episode_0132

First, Soo-yeon Lee checked Lim Jae-ho’s expression.

I received An Yu-min’s frighteningly high-level freezing sword strike with my body.

So Lim Jae-ho’s expression definitely looked tired.

Thanks to temporarily recovering my stamina at the supply point, my condition did not seem bad.

‘Then Siwoo.’

And Jeong Si-woo moved as secretly and quickly as possible and focused on support activities.

‘Si-woo found the vampire spell that Song Xia had ambushed in advance.’

This means that it did not directly confront the opponent’s attack.

So Jeong Si-woo’s combat uniform and facial expression looked fine.

If Song Xia’s vampire spell had been activated properly.

Those two people won’t be able to recover their strength with the same relaxed expression on their faces as they do now.

There was a curse on the vampire spell.

If you fall under that curse, you will continue to receive bleeding damage.

However, Lee Jun-woo defeated the curse that Jeong Si-woo found at once.

‘It wasn’t easy, though. Junwoo did it.’

In order to destroy the ambush curse, the curse structure had to be destroyed in a single blow.

As is usually the case with curses, if you don’t completely destroy it, the curse flows backwards.

The burden on those who destroy the curse is greater than on those who find it.

It’s almost like the burden of disarming a time bomb.

But Lee Jun-woo did the job very skillfully.

‘Not only that.’

They even found the two cursed dolls that Jeong Si-woo had missed and defeated them together.

The commentators seemed quite surprised by the response.

– Aigis is the party that destroyed the opponent from the first battle until the semifinals! But Ignition, luckily, survived the first battle and succeeded in escaping!

Of course, the comment that regarded the outcome of the battle as just luck was quite annoying.

Suyeon Lee is the last one left.

I also looked at Lee Jun-woo’s expression.

‘As expected, stay calm.’

As the commentator said.

Aegis has always been completely victorious from the first battle.

An Yu-min’s freezing sword strike and Song Xia’s ambush curse.

If the two combinations are made at the same time, even if you have good physical strength, you will have so much firepower that you cannot withstand it. It was a natural result.

However, Ignition did not give Aigis even the slightest victory in the first battle.

So I was curious about Lee Jun-woo’s expression.

Because we took the victory point against a superior opponent.

You may feel conceited by that sense of satisfaction. Or, you could be surprised and intimidated by the opponent’s firepower, which is stronger than you thought.

‘Neither.’

Surprisingly, Lee Jun-woo’s expression was no different from his usual expression.

He had a calm expression, as if he had already predicted the outcome of the first match.

Lee Jun-woo calmly completed his recovery and resupply.

As explained in advance, he was preparing for a long battle.

‘It’s a long game…’

Although instructor Lee Su-yeon believes in her cadets.

Still, I’m still not sure if that tactic will be effective.

Like now, when there is a confrontation, we can somehow survive and retreat and recover our health again.

The problem is that supply points are limited.

No matter how long-term the battle is, supplies are ultimately consumables, so you cannot fill your stamina infinitely.

‘Not only that. The moment the holding power is broken…’

Like the first battle, it would be okay if you could completely read the opponent’s moves and minimize damage to your allies.

The opponent will also have to deal with Ignition’s numbers.

If even one party member is seriously injured.

Ignition’s balance will collapse in an instant.

There is no healer as good as Ha Ye-eun in Ignition.

‘But Junwoo said there is a way.’

Nevertheless, Suyeon Lee believed in her cadet.

Lee Jun-woo is not the type of person to make loud statements without any chance of winning.

If only he had planned a long game.

This means that there is definitely a hidden trick.

Lee Soo-yeon held her breath and continued to watch the game unfold.

***

The game continued.

About 40 minutes had passed since the game started.

Since the first all-out battle, there has never been a face-to-face confrontation with Aigis.

The group quietly hid behind a collapsed wall.

At that time, Song Xia’s voice was heard from beyond.

“I don’t think this is the place. I can’t feel anything.”

I didn’t stick my head out beyond that for fear of being caught.

Song Xia seemed to be detecting nearby enemies with her magic pendant.

Turp-plop-

However, even though the footsteps were heard right away from the group.

In the end, Aigis did not find the companions.

After 5 minutes, holding my breath like that.

I gave movement instructions to the party members using hand signals.

And after a while.

Arriving at another supply point, the group took a moment to catch their breath.

“Phew. It’s completely like hide and seek. Still, like Junwoo said, I can see that they are really getting tired. You missed us even where you would normally have found us.”

Inside the abandoned building, Lim Jae-ho said, leaning against the wall.

As he said.

Ignition continued to avoid Aegis.

If it weren’t for a map with a blizzard like now.

An Yu-min and Song Xia would have found the group somehow.

Due to the debuff, their senses were also dulled to some extent.

‘Besides, my map understanding is much better.’

I thoroughly analyzed Aigis’ tactics.

The operator of Aegis is Jeong Woon-kyung.

It would be more accurate to say that he analyzed her tactics.

Jeong Woon-kyung always insisted on short-term warfare in the current competition.

And the tactics she used were also the tactics I used when I was at Aegis.

‘The three people of Aegis are not very good at finding the way. ‘A long game is unfavorable.’

To put it simply, it is the same as a driver using a navigation system.

Since the Aigis days, I, the operator, have always been in charge of tasks such as familiarizing myself with dungeon paths and analyzing patterns.

Even after I left, the operator, Jeong Woon-kyung, was still there.

Naturally, the current three people will have no direct experience in doing such troublesome work.

‘The problem is that the competition is a 3-on-3 match.’

So, Jeong Woon-kyung could not directly participate in the current game.

Therefore, Aigis was like a novice driver on his first trip without a navigation system.

Although you can receive instructions from the operator via radio.

There is a clear difference between whether the operator is on site or not.

Even more so in bad weather like now.

‘Ahn Yu-min’s attack power has increased, but… That’s all.’

So, in the early stages of the game, I quickly caught up with Ignition and started an all-out war.

Not a single Ignition player was retired by the attack.

‘Maybe that moment was the only opportunity.’

From then on, everything went as I planned.

An Yu-min has cold tolerance, so it would be okay.

Song Xia is a wizard to begin with, so her physicality is not that perfect.

Although Ha Ye-eun can continue to increase cold resistance with divine spells.

The problem is that Ha Ye-eun’s divine power is not infinite.

‘Besides, that stupid Ha Ye-eun doesn’t have any patience at all.’

In the current cold, just moving around takes a lot of stamina.

In that state, maintaining not only your own stamina but also that of your party members is not an easy task.

Of course, given Ha Ye-eun’s personality, it was impossible to do it for 40 minutes.

‘They’re probably screaming that they’re going to die from the cold.’

As such, the effectiveness of recovery spells would have decreased.

An Yu-min and Song Si-ah, who are finding the ignition using only their senses, cannot help but become dull.

The proof is that they missed us just moments ago, even at a very close distance.

At that very moment, Jeong Si-woo spoke to Lim Jae-ho.

“I thought Aigis would have perfect staying power. There were more weaknesses than I thought.”

Lim Jae-ho also nodded.

“Because we conserved our physical strength as much as possible under Junwoo’s instructions. It’s worth it.”

As the saying goes.

Ignition was the exact opposite of Aigis.

Although not all competitive maps match Warworld.

I also memorized many of the randomly generated field map patterns.

As such, the party always took the shortest route when moving to the supply point.

I didn’t waste any unnecessary energy wandering through this blizzard.

“I see. Now I definitely know why. The reason for the instruction that this semifinal match should be a long game.”

I nodded at Lim Jae-ho’s words. And answered.

“I think the timing will come out soon. Now is the time for us to start hunting the Aegis.”

Lim Jae-ho and Jeong Si-woo laughed at my words.

***

Meanwhile, not in the main Theia Stadium, but in the CEO’s office.

Although it was a place that seemed completely unrelated to the semifinal match of the competition.

The semifinals of the Academy Competition were being broadcast on the large screen installed there.

A woman’s voice rang out from the CEO’s office.

“There’s a cadet named Lee Jun-woo. I think the saying “unknown” is true.”

Orifiel turned his head at those words.

An Asian woman with short, slightly reddish blonde hair and wearing a dress.

The Japanese villain was one of Crimson Teeth’s executives.

Orifiel nodded at her words.

“That’s right. You can’t doubt it anymore, right? An ordinary cadet would not be able to fight that skillfully.”

At those words, all the villains gathered in the CEO’s office focused on the screen again.

The semifinals were going in the opposite direction to all media expectations.