off. "We'll meet and talk about this later."
Noticing Rufus's intense glare, Victor decided not to provoke him any further. "Alright, let's exchange contact info, and we'll meet later then."
Rufus nodded after confirming they had the right online ID. Victor left the class without turning back. Rufus was determined to be in this class, and Victor, having seen a hint of his ability, was convinced his words were true. While he didn't think it would be impossible to beat Rufus, he knew he would be fighting an uphill battle every day. Victor suspected the reason Rufus had such an uncannily quick reaction time and could issue orders so quickly was because his ability allowed him to process information faster than other people.
One of the clues that revealed Rufus's advantage was his ability to read the robot's loadout much faster than Victor could. If this was true, Victor knew he would be sorely disadvantaged if he continued to step into an area where Rufus had significantly more time to plan and strategize than him. Perhaps no one in this class could stand against Rufus as his skill grew.
Victor walked down the halls searching for another class to take during the evening time block.
'Intel gathering, business management, history... They seem interesting, but I have no idea how I could apply them during combat and none resonate with my ability either.'
Victor reached the end of the hall, contemplating his next move. 'Maybe I'll just head over the the next building and check out my options.'
Not wanting to waste any more time, Victor pushed open a door that led outside the building and then jogged toward building E.
In less than five minutes he reached his destination, but before he could reach the building entrance, he caught sight of a tall, muscular old man with his arms crossed staring into the distance as if he were looking for someone.
Upon seeing this particular teacher, Victor sensed trouble and panicked, attempting to turn in the other direction and escape before he was spotted. Unfortunately, it seemed his movements caught the eye of this old man.
Before he could make it five steps from his position, he noticed a shadow was looming over him, cast by the setting sun. A hardened hand gripped his shoulder, stopping him from escaping further before he heard a voice behind him.
"Hey, boy, where are you running to? If you have any problems, I'm sure this old man can help you out."