Chapter 201
Spoon had to keep his eyes on the magic circles of chains that rained down every second and on the opponent’s movements.
But even as he focused like crazy, he was smiling.
[Left.]
Clatter!
[This time, right.]
Bam!
[Just taking a hit will bring you toward me and even fill your mana.]
[Sacrifice]
It’s free. It’s fun.
Amidst the extreme focus, the black chains followed his movements like mad.
And he evaded them and counterattacked almost in a trance, listening only to the sound of the Ball Worm.
In this state of utmost concentration and peak performance, he felt a growing sense of liberation.
‘I’ll win.’
If he fought like this, Seo Jun could never catch him.
‘I’ll win!’
His eyes constantly swept the nearby magic circles. They were all near the opponent. And the Ball Worm’s sound reached him.
Instinct. And reason.
The two madly took turns seizing his brain, guiding his body toward the optimal choice, toward the path to victory in battle.
His movements were light. Had he ever been lighter than this?
His enemy wasn’t just one to fight.
Alpaca ran out of stamina and was taken out with the enemy’s help, and Ha Yoon-ho died. Wind Sword and Lumi were dealing with the jungle top, so right now he was fighting no less than three enemies, including the Ball Worm.
Yet his foe approached leisurely, dodging the mid laner’s swung attack while continuing to fire chains at him.
The magic circles kept spawning, cornering him with play that was almost miraculous.
But to the enemy.
‘I see no sign of victory.’
It still hadn’t been revealed which second rune his enemy had bought.
So Spoon thought it was an ultimate-related rune.
Damage enhancement and ultimate.
‘Are they overlapping?’
[Liberation: While the skill effect is active, the damage reduction applied when Destruction Chains hit simultaneously is decreased.]
It looked like he meant to send them all at once.
With that famous ultimate. With the skill that touched the divine—forming a circular dome from twenty magic circles while never getting hit himself.
‘When will he use it?’
A moment ago was the perfect timing. Seo Jun had interrupted his skill with a basic attack, and Spoon had no choice but to wait through a long cooldown.
The opponent’s gamble had paid off.
He was slightly flustered, but the opponent hadn’t used the ultimate.
Now his skill cooldown was back.
‘Just.’
He needed to take care of the other teammates first.
Even if this moment was fun now, he had to think about the game. So Spoon averted his gaze, and just as he was about to use a skill to attack Wind Sword...
A gently swaying opening appeared.
Within Seo Jun’s movements as he dodged the mid laner’s attack.
The opening wagged its tail at him.
‘It’s definitely a trap.’
There’s no way the opponent would make a mistake.
Going for Wind Sword was the right call.
Such rational thought dominated his mind.
But his instinct turned the direction of Quick Shot and moved his body deeper into the battlefield with Seo Jun.
If he missed the follow-up here, he’d fall for the trap, but he felt like he could land it.
[Quick Shot]
In Spoon’s vision, the world warped as if seen through a lens.
In an instant of high-speed movement.
[Liberation]
The opponent’s ultimate unfolded as if it had been waiting. No, it must have been waiting. It’s a trap.
Twenty magic circles covered the sky, centered on Spoon.
Memories of before surfaced.
The memory of feeling an inescapable helplessness.
But this time, his instinct had been right.
Spoon brought his two gun barrels together at his greatest possible speed and fired a single glowing bullet.
A moment later, as Seo Jun’s sphere rushed in, intersecting with the glowing bullet in an attempt to cut off his follow-up—he knew instantly.
‘I’ve won.’
The follow-up won’t be blocked. Dodging is out of the question.
The opponent failed to cut it with a basic attack, and his cooldown shortened.
‘If I move backward and immediately use the skill, I can even get out.’
He could escape the dome’s range entirely.
Even if even this was designed—
And the magic circles spread in the dome could attack outward instead of inward—
It was fine. If he got out, the chains firing from the opposite direction would be out of range, and according to calculations, even if he got hit by four, he wouldn’t die.
[Quick Shot]
Inside the dome, his teammate swung a sword.
The liberated chains erupted all at once.
Thud!
They were chaotic, but they didn’t collide with each other.
It was a different pattern from what he’d seen before.
The space to dodge, once again, was only where the enemy stood...
‘Wait. If the chains were designed like that, then the second rune isn’t the ultimate...’
As his thoughts flashed and signaled that something was wrong—
The moment Spoon’s eyes turned skyward, saw a certain magic circle, and thought this—
‘Wait, since when has that been...?’
“Twenty seconds. That’s it.”
He heard someone’s voice kindly telling him the truth.
* * *
After that, he can’t remember well.
Should he say he was dumbfounded?
He thought Alpaca had pulled back, but she had been pushing mid.
The chains that had been relentlessly driving him now changed targets to his teammates.
His teammates, of course, couldn’t dodge and were swept away.
And.
Well.
The Nexus was pushed, and he lost the game.
Right.
That’s what happened.
The dream of snowballing collapsed at once.
So now he’s checking what exactly happened through the broadcast.
[From here! The setup begins! If you look closely, after this, a magic circle was secretly created behind! This alone took four seconds!]
[Oh! You’re right! It was created one second earlier! But why?]
‘Wow.’
Really filthy.
Petty.
Does he want to win so badly that he goes this far?
Isn’t he a con artist?
Spoon inwardly heaped all manner of praise.
Since he was on air, he couldn’t voice that praise.
[Obviously, it was to deceive Spoon! I took a rune for damage enhancement. What fourth magic circle? What’s that supposed to be?]
[He gets tricked by that?]
[Wouldn’t you be tricked? He bought a rune and didn’t use it! And the damage of the chains that did hit was definitely stronger than before! This isn’t the first time Seo Jun has played a con!]
- ㄹㅇㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
- He’s so good at conning ㅋㅋㅋㅋ
- Maybe he just wanted Spoon to go on a diet? ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
- Ah ㅋㅋ telling him to do the fasting meta ㅋㅋㅋㅋ
- Were you trying to protect the health of the opponent you’re shooting at... I’ve only just realized.
- Spoon, treat him really well, got it?
‘Diet, what bullshit, you crazy bastards.’
Why is preventing minion kills considered healthcare?
Spoon glared at his chat window.
[Caster Bangju! Then why did Seo Jun hide the information?]
[Because if you know in advance, there’s a way to avoid it for sure.]
[What is it?]
[Just run far away. Out of range, hahaha. He gave a whole twenty seconds.]
Damn.
If only I’d noticed a bit sooner.
Victory would have been a piece of cake.
No matter how cunningly the opponent hid it, there had been suspicious points.
[So he waited until the late game when he could finish it in one go. Because if he kills you once, he can’t use it again, so he just ends the game entirely.]
[Yes. It was designed from the start to win the game in the most efficient way!]
[But isn’t it still hard to land?]
[True. You’d wonder who could possibly land that...]
- But he did land it, right?
- <<<< The one who got hit
- Idiot
- ㅋㅋㅋ
- Hurry up and spill the off-the-record stuff. What kind of crazy show did you put on with Ball Worm?
- It was the perfect strategy, Spoon. If only you hadn’t gotten hit.
[Even the moment he got hit was intentional. Look at the final battle scene. We casters didn’t know Seo Jun had laid it down, right?]
[Yes. It appeared suddenly in the sky with no warning.]
The casters had been watching from the perspective of each hero, especially Spoon’s.
Even now, they were switching to Spoon’s point of view.
[We kind of knew, right? Ah, so that’s what he’s been up to all along, he was going to lay it down during the fight. Right, Penguin?]
[Yes.]
[But Penguin, did you catch exactly when it was created?]
[No. I was just watching the fight, and at some point—ah, he must have laid it—when I tried to look for it, it occasionally flashed in Spoon’s view.]
Spoon said grumpily.
“That’s right. Even a third party who knows has to focus hard just to barely see it, so how was I supposed to notice in that situation?”
[Look at this fight here. Phew... It’s definitely hectic. Spoon is really, really busy.]
[Seo Jun, who has to constantly predict, should be busier, but he moves leisurely. There’s no sense of urgency at all.]
[And seventeen seconds after it was created! Seo Jun gives an opening. He completely turns his gaze and arm toward the mid laner. With this, Spoon has no choice but to go in, right? The opponent can’t cancel his skill? He has to deal damage. It drops to below half.]
[But woah! Here, Seo Jun smiles.]
- ㄷㄷㄷㄷ
- Meaning of the smile = Spoon, you fell for that?
- The timer kept ticking.
[And then! Liberation! Ah! Seen from above, the back is slightly not round!]
[Looking at the distance from above now, no matter which direction he went, Spoon could have gotten out. Yet he guided Spoon with that subtle difference.]
[Since Spoon is a skilled player, he instinctively felt that was the shortest route and headed there.]
Penguin was right.
It wasn’t just that one thing. Everything before—the position, direction, and the magic circles that drew his gaze—had been designed.
If he’d just taken the hit inside, it wouldn’t have ended him in one go.
‘Hehehe.’
From the sky, a twenty-second chain shot toward him as he stood there with a dumbfounded expression.
A perfect defeat.
[Then let’s have an interview with this player!]
* * *
[Broadcaster youcrazyyoucrazyyoucrazyyoucrazyyoucrazy]
[Haven’t you seen a real mage with maxed-out strategy before? ㅋㅋㅋ I’m seeing it for the first time and I’m blown away.]
[For reference) His nickname is Sword God ㅋㅋㅋ]
[Kyaa! From the very first match, all kinds of strategies are popping out ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ]
[And meanwhile, he uses Liberation to make twenty and only himself doesn’t get hit, that’s a freaking awesome macho man, sheesh]
[“If you’re going to chatter, leave.” Jin Seo Jun said to the teacher.]
- ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ total macho man
- ㄹㅇ he’s the macho man itself
- No but ㅋㅋㅋㅋ is that like that soccer player?
[“Please tip for delivery.” Jin Seo Jun said to the deliveryman.]
- That’s just being a malicious bastard, ffs ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
[When Jin Seo Jun was late, the kids who came early got scolded.]
[Jin Seo Jun can count to infinity. Twice, even.]
[The reason Qin Shi Huang sought the elixir of immortality was because he wanted to see Jin Seo Jun’s Erick.]
Around the time strange posts started popping up in response to the phrase “macho man.”
“So he won like this!”
“Kyaa! I believed in you, as expected!”
“Alpaca, weren’t you worried he wouldn’t be able to land it?”
Chatter could be heard from beside him.
The replay on the broadcast was almost over.
Seo Jun turned to the viewers and said.
“Ah. Everyone, can you see?”
- Huh?
- See what?
- ??
“Riven is now mine.”
- ???
- ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
- Gigathum ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
- Occupied
Having said that, Seo Jun refreshed the page.
A post with many recommendations had come up again.
[Stop messing around in the community and work hard on your broadcast ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ]
“Yes.”
Anyway, he had to turn it off because a message came that the interview was starting soon.
A notification rang.
Seo Jun closed the front window and took the video call just like before.
“Hello.”
It was Arin.
[Hello! First, congratulations on winning the first match!]
In the interview, predictable and sincere questions were exchanged quickly.
[How do you play so well?]
“As I always say, it’s because I remember my past life.”
[Was this a strategy you prepared since ten days ago?]
“It first came up during ban/pick.”
[What did you think when you hit Spoon?]
“Hmm. He actually got hit by that?”
- ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
- Bad bastard
- Whoa. He actually got hit by that? ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
- Look at that malicious sheek giggling throughout the interview ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
[Then lastly, do you have anything to say to the next opponent team?]
Hmm.
“Mister Bull. I’ll come find you as well. Ah, and if Mister Bull manages to kill me, I’ll pour out all the money I received as donations during practice to Mister Bull.”
[Oh! That’ll really motivate him, won’t it?]
“So don’t get scared from the start and surrender. It’s no fun otherwise, you know.”
[Ah...]
* * *
Meanwhile, Hanipman were whispering among themselves, mindful of Spoon’s mood.
“Wow. Could even that taunt be some kind of scheme?”
“If the guy who transcends the wealth gap not only beats us but explodes our mentals, it’s good for us, but...”
“Our team’s ace is already...”
They turned their heads in unison toward Spoon, who was far away.
And then they.
Discovered Spoon giving a standing ovation, moved by the thought that he wasn’t the only one who would suffer, after hearing Seo Jun’s statement.
“Seems like his mental is okay, maybe?”
“No? To me, that looks even weirder.”