Chapter 423: Just Hold On
Normally, players couldn't bring their own gear into the Prika Arena. The moment they stepped inside, their equipment was forcibly unequipped, only to be restored upon exit. The only things they could use were the basic starter items provided by the arena!
Yet, Tae-hyun had pocketed every single piece of that basic gear. He had a very specific use for them.
I'll use my Engineering and Blacksmithing skills to craft makeshift bombs and traps on the fly.
Their raw power would be lower than usual, but all players in the Prika Arena were scaled down to Level 100 anyway. Even weakened bombs would deal more than enough effective damage.
"Whew, huff..." Beside him, Cain inhaled and exhaled with a tense, nervous expression.
There was a very good reason for Cain's anxiety.
"The Canadian national team is strong. They aren't a team that reacts to their opponents; they choose the tactics they're best at and force others to adapt."
As always, Lee Se-yeon was the one handling the tedious prep work. Do Dong-su was off in the corner, pouting with an "I'm not playing with you guys" attitude. Kim Chul-soo was kind-hearted but simply wasn't cut out for leadership. Cain was even less of a candidate. And Tae-hyun? He had simply shrugged off the responsibility, saying, "Haha, the group leader should lead the group project, of course."
"If you look at their match footage, the Canadian team begins and ends with this player, Evangeline. She's essentially their core."
On the screen, Evangeline's rampage was absolutely overwhelming.
Even with everyone stripped of their gear and scaled down to Level 100, she possessed a monstrous strength that pushed others back by sheer physics! It wasn't just a matter of good control. Tae-hyun recognized it instantly.
She's benefiting from her class traits.
The heroic class Vampire locked the user's Luck stat at -999 as a massive misfortune penalty, but in exchange, it granted various stat buffs and incredibly powerful skills. With those traits, it was a class that truly shined in an arena like this!
"Evangeline plays the tank role, and they have a Spearman as a melee damage dealer. Then there's a Priest, a Mage, and an Archer. They're all decent, but Evangeline's aggressive charge is the real threat. She's technically a tank, but if you look at her damage output, she easily rivals any damage dealer."
MBS analyzed the detailed statistics of each match and posted them on a public website. Tae-hyun hadn't bothered to look, of course. The site also featured a ranking of the damage dealt by each player.
"Huh? I'm in first place?"
"Isn't that just because they counted the damage from the fire you started?"
"But I'm first in kills too, aren't I?"
"Probably because they counted your kill on Do Dong-su."
Hearing the exchange between Tae-hyun and Cain, Do Dong-su's face twitched. Lee Se-yeon pointed a finger at the two of them, warning them to behave.
"Both of you, quiet. Anyway, whether it's a blessing or a curse, this match is a straightforward head-on clash. It's nice that we don't have to worry about splitting up our forces, but it also means we have to face that raw firepower head-on. Assuming we each handle the player matching our own position, the one who has to deal with Evangeline is..."
Everyone in the room turned their heads to look at Cain.
"...Huh?"
"Do your best."
"W-What?"
As the team's tank, it was only natural for Cain to face Evangeline. Realizing this, Cain's face stiffened into a mask of dread.
"Do you think I can stop her?"
"Hmm. Honestly? Probably not."
"...Did you really have to be that honest right now?"
They were right on the verge of the match! Would it have killed him to offer a few empty words of encouragement? But Tae-hyun remained ruthlessly pragmatic.
"What do you want me to do, lie? Do you have control as good as mine?"
"No..."
"Do you have a class like Evangeline's?"
"M-My class is the same grade as hers!"
Aykisus's Slave and Vampire. Both were of the same grade, but they felt worlds apart.
"Well, Aykisus's Slave is a good class, but the one with the advantage in the arena is definitely the Vampire."
Cain's class was actually quite decent in the arena as well. This was especially true because he was fighting alongside Tae-hyun, the Pope of the Archisus Cult, which allowed him to benefit from additional synergy buffs. However, Cain had changed his class midway through his journey, whereas Evangeline had fought with her class from the very beginning. In terms of skill levels and the sheer variety of abilities at her disposal, Evangeline held an undeniable advantage.
"In the first place, every class has different traits, so you can't make a simple comparison just because they're the same grade. Evangeline's class is just too well-suited for the Prika Arena."
"T-Then what am I supposed to do?"
"Just hold on. Surely you can manage at least that much."
"What?"
Cain was dumbfounded. He had expected Tae-hyun, of all people, to offer some brilliant, out-of-the-box strategy.
"What do you mean, 'what'? Did you think I had some grand master plan to teach you? There is no such thing. If I had something like that, I would've taught you long ago. Why would I wait until now and mess up our coordination?"
"Ugh..." Hearing it laid out like that, it actually made perfect sense!
"Besides, secret strategies only work if you have the skill to back them up. If I give you some half-baked plan, you'll only end up fumbling it."
"But just holding on doesn't feel like it accomplishes anything!"
"It accomplishes plenty. When I say 'just hold on,' I mean literally do nothing but defend. Don't let your pride get the better of you just because you're facing another tank, and don't go trying to trade blows with her."
Cain stared at Tae-hyun, his face betraying that his innermost thoughts had been laid bare. How did this bastard know?
This was a tournament match, after all. Countless viewers were watching them. Naturally, he felt the pressure to perform. I absolutely refuse to end up like Do Dong-su!
Do Dong-su had won his match, but because he had contributed absolutely nothing of value, he had become a laughingstock! Comments like "Isn't he just getting carried?" and "Even I could play better than that" were everywhere. It was easy to laugh when it was someone else, but the thought of it happening to him sent a shiver down Cain's spine.
Regardless of Cain's internal crisis, Tae-hyun pressed on.
"No matter how crazed Evangeline's rampage gets, if you focus entirely on defense without trying to trade damage, she won't be able to break you immediately."
"So I just turtle up? But what's the point of just surviving?"
"We'll win the match in the meantime."
"..."
Cain was left speechless. What staggering confidence! Yet, when he thought about it, Tae-hyun had earned the right to speak with such certainty. In fact, Cain couldn't even begin to picture Tae-hyun losing.
Ugh. I just hope Do Dong-su embarrasses himself again to draw the attention away from me. Cain could only pray that Do Dong-su would act as a lightning rod for public ridicule.
"Let's go all out from the very start. We press them hard and don't give them a single moment to breathe."
"Are you sure about this? Isn't that a bit too reckless?"
"This is actually the safer route. If we give that Kim Tae-hyun any time, there's no telling what kind of insane stunt he'll pull!"
At Evangeline's warning, the Canadian players nodded in unison. They, too, had meticulously analyzed the footage of Tae-hyun's team. Setting an entire forest on fire was a strategy so absurd that it still boggled their minds.
"If Evangeline says so, she's probably right!"
"We've prepared countermeasures for everything they can throw at us. Let's go!"
With a grand, echoing chime signaling the start of the match, the waiting room doors slid open. Evangeline and her teammates charged forward with fierce momentum. In the distance stood a massive stone bridge, suspended over a bottomless, yawning abyss. This map forced a direct, head-on confrontation atop a bridge so wide it resembled a grand boulevard.
"Tsk. If I had my hammer, I could've just collapsed the bridge," Tae-hyun muttered as he spotted the Canadian team charging from afar. The arena's restrictions stripped away most of his usual underhanded strategies, forcing him to fight with his hands tied. The truly remarkable thing was that he still managed to win despite that...
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Evangeline charged straight ahead, her heavy armor clanking with formidable weight. Seeing her head-on assault, Tae-hyun's entire team clicked their tongues. To charge so confidently when facing a team with multiple high-burst damage dealers... she clearly possessed absolute confidence in her ability to withstand whatever they threw at her!
"We're not shooting?"
"Yeah. It's better to hold our fire."
Great minds think alike. Tae-hyun and Lee Se-yeon were in perfect agreement. It was obvious that the enemy Priest had cast a protective blessing on Evangeline, and Evangeline herself had stacked her own defensive buffs. There was no need to waste their skills attacking an opponent who was so heavily fortified. Meanwhile, Cain asked in an anxious voice:
"Chains? Should I use my chains?"
"No. Don't." Even though Cain's Chains skill was available, Tae-hyun held him back. His instincts were screaming that using it now would be a mistake.
She's baiting us. Evangeline seemed to be charging blindly, but she was subtly positioning herself to shield her teammates from Cain's line of sight. In other words, she was trying to bait Cain into using his Chains on her! Though he couldn't pinpoint her exact scheme, one thing was certain.
I'm not going to let her have her way.
Tsk. Sharp bastard! Evangeline clicked her tongue inwardly. Her first trap had failed. If Cain had pulled her in with his chains, she had planned to unleash a devastating chain of counter-skills to deal a massive blow right off the bat. Furthermore, neither Lee Se-yeon nor Tae-hyun was making any move to intercept her charge.
I didn't even get to exploit my Curse Reflection. Still, Evangeline didn't let disappointment slow her down. She had achieved her primary objective: closing the distance. Next came the real fight!
"Hyaaaah!"
"Ugh!" Cain let out a pathetic grunt as he raised his shield to defend. Activating her Berserk skill to boost her combat capabilities, Evangeline radiated an overwhelming aura of pure terror, both in appearance and presence.
Boom! Crash! Kaboom!
Crimson skill effects erupted all around them as Cain was pushed further and further back. In that split second, the Canadian Spearman leaped out from behind her. His target was, of course, Cain!
Clang!
"?!?!" But Tae-hyun intervened. Intercepting the Spearman's thrust, Tae-hyun redirected the attack straight back at Evangeline. However, Evangeline was ready to counter.
Red Blood Barrier
Are you kidding me? Watching the redirected attack get deflected right back at him once more, Tae-hyun twisted his body to dodge.
"So close!"
"Just how many skills is she chaining together? She has to be hitting her MP limit soon."
Evangeline didn't bother to reply, immediately turning her sights back onto Cain. Tae-hyun shifted his gaze. The one he needed to deal with right now was the Spearman. Evangeline could be left to Cain—or rather, Cain *had* to hold her. If he couldn't even manage that, this fight was already lost.
Step, step, step!
"Ugh!" The Spearman gasped in shock as Tae-hyun bypassed Evangeline entirely to charge straight at him. To completely ignore an active tank and dive the backline... it was a display of sheer, unimaginable audacity.
"Are you mocking me?!" Infuriated, Evangeline immediately pivoted her sword to slash at Tae-hyun, but Tae-hyun had already anticipated her move.
Circle of Counterattack
A perfect counter-strike redirected straight at the Spearman! Clash! Clang! Both the Spearman and Evangeline recoiled in horror. Tae-hyun was reading their movements perfectly.
"Tsk. I could've finished him there."
"Stay calm! Ignore Kim Tae-hyun and focus on Cain! I'll handle this guy!" the Spearman shouted urgently. They couldn't let Evangeline collapse by falling into Tae-hyun's pace. He had to bind Tae-hyun's movements no matter what.
How is he moving like this? We're both scaled down to Level 100... The Spearman swallowed hard. From the way Tae-hyun had sidestepped Evangeline to the fluid sequence of actions that followed—thinking back on it sent shivers down his spine. Just how many steps ahead had this monster calculated?
Whoosh—thud!
Tae-hyun rolled backward with practiced ease. An arrow thudded into the exact spot where he had been standing a millisecond prior.
"I've got your back! Press him!"
"Thanks!"
Watching them, Tae-hyun muttered, "Where's our backup?"
Lee Se-yeon and Kim Chul-soo were currently pressing the enemy Mage-Priest duo, but it looked like it would take some time to break them. As for the remaining teammate, Do Dong-su... he was charging off all on his own toward the enemy Archer.