Chapter 63
Chapter 63
Translator: penny
Chapter Title: These Four Together Are the Strongest
[Hean: Hello]
[Cruise: Hello, Hean. Long time no see.]
Cruise and Hean greeted each other casually, apparently on friendly terms.
Should I say hi too?
Yeah, better do it.
[Third Life: Hello]
[Yura: Nice to meet you all. Who knew we’d run into each other here.]
Yeah, small world.
I’d been planning to duo with just Cruise today and call it good.
But Yura showed up on her own.
I glanced at the clock.
Still under an hour left, right on cue.
As the miraculous logic of “Fudge Daisy won’t happen” flashed through my mind…
The game began.
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙
Please select your job.
[Cruise: They’re a mage duo, so what should we do? Paladin-mage? Knight-mage? Or even knight-paladin would be a solid combo.]
Job selection time.
Cruise’s question predicted they’d go mage-heavy, and I gave a rough answer.
[Third Life: Let’s each pick what we want.]
They might not go mage, and more importantly, this was my first time syncing with Cruise.
No way our teamwork would click perfectly. It’d be clunky for sure, so better to stick to our strengths.
Cruise picked Paladin.
Me…
Hmm…
Paladin it is.
I ditched the helmet for better visibility and less weight, boosting mobility. Shrunk the shield to a manageable size too.
Job selection done, and facing our opponents…
[Yura (Mage)]
[Hean (Mage)]
As expected, both mages.
‘Should’ve gone mage myself.’
Mage next round.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
I was a bit thrown when the matchup happened.
But the game started.
‘Did his character change a bit?’
As Yura wondered why Third Life’s character suddenly had scars or something…
[Hean (Mage): Yura!]
Cruise and Third Life charged.
Melee characters versus ranged-dealer mages—standard play.
Paladins, like knights, excel at charging.
Encased in heavy armor, they shrug off most attacks. Plus their signature recovery and blessings. Paladins were top-tier tanks.
[Frozen Ground]
[Friction Manipulation]
What a paladin does against mages is obvious: close the gap and melee them down. Yura and Hean countered that textbook tactic with textbook defense.
[Gravity Manipulation]
[Raging Wind]
Slippery floor plus gravity and wind? Instant slip zone.
Yura and Hean synced perfectly. Same class mages, they just clicked.
Cruise and Third Life? Total opposites. Different fighting styles from the jump.
Cruise tanked spells with paladin blessings and heavy plate.
Third Life ignored tanking entirely.
No helmet, tiny shield—his paladin had insane mobility compared to standard ones.
And he put his blessing on strength, not recovery.
Pure strength boost was less efficient than all-around body enhancement, but it had its uses.
Bam! He slammed the ground for propulsion, spinning mid-air. A heavy-armored paladin flipping in the sky was intimidating as hell.
Like a charging rhino.
Too late—they’d slipped the spell range.
Spells have limits. Gravity Manipulation especially guzzles mana and taxes the brain, so coverage is finite.
—Not me, though.
That’s ’cause you’re weird.
Barring sage-types, mage ranges are pretty standard.
I’d gauged Hean and Yura’s from prior scraps.
Smooth escape from spell range.
Glanced back—Cruise eating spells on approach. Not bad, but… suboptimal. Could get picked off easy.
Cruise played safe, maxing paladin stability. Third Life treated it like extreme acrobatics, pushing paladin limits.
Super speed no normal paladin could match—he closed on Yura and Hean fast.
Split-second: Hean reacted first.
Click—her gun loaded. She remembered last time her aim got read. Added fog this time: translucent mist blinding the paladin.
No blessing to counter, he ate the spell raw.
Opening. Yura backpedaled, chanting new spell. Hean pulled the trigger. Single mana-charged bullet.
Bang—!
Huge bang, bullet flew true at the paladin’s head… but no decapitation.
Clunk.
Shield and arm flew instead.
⚡ SKILL ACTIVATED ⚡
[Third Life (Paladin): Should’ve aimed for the legs, not the head.]
Simple: Shield up, cover head only.
Body shots don’t insta-kill.
Means recovery chance.
To halt his charge, Hean needed leg shot.
Empowered bullet could’ve pierced armor, wrecked knee cartilage, pinned him. Precious one-shot chance—gone.
⚡ SKILL ACTIVATED ⚡
[Third Life (Paladin): Mages should avoid melee at all costs. Even if cornered, kill their mobility first. Or better yet, don’t let it happen.]
[Advice complete. Sword incoming.]
Period, then paladin sword.
Top-down slash. No fancy tricks vs mages. Honest, fast strike reaped her life.
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙
Third Life (Paladin) has defeated Hean (Mage).
Hean was ahead of Yura, so she went first. Yura chanted desperately to survive. No time for new spell—repurposed old one.
[Gravity Manipulation]
[Raging Wind]
Feather-light, she leaped airborne to flee…
Grip.
Paladin’s thick hand snagged her ankle.
[Yura (Mage): Eek…]
[Third Life (Paladin): Where you going?]
Couldn’t answer his question. Yanked to ground, mage’s fate was sealed. No counter, suppressed.
Round over. Yura braced for end…
Blink.
Game didn’t end.
She looked puzzled at Third Life—a wall of text.
⚡ SKILL ACTIVATED ⚡
[Third Life (Paladin): Repurposing old spell over new chant was smart, but too slow. Better to bait with Hean first—higher success odds. As I told her, avoid melee entirely. Or trap the approach: pre-lay spells on ground for when they close.]
[Advice deployed. Execute.]
Advice… now?
Her mind nearly checked out watching him advise instead of finishing.
Luckily, done talking—he ended it.
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙
Third Life (Paladin) has defeated Yura (Mage).
Just round 1 done.
Best of 3 PVP.
Round 2 left.
Post-game, Third Life advised Cruise too.
⚡ SKILL ACTIVATED ⚡
[Third Life (Paladin): Too textbook. Turtling gets you bled out by mages. Trust paladin HP more.]
Cruise took it seriously.
[Cruise (Paladin): Is that so? But reckless charges risk getting punished, especially Hean’s sniping from anywhere.]
[Third Life (Paladin): A couple shots won’t kill. Shield the face, done.]
The duo was surprisingly chummy.
[Hean (Mage): Ready for round 2?]
Round 2.
Same result.
Except…
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙
Cruise (Paladin) has defeated Yura (Mage).
Third Life (Paladin) has defeated Hean (Mage).
Hean (Mage) has defeated Cruise (Paladin).
Hean downed Cruise after he got Yura; Cruise got her first.
Hean applied Third Life’s advice—decisive. Cruise targeting Yura got spell-nuked to critical. But paladin monster HP shrugged a few hits. Hean and Cruise mutual KO.
Yura zero kills both rounds.
Bit bummed, but mostly relieved—no more advice guy.
Then Hean surprised.
[Hean (Mage): One more round?]
Yura panicked to stop her—Cruise and Third Life were game.
[Cruise (Paladin): I’m in. Third Life?]
[Third Life (Paladin): Fine.]
What?
Everyone bonding without me?
Cruise and Hean meshed great. Third Life’s advice helped, not all bad.
Yura knew his tips had merit.
But constant “Lol you suck, lemme show you” next to you? Who endures? Even good advice grates.
Sudden idea.
If we’re grouping anyway…
[Yura (Mage): How about 4-man party duos?]
Yura scanned the group.
Hean.
Ex-Hunter.
Cruise.
Ex-pro gamer.
Yura.
Academy student.
Third Life.
Third Life.
To Yura…
These four together? Strongest.
This lineup… easy ranking wins.
She proposed.
⚡ SKILL ACTIVATED ⚡
[Third Life (Paladin): Why bother?]
‘……’
Please.
One more round’s fine.
Why not duo?
Third Life’s reply didn’t disappoint Yura.
‘Didn’t wanna use this.’
His response was in her predictions.
Expected it.
Advice is his goal, right?
And Yura had her trump card.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
I ignored Yura’s proposal.
Duoing others cuts Yura advice time.
Hence, why bother?
Having fun as is—no need.
Then.
Beep-beep! Beep!
Alarm.
Fudge Daisy one-hour timer.
Ah.
Time’s up.
Time to stop advising—right as I thought that…
[Yura (Mage): Duo and you can still advise.]
That changes things.
⚡ SKILL ACTIVATED ⚡
[Third Life (Mage): Duo accepted.]