Chapter 44
Chapter 44
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 44
Chapter Title: Unbeaten
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Lee Shin's summon, the Ninety-ninth Leg of the Forgotten God.
The Tentacle, for short, was a summon with a unique mechanism.
‘I need to keep practicing with it.’
Of course, he had tried it out for practice before, but that was literally just practice.
A ‘safe’ attempt made without any enemies present.
He couldn't just assume that was its actual performance.
How effective would it be against a player in a real fight?
And whether he had the capacity to use it while engaged in close combat was something he could only find out through actual battle.
“……?”
“……”
His opponent froze, bewildered by the tentacle that had suddenly shot up from the ground.
Lee Shin focused his mind.
*Squirm.*
*Sway, sway.*
The tentacle moved, responding to Lee Shin's will.
So far, it was easy.
But.
*Ssk.*
*Flinch!*
The moment Lee Shin moved, the tentacle quivered violently.
When he tried to calm the trembling, it became difficult to move properly.
The difficulty was higher than he'd expected, and a cold sweat broke out on Lee Shin's forehead.
‘This isn't working well…’
The difficulty was like trying to draw a circle with your right hand while simultaneously drawing a star with your left!
Neither task was difficult on its own, but the problem arose when trying to do both at the same time.
If he focused on one, the other would stop.
It seemed like it would be fine once he got used to it, but even Lee Shin couldn't be sure how long that would take.
So.
“……?”
Lee Shin looked at his opponent, who was standing there dumbfounded, and thought.
‘I might as well master this now before I move on.’
He decided to practice everything he could now that he'd run into a suitably easy opponent.
…For his opponent, it was the beginning of a disaster.
* * *
Lee Shin didn't finish his opponent off easily.
Despite having clear opportunities to end it, he intentionally sealed away his weapon and dragged out the fight, attacking only with the tentacle.
“……?”
At first, the opponent was just confused.
But after it happened twice, three times, dozens of times, he couldn't help but understand, even if he didn't want to.
‘…He's toying with me!’
The player was furious.
He'd endured all sorts of taunts and provocations in the arena before, but this was a first.
But aside from being angry, there wasn't much he could do.
[Opponent has dodged.]
[Opponent has dodged.]
[Attack completely block…]
‘…Is he using a hack?’
He'd even started to think this because, no matter what he did, his attacks never reached Lee Shin.
In the end, he quietly accepted his situation and waited for Lee Shin to finish him.
But…
‘…How long is he going to keep this up!’
Lee Shin just wouldn't end it!
The player waited for an hour before his eyes finally welled up with tears.
“Sob, please, just stop now!”
“Hm?”
“Why are you doing this to me…!”
Just then, Lee Shin had finally gotten a feel for the movements.
Of course, he wouldn't call it perfect…
But his opponent's skill level was too low to raise his proficiency any further.
It was time to let him go!
*Thwack!!*
Lee Shin shot the tentacle at the sobbing player.
And that was the end.
The opponent's barely remaining health plummeted, reaching zero.
[You have subdued the opponent.]
[You are victorious in battle.]
[You monopolize 140 tokens.]
[Would you like to start the next match?]
He'd earned 50, for a total of 150.
‘I think I can raise the stakes.’
Lee Shin immediately started matchmaking.
[…Match found!]
[Checking opponent's record.]
[200 Wins, 174 Losses.]
A similar win rate to his previous opponent.
Lee Shin boldly added more tokens.
“Fifty more.”
A whole fifty tokens.
He figured the opponent would accept, given their decent win rate.
As expected, after a long deliberation, the opponent accepted his offer.
And the result was obvious.
[You have subdued the opponent.]
[You are victorious in battle.]
[You monopolize 160 tokens.]
“Aaaaaah!! My tokens!”
Lee Shin delivered despair to his opponent and claimed an easy victory.
And it was the same for the next match, and the one after that, and the one after that.
No player appeared who could stop Lee Shin.
The result…
[You have subdued the opponent.]
[You are victorious in battle.]
[……]
[You monopolize 100 tokens.]
[You monopolize 120 tokens.]
[You monopolize 180…]
The tokens poured in!
The corners of Lee Shin's mouth curled up.
‘…Just how many is this?’
This was largely because Lee Shin had barely built up a record.
Quite some time had passed since the event started, and other players had fought nearly 400 matches, while Lee Shin was just getting started.
From his opponents' perspective, they must have thought they'd found a sucker, making them want to raise the bet.
[You have subdued the opponent.]
[You are victorious in battle.]
Riding his momentum, Lee Shin achieved a 10-win streak with unstoppable force.
And only then did a change appear in the matchmaking system.
[10-Win Streak Achieved!]
[A bounty will now be placed on you.]
‘A bounty?’
[The bounty is determined by an AI that comprehensively considers your recent record, average combat time, and win rate against opponents faced.]
[Calculating bounty…]
[……]
[Calculation complete.]
[Your bounty is 300 tokens.]
[You can now be challenged by hunters seeking your bounty!]
‘A bounty?’
The bounty system.
This was another system that didn't exist back when Lee Shin was active.
Lee Shin checked the detailed explanation.
[Users who achieve a 10-win streak or higher in the event match will be granted the title of 'Spring Bunny' and have a bounty placed on them.]
[A challenger can bet tokens equal to the bounty to challenge the Spring Bunny.]
[The Spring Bunny cannot refuse a challenge.]
Lee Shin furrowed his brow.
It felt like there was no merit to getting a winning streak.
‘Isn't this actually a disadvantage?’
The parts about not being able to refuse challenges and not being able to clear the bounty on his own made it seem so.
Wouldn't it have been better to intentionally lose once before reaching a 10-win streak?
But this thought of Lee Shin's changed with the following explanation.
[When the winning streak is broken, the Spring Bunny will acquire tokens equal to half of the accumulated bounty.]
“Ah.”
So even if you lose, you don't lose anything; you actually gain half the bounty.
He thought it was a system that penalized winning streaks, but it actually encouraged them.
‘Well, in that case.’
Lee Shin nodded in understanding.
A match was found quickly.
[Someone is challenging you. The Spring Bunny cannot avoid the challenge.]
[Would you like to add tokens?]
He didn't add any extra tokens.
This was his first time being challenged.
He decided to check his opponent's skill level first and consider raising the stakes from the next match onward.
[Entering the arena.]
In the distance, his opponent watched him as if observing him.
Confident in their skills, they strode forward purposefully.
‘……’
Lee Shin's gaze grew cold.
I wonder if their skills match their confidence.
Lee Shin quietly drew his sword.
* * *
To state the conclusion first, the opponent's skills were, objectively speaking, excellent.
Good enough to warrant betting several hundred tokens.
However, the problem this time was that his opponent was Lee Shin.
“I… lost?”
The opponent muttered, his expression dazed.
He couldn't come to his senses.
It was understandable; not only had he lost, but the process of losing was utterly shocking.
‘…What was that? A dodge hack?’
It made no sense for a virtual reality-based game like Avala Online to have hacks.
And yet, Lee Shin's movements were so unparalleled that he seriously entertained the suspicion.
His normal attacks wouldn't even connect, and when he couldn't take it anymore and tried to use an area-of-effect attack, Lee Shin would somehow know and use a dash skill he'd been saving to back away.
If he tried to run and respond with ranged attacks, Lee Shin would counter with a grotesque black tentacle.
It was as if he were being toyed with in the palm of a hand!
And all the while, Lee Shin's own attacks landed flawlessly…
[100%]
[0%]
The top was the opponent's health.
And the bottom was his own.
This situation had unfolded in less than a minute after being summoned to the arena.
Just by looking at the numbers, anyone could tell he'd been brutally torn apart.
At this point, the defeated player felt more curiosity than anger.
“Excuse me.”
“?”
Lying on the floor, the player, who had been deep in thought, couldn't hold back his curiosity and asked.
“Are you, by any chance, a ranker?”
“No.”
“Then why are you so good?”
“That's how I got the winning streak.”
Lee Shin replied as if it were nothing, but the player's expression remained unsatisfied.
“If that was all, I wouldn't even bring it up! I've met a few rankers, and you seem better than them.”
“Not all rankers are good.”
Lee Shin's words were partly true.
Rankers were usually skilled, but that didn't necessarily mean they were good at one-on-one combat.
It wasn't common, but you could find plenty of cases to the contrary.
Pure mages focusing on AoE skills, or tank players specializing only in durability and aggro management, were examples.
Even if their objective skill was high, their class limitations meant they would inevitably be at a disadvantage in the arena.
‘Or a ranking bought with money.’
In an RPG with an auction house system, it wasn't impossible.
With minimal skill and an enormous amount of cash, one could acquire gear and consumables with overwhelmingly better performance than others, allowing for faster leveling.
Of course, these types were also completely powerless in the arena.
Their pure skill was never at a ranker's level to begin with.
In the arena, where stats were equalized, they were no different from a regular player.
“You probably just met a weak ranker.”
“No, that's not it. Hey, maybe you're…!”
[Leaving the arena.]
[You monopolize 160 tokens.]
The player tried to ask Lee Shin something more, but he had already left the arena.
‘The skill level in the arena hasn't changed much from the old days.’
This was Lee Shin's overall assessment after experiencing a total of eleven matches.
He thought there might be a significant change since the player base had grown so much, but there was almost no difference.
In that case, it seemed fine to bet tokens more boldly.
Lee Shin raised the minimum bet to 100 tokens and waited for the next challenge.
[You have achieved an 11-win streak.]
[Your bounty increases.]
[Your bounty is…]
[Someone is challenging you.]
[The Spring Bunny cannot avoid…]
[Would you like to add tokens?]
No player would challenge a Spring Bunny thinking they would lose.
Everyone challenged out of confidence that they were better than the opponent on a winning streak.
Lee Shin went for it boldly.
“One hundred.”
[Waiting for opponent's response…]
[The opponent accepts.]
‘Just as I thought.’
The opponent accepted Lee Shin's offer as if they had been waiting for it.
An acceptance full of confidence!
…Of course, the result was obvious.
Like the previous opponent, he was defeated without even managing to graze Lee Shin's clothes.
And what he said after his defeat was also the same.
“…Aren't you a ranker, by any chance?”
“……”
Even after becoming the one being challenged, Lee Shin's winning streak continued.
[You were victorious in battle.]
[You were victorious in battle.]
[Victorious in…]
[…You have achieved a 20-win streak!]
[It is a great achievement. You have acquired the title, <One Who Knows No Defeat>.]
“A title? Check title.”
<One Who Knows No Defeat.>
•An honorable title given only to those who have proven their skill in the Spring Scramble.
•You can now take a 'Victory Pose' after winning.
“……?”
A look of confusion crossed Lee Shin's face.
The reward was a pose, and he wondered what kind of useless skill this was.
…But he was wrong.
Victory Pose
•Now, when you take the Victory Pose, Spring Bunnies will beat drums and sing for you.
“…Pfft! Cough!”
It was a skill made exclusively for tea-bagging!!
After a loud cough, Lee Shin let out a dry laugh.
‘They even made something like this?’