(Leo's POV)
Leo was very hyped to see the fight between Jacob and Luke unfold, however, he did not expect the old man to have a mental breakdown midway.
Instead of fighting Luke, Jacob suddenly decided to kill his fellow rankers instead, completely stunning everyone around him, and everyone watching worldwide.
Just like everyone else, Leo could not understand what Jacob hoped to achieve with this insane approach? However, there was an inkling within him that explained Jacob's motivations.
'He shouldn't be doing this to help Luke…. There's no way that old man is anything but selfish,' Leo thought, as he could not bring himself to believe that Jacob was doing this selflessly to help Luke's odds of winning.
However, with no other plausible theory, Leo couldn't help but frown deeply as he watched Jacob's fight progress.
At first, the old man fought truly well, morphing into an unseen before half skeletal form which allowed him to summon and control undead.
'So he's got a unique class–' Leo thought, as he had never seen any other player use a similar ability before and thanks to this ability, it seemed like Jacob could cover his back using his summons while he himself focused on the enemies ahead.
'Good, now veer left and cut another two–' Leo thought as he watched Jacob curse and cut down his opponents like a one man wrecking crew.
At first he was flying, being able to take down 10 opponents without taking a single hit on return, however, as soon as his summons started to die, his momentum wavered as the attacks on his life came from every direction.
"No! No! No! No! No! You old fool….
Don't go near the lava, you will run out of area to maneuver" Leo cursed out loud as he saw Jacob slowly maneuvering towards the lava, which would further limit his options to escape.
However, in a move he never saw coming, at the last moment he turned the tide against those chasing him and sent six players face first into the lava pool while he himself returned to safety.
"Okay, now that's some good shit!" Leo said, as he enjoyed the old man's performance and could not help but cheer him as he took down roughly 15 more opponents.
However, the second phase of his fight was not nearly as entertaining as the first one as with a lack of AOE skills and him being overwhelmed from all sides, he kept bleeding HP till his death.
He fought valiantly, with not a single groan of pain escaping his lips, however, he was out of his depth trying to take on a 100 opponents alone.
Perhaps if he had a 100x HP bar boost like Luke, he could have won this fight, however, with his measly regular bar, 31 opponents were all that he could handle.
Thankfully, he gained 13 levels from killing 31 rankers, which in addition to the 41 levels he gained along the way to the guardian room, put his tally up to 54!
However, unfortunately, he lost 27 of those 54 levels because dying in the guardian room meant that he walked out with only 50% of his gains.
Nonetheless, a 27 level boost in less than 24 hours was a great improvement for him and Jacob felt content with his gains.
"You fought well, old man. You didn't bring shame to our fam—, your military background" Leo muttered, as once Jacob died he turned off the livestream feeling stuffy in his chest for some reason, as although he did not understand why, he felt slightly sad that the old man fell so pitifully.
In his mind he believed he had no soft spot for his father, however, it was moments like these where his true feelings momentarily came forward.
*********
(Meanwhile Luke)
Just like Leo, Luke too felt his eyes twitch with rage when he saw his father being mauled by other rankers.
He too did not understand the motivations behind his father's sudden move, however, regardless of the reason, he was mad that someone from his family was killed so brutally before his very eyes.
*Crunch*
Gritting his teeth, Luke vowed revenge, as he waited angrily for any challenger to dare dart forward.
However, when instead of charging at him they began arguing amongst one another, Luke absolutely lost his cool and started to taunt them all.
"Oh quit arguing amongst yourselves you weasels. The whole global server is watching you! Show some balls and come at me if you dare!" He said, as it was the reminder that all of their actions were being watched in real time that sent many rankers into a frenzy to reach for fame.
Finally, some of them charged towards Luke, jumping on the floating stones as with a flick of his finger Luke detonated the traps he had laid before, crushing some of the floating platforms and sending several rankers down into the lava pits.
"It's rigged! He's planted traps all across!"
"Don't trust the platforms, they're not safe! I repeat, it's not safe!"
"Of course it's not safe, morons," Luke muttered under his breath, his eyes glinting with cold amusement as chaos broke out among the rankers.
He watched with satisfaction as panic rippled through the crowd, some rankers desperately trying to backpedal while others hesitated, realizing too late that their footing was compromised.
Luke couldn't help but smirk as a few of the more reckless players ignored the warnings and charged forward, determined to prove their worth, as with a casual flick of his finger, he triggered another set of traps.
*BOOM*
A massive explosion echoed through the guardian room as chunks of stone crumbled beneath the ranker's feet, sending more of them plunging to the bubbling lava below.
"Idiots. You think you can rush me?" Luke spat, his voice brimming with contempt.
His rage still simmered beneath the surface, fueled by the image of his father's defeat, as every player who fell into the lava only seemed to further ignite the fire in his chest. He needed more—he wanted more, as he wanted to make them all pay for what they had done to Jacob.