The valiant Sniper was chatting with his friends while waiting.
Once everyone was ready, he teamed up with a few buddies for a round of [War Zone].
The battle map they randomly got was—
[Bloody El Alamein]
The valiant Sniper was overjoyed: "Great, a map I know."
The test version they practiced with used 5 different battle maps.
But the official version of [King of War] released by Zhú Mèng had 10 battle maps.
If it were a new map, he would have to re-familiarize himself with the roads, strongholds, and figure out where it was dangerous and where people could easily hide.
A familiar map wasn't so troublesome.
He knew all the points like the back of his hand!
The valiant Sniper said confidently: "The last round doesn't count, I was sabotaged by a bunch of noobs!"
"This round, I'll show you the results of my hard training!"
The brief battle introduction animation quickly ended, and the pre-battle interface appeared before the valiant Sniper against a backdrop of golden sand under a bright sun.
He was instantly stunned.
—What appeared before him wasn't a job tree, but rather a selection of classes, weapons, and tools!
[Commander], this extremely crucial position in [Hell on Earth]…
Was simply gone!
"Wait, wait, wait, hold on, this [War Zone] mode doesn't have a Commander?"
"With so many people, how can we fight without a Commander??"
The valiant Sniper had spent almost every day of October fighting under the command of a Commander, and it had become a habit.
But his friends hadn't.
Especially those who had already experienced [War Zone]:
"Who needs a Commander? It's completely unnecessary!"
"How do we fight? Just charge in and fight!"
—Even with a Commander and squad leaders giving orders, it was still a chaotic mess, and it was difficult to organize a strong enough attack.
Now that there was nothing, weren't they just sending themselves to be killed?
The waiting time was short, and he quickly selected Assault, grabbed a grenade, a submachine gun, and a bayonet, and entered the game.
He was still the squad leader.
But in this mode, the squad leader was no longer a separate class, and no longer had the ability to place outposts and supply stations.
—After a player died, they could only respawn within the occupied strongholds.
"This map… is so bright?" The valiant Sniper was a little unsure, and even glanced at Illusory Moon.
"It seems like it." Illusory Moon nodded, "Even if the test version was sunny, the desert was a bit gray, but now it's too bright and clean."
"Isn't this great!" Seven Flowers was happy.
The golden sand sea under the sunlight was clean and beautiful, even more beautiful than tourist attractions in real life.
Orange Juice agreed: "Yeah, it's much better than being gray with smoke and dust."
While the valiant Sniper and the others were still chatting, teammates far and near had already rushed out of the spawn point and headed towards the middle of the map.
Three troop transport vehicles, a tank, and even six horses were running at the forefront of the charge, leaving everyone else in the dust.
"Huh? They're already charging?" The valiant Sniper felt the pace was a bit fast, "Aren't we going to discuss tactics or anything?"
"Not even dividing the troops or coordinating infantry and tanks, just a hard charge??"
A passing stranger glanced at him and made an inexplicable laugh.
"What are you laughing at?" The valiant Sniper didn't understand.
But the man ignored him and ran off on his own.
The valiant Sniper was at a loss.
He raised his head, looked at the battlefield in front of him, and once again realized the huge difference between this mode and [Hell on Earth]—
The victory of the battle wasn't about who captured all the strongholds and territories first and invaded the opponent's headquarters.
But rather which side's victory points reached 1000 first.
—Occupying strongholds could continuously generate points, and killing opponents would also earn points.
In the distant sky, clear shield-shaped stronghold markers floated.
There weren't even stronghold names written on them, but rather simple and clear labels with the letters [A], [B], [C], [D], [E] to facilitate player communication and identification.
The semi-transparent real-time map in the lower left corner of the field of view allowed players to see their own position and direction, as well as the green dots of their teammates and the blue dots of their comrades.
This completely eliminated the possibility of "getting lost" and "not being able to find teammates."
During the first encounter, thanks to his familiarity with the map, the valiant Sniper also keenly noticed:
The map in this mode looked the same as [Hell on Earth], but it was actually smaller.
The travel time was significantly reduced!
When they reached the front line and started the stronghold battle, more subtle differences continued to emerge:
There was no friendly fire damage from guns, so you no longer had to worry about stray bullets hitting friendly forces.
You could see your own health bar.
Getting injured no longer affected your actions.
—In [Hell on Earth], shooting would become slower if your arm was injured, running would be slower if your leg was injured, and breathing would accelerate and the gun muzzle would become unstable if your torso was injured.
But in [War Zone], at most, your vision would be slightly red when you were low on health, and it wouldn't affect your physical functions.
You didn't have to find a corner to squat and slowly bandage yourself after being injured—as long as you were out of combat, your character would start breathing and regenerating health, and would be fully healed in a few seconds.
Even if you weren't out of combat, the medic could throw a medkit at you from afar, and you'd be cured instantly!
Medical boxes, ammunition boxes, and throwable boxes on the ground no longer needed to be interacted with, and would automatically replenish your resources when you got close.
The effective occupation range of the stronghold was no longer just the circle on the map, but rather a clear halo visible to the naked eye.
…
The more the valiant Sniper played, the more surprised he became.
The various details that constituted the flesh and blood of [Hell on Earth] were mercilessly discarded in this mode.
Giving up these details greatly reduced the game's sense of realism, immersion, and tension.
But it also resulted in a faster pace and more enjoyable combat!
Fear, tension, and hesitation were all cast aside.
Environment, history, physical fitness, supplies, and even tactics… all other trivial matters were cut away, and players were left with only one focus—
[Combat!]
Easy health regeneration was for fearless combat!
Clear strongholds were to gather everyone together for combat!
Convenient supplies were for worry-free combat!
Smaller maps were for quickly joining the battle after respawning!
Tanks, planes, howitzers, and anti-aircraft guns were for more intense combat!
Kill notifications and point rewards were to give you real-time feedback and make you fall in love with combat!
…
Anyway, it was just combat! Combat! Combat!
Everything was for combat!
After understanding all of this, the valiant Sniper finally understood why that passerby laughed before.
Command?
Not needed!
Even communication was optional!
Just charge!
He quickly integrated into the battlefield, abandoned the Commander's mindset, and started charging and killing everywhere with his squad!
In the intense stronghold battle, enemy fighters swooped down for low-altitude strafing.
In [Hell on Earth], the valiant Sniper would definitely shout "Take cover!" and hide.
But now…
"Charge, charge, charge!"
While firing at the fighter, he charged into the stronghold building with Orange Juice while enduring the strafing!
The enemy inside wasn't surprised by their appearance either, and immediately started shooting.
The valiant Sniper sprayed all the bullets from his submachine gun, and threw away the gun and drew his waist knife before he could reload.
Orange Juice threw a smoke grenade, and white smoke covered the entire first floor lobby.
In the almost invisible white smoke, the valiant Sniper followed his memory and feeling, hacking and jumping left and right, killing four people in a row without dying!
"Hahahahaha cough cough cough, so awesome!!" The valiant Sniper gasped for breath and laughed wildly.
"Combat! Awesome!"
At his feet, Orange Juice cursed: "Awesome my ass!! You animal!! Did you even cut your teammates?!"
—Teammate damage immunity was only limited to bullets, not melee weapons.
"Sorry, sorry haha, I can't see you."
"Forget it, this point should be taken down, I'll just respawn here later."
"Okok." The valiant Sniper nodded.
He picked up an SMLE rifle, climbed to the top of the building, occupied the highest point, supported his teammates who were still fighting, and defended against the opponent's counterattack.
He happily got a few kills and was feeling happy when he suddenly heard the sound of propellers spinning closer and closer.
He turned his head sharply and raised his gun to counterattack!
—So what if it was a fighter?
Who said a bolt-action rifle couldn't take down a fighter?!
This was the confidence that playing [War Zone] brought him!
Unfortunately, before he could aim at the cockpit, the fighter roared past.
The valiant Sniper felt a heavy blow to his right shoulder!
The next second, his vision suddenly rose! The ground became more and more distant!
He looked left and right in a daze, and finally said in disbelief:
"What the f*ck?"
"Am I hanging on the wing??"
"Can you even do that???"
