One Step Ahead
This is fun.
Vines shredded away as Choco launched into the air.
Even with a flag strapped to her back, her skill retained its full force — technique, it seemed, was still technique.
Speed was the only thing lacking.
The balance adjustments had clearly taken their toll, leaving Choco far slower than usual, but it didn't matter.
Click. Click.
Violet cubes materialized at the tips of her feet.
The cubes warped into rounded shapes, working like accelerators.
Pro matches are team games.
Choco was never fighting alone.
KWAAAAAH—!
The instant the cubes' accelerators kicked in, Choco reclaimed her true speed, crossed the field in a single breath, and whipped her twin spears around in a blinding arc.
"Not so fast!"
KAGAGAGAK!!
Choco's twin spearwork gnawed viciously at the barrier, but the WoW mages poured out every drop of their mana to hold the attack back.
"Hah!"
Some of the mages, finding their hands suddenly free, seized the opening and unleashed offensive spells of their own.
Fire, lightning, and water swirled together in a single blended assault.
It was a fierce enough attack — but their opponent was Choco, rank four.
Crude, half-baked magic hastily thrown together stood no chance against her, Baekseol or not.
Shrugging off every point of damage through the cubes' protection and her own defenses, Choco began winding up another massive technique.
This time, just a little stronger.
"...!"
"Insane!"
A storm descended.
The fortress-like barrier that seemed capable of nullifying anything was torn apart by the gale.
KWAJAJAJAK!!
The barrier shattered a second time.
Just as the mages scrambled to rebuild it, Choco let out a tremendous shout toward the sky.
"ASA!"
In that instant, the sky above the field went dark.
No — an illusion. The sky hadn't darkened at all.
"You dare call upon me!"
KUUUUM!
Something enormous had simply crashed down above the mages and Choco.
Team CO's tank, Asa, had arrived before Choco in an instant through his unique trait, Call Upon Me!
A trait that guaranteed he would appear directly in front of any designated teammate the moment they called his name, wherever they might be.
Enlarging the two shields mounted on his arms, Asa charged forward in one motion.
Two mages were mowed down by his tank-like advance and went tumbling into the distance.
In that gap, Choco cut down a mage and swiftly tore the enemy flag from the fortress wall.
The fortress felt the flag ripped from her back and spun around — but it was already too late.
Carrying two flags, Choco was already clinging to Asa's back.
"You're slow as a slug."
"Damn it! Block them!"
"Moving out, Choco!"
"Nine-tails! Roast them!"
Asa, bearing the severely slowed Choco on his back, was about to charge straight into the distance when his footsteps ground to a halt.
"Grrriiii…"
A nine-tailed fox of flame blocked Asa's path, radiating sweltering heat.
The summon called forth by Ark, one of the mages sent sprawling moments ago — a Tamer Mage.
KWAAAAAAAH!!!
As a torrent of blazing heat erupted from the beast like a dragon's breath, Asa crossed the shields on both arms before his face and gritted his teeth.
He could have punched through the fox's power on his own — but with the field boosting magic and Choco weighing on his back, he couldn't advance recklessly.
Push forward now, and he risked melting in that heat and retiring from the match for five full minutes.
Choco's stats had dropped hard and her stamina was spent; support was out of the question.
TA—ANG! TA—ANG!
Gunner was keeping the fortress from closing in, but she had a poor matchup against the fox, which was something like a spirit itself.
And the sky was simply too far to reach.
Sssssk… The shields were slowly melting away.
"What do we do? At this rate, Baekseol will be on us."
"......Hold on."
"We're out of time. Just hand me the flags. I'll break out on my own if I have to."
"You take a flag and you're a roast pig in two seconds, idiot."
"...Then what's your plan?"
"......"
Choco's mind raced.
If her condition were normal — no, if she weren't lugging two flags around in the first place — she could have shredded that fox to ribbons without breaking a sweat.
But not now.
By the original plan, Asa's Assault Slam was supposed to land a stun, and they should have been clear of the field before the fox or any other spell could come out.
In practice, one of the mages had gone into stun, but the tamer's signature resistance meant the stun barely registered.
That was why she'd aimed to kill the tamer instead of the other mage — and yet…
Tch. Of course the tamer had to be standing way back.
Whatever the cause, the plan had gone sideways. That much was fact.
And the only thing that mattered in this situation wasn't regret. It was a choice.
What skills do I have left?
Mythic-grade item?
She had a shield, yes — but that had to be saved for blocking Baekseol's attacks during a ten-minute retreat.
Use it now, and defeat was guaranteed.
Straining her body for a skill was also on hold, and no remaining technique could kill the fox.
The answer was…
KWAAAAAH!!
"Choco!"
"...Use that thing."
"What?"
"Use Mirror Cube!"
"What? But that's supposed to stay hidden until the melee rou—"
"Better than giving away Round 1! Now!"
Far off in the distance, Baekseol was already bearing down on them, ice whirling in her wake.
Even if they killed the fox here, they'd be caught by Baekseol.
"Hurry!"
"Where do you think you're going! Haneul!"
"Damn it…"
Asa deflected the incoming ice lances with his shields, then crushed the twelve-faced cube tucked at his chest.
Zzzzzt!
And they were gone.
Left behind were ice lances striking nothing but empty air.
WHOOOAAAH!!
"Wow... incredible."
"...Yeah."
Yena and I were both in awe.
No — the entire stadium was.
Choco and her tank Asa had escaped by the narrowest of margins, and the whole crowd had gasped as one.
It felt like a scene straight out of a movie; exclamations poured out on their own.
— By the barest of margins, Team CO escapes successfully!
— What just happened?! Team CO, who were in a desperate crisis, have vanished! We saw a cube there, didn't we?
— It appears to be player Rater's skill. I suppose you'd call it a hidden trump card? A spatial relocation technique that teleports designated players to a pre-set location…
On screen, Team CO could be seen emerging from a cube planted somewhere in the map's far reaches.
They immediately fell into a defensive posture and began regrouping.
"This is fun."
Far more fun than I'd expected.
I hadn't imagined it would be like this.
I'd assumed it would be about the level of the mock siege battles I'd played or watched before —
Not even close.
Choco and Baekseol's skill was worth watching, and the pros weren't so far behind that it felt like a mismatch.
The exchanges between the players were ferocious, and not a single one of them stood head and shoulders above the rest.
Even when someone gained the upper hand, they inevitably hit a wall and felt the bite of running out of stamina.
The two sides traded near-victories back and forth, and only at the very final, desperate crisis did one team scrape free by a hair's breadth, drawing closer to victory.
"Right? That's exactly why pro matches are so popular. The two teams are so evenly matched you genuinely can't tell who's going to win."
— Baekseol is seeding Ice Blossoms across the map as she sweeps it at high speed. It looks difficult to find her, though.
— Even with her position revealed once every three minutes, the map is quite large. Unless they have a player with clairvoyance, there's no catching a Team CO that keeps moving.
— And of all things, the player with clairvoyance happens to be… Gunner. Of Team CO.
— What an unfortunate matchup.
— Unfortunate indeed.
The WoW mages scoured the map to the limit, but it was useless.
The map built for pros and rankers was very, very vast, and once CO committed to running, there was simply no catching them.
With one minute left, they finally managed to track down Choco — but she summoned her hoarded Mythic-grade shield to hold the line, and time ran out on the match.
— The match… has ended! The winner of Round 1 is Team C.O!!
WHOOOAAAH!!
Cheers rolled across the stadium as the CO players on screen waved happily to the crowd.
The WoW team, by contrast, wore somewhat gloomy expressions.
It had been a match where the flag-stealers of WoW held the advantage — and far better odds of winning.
In truth, even with CO's strategy prepared flawlessly, they'd nearly lost.
Had Rater not pulled out that trump card, the winner would have been WoW.
Baekseol, the team captain, calmly patted her teammates on the backs and exited the map to prepare for the next match.
— A surprising match, wasn't it?
— Absolutely! I'd say this match neatly demolished the assumption that "the flag-stealing side, WoW, obviously has the upper hand!"
— Chukachip certainly used her synergy with her teammates beautifully to forge that victory. It's a little disappointing Haneul couldn't shine more… but there will be plenty of chances next time, won't there?
— That's right. By the nature of flag-stealing, the map had to be large — but the other arenas are far smaller than this one.
The commentators' banter carried on a while longer, then the shot zoomed slowly out from the panel, accompanied by a familiar tune.
Break time, then?
— The match selection for Round 2 belongs to WoW. Will they choose the team melee as everyone expects? Or will they pull off an upset of their own, like Team CO did? We'll be right back.
— See you in fifteen minutes, for Round 2!
The screen fully transitioned, and highlights from Round 1 began replaying across the giant display.
I watched the key plays, felt a glow of satisfaction, and turned to Yena.
Yena stretched with a grumpy groan, letting out a long mrroww… of a sound.
"It's break time, so you can go use the restroom if you want."
"I'm good."
"Then… oh, I'll go grab something. There's tons of food in the VIP lounge. Want me to bring you some?"
"Hmm… just some snacks? Don't go overboard."
"Yessir."
Yena scampered off.
Just then the highlights ended, and an interview with the spectators seated in the stands came on.
Given how bright it was outside, it must have been filmed beforehand.
"Huh, so even the audience gets featured…"