Do All Dreams Come True If You Dream Them? (5)

The soil of the bamboo grove rises in a variegated pattern.

I step back just as it springs up.

My magic-infused dagger absorbs the impact with a clear sound.

It won’t end with just one.

A skeleton hidden in the bamboo leaps out with a spear tip leading, and from afar, the sound of hooves is heard.

The source of the sound is undoubtedly a Death Knight. Direction: right rear.

Retreating might be an option, but now let’s break through head-on.

The surrounding undead will rather become my shield.

I deflect the bone spears raining down.

I dodge what I can, but if it interferes with my movement, I attempt parrying first.

I throw one dagger in advance, then slide in across the ground.

From the soil, the necromancer’s undead rise to become meat shields.

It was a flesh wall (肉壁) emanating a thick smell of death.

This is why I hate necromancer types.

I have high synchronization, but my sense of smell is particularly sensitive.

Regardless of win or lose, it puts me in a bad mood first.

Amidst the terrible stench – I finally succeeded in closing the distance with the plague doctor.

“You sure handle these stinking things well.”

“The mask I’m wearing isn’t just for show. I can put herbs inside the beak.”

“What?”

I didn’t know there was such a secret?

What a coward…!

I thought we were both enduring this smell together.

The sense of betrayal deep in my heart soon turned into a desire for revenge.

My dagger, swung with hatred and anger, cuts through the bone shield.

The next attack grazes the wrist, and the one after that succeeds in stabbing the opposite shoulder.

Sensing this isn’t working, a rusty spear rises from Crow’s shadow.

The undead that leapt out from the shadow quickly took form.

It’s the second Death Knight. I wondered why he wasn’t bringing it out, but it seems he was hiding it near himself.

The corpse knight, receiving orders, moves its spear fiercely.

There’s an absolute difference between players and summons, but I can’t kill that high-rank undead in one go.

In the end, I had to let the fleeing Crow go.

‘It’s okay. Think calmly. The opponent also chose the most standard combination.’

From the semifinals, unlike before, it’s a best of 5 format.

It means if I can just remove my own impatience, it’s not a big burden to give up one set for exploration.

And Crow’s skill selection clearly showed the intention to respond after observing me.

Because we both lack information, having met in the semifinals.

The remaining matches in my videos are just about ten, and Crow has a bit more than me.

He would have mastered what he’s already shown to near perfection, though.

Still, the question “Is that really all?” would remain.

That was correct. At least I still have a lot left to show.

This works out well. There’s no time between the semifinals and finals.

It wouldn’t be bad to add some variation at this point.

If Luche and Cerberus are watching this match, it would be a fresh shock.

Minor habits during combat? Sword paths that follow ingrained patterns?

There’s no way I would have such things.

Even if I did, there’s no way I wouldn’t know about them.

The monsters I’ve faced were the kind that couldn’t be beaten while carrying weaknesses.

So the person I’ve analyzed most painfully in my life was my friend, and then myself.

It’s not that I couldn’t fix them and left them be. I just didn’t need to until now.

If I missed, I just need to chase again.

I behead the Death Knight and find the necromancer’s position again.

[‘Black Moon’s Whisper’ effect received.]

[You receive beneficial effects to all attack power, movement speed, and counterattack judgments.]

[Some skills are enhanced and…]

Necromancers have more means to protect themselves compared to ordinary mages.

The bone sphere I had to break through in the first ambush, the flesh wall created by ghouls, and the Death Knight serving as an excellent guard.

But as a trade-off, they can’t use Blink, the common survival skill of other mages.

A bit tougher, but if I stick to it until the end, I can win.

I move through the shadows using the dagger I threw earlier.

I jump by stepping on the head of a dead trying to grab my ankle, and change direction in mid-air using bamboo as a pole.

Long incantations were easily checked with thrown weapons.

The corpse explosion of a ghoul chasing me to the sky. I received it by completely burning my guard gauge.

The rotten meat fragments failed to pass my collar and fell to the ground.

Corpse explosion is quite a powerful skill.

However, the consumed undead never return until the end of the match.

Originally, it’s standard to use them slowly, starting with those that have served their purpose. Now it seems they were used more urgently than initially expected.

It’s fair to interpret that the opponent’s cards are being consumed quickly.

Probably if this approach succeeds, skills that have been hidden until now will pop out one by one.

After dealing with a few annoying undead blocking the way, I could drastically reduce the distance with Crow again.

“…!”

“Got you.”

I slash my daggers in an X to destroy bone fragments.

I slash the body of the mage whose defense is broken, from wrist to thigh, to side.

His staff-wielding skill is more calm and clean than expected.

A couple of attacks were blocked, but he’s still just a derivative class of mage.

In this close range, he’s just prey for an assassin.

While I stab my blade into his abdomen, magic power gathers at my feet.

‘The gaze that checked above and moved below. Something seems like it’s coming, but it doesn’t seem ready yet?’

I do a backflip to avoid the rising bones and throw a dagger with a rope attached.

The thrown dagger circles around the bone a few times, using it as a pillar.

After confirming the tightly fixed rope, I pull it while moving quickly.

A refreshing sensation of speed rising with the wind.

Releasing the rope at the right moment, the black robe comes into range again.

Two daggers immediately strike the shoulder blades, drawing blood.

“If you don’t bring out everything now, you’ll die next time?”

“I know…!”

Once again, the staff strikes the ground.

Simultaneously, the eyes of all undead turn red.

The last Death Knight and high-rank undead like Durahans spring out randomly from Crow’s shadow.

The meaning of this is crystal clear. The necromancer has initiated an all-out war.

The writhing flesh of ghouls is probably a precursor to corpse explosion.

The distance widens again as I deal with the high-rank undead.

I start tracking again while deflecting a few flying fragments.

As I try to pass through the bamboo forest, a huge shadow looms from the sky.

Bone Dragon.

The highest-rank undead that a necromancer can summon has appeared.

* * *

《 Crow player has finally met the summoning conditions! His health had dropped to a dangerous level due to Gawol’s fierce attack, but he’s barely making a comeback! 》

《 Still, we need to keep watching. The situation isn’t easy. He consumed over half of his undead to buy time. He’ll need to catch Gawol player within the berserk time. 》

《 It seems Gawol player might try to drag out the time like this… As I’m saying this, Gawol player starts to enter quickly! 》

《 It’s an unexpected choice. It seems she’s confident and wants to end it quickly, right? 》

The silver-haired assassin dives between the undead.

She escapes the range before corpses explode and lightly avoids the spear-swords of skeletons.

A speed that even the commentators’ cameras can’t capture advances relentlessly forward.

A judgment that the Gawol until now wouldn’t have made.

Though the method is somewhat extreme, she’s an assassin who has chosen slow but certain victory until now.

Yet this time, she made a choice that risks danger.

Only a few people could guess the reason for this.

Fortunately, Cerberus was one of those few.

A helpless laugh escaped him as if in disbelief.

“To do such a thing in the semifinals. She must have had quite a lot of leeway.”

A thick stack of papers went straight into the trash can.

It was a report that the analysis team had worked on for nights over the past few days.

Though the content was already memorized in his head, it became trash from this moment on.

Her tendencies and play style have completely changed.

As if she’s become a different person, even her habits have disappeared.

If they start analyzing anew from now, they’ll reach a completely different conclusion, and the implication of this fact was clear.

The half-baked analysis until now was meaningless.

Even if they analyze again right now, its authenticity would be doubted.

To grasp that insolent assassin, the only way was to face her directly on the battlefield.

The spectacular oxidation of low-rank undead. The Bone Dragon’s wide-area breath.

Before long, the bamboo grove battlefield had become a hell. The densely grown bamboo collapses in blue flames, and broken corpse fragments litter the dug-up soil everywhere.

The assassin’s body isn’t unscathed either, but there are no fatal injuries.

From the sky. From the ground. Sometimes from empty air.

Bone fragments summoned regardless of location failed to pierce through anything.

Just a fingernail’s width of difference. That tiny margin prevented them from tearing the assassin’s skin.

《 She’s fast! Gawol player, could she do this much? 》

《 She’s always been a player with good physical abilities, but this is surprising! A player we thought was a cunning fox is acting like a fierce tiger! 》

The end of a mage who has used all prepared cards is predictable.

The assassin who overcame all trials mercilessly stabbed the neck.

The match ended as a battered female body was briefly captured on screen.