Chapter 78

Amano Yukiko is weak in the early game.

It’s because of her passive.

Amano Yukiko’s passive is [Iaijutsu]. It’s a skill that adds an additional effect to the first attack when the sword is sheathed.

Hearing this, you might think, “An additional effect on the first hit? Simple and nice, right?” But no.

[Iaijutsu] is indeed a good skill, but it’s not without its flaws.

The downside of [Iaijutsu] is that you can’t use skills or basic attacks without going through [Iaijutsu].

What does that mean?

It means there’s a delay on all your skills.

Basic attack → Sheathe → Skill 1 → Sheathe → Skill 2 → Sheathe → Ultimate.

That’s how it feels.

Because of this, Amano Yukiko only gets stronger at level 6 when the delay of [Iaijutsu] is compensated, and her prime starts when items come in and attack speed is set.

But choosing to hunt enemies at just level 4 with such a character wasn’t a good choice in the first place.

Unless, of course, I didn’t first cast a global taunt that revealed my position for 5 minutes.

*Clang!*

A flying glass bottle shattered, creating a wall of ice behind me.

With my retreat blocked, I faced the enemy Guardian and Arena.

Amano Yukiko is weak early on. She’s almost top-tier, so even with a decent character, a 1v2 would be manageable.

But Cheon-dun Jin-gun, especially one who chose the Heaven attribute technique, was even weaker in the early game.

Facing them head-on had a low chance of a good outcome.

But running away doesn’t mean you win the game.

If I retreat now and give up the objective, the loss will accumulate.

If the team power was equal, my loss would be compensated by gains elsewhere, but our team is at a disadvantage.

So, to win, I had to gain an advantage myself.

That’s why I didn’t call Choco Full Bread to the city center.

Calling him wouldn’t have helped much, and even if the enemy Main Carry’s pressure was reduced, our team would still struggle.

In this situation, gaining an advantage myself had the highest chance of leading to victory.

Arena charged at me.

Behind her, an alchemist followed, pulling out a flask.

I slowly walked forward, raising my fist.

Cheon-dun Jin-gun’s character concept changes completely depending on the technique chosen.

In a way, it’s even more extreme than Thierry.

This character can be a ranged dealer, a melee dealer, a skill dealer, a basic attack dealer, using swords, spears, fists, or magical tools—it’s a complete mess.

It’s a good thing you can’t switch techniques mid-game. Otherwise, it would have been as notorious as Thierry in terms of difficulty.

In short, the Heaven attribute technique of Cheon-dun Jin-gun can be summarized as:

High risk, high return.

The concept is that the return matches the risk taken.

Arena’s sword tore through the air.

It was Amano Yukiko’s first basic skill, [High-Speed Iaijutsu], activating.

[High-Speed Iaijutsu] is a skill that draws the sword at high speed to strike enemies within basic attack range. When combined with [Iaijutsu], it grants an attack speed buff on hit.

For Amano Yukiko, whose everything revolves around attack speed, this was a skill that had to hit.

Arena’s sword left a long wound on my body. My health dropped significantly. Taking this much damage from a weak early-game Amano Yukiko’s skill made me realize just how weak Cheon-dun Jin-gun was.

I immediately countered with a punch. At the same time, *clang!* A flask shattered at my feet. Flames erupted, and my health dropped further.

It was a well-timed combo. To hit that slow skill, they had to catch me when my movement was restricted, and they used it just as I was targeting Arena.

It was unfair.

Why can’t our Choco Full Bread do that?

*Zap!* Sparks flew from Arena’s body. She had used her third basic skill, [Divine Steps].

Blue footprints remained where Arena had walked.

Arena’s sword flew in from the upper-left trajectory. I parried the sword, which left a blue trail, at the exact right moment and swung my fist. Then—

*Zap!*

Arena’s body turned into lightning and returned to her original position, as if the video was rewinding.

Stab and retreat if things look bad, then start over.

It felt like she had a regression ability all to herself.

If she’s like this now, imagine her in the mid-to-late game.

By then, skill levels are up, and cooldowns are shorter.

Why hasn’t she been nerfed yet?

Is she Novella’s daughter or something?

*Whoosh!* I stepped back, dodging. *Clang!* A flask shattered where I had been standing.

Sticky black ooze spilled out of the flask. If it had hit, I would have been slowed and debuffed in attack speed.

Using such an important skill at a time that wasn’t even a sure hit, just using it however she wanted?

This is why obedient Choco Full Bread is the best.

You guys take the loss for now.

The alchemist character, ‘Sird’s’ third basic skill, [Black Potion], has a cooldown of about 26 seconds.

I had to settle the score here.

I rushed at Arena.

Arena’s sword was drawn at super speed. Whoosh. My health was chipped away. Ignoring it, I punched Arena.

Whoosh. Flames engulfed me. I ignored it. Whoosh. The sword slashed me. I ignored it and swung my fist.

And then.

The moment [Super High-Speed Draw] hit again, my health reached a critical level.

I was in a situation where even one ranged basic attack would kill me.

I believed you’d understand how absurd this was, given how many times I’ve explained the basic attack system of <Eternal World>.

<Eternal World> is a complex game.

Close combat in <Eternal World> is like a fighting game. Frame battles and mind games were crucial.

But ranged combat?

It was like an FPS game.

So, in <Eternal World>, you might miss a basic attack due to aim, or confuse the enemy’s aim with movement, but intentionally dodging bullets was nearly impossible.

But there’s a huge difference between nearly impossible and impossible.

Like the difference between 0 and 1.

Cheon-dun Jin-gun’s first general skill, [Oath], activated.

The effect of [Oath] was…

―Stats skyrocketed in proportion to the reduced health.

I dodged the alchemist’s ranged basic attack by crouching. Even with a gold-level understanding of the game, it wasn’t outstanding aim. Easy to dodge.

Next came Arena’s [Super High-Speed Draw]. It was a calm combo, but shallow. It wasn’t enough to catch the faster me.

I threw a punch. Ting! Arena’s sword blocked my fist. It was Amano Yukiko’s second general skill, [Mirror Mind].

A skill that parries enemy attacks, stunning them on the next basic attack if successful. But…

I had no intention of taking Arena’s basic attack anyway.

I activated my second general skill, [Reversal].

It reduced all durability-related stats, including defense, to zero.

In exchange, it boosted all attack-related stats.

Ting! This time, I parried Arena’s attack and threw a punch. A clean light hook.

Crack. The sound of bones breaking. The system judged my attack as a critical hit.

Cheon-dun Jin-gun’s attack, carrying all the risks, produced such destructive power even in the early game.

Arena calmly slashed her sword to the lower left. Screech—. I stopped the flying sword with my foot and threw a left hook.

Whoosh—! A crisp sound echoed.

Arena’s expression grew urgent. Just one hit. Not more, not less. Just one hit would secure Arena’s team’s victory.

And it wasn’t even 1v1, but 2v1, right?

Common sense said Arena had no reason to lose.

Chipping away health, reducing durability, using one skill. No. Continuously performing this dangerous stunt where even one ranged basic attack could end it was, by common sense, unreasonable.

[Han Yoorim Double Kill]

But as I said.

There’s a huge difference between nearly impossible and impossible.

Winner of the first set.

‘Iron Saves the World’

*

Winning the first set in a best-of series was a big advantage.

Everyone knew which team had it easier: the one that had to revise their carefully thought-out plan, or the one that could just stick to it.

“Let’s keep the bans and picks as they are.”

As long as we banned mobile guardians like ‘Noah Weber’ and ‘Flawie,’ there was no reason for our team to be at a disadvantage.

Didn’t the game just blow up because the guardians couldn’t catch up to me after I got a kill?

No need to change the bans and picks, just keep it like this—.

[Arena Double Kill]

Hmm.

I nodded as I watched our base get destroyed.

“How about we ban ‘Amano Yukiko’?”

“I told you we should’ve done that earlier.”

“That’s hindsight.”

I didn’t expect Arena to go bully Choco Full Bread so shamelessly.

I definitely didn’t expect Choco Full Bread to fall after using two skills in a row.

After adjusting the bans and picks, we…

[3:1]

Advanced to the semifinals.