Chapter 77

A tired office worker arrives home, washes up, and puts on their VR device.

Meanwhile, the legendary 0th division wakes up, eats delivery food, and pats their bellies.

It’s the *Eternal World Olympics*.

The quarterfinals have begun.

“Wow. It’s been years since I started commentating on the *Elympics*, but this year feels especially heated.”

“Well, a lot of rookies have emerged. Naturally, expectations are high.”

“The match hasn’t even started, but already 200,000 viewers are in the stream. Mr. Pyeon Moo-ryang, what are your thoughts on the ‘Iron Saves the World’ team and the ‘Fluffy Commando’ team?”

“It’s going to be very entertaining. Both teams are known for living up to their reputations, right? Especially the ‘Iron Saves the World’ team—they really lived up to their name.”

“That iconic moment is ready to be shown. Let’s take a quick look.”

The screen changes, and a video plays.

A 6v6 teamfight scene. Han Yoorim breaks through the enemy formation, using Thierry’s darkness-element-derived ultimate skill, [Black Hole], to immobilize the enemies.

Chaenarin, launched into the air by Pape’s skill, lands and delivers a powerful punch.

She parries the panicked attack of the enemy’s main carry and follows up with a reinforced punch to the face.

The clean one-two punch had viewers going wild.

“It’s hard to believe this is Iron-tier play.”

“It’s a really unique case. While lacking in other areas, her combat mechanics are at a level that would even surprise Challenger-tier players.”

“Even Choco Full Bread, another Iron-tier guardian, has been praising her, right?”

“…Yes. People are amazed by her un-Iron-like optimization skills.”

Commentator Pyeon Moo-ryang, using his signature “no lies” style, analyzed the strength of the ‘Fluffy Commando’ team.

“If Han Yoorim is the key player for ‘Iron Saves the World,’ then Arena is the key player for ‘Fluffy Commando.’”

The screen shifts to show Arena’s gameplay.

Arena, using ‘Amano Yukiko,’ slices through enemies like butter.

Pyeon Moo-ryang adds,

“As expected of a Challenger-tier player, her mechanics are excellent. There’s a misconception that her champion pool is narrow because she’s an ‘Amano Yukiko’ specialist, but come on, she’s a Challenger. She’s not bad at other champions—she’s just exceptionally good at ‘Amano Yukiko.’”

“One side has a ‘Thierry’ specialist, the other an ‘Amano Yukiko’ specialist. How do you think the bans will go?”

“Both teams will likely ban the opponent’s main champions. No need to give them an advantage.”

“I see. Oh, the bans are starting!”

The first ban from ‘Fluffy Commando’ is ‘Thierry.’

The follow-up ban from ‘Iron Saves the World’ is…

“Huh?”

“They’re banning ‘Noah Weber.’ That makes sense since ‘Fluffy Commando’ also has a famous ‘Noah Weber’ player. They’re a team full of specialists.”

Next, ‘Fluffy Commando’ bans ‘Ormal.’ ‘Iron Saves the World’ responds by banning another early-game mobile guardian.

‘Fluffy Commando’ then bans ‘Kakeyama Ryo.’ ‘Iron Saves the World’ follows up by banning…

Another early-game mobile guardian.

“Wow.”

“They’re making a statement. ‘We’re not threatened by Amano Yukiko.’”

“Arena immediately locks in Amano Yukiko.”

“It’s a pride thing. There’s no reason not to pick your main champion here, and avoiding it could affect the rest of the match.”

“What will Han Yoorim pick? Oh?”

“‘Cheon-dun Jin-gun.’ An interesting pick.”

Cheon-dun Jin-gun is the protagonist of a popular Chinese martial arts novel, beloved by Chinese players.

Despite the love, he’s a high-difficulty pick that many shy away from.

“That’s Han Yoorim’s style. She masters characters others find difficult. I’m excited to see how she handles Cheon-dun Jin-gun.”

“Alright, the game is starting!”

*

Arena, entering the city, furrowed her brow.

Cheon-dun Jin-gun.

A very unique character.

His playstyle drastically changes depending on the martial art technique chosen.

Unlike Thierry, who can switch techniques freely, Cheon-dun Jin-gun must stick with one technique until the base is destroyed. With 10 techniques to choose from, he’s far from an easy character.

‘Which technique did she pick?’

The five basic techniques, based on the five elements—Fire, Water, Wood, Earth, and Metal—are available without conditions.

There are also five unique techniques, but they’re harder to unlock and not necessarily better than the basic ones.

Considering the ‘Iron Saves the World’ team’s style, the Fire technique, known for its burst damage, seemed the most likely choice.

But this is Han Yoorim.

Something told Arena that Han Yoorim might have gone for one of the unique techniques.

Among the five unique attributes—Thunder, Heaven, Moon, Void, and Star—which one would Han Yoorim choose?

Currently, Han Yoorim was juggling the roles of late-game carry and early-mid game support.

In a pro tournament, this would be an absurd role distribution, but this is the *Elympics*. Carrying low-tier players is the focus, so it’s not that strange.

Still, the burden on Han Yoorim was heavy. But it was her team, so she had to handle it.

Even though Chaenarin and Choco Full Bread showed un-Iron-like skills, their limits were clear.

Choco Full Bread was, at best, Bronze 4-tier. Frankly, even Iron-tier players aren’t that far off from Bronze.

And Chaenarin’s impact, while significant, was short-lived. Her overall contribution to the game wasn’t massive.

So, the pressure on Han Yoorim was immense. And in this situation, she sometimes had to carry the late game…

They picked characters that were strong early on but weak later, and sometimes characters that were weak early but had great late-game carry potential, and managed to push through.

At first glance, it seemed like they were choosing a variety of characters, but in the end, Han Yoorim’s criteria for picking a character was simple: a clear concept.

Whether it was a character that could dominate the game early or one that could snowball with kills despite being weak early, Han Yoorim only picked characters with a guaranteed return.

When it came to late-game carry potential, the Void attribute was undoubtedly the best.

The Void attribute revolved around summoning monsters from the void. Since there was no limit to the number of monsters you could summon, the potential was infinite.

Of course, there were downsides—like the randomness of which monster would appear, the fact that summoned monsters couldn’t be revived once killed, and the poor performance of monsters summoned at lower levels, making them hard to use until the end. But even considering these flaws, the late-game carry potential was undeniable.

It just took a lot of time to grow and gather the monsters.

Well, Han Yoorim could definitely handle a character with that concept, but honestly, the Void attribute felt like an ill-fitting outfit for her.

After all, the Void attribute relied on summoning beasts, meaning you had to entrust part of the gameplay to AI.

Even if you controlled everything manually, it wasn’t as precise as controlling a character directly, which would mean throwing away one of Han Yoorim’s strengths—her mechanical skill. There was no reason to do that.

After considering all these conditions, the path Han Yoorim should take became clear.

The Sky attribute. That’s it.

It was late-game oriented, but as a melee damage dealer, it was perfect for showcasing Han Yoorim’s mechanical skills.

Arena drew her Japanese sword and took down a Tier 5 objective.

That’s when it happened.

Ding—

A bell rang from the sky.

At the same time, Han Yoorim’s location was marked on the minimap as a black dot.

This was a rite of passage necessary to master the Sky attribute.

The [Sky’s Trial] had begun.

The intensity of the [Sky’s Trial] could be adjusted by the player.

For the first trial, the duration of visibility could be set freely, with a minimum of 1 second and usually around 5 seconds.

If the visibility time was too short, the return would be too low, which wasn’t ideal.

5 seconds passed. Han Yoorim’s mark was still on the map.

Did she set it to 10 seconds? Well, Han Yoorim had a heavy responsibility. It was better to stack the odds in her favor by setting it to 10 seconds rather than settling for 5.

10 seconds passed. Her mark was still there.

15 seconds. 20 seconds. 30 seconds.

…1 minute.

Ding—

The bell rang again. But this time, there was no change on the minimap.

Of course not.

Han Yoorim’s mark had never disappeared since it first appeared.

Was she really going to take on all the risk?

Seriously?

Even the first [Sky’s Trial] became significantly less efficient after 18 seconds, so it wasn’t a great choice in many ways.

Even though it would change to the second trial after 5 minutes, staying visible for the entire 5 minutes—or even the entire early game—was a huge disadvantage.

Well, she must be confident.

Arena called for the team’s Guardian.

No matter how weak Amano Yukiko was early on, there was a limit.

If she was going to expose herself like that, she deserved to be punished.

*

I chose the Sky attribute with Cheon-dun Jin-gun and took on the full risk of the [Sky’s Trial] for no particular reason.

It just felt like the way to win.

The main carry and city core of “Fluffball Strike Force” were current Challengers.

On top of that, their scout was a former pro Diamond player, their Guardian was a gold-tier player with inexplicably high value, and their outer solo was also a gold-tier player who could hold their own.

The support was just going to stay back and use support skills, so their tier didn’t matter.

Compared to that, our team?

Aside from the two Irons, the others weren’t in great shape either.

Mos: Former Grandmaster, but due to personal issues, he hasn’t been playing much and isn’t in top form.

Bunny Run: They said she’s different in team games, but she’s just… not great. She hasn’t been joining regularly, so expecting her to seamlessly integrate in a high-stakes tournament was unrealistic.

Pape: He’s… playing support.

And the two Irons were the cherry on top.

Choco Full Bread: Still falls over if they use three skills in a row.

Chaenarin: The duration of Yoorim Transformation has increased to 10 seconds, but if she doesn’t use it at the right time, it’s over. The risk is too high.

That’s the situation.

To win, we couldn’t rely on ordinary methods.

We had to take on that level of risk.

It’s fine if we lose, but winning would be nice.

And.

If I lose, Bbangbbang will become a laughingstock for saying he couldn’t win even with coaching…!

Thud.

I looked up from eating an objective at the sound of footsteps.

At the building entrance.

Arena and the enemy Guardian appeared.