Chapter 80

Pyeon Moo-ryang drank water. He had shouted so much that his throat was slightly gone.

Park Jun, the caster, spoke in a very excited tone.

“Wow. What an incredible match!”

“Where else can you see a match like this? Only at the <Ilympic>.”

In the first set, it seemed like it would follow the expected flow with a standard vs. standard clash, but in the second set, ‘Mirinae No Injeong’ completely changed their ban-pick strategy.

They brought out a bunch of characters decked out with invincibility skills.

“Just like the JRPG cliché where a useless sword becomes deadly against the final boss, the seemingly bad combo turned out to be extremely effective against ‘Asegu’ team, which was quite impressive.”

Pyeon Moo-ryang also didn’t know exactly why that combo was effective against ‘Asegu’ team.

But as the match went on, he could somewhat guess the reason.

“Looks like Chaenarin’s amazing physical abilities have a time limit, huh?”

“Wow. That’s fascinating. Is that even possible?”

“After all, in esports, momentary concentration is crucial. It’s quite a unique sport. It’s different from other mind sports like Go or chess. Things like this can definitely happen.”

Anyway, for that reason, ‘Asegu’ team, who had been pushed to a 1:2 set score, managed to catch up to 2:2 thanks to an unexpected crack in the opponent’s defense.

“Wow, Iron is really saving the day. No one expected Choco Full Bread to take out the enemy’s Main Carry there.”

Choco Full Bread, who usually played with a ping of 500+, suddenly moved with normal ping, surprising not only the enemy but also his teammate Mos. This allowed Han Yoorim’s ‘Ormal’ to persistently take down the enemy’s Main Carry, leading to the game exploding in their favor.

The current score is 2:2.

Whoever wins, the next match will decide it.

“How do you see the next ban-pick?”

“Well, logically, they might pick ‘Ormal’ again since it worked well, but tournaments don’t always go that way.”

“Here we go. The ban-pick has started. Oh.”

“It’s Thierry.”

I knew it.

In the end, when it comes down to the wire, you always go back to your most reliable partner.

‘Asegu’ team picked the signature combo of ‘Thierry’, ‘Ishikawa Yuzuru’, and ‘Marvin Flail’.

On the other hand, the opposing team went for something completely different.

“These are picks we see a lot in tournaments.”

“After all, there’s more than one way to extend teamfight duration.”

They set up a solid tank line in the front, with a Main Carry and City Core duo in the back.

On top of that, they added a utility Support for stability.

It was a textbook combo, but that’s exactly what made it so hard to counter.

“Looks like they’ve done the math. ‘You don’t need an extreme combo to handle this.’ That’s the beauty of a best-of series. Watching how initial thoughts evolve is part of the fun.”

‘Mirinae No Injeong’ went for an all-in teamfight combo with Scout, Guardian, and Outer Solo, all tanks.

The weakness of this combo was clear.

The Scout and Outer Solo couldn’t fulfill their essential roles.

The Scout is the ultimate anti-carry.

Suppressing the enemy’s position, especially the Main Carry, was crucial, but it’s hard to do that with a tank character.

Sure, they could hold their ground, but against a Main Carry? No one could come out on top in that situation.

That’s why in pro play, Scouts aren’t given tank roles, but this is the <Ilympic>.

‘Mirinae No Injeong’ boldly assigned the tank role to the Scout.

They knew that even if the enemy Main Carry got strong, they’d die in 6 seconds anyway, so it was a viable choice.

“The ban-pick is over. What do you think?”

“Both teams have solid picks. Based on the combo and team characteristics, ‘Asegu’ team has the advantage early on, but if it drags out, ‘Mirinae No Injeong’ will have the upper hand.”

In simpler terms, if the game ends early, ‘Asegu’ team wins. If it goes late, ‘Mirinae No Injeong’ wins.

So while both teams seem to have a case, Pyeon Moo-ryang thought ‘Mirinae No Injeong’ had a significant advantage.

After all, in tournaments, the fifth set usually goes late.

*

Pape controlled his beast and took a deep breath.

The current kill score was 1:1.

If this were the early game, you could say it was a fierce exchange of punches, but the current game time was 19 minutes.

The only explanation for this kill score was that both teams were half-asleep while playing.

Not that Pape was actually sleepy—it was all due to the enemy team’s strategy.

“Come back!”

“Grrr.”

Pape gritted his teeth as he watched the enemy Scout escape.

By 19 minutes, the Scout shouldn’t even be able to look the Main Carry in the eye.

But the enemy Scout shamelessly stole objectives and casually walked away.

If he were the Main Carry, he would’ve torn the Scout to pieces the moment they stepped into his zone, but unfortunately, he was playing Support, and the Main Carry was some beast.

He wanted to punish them but couldn’t.

Chaenarin, who picked ‘Kwon Soo-ah’, had a 6-second focus limit.

Within that time, taking down a tank was nearly impossible unless the Main Carry was exceptionally fed.

So the enemy tank Scout was casually stealing objectives right in front of him and Chaenarin, which wasn’t normal.

Normally, even if the Main Carry couldn’t kill the tank quickly, the tank would be beaten to a pulp and eventually die.

At this stage of the game, tanks couldn’t kill carries.

If only Chaenarin could focus for 10 seconds—no, 9 seconds—they could take down the enemy tank.

It was really frustrating.

—

“Pape, this guy acts like a pro but can’t even kill a Scout lol”

“This is the difference between pros and amateurs. What’s the point of being Challenger rank 1? You get destroyed by a Master-tier ex-pro.”

“Sign here. Pape isn’t an amateur prodigy, he’s just an amateur…. Sign here. Pape isn’t an amateur prodigy, he’s just an amateur…. Sign here. Pape isn’t an amateur prodigy, he’s just an amateur….”

—

Even though the chat was turned off for the tournament, he could still see the messages clearly.

Pape sighed and checked his team’s status.

Maybe because he was MVP last game, Choco Full Bread’s ping was back to 500+, and Mos seemed sluggish, probably nervous because it was the final set.

Similarly, Bunny Run wasn’t joining fights, probably also nervous, and then there was just the beast.

And himself, playing Support.

The only one doing well was Han Yoorim, who was dominating objectives and over-leveled, but looking at the team’s overall situation, he didn’t think they could win with just that.

In teamfights, they only had 6 seconds to attack…

How to win with a main carry who keeps exploding.

The answer to that, Pape still hasn’t found.

It’s now 19 minutes and 30 seconds.

Soon, the tier 2 objective, [Floating Skyscraper], will spawn.

[Floating Skyscraper] is an incredibly powerful objective. It had to be taken carefully.

You shouldn’t touch it unless you’ve done vision control and won a team fight…

“Everyone, gather at [Floating Skyscraper].”

“What?”

Han Yoorim suddenly gave that order.

Scenes of taking the tier 2 objective precisely at 20 minutes often appeared, but there was always a good reason for it.

Touching the tier 2 objective in a state of imbalanced power like now would mean getting wiped out.

Especially if no vision control had been done.

So, it was an order that made no sense, but Pape obediently followed.

No matter how strange the main order is, you must follow it.

That was the basics of team play.

“Wait a moment.”

Han Yoorim stopped the team near the Floating Skyscraper.

It was to avoid being caught by the enemy CCTV as long as possible.

As soon as he heard the order, Pape realized what Han Yoorim was aiming for.

A surprise objective burst.

But would this work?

After all, entering [Floating Skyscraper] would alert the enemy CCTV, right?

“Let’s go.”

At Han Yoorim’s order, Pape rushed to [Floating Skyscraper] and used a support-exclusive item.

Sure enough, the CCTV around was active.

“CCTV is on.”

At Pape’s words, Han Yoorim nodded slightly. Immediately after.

[The owner of the Floating Skyscraper has appeared.]

The tier 2 objective has entered the game.

“Burst it!”

Starting with Han Yoorim, the entire team poured their skills onto the objective.

And not long after, the enemy was spotted on the CCTV placed nearby.

“They’re here!”

“Ignore them and burst it!”

The team fight situation was too unfavorable. Health was too low, and the formation was broken.

Even if they took the objective, losing the team fight would be a loss. Han Yoorim knew that.

The fact that she made this choice despite knowing meant that she saw a path to victory at the end.

It had to be.

—Whoosh.

The sound of the enemy Guardian using their ultimate skill was heard. Han Yoorim shouted.

“Chaenarin! Go die for us!”

An absurd order to have the main carry die instead, but Chaenarin moved like a machine, following the coding.

The enemy Guardian’s battle car, meant to hit all of us, only hit Chaenarin.

It’s unclear if “futile” is the right word.

After all, Chaenarin also died futilely.

“Everyone, die! Everyone!”

The situation was urgent, so the orders were short, but the message got through.

It was an order to throw themselves to block the enemy one by one.

Pape checked the remaining health of the tier 2 objective and charged at the enemy.

Bunny Run, Mos, Choco Full Bread, and Pape charged at the enemy.

One by one, allies fell, blocking the enemy’s advance.

It would have been better to team fight together, but Pape pushed away doubts, gritted his teeth, and delayed the enemy as much as possible.

At the same time.

[The owner of the Floating Skyscraper has been defeated.] appeared in the air.

The owner of [Floating Skyscraper] dropped an item. [Transcendent Origin]. The last hitter, Han Yoorim, acquired it.

[Transcendent Origin] could create an exclusive item when used.

Thierry’s exclusive item was [Origin Element].

Its effect was to add a desired [Virtual Element] to the skill list.

But.

So.

In a 6:2 situation with just you and me left, what virtual element would you use to turn the tide?

How?

Han Yoorim selected a virtual element.

Instantly, a purple aura swirled around Han Yoorim’s body, then disappeared.

No way.

Was she going to do that?

Really?

Han Yoorim placed her hand on the ground.

Then.

A purple energy spread out in all directions—.

—And the allies’ corpses were revived.

What just happened was the ultimate skill of the virtual element, [Void].

The mechanism of [Void] was simple. It was a concept that had appeared many times before.

It was a skill that revived allies for a certain period and controlled them to fight.

Simply put, it was the same mechanism as using Thierry’s water element ultimate, [Doppelganger], multiple times, but there was a problem.

Controlling one clone with [Doppelganger] was already infamous for its impossible difficulty, but controlling multiple?

It was a difficulty level that made you say, ‘These guys didn’t even bother to test the skill because it’s too annoying.’

But.

Pape trusted the team leader and quietly loaded the skill.

As if repaying the trust, Bunny Run and Choco Full Bread took the front line.

Pape supported them, with Han Yoorim and Chaenarin by their side.

Mos, moving alone to find the enemy’s gaps, was a bonus.

Pape let out a hollow laugh. Even during the tournament, it was hard to hold back.

The ideal of ‘Iron Saves the World’. The ultimate form that appears when everyone reaches their peak.

Now. By Han Yoorim’s hands.

It was realized by her power alone.

Choco Full Bread raised her hand. The initiating skill activated at the perfect timing.

At the same time.

Han Yoorim and Chaenarin charged at the enemy.

*

“Controlling five characters at once is tough. If Pape had died, we would have lost.”

“Monster.”

“Focusing on controlling the main carry, city core, and outer solo, while using the rest as meat shields and just spamming skills, we won the team fight. As expected of <Eternal World>. The support and carry positions were well distinguished. Well-made game.”

“Monster.”

<Eternal Olympics>. Finals.

Final set score, 3:2.

Winner.

‘Iron Saves the World’.