episode_0085

85. Once More.

Yohan was bewildered. It was because Sarah had taken a dagger from her bosom and stabbed it into her own neck. In that instant, the world stopped.

Thwoooooom-

The sound of the bell, which he hadn’t heard in quite a while, echoed throughout the world. Right, now that he thought about it, he was so caught up in the battle that he had completely forgotten.

‘She said she would end her life before it reached 100%.’

Yohan let out a hollow laugh. It wasn’t an actual laugh, but it felt like it. The corners of his lips didn’t move at all.

He recalled the opponents he had met from yesterday until now. There were empty husks, and there were people who were difficult to deal with, just like the one just now.

The battles with them flashed through his mind like a panorama. Yohan gathered those scenes together and then shattered them.

Crack-

And he reassembled the shattered fragments of memory. More efficiently than before, in this kind of situation, Fire Arrow is better than Magic Missile.

Having clashed once, the next time will be easier. A magician is one who prepares. The enemy does not know me, but I know the enemy. This will be a tremendous advantage.

Whoooooosh-

Soon, a brilliant ray of light enveloped Yohan. Before long, his mind regressed to the past.

***

Vroooom-!

“……”

The roar of the exhaust pipe in his ear is thunderous. Yohan looked to the side with a somehow dazed face.

“……”

“……!”

Yohan was startled. Sarah was there, where he turned his gaze. She was staring intently at Yohan with her jet-black eyes.

She examined Yohan’s face and opened her mouth.

“How much do you remember?”

Deoksu, who was listening from the side, tilted his head. What’s that about? It was a completely out-of-context sentence.

But not for Yohan. He used even [Thought Acceleration] to frantically spin his brain. What would be the appropriate level? Next time, I should think about it in advance before regressing. Someday, a big accident might happen.

“……In the end, we didn’t get first place. You made a difficult decision.”

She closed her eyes tightly at Yohan’s words. And then she opened her eyes.

“Yes. Can you do it? Faster than before?”

“Of course. I don’t remember everything, but it’s much better than the first time.”

“Okay. I’ll tell you as much as I remember. First of all, there was an archer with multiple arms growing out……”

Sarah’s explanation continued for a while. Yohan ‘pretended’ to listen to her, reacting appropriately. Reacting as if he was hearing a story he already knew for the first time was quite difficult.

“─Using blue electric shocks……”

“……”

***

Crack!

The vehicle overturns with a huge explosion. Somehow the design of the car running ahead looks familiar. It was the car that the electric shock magician was riding in.

Deoksu stepped on the accelerator roughly. The group’s sports car easily overtook the electric shock magician’s vehicle. Yohan glanced back.

Sarah was there, riding a motorcycle. Her condition was relatively better than when they fought before. I think her skin was very dark before.

Vroooom-!

The motorcycle’s speed was faster than the group’s sports car. Before long, her motorcycle approached Yohan’s side.

“Thank you for your hard work. It’s definitely easier than before.”

“Yes. There’s quite a lot of achievement rate left.”

That was true. Yohan looked at one spot.

[Achievement Rate: 96.0176951%]

‘Amazing. Is this the snowball effect?’

Yohan recalled the battle just now. He neutralized the enemies at a speed that couldn’t be compared to the previous round.

The previous battles were the same. For some reason, the attackers never just passed by Yohan’s group. Yohan cut off all of their breath.

As the time spent in battle shortened, the group’s movement speed naturally increased. It didn’t make much of a difference when they only caught one or two teams, but as it accumulated, it made a big difference.

[Your Ranking: 5th]

‘It’s doable.’

Possibilities are appearing. Now, there are only four players left ahead of Yohan. It is not known whether they are a team or moving separately.

Yohan raised his head. He saw the wilderness that made his heart feel open just by looking at it. At that moment, Sarah spoke from the side.

“One o’clock direction. It seems like a team of four people.”

Faster than expected. After all, the closer they get to the top ranks, the less noticeable the difference seems to be.

Yohan checked the amount of magic power remaining. It hasn’t fully recovered yet, but it’s enough. He just needs to endure this one time.

“I will dig a hole.”

“Yes.”

Yohan handed Sarah the [Seed of Fire] as he had always done.

Dig.

Drrrrr-

Now is the last time. Yohan put his heart and soul into deploying the spell. Before long, a black tunnel opened in front of her, and she drove the motorcycle without a moment’s hesitation.

As her figure disappeared from Yohan’s sight, Yohan immediately drew up his magic power.

Explosion.

A huge fireball is created above his head. Based on his past experience, Explosion was a better choice than Flame Ray when he didn’t know the location.

Whoosh-

The fireball, which looked like it would blind him just by looking at it, flies in the 1 o’clock direction. Even if it just draws attention, it’s enough of an advantage if it buys Sarah time to approach them.

Crack-!

Before long, a faint explosion was heard. It was hard to hear because it was far away.

At that moment, something flashed.

‘They have quite the temper.’

Clang!

Yohan leisurely deployed a shield. Soon, something dark and the shield collided fiercely. Yohan slightly rolled his eyes.

Crackling…

“Huh?”

A long rapier was embedded in the surface of the shield. It was a spell that he had built up quite solidly, but they broke through it. Yohan was slightly impressed.

The rapier stopped about 30cm away from his eyeballs. If it had come any closer, his eyeballs might have been pierced. Nevertheless, Yohan maintained a relaxed attitude.

Whoom-

Something murky that had already been created was covering Yohan’s eyeballs. It was a miniature shield that Yohan created as soon as he saw signs of the rapier piercing the shield. The size was small due to lack of time, but it could be made with a strength that could at least avoid fatal injuries.

The next moment, the rapier trembled. And as if it had caught something, it flew back at breakneck speed in the direction it had come from.

‘Interesting function. A weapon that returns to its original position.’

Is it the characteristic of the weapon, or is it the user’s trick? Yohan was suspicious. He hoped it was the weapon’s original ability. It was a function that seemed to have many uses in many ways.

Yohan unleashed spells based on his accumulated experience. He felt a sense of deja vu. It was because he had recently experienced many battles similar to the one now.

Could there be any player on the 3rd floor who has experienced more mid-range combat than Yohan? Yohan guessed that he would be the most. It was an experience gained through two regressions.

Whack whack whack whack!

Yohan’s spells indiscriminately poured down on the place where the rapier had flown from. The enemies were not just standing still either. Darts, arrows, and spells poured down on Yohan’s group’s vehicle.

Indeed, it wasn’t luck that they had been maintaining the lead, each one was a top-notch strike. But anything is only meaningful if it touches.

Crack-!

Most of them missed. Yohan looked at the spells falling in the wrong place. They were terrible.

A savage smile formed on Yohan’s lips.

‘They don’t seem to be familiar with mid-range combat.’

To be exact, they were skilled enough. It’s just that Yohan was too high a level. If another player had attacked Yohan’s group, they would have poured their attacks into even stranger places than now.

Most magicians had bad eyesight, unless they were archers or thieves. This is because they don’t invest much in physical stats. That was the same for Yohan. But he had an exceptional sense unlike other magicians.

He is deeply immersed in his spells and overturns the tide of battle even from afar. He was truly a talent perfect for a ‘war magician’.

There was a reason why he was scouted by the privileged class on the 1st floor.

‘She’s arrived.’

Yohan closed his eyes. Soon, he felt the Seed of Fire he had given to Sarah stir. At that moment, he heard a faint explosion in his ear.

──────!

He twitched his eyebrows. Somehow the sound wasn’t very satisfying. It was like the sound was blocked by something.

Anyway, Yohan continued to unleash spells and got closer to the enemies. Before long, a dark shape was visible in the 1 o’clock direction.

Soon, Yohan’s pupils slightly widened.

‘It’s blocked?’

There he saw Sarah chasing the enemies by driving her motorcycle, as if she had failed to enter the enemy vehicle.