54. League of Spirit (9)
[Victory! Mao Lun White]
[Defeat! Black Circus]
Plopping down onto the floor, Jo Yerin stared blankly at the hologram scoreboard floating in the air.
[Victory]
Why was it, even though it was a word she should have been familiar with as a player, it still felt so unfamiliar?
Why was it this welcome?
Just what was this feeling?
“H-heh, hehe.”
She had done it.
She had really done it.
The opponent had not been particularly strong—just another weak team like themselves—but that was not what mattered.
What mattered was that at the final moment, the battle had begun under Jo Yerin’s lead, the tide had turned according to her strategy, and in the end they had pulled off a comeback victory.
If she had followed those clumsy strategies of her teammates all the way to the end, as always, what would have happened?
They would definitely have lost.
‘We won! We really won!’
She wanted to shout and jump around as much as her heart desired, but the shit-eating expressions on the opposing team made her feel oddly self-conscious, so she could not do it.
That was simply the limit of her timid personality.
“Hey!”
Jo Yerin was quietly clenching her fist in joy when her teammates came stomping over.
“What the hell was that just now? You suddenly charged in and almost made us lose!”
“What do you think would’ve happened without us?”
“Phew, we managed to step in just in time and win, but we almost lost because of you…”
Even after winning, they were still blaming someone else.
And the way they were subtly trying to turn the credit into their own was laughable.
All at once, Jo Yerin felt ashamed that she had let herself be bullied by these bastards all this time.
What was there to be afraid of if she got kicked off this pathetic team?
She would rather give up League of Spirit than keep playing while getting jerked around by idiots like these.
“So what?”
“…This bitch.”
“What were you planning to do without me? Hesitate around half-assedly again, lose the Guardian, and then get your faces smashed in by the enemy team pushing in with the buff until you all wiped?”
“What do you mean hesitate? We were waiting for the right timing!”
“Yeah. Right. You were always waiting for the right timing before charging in. And you always lost. Am I wrong?”
“You crazy bitch, that’s—”
“But me? Didn’t we win because I went in at the right timing and started the fight? Didn’t we?”
“What a joke! Without us helping, you wouldn’t have gotten that win either!”
That made her scoff.
“Of course you should have helped, shouldn’t you? Since you idiots were dithering around, I set the table for you at the right moment, so the least you could do was eat what was handed to you properly.”
“You really wanna die…!”
Grab!
At last, unable to take it anymore, the female teammate seized Jo Yerin by the collar and lifted her up.
Because of the difference in size, Jo Yerin’s small feet immediately left the ground, and when she came face-to-face with those murderous eyes at such close range, for a moment she almost felt afraid.
But Jo Yerin kept her eyes open and glared right back.
“Then keep smashing your heads into walls with your own rock-stupid brains in the next match too. I’m not helping. I don’t care if we lose here. I can just go back to the magic-warrior department, study really hard, and make a successful future for myself. But what about you? Didn’t you come in through the League of Spirit player track?”
“You little…!”
Of course, what Jo Yerin said was not entirely correct.
Those people were not sincerely dedicated to the sport of League of Spirit. They had merely infiltrated this place under the orders of their cult leader.
Even now, many dark mages had sunk roots into every corner of the magic world, and among them, the mission assigned to this group was to become key figures while living as Stella students.
Stella’s representative League of Spirit players had been an idea proposed by Professor Raidin, and because of that, they were risking their lives to hide the fact that they were dark mages while participating in League of Spirit.
But there had been a problem.
One of the five original members had been unable to transfer in because of an unexpected accident. Left with no choice, they had squeezed in one human mage instead…
‘Who would’ve thought she’d be this much of an obstacle…’
When they failed to come up with any rebuttal, Jo Yerin grew almost certain of it and let out a small, crooked laugh as she forcefully shook off the hand clutching her collar.
Her footing nearly slipped, and she almost fell, but she desperately kept her balance and avoided making a complete fool of herself.
“So from now on, behave. Unless you want to watch me deliberately throw matches, listen to what I say too.”
Having said that, Jo Yerin walked out of the arena as quickly as she could, then made her way into a deserted corridor and leaned her back against a pillar, finally releasing the breath she had been holding in.
“Haaah…”
She had nearly died from how hard her heart was pounding.
It was even more thrilling, frightening, and nerve-wracking than the very moment they had won the match…
and there was an overwhelming sense of exhilaration in it.
She clenched both fists tightly and trembled all over.
How ridiculous they had looked, unable to say a word or move a muscle.
It felt so good, as though she had paid back every last debt for all the contempt they had shown her.
It was all thanks to Baek Yuseol.
‘Right. I can’t be satisfied with this.’
One way or another, her teammates seemed to want to win as well, and although she had said she could always return to the magic-warrior department, she herself genuinely cared about League of Spirit too.
She had no intention of losing.
The next match, and the match after that.
She would seize victory in all of them and make it to the main tournament.
‘No matter what!’
Just as Baek Yuseol had expected, while Jo Yerin’s Mao Lun White Team was racking up win after win—
[Next Match Scheduled]
[Emerald Stella vs Flame]
The team that represented Stella and the team whose name carried no particular individuality but consisted of the most famous cadets in the magic-warrior department were about to face each other.
Even though this was not yet the main tournament, it was such an interesting matchup that professional players and people from the League of Spirit Association had even made time to come from distant regions.
“Player Ga Yurin. It seems even some people from the MLCC (Major League Championship) are paying attention to this tournament.”
At those words from the coach in charge, Ga Yurin let out a snort.
“The opponent isn’t even a major team. How ridiculous.”
“Not a major team, no, but they can still be called named players.”
They said that named players were not determined purely by skill, but by popularity.
That was half true and half false.
Because to become a popular player, you still had to be good.
But very occasionally there were players whose popularity came before their skill, and that happened when people like Flame Team—those who had already made names for themselves in other fields—entered League of Spirit matches.
“It looks like a few reporters have already slipped in too…”
“How ridiculous. Does Stella not care about security?”
“It doesn’t seem to be classified information, so I think Stella deliberately allowed entry.”
Because if issues involving prestigious students increased, that would benefit Stella too.
“Honestly…”
While Ga Yurin acted outwardly as though she found it absurd, inside she was laughing.
‘If anything, this is even better for me.’
It annoyed her greatly that magic warriors who knew nothing were treating League of Spirit lightly and barging in, but those students were so famous that if they were at the center of public attention, would that not actually help her career?
Flame, Ma Yuseong, Hae Wonryang, Eizel.
Every single member had learned magic from famous bloodlines and prestigious houses and was called a genius of the age, so the fact that they were beginners did not really matter.
If she could defeat them, then naturally her own reputation would soar.
And she had also heard that, although they had suffered a few losses previously due to condition and difficulty issues, they were now on a winning streak, which meant they had apparently practiced League of Spirit quite a bit as well.
But that was fine now.
In the next match, she planned to display the highest level of concentration.
“It’s a stage made for me.”
“Even so, don’t let your guard down. Even if they haven’t received professional training, the title of ‘genius’ at Stella—a place where only geniuses gather—is not something just anyone can have. Especially those kids… they’re S Class—”
“I know that much too, Coach.”
Ga Yurin said this without even looking at him, merely watching herself in the mirror.
“I admit it. They’re more impressive than I expected.”
“…Good.”
“I’ve already prepared the right countermeasures and strategies to face them. Do you understand? There’s absolutely no problem.”
“I know.”
Ga Yurin had seized the title of the best rookie of her generation not only because of her combat mechanics, but because her ability to devise strategy was exceptional too.
It was not that the coach doubted her, but given who the opponent was, worrying was unavoidable.
‘She’ll… handle it.’
No matter what, the other side were beginners, while Ga Yurin was an amateur who was practically at pro level.
There was no reason she should lose.
[Emerald Stella vs Flame]
The match began.
The number of spectators who had come exceeded the hundreds and nearly reached the thousands, and when one considered that most of them were not ordinary people but professional players or people working in the League of Spirit industry, it was astonishing.
“Oh, Player Lauron, you came too?”
“Coach Baker, it’s been a while. It’s the off-season until postseason anyway, and discovering new talent is part of my role.”
Not every League of Spirit player who came from a magic-warrior background had run away because they feared real combat.
Coach Baker and Player Lauron were famous professionals even within the industry, but they belonged to the category of people who had ended up in League of Spirit because they had suffered major injuries and could no longer fight for real.
Even if they were injured, they could not forget battle.
That was why, when they heard that promising magic-warrior cadets were playing a match, they simply could not restrain themselves and had come all this way.
“The opening is ordinary enough.”
Lauron, who had naturally seated himself in the chair beside Baker, spoke, and Coach Baker nodded as he stroked his beard.
The people around them quietly gave them space.
When Lauron, the top player of the strongest team in existence, and Baker, the coach of what could be called that team’s rival, were sitting there, who would dare hover around beside them?
“Almost no team does anything insane right from the beginning.”
Neither Flame Team nor Ga Yurin’s team opened by throwing out reckless gamble strategies. When unique teams met, unusual situations often arose, which was part of the fun, so in that sense it was a little disappointing.
“That student… Baek Yuseol, was it? His item tree is unusual.”
“I heard he can only use a single spell—Blink? He might be entertaining enough to keep around on a team for show, but he doesn’t seem fit for the main roster.”
“That is true. In the end, only being able to use one spell means your strategy is limited, and it becomes easy for the enemy team to respond.”
“That student might manage to put up some fight against amateurs, but he’ll never go pro.”
An obvious spell would ultimately be picked apart completely through scientific analysis, and no matter how strange the items Baek Yuseol brought, the method of 대응ing to him would still be simple.
“Baek Yuseol and the enemy player Alia have met in the ascending lane.”
Player Alia was a second-year this year and supposedly already had five full years of League of Spirit experience.
She was very strong in one-on-one fights, and the only player Ga Yurin trusted enough to leave the ascending lane to, so Baek Yuseol could not help but feel a certain degree of pressure.
And in the early phase, before proper items came out, Baek Yuseol had no attack power to speak of, so if Alia openly began pressing him, he should have had no response at all.
Still, people opened their eyes wide and watched to see how Baek Yuseol would answer.
Not only in League of Spirit, but in reality as well, he used only the one spell Blink.
And yet was he not a student who had stacked up a record of defeating countless dark mages while still only a cadet, standing shoulder to shoulder with the other children called geniuses among geniuses?
“…Oh?”
Coach Baker let out a sound of admiration.
Player Alia had received backup from her allied alley-laner at perfect timing and was pressuring Baek Yuseol from front and back.
“He’s dead.”
Player Lauron seemed already able to see the situation three seconds into the future.
To resist, Baek Yuseol would use Blink to escape backward, but Alia would catch that delay exactly with her spell and focus him down.
“Huh?”
“Oh? What the hell!”
But in the next moment, something astonishing happened.
Instead of falling back, Baek Yuseol charged straight at Alia without even using Blink.
Alia, who had been casting a high-damage, long-range spell in anticipation of his Blink, hurriedly canceled it and retreated.
But as if he had been waiting specifically for that cancellation, Baek Yuseol instantly Blinked to Alia’s side, scattered something onto the ground, and rolled away with all his strength.
Beep-beep-beep—BOOM!!
‘Sticky grenade!’
Because it was still early-game, with no movement spell and no shield learned yet, Alia was struck directly by the grenade and blasted backward.
“Holy shit! He wasted resources buying a trash item like that in the early game?”
“My God. Then that means Baek Yuseol isn’t wearing a robe at all right now!”
Only then did Lauron hurriedly check Baek Yuseol’s item tree.
“…I’ll have to take back what I said earlier.
There was a madman, after all. A complete madman.”
He had no shield spell, and no ranged spell with which to push back enemy attacks.
That meant purchasing a defensive robe item with added defense should have been more essential for him than for anyone else…
and yet Baek Yuseol was wearing no defensive item at all.
Which meant his body was so flimsy that even a few hits from basic magic could kill him!
“No matter what, to give up a defensive robe and buy a consumable item like a grenade…”
“But that insane judgment was the right one.”
Alia, having been hit by the sticky grenade, could not even maneuver properly, and after a few slashes from Baek Yuseol’s blade, she died on the spot.
[First casualty has occurred!]
[Fresh blood runs across the field.]
Alia’s judgment—to trust in her allied alley-laner’s backup and start casting a large spell—had definitely been correct.
Anyone would have done the same, since the opponent was Baek Yuseol, who was weak in the early game.
Even a professional player would have.
But who could possibly have predicted that he would exploit that, come charging in with a grenade in hand, and not even wear armor?
“…He truly is a student who effortlessly overturns my common sense.”
Coach Baker became embarrassed by what he himself had said a moment ago.
Hadn’t he claimed that because Baek Yuseol could only use one spell, his strategies were limited and he could never function as a professional player?
‘Wrong.’
In fact, it was the opposite.
He could only use one spell, but thanks to his ability to create irregular situations however he pleased…
the truly frightening part was how he made people think he was obvious.
Because he only had one spell, you couldn’t think of the variables at all, no matter how much you tried.
[Casualty has occurred!]
At last, even the alley-laner could not withstand Baek Yuseol’s unpredictable movements and offensive use of consumable items and died, and because he had given up armor early in exchange for investing in consumables, Baek Yuseol gained far more than enough value from it and calmly returned to base.
Seeing that, the players clicked their tongues and thought,
‘If that bastard enters the pro scene…’
‘He’s definitely going to get cursed out a lot.’
With that sort of infuriating playstyle, there was no way the enemy team would not swear at him.
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