126. G1 vs Rin - Minha (2)
126. G1 vs Rin - Minha (2)
***
The center of the massive Colosseum.
—Ssssh.
A soft noise rose as a new circular line rapidly traced itself across the Colosseum's interior.
A trail of pure white light formed a perfect circle encompassing Minha and Serin, creating a massive luminous boundary, while the players not competing had already begun moving beyond that circle toward the spectator seats along the outer edge.
It looked like a tournament arena you'd only expect to see in a pro league.
The Colosseum, as vast as a giant domed stadium, was far too large for a 1v1 match, so they were restricting the area and establishing a new boundary.
Since there were spectators, rather than moving to the Arena, they'd chosen to create a new match area inside the massive Colosseum and proceed that way.
—The duel will begin shortly.
As a hologram adorned Minha and Serin's vision,
the two of them slowly walked to their designated positions.
Afterward, Serin reached the edge of the designated area, the outer boundary of the circle, and touched the wall of light.
Tap.
Tap.
She tapped the wall, and it felt quite solid, as if it possessed considerable physical force.
"Fascinating. Really."
She turned her gaze, finding the wall intriguing, and Minha had already positioned herself near the far edge of the opposite light wall.
They stood at opposite ends of the newly created circular arena within the Colosseum. The circle itself wasn't very large, so even standing at opposite ends, they didn't feel particularly far apart.
By rough estimate, the distance between them was about 200 meters.
Immediately after, Serin watched Minha slowly raise her sniper rifle and expertly settle it against her shoulder.
Clack.
She moved with practiced ease, as if chambering a round. Watching it head-on, the way she handled the gun was genuinely impressive.
'She's cooler than I expected.'
A beautiful woman in a special combat suit raising a sniper rifle and settling into aim had an indescribable allure all its own.
It felt like witnessing something out of a movie or novel in real life.
And then, watching the sniper rifle's muzzle aim precisely at my head, I couldn't help but laugh for no particular reason.
—10. 9. 8...
As the countdown to the duel's start filled one side of my vision, Minha spoke.
"Let's do this properly."
Her characteristically cold voice carried clearly across the distance.
Whoosh!
I swung my Crescent-Moon Weight in a wide arc and nodded silently.
My opponent was a pro player.
She was even less someone I should hold back against or go easy on. Even if that were possible, I had no intention of doing so.
I believed that showing such behavior against a pro player was itself a form of deceiving the opponent.
So I intended to give my all in every match ahead.
—1.
The moment the countdown in my peripheral vision signaled its end, I immediately grabbed the blade of my Crescent-Moon Weight.
Snatch.
The sensation of the cold blade in my hand—
BANG!!
—and the sniper rifle belching massive fire as a black trajectory surged toward me were practically simultaneous.
The instant the black line reached my eyes, flickering like a flash, I instinctively raised the hand holding the Crescent-Moon Weight.
CLANG!!
A burst of white light exploded, and my hand gripping the Crescent-Moon Weight trembled faintly as it was pushed back.
The tremor in my hand, felt in an instant.
At the tension I hadn't felt in a long while, a smile crept onto my face without me realizing.
"...Insane."
A voice tinged with disbelief carried across the distance, but I immediately deployed a skill.
—Bloodstained Step.
Serin's pale legs surged with blood-red energy as she began sprinting across the ground like light.
***
"She parried Minha's sniper shot... just now?"
"Looks like it?"
Jinhyeok and Minseong, seated in the spectator stands, voiced their disbelief, and Kang Hyeok, watching right beside them, didn't speak aloud but was deeply shocked inside.
A black trajectory fired like a single line the moment the match began.
And where Minha's first shot would aim was obvious to anyone. It was a predictable shot, but it was a kind of warning shot meant to establish momentum.
The muzzle aiming at her head was something the opponent knew even before the match started, and no matter how good a class's mobility skills were, they couldn't close the distance at the very start.
Normally, you'd think about quickly hiding behind an obstacle or taking evasive action.
But Rin chose none of those options and did something no one expected.
Standing in place and parrying the sniper shot.
It was nothing short of madness.
Tap-tap-tap!!
Rin, surging with blood-red energy as she sprinted across the ground, showed not a shred of hesitation.
Because she hadn't dodged or hidden, she'd parried the shot and used that opening to launch herself forward.
BANG!!
Minha, reading Rin's movement, fired again from her sniper rifle's muzzle with a great burst of flame.
CLANG!!
Rin, closing in fast while leaving Bloodstained Step in her wake, calmly swung the hand gripping the Crescent-Moon Weight's blade and deflected the bullet.
BOOM!!
The black bullet, its trajectory knocked off course by the Crescent-Moon Weight's blade, slammed into a nearby boulder with tremendous force, announcing the impact's aftermath.
"...That actually works?"
Hajun stared blankly and muttered.
It wasn't a flashy effect like a successful parry, but the acrobatics of redirecting the bullet's trajectory and batting it away.
Not blocking, but batting it away... even seeing it with his own eyes, it was hard to believe.
Proof of that: Rin only paused her steps each time she deflected. She wasn't pushed back by the force of blocking.
"Seeing it in person, I can't help but laugh in disbelief. I mean, who grabs the blade of a Crescent-Moon Weight and deflects or parries like that?"
Minseong, gripping his dagger as if tense just from watching, muttered in disbelief.
And for good reason—the Crescent-Moon Weight, gripped by its blade, had a much shorter reach than even the dagger Minseong held.
It was a movement impossible to explain with any technique or acrobatics.
The Crescent-Moon Weight was a melee weapon, but its relatively long reach was its advantage.
Grabbing the blade directly to deflect or parry an opponent's attack was a response far beyond common sense.
BANG!!
Another massive gunshot rang out, and a black trajectory traced through the air.
But this black trajectory was far faster than before.
Minha, anticipating deflection or parrying, had used a skill that changed the bullet's speed.
Serin's gaze blankly followed the black line, fired so fast her eyes couldn't track it.
CLANG!
Yet Rin deflected it again, as if reading the bullet's trajectory.
Once again, the bullet's path was knocked off course and embedded itself in a nearby boulder.
BOOM!!!
"This is... completely hopeless."
Hajun laughed hollowly at the sight and said.
Minha's specialty was a playstyle that never allowed the opponent to approach, strangling them from range. She had already allowed Rin to close to a fairly close distance. That was as good as a preview of the outcome.
WHOOSH!!
The Crescent-Moon Weight, wreathed in blood-red energy, painted the air as it shot forward. Minha desperately grabbed her sniper rifle and used a skill.
—Burst Bullet.
An overwhelming burst of firepower exploded from the sniper rifle's muzzle in the direction it was aimed.
BOOOOM!!!!
A massive explosion erupted in an instant. It was a skill with tremendous destructive power if it could hit an opponent at close range.
But its primary purpose was usually to knock back an enemy who had closed in, rather than to land a direct hit.
With such explosive force, it was meant to send the opponent flying far away.
For a moment, Rin's figure seemed to float into the air, as if she'd failed to properly block Minha's skill.
Immediately after, the eyes of the players watching Rin's movements intently went wide.
Whirr!!
Rin's body suddenly began to spin.
Rin spun rapidly in midair, her red cloth fluttering, and then her pale legs surged with blood-red energy, tracing crimson lines.
—Single Kick.
Her blood-red leg shot out and struck the empty air with tremendous force.
BOOM!!
A different kind of explosion from the first erupted in midair, and Rin's figure shot downward faster than she had risen.
Below her was none other than Minha.
"...!"
Minha quickly raised her sniper rifle, but instead of settling it against her shoulder, she angled the muzzle for a faster shot and fired from the hip.
BANG!!
The black muzzle belched massive fire.
Minha's stance was badly disrupted by the recoil of firing without proper aim.
The black trajectory flew with perfect accuracy toward Serin's chest.
CLANG!!
But instead of the distinctive sound of penetration, a sharp metallic clang rang out.
—Heavy Spike.
The blood-red energy on the Crescent-Moon Weight's blade surged violently and shot forward as if to split the entire space.
WHOOSH!
A blood-red line slammed into the ground with enough force to split space itself.
Where the blood-red line landed, the surrounding ground collapsed as if struck by a massive explosion.
BOOOOM!!
The overwhelming destructive force damaged the Colosseum floor, and thick smoke obscured the battlefield.
......
"Deflecting a bullet and using a skill at the same time... does that even make sense?"
"Right?"
Jinhyeok and Hajun, watching the match, spoke as if the outcome was already decided, and Minseong muttered in admiration.
"She's... really something else."
Minseong could clearly see Rin's movements.
But if someone told him to replicate those movements, Minseong's first thought was how much of it he could actually pull off.
'At best... maybe half.'
Even if he tried to copy her, he doubted he could manage even half.
One thing was certain: deflecting all of Minha's shots was impossible.
She didn't fire at the same speed every time—she used skills to vary the bullet speed moment to moment.
Deflecting all of that was humanly impossible.
No, it should have been impossible... but Rin was doing it, and Minseong was at a loss for words.
Thinking about it again, the speed of her judgment and movement—all of it was beyond comprehension.
Parrying sniper shots from long range.
Throughout her approach, the barrage of shots was simply redirected and batted away.
When the distance closed, the bullet speed changed drastically, but Rin deflected even that without issue.
At the very end, even against Minha's hip-fire shot at near point-blank range, Rin didn't allow a single hit.
Ssssh.
As the smoke slowly cleared, Minha was no longer visible in the revealed Colosseum.
The center of the arena, heavily damaged with a massive crater.
At its center stood a single silver-haired woman, alone.
She bore not a single scratch, and her beautiful face showed no trace of fatigue.
"Next player?"
Serin's calm, lovely voice, her crimson lips parting slightly, echoed through the Colosseum.
......
Afterward, Minha appeared near Kang Hyeok in a flicker of light.
She muttered blankly.
"That person... what the hell is she?"
In Minha's eyes as she spoke was a fear of something beyond understanding.
Kang Hyeok glanced at Minha and grinned slyly.
"Who knows."
How someone like that had suddenly appeared—Kang Hyeok was curious too.