NOVEL NEXT Chapter 78: Double Loss
Now that their points had risen to fourteen, just one point below the upperclassmen, the sophomores aimed for another run to gain two extra points.
Should they succeed, they would surpass the juniors by one point. As they all gathered for a scrimmage, the ball was snapped to Snow, who quickly fell back as chaos ensued.
The juniors were more brutal this time, with the triplets, Tank, and others barrelling through those blocking them and charging toward Snow.
Snow nodded at Godfrey but twisted his waist and tossed the ball to Siegfried, who was currently in the clear.
Siegfried danced through the field, slipping through defenders with deft skill, but he was pulled down at the twenty-four-yard mark.
For this field, which was double the size of an actual gridiron football field due to the super strength of the players, such distance was accountable for another down.
At the second scrimmage, the moment the ball was snapped, some offenders were injured due to the intensity of the clash, but Snow was able to throw the ball to Dale.
Dale deftly caught the forward pass but was instantly brought down after moving a few metres, facing Yuan, who tackled him to the ground.
The field was filled with tension as it seemed like the juniors were ready to do everything to stop the sophomores from scoring another point.
"If they can pull the others down and not Godfrey, doesn't this mean he's physically stronger than most of the top boys in our class?" Rowana said.
"Even Jon couldn't push him into the endzone," Ysabel muttered.
"He's not worth anything if he can't get the ball," Lilith retorted with a confident tone.
On the sophomores' third down, Snow gave a lateral pass to Orwen, who evaded one defender and tossed the ball backward from beneath his legs to Snow as the chaos around him grew heated.
The moment the ball left him, everyone diverted their attention to Snow, who had already gotten into his stance. He hurtled the ball forward, to the right.
As it spiralled beautifully through the air, many eyes followed it. Godfrey leaped three meters high, catching the ball with both hands.
Gregory's eyes widened.
He saw that two juniors were with him, they jumped at the same time and even held Godfrey down, but even under such weight, Godfrey was able to reach three meters, successfully possessing the ball.
Just then, when all that remained was for Godfrey to land and begin his run, ice burst out of the field, slamming him and the two juniors off the field and into the bleachers, opening a hole due to their crash.
Edric raised his hands up. "Oops!" he exclaimed with fake innocence as the referee tossed a yellow flag. "It was a mistake, an honest mistake."
Edric didn't speak much when an announcement was made swiftly, disqualifying him from the match. Echo was the only skill allowed during the game, and it was to be used on oneself, not directly offensive on others.
Medics rushed over, led by the school nurse, Julia. The two juniors were unconscious with lots of cuts on their bodies, all done by the jagged ice.
The chill had also seeped into their bodies. "Godfrey is inside the hole, bring him out!" As Julia commanded the others, Godfrey came out from the hole in the bleachers.
Julia's eyes widened at his left arm. The bone was broken, making his arm seem like it had an additional joint. White mist billowed off the arm.
A diagram appeared, and Julia's dove flew out, releasing its healing light right after two medics snapped the bone back into place, giving Godfrey something to bite.
His grunt was loud. At a certain point, cold brought an unbearable pain, pain that exceeded a broken bone. It felt like one arm was gone.
Isolde's golden-orange eyes were wide with anger. She could tell that Edric did that on purpose, even sacrificing two of his classmates in order to get Godfrey off the game on grounds of an injury.
Though the damages like the cuts and broken bones could be fixed instantly, the chill would take a while to expel.
"You won't be able to play. It's best if you rest, you've already tried," Julia said softly, staring at Godfrey's solemn face.
She did not need a face reader to tell that Godfrey was angry.
"I can still play," he replied.
"But your arm!" Julia exclaimed, but Godfrey rose to his feet, slowly clenching his fist and opening it. She could see his fingers tremble just from such a simple action.
"I'm good."
Godfrey walked back onto the field. If he left the field, Edric had succeeded, but that was the last thing he would do.
"Where's Percival?!" Jon asked, looking for Percival to replace Edric.
"He's not going to back down easily. He's back on the field," Leofric said, and Jon looked, his eyes narrowing when he saw Godfrey back on the field.
"Percival didn't show up and has not responded to his text," Yuan reported to Jon, whose expression changed when he heard that. This meant he had lost Edric and Percival, his ace wasn't there.
Did this mean they would have to replace Edric with a second-rate player? He had thought Percival would be here by now since he told him several times that he would be important from the second half.
Jon clenched his fist.
"His left arm isn't good. We can exploit that," Tank suggested, only for Godfrey to cover his left arm with golden plates.
A pauldron at the shoulder, rerebrace at the upper arm, couter at the elbow, vambrace at the forearm, and gauntlet for the hand.
It looked quite imposing as he clenched his gauntleted hand and golden lightning crackled through it.
"Is that allowed?!" Jon turned to the referee, who went for an enquiry and returned with a nod that took the smile from the juniors' faces.
Apparently, it was equally just an Echo. Since they could strengthen their skin with the hides of their summons, the armour was just like the hide of Godfrey's summon!
Though it was quite dangerous, since one of his arms was down by a deliberate foul, it was permitted.
Had they unintentionally made Godfrey even more of a threat at the expense of losing a talented player?
This was a double loss!
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A/N: "..."