Chapter 45
Chapter 45
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 45
Chapter Title: An Unexpected Opponent
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In truth, back in Avala Online 1.
Poor sportsmanship from some users in the arena was a pretty serious problem.
Since it was virtual reality, after all.
Even if the level of toxicity was similar to typical online games, the impact it delivered was immense.
At first, the developers treated the issue lightly.
They just left it alone for the sake of some out-of-game fun.
But.
[Avala Online has become a global game. But numerous acts of racism that cross the line have been spotted.]
[Human rights in virtual reality. Is this okay?]
When the toxic behavior of a few users went too far, reaching a level that made it onto the society pages of the news, they were forced to change their minds.
With their feet to the fire, the developers tried every trick in the book to solve the problem.
They drastically increased the number of monitoring staff and enforced stricter regulations…
But the problem was never completely resolved, even by the time the game service ended.
The creativity of malicious users far outpaced the developers' ability to respond and restrict every single act.
So for Avala Online 2, they changed their approach entirely.
They determined it was impossible to completely eradicate toxic behavior.
Instead, they made the overall regulations much stricter, but the game company itself created means for ceremonies of an appropriate level.
This was actually quite effective.
As long as it ended with a ceremony, it was at a reasonable level that the receiving player could accept.
The number of reports decreased significantly.
* * *
‘Interesting.’
A Spring Rabbit will sing a song for me.
As expected of an event match, the concept was certainly unique.
Lee Shin, who chuckled and brushed it off, checked the following messages.
[The bounty skyrockets.]
[Current bounty is 500 tokens.]
[Your great record stimulates the bounty hunters.]
[Challengers will now flock to stop your winning streak.]
“…Hmm?”
Lee Shin narrowed his eyes at the last sentence of the messages that popped up.
What did it mean that challengers would flock to him?
‘Does it mean I’ll get matched for 1v2s?’
It was a whisper from Arthur that resolved Lee Shin’s question.
-Hyung!
-What is it?
-You’re on the 5th page of the bounty list right now!
Lee Shin immediately checked the list of users with bounties.
Just as Arthur said, Lee Shin’s arena alias (nickname) was on the fifth page.
[Rank 96. Arthur]
“……!”
It was a higher rank than he expected.
Of course, a 20-win streak was a difficult feat to achieve, but…
‘With so many users?’
It felt strange that there were only 95 people above him.
But on second thought, it wasn’t that strange.
After all, the Spring Rabbit couldn't refuse a challenge.
With such a large player base, the winning streaks were bound to be broken by the challenges from those many users.
In any case, this wasn't a bad situation for Lee Shin.
The higher his exposure on the front pages, the higher the level of the users he would face.
This meant more content for his first video.
[Current bounty is 500 tokens.]
‘I hope a ranker shows up.’
If he met one, he could definitely leech off them.
Lee Shin’s wish was about half-granted.
[Someone has issued a challenge.]
Perhaps because he was on the upper pages of the list, a match was found in an instant despite the increased bounty.
Lee Shin checked his opponent’s record.
[307 wins, 31 losses.]
“Oh?”
Lee Shin’s eyes widened.
A user with an incredibly high win rate!
[The opponent adds 200 tokens.]
He showed the confidence that came from his high win rate.
Adding 200 tokens against an opponent on a 20-win streak!
It was impossible without considerable confidence.
“500 more.”
But Lee Shin’s was even greater.
An additional bet equal to the bounty!
[Waiting for a response.]
[……]
It was an amount that made even the confident challenger hesitate.
After long consideration, the opponent accepted.
[…The opponent accepts!]
[Moving to the arena.]
A plain, featureless space.
It was the Colosseum map, Lee Shin’s favorite.
Lee Shin looked at his matched opponent.
He was holding a two-handed sword.
‘A warrior class.’
Warrior classes had a good balance of offense and defense.
Thus, they were the most common type of class seen in the arena.
He had seen them 7 times just in the process of getting his 20-win streak.
But.
‘Hm?’
Lee Shin narrowed his eyes.
This opponent was somewhat peculiar.
His class was ordinary, but the incredibly long alias floating above his head was what stood out.
…No, it was hard to even call that an alias.
[Kim Hyeon-seong TV, Kim Tube]
That was his alias.
Essentially an ID for promoting his stream!
On top of that…
“A mission? Yes, of course!! Go ahead and set it.”
“Ah, that one is…”
“I’ll do my best!”
Seeing his opponent talking to thin air, it was clear he was in the middle of a broadcast.
“…Ha.”
Lee Shin let out a dry laugh, utterly dumbfounded.
How long had it been since he’d faced an opponent so relaxed in front of him?
“……”
But the absurdity was momentary.
Thinking rationally, this was an opportunity.
Lee Shin slowly approached the user who was making a scene with his reactions.
“…Ah, just a moment. That’s far enough.”
The opponent immediately reacted, turning his body toward Lee Shin.
A pro in this field, it seemed he hadn’t let his guard down completely.
To this opponent, Lee Shin asked a question with a feigned look of curiosity.
“Are you perhaps streaming right now?”
“What? Ah, yes.”
“Oh, I see… Then how many people are watching?”
It was just a casual question.
For some reason, interpreting Lee Shin’s attitude in his own way, the opponent chuckled and replied.
“27,000 people… but why do you ask?”
And at that answer, the corners of Lee Shin’s mouth rose as well.
27,000 live viewers.
He was a perfect first target to leech off of.
“Just because…”
Lee Shin’s hand moved down to his sword.
The distance was already close.
“I’m grateful.”
[Salseong’s First Hidden Sword is activated.]
[An evildoer has been designated.]
[All stats increase when facing the evildoer.]
*Whoosh!*
Lee Shin extended his left hand.
Startled, Kim Hyeon-seong instinctively jerked his head back.
“…!!!”
*Swish!*
The blade grazed past his chin.
It was a close call.
If his reaction had been even a little slower, he could have been hit in the head, taking a critical blow.
‘…This bastard?!’
He asks a question and then launches a surprise attack?
Kim Hyeon-seong’s eyes blazed with fury.
But for now, avoiding the follow-up attack was more important than teaching him a lesson.
*Thump!*
While still leaning back, Kim Hyeon-seong planted a hand on the ground and leaped backward.
His plan was to first create distance from his opponent and regain his balance in the meantime.
The best decision made in the worst situation!
But Lee Shin’s reaction speed was so fast it made even this best decision seem pale.
Lee Shin squeezed in two more attacks in that short amount of time.
[A critical hit has landed!]
[A critical hit has landed!]
[Avatar of Malice additional damage is triggered!]
The critical hits landed without a sound.
On top of that, the additional damage from Avatar of Malice was applied.
Kim Hyeon-seong, checking his own health status, let out a sound of astonishment.
“…What is this!”
It was an unbelievable amount of damage for just taking two hits!
And it didn't even seem like a skill was used.
Of course, he had been caught by a surprise attack and exposed a vital spot, but it felt unreasonable to lose 10% of his health from just a couple of hits.
‘What the…! Is he some rare class focused solely on damage? Because he’s a rogue-type? Or maybe…’
While Kim Hyeon-seong’s mind was racing, Lee Shin immediately linked his next attack.
*Crack!*
“…Ugh!”
He kicked the opponent’s knee.
As Kim Hyeon-seong staggered, he unsparingly used Paralysis Poison.
*Pfft!*
[The opponent is paralyzed.]
“…!”
Lee Shin swung his sword at the stiffly frozen opponent.
His calculation was that he could comfortably finish the fight by focusing his attacks on the head and neck during the paralysis.
But this opponent wasn’t so easy as to hand over victory that meekly.
[The opponent uses a skill.]
[The opponent is released from paralysis.]
“…!”
The opponent broke the paralysis with a razor-sharp debuff-clearing reaction and leaped back to create distance.
From this reaction speed alone, Lee Shin could roughly guess the opponent’s rank.
‘He’s at least in Challenger.’
Challenger.
The top 0.0001% tier.
It was only natural for a glint of interest to appear in Lee Shin’s eyes.
And Kim Hyeon-seong glared at Lee Shin with cold, sunken eyes.
‘This bastard?’
Acting curious and striking up a conversation, only to launch a surprise attack.
He had experienced all sorts of things with his attention-grabbing name, but this was a first.
Thanks to that, the chat was already in an uproar.
-What is this dude doing?
-???: ‘I’ll win without taking a single hit!’
-But he got careless and is getting his ass kicked lol
-ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
Viewers, seizing the opportunity, were tearing into Kim Hyeon-seong.
It was a backlash resulting from Kim Hyeon-seong’s usual broadcasting style, which often involved a mix of bravado.
But.
-He won’t lose though, right?
-Of course not.
Still, no viewer seriously considered the possibility of Kim Hyeon-seong losing.
His bravado was part of his persona, but his skill was real.
-He may act like that, but he’s a Challenger.
Even if he was at the bottom of the rankings, he was still a Challenger.
He hadn't become a Ranker because his level was a bit low, but that actually earned him higher praise.
It meant he overcame the level difference with Rankers through pure skill.
-He only got hit because he was careless. If he plays seriously, there’s no way he’ll lose.
Thus, this was the majority reaction. And Kim Hyeon-seong’s thoughts were the same.
‘This is fine.’
He was caught by a surprise attack, but his follow-up was quick, so the damage wasn’t too severe.
If they considered the skills an even trade, the only remaining disadvantage was that his health was about 10% lower.
Confident in his skills, he could dismiss this as a minor penalty.
“Hey.”
Having composed himself, he looked at Lee Shin and spoke.
“I was going to go easy on you… but if you’re going to be like this, I can’t hold back.”
“……”
“Hello?”
Lee Shin didn’t answer.
He was itching to say something, but since Arthur was recording, he was deliberately holding his tongue.
Instead, he provocatively beckoned with his index finger. This alone was effective enough.
“…Ha, seriously.”
Kim Hyeon-seong let out a dry laugh as if to say, ‘what kind of person is this?’
He then kicked off the ground and rushed toward Lee Shin.
-Overflowing Strength.
-Acceleration Enhancement.
-Sharp Sword Ki.
Numerous self-buffs and enhancement skills stacked up. He had no intention of dragging out the game.
Kim Hyeon-seong thought as he watched Lee Shin calmly lower his stance.
‘I don’t know what class he is, but…!’
One thing was certain.
It was a class focused on dealing damage.
That was the only way it made sense for him to deal this much damage in a mode where stats were equalized.
A characteristic of such classes was their poor survivability in exchange for immense damage-dealing capabilities.
What’s more, he was a melee dealer, not a ranged one.
With other party members to draw aggro, they could create highlight reels, but if they got caught, they could be vaporized in an instant.
In a word, a glass cannon!
Such a characteristic becomes even more prominent in a one-on-one situation like this.
There’s no one else to draw aggro.
It meant he had to survive on his own while also dishing out all the damage by himself…
‘You should pick your opponents more carefully.’
The above was generally only possible when the opponent was purely less skilled than you.
Against an opponent of equal skill, a class with a good balance of offense and defense would usually win.
Furthermore, Kim Hyeon-seong, confident in his abilities, believed he was at least a few steps ahead of his opponent.
He had just been careless.
‘I’ll end this in one go!’
Kim Hyeon-seong swung his sword.
Simultaneously, his sword split into multiple blades and shot forward.
It was Shadow Swordplay, the secret skill of his class, the Phantom Swordsman.
A skill that summons multiple shadow swords to deal additional damage.
The damage of each was not that great, but the true value of this skill was in its on-hit effect.
[Slowed on hit.]
A slow effect.
The value was a whopping 30%.
The moment one hit, it was structured so that the rest would almost inevitably hit as well.
It wasn’t efficient against tanky monsters or multiple enemies, but in a one-on-one situation, there was nothing better.
*Swoosh!*
Dozens of swords shot forward.
Seeing the red effect on his opponent's sword, Lee Shin knew this was an attack he shouldn't block.
He had to dodge it.
And for Lee Shin, that wasn’t a very difficult task.
“……”
Lee Shin’s gaze grew heavy.
His eyes darted around, taking in the opponent’s movements and analyzing the trajectory of the flying blades.
‘Hoo.’
Lee Shin exhaled.
At the same time, he moved, stepping sideways as if gliding.
…*Zip!*
Two shadow swords grazed past Lee Shin’s ear.
It was a hair's breadth away; if they had extended just a little further, they would have hit.
But they didn’t touch him.
Naturally, the slow effect did not activate.
Kim Hyeon-seong, who had been certain of a hit, was so surprised his eyes widened.
‘He dodged it?!’
But it wasn’t a big problem.
So far, only two had missed.
If he focused, landed the next attack, and connected his entire combo, the damage would still be more than enough.
‘It’s still fine.’
It’s minor. Kim Hyeon-seong continued his attack, not paying it much mind.
But it wasn’t.
*Screech! Skrrt!*
*Whoosh!*
It all happened in an instant.
His attacks missed one after another.
-??
-?
-What was that just now?
His opponent had dodged all the following shadow swords just by weaving left and right.
“……!!”
Kim Hyeon-seong’s eyes widened as if they would tear.
It was hard to believe even seeing it with his own eyes.
Dodging a skill that even Challengers found hard to evade without a movement ability, just by moving left and right?
Without any movement-related buffs?
‘…This person is an expert!’
Only then did he feel like he was seeing Lee Shin’s true skill.