54. League of Spirit (4)
Following Ma Yuseong, Eizel, and Baek Yuseol, who had originally been members of the gourmet club, this was the first time Flame and Hae Wonryang had sat down to eat together with everyone else in the same place.
“First time eating tonkatsu?”
“It’s not steak, but cutting fried food with a knife feels a little unfamiliar.”
“So how does it feel, cutting fried food instead of steak?”
“It’s decent enough.”
With five people who really didn’t seem to match gathered in one place, Flame felt something oddly strange.
It was because the people she had loved most while reading the original romance fantasy novel had now become the ones closest to her… and that felt both very unfamiliar and very happy.
“Sigh. To think we’d stop practicing after just one match.”
Whether that was the case or not, Flame—who wasn’t exactly pleased with this situation—let out a deep sigh while poking at her bibim-naengmyeon.
“No, maybe this turned out better. Either way, through that first match, we more or less figured out how the game flows.”
There was a limit to how much they could gain by endlessly grinding practice matches. In League of Spirit, there was something commonly called a “build,” and after that, there was also a “set framework.”
A set framework meant the most basic strategies that never changed no matter how much time passed.
Like an invade strategy, where you slip into the enemy’s side route and steal alley monsters.
Or a gank, where you roam the alleys and show up at exactly the right moment to back up an ally.
Where it’s easy to hide and ambush an enemy, what kind of actions the enemy is likely to be taking in a given situation, and what sort of movement is most efficient.
It meant they had to learn those things firsthand, with their bodies, by following the solid framework built up alongside the history of League of Spirit.
And after that came the build.
That, too, was another word for strategy—
and it was also Flame Team’s weakness.
“So, what do you think our team is like?”
When she asked Baek Yuseol, he slurped up his naengmyeon and said,
“Mm, honestly? No hope.”
“The core of League of Spirit is strategy and teamwork, but we don’t have either of those. Still, among all that uselessness, there’s one thing we do perfectly.”
“What is it?”
“Individual skill.”
“Mmm, isn’t that important too?”
“It is, it’s important… but the individual skill I’m talking about doesn’t mean the kind of performance a person can show in a match. I mean one-on-one combat ability.”
Only then did Eizel seem to understand, and she set down her fork. It was one of her habits not to speak much when she was chewing something or holding utensils.
“So, you mean our ability to respond in five-versus-five situations is terrible, but our performance in one-versus-one situations is excellent?”
“Yeah. Exactly.”
At those words, Eizel’s expression stiffened slightly.
“Individual skill is certainly an important factor as well… but in a team game, it could instead become poison.”
“Exactly. Because everyone’s too capable on their own, we all move around focused on solo actions.”
Flame said it bluntly.
“So let’s just go with that.”
“What?”
“Let’s do only the bare minimum of practice so we don’t interfere with each other’s attacks, then just have you all roam around on your own and cut off the enemy team’s heads. In a style that suits you.”
“So… can we win like that?”
Flame shrugged, then twirled her bibim-naengmyeon around her chopsticks.
“Well, wouldn’t that still be better than trying to practice teamwork that won’t work at this point? Registering a wide variety of spells and trying them out, getting used to them, and smashing the enemy team by taking them down one by one. That’s the strategy that suits our team perfectly.”
“…That’s not really a strategy at all.”
“If you slap some labels on it, it’s basically all the same, isn’t it? Anyway, for that reason, we’ll need to adjust our positions so each person’s strengths can shine.”
Last time, Flame had assigned their positions on a whim, but the result had been a complete failure.
It was proof that she herself still didn’t understand this sport very well.
“First, if anyone has a position they want to play, say it now.”
Then Baek Yuseol hurriedly spoke up.
“Top… no, send me to the ascending lane.”
Since he had spoken first, he had to have some reason. Baek Yuseol clasped his hands together, propped his chin on them, and said with a thoroughly serious expression,
“Top is… the battlefield of true men.”
“…?”
“It’s a ruthless world where you don’t cowardly call your team over, and settle everything in pure one-on-one combat between cold-blooded men…”
“You lunatic…”
It was absurd, but it was also true. It was right to send someone strong in one-on-one combat to the ascending lane and the middle lane. That was why there were always people who weren’t actually good at one-on-one fights but convinced themselves they were, went to the middle or ascending lane, and dragged their team to defeat—
but Baek Yuseol and Ma Yuseong were different.
No matter what anyone said, their one-on-one combat ability was top tier.
“Ma Yuseong, keep holding the middle lane. You’re the best among us in one-on-one combat, and you also have the best spells for chaining attacks when an ally backs you up.”
Ma Yuseong was someone who could show a wide variety of plays—checking allied backup on the minimap, closing the distance in an instant, latching onto the enemy team, or deleting enemies with powerful burst bombardment.
“And for the supporter and alley-lane positions, Eizel and I will alternate them for now. As you know, the two of us can freely equip mez spells that neutralize and bind the other side.”
“Ah, right.”
“So we’ll take turns trying those positions, figure out which one suits whom better, and also switch sometimes depending on strategy. That way, we can confuse enemies who try to analyze us.”
“Right.”
“What role does the alley lane usually play?”
“Usually, they constantly move quickly through the ascending, middle, and descending lanes, killing alley monsters, then backing up each lane to reinforce it. The players call that a ‘gank.’”
“Gank…”
“This is a really important role. If you can’t make decisions quickly, one lane will collapse in an instant.”
“Mmm, I see.”
“And the descending lane will be Hae Wonryang’s. I’ll take the supporter position and back him up from behind. But unlike you, I plan to focus more on defensive magic and healing magic than on mez spells that bind the enemy team. So our roles are a little different.”
Baek Yuseol slyly cut in.
“If you really want to compare them, the alley lane feels like a modern father who quietly works without complaint, while support feels like a mom frantically busy at home, controlling vision and taking care of the ranged carry.”
“Hey, how is anyone supposed to understand it if you put it like that?”
“Ah! I understand perfectly!”
Honestly, both of them were strange.
Anyway, now that the tonkatsu was almost gone, Flame slowly wrapped up the conversation.
“Baek Yuseol and Ma Yuseong may be the strongest in one-on-one combat, but in the end, the key combat power in a five-versus-five fight is Hae Wonryang. He has both the judgment and the offensive power to use a limited set of seven spells in the most efficient and complex way possible depending on the situation.”
At Flame’s praise, Hae Wonryang’s expression brightened faintly. But when Ma Yuseong tried to pat his shoulder as if to tease him, it instantly turned back into a snarling look.
“You’ve gotten the rough feel of it from this match, right?”
All four boys and girls nodded.
“Then I’d like to go straight into another practice match… but I don’t think we should. First, we need to learn the basics.”
Ma Yuseong made a miserable face.
“Do we have to read more boring practical strategy books again?”
“No. There’s something better than reading that stuff all day, isn’t there?”
Flame rummaged through her handbag and pulled out some small tape-like things.
“They’re recorded videos of amateur-player tournaments. We’re going to replay these and repeatedly study what strategies the players use, how they secure vision, and what kind of things happen in what kinds of situations—until our bodies respond on their own even in real matches.”
At a point when there were only two weeks left until the school tournament, the fact that they were only now studying videos meant things were extremely tight.
But Flame believed in this team.
Those cursed protagonists, who could be considered far superior to others in practical sense and sheer intelligence, would surely benefit enough even from this unusual training method.
The next day, at Stella Dome.
As usual, quite a lot of people had gathered in the staff spectator seats of the League of Spirit practice grounds.
But there seemed to be a few more people than the previous day, and the reason was simple: word had quietly spread that Flame Team was unusual and not to be underestimated.
Of course, there were still more people spreading rumors about how sloppy Flame Team had looked, but there were also many who had come trusting the sharp eyes of the players.
“So those bastards are really that weird?”
“Yes. Even though they didn’t understand the way the game was run at all, their individual mechanics were beyond imagination.”
“Tch, I still don’t get it.”
Among the many coaches and players who hadn’t seen the match at the time, most reacted like they couldn’t believe it.
Which was understandable. No matter how incredible someone was as a magic warrior in real life—or rather, the more incredible they were—the clumsier they became in League of Spirit.
A limited set of seven spells was like suddenly shackling them with one ton of chains, and they usually ended up floundering all day, unable to overcome that awkwardness.
Fixed cooldowns, limited spells, and pitifully insufficient mana.
Every element that would make a real-life magic warrior go crazy and jump out of their skin existed in League of Spirit.
“Still, hearing it like that does make me curious.”
“When are those punks coming?”
“Let’s wait. Unless it’s on Stella grounds, there’s nowhere else they can practice anyway.”
“You said yesterday was their first practice, right? Then starting today, they’ll be grinding hard for the next two weeks until the school tournament. We should analyze their strength just in case.”
So they quietly waited.
And six hours passed.
“When the hell are they coming…”
As the day wore on with no sign of them appearing, the players slowly started growing irritated.
“L-let’s wait a little longer. It’s almost evening.”
But even by late night, when the other trainees had all gone home, they still hadn’t shown up.
“…They’ll come tomorrow, right? The tournament’s right around the corner.”
But one day, two days, three days, and even a full week passed.
And they still never appeared.
“What the hell are they doing…”
“They’re not practicing?”
“What do they even do after afternoon classes?”
“I-I’m not sure. I heard they each run straight back to the dorms and hole up there, or all crowd into the study room together and watch videos…”
“Insane.”
One coach smacked his forehead and said,
“They’ve forfeited.”
It wasn’t uncommon.
Even among magic-warrior cadets, there were people who looked down on League of Spirit and jumped in, only to realize it wasn’t that easy and promptly give up. Flame Team was the same.
“And here I thought, since they were all hyped up as geniuses, they’d at least do something in League of Spirit…”
“So this is all they had.”
“No matter how good they are in real combat, the world of League of Spirit is completely different from ours.”
“They probably underestimated it and got a nasty shock.”
Now there was only about a week left until the tournament. Even if they suddenly came to their senses and started practicing now, it was doubtful whether they could even barely make it through the preliminaries.
“What a disappointment.”
“I’m done being interested in them.”
“Well, even if we wanted to stay interested, they probably won’t come anymore. Feels like they’ll just forfeit in preliminaries.”
And so the match officials completely gave up all lingering attachment to Flame Team.
Then, on the next day, when there were six days left until the school preliminaries—
“Hm? What’s with them?”
Saturday morning.
The handful of coaches and players who had shown up bright and early on the weekend looked at some trainees already gathered and practicing, and blinked in confusion.
Which was only natural. Flame Team, whom everyone had thought had given up on the game, was practicing from early in the morning.
“Damn it. I came in today to give my kids special weekend training, so I can’t stay and watch…”
“Ugh, same here. I’ve only got until lunch to look over my kids before I have to leave.”
“Still, I’m curious, so should we just watch for a bit?”
“Well, those brats looked like that just one week ago. How much could they possibly have changed by now—”
The player stopped mid-sentence and fell silent the moment he saw Flame Team’s match.
The other staff members were no different.
[Blue Team Victory!]
[The difficulty level 12 AI is exiting.]
“W-what?”
They had only just started trying to watch the match, and yet Flame Team had suddenly snatched victory against a difficulty level 12 AI.
“How did they do that? Did anyone—anyone see it? You there! You’ve been sitting here since earlier, haven’t you!”
“Huh? I was watching our team…”
“Damn it…!”
Because it was morning and there were so few people around, not a single person had actually seen Flame Team’s earlier game.
“They beat level 12…”
For trainees who were still only at student level, that was no easy feat. No—before that, it was impossible for beginners who had barely even practiced properly.
Only amateur players who had really weathered the battlefield of League of Spirit and proven their skill usually used a level 12 AI to prove themselves.
“They never practiced even once.”
“Did they maybe go somewhere else to do it?”
“Where would Stella students even go? And I heard they were holed up at home every day after school.”
“W-well, I’m not really sure either…”
“Let’s wait. They’ll probably play another match.”
But Flame Team, as if they knew very well how to irritate people—
—Hey. It’s lunchtime.
—Oh, right. Should we go eat first?
—Yeah, let’s do that. Meet back here in the afternoon.
—was once again sitting around talking about food.
“Ahh, damn it. I’ve got a sponsor meeting at lunch, so I can’t come…”
Some team officials let out groans of despair, but for others, it was actually a good thing.
Because no matter what, they had clearly said they would practice here again after lunch.
‘Hm. Maybe I should bring that player too and have him analyze them.’
‘Didn’t Coach say he wanted to see this match…? I should call him.’
For each of them, that meant time to summon their own analysts.
Time passed quickly, lunch went by, and when it turned one in the afternoon—
“What the? Even League of Spirit players showed up on the weekend.”
“Seriously. What’s going on?”
“There’s even the coach from Adallen Fires over there…”
Outside big-name analysts began arriving one by one, and finally the five boys and girls appeared at the Stella Dome League of Spirit practice grounds.
—Select difficulty. Level 12 AI.
Then, with Flame’s small voice, the match began.
Though it wasn’t a pro league match, every official there fell silent and focused their gaze on that spot.
For them—tired of the dull practice sessions and analysis of teenage trainees—
this mock battle was an immensely thrilling match.
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