A Bit Too Far
"Shit... I completely misjudged him." Tao Chen sighed as he prepared various shields and buffs. He had thought they could hold their ground to some extent even if they clashed head-on in the center as Team KL moved. He had prepared for Tae-hyun flanking them, and he had prepared for him piercing through their formation. The problem was that Tae-hyun's skill level transcended imagination! The countermeasures they had prepared were not enough to hold him down. It wasn't that debuffs or attacks weren't landing, but Tae-hyun shrugged them off, parried them, and somehow took them down one by one. The moment two of them fell, their defeat was already sealed.
Shield of Three Lights and Ancient Hymn took some time to cast, but they were incredibly powerful spells.
If I use them today, the cooldown means I won't be able to use them in the next match... but I have to.
For exceptionally powerful skills, cooldowns weren't measured in minutes or hours, but in days or even months. The cooldown for those two skills was a whopping one week! Managing these cooldowns throughout the league was a skill in itself. Professional gaming organizations went so far as to draw up separate schedules for these skills, managing them with strict guidelines like "Allowed to use in this match" or "Forbidden in this match."
Since this was an uphill battle from the start, they had originally planned to save those two skills and use them against an easier opponent... but Tao Chen changed his plan. Not for profit, but for pride!
He had already braced himself for a reasonable loss. In a league, everyone was bound to lose a few times. But losing like this was absolutely unacceptable.
Clashing with all their might, fighting a tight battle, and losing by a hair's breadth -> A good fight despite the loss.
Kim Tae-hyun charging in alone, them failing to catch him, fumbling around, and getting wiped out -> Are you guys even professionals?!
They had to save face at the very least! Otherwise, their parent company might actually order the team to disband.
First, I have to mark Kim Tae-hyun somehow to keep track of his location at all times. Losing sight of him for even a second is dangerous.
Their means of keeping Tae-hyun in check worked, but they were far too lacking. In the meantime, Kim Tae-hyun would kill five more of them! If so, the only way was to buy more time to hold him down. If they could avoid being ambushed like before and prepare by knowing his location in advance, they could buy a little more time.
That guy, Kim Tae-hyun, was like a total psychopath earlier...
Tao Chen shuddered. In truth, that hadn't even been an ambush. They had locked eyes the moment they rounded the hill, so how could that be called an ambush? If it had been any other player, they would have had enough time to prepare, run a dungeon, and come back!
Shiver!
Tao Chen trembled. Just thinking about that moment made his skin crawl. Because players physically controlled their characters in Pan-On, the mental fatigue and fear felt incredibly realistic. Once you suffered a traumatic defeat in the game, it was hard to shake off that terror.
Ugh, that absolute lunatic... Huh?
"Ahhh! Tao Chen! You're too late! You're too late! Now is not the time to be casting spells!"
"Zhang Wei has just respawned! At this rate, Zhang Wei needs to step up and block Kim Tae-hyun, allowing Tao Chen to escape back to the spawn point! Kim Tae-hyun must be feeling the pressure right now too! Even though he has the kill buffs, his HP hasn't fully recovered yet, and they're fighting right in front of the enemy's spawn point! Even Kim Tae-hyun knows he could get burst down in an instant!"
"Spot on! Zhang Wei has to buy time. He can definitely do it! This is a favorable situation for the Shanghai Pandas. Once Tao Chen escapes, they can just retreat back into the spawn point!"
Everyone watching the match thought the same thing. While the tank bought time, the healer would flee into the spawn point! How could even Tae-hyun stop that?
However...
"W-Wait, Zhang Wei! What are you doing?! You have to move! Why aren't you moving?!"
"You have to step out of the spawn point! Tao Chen hasn't finished casting his spell yet! If he gets attacked now, he'll just melt under Kim Tae-hyun's onslaught!!"
Not all players made perfect decisions. Since they were human, they were bound to make mistakes! That was exactly what happened to Zhang Wei. He hesitated and refused to step out of the spawn point.
Can I really stop Kim Tae-hyun? What if I go out there and just die with him? No, looking at Chen, he seems to have cast both Shield of Three Lights and Ancient Hymn. He should be able to withstand Kim Tae-hyun's attacks and make it back inside the spawn point on his own!
"My teammate can handle it!" It sounded nice, but in reality, he was simply too terrified to move.
The consequences of his hesitation manifested instantly.
Stab! Slash!
"Ahhh! Oh my goodness! Tao Chen! He just respawned, and he's already dead for the second time!! What is going on?! What is this?!"
"Zhang Wei! You can't play this passively! Why are you a tank? You're a tank because you're supposed to take the hits for your team! How can you just stand there and watch your healer get pulverized?!"
Zhang Wei's face turned deathly pale. He realized he had made a critical mistake.
Having slit Tao Chen's throat, Tae-hyun turned his head to look at Zhang Wei, who was still standing inside the spawn point.
Is that guy not coming out?
Having a spawn point nearby was a massive advantage. If a fight turned sour, one could simply retreat into it, allowing for all kinds of tactical plays. It was a situation where he absolutely had to fight! Yet, Zhang Wei just stood there with a blank, hollow expression.
???
Tae-hyun didn't understand, but he decided to retreat for now. He didn't know what was going on, but he was grateful for the free pass!
Should I go back to the capture point... No, let's hide behind that nearby hill.
Maybe he could bag a few more kills! His greed knew no bounds.
The crowd watching the broadcast went wild once again.
Although there were no class restrictions for entering the arena, crafting classes were practically non-existent. It was hard enough to fill the roles of tank, DPS, and healer, so how could anyone justify bringing a crafter? In the midst of this, the Blacksmithing Skill abilities Tae-hyun showcased were a breath of fresh air. Bringing unknown skills to the table while everyone else stuck to standard, textbook plays—this was exactly why Tae-hyun was so popular!
A complete victory. Round 1 was a flawless win for Team KL. The players of the Shanghai Pandas couldn't even set foot on the capture point.
Stepping out of the spawn point and getting caught in a trap -> Tae-hyun picking off the healer in the meantime and escaping -> retreating to the spawn point with no other choice -> coming out as five again, only to be scattered by traps and bombs before getting ambushed and losing the healer again -> with the capture timer ticking down dangerously, desperately rushing the capture point with only four players -> getting shredded once more as Tae-hyun, stacked to the brim with kill buffs, pounced on them -> Game Over!
No matter how disadvantaged the Shanghai Pandas were, no one had expected them to lose without even touching the capture point.
"An absolute landslide! A complete landslide victory! Team KL is incredibly strong! Even without expensive facilities! Even without lavish support! They prove that through nothing but trust and unity among their players, they deserve to stand at the very top!"
While the crowd went wild at the commentator's passionate shouting, some people suddenly felt a sense of bewilderment.
Meanwhile, the commentator's excited voice continued.
"Who could possibly doubt Team KL after seeing this result! This match has completely shut the mouths of the experts who criticized them!"
"For the Shanghai Pandas to take the win today, they must win both of the remaining rounds. Realistically, they are at a massive disadvantage. Can the Shanghai Pandas turn this around?"
"The chances are slim, but they aren't zero! A match is never over until it's over. The map for Round 2 is... Ah, this is interesting! The Wasteland! It's a map that is a true clash of blades!"
Unlike the grasslands, which had hills scattered here and there to block line of sight, the Wasteland map was a completely open terrain with absolutely no obstacles.
"A map where both sides can unleash their full power! A bloody battle will unfold over the capture point in the center."
"How on earth do the Shanghai Pandas plan to stop Kim Tae-hyun!"
"To be honest, we don't know either! How do you actually stop a player like that? I'm just glad I'm not an active pro player right now!"
"Get a grip! It's not over yet!"
The Shanghai Pandas' coach shouted, but the players' mental states were already shattered into fine dust. In particular, Tao Chen, who had experienced Tae-hyun relentlessly hunting him down multiple times because of his role as a healer, was completely out of it.
"Zhang Wei! You have to protect the healer! The rest of you, too!"
"W-We can't stop him...!"
"What kind of excuse is that?! We already discussed all the ways to stop Kim Tae-hyun!"
There were various ways to stop him, but in the end, the core strategy boiled down to "slowing him down" and "reducing his evasion."
"That's nowhere near enough! Even when he's slowed, he blocks everything and chases us down anyway!"
"We definitely dealt a decent amount of damage, but he didn't even flinch! Is that bastard actually a tank?!"
"Tank, my foot! Kim Tae-hyun is clearly a DPS! His HP isn't that high! If you guys hadn't chickened out and retreated, he would have collapsed first!"
"..."
"..."
None of the players agreed with his words. The coach claimed, "Kim Tae-hyun is walking a tightrope! You just need to knock him down once!" But the pressure felt by the players actually playing on the field was entirely different. To them, Tae-hyun felt like a raid boss over a hundred levels higher than them.
"Listen up! This map is different from the last one. There's nowhere for Kim Tae-hyun to hide and approach. Spot him first and stack debuffs on him! I want you to stack both debuffs to at least five stacks! If you do that, even Kim Tae-hyun will only be able to land an attack half the time! Forget about the capture point! If you can just tie Kim Tae-hyun down and take him out of the equation, we can easily turn this around!"
"...Yes, Coach!"
The players gritted their teeth and replied. That's right. They were Rankers too! They had never been so ruthlessly dominated in a game before. This was a matter of pride. They would make him pay, no matter what!
"Hmm. I did go a bit too far."
Before the start of Round 2, Tae-hyun briefly self-reflected.
"A bit?"
"A... a bit?"
"A bit?"
"Quiet, Cain."
"He's right."
"Please be quiet, Mr. Cain."
"Why only me?!"
Cain had only chimed in because everyone else was repeating "a bit," but he was the only one who ended up getting scolded!
"My original plan was just to disrupt their formation a little, test the waters, and pull back..."
"..."
How on earth does that lead to an all-kill? Cain thought, but he kept his mouth shut.
"Let's play a bit more calmly in Round 2. Cain, you're the vanguard. It looks like they've prepared their skills with a vengeance, so it might be dangerous if we take all of them head-on."
"Leave it to me! I'll take all the hits for you!"
"...Think about blocking them before you think about getting hit..."
"Ah."
Despite his words, Tae-hyun actually held high expectations for Cain. Cain possessed many qualities as a tank, but the most outstanding of them all was...
His sheer size!
...If I say that out loud, it'll probably hurt his feelings, right?