287. Force Lightning
287. Force Lightning
***
As the arrows filling the sky became wrapped in light, they transformed into countless starlights and began plunging toward the ground.
FWIP-FWIP-FWIP-FWIP-FWIP!
And even as the starlight-like arrows poured down without pause, the two women who had kicked off the ground did not retreat.
—God's Blessing.
A holy light appeared faintly above Jeanne d'Arc's form, raising her physical abilities, and she began fending off the pouring starlight.
Her hair scattered endlessly through the air from her swift movements, and the hand holding her shield blocked the madly pouring arrows as she swung her sword.
And Red Cat, who had been charging while keeping distance from Jeanne d'Arc, likewise drew her lance back to her chest and activated a skill.
—Forceful Charge Stance.
The female knight clad in crimson armor set her stance as if charging with her lance, raising her massive greatshield.
FWOOSH!
A deep crimson aura bloomed and wrapped around the female knight's entire body.
THOOM!
The moment she kicked off the ground again, carving a massive mark into the earth, she instead began surging forward as if forcing her way through the countless starlights.
RAT-TAT-TAT-TAT!
The sound of starlight-like arrows striking the female knight's crimson armor and greatshield rang out without pause, but only negligible damage accumulated. The female knight kept advancing.
Just as Jeanne d'Arc advanced through the arrow rain on the strength of her physical abilities, and Red Cat pressed her charge while greatly reducing ranged damage through the effect of Forceful Charge Stance—
'They put together a combination like that with only this much pressure?'
Seola even felt an unwarranted suspicion, because closing the distance seemed too easy.
With no melee class protecting the front line, if they closed the distance like this, it would not be strange at all for the first match to end anticlimactically.
WHOOSH!
At that moment. A massive spear that had been flying past her side carved an eerie blue light through the air as it surged toward BS's formation. It was none other than Downfall's ranged javelin throw.
As the blue-tinged spear hurtled forward destructively, BS's two Archer Class players, who had been firing arrows without pause, naturally dodged.
BOOOOM!
The blue trajectory embedded itself into one part of BS's position as if carving a mark, and with the explosion, thick dust rose, and the arrow rain pouring down like a storm faltered slightly.
Thus, the one who closed in on BS's formation was not Eunha, who had been advancing while deflecting or blocking the starlight-like arrows, but Seola.
At the moment she was charging her lance to advance again toward the Wizard at a relatively close distance. A massive trail of light brightly illuminated the Colosseum.
—White Night.
WHOOOOSH!
As the trail of light manifested from Baekya's longbow brightly illuminated the space, an eerie sound rang out belatedly, and Seola immediately raised her greatshield. At the same time, BS's Jeongmak also activated a skill.
—Explosion Arrow.
Jeongmak began indiscriminately firing the crossbow held in both hands at the ground where Seola stood.
"...What the—!"
Seola, who had sucked in a sharp breath at the nearly simultaneous skill combination, rapidly assessed the situation.
Baekya's light-laden arrow aimed at her upper body.
Jeongmak's arrow barrage aimed at the ground beneath her feet.
Even if the shield she carried was a greatshield, it could not cover her entire body.
Her thought was brief, and it soon led to a single skill.
—Royal Guard.
A massive golden barrier bloomed from her greatshield and blocked everything in front of her, but Seola realized belatedly at the moment she activated it.
That she could not block every attack with this skill.
BOOOOM!
As the pure white arrow of light struck the massive golden barrier directly, the golden barrier burst apart and scattered,
BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM!
and Jeongmak's countless arrows detonated with massive explosions on the ground where she stood, destroying the earth.
As the shockwave from the explosions sent Seola's body flying through the air,
Jeanne d'Arc, who had belatedly reached the same front line, urgently activated a skill.
—Radiance of Light.
As holy light burst from the sword raised high into the sky, a pure white barrier appeared over Seola's airborne form.
Even at that moment, Jeanne d'Arc's calm gaze was fixed not on the two archers, but on another player.
The Wizard holding a staff.
A massive light shimmered at the tip of 'Lord's' staff, and the direction it pointed was toward the direction Seola was being knocked back, as if he had predicted this very situation.
For an instant, Jeanne d'Arc could not understand the Wizard's positioning more than the two archers' response.
'How is he predicting the direction Seola would be knocked back?'
After all, the direction of the magic had been aimed at the direction Seola was knocked back from the very beginning.
Originally, the reason the Wizard Class was undervalued in PVP was none other than the target of magic manifestation.
Magic that was linear and struck the entire space. In other words, it did not surge toward a specific target.
Cast magic manifested strictly at the location designated by the Wizard, so in moment-to-moment urgent PVP situations, magic's utility dropped.
No matter how powerful it was, it meant nothing if it could not hit.
—Force Lightning.
As a flash-like light burst from the staff of Lord, who had been preparing his magic, countless bolts of lightning soon formed in the air around him, and the lightning began concentrating its destructive power on a single point.
The accumulated lightning shot out like a single bolt of lightning and struck the floating female knight, and she was soon engulfed in a massive light.
CRACKLE-CRACKLE!
With an effect as if condensed light had burst all at once, the female knight flew backward helplessly as if exploding.
"..."
Jeanne d'Arc, who had taken in all of that with her eyes, frowned faintly.
'Not good.'
She had prevented Seola from retiring with the Radiance of Light she had just activated. But that was all.
Afterward, she could not advance any further while merely deflecting or blocking the arrows pouring in from the two archers.
If Seola were there, they could split the offensive and expand, but instead she was now left alone and had to receive the offensive.
WHOOSH!
Downfall's javelin, ready once more, flew past Eunha and struck BS's formation hard, but it dealt no actual damage.
As arrows and magic with no delay continued pouring down, even Eunha ultimately had no choice but to abandon the front line and retreat.
......
Seo Eunwoo, who had been watching the match, let out an involuntary exclamation of admiration.
"Just how much preparation did BS put in? I can't help but be impressed even while watching."
As someone who followed the pro league, he had a fair understanding when it came to watching.
The combination BS had just executed was not ordinary even in his eyes.
"From what I can see too... they seem to be responding almost as if they predicted it."
Serin, who answered him, was inwardly even more surprised.
The responses of the BS players in the hologram were astonishing even as she watched.
At first, they seemed to slow TSJ's advance by firing an arrow rain through a combination skill. But as TSJ calmly responded, they appeared to break through even that.
Then, the moment the female knight called Red Cat activated a skill and quickly jutted out toward the front,
the two archers who had been firing arrows into the sky dodged the javelin while immediately loading arrows as if each were preparing a different skill—the sight was deeply unsettling.
'Yeah, prediction. It really can only be called prediction.'
It did not look like simply being one step faster or reading the opponent's moves.
The skill preparation and response looked as if they had predicted that TSJ's players would react that way.
Then, the moment the Wizard cast magic as if to finish things, Eunha had certainly been impressive in protecting the female knight with instantaneous quick thinking, but she had merely avoided a fatal wound.
As Eunha, who had been narrowing the front line, became isolated instead, even she ultimately had no choice but to retreat again.
In the end, only the female knight called Red Cat had taken damage, so the situation was completely different from the prediction that things would proceed smoothly.
[Wow was BS always this good]
[Unexpectedly evenly matched?]
[All-ranged comp might actually be good lololol]
[No but isn't Red Cat kind of throwing here?]
[Breaking through didn't look that bad though]
[Isn't Jeanne d'Arc a bit late?]
[Lolol no what do you mean Jeanne d'Arc is late, Red Cat went off alone and took damage for nothing]
[Downfall's ranged support is really iffy]
As the chat scrolling up also seemed full of people surprised by BS's strong performance, Serin glanced at the viewer count and blinked.
'Already 90,000...?'
It had only been a little over an hour since she turned on the stream, but the number of viewers rising by the minute was extraordinary.
She immediately set a time limit to control the chat speed and focused on the match.
Afterward, as BS's players coordinated and continued their meticulous offensive, it was striking that the other TSJ players, including Eunha, could not easily close the distance.
"The match might drag into a long game, more than I thought."
As Serin stared blankly at the ongoing match and muttered, Eunwoo nodded.
"Really. Honestly, I thought it would be decided easily, but for BS's strength to be this much... They say the league is gradually leveling up, and it really seems true."
Serin did not answer Eunwoo's following words.
She simply widened her eyes at the unexpected action Jeanne d'Arc had just shown on the screen.
'What on earth is she thinking?'
After the player called Red Cat had first taken a heavy hit, TSJ had been advancing the front line more cautiously, then being pushed back, over and over.
But in that situation, only Eunha suddenly threw herself forward.
The sight, which looked almost identical to the situation when Red Cat had been focus-fired, made it seem as though Eunha had brought the crisis upon herself.
Just as before when they had targeted Red Cat, the arrow of light and the arrow of destructive energy surged toward her once more,
——!
and a massive light burst from Jeanne d'Arc's form.