Chapter 177: Collateral Damage

“Team Steve’s Stunners wish to use a battle pass.”

Steve announced firmly before the referee. He looked at Eren standing outside the battle ring in the crowd of the audience after he did that.

The butcher nodded at Steve after that declaration, giving him the confirmation he needed to proceed as planned. Steve Stunner had three of the White Raven Crew’s regular members- Steve, Becky, and Jake. The other two positions in the squad were filled by the regular members of the Ron’s Raiders.

“Eren Idril, what is the meaning of this? Why are you using your remaining battle pass on a losing team?”

Ron, who was standing not far from Eren couldn’t help ask Eren about his latest scheme. The latter chuckled at him before replying:

“You say that our alliance is going to stay in effect after the mandatory matches. I’ll use my battle passes however I want. That’s not for you to decide anyway, whether the alliance stays or disperses.”

“But what will you gain by using the battle pass on the losing team?”

Ron was still trying to make sense out of Eren’s actions. By now he had understood that everything Eren did was somehow preordained to be extremely advantageous to him.

“Who says Steve’s Stunners are going to lose?”

Eren asked Ron with plain expressions on his face. He looked as if it was getting boring for him to talk to the berserker.

“You mean the battle pass that Steve is going to use is that potent?”

“*Sigh. Well, I’ll give you a hint. Remember the clause that we had for the squads we deemed as losing squads.”

Ron then tried to again recollect the contract he had with Eren regarding the alliance. The clauses seemed to have been the key. His mind slowly processed the advantages Eren would gain after this losing team stops being a losing team.

Ron and Eren had divided their teams into multiple squads. As per their agreement, or according to how Ron’s team was made to interpret, only the squad Eren, Renita, Ron, and Dino was part of was supposed to win the inter-year ranking war, cutting the team’s overall losses.

The rest of the squads made up of the rest of the members from White Raven Crew and Ron’s Raiders were termed as bare-minimum gangs. They were only meant to participate in their compulsory inter-year ranking wars and be done with them for the time being.

That’s why Ron didn’t object when Eren proposed that both their teams would bear the betting amount value individually as per the Squad Leader. That meant the squad Steve was leading would have its entire betting amount paid by members of White Raven Crew. Ron’s Raiders would have to pay the betting amount for the squad their team member was going to lead.

Of course, that also meant that in the event of the squads winning their matches, the winning amount would go to the team who had paid the betting amount. This was one of the clauses of the alliance contract set specifically for the bare minimum gangs.

Ron didn’t find anything wrong with the clause at that point because either team was not gaining or losing anything because of their clauses. But that equalization was based on the fact that all the bare minimum gangs either won their matches or lost them.

But what if the squad White Raven Crew was responsible for winning their matches while the squad Ron’s Raiders was in charge of losing theirs? Then that would benefit Eren even more, and all the consequences of losing the matches will only be carried by Ron’s team.

Ron’s rage was influencing him to forget about LA’s rules and attack the wretched bastard known as Eren Idril right then and there. He had shafted him and his entire team with the kind of manipulation he had woven into the very fabric of the alliance contract.

“The battle passes!

You sly bastard, which one is it? The fact that you didn’t use it in our match and let Steve have it to be used in his match means it is better than the one you had used earlier. Tell me which damn battle pass you handed over to your berserker.”

Asked Ron while clenching his fist. His nails had dug into his skin as a result, making his hand bleed a little. But Ron was too angry to care about the self-inflicted injury he was currently suffering from.

“Why don’t you find out yourself? Look.”

Eren didn’t mind the derogatory term he was assigned and pointed at the battlefield without looking at the angry berserker. Ron had to follow his direction and pay attention to the scenes unfolding on the battlefield again.

The referee confirmed the battle pass Eren had shared with Steve on his Spectral Screen and nodded before announcing loudly:

“Steve Austin is using the battle pass Collateral Damage. He can make up to three members of his team leave the battlefield. In exchange, his opponent team would have to withdraw one additional member in addition to the same number.

Steve, you can now choose the members of your team as well as that of your opponent’s team that will withdraw from the match.”

Ron’s face lost its colour after he heard the referee’s announcement. This battle pass was tailored to pave the way for Eren’s betrayal.

Objectively looking, the battle pass Keep One Out Eren had used in his match had more value than the one Steve was going to use. That’s because Eren’s battle pass didn’t demand a sacrifice from his team to inflict damage on his opponent.

Collateral Damage was more useful only when the squad was confident in fighting with a reduced number of people than its projected arrangement. No other team would normally use this kind of battle pass as it would synchronize its teamplay heavily.

But Steve, Becky, and Jake were perfectly fine with the other two members from Ron’s Raiders getting eliminated. They preferred it that way too. That’s because they were expecting the same form of betrayal from those two members as the one their hidden leader had pulled on their team in his match, should they be allowed to battle in Steve’s squad.

As he expected, Steve chose the only two members of Ron’s Raiders to get withdrawn from the match. And in exchange, he was allowed to eliminate three members of the opponent team even before they started with the match.

Steve did what he was asked to do by Eren and eliminated three battle oriented rankers from the opponent’s team without wasting time pondering over it.

Now Steve’s squad had three members including him while his opponent had only two. And one of them belonged to a non-combat class, a healer.

Steve had already set a hefty betting amount before the start of the match. And least to say, his squad won the match, raking in a big haul of Merps.

The next match the alliance fought had a member of Ron’s Raiders serving as the squad leader. It was a seven-person squad. Ramy, Ana, and Bell were part of this squad. Needless to say, Eren’s winning streak ended at this point and the squad lost big time.

But the butcher didn’t plan on making the squad his remaining members were part of to win their battle anyway. He was okay with his newbie members testing the taste of defeat while ensuring that Ron’s Raiders get almost a whole lot of nothing from the alliance.

With this, Eren had made the maximum use of battle passes he had earned. He had even scored profit from the one that was self-inflicting in nature.

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