94. A Battle of Pros - (2)
94. A Battle of Pros - (2)
***
Kang Hyeok made his decision.
Since targeting the greatest threat, Baekya, was impossible, he chose instead to eliminate the two archers nearby first—Jeongmak and Silent. With that in mind, he signaled Jinhyeok with a prearranged glance and began his move.
Gripping his massive greatsword, Kang Hyeok suddenly stomped the ground with tremendous force and unleashed a skill.
A skill usable only by Warrior-class players wielding buster-sword-type greatswords.
—Earthshaker.
BOOOOM!!!
The ground sank around Kang Hyeok as if a massive crater had formed.
THUD!
THUD!
Countless rocks and stone obstacles nearby heaved from the shock, kicking up strange smoke that momentarily obscured vision,
and at the same time, Kang Hyeok didn't block the front with his greatsword—he swung it behind him, twisted, and drove forward with his shoulder leading.
—Shoulder Charge.
Rat-tat-tat-tat-tat!
Through the billowing smoke, countless arrows poured in, striking Kang Hyeok's body and gnawing away at his HP gauge, but Kang Hyeok paid them no mind.
THUD!
His body flared red as he stomped the ground with crushing force and charged straight ahead without hesitation.
Rat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat!
The relentless rain of arrows pierced through the smoke, and through the opening, he spotted the red-haired elf male holding a crossbow—Jeongmak. After confirming Jeongmak was at least close by, he stomped the ground violently and leaped.
BOOM!
A thunderous sound rang out from a leap powered by sheer mass, not any skill, and Kang Hyeok burst through the smoke, hurling his body straight at Jeongmak.
Jeongmak, watching this, chose not to dodge. From the moment Minseong had been eliminated as planned, victory was already entirely on their side.
Instead, he gripped his crossbow with both hands and stared down the terrifyingly charging Kang Hyeok as he unleashed a skill.
—Rain of Blood.
At the same time, the crossbow vibrated madly and began firing countless blood-red arrows.
Whoosh-whoosh-whoosh-whoosh-whoosh!
Kang Hyeok took the entire blood-red rain with his body, as if determined to be riddled into a honeycomb, then screamed like a man possessed and used a skill.
"Die!!!!!"
—Mountain Break.
The greatsword, wreathed in a massive light, slashed through the air as if to split the sky.
BOOOOM!!!
A colossal explosion erupted—unbelievable for a weapon called a sword.
The player Jeongmak evaded the direct hit with an instantaneous movement, but the mere aftershock of the greatsword cleaving empty air generated a massive shockwave, whipping up a tremendous storm of wind.
WHOOOOOSH!!
"Kuh!"
Caught in the storm, Jeongmak was hurled helplessly across the Colosseum, slamming into the far wall.
Even Silent, who had been preparing a charging skill while aiming at Kang Hyeok as he suddenly surged up through the smoke, staggered from the massive storm.
That moment.
Jinhyeok, who had caught the signal from the glance, instantly turned his back on Baekya and rapidly unleashed a skill.
—Double Throw.
He hurled the massive shield covering his body with all his strength, then immediately threw the sword in his other hand with full force in quick succession.
Swish! Swoosh!
Massive weapons thrown so fast there was barely any time lag between them.
Silent, staggered by the massive shockwave from the devastating skill Mountain Break, ended up taking both attacks.
Thwack!
The shield struck his waist, folding his body into an L-shape, and the sword drove into his lowered head as if aimed precisely.
Thwack!
In that instant, Silent turned into a streak of light and vanished from the Colosseum.
Jinhyeok, having confirmed the result, tried to quickly conceal himself, but a massive light was already surging behind him.
A colossal wave of light illuminated the entire Colosseum.
WHOOOOOSH!!
The sound came late, after the beam of light had already been fired.
—White Night (白夜).
The sniper shot that lit up everything pierced through Jinhyeok's head without a millimeter of error.
Thwack!
"...Ha."
Kang Hyeok, staring blankly at Jinhyeok as he turned into light and vanished, let out a deep sigh.
His remaining HP gauge was at best around 10%.
There was truly no answer.
He hadn't even been able to finish off Jeongmak, whom he'd just struck, in a single blow.
And far away, a woman holding a pure-white longbow was grinning from ear to ear. Seeing Baekya's face so clearly made his teeth grind.
'Baekya... I have to play three games against that bastard.'
The first set was already as good as over.
There was no option to beat a ranged class with a greatsword without taking damage.
The remaining numbers in the Colosseum weren't even equal now—it was 1:2.
Far away, he could see Jeongmak, who had been slammed into the Colosseum wall, slowly rising to his feet.
He couldn't solve everything with sheer grit and brute force.
Even as he told himself he absolutely had to win the second set, the fact that he couldn't avoid a third set grated on Kang Hyeok endlessly.
In the rules of the Gauntlet Match, Baekya was an incredibly troublesome opponent.
Gripping his massive greatsword, Kang Hyeok suddenly revealed himself from behind the large rock that had been covering him and sprinted across the ground.
A charge that was reckless beyond measure.
Jeongmak, having risen to his feet, immediately launched himself at the oncoming Kang Hyeok.
Like a bird soaring through the sky, he lightly stepped between obstacles and closed the distance with Kang Hyeok.
Tap!
The moment Jeongmak judged that Kang Hyeok had entered his effective range, he aimed his crossbow and fired arrows,
Swish-swish-swish!
and Kang Hyeok, dodging only the vital points—his head and heart—from the renewed hail of arrows, let the rest hit him.
Knowing that a single hit to a vital point would end it all, Kang Hyeok dodged to protect his vitals while waiting for one single opportunity.
'...Just once.'
Kang Hyeok knew that no matter how desperately he struggled here, the opponent would end up toying with him.
The match was already over, but to avoid handing momentum to the opponent for the next game, he resolved to use one skill and end it there.
Baekya raised her pure-white longbow, drew the bowstring, and formed a cluster of white light as she aimed at Kang Hyeok, while Jeongmak began firing relentlessly at Kang Hyeok as he kept closing the distance with his mobility.
Whoosh-whoosh-whoosh!
Kang Hyeok's HP gauge was being shaved away in real time, and just before it hit zero.
Kang Hyeok suddenly put strength into both hands gripping the greatsword and spun his body around with full force.
Whoosh!
At that distance, where he could never possibly reach Baekya, Kang Hyeok suddenly unleashed a skill.
—Hell Burst.
Gripping the greatsword wreathed in massive black light, Kang Hyeok spun his body once, drawing a full circle, and at the end of the 360-degree rotation, he swung the greatsword with all his might, detonating its power at the very end while simultaneously releasing the sword from his hands.
WHOOOOOSH!!!
As if crossing paths with the massive greatsword flying like a streak of black light.
Jeongmak, aiming at Kang Hyeok, raised his crossbow and aimed at his head as he unleashed a skill.
—Destiny Arrow.
The blood-red arrow, fired with almost line-perfect precision, pierced through Kang Hyeok's head, and Kang Hyeok soon turned into light and vanished.
Immediately after.
The black-light greatsword, shot at the speed of light.
—Swish!
With the sound of grazing something, it slammed down right beside Baekya, who was at an extreme distance, creating a massive explosion.
BOOOOM!!!!
"...Couldn't you just die quietly."
Baekya, confirming that roughly 80% of her HP had vanished in an instant, was dumbfounded,
—Victory!!
but at the golden hologram that immediately filled her vision, she smiled brighter than ever.
As a victory performance, she raised her pure-white longbow high and waved her hand.
Then Baekya suddenly had a question.
'Coach Baek... what kind of person is he, really?'
The strategy the coach who had recently joined the team had proposed.
At first, they thought it was an absurd strategy, and the team members had pushed back hard, but Coach Baek spoke with such unwavering conviction that in the end, the team and she had accepted it—and that was how they came to use this all-ranged-class composition.
But the reality that this strategy had actually worked was hard to believe, and at the same time, Baekya found the situation amusing.
***
Serin, who had watched the first game intently, let out admiration at a match far higher in level than she had expected.
"Wow."
The individual mechanics of the players, their split-second decisions, and the dazzling, spectacular showcase of skills exceeded everything Serin had anticipated.
The way the player Kang Hyeok signaled with a glance and went after a different player instead of Baekya, the two Archer-class players strategically keeping Kang Hyeok in check, and Baekya watching the situation from afar like a sniper.
This was what a match between pros who worked in sync looked like.
—BS takes the first set. It's truly surprising that they produced this result against G1 with such an unexpected composition. The calm response from the BS players, anticipating Minseong's surprise attack after the match began, really was a stroke of genius even in hindsight.
—There's certainly merit to Minseong's judgment in using a surprise attack, thinking that ranged classes usually keep their distance from each other. What I find more remarkable is whether BS's decision to predict Minseong's movements and launch a coordinated attack could really have been made in the heat of the moment.
With the game over, a ten-minute break was given before the next match, and to fill the gap, commercials aired and a program called the "Analysis Desk" began.
Several people who appeared to be experts were analyzing the match between the two teams in detail, but analyzing after seeing the results didn't interest her much, so Serin turned down the Analysis Desk's audio and spoke up.
"What the... this is so fun. Have you all been watching this without me, viewers?"
[G1 lost?]
[??? No, I was doing something else assuming they'd obviously win, and they lost game 1??]
[Rin seeing ACK for the first time and letting out exclamations is so cute lol]
[Seeing ACK for the first time really is shocking lol]
[It's different from playing, but watching it has its own appeal]
[Kang Hyeok using that skill at the end like he was sniping Baekya is hilarious lol]
[That was literally just him chucking his greatsword at the end out of pure luck lol]
[Kang Hyeok really is the embodiment of romance lol, even knowing it's over he shows his strength]
[If he'd hit Baekya at the end, that would've been legendary for real]
[Isn't Minseong throwing?]
[No, what are the coaches doing? They need to fix Minseong's sudden aggression, seriously... ugh, so annoying]
The chat was in an uproar over the first set result.
Whether it was because the stream title saying she was rooting for the popular team G1 had drawn attention, the viewer count had already surpassed 30,000, and with so many G1 fans, the shock over the match result seemed even greater.
I fiddled with the settings to play the backlogged donations. The donations that had piled up "before the match started" filled the stream screen again.
—Ding!
『G1isgoingtolose? donated 50,000 won!』
《G1's winning 2:0 today for a 7-win streak, right? Look at the TSJ fans throwing tantrums out of jealousy lol》
—Ding!
『HatersArePatheticlol donated 50,000 won!』
《Yeah, G1's winning 2:0 today, and I'm going to force all the haters to shut up lol》
Unfortunately, the backlogged donations were the opposite of the match result.
Seeing donations predicting victory for the already-defeated G1 team made me laugh involuntarily.
"Pfft..."
Then I realized my mistake and immediately covered my mouth.