After taking care of Park Seungjin, Mokappang quickly ran over to Yuchae's side. I calmly assessed the situation in front of me.
On our team, Manaoring, TheHunter, Sachinnom, and I were still alive. On the enemy team, Yuchae, Mokappang, Hwasoun, Muljom, and Haeren were still standing. Most importantly, the enemy team had a pure tanker and a healer, which put us at a serious disadvantage.
Since our buffer, Dorahi, had died, we couldn't receive any buffs. On the other hand, Team B was rapidly recovering their health thanks to Haeren's healing and had much higher defense due to the buffs from the Holy Knight.
[All] TheHunter: Park Seungjin is such a troll smh
[All] ParkSeungjin99: ….
Just like me, TheHunter had also come to protect Manaoring, but his remaining health was dangerously low. At this rate, he wouldn't last more than a turn—five seconds at best.
Sachinnom, who was holding off Muljom and Haeren, couldn't come to our aid. The only reason we'd lasted this long was thanks to his tight suppression. If he had died, we wouldn't have even had a chance to counterattack—we'd have lost immediately.
[Team] TheHunter: If I knew it'd turn out like this
[Team] TheHunter: We probably should've just let Manaoring fight too
[Team] ManaoringNam: fr that would've been better
[Team] ManaoringNam: my ult took way longer than expected
[Team] Jeojolryeoyo: Let's do that next time then
Still, there was a chance. If Manaoring's ultimate could just take out the healer and the tank, we might actually win.
Team B must've finished strategizing in their team chat too—Mokappang summoned three powerful spirits all at once. They were planning to kill TheHunter, who only had 30% HP left, before coming for Manaoring and me.
"Not like I'm in great shape either."
Other than getting grazed by Yuchae's chain earlier, I hadn't taken any hits, so I had a lot of HP left. But with no buffs and weak defense, that didn't mean much. One mistake and I'd end up like Dorahi—dead in a single chain strike.
[Team] TheHunter: I'll
[Team] TheHunter: die protecting Manaoring
[Team] ManaoringNam: Eek♥
Knowing he couldn't last long, TheHunter used his reflect skill to deflect Mokappang's attack, then closed the gap instantly with a charge. His plan was to do as much damage as possible before going down.
Just then, a golden chain slammed into the ground right in front of me, blocking my path to TheHunter.
[All] Yuchae: Hey,
[All] Yuchae: Shouldn't you be focusing on me?
Yuchae had read my intentions like a ghost and intervened. I clicked my tongue and dodged the follow-up chains using an evade skill, then launched another basic skill combo.
After binding Yuchae with a snare skill, I hit her with my powerful W skill, then quickly followed up with my fast-casting Q and R skills. Unlike before, when she took the combo head-on, Yuchae dodged my attacks the moment the snare ended, swinging her chain with precise control.
Zzzzng! Clang!
Her chain coiled around like a snake, rapidly closing the distance. It was the crowd control skill of the Chain Blade class, which bound opponents by wrapping around their bodies. I barely evaded just before getting snared and quickly reviewed my remaining skills in my head.
Any skill with a long cast time or slow attack speed would be useless against Yuchae. Trying to use those would only get me killed. That left maybe four usable skills out of eight.
I kept dodging her attacks while watching my snare cooldown. Compared to the first time we fought, her skill had improved—dodging with pure control instead of evasion skills was no easy feat.
[Team] TheHunter: Damn
[Team] TheHunter: It's not working
[Team] ParkSeungjin99: fml
A-team player TheHunter has been killed by B-team player Mokappang.
[All] Mokappang: Revenge success ^-^v
[All] TheHunter: smh
As everyone expected, TheHunter died, leaving only three of us on our team. Still, it looked like he put up a good fight—Mokappang was left with only 50% HP.
Considering that most members of the EarlyEvening guild, including Mokappang, were skilled players, this meant that TheHunter's skill was actually quite impressive.
"At this point, maybe it's better if…"
I used the evasive skill I'd been saving and charged straight at Mokappang. Yuchae realized my intent a moment too late and tried to catch up, but I was one step faster.
[All] Mokappang: ?
I had to finish this before Yuchae arrived. With only half their HP left, I could afford to skip a few unnecessary skills.
My fingers danced across the keyboard like they were playing a piano.
E-W-Q-R-D.
Tap tap tap— in less than a second, Mokappang, bound by my snare, took the full brunt of my skills, and their HP dropped rapidly.
B-team player Mokappang has been killed by A-team player Jeojolryeoyo.
[All] ParkSeungjin99: Oh nㅇㅅ
[All] TheHunter: ssss
As Mokappang's character collapsed, Yuchae's chain pierced through my side. The screen briefly flashed red as my health dropped to 60%.
"Ah, this is…"
Not good. In my rush to finish Mokappang, my character's position had become too awkward.
From this angle, Yuchae was almost guaranteed to use their E skill. The Chain Blade's E-skill had a wide horizontal swing and inflicted a burn debuff with damage-over-time—definitely not something to shrug off.
"This is it."
Even if it wasn't E, from this position, I couldn't dodge anything. And Yuchae clearly knew that too.
What a shame. If I had just held out a little longer, Manaoring could've used their ultimate. I was lamenting the missed opportunity when—
Yuchae's character, who I expected to unleash a barrage of attacks, suddenly hesitated. It was just a brief pause—less than a second—but being so close, I caught it.
"What the?"
That one second was all I needed. My hands hadn't left the keyboard.
I immediately used an evasive skill, and a chain whipped past where I'd just been. Judging by the horizontal slash effect, it was definitely the E-skill, just as I'd guessed.
Freed from the dangerous angle, I quickly ducked behind a nearby thick pillar.
At the same time, dark clouds began gathering overhead, rumbling with thunder.
[All] ManaoringNam: Prayer meta complete…
Once the magic circles on the ground were fully drawn, Manaoring's character raised their staff high into the air. The gem embedded at the top gleamed brightly.
Ruuuuumble!
From beyond the thick clouds, something began to fall at breakneck speed.
[All] MuljomMasyeora: w;tf sh*t
[All] SanyangaeMechinNom: lmaooo
[All] SanyangaeMechinNom: where ya goin
[All] Haeren: KYAAA
[All] Haeren: SAVE MEEE!!1
[All] Hwasoun: gg
A giant, burning meteor emerged, falling precisely on top of Muljom, Haeren, and Hwasoun.
BOOOOM!
A powerful gust of wind swept through as the ground violently trembled. The explosion effect was massive, and huge damage numbers popped up on screen.
B-team player MuljomMasyeora has been killed by A-team player ManaoringNam.
B-team player Haeren has been killed by A-team player ManaoringNam.
B-team player Hwasoun has been killed by A-team player ManaoringNam.
Thanks to Sachinnom blocking their escape, Muljom and Haeren took Manaoring's ultimate head-on and were instantly killed.
[All] MuljomMasyeora: ffs….
[All] ManaoringNam: holy crap
[All] ManaoringNam: how do I have only 100 mana left after casting that lol
[All] SanyangaeMechinNom: living up to the name fr
The tide had turned in an instant. With Manaoring and Sachinnom arriving to support, Yuchae now had to face a 3-on-1.
Sachinnom, a close-combat fighter, dashed in and rapidly closed the distance with Yuchae. Yuchae, no longer hesitating, swung their chain immediately.
A-team player SanyangaeMechinNom has been killed by B-team player Yuchae.
A-team player ManaoringNam has been killed by B-team player Yuchae.
[All] ManaoringNam: that was insane;
Still, Yuchae was Yuchae. Despite having low HP and being outnumbered, they managed to take down two people before collapsing to my final skill.
B-team player Yuchae has been killed by A-team player Jeojolryeoyo.
[All] Yuchae: Oww!
With Yuchae's playful message as the finale, the first round of the arena match came to an end. Cheers erupted from somewhere, and a stream of system messages popped up.
You have won the arena!
You have gained 200 Arena Points.
You will return to the lobby in 10 seconds. 10, 9...
You have achieved the "Use the Arena" achievement.
You have achieved the "Win in the Arena" achievement.
When the countdown ended, the screen shifted to the lobby. The party had returned to its regular state, just like it was before the arena match started.
[Party] Haeren: Ahh, that was so close.
[Party] Hwasoun: I didn't really do anything except block Sachinnom…
[Party] Hwasoun: And now the match's over ㅠ,,,
[Party] SanyangaeMechinNom: I bet you were having a great time, huh
[Party] Hwasoun: ?
[Party] MuljomMasyeora: This is all Yuchae's fault
[Party] MuljomMasyeora: Freakin' troll ;ㅅㅂ
[Party] LererekGeollyeoyo: fr tho, going after the buffer like that, lmao
[Party] ParkSeungjin99: How do you even beat the guild leader? Way too hard
[Party] Haeren: Just dodge everything and land all your hits
[Party] Haeren: Easy, right?
[Party] ParkSeungjin99: Ok, got it
[Party] Mokappang: From now on, we'll miss everything and get hit by all of it
[Party] MuljomMasyeora: Shall we go again right away?
[Party] TheHunter: I need to repair first
[Party] Mokappang: same
[Party] MuljomMasyeora: Got it
[Party] MuljomMasyeora: Repair and rematch
There was an NPC right in front of the arena field, so everyone could repair immediately. We agreed to restart the next round in five minutes after regrouping and moved to the field together.
[Whisper] MuljomMasyeora: Jeojolryeoyo
I didn't have anything to repair, so I stood back and waited for the others. That's when Muljom quietly approached and sent me a whisper.
[Whisper] Jeojolryeoyo: Yes?
[Whisper] MuljomMasyeora: Are you gonna team up with Rahee again this round?
I blinked a few times at his question. Why was he asking that out of nowhere? And in a whisper, too? I had a lot of questions, but I replied for now.
[Whisper] Jeojolryeoyo: I mean, I'd like that, sure.
[Whisper] MuljomMasyeora: Ah, I see…
What was with that awkward reply? Was he upset I might take the buffer again? Or was he trying to ask me to give her up for this round? Honestly, I wish he'd just say it straight.
[Whisper] MuljomMasyeora: I kinda had a feeling…
[Whisper] MuljomMasyeora: So you and Rahee really are hitting it off, huh? lol
…What?
[Whisper] MuljomMasyeora: Our guild doesn't exactly forbid dating or anything, lol
[Whisper] MuljomMasyeora: But if you're too obvious about it, the others will flip out, so…
[Whisper] MuljomMasyeora: Can you keep it lowkey for a bit?
[Whisper] MuljomMasyeora: At least until the preliminaries are over!
"…?"
What the hell?
What on earth was he talking about?
The words were so ridiculous that I felt like my brain had short-circuited.
"He thinks I'm getting involved with Dorahi?"
[T/L: Read extra chapters on my ko-fi page "Pokemon1920" : http://ko-fi.com/pokemon1920 ]