[Match Resumed]
[Score: Team A (3) - Team B (1)]
[Objective: Score 2 more goals.]
The ball rolled.
Enzo, the small playmaker with the goggles, didn't pass back this time. He tapped the ball forward, his eyes scanning the field like a radar.
He had the Coach's orders burned into his brain: Feed the Cannon.
"Go!" Enzo screamed.
The Team B left-back, a nervous kid named Paul, sprinted down the flank. Enzo whipped a pass towards him.
Team A's midfielder intercepted it easily.
"Too predictable!" Jerome shouted from the back, laughing. "You think we don't know you want to pass to the big guy?"
Jerome pointed at Adrian. "Isolate him! Cut the supply lines!"
Adrian stood at the edge of the penalty box. He saw the interception. He saw Team A launching a counter-attack.
Dammit.
His instincts screamed at him to track back. To help the defense. He turned his massive body. He pumped his arms. He dug his cleats into the grass.
Sylvain, Team A's striker, was already forty meters away, sprinting towards Hugo's goal. Adrian was barely crossing the midfield line. He watched, helpless, as his lungs burned.
"I can't catch them," Adrian gritted his teeth, sweat stinging his eyes. "I'm useless without the ball."
Team A's winger crossed it. Sylvain jumped.
Hugo flew through the air, punching the ball away at the last second. A miracle save.
"Wake up!" Hugo roared at his defenders, his face red. "Get the ball to Adrian!"
The ball bounced out to Enzo.
Enzo controlled it with his chest. He was surrounded by three yellow shirts. They were hacking at his ankles, pulling his jersey.
"Adrian!" Enzo gasped, shielding the ball with his weak body.
He couldn't pass. The lane was blocked.
Adrian saw Enzo struggling. He had to move. He had to offer an option.
He saw a gap between the center-backs. If he could just sprint into that space... He pushed off his right foot. He tried to explode into a sprint.
But Jerome was there. The defender didn't even tackle. He just stepped in Adrian's path and used his speed to get to the spot first.
"Too slow, giant!" Jerome mocked, easily intercepting the through ball Enzo tried to force.
Adrian skid to a halt, his chest heaving.
He looked at the System screen floating in his vision.
[Stamina: 65%]
It wasn't working. Trying to run like a normal striker was a waste of energy. Every time he tried to make a run, the defenders just outpaced him. They intercepted the ball before it could even reach his zone.
"I'm doing this wrong," Adrian realized, wiping spit from his mouth.
He looked at the cannon Lucien had drawn on the whiteboard.
"I need to stop moving," Adrian muttered. "I need to park the bus in their box."
Just then, the ball went out of play for a throw-in.
Coach Lucien stepped up to the sideline. He didn't look worried. He looked like a man playing a chess game who was about to promote a pawn.
"Substitution!" Lucien barked.
He held up the board.
OUT: The exhausted Right Winger from Team B.
IN: A short, wiry boy with bleached blonde tips and neon pink boots.
Adrian squinted. He knew this kid. Rayan. He was a new transfer from a street football league in Paris. He had an attitude problem, but everyone knew one thing about him. He was fast.
[Target: Rayan]
[Role: Winger]
[Speed: 92 (S-Rank)]
[Crossing: 85 (B-Rank)]
[Passing: 60]
[Trait: One-Trick Pony (Can only run and cross)]
Adrian's eyes widened. Speed 92? That was nearly Olympic level.
Rayan ran onto the pitch, chewing gum. He walked straight up to Adrian.
"Hey, Big Man," Rayan smirked, popping a bubble. "Coach said you're hungry."
Adrian looked down at the small winger. "I'm starving."
"Cool," Rayan winked. "Just stand in the box and look scary. I'll bring you the food."
The game restarted.
Team B throw-in. Enzo threw the ball to Rayan on the right wing.
Immediately, Team A's left-back, a solid defender named Marc, stepped up. Marc was confident. He had locked down the previous winger all game.
"Fresh meat," Marc sneered.
Rayan stopped the ball dead with his sole. He stood perfectly still.
Then, he twitched.
It was a blur. One second Rayan was standing still, the next he was five meters past Marc. It was pure, raw acceleration.
"What the—?!" Marc spun around, tripping over his own feet.
Rayan didn't cut inside. He didn't try to shoot. He sprinted down the touchline like a cheetah chasing a gazelle. He reached the corner flag in seconds.
Adrian saw the burst of speed.
Adrian didn't sprint. He jogged into the penalty box.
Jerome and another center-back, Lucas, immediately sandwiched him.
"You're not scoring again!" Jerome growled, grabbing Adrian's jersey. "We're going to bury you!"
Adrian felt their arms wrapping around him. Usually, a striker would fall to get a penalty. Adrian smiled.
[Passive Skill: Heavy Tank Active.]
[Strength Comparison: 180 vs (76 + 72)]
He planted his feet. He expanded his chest.
"Move," Adrian said.
Jerome dug his heels in, trying to hold him back. It was like trying to hold back a mudslide. Adrian dragged both defenders with him towards the penalty spot.
Rayan, from the corner, looked up. He saw the mountain of a man surrounded by yellow shirts. Rayan whipped his leg.
The ball soared into the air. It was a high, curling cross. Not a ground pass. Not a low ball. A sky-high bomb dropped right into the danger zone.
"Mine!" The Team A goalkeeper screamed, coming off his line to punch it.
"Block him!" Jerome shouted to Lucas. "Don't let him jump!"
Lucas jumped in front of Adrian. Jerome jumped behind him. They tried to box him out.
Adrian watched the ball spinning in the air.
He didn't need to jump high. He just needed space. He flexed his core.
He threw his elbows back (legally) and expanded his stance. The sheer force of his Strength: 180 created a shockwave.
Lucas was shoved forward two meters. Jerome bounced off Adrian's back like a rubber ball.
Space created.
Adrian stood alone in the center of the storm. The ball was dropping.
The goalkeeper was flying towards him, fist extended.
"I am the stationary king," Adrian thought.
The ball was dropping to chest height. He caught the ball on his chest.
The sound was heavy. The ball died instantly on his sternum, dropping perfectly to his right foot.
The goalkeeper was now in mid-air, sailing past him, having missed the punch because Adrian had bullied the defenders out of the landing zone.
The goal was gaping.
But three more defenders were sliding in to block the shot. A wall of bodies.
Adrian didn't panic. The ball was bouncing slightly off the grass.
He swung his leg. The impact was so loud that Enzo flinched at the halfway line.
The ball turned into a white laser beam. It flew between the legs of one defender, grazed the ear of another, and smashed into the net.
The net stretched to its breaking point, the metal frame of the goal groaning under the impact.
[Ding!]
[GOAL!]
[Score: Team A (3) - Team B (2)]
Adrian stood there, chest heaving. Smoke cleared.
Rayan was already running over, laughing maniacally. "I told you! I bring the food, you eat!"
Jerome was sitting on the grass, looking at his teammates. "He... he just moved us. He just walked through us."
Adrian pointed at the goal.
"One more," he roared. "Give me one more!"
Minute 75.
The momentum had completely flipped.
Team A was terrified. They had been leading 3-1 comfortably. Now it was 3-2, and there was a monster in the box and a speed demon on the wing.
Every time Rayan got the ball, the Team A defense panicked. They shifted two players to the wing to stop him.
Which meant...
"Middle is open!" Enzo shouted.
Enzo received the ball in the center. Because Team A was terrified of the wing, Enzo had space.
He looked up.
Adrian was wrestling with Jerome again at the top of the box. It looked like a WWE match. Jerome was pulling Adrian's shirt so hard it was tearing.
"Ref!" Adrian yelled, but the whistle didn't blow.
"Fine," Adrian growled.
He turned his back to the goal. He leaned back into Jerome.
Enzo drilled a hard pass into Adrian's feet.
Adrian trapped it. Jerome was practically riding on his back, trying to poke the ball away.
"You can't turn!" Jerome grunted, sweat dripping onto Adrian's neck. "You're too slow to turn!"
Adrian felt Jerome's weight.
Adrian gripped the turf with his toes. He spun.
It was a violent rotation. Jerome, who was leaning on him, lost his support instantly as Adrian spun. Jerome face-planted into the dirt.
Adrian was free. 20 yards out.
"Shoot!" The crowd (the bench players) screamed.
But a defensive midfielder, a big guy named Paul, came sliding in, studs up. He was going to break Adrian's ankles.
Time slowed.
[Ding!]
[Option A: Dodge (Fail chance 99% due to low agility)]
[Option B: Shoot through him.]
[Option C: Pass?]
Adrian laughed internally. Pass?
He looked at the sliding tackle coming in. He looked at the ball. He wound up his leg.
He kicked the ball at the exact moment the defender arrived. His foot connected with the ball, and his follow-through connected with the defender's sliding leg.
With Strength 180, Adrian didn't feel pain.
The defender, however, yelped as the force of the kick knocked his leg backward.
The ball rocketed off Adrian's foot. It had so much topspin it looked like it was going over the bar, then dipped violently at the last second.
The goalkeeper stood rooted to the spot. He didn't even dive. He just watched the blur.
The ball hit the underside of the crossbar.
It bounced down across the line.
And bounced back up into the roof of the net.
[Ding!]
[GOAL!]
[HAT-TRICK COMPLETED!]
[Objective: The First Slap... COMPLETE.]
Score: Team A (3) - Team B (3)
The training ground erupted. Even Coach Lucien threw his notebook on the ground.
Adrian stood tall, his shirt torn, his socks down, mud on his knees. He looked like a gladiator who had just killed a lion.
He looked at Jerome, who was still on the ground.
He looked at the Coach.
And then, a blue screen filled his vision, brighter than ever before.
[Mission Complete.]
[Rewards Calculated...]
[New Skill Unlocked: Ball Magnet.]
[Bonus Reward: ?????]