94. A Battle of Pros
94. A Battle of Pros
***
—Selecting Kang Hyeok as the first player appears to be a move made with BS's ace, Baekya, in mind. And within G1 itself, the pick seems to reflect the team's trust in Kang Hyeok.
G1, having chosen the blue side, revealed Kang Hyeok first. After that, BS on the red side instantly locked in two players and revealed them before the selection timer had even ticked down.
—A player selection with zero hesitation! It's as if they had predicted G1's pick. Truly astonishing.
—That is a remarkably bold choice. Even after seeing Kang Hyeok, they picked Baekya, and on top of that, they added Jeongmak, a ranged class. It's not easy to guess their intent.
—Given the instant picks, wouldn't you say BS is making a strategic move?
BS, on the red side, had to choose two players after seeing Kang Hyeok revealed first. BS's picks were Baekya and Jeongmak.
Then G1, after seeing BS's players, selected two more players in succession without hesitation.
—G1 has drawn their blade as well. By selecting Minseong of the Assassin Class and Jinhyeok of the Warrior Class, who balances offense and defense, G1's player selection is now complete.
—Rather than placing one ranged class for balance, they seem to have built an all-melee composition for an aggressive breakthrough. Personally, I think G1's composition is quite strong.
With G1's player selection complete, only the reveal of BS's final third player on the red side remained.
—BS is putting up another ranged class here, the portrait of Silent?
—If there is not a single melee class to form a front line, the safety of the already-selected ranged players drops significantly...
—But here comes another instant pick! BS!! They complete their composition with all three players as ranged classes!
But as soon as Silent's portrait was locked in with the message that selection was complete, the caster shouted.
—In this crucial match with the final playoff ticket on the line... they really chose a composition like this.
The female commentator's voice sounded uncertain about this all-ranged composition.
—...Truly remarkable, BS. Judging that a standard composition battle against G1 would be difficult, they seem to be making a bold attempt in such an important match.
—I'm curious about both commentators' assessments of each team's compositio—
With player selection complete, the commentators began discussing the advantages and disadvantages of each team's composition.
Along with a countdown announcing that thirty seconds remained until the match began, the player-select UI faded away, and a massive Colosseum gradually came into view.
—16. 15. 14.
As the countdown ticked down and the Colosseum filled the screen,
I was looking at the completed players and compositions of both teams when a thought suddenly struck me.
"Why do I feel like G1 is going to lose?"
The words slipped out without much thought. It wasn't really based on anything—just intuition.
[????]
[what do you mean]
[Rin what are you talking about lololol]
[an all-ranged comp is such a trash comp lolol]
[that comp literally gets swept the moment it gets broken through fr]
[if I got that in random matchmaking I'd surrender the second the game started]
[I'd just dodge lololol]
Even as I watched the chat scroll by rapidly, I honestly didn't have any real basis for what I'd said.
Right now, even the commentators and chat were predicting a G1 victory, saying G1 had the advantage in objective strength and composition.
"Don't you viewers feel like BS's composition has some kind of plan behind it? From what I can see, it doesn't look like a baseless gamble."
It wasn't like I knew these two teams' players well, and I didn't even know all their classes.
But still. The hesitation-free player selection from BS.
As if they had predicted G1 would pick Kang Hyeok first, they instantly locked in their subsequent players. That bothered me.
Even the final player, Silent, was picked so quickly it looked like an instant pick, which seemed too strange.
Hadn't the commentators repeatedly said an all-ranged composition was unusual?
And yet they picked it like an instant lock. That suggested there was something behind it.
'If they're instant-picking to this degree... doesn't that mean they predicted everything?'
I even wondered whether BS would really throw a gamble in such an important match with a playoff ticket on the line.
While Serin was thinking that, time kept flowing,
—1. 0
The countdown ended, and Game 1 began.
***
The moment the countdown ended, in the massive Colosseum,
six clusters of light formed at once in the enormous circular arena.
On the right, at the 1, 3, and 5 o'clock positions, G1's players Kang Hyeok, Minseong, and Jinhyeok materialized.
On the left, at the 7, 9, and 11 o'clock positions, BS's players Baekya, Jeongmak, and Silent appeared.
—The duel begins in 10 seconds.
Then, with a beautiful woman's voice, a massive hologram appeared across the Colosseum, announcing the duel's waiting period.
During the ten-second waiting period, the players looked at their opponents across from them or at their allies on the same side and briefly exchanged words.
"...An all-ranged comp is weird no matter how you look at it."
Kang Hyeok, with a massive greatsword slung over his shoulder, muttered as if the situation felt off.
Watching Kang Hyeok, Minseong tossed his dagger into the air and grinned.
"They probably just figured they can't beat us. Who runs an all-ranged comp? Even in Solo Queue, you'd get cussed out for picking like that."
Minseong, speaking so confidently, was an Assassin Class—a natural predator of ranged classes.
Both ranged and Assassin Classes were equally frail, but when it came to dodging attacks, the Assassin had the advantage thanks to innate agility. And with approach skills that utilized darkness, an Assassin could close distance more easily than other melee classes.
"Minseong, don't get too careless."
Jinhyeok chuckled as he cautioned Minseong. Jinhyeok was a Warrior Class wielding a one-handed sword and a massive shield.
Jinhyeok, with his sword and shield, also had a fairly good matchup against ranged classes. In truth, Jinhyeok was nearly certain of victory in this set as well.
While G1's players chatted and loosened up, not a single player in the BS formation opened their mouth.
They simply held their weapons and waited for the countdown to end.
A subtle tension hung over the entire Colosseum.
—1. 0.
The short ten-second countdown ended,
—The duel begins.
And every player's vision was notified that the duel had begun.
***
Kang Hyeok watched Minseong collapse anticlimactically in the distance and let out a laugh of disbelief.
"Are they fucking kidding me..."
Growling fiercely, Kang Hyeok raised his greatsword and hastily blocked the front.
Rat-tat-tat-tat-tat!!!
With the sound of countless projectiles striking the greatsword, Kang Hyeok's body jolted ceaselessly.
'Damn it... I can't move.'
An indiscriminate hail of arrows that refused to allow any movement at all.
An all-ranged composition was extremely unstable because it collapsed anticlimactically the moment it was broken through—but conversely, if the numbers didn't match up, the story changed.
Even in simple numerical terms, 3v3 versus 2v3 was an overwhelming difference in force.
And just moments ago.
As soon as the duel began, Minseong used Surprise Attack to slip behind Baekya—and in that instant, as if they had expected it, all three opponents simultaneously unleashed their skills.
So when Minseong said he would use Surprise Attack to sow confusion, Kang Hyeok and Jinhyeok, who had thrown themselves forward, could only be stunned.
As if they had predicted the movement, they even used charging skills to land clean hits on Minseong. Hit by the combined assault of three players, Minseong turned into light and vanished on the spot.
And as a result, being driven into endless defense was now their reality.
Whoosh-whoosh-whoosh-whoosh!
Arrows flew as if checking nearly every direction.
Individually, none of them were attacks worth much caution, but the barrage from two ranged classes deliberately firing was like an endless rain of arrows.
They could ignore this arrow rain and force an attack, but at best, only once.
If they exposed themselves defenselessly to attack, it was obvious their HP gauges would be shredded in an instant.
"Of all things... two hand crossbows."
Gritting his teeth, Kang Hyeok muttered fiercely and glanced to the side.
BOOM!!!
Jinhyeok, holding his massive shield, staggered violently as if he'd been hit by a sniper round.
Jinhyeok was slowly advancing toward Baekya, but the matchup between those two was bad from the start.
A shield was certainly good equipment against ranged opponents, but against Baekya—an Archer Class in Sniper Mode who concentrated force into a single point—it was weak.
Rat-tat-tat-tat-tat!
Conscious of the raining arrows, Kang Hyeok wondered what the hell he was supposed to do.
Wielding a greatsword, he couldn't ignore the two archers and close in on Baekya, who was sniping from long range.
Even now, it was only because Jinhyeok was drawing attention that Kang Hyeok could hold out against the two archers at all.
Then Baekya, holding a longbow, turned her gaze and looked at Kang Hyeok.
Even from a distance, Kang Hyeok felt Baekya looking at him.
And then Baekya, as if showing off, swung one arm lazily and curled the corner of her mouth into a smirk. Watching that, Kang Hyeok unconsciously bit his lip.
Rat-tat-tat-tat!!
Even in that moment, the two archers hammering his greatsword kept attacking without pause.
"...That bastard Minseong, seriously."
Gritting his teeth and muttering, Kang Hyeok felt irritation surge.
If only they had gone standard, or if Minseong had acted even a little more cautiously, the situation would have been completely different from now.
He wasn't normally this thoughtless. Maybe it was confidence from facing a team they'd never lost to, or maybe his momentum from a six-game win streak had gone to his head—either way, Minseong had made a huge mistake today.
And even if Minseong had made a mistake, using Surprise Attack right at the start was extremely rare even in matches. How had the opponents attacked as if they'd predicted everything?
'I heard BS got a new coach mid-season. Is it because of that bastard?'
Thinking that idly, Kang Hyeok blocked arrows from the front and gave a small nod toward Jinhyeok, who was looking his way.
Not toward Baekya, but toward Jeongmak and Silent, who were right nearby.
Even if they kept blocking the archers' attacks like this, in the end, only self-destruction awaited.
They had to make a decisive move.