ALL NOVEL Chapter 122
Sigma allowed a single strike from the Dune Sentinels and faced defeat. But at that time, it was just the group stage.
A single loss didn’t mean it was the last match in Prelude.
As long as they survived, it wasn’t mandatory to be the top of the group in the group stage.
Sigma managed to overpower the remaining two teams in Group D and survived as the final 2nd place.
They secured advancement to the Round of 16 in Prelude.
Well, they did fail to defeat Hashashin in the second round of the group stage, though.
It’s true that Sigma’s skill and ability to handle assassins had improved.
But it was proven that they weren’t quite able to take down top-tier players yet.
It was a somewhat bitter result, but it was unavoidable.
For now, it was a stage where they had to be satisfied with the meaningful resistance they put up.
‘By the way, they used the sword pretty interestingly.’
All the weapons I had used so far were of the straight blade type.
It would be difficult to directly imitate Hashashin’s techniques.
Still, some movements seemed like they could be useful with a bit of modification.
After all, martial arts often have a certain commonality.
Just watching and experiencing can help a lot.
Just having thoughts trigger a breakthrough is a great gain.
Anyway, Korea has often been annihilated without even passing the group stage in international wars.
The fact that Sigma advanced to the Round of 16 meant they had escaped the worst.
Despite the fierce storm, they were still moving forward.
Whether it was out of loyalty or fandom, I had watched all the matches I needed to see.
Now it was my turn to do my job.
And of course, my job was to play the game.
Alright.
I logged into the game and started the broadcast.
[Title: Here I go again, to Rank 1]
[‘Gawol’ is currently broadcasting.]
[ON AIR | 00:00:02 | Jepirion Continent]
*
Infinity Black is a game that attracts significant attention worldwide.
In a game with many players, being a ‘skilled player’ is alluring in itself.
In this age, public interest generates revenue and creates markets.
Naturally, it became the gateway for the top tier of Rank Games. ‘Infinity’ is the path to becoming a pro trainee or a skilled streamer.
Most users who have reached Infinity have either been hanging around pro trainees or have experience streaming.
So at this point, there’s no need to be surprised to encounter a streamer among opponents.
[Rank Match – Infinity 1938 RP]
[Battlefield: Fairy Tree Great Forest]
[Rules: Duel]
[vs Hon-idamgin Geojit (Card Sorcerer)]
In other words, the reason to be bewildered by the opponent isn’t simply because they’re a ‘streamer.’
I frowned upon checking the opponent’s class.
“Card Sorcerer? Can you even run rank games with that at this tier?”
– Of course you can, what are you talking about, Tenryeon?
– Are you saying that all card players are just gambling addicts whose lives are wrecked?
– I didn’t say that far.
– In this game, picking a card player ends in disaster every time.
– No way! Card Sorcerers are great! You’re just unlucky!
– Unlucky my foot! Outside of Hon-idamgin, no one has survived with cards.
– What are you on about? Prove it with a duel if you’re so sure!
– You’re gonna get wrecked, dude.
“I didn’t mean it in a bad way. I was just surprised that you climbed to this tier as a Card Sorcerer. Wasn’t Hon-idamgin a top-level Abyss player?”
– Just recently climbed.
– A person can get to top-level once, you know.
– Gawol doesn’t understand the feelings of people.
– Card Sorcerers got a slight buff too, right?
The classes in Inbl are incredibly diverse.
Base classes like Assassin, Mage, Archer, and Warrior serve as foundations for all classes.
Then there are derivative classes that specialize in or mix the skills of those base classes.
When including nearly unused niche classes, the number is quite significant.
And the Card Sorcerer was one of the weirdest classes among those niches.
Excluding the current Hon-idamgin, there were hardly any so-called ‘master’ users left.
To put it bluntly, they were notorious for being a trash class.
There was a rumor about an old online game where using an evasion skill actually reduced one’s own health instead.
The Card Sorcerer, despite being a magic user, was forced into close combat and didn’t have any protective gimmicks like shields or damage reduction.
Yet they’re classified as ‘ranged’ jobs in the derivative class of the Mage. Their survival skills and stats were abysmal as well.
Of course, there were advantages too.
Basically, as a derivative class of the Mage, they can deal considerable damage against single targets,
And they could fill in their lacking elements with the luck-based ‘cards.’
[You will be deployed to the battlefield in 3 seconds.]
“Well, it will be interesting.”
I sincerely hope so.
May the goddess of luck be with my opponent.
I haven’t had stimulating guests come visit my broadcast recently.
*
The Fairy Tree Great Forest is generally a favorable battlefield for Mages over Assassins.
The fact that mana keeps replenishing means you can use skills without restraint.
And the Card Sorcerer, Hon-idamgin, made excellent use of that.
A tarot card floated in the air and then vanished in a blaze of golden fire.
After it disappeared, a grotesque eye appeared.
It surveyed the area for a moment.
[Active: Eye of Fate]
[Deals damage to the target area and illuminates the surroundings for 1.5 seconds. Hitting an enemy has a 50% chance to draw a card.]
The intent was to check places that are not easily visible.
It’s basic to prepare for an Assassin’s ambush.
Naturally, the Card Sorcerer was also raising their vigilance to the maximum.
If they were going to fail, they wouldn’t have picked an Assassin in the first place.
If the skill is sufficient, making opponents fall for your schemes is the Assassin’s prerogative.
A lucky Card Sorcerer undoubtedly has a high peak, but Assassins aren’t a class that falls short either.
Plus, I don’t rely on luck.
[Passive: Calm]
[Reduces noise by 65% for all actions.]
The place where a person’s caution is weakest is ‘a place they have already checked once.’
The Eye of Fate is a skill great for securing visibility, but it also exposes one’s own sight.
Using this skill repeatedly essentially means you’re showing me your vision completely.
Mages need to be wary of an Assassin’s ambush.
The opponent was overly fixated on this major premise and missed the bigger picture.
There was no need to use stealth.
I threw a tiny dagger to the spot that the Eye of Fate had scanned.
Waiting for the opponent’s ‘line of sight’ to turn elsewhere as I moved through the shadows.
There’s no need to completely cross over to the opposite side.
The recently checked side will feel safer than an uncharted back.
I adjusted my mic settings to prevent any sound from being picked up and whispered softly.
“Did you know? A person’s field of vision is generally about 180 degrees horizontally and about 120 degrees vertically. Knowing this much makes it easier to judge when you’re holding the initiative.”
A brief rustle in the chatroom.
Unfortunately, I didn’t have the luxury to read each one.
I had to move the moment the timing arrived.
Approaching the Card Sorcerer’s position with maximum speed.
I succeeded in stabbing their neck as I fell, but the conclusion was somewhat regretful.
As the dagger was about to cut deep, the Card Sorcerer used their survival skill and shifted far back.
[Used the ‘Ghost’ card.]
[You take no damage for 0.6 seconds and reposition yourself.]
“Wha, what the hell. How? Wow. Whoa…!”
The opponent seemed quite flustered, speaking in a manner that resembled an exclamation more than language.
Well, whatever.
I didn’t expect the game to end in one hit at this tier.
What’s important is that I saved my stealth for later.
It’ll undoubtedly present an opportunity to pierce through the opponent’s gap at some point.
In preparation for the next Whoosh, I tossed out a few memorized cards and willingly gave them some distance.
For some reason, it was slightly visible.
If the necessary cards come out on time, the Card Sorcerer is surprisingly versatile.
One particularly infamous combination popped into my mind.
“You’re making the cards disappear as if you’ve been waiting for this. I don’t know what they are, but I feel like I should avoid them?”
[Card: The Hermit]
[Meaning (Reversed): Darkness, Greed]
[Card: The Tower]
[Meaning (Upright): Failure, Destruction]
[Active: Greed’s Speech]
[Deals damage and slows all enemies within a 12m radius centered on the caster. The closer you are, the greater the effect.]
As expected, a golden magical circle spread around the Card Sorcerer.
A skill with a short activation time compared to its long preparation time.
If I had only reacted by sight, it would have been too late.
The very landscape seemed to ripple as if the space itself was warping.
After several instances, the air cracked as if breaking glass, and the inside of the magic circle shattered.
Within the shaking line of sight, several projectiles flew toward me.
While parrying the mana-infused attacks, the Card Sorcerer had a new card appear in their hand.
The hand of a Card Sorcerer is a scarce and valuable resource.
If a new card appears, it means they have achieved some condition or, by luck, drawn a card with an additional draw effect.
Well, that could be the case. The opponent must have card accumulation to make a fight viable.
However.
The Card Sorcerer made a subtle expression as they had an extra card in their hand.
Then, their face broke into a wide smile as they got another one.
They managed to recover all three cards they had spent in battle.
“Wait. Is it really that easy to draw cards?”