Guest Commentary (4)

Luche fiercely pressed Sparrow.

She suddenly blocked his vision with her wide shield and thrust her sword downwards, aiming for his feet.

He seemed to be aware but his reaction was a bit slow.

A slight trace of blood.

A point scored.

The assassin rotated to the side of the shield and threw a throwing knife.

Throwing a knife without imbued magic power towards the eyes made his intention clear.

He also meant to interfere with vision first. As if it were natural, the assassin’s form blurred and rode the shadows.

The target point was right behind Luche.

The dagger aiming for her neck was blocked feebly.

And in this game, a fierce counterattack always followed a perfect defense.

Blood stained the assassin’s face as it was struck.

It didn’t end with one hit, the next attack followed.

Only after precious skills were expended in bulk could the assassin reorganize his posture.

《 A sharp counterattack. Amazing. It must have been an attack invisible from Player Luche’s field of view. 》

《 It seems she confirmed it through the shadow or silhouette reflected on the shield. 》

《 Hmm… If I had to say, I think she confirmed it through the shadow. Most shadow skills maintain the posture right before use, but there’s a very slight allowance. 》

If the assassin had used shadow movement while swinging the dagger.

When he returns, the ‘posture’ is mostly maintained, but the ‘force’ of the swing is not maintained.

This means if you use the skill in an awkward posture, the power of the next attack becomes insufficient.

Many assassins have made efforts to overcome this problem.

One method developed was changing the grip inside the shadow.

The basic operation is the saber grip which allows for precise control.

When coming out of the shadow, switch to the reverse grip which allows for good force application, or the hammer grip which allows for quick thrusts.

The dagger is a weapon where the attack trajectory easily changes depending on the grip.

If you can change the grip in an invisible place, the number of attack methods that can be derived from one posture becomes innumerable.

An element that can also be used for psychological warfare. This was the technique Sparrow attempted.

However, the assassin Luche has faced recently is me.

《 There’s something Player Sparrow didn’t know. Even if you use a skill, the assassin’s own shadow disappears one timing later. You always have to hide your hands and weapons with your body. Or count a bit longer. 》

You can read the opponent’s intention through the hand that changed grip.

And from the posture when disappearing, you can see the possible cases where attacks are possible.

If you grasp both, it becomes clear where they’ll aim.

The rising thorn is helplessly blocked.

The dagger aiming for vital points never penetrated the defense once, and the assassin’s firepower couldn’t break the Holy Knight’s guard gauge.

The mass unique to knight classes pushed Sparrow back.

The shield is swung like a blunt weapon, and sometimes the blade aims for vital points.

He dealt with it well in his own way… but the moment the assassin became preoccupied with defense, this match was as good as over.

《 Oh. I think he made a mistake just now. He didn’t need to use his survival skill for the flash strike, since you can just dodge it by eye. 》

《 You mean you can just dodge the flash strike by eye? Then, what kind of skills are there that can’t be dodged? 》

《 Are there such things? Unavoidable is created by the situation. All skills in InBull are designed to be dodgeable if you react, right? 》

《 Viewers, that’s how it is. 》

《 ? 》

* * *

[Title: ‘Traveler’ to sync with ‘Reaper’ of England.]

[Author: Reporter Myojiki (myojiki@novelpia.com)]

A player trade contract has been concluded between domestic prestigious Q Prime and England’s Acid Gaming.

According to the announced content, Q Prime’s ace ‘Traveler’ Nam Hyeon will transfer to Acid Gaming.

With this, Acid Gaming has secured a powerful force consisting of their existing ace ‘Ripper’s assassin followed by Traveler’s lance knight.

As Acid Gaming is likely to participate in the next international competition, domestic teams will need to be wary.

Traveler’s vacant position will be filled by the inquisitor of ‘Holy’, famous for his seasoned skills despite his age.

On the 10th, it opened the first gate of the relaxed foreign mercenary regulations.

The influx of an anti-carry type tanker with the opposite tendency to the existing ace.

Attention is focused on how Q Prime’s play will change with this.

Q Prime fans are expressing negative opinions about the trade contract.

Strong opinions such as ‘Selling off a perfectly good ace and bringing in a player about to retire?’ and ‘I heard the company was running out of money, but this is the limit’ are being confirmed.

Meanwhile, a Q Prime official stated that the financial difficulties of the parent company Q Financial are ‘groundless’, but did not provide a specific explanation.

The detailed contract contents of both teams have not been revealed.

[Comments]

– I guess it’s time to let go of this team. It was the first team I ever supported.

└ Q Prime was my first too

└ Ah..

– Should I move to Eunha

└ There were rumors that they and ACL were spending some money

* * *

A preview of the finals.

The semifinals between Sigma eSports and Q Prime ultimately ended in a 3:1 victory for Sigma.

Personally, I’d evaluate it as a poor performance.

They showed some plausible scenes in between.

They proved that not just anyone can eat the seat of a prestigious pro team, but they couldn’t avoid the fans’ criticism.

If Sigma hadn’t brought out experimental strategies, it would have resulted in a 3:0 right away.

My commentary in the first match also added fuel to the fire.

Thanks to that, I also earned some hatred from fans.

Well, I was originally the type to have quite a few enemies anyway.

I don’t really mind… no, honestly, I’ve been minding it a bit lately.

Anyway, the progress of the semifinals heated up the internet for a few hours, but surprisingly, it subsided quickly.

It’s because Traveler’s transfer announcement absorbed all the flames.

Ho-eun’s words “the timing was good” must have had this in mind.

And just a day later.

Traveler contacted me personally saying he wanted to meet once.

“Ah, did you wait long? Sorry. The car was a bit stuck because of the rain.”

“No. It’s fine.”

Traveler, or Nam Hyeon, dressed smartly, came in folding his umbrella.

He paused briefly at the door.

His expression turned stupid for a moment before returning to normal.

“Does Elderin use a not-so-good camera? That’s interesting.”

“What?”

“No. It’s nothing. The food hasn’t come out yet, right? This was the only place that could be booked urgently. I’ll treat you to a better place next time we meet.”

“This place is more than enough.”

“Yeah? If you say so, that’s fine.”

Did he take my story about meeting only if he buys an expensive meal seriously?

The meeting place was a rather classic Japanese restaurant.

Actually, I didn’t want this much.

Just… a place where the two of us could eat our fill for a little over 100,000 won would have been enough.

You could say I wanted the quality of a family restaurant.

Judging by how the waiter explains what ingredients were cooked how, it seemed to be quite a place.

“Anyway, why did you want to meet?”

“I wanted to see you once before leaving the country. I originally wanted to meet in the game, but you said you couldn’t.”

“That’s true.”

“Are you preparing well at Sigma?”

What? Did Luche tell him?

I didn’t hear anything like that.

Traveler is also quite a veteran in this field.

He might have heard through the grapevine.

Sigma’s confidentiality might be imperfect, and someone might have blabbed with a loose tongue.

“Looks like you knew. Who did you hear it from?”

“No. I’ve never heard it? I was just guessing and just found out from your answer now.”

“You…!”

“Don’t worry. What would I gain by spreading rumors about this?”

To think I was the one with the loose lips.

Traveler chuckled.

The chopsticks between his fingers clattered slightly.

“Feels numb, right? Be careful. I got scolded terribly when it happened to me.”

“I’m dumbfounded.”

“That reporter didn’t even tell me he used leading questions. But I found out when I looked up the first leak article. Ah, I got played. That was exactly…”

The food came out, and the meal began.

Traveler rambled on a bit.

It wasn’t this kind of team from the beginning.

He knows the teammates have their own circumstances too.

They couldn’t keep charging in like a madman forever like him.

It would be nice if everyone could run on passion alone like in youth dramas.

But boys eventually become adults, and someone has to shoulder reality.

“Well, forget it. I didn’t call you to talk about this.”

“It’s okay. It was interesting to hear.”

“Hey, when’s your pro debut?”

“I don’t know. Whether I can do it or not.”

“…I feel like I just heard something heavy.”

Traveler glanced at my leg.

This guy is much sharper than I thought.

Well, honestly, there’s no reason I can’t go pro due to lack of skill.

If there’s anything holding me back, it’s the karma in the game… but at least Luche seems to have decided to shoulder it.

The fact that my “debut is uncertain” even after joining Sigma means there must be another problem.

“Still, I’d like you to go pro. That’s partly why I called you today.”

“Out of the blue?”

“Out of the blue, I’m a bit hurt. I’ve acknowledged you since the Arena.”

Come to think of it, he said something like this in the Arena.

– I felt like our concept of combat itself was different. Cerberus was living in a world I didn’t know.

– I’m just starting to see it now, so it’ll take quite a while to catch up.

– I didn’t want to say this to an amateur because it’s too humiliating, but I had similar thoughts watching your match this time too.

“This transfer. I’m doing it because I want to. I threw a fit at the team to strengthen the force, or asked for a trade, and this is how it turned out. They probably know a lot of our weaknesses too, so they’re using this chance to clean house.”

“Really? Reaper is an S-class teammate, right? Rather, that’s good. It’ll be better than now. You’ll be able to go higher.”

“I think so too. I’m sorry to the people I’ve grown attached to and the domestic fans, but… I still want to win. Is alcohol okay?”

“Yeah. I won’t drink much though.”

Traveler poured a glass of alcohol each.

We clinked glasses and took a sip.

I made it my last glass as I didn’t want to get drunk.

“You’re also one of the people I really want to beat. So, let’s definitely meet at the international competition.”

“I’ll have to wait with my neck washed.”

“Yeah. I’ll definitely crush you, so wait for me.”

“You’re so bad at the game but talk so well.”

Grr. Traveler gritted his teeth.

He didn’t seem to be in a bad mood though.