Chapter 75 – Grandmaster

R​ea​d́ ​on K​at​​R&e;а​đinｇCa&f;ｅ

The week-long server maintenance due to the all-server integration was just around the corner.

I’d been grinding Ranked Games like crazy to climb the ranks as much as possible before then.

I hadn’t lost a single match getting through Placement and up to Master.

Once I hit Master, the chance of encountering an Enchanter class dropped drastically.

0. 3% my ass. I’d run into Enchanters so often it felt like at least 30%, but after reaching Master, I barely saw them, like the 0.3% was actually accurate.

It was clear that everyone was now seriously thinking about their score.

Unlike old-school PC games, you couldn’t borrow someone else’s account or have a smurf, so people were taking Ranked Games seriously.

Maybe it was because it was 1v1. Still, with the Endoflife terminal’s features, I figured games like AOS would have fewer trolls and quitters, so I was eager to try them out.

Just a few more wins and I could reach Grandmaster.

Honestly, the people I met in Platinum were a joke. I could easily win without even thinking.

But reaching the top of Master, I started getting serious.

Especially against Tank classes, I had to give it my all.

With other classes, I could just focus on hitting them as fast and hard as possible, regardless of where the attack landed, but Tanks were different.

I had to precisely target the seams in their heavy armor. The problem was, those seams were so narrow that I had to maintain Extrasensory Perception.

It wouldn’t matter if they were just standing still like a scarecrow, but the opponent was a player, so they moved.

Targeting the seams of heavy armor while both of us were moving was incredibly difficult.

“Hmph!”

“Hiyak!”

I quickly retreated from the massive shield in front of me.

“As expected, Arangnim’s reflexes are something else.”

This opponent was a Knight, the most annoying class among the Tanks.

She used a one-handed sword and shield, and had a paladin-like concept with healing and small buffs.

Against other Tanks, I could try to force damage while slowly assessing the situation, but Knights were different.

If I played it slow, I’d definitely lose. That was because of their healing.

I had to deal more damage than the heal they used every 30 seconds, which was incredibly difficult.

The heavy armor was already a pain in the ass, but the one-handed shield made it even harder to approach.

“Flash of Light Charge!”

The Knight player charged at me with buffs active.

This was where the mind games began.

If it were a simple melee class, I’d only have to think about skills, cancels, and melee, but Knights added another element.

The shield. A small shield wouldn’t be threatening, but the Knight’s shield was huge.

The last Great Swordsman hid their intentions using their shoulders, but the Knight completely covered her body with the shield.

Naturally, I couldn’t see her one-handed sword or what posture she was taking. No matter how accurately Extrasensory Perception helped me judge the information in front of me, it was useless if I couldn’t see it.

Seriously, how is an [Assassin] supposed to survive without CC skills!

One of the reasons Assassins were overwhelmingly disadvantaged against Tanks.

Assassins generally didn’t have any useful CC skills for PVP. Of course, they had a variety of good movement skills and other abilities instead.

The problem was, Tanks were hard to deal with without CC.

The only CC skill I had was inflicting Stun by dealing damage myself. The problem was, that was difficult…!

Kaga Gaga Gaga Kang!

I poured skills into the shield to reduce the power of the Knight’s charge, trusting in her shield.

‘Damn it, I can never get used to this…!’

Paang!

As I thrust my right hand forward, stabbing the shield with a piercing skill, my right-hand dagger and the shield bounced off each other.

The yellow effect of the one-handed sword hidden behind the shield.

One of the Knight’s main skills, the 10Hit Chain Attack skill.

A powerful skill with everything from damage to attack speed.

Sorry, but such a simple skill attack is very welcome to me?

I only have one left hand, but the same goes for the Knight.

If it’s a dagger and a one-handed sword without a dagger and shield, I win!

Kaga Gaga Gaga Kang!

Perfect Parrying without a single error thanks to Extrasensory Perception.

Attacks that are simply receiving Combat Assistance from skills already have the trajectories of all the classes’ skills memorized!

The moment I decided to go for PVP Challenger, I deeply engraved the skill videos of all classes into my brain.

Watching them on RyuTube at 0.25 speed without maintaining Extrasensory Perception allowed me to leisurely observe and memorize them without difficulty.

“No, seriously, this is insane…! How is this even possible…!”

Sorry, but this is the only way to fight a Knight!

Now is the problem.

I have to attack the seams of the heavy armor. But the Knight won’t stand still. I’m so famous that there are many rumors about me, so they know my attacks now.

“Hap!”

The Knight protects her neck first, like now.

They’re anticipating my attack. But if they raise their arm to block their neck… then I’ll just attack their arm!

Poook!

Pajit!

“!?”

The moment I stabbed the wrist seam between their hand and arm with my dagger, electricity coursed through my body along the dagger.

‘They stored a CC magic in the wrist seam…!?

“Sorry, but I already know that from the videos.”

Peok!

“Keuheok!”

I was stunned by the Paralysis CC, and I allowed the attack of the shield, which had become free after the Stun wore off.

The attack of the large shield, which had low damage but high Stun value. And then the one-handed sword attacked my body.

As soon as the Stun wore off, I quickly distanced myself from the Knight.

‘Damn it, I lost 40% of my HP with just one CC.’

Such a bug-like HP and defense.

I’d been attacking the Knight like crazy until her HP was in the 30% range, but as I retreated, I gave the Knight time to cast Heal, and she naturally recovered her HP.

I made one mistake, but the situation isn’t bad yet. My HP is at 60%, the Knight’s is at 30%, and if Heal is activated now, it’ll be 50%ㅡ

Paat!

The Heal amount number popped up above the Knight’s head, and then something that shouldn’t have appeared came out.

An exclamation mark.

“Jackpot. A Critical Hit is landing here.”

‘Don’t be a pain in the ass!!!’

Due to the arena’s adjusted stats, the Knight’s Heal only recovers 20% of their original HP.

But Critical Hits in LEORE also apply to Heals. The Critical Hit chance for Tank classes is usually only 3%.

That’s the base Critical Hit chance. But it’s landing on a Heal?

The Knight’s HP, which should have been 50%, became 60%. Fortunately, Critical Hits in LEORE only increase by 1.5 times, not 2 times.

Still, I can’t help but feel bad.

‘If I delay any longer, I’ll lose…!’

The Knight’s buff cooldowns are slowly returning. If I drag this out any longer, the Knight will enter a lockdown through buffs and heals.

If that happens, I’ll be the one getting desperate. Of course, I’m already desperate.

Honestly, I could easily win if I used Awakening, but it’s best not to use Awakening if possible.

The consumption of one’s mind is generally not a good thing. Moreover, I can’t undo Awakening on my own, and I don’t like the feeling of my mind being chipped away by depression.

To prevent that, someone has to stay by my side and take care of me all day, which is a nuisance.

In other words, I just have to win here.

I closed my eyes tightly, then opened them and charged at the Knight.

Of course, the Knight wouldn’t just stand there. That expression that thinks she’s already won… I’ll crush it.

I grabbed both daggers with Essence.

Normally, Reverse would be better for sure damage, but against an opponent who’s already familiar with my attack patterns, I need to receive the Essence buff.

A faster attack speed. I have to go at a speed that the opponent can’t react to.

The Essence x2 buff is 20% attack speed and 20% skill haste.

If I use the basic skill [Xenos] there, the buff effect doubles for 5 seconds. That means receiving 40% attack speed and 40% skill haste.

Moreover, since the Essence effects of other skills increase attack speed, I can effectively gain almost double the attack speed.

Originally, simply increasing attack speed would make it nearly impossible to control and would reduce damage, making it inefficient.

But if you can’t even land an attack in the first place, high damage is useless. In other words, it’s better to succeed in landing attacks with overwhelmingly high attack speed, even if the damage is much lower.

‘Quickly.’

I dodged the one-handed sword attack and moved to the Knight’s right, where the one-handed sword was.

The Knight naturally turned her body to meet my gaze, and at that moment, I accurately attacked the side of the moving shield with my right-hand dagger.

Kaang!

The shield that was blocked while moving. The one-handed sword that still can’t move.

‘Accurately and meticulously.’

I used skills to continuously hit the vulnerable side of the shield that was moving to cover the Knight’s body, preventing the shield from blocking the Knight’s body, and attacked the Knight.

The Knight knew that this wouldn’t work and tried to retreat, but that was the worst move.

The disadvantage of heavy armor.

Movement speed.

And the narrow field of vision.

A technique I used last time as well.

I threw a dagger under the feet of the Knight, who was trying to move.

The Knight, who didn’t properly check her feet due to the large heavy armor, lost her balance and fell backward from the dagger I threw.

Tanks rarely move backward. Especially against Assassins without CC skills.

But I succeeded in doing it, and I can’t lose against a Knight who’s already fallen backward. And so, I barely won, leaving 7% of my HP.

‘Oh, Grandmaster achieved.’

I climbed to Grandmaster without losing a single match.

I was about to play another match to celebrate reaching Grandmaster when I heard Hyesun Unnie’s voice.

[Arang, can you hear me?]

“What’s wrong? Ah, it’s already that time.”

I usually don’t say anything first, but I lost track of time because I was working hard to achieve Grandmaster.

It was already time for a shower and a half-bath.

[You have to get a massage now.]

“Okay.”

[You know we’re doing abdominal massage from today, right?]

“Yeah. I know.”

I’d been having a lot of abdominal pain since my last menstruation, so Hyesun Doctor said she’d learn abdominal massage this time.

I’d been getting full-body massages to prevent my body from stiffening up, but today I was going to get abdominal massage for the first time to make my stomach healthy.