A blue curtain descends.
The final round before reaching platinum.
I’m sorry for the last opponent, but I’m thinking of finishing it off without mercy.
In fact, it would be worse for the opponent if I toy with them.
I adjust my spear.
Then I observe the opponent.
A warrior with a katana held in both hands?
The blade is too long to be considered an assassin’s, yet too short to be a warrior’s.
He wears a mask outlined in black with white lines, and his red eyes peering from the mask remind me of Yena.
Yet, he has an aura that is nothing like Yena.
His power is no different from the gold users I’ve encountered so far.
The opponent, upon discovering me, cannot hide his surprise.
His eyes seem to say he never expected to meet me.
It’s a familiar reaction.
Ninety percent of the people I’ve met today reacted the same way.
The countdown begins, and I swiftly move my spear.
The target is the heart of the opponent, who is waiting for me to approach.
The green spear is ready to pierce the heart without mercy.
But the spear fails to hit the target and glances off the katana.
“As expected.”
Swoosh!
Clang!
“…!”
The speed of the blade was almost invisible, slashing at me, while I deflected it with my spear simultaneously.
A shocking level of speed and weight of power.
Before I knew it, my body was pushed back significantly.
[?]
[?!]
[What’s this?]
[Is that a double blade?]
[??????]
[Not a shadow or a warrior, then what is he?]
[Feels like he’s got some kind of legend, but who knows?]
“Can he block that?” the stunned opponent wonders, and suddenly he moves rapidly, having previously remained still.
In an instant, he occupies my back.
No, he occupies my side.
No, right in front of me…
“Is it an illusion shadow?”
A technique Yena used.
I’m sure it’s a technique only third-tier assassins can use.
So, is that opponent an assassin?
‘…His strength is too great.’
His sheer power is too strong to be an assassin.
Yet his speed to dodge the spear’s attack is too quick to be that of a warrior.
So what is he?
“Goodbye.”
The blades of the opponent’s clones, surrounding me, rain down toward me.
I twist the spear and my body as well.
In an instant, the flow of wind swirls around me.
For a moment, the magical connections of the katanas surrounding me flicker, and the blades from the clones become blurred and fail to deliver a proper attack.
Swish! In the midst of it all, the real katana grazes my shoulder.
Out of all the katanas, only one leaves a mark on my shoulder.
Blood oozes from the particle wound.
Sound flows out.
[?]
[Oh]
[What the hell, hahaha]
[Assassin and warrior… what the hell is this?]
[The opponent seems to be quite the cheat character too, huh?]
[Is he in gold?]
[Not even using battle aids]
[Power Slayer, huh?]
[Isn’t that the first effective hit?]
[He seems to be a sub-character too]
[Isn’t that a woman? I heard a woman’s voice, though]
[???]
[Several hidden skills visible… extremely skilled… is he a pro sub-character?]
“Ha! You think you can take me? Hah!”
I counter the opponent with the tip of my spear, unable to move right now due to fending off katana strikes.
The opponent, hit directly in the abdomen, cannot withstand the shock and flies back with a whoosh~ crashing into the wall.
The katana flies from its master’s hand, ricocheting in all directions.
The speed and power are high, but the defense isn’t that great.
“Shit…”
“I’m really surprised this time.”
Summoning multiple clones wielding katana to attack.
I’ve seen opponents like this before, but most of their clones were mere illusions.
In other words, the clones themselves posed no direct threat.
But just now, the opponent’s clones wielding katana seemed to possess attack power on par with the main body.
That’s why I purposely twisted the flow of magical power to sever the connection of the clones.
Systematic skills that activate as ‘always’ enemies yield results beyond my expectations.
As expected. It’s fun to battle against skilled people like Yena.
“I’m looking forward to the mock siege war.”
The opponent muttered to himself, whether his stamina was depleted or his health was low, taking a deep breath.
“Damn… No, I’m still not done!”
“You seem like you’re about to lose, though?”
“I-I’m just a sub-character! If I bring out my main character, you’re done for!”
[Hahahahahahaha]
[Is he really using the sub-character excuse?]
[Power Slayer… How sad.]
[But he’s really skilled.]
[Seriously, haha.]
[But you lost, right? You lost, right? You lost, right? You lost, right? You lost, right? You lost, right?]
[Isn’t he really a pro sub-character?]
[No way.]
[But he definitely seems like a ranker.]
[Did he snipe Lily? Didn’t he look surprised when he first saw her?]
[Seriously, was he caught off guard? There must be so many people in the gold tier.]
Is that so?
Now that I think about it, I feel like I heard him saying something about how he couldn’t take me before.
“Is this some kind of celebrity syndrome? Did you just snipe me?”
There’s no response.
Suddenly, the opponent’s eyes start to shake, and cold sweat drips down.
So it’s true.
Hmm… I started spinning the spear.
The fight was already over.
The fight is over.
The clone I used earlier seemed to drain a lot of stamina; I can barely move, and my health looks low.
Whatever I do, I probably won’t be able to counterattack.
In that case…
“Then, can you bring your main character?”
“…What?”
“If you want to fight with your main character, then why not give it a try?”
If the main character is so confident, they should fight with their main character.
Even now, with hidden pieces and legendary items, the main character seems stronger, but we can just balance it out in the arena.
If that’s the case, I can just push myself further against them.
‘Anyway, I’ll end this round soon.’
I’ve always fought among the strong, so battling a strong opponent feels familiar.
[Huh]
[Ah, lol, if you’re confident, just bring your main character]
[Lololololololol]
[Let’s do it with the main character, lol]
[But aren’t we talking about someone in the top 100?]
[That’s kind of scary, haha]
[Yeah, but you can’t beat Lily anyway, right? lol]
[If they’re confident, they’ll bring it]
[Bring it on, man]
“Y-Yeah! Let’s fight! Just wait!”
“Okay.”
“…No!”
“Yeah?”
[?]
[What’s the problem?]
No, no… not now… mumbling to myself, I suddenly raise my head.
“I’ll fight later. But not now.”
“When, then?”
“Later!”
[So when, lol]
[Ah, anyway, you’ll fight someday, lol]
[Scared?]
[You’re scared]
[Lololololol]
[But seriously, they really seem to be a ranker alt, who are they?]
[I feel like I’ve heard that voice before]
[???]
Later, huh…
“Then can I add you as a friend?”
“Huh?”
“Friend request. Since we’ll battle later, just message me with this.”
I sent a friend request to Cookie… Ancream.
Cookie Ancream inadvertently accepted.
What a cute name.
[Wow]
[I want to add you too!!!!]
[Lily’s friend request… this is precious…]
[For real, this is rare, lolololol]
[Precious (really, really, really precious)]
[Please, can someone like that accept me too, what the heck]
[Wow]
[▣White Autumn: I don’t have this friend request…]
[Ah]
[So jealous]
“Well then.”
The spinning spear soon lets out a roar.
Cookie gritted their teeth and made a big roll on the ground.
Before I knew it, the katana in Cookie’s hand was aimed at my neck.
“Ugh.”
The spear had already pierced Cookie’s body long ago.
As Cookie leaned against me, disappearing, I left a small encouraging message.
“I’ll be looking forward to it.”
“…Get lost.”
[Red WIN]
[Gold 699 Points -> Gold 700 Points]
[Platinum Promotion V o o]
■
I thought I was about to promote, but it turns out I need to win two out of three matches for the Platinum promotion.
I’ve already won one match, so only one victory remains.
With ease, I snagged one more win and got promoted to Platinum.
■
“Damn.”
Damn damn damn.
“…Why are you swearing so much?”
“Why? Can’t I curse a bit?”
“It’s not a good look. Even the director said please don’t swear during the broadcast.”
“Ugh… Sky. I’m really mad right now; could you not be around?”
“Okay…”
Sky leaves the room.
Left alone, Chuka Chip cups his hands to his face, recalling the battle from just a moment ago.
Honestly, he never expected to run into her.
No matter how many times he declared himself a ‘Power Slayer’ in the final gold tier, and even though Lily was in the gold tier, there were just too many people in gold.
He didn’t even plan it out to bait her; he just logged in and bam, there she was.
Not that he was desperate to see her or anything.
“Crazy girl…”
But they met.
Really, by pure chance, just before the promotion battles, he ran into Lily.
He thought it was a lucky break.
Lately, he had been hearing too much chatter about Lily.
Even if he wiped the floor with her during the Siege War, there was still over a month until the mock siege, and he had no intention of continuing to hear back-and-forth comparisons until then.
He thought, with this chance to crush her using his secondary character, he could turn the rumors of Lily simply defeating Chuka Chip into nonsense…
“…I lost.”
He lost.
And not just a little; he completely flopped.
It’s surprising for Lily to land some hits, but not for Chuka Chip.
Still, he had put some real effort into leveling that character.
It was ranker-level, boasting legendary gear and a few hidden pieces to boot.
His levels and ranks might be low, but his specs were on par with those ranked around 1000th.
Chuka Chip had to win.
“…I didn’t lose.”
He didn’t lose.
Honestly, it’s just a secondary character, right?
He hadn’t even used his main dual-spear, and he’d been living as Chuka Chip for years—he’s basically a super rookie.
It was Cookie and Cream who lost, not Chuka Chip.
“If we fight for real, I’ll win.”
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