Ranker’s Return

The battle with Hyeonu and Tang-E finished extremely quickly. They showed an overwhelming appearance. It was exactly the same as what was shown in Hyeonu’s streams. Tang-E moved his small body and cast magic at the opponent. He didn’t cast magic from afar but at close range, so the power was bound to be strong. The priests and magicians who were struck by Tang-E’s magic lay helplessly on the ground.

In general, it was natural for melee classes to protect the magicians and priests before they were attacked. However, they couldn’t do so this time. Why? Hyeonu was tying them up. To be precise, he made them lay on the ground one step ahead of Tang-E.

How could the magicians and priests be protected by those who were already out? They could only watch their colleagues log out on the screen.

“The siege between Ellen Waze and Crescent Moon has ended with Crescent Moon’s victory. There will be a 10-minute break before we start the PvP between the two teams.”

The game ended like this. The siege was won by Crescent Moon. Hyeonu emerged from the cube and gathered the players to talk to them briefly: “Everyone has worked hard. In particular, Sunny Noona and Mason did a good job.” 

He didn’t say much; he just complimented them. Still, there was a ranking. Mason, who used magic at the right timing, and Sunny, who confused Ellen Waze with the undead, took up the majority of Hyeonu's words.

Hyeonu continued, “Now there is only PvP left. Yuri, Dwayne, and Lee Hoon will go out in the order I mentioned in the waiting room.”

Yuri’s expression remained the same when she heard Hyeonu’s words. She wasn’t very nervous because she had let it out in the waiting room. The problem was Dwayne. His face quickly stiffened as he started to get nervous.

Hyeonu noticed it and approached Dwayne. “Don’t be nervous. Dwayne, you are good enough. They are just professionals at most. Your practice opponent was me, Alley Leader. Trust me like you used to in the academy. Who am I?” Hyeonu said and pounded on his chest.

Dwayne had practiced a lot and fought more than Lee Hoon or Yuri. It was because this was what Dwayne wanted. He fought against Hyeonu and recorded videos to analyze the battles.

“I understand, Mister Gang. I can’t trust myself, but I believe in Alley Leader,” Dwayne stated. 

He felt his eyes clear up after hearing Hyeonu’s words. His dull heart felt light.

***

“Crescent Moon and Ellen Waze will play PvP with four players from each team,” the voice of commentator Jang Junhyung echoed through Arena Stadium.

The crowd reacted immediately. They stopped talking to each other and focused on what he said. It was only for a moment though. Words started to emerge everywhere like popping popcorn.

“Four people?”

“How is it four?”

“Lee Hoon, Dwayne, and Alley Leader. Isn’t it only three?”

“Is one game a freebie? If it's like this, they should play six games.”

The crowd felt doubtful. Four players—it was an ambiguous number. It would be understandable if it were six games like the opening match. Alley Leader just needed to show up like back then.

Yet it was four players.

The number didn’t fit. Regardless, it didn’t take long for their questions to be answered. The commentator answered it himself: “Crescent Moon’s first player is... Amazing. Yuri, the priest player, is the first player of PvP!”

Yuri… 

Crescent Moon’s first player was Yuri.

“Yuri?”

“A priest?”

“What is he saying now?”

Arena Stadium was quickly filled with questions. It didn’t make sense for Yuri to appear in PvP. Despite that, their doubts were ultimately dispelled. Now, they were just looking forward to it. The reason for that wasn’t just their vague expectations of Hyeonu. It was because Yuri had already shown a pretty good result in the arena as a priest.

Meanwhile, Ellen Waze found it more absurd than anyone else. All their players and coaches had wide open mouths and doubted their ears.

“A priest really came out?”

“Is this real?”

“Our first player...”

Ellen Waze’s first player was the team’s most trusted player.

“The first player of Ellen Waze is the best tanker in South Korea! The knight who leads Ellen Waze, Park Hanjong!”

Park Hanjong, the master of defensive combat, was Yuri’s opponent.

“It’s fine. You can win. If it doesn’t work, you can lose. You still have Dwayne, Lee Hoon, and me after you.” Hyeonu grabbed Yuri’s shoulder and reassured her before she moved to the cube.

Based on an objective evaluation, she was clearly inferior to Park Hanjong. Hyeonu honestly didn’t expect her to win. He just wanted her to have a good experience.

“I understand, Oppa. I’ll work hard. Still, I’m not confident about the results, you know?” Yuri said. 

“Yes. Just do your best,” Hyeonu responded with a slight smile.

***

-The first game between Yuri and Park Hanjong is starting.

‘I can’t be careless.’ Park Hanjong was desperate.

Ellen Waze was in the worst condition. The team had fallen into the pit of defeat, and sponsors had left one by one. Now, they took losing for granted. His team members acted like people who lost their desire for victory. One win was necessary to overcome this situation.

‘I saw it on Alley Leader’s stream. She definitely has a talent for combat. It's just that… she plays as a priest and lacks some sense and skills.’ Park Hanjong’s evaluation of Yuri was generous. Since hearing that Alley Leader was making his professional debut, Park Hanjong had watched the videos on Alley Leader’s channel. In other words, Yuri wasn’t completely unknown to him.

“Please take care of me,” Park Hanjong greeted Yuri with his shoulders narrowed. It was his own ritual—the ritual of changing from the usually gentle Park Hanjong to the cold-hearted fighter.

“Yes, please take care of me,” Yuri naturally greeted Park Hanjong in return. It was already well known that he gave a unique greeting before PvP started. Yuri let out a short and strong breath before pulling out the greatsword she was carrying on her back.

‘Don’t be scared. In any case, my strength stat is higher,’ Yuri told herself inwardly. 

Yuri had trained with Hyeonu to find a stats distribution that suited her. It was a strength-oriented stats distribution. Her strength stat was so high that she could even use a greatsword. It was enough to match the word ‘extreme’. If Hyeonu was extreme by not distributing points to his physique stat, Yuri was extreme for distributing very few points to her magic power stat.

Hyeonu recommended it. Yuri was talented, but so were pro gamers. Naturally, the speed at which she used magic power would be overwhelmed by existing gamers. They had familiarity countering magic power from their countless past experiences.

Yuri didn’t have the talent to beat this. Therefore, she only distributed enough points to magic power to make it one or two levels stronger. It was right after the first clash that Park Hanjong felt the effect of Yuri’s extreme stats distribution. Park Hanjong blocked Yuri’s greatsword with his shield and was bounced back. On the surface, it was an ordinary exchange of attack and defense.

‘How did she distribute her stat points?’ Park Hanjong wondered. 

There were no slow movements at all. Yuri’s blows were heavy, and her weapon was a greatsword.

‘Did she not put any in magic power?’

This style was once fashionable in the past. Of course, it might be called the past, but it was only last year. In last year’s Arena Week, there were many players who didn’t put points in magic power. They didn’t feel the need to do so. However, as more classes required using sword energy in Arena, players became more familiar with magic power. Since then, there was no one who distributed stats like Yuri had done as it was an out-of-date style. Yet it appeared on a player in Alley Leader’s team.

A blue light covered Park Hanjong’s shield, and he threw the blue light directly at Yuri. It turned into a shield that shot at her. Meanwhile, Yuri rotated in place with her greatsword, and red magic power instantly covered it. Yuri safely fended off Park Hanjong’s attack, but there was no time for her to sigh with relief.

Park Hanjong held a sword and shield and stood in front of her. Swinging the sword with his right hand, he used it to move the shortest distance between him and Yuri. Then Yuri used the wide blade of the greatsword to block Park Hanjong’s strike.

Yuri had no points distributed to magic power, so her physical ability itself was better than Park Hanjong's. She naturally had an advantage in a fight without magic power. Yuri blocked Park Hanjong’s attack and stretched out the greatsword. It was the prelude to a counterattack. Accompanied by a heavy wind, the greatsword moved like it would sweep away Park Hanjong’s chest.

Park Hanjong raised his sword at an angle to deflect Yuri’s greatsword. No, he tried to do so and would have succeeded… if only Yuri’s greatsword hadn’t changed its trajectory. The greatsword struck Park Hanjong's armor instead of his shield. Moreover, it was a very strong hit. Just then, Yuri snapped her wrist to transfer the force, and Park Hanjong’s body bounced back momentarily.

Yuri went chasing in the direction that Park Hanjong flew. His trajectory cut from top to bottom like an axe cutting firewood. Just then, Park Hanjong’s feet touched the ground. As they rubbed against it, sparks flew about. Park Hanjong balanced himself and held out his shield, which was shining blue.

Yuri couldn’t overcome the aftermath of the crash and stepped back. Not missing this gap, Park Hanjong rushed to Yuri with his shield and sword raised. It wasn’t just his shield; his sword was also emitting a blue light. Once again, the greatsword and shield collided.

Yuri was pushed back. It was impossible to block the magic shield with force alone. Park Hanjong struck at Yuri without stopping. He didn’t give her time to catch her breath. In the meantime, Yuri was also looking for an opportunity—just one opportunity. She was calmly aiming for a reversal.

A red light instantly rose from Yuri’s greatsword. Yuri injected all the magic power she had into her greatsword, but she couldn’t swing it.

After all, Park Hanjong was an experienced veteran. He'd already noticed Yuri’s obvious intention. Park Hanjong’s blue pure energy struck Yuri’s chest. This was the end of the first game.

-The winner of the first game is Park Hanjong of Ellen Waze. After a while, we will start the second game.

Yuri disappeared from the stadium along with the commentator’s voice.

***

“Good job, you showed more than you prepared,” Hyeonu greeted Yuri, who had just returned from the game.

He thoroughly told Yuri that it was okay to lose. She had done well enough.

“Still, it is a bit unfortunate. If only I were a warrior, not a priest… If only I had more time to prepare, I could’ve won today.” Yuri wasn’t frustrated, but she looked disappointed. She was also burning with a small desire to win.

“You can do better in the next game. You just have to prepare hard for a week.” Hyeonu patted Yuri’s shoulder several times.

Then he turned to look at Dwayne and said, “Dwayne, it is your turn. You just have to do your best like Yuri. Don’t worry about the results.”

Dwayne looked up silently with a serious expression.