Rebecca had planned from the get-go to treat Choi Yeonseung well, but wasn’t he favoring her now? If other hunters had seen it, they would’ve reprimanded and asked her, “What exactly are you doing?”
“Wait. You shouldn’t telegraph your punches like that. You have to read the opponent’s movements and punch according to that.”
“Why are you using footwork so much? This skill consumes internal energy. It might use less internal energy than magic, but that doesn’t mean you should use it for no reason. You should only use it when necessary. Watch your opponent’s movements carefully. If you manage to read their movements, you can defeat them with minimal effort.”
“Don’t just keep your opponent in check. It’s a waste of internal energy. Use tricks. You can fool your opponent by just pretending.”
“...”
Choi Yeonseung delivered a full-on lecture on martial arts. As a master of martial arts, he could immediately point out what Rebecca needed to work on.
With every correction, Rebecca realized how inefficiently she had been using her martial arts. It was a great opportunity… Could she really do this?
“I-I came here to help rather than killing the monsters in other places. I should go.”
“Really? You still look so weak.”
“...”Rebecca felt humiliated, but she couldn’t respond. She thought she had increased her strength by quickly killing the monsters around her, but it still felt insufficient compared to Choi Yeonseung.
Choi Yeonseung had killed monsters while also fighting his opponent!
‘It’s still early in the match... How did he manage to grow so much?’
“Uh… It’s actually normal for this stage of the match.”
“Ah. Is that so?”
Since Choi Yeonseung didn’t know much about the game, he nodded at Rebecca’s words.
Come to think of it, there were still a lot of things he didn’t know about the SSL. Sure, he had participated in the constellation battle in the United Kingdom, but all he had really done was following Adaquaniel’s instructions…
As for the Demon clan, they had been such a mess that Choi Yeonseung hadn’t known how to save them from defeat.
‘Now I’m actually worried whether this match is going well.’
As he remembered his experience with the Demon clan, Choi Yeonseung asked Rebecca, “Are the others doing well right now?”
“...”
Rebecca’s heart sank at this question
‘W...What does he mean? What should I do?’
Before the match had started, she had firmly made up her mind not to upset Choi Yeonseung. She just hadn’t expected this situation…
Choi Yeonseung was playing by himself in the top lane while everyone else was falling behind. She had thought that they would have to help Choi Yeonseung, not the other way around...
If Choi Yeonseung found out what the situation was, wouldn’t he become furious and try to kill them instead of the monsters?
Choi Yeonseung gave her a quizzical look and asked, “...What are you hiding? Speak now.”
“!”
Choi Yeonseung had been in the Abyss for too long not to notice that Rebecca was hiding something. His voice was stern, which caused Rebecca to shudder. She hesitantly said, “Well… They’re… It’s possible that they’re struggling just a bit...?”
“Things like that can happen. Why were you scared of telling me that?”
‘Is he reacting like this because he doesn’t know the details...?’
Rebecca would’ve been extremely furious if she had been doing well in the top lane by herself, only for the other lanes to drag her down. Other hunters would’ve felt the same way.
Choi Yeonseung thought about it while dealing with a monster, then he suggested, “Are there other areas where the situation is bad?”
“Well, you could call it bad, but it’s not that bad. It really isn’t… Uhm… It’s just inherently complicated and there are many factors. I don’t know when we can turn things around...”
“Just get to the point.”
“I’m sorry. I think we’re getting pushed back.”
“Shouldn’t I go and help them?”
Choi Yeonseung remembered how poor the combat skills of the Demon clan were. He had fought alone in that match, and by the time he realized what the situation was, the match had already ended because their main camp had been destroyed.
This was a constellation battle where several people fought together. He had to offer some kind of support.
Rebecca wondered, “You’re going to move to help...?”
“Yeah. Why?”
“Uh...”
For a moment, Rebecca wondered if this was some sort of trick. Normally, hunters didn’t like moving more than it was necessary, especially if they were doing well in their own lane. The moment they moved from their lane to help one of their teammates, the enemy they had been fighting in the lane would gain an advantage over them...
Rebecca asked again to confirm it. “Really?”
“Can you not hear me?”
“N-No. It’s not like that!”
There was no reason to stop Choi Yeonseung if he wanted to step up and help, especially since everyone was currently screaming for help...
***
“H-Hunter Choi Yeonseung?!”
Bruce was fighting in the middle lane, and he was surprised to see Choi Yeonseung suddenly show up.
Choi Yeonseung saw the situation and questioned Bruce, “You don’t seem to be doing great. Why didn’t you tell me?”
The other hunters had been careful not to let Choi Yeonseung hear their whining through the communication magic. If they whined for nothing and offended Choi Yeonseung, they were bound to be in trouble. Even if they asked for help, they had to ask anyone but Choi Yeonseung.
Now that Choi Yeonseung had come to his lane, Bruce was horrified.
“Well, it’s because the opponent is playing dirty and uses unfair skills...”
Kuoooooh!
In the distance, the cold spirit let out a fierce sound. Bruce couldn’t tell, but Choi Yeonseung could see that the cold spirit was angry.
‘It’s saying that it’s not playing dirty and that its skills aren’t unfair.’
It was ridiculous from the standpoint of the cold spirit. They fought each other fairly and it managed to push the opponent back. Why did the enemy make such malicious accusations...?
Choi Yeonseung said, “I don’t think that’s the case…?”
“No! This guy really is cheap and dirty!”
“I probably shouldn’t say this, but the opponent can hear you. If it gets angry, things might be troublesome after the game.”
“...”
Hearing this, Bruce couldn’t help looking at the cold spirit. For some reason, it seemed to release its energy more aggressively than before.
“In any case, let’s fight together.”
“T-Thank you.”
Bruce looked at Choi Yeonseung and realized that he exuded a stronger energy than before. It was proof that he had grown a lot by killing monsters.
Had Choi Yeonseung really defeated his opponent in the top lane by himself?
‘No… How could that be possible? Did he manage to do it because he’s an A-grade hunter?’
Bruce couldn’t wrap his head around it.
The household members brought by the constellation were specialized in this kind of dungeon. They were overpowered opponents equipped with passive skills that revolved around the cold air. In other words, they passively became stronger just by breathing.
On the other hand, even though Choi Yeonseung was an A-grade hunter, he was still a beginner in this game.
Other A-grade hunters who participated in the SSL would say things like, ‘Hah, what kind of joke is this game?’ and then get frustrated by how the match progressed. The rating wasn’t important in this game.
Kuooook!
“An ice troll!”
Just as Choi Yeonseung came to support his teammate, the opponent also received backup.
There were traces of blood around the troll’s mouth, suggesting that it had randomly eaten monsters while wandering around the dungeon.
Bruce gulped nervously.
“You use a spear, right?”
“Yes!”
Bruce had the fighting style of a damage dealer. More specifically, he empowered himself and his spear with magic, and repeatedly attacked from mid-range. He had even learnt martial arts in order to fight more flexibly. However, it wasn’t going well against the cold spirit.
-Rising Flames, Chain Illusion!
[The power of the cold spirit has sealed off the rising flames!]
[The chain illusion has disappeared because of the sharp frost wind!]
There was nothing that Bruce could do if the enemy blocked all of his magic.
“I see. Then I’ll grab them and immobilize them. You’ll just have to deal damage after that.”
“Yes!...Yes??”
Choi Yeonseung moved before Bruce could even protest about this crazy strategy.
He moved so fast and wildly that Bruce lost sight of him for a moment.
Kuaaack?
The ice troll seemed startled by Choi Yeonseung’s sudden appearance behind him. It quickly swung a pillar of ice, trying to knock Choi Yeonseung down. It was easy to be fooled by a troll’s size and assume it was slow. However, trolls were actually surprisingly fast.
The huge troll was quite muscular and its body radiated an insane amount of magic power. On top of that, the cold air from this area made the troll several times stronger.
Bruce couldn’t help closing his eyes.
‘We’re done for...!’
Choi Yeonseung had underestimated the opponent and recklessly rushed in.
A high-ranking hunter had made a mistake just like that. In the SSL, there had been a surprising number of cases of hunters getting defeated because they rushed at their enemies without realizing how weak they were.
Kuaaack!
However, the scream came from the troll, not from Choi Yeonseung. The troll screamed and took a step back. The ice pillar it wielded was stuck in the cold spirit. The cold spirit made a noise expressing its annoyance and reprimanded the troll.
The situation was clear. The troll panicked and tried to say it wasn’t intentional, but Choi Yeonseung had just begun his attack.
Choi Yeonseung had changed the trajectory of the troll’s flying attack and redirected it to the cold spirit. He then immediately delivered a sharp blow to one of the troll’s legs. The ice troll had terrifyingly great regeneration powers, but Choi Yeonseung’s internal energy attack bypassed those regeneration powers and inflicted damage on the troll.
The troll cried again in pain and fell to its knees. The more powerful a household member was, the more vulnerable they were to this kind of pain they had never felt before.
[The cold spirit is compressing magic power in an explosive manner!]
The cold spirit pulled out the ice pillar and moved to help the troll. Realizing that Choi Yeonseung was a threat, it tried casting powerful magic. Choi Yeonseung fired energy without looking back. The palm energy scorched the surroundings as it shot towards the cold spirit. Upon being hit by the palm energy, the cold spirit staggered and was unable to concentrate on casting magic.
“What? Why aren’t you moving?”
“...Ah. Yes! I’m going now!”
Bruce came to his senses and raised his spear. He had been previously distracted by Choi Yeonseung’s impressive feat of overpowering two enemies by himself.
‘What am I doing?’
Bruce reproached himself while casting magic and using martial arts. The two opponents were distracted by Choi Yeonseung, so they had no way of blocking Bruce’s attacks. The magic-infused spear released an explosion, inflicting damage on the cold spirit.
The cold spirit was visibly infuriated by the attack.
Kuaaack...
This weak hunter...
“!!”
The troll seemed to realize that it had to deal with the weak one first.
Bruce freaked out when the eyes of the cold spirit fell on him.
“Run back!”
Choi Yeonseung immediately grabbed Bruce by the arm and threw him back. The attacks of the two enemies violently landed right where Bruce had just been a second ago.
Kuoock!
The cold spirit and the troll glared fiercely at Choi Yeonseung after he helped Bruce evade their attacks.
***
Once he gained the upper hand, Choi Yeonseung never let go. This time as well, he fought until the end, knocking down his two opponents and ending up as the clear winner.
“Thank you!” Bruce exclaimed in a heartfelt voice. He was deeply impressed by the fight that had just transpired before his own eyes.
“Is this enough?”
“Yes! I’ve grown a lot thanks to you...”
-If you have time, come to the bottom lane!
-The bottom lane isn’t the problem! Those bastards are coming this way! I think they’re going to group up!
“...I’m sorry, but could you come with me?”
“Why are you speaking so politely all of a sudden? It’s not that difficult for me to help, so you don’t need to speak like that.”
“I understand. At any rate, I think right now there’s a fight in the bottom lane...”
“If I stop it once, you all can take care of the rest, right?”
“...Perhaps... I think so?”
“...”
Choi Yeonseung was suddenly getting nervous. Did he have to keep doing this?
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