Chapter 178: Finish It When You Can (2)

Episode 178

‘I was certain it would work if he wasn’t gigantified.’

Kim Jinsung was confident that none of the participants were stronger than him in their base forms, meaning his status ailment skills would always work.

The only reason it hadn’t worked on Luca earlier was because all his stats were explosively amplified in his gigantified state.

As he expected, the Mana Seal skill worked perfectly on Luca this time.

‘Now I can kill him without any worries.’

He extended his hands towards Luca again.

▶ You have used the skill ‘Dragon Breath’.

Meanwhile, Luca was…

“…Huh? Wh-what?”

He was utterly bewildered, unable to activate his gigantification skill.

He completely missed the fact that Kim Jinsung was about to unleash his breath attack on him.

**Whoosh!**

The flames engulfed Luca in an instant.

“Argh…!”

Luca groaned in pain as his body was consumed by fire. His HP was plummeting so rapidly that even Gian, who was behind him, could see it.

– What are you doing? Use gigantification!

“I-I can’t…!”

Luca had no excuse. He didn’t even know why his gigantification skill wasn’t working.

Without it, his only option was to escape the breath’s range.

But the range of Alopsky’s breath attack was too wide. Even if he tried to run, he wouldn’t be able to escape death.

In the end, Luca could do nothing as his HP reached zero.

– Enemy Quadra Kill!

– No, how could…!

Gian exclaimed in disbelief, dumbfounded by Luca’s sudden death.

The other Blue Team members, who were already dead, reacted similarly.

– You idiot!

– What? He’s actually dead?

– Why didn’t he use gigantification?

Luca was speechless under the barrage of criticism.

“…That’s not important right now. Gian! Focus on surviving until we respawn!”

Juan quickly brought the situation back under control, diverting the attention away from Luca.

“You can’t block Alopsky’s skill alone! Survive until we respawn, and then the four of us will try to stop them at the Nexus!”

– At the Nexus? Not at the inhibitor?

Gian asked in surprise, when

– Allied second tower destroyed!

A system notification appeared on the helmet screens of all the Blue Team members.

Gian looked ahead and saw the Red Team members continuing their advance down the mid lane, relentlessly pushing forward.

“See! At the rate they’re destroying towers, they’ll have plenty of time to destroy the inhibitor before we respawn!”

– …

“Don’t try to harass them and get yourself killed! If you die too, we’ll have to face them with only three members!”

Gian reluctantly retreated.

Juan was right. If he tried to buy time to defend the inhibitor and died, they might lose the Nexus and the game.

This game was won by destroying the enemy’s Nexus. In other words, the Nexus was the most important objective.

Meanwhile, Kim Jinsung’s voice was echoing through the helmet speakers of the Red Team members as they approached the inhibitor.

“It seems like they’re planning to defend at the Nexus, seeing Gian retreat.”

He continued giving instructions, watching Gian retreat towards the twin towers in front of the Nexus.

“Let’s keep pushing and end the game.”

– …Is that possible?

Dante asked worriedly.

– I’ve played a lot of AOS games, and I know that getting wiped out in front of the Nexus happens a lot. The twin towers’ firepower is formidable, and more importantly, the enemy’s ‘Healing Fountain’ is right there.

The enemy could simply retreat to the ‘Healing Fountain’ behind the Nexus to recover their HP and return to the fight.

They had access to constant healing, while the Red Team didn’t.

So if their HP got low during a fight, the enemy could launch a full-scale counterattack, often leading to the Red Team getting wiped out.

“Then we just have to kill them in one shot. Like we did just now.”

Kim Jinsung replied nonchalantly.

“And we also have the Team 8 member’s ‘Tree of Life’ skill. We won’t have to worry about our HP at all with that skill, even in a dangerous situation.”

– That’s true, but…

“This might be the last team fight, so everyone be prepared to use your unique abilities.”

– …Understood.

– Yes.

As everyone replied, Kim Jinsung unleashed his breath attack on the inhibitor tower.

A short while later,

– Enemy inhibitor destroyed!

– Super mini-monsters will now spawn!

The same system notifications appeared on the helmet screens of all the Red Team members as the mid inhibitor was destroyed.

At the same time, they saw a monster three times larger than a normal mini-monster running down the mid lane from the Blue Team’s Nexus.

The super mini-monster quickly reached the Blue Team’s base, where all the Blue Team members could see it.

“They’re going to use that super mini-monster to break through the Nexus.”

Juan, who had just respawned, said, standing at the Healing Fountain.

“If they break through here, it’s game over. Buy all the potions you can! We have to defend somehow and then look for a chance to counterattack!”

– Yes, sir.

– I bought health potions.

“Then everyone gather in front of the Nexus!”

Juan explained his plan to everyone except Luca, who had just died.

“Our goal is to win the team fight. When Alopsky extends his hands to use his breath attack, everyone scatter and get out of range, then attack the Red Team’s flanks. Got it?”

Everyone nodded.

“We’re at a disadvantage in every aspect, so we have to bet everything on this team fight. Don’t hold back on your skills and use them whenever you can. Understand?”

– Yes, sir!

“Don’t make the same mistake as someone and die in front of the second tower because you were trying to save Mana!”

No one answered. They all glanced at the Healing Fountain.

But Luca, who everyone was curious about, didn’t say anything.

‘Damn it, why didn’t my skill work? Did the Red Team do something…?’

He was just cursing inwardly, replaying the earlier situation in his mind.

“Gian, you’re the most important one this time. You’re the only one here with a skill that can ambush them from behind.”

Juan continued explaining, looking at Gian, who had the ‘Ghost Form’ skill.

“If it looks like we can’t dodge the breath attack, you have to ambush Alopsky or do something to interrupt his skill. Got it?”

– Understood.

“Then Gian, you go around behind the Red Team, and the rest of us will defend desperately in front of the twin towers.”

“It’s too late.”

Juan felt a chill run down his spine as he heard a voice right in front of him.

Alopsky.

He was speaking to the four Blue Team members in a low voice.

“You still haven’t realized that you shouldn’t be grouped up like this?”

Juan frantically turned towards the voice.

But he couldn’t see anything.

Darkness had completely enveloped them.

He couldn’t even see the Blue Team member standing next to him, or the twin towers behind them.

It was the same situation as when Alopsky had stolen the dragon earlier.

“Everyone scatter! Quickly!”

He instinctively shouted and tried to jump back.

But as Alopsky had said, it was too late.

**Kaboom!**

A massive explosion erupted right in front of the twin towers.

The explosion engulfed the Nexus and even reached the enemy’s Healing Fountain.

The aftermath of the explosion was devastating.

The twin towers, along with the numerous trees that had been standing around them, were all shattered into pieces.

None of the Blue Team members were standing.

– Alopsky, Quadra Kill!

– A Legend Appears!

The system notifications that appeared on the Red Team members’ helmet screens told them what had happened to the Blue Team.

– …

– Wow…

– Holy…

The Red Team members stared at the enemy Nexus in shock, then turned their gazes towards Kim Jinsung.

Kim Jinsung was thinking to himself,

‘We need to abandon the prejudice that dragons can only use fire breath.’

He had just abandoned that prejudice.

Instead of a normal stream of flames, he had gathered the flames into a sphere and detonated it.

The firepower had been tremendous, as they could see.

‘The ‘Slayer of Souls’ item definitely made the damage even stronger.’

Thanks to ‘Slayer of Souls’, a ‘core trait’ that reduced the suit’s suppression rate with each kill or assist, Kim Jinsung’s suppression rate was currently at 30%.

There was no way the Blue Team members, whose suppression rates were less than 15%, could withstand a powerful skill from Kim Jinsung, who had regained a third of his true strength.

“Now, let’s end the match.”

He said calmly and started running towards the enemy base, where only the Nexus remained. The Red Team members, snapping out of their daze, followed him.

A short while later,

– Enemy Nexus destroyed.

– Victory!

System notifications announcing the end of the second round appeared on the helmet screens of all the Red Team members.

* * *

[…And with that, the second round of the newbie showdown has come to an end. The Red Team has defeated the Blue Team and won the 5 vs 5 battle.]

[Many of you probably predicted a Blue Team victory before the match started. I know I did.]

[Me too.]

[Hahaha… It’s understandable. Many people thought the balance was broken because Juan and Luca, who were competing for the title of Triunfo’s best prospect, were on the same team, along with Gian, who was just as strong.]

[The Red Team’s only hope was Alopsky, who had emerged as a new powerhouse in the first round… And he ended up leading them to victory.]

[Yes, it’s safe to say that. How many abilities did Alopsky show us?]

[Countless. The production team said they’ll be showing us a summary of all the participants’ unique abilities soon… I think they’ll have to create a separate section just for Alopsky’s abilities.]

[Hahaha… I agree. We’ll show you the total scores of the ten participants first, but let’s start by explaining how many points the winning team gets…]

The voices of the commentators, who were covering the Triunfo Clan’s newbie showdown, continued to echo from the monitor.

“……”

A young man in a suit was watching the broadcast silently.

A badge with the Taegeuk symbol was pinned to his right chest.

It was proof that he was a hunter from the Korean Clan.