Physicality vs. Experience

,This is a disaster.’

I fell asleep after getting a massage. It felt so good that I slept soundly, but I woke up in the middle of it.

I tried to go back to sleep, but I couldn’t, so I went into LORE and matched up for a ranked game.

Even though it was 3 a.m., LORE itself is quite popular, so I thought I would be matched up easily enough.

Fortunately, I got matched, and I was excited to see who my first opponent would be after reaching Grand Master.

But…

The person in front of me had the nickname Lee Jungjin. Since he was using his real name just like me, I wondered who he was, but his identity was above his nickname.

[2023 Championship Winner]

The Korean Arena Championship, held once a year. He was the winner of that.

,I’m a Grand Master, why am I meeting someone like this…?’

“Lee Arang, Lee Arang? Is that *the* Lee Arang? I guess it is? She’s got the WFK title.”

The man named Lee Jungjin seemed to know me.

“Arang-nim, who’s called the strongest physical player in LORE, I’ll face you seriously this time.”

,Don’t be serious!’

To think that as soon as I hit Grand Master, my opponent would be last year’s champion, what kind of situation is this!

First, I quickly assessed my opponent.

Light armor and a one-handed sword in his right hand. But no shield.

Fortunately, his class was a magic swordsman.

,As long as it’s not a tank, I’m confident I can win.’

Suddenly, an arena match started with last year’s champion.

3

2

I pulled my right foot back and raised my dagger.

1

I ran forward.

START!

The moment it appeared, I crossed the line in less than 0.1 seconds.

Perfect motion. Accurate timing. Fast speed.

The assassin’s stab skill was activated perfectly according to my will.

The moment the stab was about to hit, I saw his foot turn slightly, immediately canceled the skill, and stabbed the dagger into the body of Lee Jungjin-ssi, who was moving to the side.

“Oh?”

Lee Jungjin-ssi also immediately canceled his skill and saw the gap created, slashing my right shoulder with his one-handed sword and stepping back.

In just two exchanges, I realized that the user in front of me was definitely last year’s champion.

“This time, I’ll go first.”

Unexpectedly, instead of using magic from behind, Lee Jungjin-ssi chose to come straight at me.

Since that’s what I wanted, I ran towards Lee Jungjin-ssi as well.

In an instant, the situation changed to close combat, and I focused on what choice Lee Jungjin-ssi would make.

A red glowing effect.

Usually, when you see a light effect on a weapon in LORE, you can immediately tell what skill it is.

If the color is light, it has many hits, if the color is red and dark, it’s a single hit with strong attack power. And black or pure white light feels like a finishing move.

The fact that Lee Jungjin-ssi is emitting a red effect means that he’s definitely going to engage in close combat with me.

I used a corresponding skill and parried Lee Jungjin-ssi’s sword-

Kwaang!!!

,It didn’t bounce off!?’

A situation unfolded that was different from what I expected.

I was planning to parry Lee Jungjin-ssi’s attack and engage in messy close combat, but Lee Jungjin-ssi had no intention of doing that at all.

Whether he received a stiffness buff without me knowing, his sword didn’t bounce off and collided with my right dagger.

Keugeugeugeuk.

A sudden tug-of-war.

I immediately realized that I was going to lose and raised my left dagger as well, colliding it with Lee Jungjin-ssi’s sword, which was trying to strike me down.

,Damn it…! This is not good…!’

I didn’t notice that Lee Jungjin-ssi was using a stiffness increase buff.

,When did he cast the buff? I need to get out of this situation!’

The strength fight between an assassin and a magic swordsman is evenly matched. A situation where each other’s physicality is important.

The moment I put all my strength into trying to push him away.

My whole body leaned forward.

“Huh?”

As my body was pushed forward, I assessed the situation.

A one-handed sword falling to the floor.

,He let go of his sword…!?’

In an evenly matched tug-of-war, Lee Jungjin-ssi suddenly let go of his sword, and I, who was pushing, was instantly pushed forward with that force.

,A magic swordsman throwing away his sword?’

Teok.

In a state where I had already lost control of my body, Lee Jungjin-ssi grabbed my wrist as I was falling, having lost where to go.

,Damn it…!’

While falling, I forcibly pulled up my right leg to try to push Lee Jungjin-ssi away, but Lee Jungjin-ssi’s actions were faster.

Lee Jungjin-ssi’s hand touched my waist, and I felt a tingling sensation all over my body, and I was paralyzed with a CC skill and kicked away.

While flying, I saw Lee Jungjin-ssi’s actions.

He kicked the sword that was on the ground, picked it up, and started chanting.

A jet-black effect different from before.

It’s a finishing move.

Probably the magic swordsman’s max-level magic skill.

I need to move to cancel that skill right now, but I was paralyzed and flying in the air, so I couldn’t do anything.

As soon as I fell to the ground and the paralysis CC skill was released, the magic swordsman’s max-level magic skill, [Dance of Swords], was activated.

Large swords made of magic were embedded in my body.

My health was dropping without stopping.

,Is this for real…’

My health was reduced by 40% with just one skill.

I started in a very disadvantageous position against last year’s champion, even though I should have started with an advantage.

,There’s still a lot of time left. I’ll win!’

As soon as the stiffness was released, I rushed towards the magic flying towards me, having finished casting the magic during the stiffness.

I can’t avoid magic coming at me in close range, but if I’m this far away…!

I dodged, deflected, and cut through the magic rushing in to kill me as I ran.

“Wow… is this for real?”

Lee Jungjin-ssi laughed in disbelief as he saw me breaking through the magic.

That’s what I want to say…

My physicality is overwhelming.

The close combat where we’re fighting within each other’s range like now is definitely overwhelming for me.

My attacks are clearly hitting, and I’m definitely blocking Lee Jungjin-ssi’s attacks.

But I get flustered by Lee Jungjin-ssi’s unexpected actions that I see from time to time.

,This person has definitely learned swordsmanship.’

I can feel that he’s different from me, who’s just been playing the game relying on my physical abilities.

He’s not using it to block or parry my attacks, but using it as his own attack.

The way he naturally redirects my dagger to another place the moment the swords collide and attacks my body is no joke.

I’m clearly attacking and I’m in an advantageous situation, but I’m still taking damage.

,Is this last year’s champion? Amazing skill.’

He knows the direction of power so well.

It’s hard to find a way to deal with him.

My reaction is faster, my physicality is better, and my pre-delay and post-delay are perfect, but Lee Jungjin-ssi in front of me is pushing me.

==

,What is this kid?’

Lee Jungjin was dumbfounded as he watched Arang attacking him as if she was going to kill him.

In a binding state where swords are stuck together, he was overwhelmingly stronger.

Honestly, he could feel that the user Arang herself had no knowledge of what was needed in a sword-to-sword fight.

If it were a real fight, she would be weak enough to be killed immediately.

But this is a game world.

It’s not just a place where swords fight, but a place where game correction and game physics are applied.

,Reflexes, physicality, situational awareness, she’s got it all. It would have been dangerous if I hadn’t hit her with [Dance of Swords] at the beginning.’

-Wow… what’s with these two fighting

-Arang-nim is like a berserker?

-I can’t even see it properly lol

-Jungjin-nim, who’s countering this, is also insane

-If he hadn’t started with an advantage at the beginning, it would have been dizzying, right?

She’s just a young child who relies solely on her physical body and has no knowledge of swords, just swinging two daggers.

At first, she was just an easy-to-deal-with child, but as time goes by, she’s changing.

,She’s learning my attack and defense methods.’

Each attack is becoming more careful and sharp, and she’s even adding feints by predicting how to defend.

She’s fighting to definitely avoid the binding state where swords get stuck together.

,She’s a genius. If she only does arena for a month or two, she has the talent to rise to the top of the Challenger tier.’

No matter how you look at it, she’s a girl who doesn’t even look 15 years old, but how much talent does she have to be stronger than most adults at her current level.

,But she’s still young.’

Even if she has good physicality, which is the realm of knowledge and talent for the game, she’s not weak enough to lose to a young girl who knows nothing about PVP and actual swordsmanship.

Lee Jungjin, who blocked Arang’s attack with his sword as she revealed her killing intent and attacked him, took the strength out of his sword and greatly turned Arang’s body, which had lost its balance, and knocked Arang down.

He was about to slam it into Arang’s body, which was slammed into the ground-!

“!?”

As if she had predicted it, Arang disappeared as soon as she was knocked to the ground.

,Could it be that she was thrown while in the pre-delay stance for a movement skill…? But…’

The place where she arrived with the movement skill was wrong.

He can see Arang’s shadow, not his own.

Lee Jungjin strongly empowered the one-handed sword he had raised towards Arang, who was on the floor, and pierced his abdomen.

He felt the sensation of his abdomen being pierced and the sensation of something else being pierced.