177. Master Tier Promotion Series Update
177. Master Tier Promotion Series Update
***
A weapon with such extreme range demanded that every single strike carry absolute conviction.
Only by attacking with the resolve of a one-strike kill—or something close to it—could you avoid exposing the opening left after the attack.
And the greater the force behind the weapon, or the wider its reach, the larger the gap before the next attack inevitably became.
From that perspective, the great katana was an exceedingly difficult weapon to handle.
The skill system supposedly compensated for a user's proficiency, but the fundamental nature of a weapon never changed.
That was a saying that held true in Black Ark as well.
......
Clang!!
Step.
From the aftershock of their clashing skills, Serin and the kimono-clad woman each stepped back as if they had coordinated the movement.
"Hah!"
At the same time, the kimono-clad woman let out what sounded like a kiai.
The silver-haired woman wielding the great katana deployed another skill.
Ignoring the aftershock of the skill that had just been nullified, the black great katana began carving through the air once more along her hand, and the atmosphere of the Colosseum began to ripple.
Whirr.
Having retrieved her Crescent-Moon Weight, Serin simply watched her opponent's attack with interest.
The way she seemed to use the recoil from the clash of skills had the look of someone who had genuinely swung a sword before.
A different feel from the iaijutsu class she had faced last time.
—One Point, One Line - Swift
As if pressing a single dot of ink onto empty air with a massive brush, the fierce black energy coiled around the great katana erupted outward.
Whoosh!!
The effect of the black burst of light flaring out began to rapidly subside, and in an instant her opponent surged forward.
As if the distance that had existed between them had been erased, as if it were suddenly growing larger, the blade of the great katana rushed toward her at terrifying speed.
A sight like a black dot pressed into the void transforming into an infinitely extending line.
As if the skill the woman had used for her opening attack had been a feint, the speed of the follow-up skill was on a completely different level.
'She's fast.'
So rather than swinging her Crescent-Moon Weight, Serin raised its blade and met the attack head-on.
—Heavy Spike.
Bloodlight flared fiercely at the tip of the Crescent-Moon Weight's blade, emitting a brilliant red glow.
Crackle!!
Standing in place, Serin met the tip of the great katana's blade as it thrust toward her face as if to pierce through it. Her opponent's expression shifted as if she couldn't help but be impressed—but then, as if she had anticipated this, the woman sharply twisted her wrist.
—Swallow's Wingbeat.
The tip of the great katana suddenly spun, rotating rapidly. A peculiar change occurred, as if it were flicking away the blade of the Crescent-Moon Weight.
Clang!
Crackle...!
Another change occurred the moment the sword extended, and the long tip of the great katana's blade plunged straight in.
"...!"
Serin's eyes flew wide at the unexpected change, and she urgently twisted her head.
The massive black great katana split through Serin's silver hair by a hair's breadth and pierced the empty air in a single thrust.
—Single Kick.
Even as she dodged, Serin twisted her body and lashed out with a blood-red leg.
Thwack!
The woman winced as the Single Kick landed cleanly and sent her flying. The moment she twisted in midair and landed at a distance—
WHIIIIIZZ!!
—Jeolyeon.
A great line of bloodlight rose along Serin's hand and shot forward as if to split space itself.
The woman desperately twisted the great katana diagonally, as if to block the attack head-on with the blade.
At a glance, it looked like she was simply deflecting and blocking in the moment, but for some reason, that distinctive blocking stance felt all too familiar to Serin.
The hand gripping the sword and the other hand bracing the blade. The way she supported the great katana with both hands. Moreover, the shape of the other hand gripping the tip of the blocking blade seemed misaligned somehow—something was off.
A thought struck Serin.
'No way?'
A stance that looked defensive but actually flowed into offense.
The moment that realization seared itself into Serin's vision—
Swish!
Serin instinctively stepped forward one beat faster, twisting her hips sharply as if gliding. At the same time, she released the Crescent-Moon Weight from her hand.
Swoosh!
Her opponent's hand, which had been blocking the Jeolyeon, suddenly snapped outward as she slashed the great katana forward in a massive arc.
CLANG!!
The Crescent-Moon Weight went flying through the air as the parry success effect burst forth.
The woman's face lit up, and she began pulling the great katana back to follow up with another attack. But as if she had predicted exactly this, Serin had already closed the distance in an instant.
Because she had released the Crescent-Moon Weight, the parry's aftershock had been completely dissipated, leaving Serin's movement utterly unimpeded.
"Ah!?"
Serin deployed a skill directly at the silver-haired woman who hadn't expected it.
—Single Kick.
A blood-red leg arced through the air, extending rapidly, and the woman couldn't react in time.
Thwack!
As if the flow of the exchange had been severed entirely, her opponent took a clean hit to the chest and was sent staggering back.
Scrape!
As her opponent slid backward across the ground, staring at her in disbelief, Serin roughly yanked the red cord connected to the Crescent-Moon Weight floating in the air and deployed a skill.
—Blood Cry.
Screeeech!!!
The Crescent-Moon Weight that had been knocked into the air let out an eerie sound as it hovered there.
It was a skill with virtually no destructive power, so she rarely used it—but it was the kind of skill meant to test an opponent.
Flash!
As Serin's right hand turned red and she suddenly shifted the angle sharply, the Crescent-Moon Weight began tracing rapid angles through the air like a creature with a will of its own.
"..."
The woman hesitated, her eyes showing she couldn't understand what was happening. Serin's interest sharpened.
'She really did prepare her skills with me in mind.'
The shape of her techniques looked as if she had practiced by predicting my known movements one by one.
There was no other explanation for those movements.
And the moment Serin used a new skill, the opponent's bewildered reaction made it obvious—which actually pleased her.
She'd said she was a fan, hadn't she? It looked like she'd practiced, longing for the moment she'd face me.
Screeeech!!!
The blood-red Crescent-Moon Weight drifted through the air as if tracing some kind of pattern. Then, suddenly, it shot toward her opponent like a vertical dive, and the woman began taking that distinctive stance again.
Holding the great katana diagonally as if to defend, looking like she intended to parry once more.
Seeing that, Serin's lips twisted before she knew it.
Because the confidence of an opponent who thought she could parry again right in front of her made Serin let out a hollow laugh.
'This is fun. Really fun.'
She'd assumed there would be several parry-related skills or classes when she first faced Sua.
Knight-class skills that evolved into higher-grade techniques than parry—something like Riposte, or skills with relatively easier parry activation conditions.
This one looked like a skill with easier parry conditions.
And that was exactly why Blood Cry had meaning.
Because the Crescent-Moon Weight that moved according to my will could create countless variations on its own.
Screech!!
For example, right now—the Crescent-Moon Weight that had been plunging down suddenly stopped dead in midair. As it halted in the void, making its previous trajectory meaningless, her opponent tried to flick her hand out, then resumed her defensive stance, staring at the floating Crescent-Moon Weight with a baffled expression.
Serin ended the Blood Cry skill and yanked the Crescent-Moon Weight back hard.
As the skill was released, the Crescent-Moon Weight that had been floating in the air dropped downward, and her opponent's great katana reacted by slashing through the empty air.
Whoosh!!
And as Serin pulled the cord and retrieved it immediately, the great katana failed to strike the Crescent-Moon Weight, cutting through nothing instead.
Whirr!
Serin retrieved her Crescent-Moon Weight with ease and smiled faintly at her opponent. The woman's expression visibly hardened.
Clack!
She pulled the great katana back, taking a stance as if preparing for a massive strike. Serin kicked off the ground without hesitation.
—Bloodstained Step.
As Serin closed the distance rapidly, leaving blood-red footsteps in her wake, the woman's expression turned urgent, as if this wasn't what she'd expected, and she extended her sword, deploying a skill.
—Dragon Claw.
Swoosh!!
A single slash of the great katana carved through the air!
Above and below that slash, massive black lines were drawn, cutting in like enormous claws. Serin thrust her right hand downward and deployed a skill.
—Explosive Spike.
BOOOOM!!
An explosion slammed into the Colosseum floor, and as a massive cloud of dust erupted, the three enormous lines slashed straight through it.
Swish.
"...?"
The woman realized something was wrong as she watched the smoke part far too easily. Then she saw it—a line of bloodlight drawn down through the air.
—Single Kick.
Serin, who had launched herself into the air using the aftershock of the Explosive Spike, drove her leg down mercilessly toward her opponent's head.
Thwack!
With a sound like a watermelon bursting, Serin smiled and spoke.
"That was fun."
Loud enough for her opponent, who was turning into light, to hear.
—Victory!
A small congratulatory hologram immediately decorated her vision.
But right after, an even more dazzling golden effect burst forth and filled Serin's sight.
*
————
Master Tier Promotion Series Update!
You have earned the right to a Promotion Series in Ranked!
There are two changes to the upcoming Master Tier Promotion Series!
1. The Promotion Series will be best of seven.
2. Starting with the Master Rank games, including the Promotion Series, the use of Awakening Skills and Emergency Evasion is restricted.
(Equal conditions: Awakening Skills and Emergency Evasion may only be used when both duelists can use both Awakening Skills and Emergency Evasion. If even one skill is on cooldown, neither Awakening Skills nor Emergency Evasion may be used.)
Master Tier benefits!
-A new Ranked queue matching sound effect!
-Upon reaching Master Tier in Solo Rank, automatic tier adjustment is applied to other Ranked modes!
-While maintaining Master Tier, item drop rate increased by 1% regardless of region!
......
————
*
I glanced at the Master Promotion Series notification, which shone almost excessively bright, then immediately opened the chat window.
[Damn!!]
[That insane golden notification is so fucking cool lololol]
[That style is unreal, OMG]
[There's a streamer who triggered Master Promotion Series with a 100% win rate!?]
[Among streamers, she's like Jeanne d'Arc level or what, OMG]
[What are you talking about, you should say Jeanne d'Arc is Rin-level among pro players lololol]
[For real lolol]
[Why is she so pretty every time she uses Single Kick, seriously;]
[What's with that smile after it ended? T_T T_T T_T I came to watch Jeanne d'Arc, but I think I'm falling for Rin instead T_T]
The chat was reacting even more intensely than usual, so I figured Master Tier must carry a different kind of recognition from the start.
Up through Diamond Tier there had been no benefits at all, but now it seemed like they were being given preferential treatment.
'Master Tier must be different since there are actual benefits.'
Maybe because it was an RPG, even the drop rate being included as a benefit was fascinating.
—Ding-ding-ding-ding!!!!
『Plea donated 1,000,000 won!!』
《Wow! Rin, you're already Master Tier?》
A massive donation alert and a donation message decorating the screen.
"Sua—no. Plea has donated a huge sum of one million won... Plea, why the sudden huge donation?"
I'd accidentally said Sua out loud. But I was genuinely curious why she'd suddenly donated a million won.
[Sua!?]
[Are Rin and Plea that close?]
[lolol well they've done collab streams several times]
[The big spender has arrived!]
[If she called her Sua, does that mean Rin is the older one?]
[They seem at least the same age]
[Somehow lolol Rin seems like the older one]
[Plea being the big spender? What about Yoo Eunha, she's right there lololol]
"Ah, Plea and I are on older-sister, younger-sister terms normally. We're pretty close."
Actually, we'd kept calling each other with formalities even during collab streams, but it had just broken by accident.
—Ding!
『Plea donated 100,000 won!!』
《Ah, then can I start calling you Rin like an older sister from now on!?》
"I don't mind. Thanks for the 100,000 won, but why all of a sudden? Did something good happen?"
I'd completely dropped formalities, and I was curious why Sua was suddenly donating. After she'd made that big donation last time, I'd told her that messaging me was no different from donating, so there was no reason for Sua to donate like this now.
—Ding!
『Plea donated 100,000 won!!』
《It's partly to congratulate you on Master Tier in advance, and I do have good news. So, Rin, message me after the stream ends!?》