Episode 73

I leaped down into the pit and glided. The odds of that were low, but if I needlessly took my time, I could end up giving away those 8 points with my eyes wide open.

Thanks to setting off without delay, I ran into him midway along the path to the Chu. To be precise, Gang Je-gyeong, who had stopped after seeing me charge in, happily plastered me with DoT skills. Seriously, is there any way to deal with that DoT? You can at least swat a mosquito, but DoTs hit unconditionally, so there was no countermeasure.

In the end, the notion that 'if I played it well, I might be able to plaster him one more time' was shattered into pieces, and I had to give up my life to Gang Je-gyeong.

The small mercy was that I died far from the 8-point Chu, so the score he received was only 5 points, and that I had whittled down Jaesugang's HP while alive, giving me a physical advantage.

Having become able to gauge damage to some extent, Gang Je-gyeong moved strategically, as usual. It was a fight not much different from skirmishing in the field.

However, I had to watch out for the DoT that couldn't be cleansed once hit, and the Extraction skill with explosive damage capable of killing me in one hit. One wrong move and it was lights out. Since Gang Je-gyeong also only had his Extraction skill to kill me, the time we spent reading each other's timing to avoid getting cancelled grew longer.

Thanks to successfully cancelling his Extraction skill once, I smoothly earned 5 points, but next, after losing the mind game, I took a 6-stack Extraction skill and gave up 5 points just the same.

While amiably splitting the points and taking measure of each other once more, three minutes passed. Barbed iron bars rose from beneath the character's feet, restricting movement, and as we transitioned to round two, the map was switched. Gang Je-gyeong and I dropped back into our respective respawn zones.

This map was a flat plain where massive walls rose at random locations every 12 seconds. I didn't know if they rose following a fixed pattern or completely at random, but it was a tricky place where, if you were unlucky, a wall might rise while you were using a skill and block it, causing deal loss (*damage loss).

Without a long wait, the iron bars vanished and round two began. By coincidence, a wall had risen in the exact center of the floor, cutting off the opposite side from view. I ran forward, but kept a careful eye on my surroundings to respond to unexpected attacks, circling right to go around the wall.

As I passed the center wall, I came face-to-face with Gang Je-gyeong, whom I had half-expected to be waiting quietly in his own respawn area as in round one. Startled inwardly, I pressed an attack skill, but Gang Je-gyeong calmly used a defensive skill as if he had already known I was coming this way.

[Combat] Used the Desperate Sword Aura skill to deal 6,410 damage to Jaesugang.

[Combat] Took 8,814 damage from Jaesugang's Joint Blow.

[Combat] Immobilized by the effect of Jaesugang's Joint Blow.

[Combat] Attack speed reduced by the effect of Jaesugang's Joint Blow.

[Combat] Movement speed reduced by the effect of Jaesugang's Joint Blow.

Ah, shit. Attack speed and movement speed reduction, of all things…….

I bit my lip and used my immunity skill, even if belatedly.

[Combat] Used the Fortitude skill to become immune to status effects.

[Combat] Took 6,071 damage from Jaesugang's Vital Strike.

[Combat] Resisted the stun from Jaesugang's Vital Strike.

[Combat] Jaesugang avoided the Desperate Sword Strike skill using <Create Distance>.

I had blocked the stun, but with movement speed reduction also applied, it was hard to catch Gang Je-gyeong, who had widened the gap from me using <Create Distance>. Yet if I used a charge skill, the reduced attack speed might instead leave me open, so I waited for the status effects to clear first.

Gang Je-gyeong kept stacking DoTs on me while subtly shifting sideways. He was baiting me toward the Jeop-ajok Chu.

I feigned approaching that direction while preparing to pull him in with a capture skill. If he burned his evasion or immunity skill here, that was fine; if not, I could stun him and start a combo. Either way, it was a favorable option for me.

And right as all status effects wore off with time, I used the capture skill.

The moment the chain shot out and closed in on Gang Je-gyeong.

[Combat] Used the Executioner's Bind skill.

[Combat] The activation of Executioner's Bind has been cancelled.

A wall rose from below and blocked the chain.

……Lucky bastard. I muttered inwardly and had no choice but to dash toward Gang Je-gyeong. After passing that damned wall that had blocked my chain, I spotted Gang Je-gyeong setting up position far away.

I used my survival skill in advance and closed the distance with a charge skill. He calmly waited for me while casting a DoT skill, and used his evasion skill just before the charge connected, widening the gap once more. The distance opened again, but it didn't matter since <Shield Slam>, a chain skill, was also a movement skill.

[Combat] Used the Shield Slam skill to deal 7,611 damage to Jaesugang.

[Combat] Jaesugang is taunted by the effect of Shield Slam.

I closed the distance he had opened back up and gauged the timing to use my status effect skill. I would save <Equanimity>, the Military Medic's sole status immunity skill, for the Mutated Virus Extraction, so as long as it didn't overlap with the <Straight Break> skill that blocks skill activation, it was practically half a success already.

Not long after that thought, Gang Je-gyeong used Straight Break. I happened to be using a different skill, not a status effect skill. Had I lost the mind game? Whatever the case, it was a gain. I cheerfully landed my stun skill right after he used his.

[Combat] Used the Noble Execution skill to deal 4,006 damage to Jaesugang.

[Combat] Jaesugang resisted the effect of Noble Execution through Equanimity.

"……."

"He's using Equanimity now? Why?"

There weren't many DoTs stacked yet, and the Mutated Virus was nonexistent. Using both Straight Break and Equanimity while unable to use the Extraction skill was incomprehensible. Once Equanimity's duration ended, he'd be stuck just taking hits until Straight Break's cooldown came back.

I was completely confused. Even so, my fingers kept steadily inputting skills to whittle down his HP. Whatever the case, a win was a win.

As I tried to guess his angle while Jaesugang's Equanimity duration was nearing its end, a speech bubble appeared above the casting character's head.

[General] Jaesugang: ^^)/

What the hell. Is this an emoticon telling me to cut off his head and an arm or something?

As I glared unpleasantly at the emoticon that seemed to be mocking me, Gang Je-gyeong's character, which had been facing me directly in front, suddenly shot skyward.

I was bewildered. Where the familiar-looking character had stood, a rigid, thick wall had risen before my eyes.

Flustered, I raised my aim and looked up. Above the wall, I saw Gang Je-gyeong casting a skill without any interference. Seeing that, countless thoughts churned in my head.

The capture skill blocked by a wall at a miraculous timing, and Gang Je-gyeong climbing the wall and leaping into the sky with a smile.

[Combat] Took 2,142 damage from Jaesugang's Concealed Virus.

This couldn't be a coincidence. Along with that thought, a chill ran down my spine.

This bastard had definitely figured out from the start which wall would appear at what timing.

You could say it was like a dog chasing a chicken only to stare up at the roof. Even so, I somehow managed to catch the chicken.

[Combat] Shadies: Defeated Jaesugang with the Desperate Strike skill.

[System] Proved your worth of 5 to the God Ivria.

[System] Stamina has slightly recovered through God's Protection.

[18 : 25]

The score was fucked, though.

Jaesugang was flying all over the place. I'd throw a skill only for it to be blocked by a wall; I'd barely catch up and he'd climb a wall and soar up again; I'd position myself to overlap with him while keeping that in check, only for me alone to shoot up and break my combo; if we both went up on the wall together, he'd knock me back down with knockback.

Scenes like this had appeared occasionally in previous arena matches too, but those were always just accidentally ending up on walls—never like Gang Je-gyeong calculating the patterns and timing to climb them as if taunting me.

If he were just running away, that'd be one thing, but he fired skills from unreachable distances, and when walls descended, he leisurely glided while casting skills to stack DoTs on me. When I saw him use a leap skill mid-glide to gracefully hop onto the adjacent wall, I thought I'd go mad. I wanted to reel him in with a capture skill, but the skill's Z-axis range was so low that I couldn't even hook the bastard lounging around in plain sight; it was frustrating enough to make me choke.

This map was perfectly optimized for Gang Je-gyeong, who only needed to throw down DoTs, nimbly slip away, and use his Extraction skill to win. As proof, Gang Je-gyeong scored 15 points on this map alone.

I could vividly picture the grinning face splitting ear to ear floating above the head of Gang Je-gyeong's character, who had just respawned. Must be fun, you fucker. Since I was in the middle of a live broadcast, I couldn't swear out loud, so I sighed and chewed on it internally.

Still, there was good news at this point. It was almost time for round two to end and the map to change.