90. Assassin Class - (2)
90. Assassin Class - (2)
***
Serin wasn't particularly startled by the sudden darkness. She simply moved her hand, trying to check something.
"...That's interesting."
Even as I deliberately clenched and unclenched my hand over and over, all I could make out was the faint outline of something moving. I couldn't even distinguish the shape of my own hand right in front of me.
The Colosseum had been dyed pitch-black in an instant.
Even the large obstacles of stone and rock showed only their dim outlines.
It was, quite literally, shrouded in pitch-blackness, so nothing could be seen properly.
I tightened my grip on the Crescent-Moon Weight, sharpening my senses so I could swing the cord at any moment, and tensed.
For the entire Colosseum space to turn dark in an instant—this wasn't the domain of an ordinary skill.
'An Awakening Skill?'
With that thought, I stepped forward and swung the Crescent-Moon Weight wide, activating a skill.
—Hook.
Swoosh!
The weight flew in a crescent arc and embedded itself in a large rock whose outline was barely visible, sending a small sound echoing out.
Thunk!
The moment I confirmed the weight was lodged in the rock, I kicked off the ground and threw myself forward.
The opponent was an Assassin Class who had created this darkness-like effect as a skill, which meant there was a high chance that even though I couldn't see them, they could see me.
Whatever I did, it was better than staying still.
Fwit!
Fwit!
At the same moment I launched myself toward the rock where the Crescent-Moon Weight was lodged, small sounds rang out from where I had just been, as if something had struck the space.
I glanced back.
Even as I flew through the air and turned my head, I saw nothing.
It was eerie.
Judging by the hologram that had appeared saying the chat window couldn't be viewed due to the opponent's skill, this seemed to be an Awakening Skill focused on concealing presence.
Thud!
As I landed on the rock where the Crescent-Moon Weight was firmly lodged, I quickly retrieved the weight and hid behind the rock.
Even if it was an Awakening Skill, being subjected to one-sided ranged attacks while my vision was blocked felt incredibly annoying.
Swish.
At that moment, something grazed my leg.
The instant I felt the faint sensation, I pulled my leg back and swung the Crescent-Moon Weight down hard in front of me as if striking the ground.
—Explosive Spike.
The weight shot forward, tracing a blood-red trajectory through the darkness, and struck the space ahead, creating a massive explosion.
Boom!
And then I realized there was nothing there.
Silence.
Darkness.
And ranged attacks.
With those three factors overlapping, no matter how confident I was in my senses, I couldn't easily respond.
Seeing that my HP gauge had been shaved down slightly, I resolved not to stay in one place.
Whirr.
I retrieved the Crescent-Moon Weight that had struck the ground hard and immediately launched myself, stepping on nearby obstacles and keeping my body in constant motion.
Fwit! Fwit! Fwit!
Fwit!
Clang!
Swish!
By keeping myself moving, I managed to dodge several. I deflected one projectile aimed at my head with a momentary flash of instinct, but another projectile I failed to notice grazed my left arm.
[Status Effect: You have been poisoned.]
A small notification hologram flashed up, and my red HP gauge turned green.
"...Hah."
I let out a small sigh and quickly racked my brain.
Darkness, silence, ranged attacks.
Something to break through those three conditions.
I considered whether I could escape this darkness right now, but since I had no way of knowing how long the Awakening Skill lasted, I dismissed the idea.
Then, could I make the opponent give away their presence, or create an opening in the ranged attacks? I mulled it over, but no particular answer came to mind.
Thud!
I kicked off the ground and threw myself toward another massive stone structure whose outline was only dimly visible.
'How can every condition be this overwhelmingly favorable to the opponent?'
Fwit!
Fwit!
At least now, as if I had somewhat adjusted to the darkness, I could dodge the incoming projectiles more easily than before, but it was still like walking a tightrope.
Thud!
As I kept kicking off the ground, I suddenly shifted my entire perspective.
If the opponent had this much of an advantage, then surely there had to be something that allowed me to counter it.
'Right, if this is a game.'
Unlike reality, Another World was unmistakably a game.
Considering that PVP had balance, it made no sense for the opposing assassin to be this unilaterally favored.
Even with the best equipment, there was a maximum 20% difference, and other options didn't apply—there were restrictions like that.
Would skills really have no restrictions?
After that brief moment of deliberation, I arrived at one experimental idea.
Abruptly, I swung the hand holding the Crescent-Moon Weight wide and activated a skill.
—Bloodstained Constellation.
The Crescent-Moon Weight, dyed in deep blood-red, shot out as if to pierce the empty air where the darkness lay especially thick.
Along the blood-red trajectory drawn by the weight, countless blood-red points flickered into existence like stars in the night sky.
Boom-boom-boom!
From the empty air where there was nothing, it soon burst out in a massive explosion.
Then, the darkness that should have remained unchanged momentarily thinned, and my vision brightened.
"...Seriously."
At the unbelievable phenomenon, I let out a laugh of disbelief.
At the same time, the barrage of black projectiles pouring toward me was now far more clearly visible than before.
I twisted my waist and immediately snapped my head aside.
My snow-white hair scattered across my vision from the sudden movement, but it didn't matter.
I pointed my arm downward and grabbed the cord connected to the Crescent-Moon Weight.
Creeeeak!!
The cord connected to the Crescent-Moon Weight would never snap. As I used it to catch the projectiles I couldn't dodge, an eerie sound rang out.
At the same time, I found myself laughing without realizing it.
The skill I'd fired into the empty air on a hunch had landed as a valid hit.
The darkness covering the entire Colosseum was itself an object with its own HP bar.
In short, it was a beneficial object that granted the assassin a massive buff called darkness.
It wasn't an Awakening Skill with direct killing power, but in itself, it was a skill that created an environment perfectly suited to an assassin.
The way to break it was ultimately to keep striking this formless space called darkness until it was completely destroyed. But the moment I struck the darkness, the opponent could also target me, so it was undeniably a threatening Awakening Skill in its own right.
However, I didn't think the durability of the darkness object would be all that high. Because then it would be too broken.
I shifted my grip on the Crescent-Moon Weight and stepped forward.
In an instant, I activated two skills.
—Red Flower.
As if painting a massive blood-red flower across the very space where the darkness lay, the Crescent-Moon Weight began to trace a bizarre trajectory through the air.
—Bloodstained Step.
Blood-red energy coiled around my legs as I advanced along an unpredictable path.
As the price for using two skills simultaneously, my stamina gauge drained in a huge chunk, but I didn't care.
As I painted the blood-red flower, the darkness continued to ripple violently, and the projectiles that became visible in those moments I either caught with the cord or twisted my body to dodge.
Clang!
Clang!
When I glanced, I saw that my poisoned HP bar, now green, had already lost about 30 percent of my health.
I'd intended to use the first match to warm up, but I'd really run into a strange person.
An opponent who kept their distance the moment the duel started and then immediately used an Awakening Skill...
`...Not that it could ever be Rin, but if every opponent I meet uses an Awakening Skill, it's going to be really exhausting.`
It wasn't that no one I'd ever dueled had used an Awakening Skill.
Just last time, the archer with the hand crossbow had pulled out an Awakening Skill that summoned a siege weapon like a ballista, and Sua's Counteroffensive, and at the end of it, a skill that fired light like a holy sword.
Besides those, I'd rarely faced Awakening Skills.
Thud!
Instead of swinging the Crescent-Moon Weight, I gripped it directly in my hand and leaped high toward the empty air where the thick darkness hung.
—Single-Point Thrust.
A skill that could only be used at point-blank range, and one whose destructive power ranked among the very top.
Swish!
The weight, wrapped in an impossibly deep blood-red, thrust hard into the darkness.
Crack-crack-crack!!
The darkness enveloping the entire Colosseum began to shatter and crumble into pieces, like glass breaking.
As the darkness vanished, the sudden light was bright enough to make me squint.
Swish-swish-swish-swish-swish-swish!
Now the throwing sounds were perfectly clear. The corners of my lips rose at the barrage of daggers all around me, as if they would pierce me through at any moment.
The opponent was no longer even trying to hide their form, swinging their arm without hesitation and continuously hurling daggers.
The sight of an opponent acting purely to win.
I couldn't understand why someone like that was still in this tier.
Because the opponent's skill was clearly decent.
Darkness, ranged attacks, silent projectiles.
Every one of them was tricky and the kind of thing I hated dealing with.
—Single Kick.
While still airborne, Serin rotated her body and suddenly lashed out at the empty air with a leg wreathed in blood-red.
Boom!
With the sound of something bursting, Serin's form, surrounded by the barrage of daggers, shot forward rapidly.
A ranged attack that covered every direction with no place to dodge—being caught in that situation created immense pressure, but if she could break through a single point and escape the range even for a moment, it wasn't as threatening as it seemed.
Of course, that required having the ability to break through in the first place.
Clang, clang, clang, clang!!
Serin knocked aside all the daggers in front of her with the hand holding the Crescent-Moon Weight, then immediately activated a skill.
—Hook.
Swoosh!
The weight flew in a crescent arc, emitting a strange noise, and embedded itself in the assassin's shoulder.
Normally, a skill used for short-range evasion had almost zero lethality, but against an assassin with such a light body, it was a skill that could be used offensively.
When she yanked the Crescent-Moon Weight hard from midair, the opponent's stance collapsed, and they were helplessly dragged toward Serin.
Serin, propelled forward by Single Kick, and the assassin, dragged with their stance broken—the distance between them closed in literally an instant.
"Huh?"
The assassin thrashed and let out a flustered sound, and—
Whirr!
Serin retrieved the Crescent-Moon Weight and reached out her hand at virtually the same moment.
The instant their bodies were close enough to nearly collide, Serin smiled faintly.
Shunk!
The sharp blade at the end of the Crescent-Moon Weight pierced straight through the assassin's chest.
—Victory!
*
————
[Platinum Tier 2]
—302 LP —》 333 LP
—Additional bonus LP has been awarded for the ongoing win streak.
————
*
Only when the familiar congratulatory sound and the hologram announcing her score increase decorated her vision did Serin descend to the ground.
Thud.
"Up to Diamond Tier... I should finish it in one go."
The words slipped out naturally, like a sigh.
She had intended to yield the first move out of consideration. But after meeting an opponent who immediately activated an Awakening Skill, that didn't seem right either.
If every match went like this, the fatigue from a single match would be so great that she wouldn't be able to play for long.
As the duel ended, she relaxed her expression for a moment to check the now-active chat window.
[????Is that really G1??]
[Is it real?]
[For real, is it true?]
[It's an impersonation, right??]
[Rin, you're so cool!!!]
[Is the donation real?]
[It's a lie, right??]
The chat was strange.
I'd expected the viewers to react to my play, but every message seemed to be talking about something else.
'...What?'
I felt disappointed for no reason.
Then, when I checked the broadcast screen, I saw a donation alert that seemed to fill the entire screen.
『Kang Hyeok donated 1,000,000 won!!』
《I heard the scrim schedule has been set. I'll leave this donation as a token of goodwill. Keep up the great streams, Rin!》
"Kang Hyeok has donated one million won... Thank you. If it's about a scrim, I take it you're with G1?"
I spoke the words blankly, out of habit, but something felt off. I was grateful for the donation itself, but it felt like it had stolen the viewers' attention that should have been directed at me, and that left me thoroughly displeased.
[Are you close with the G1 team?]
[And what's this about a scrim???]
[Ah, someone explain!!!]
[Kang Hyeok is real. I clicked the ID and it's actually G1 Kang Hyeok]
[lololol wow, you get a 1 million won donation right after your suspension ends?]
[That's insane, for real lololololol]