บท 371: Chapter 371
=This Space League's opponent is werewolves.
=Currently ranked 18th in the league. They are among the lower-ranked opponents.
=Doesn't look too threatening!
Werewolves.
In the previous life, these were among the lower-tier races alongside humanity, Orcs, and the Zojin tribe.
For humanity, it's a chance to hope for an easy victory against a manageable foe.
"Grrr… Humanity. A race that just needs to ban the top player?"
"Where did you learn that?"
"There are ways to know these things."
Yet when the werewolves cleverly banned the top-ranking player.
People were reminded of the times with the Zojin tribe and expressed their anxiety.
-Seong Jihan gets banned and we lose again, right? -.-
-Isn't it troubling that even against the 18th ranked, we're still not safe…
-I mean, we've evolved, so shouldn't we stand a better chance in the fight?
-But even with the upgrade to the lower-tier, the change doesn't feel very dramatic. Will it really make a difference?
With such a nervous mindset, they entered the first match.
However, contrary to concerns, the game progress was overwhelmingly favorable.
=Yoon Seah, who has become undead, is boldly moving forward!
=Her elongated ears are giving off an elf-like vibe!
=The werewolves charge at an archer who breaks formation, but they can't inflict any damage!
=Meanwhile, other players also disarray the enemy lines!
=Ah… indeed, they've certainly grown stronger!
The commentators couldn't hide their excitement, for among the games played since Seong Jihan was absent, none had so dominantly led as this one.
With the game quickly drawing to a close.
=Yoon Seah has been awarded the MVP for match 1!
=Her undead status is quite formidable! The force she wielded in the Worlds Champions League that sunk America is fully on display!
=Wasn't that the move Seong Jihan used? Scary when on the enemy team but a sturdy ally when on ours.
=At this rate, this Space League game might end quite easily!
"Undead is the best!"
Yoon Seah, having secured the MVP, gave a triumphant thumbs up to Seong Jihan.
"Entering the Space League game really lets you feel the effects of evolution."
"This really… feels like we could win against that race even without uncle, doesn't it?"
"Even without your undead transformation?"
"No, keep that one, hehe."
Seong Jihan chuckled while watching the game highlights.
The markedly improved performance of the humanity representative team.
With such force, they no longer belonged to the very bottom tier they struggled within in their past life.
'Even if I'm not around, middle-tier… well, probably not mid-tier, but definitely away from the relegation zone.'
The relegation-struggled races: humanity, Orcs, the Zojin tribe, and werewolves.
With their current capabilities, it seemed they could definitely escape from that lineup.
'Let's see how far they can go without me.'
There weren't any achievements to unlock by joining the Space League anyway.
For Seong Jihan, it was more advantageous if the sponsored players earned fame points through their performances.
"You did great! With this, today's game should be an easy win!!"
He approached Davis, the coach, who had come from the manager's office to the waiting room to encourage the players.
"Coach. How about letting other players play in the next game, even if I'm not banned?"
"Oh, ah…! Mr. Seong Jihan, you're not going to play?"
"Yes. From seeing the first game, it seems we might not really need me. The evolution effect is quite significant."
Based on the results of the first game, which assuredly went as Seong Jihan said, it looked indeed there might be no need for him to go to such lengths.
Coach Davis had a different idea. He held Seong Jihan's hand tightly and appealed.
"Ah, but still, just in case, wouldn't you mind playing…? There's a chance that the opponent might have a trump card. So, how about you support us from behind, like you did in the World Cup match?"
Unlike Seong Jihan, who was aware of the limitations of the Werewolf race,
From the perspective of the coach leading the human representative team, there was a need to cross even a stone bridge.
'Is he referring to when I turned the players into undead during the World Cup?'
That should be fine.
Seong Jihan nodded.
"I understand."
"Th-, thank you…!"
With the coach's plea ending, Seong Jihan decided to participate in the upcoming game.
His opportunity to enter came sooner than anticipated.
* * *
For the ban and selection of the second match, the coaches of both races gathered in the manager's office.
The werewolf coach, sporting a wolf's head covered in blue fur, enacted a top-player ban just like in the first match.
[The top-ranked player among those on the ban list is banned.]
['Oliver' has been banned.]
However, this time due to the VIP option, Seong Jihan avoided the ban.
Seeing the message that Oliver had been banned instead, Coach Davis couldn't help but smile triumphantly.
With Seong Jihan safe, this game was pretty much over.
=Both teams, please present your select cards.
=The map has been decided. The 'Great Plains,' an invade map.
=It's the map chosen by the werewolf side!
"Great Plains… we'll win this time. Grrr…"
Meanwhile, the werewolf coach, unaware that the VIP option had been triggered, was happy by the selection of his chosen map.
Confident in his choice, the opponent was quite uppity.
-Did he not see the top player ban fail?
-Guess not lololol he's too excited, what a puppy.
-Let him enjoy it … even if it's just for a moment hehe
The viewers, aware that Seong Jihan was participating, just found the werewolf's reaction rather cute.
Thus began the second game.
[Find and destroy the hidden bases of the opponent scattered throughout the Great Plains!]
[The team that first destroys all 20 bases or annihilates the opposing players wins.]
Ziiiiing…
The mission objectives floated before the players' eyes.
The endlessly vast Great Plains.
The goal of the mission was to either completely wipe out the opponent or to seek and destroy the opponent's hidden bases.
As soon as the game started.
Beep. Beep.
As the map appeared, the position of the allied bases was revealed on the map.
The bases, randomly placed across the western half of the Great Plains map, totaled 40.
"Our bases are 40 in total?"
"If half are destroyed, we lose."
"Why are they so sporadically placed?"
"Mobility is crucial for this…"
The players frowned upon seeing the map that was too wide.
Humanity's mobility wasn't particularly outstanding compared to other races.
Yet the Great Plains map clearly required supreme agility.
"Let's split into offense and defense."
"Splitting up like this could be risky if the wolves attack in packs, they seemed quite agile."
"We have Seong Jihan, what's there to worry about."
"Oh, right."
As they planned to distribute their forces across the expansive map.
[One of 'humanity's' bases has been destroyed.]
Even without reorganizing the team, a base was instantly lost.
"…What?"
"Already?"
"Ugh… looks like the werewolves chose this map for a reason. We should quickly regroup and get moving."
Upon seeing the system message, the once relaxed players of the humanity team were now on edge.
Seong Jihan recalled a past game as he observed this.
'When the werewolves transform into wolves and move in packs, their speed greatly increases.'
When werewolves gathered and transformed to run, their speed was comparable to flying species.
The Great Plains was tailor-made for such werewolves.
In the past, humanity never won against them on this map.
Although current humanity had evolved to the lower-tier, their inherent mobility hadn't dramatically changed.
Regardless of how advantageous it was for humanity when directly confronting them, they would lose if the werewolves didn't engage in combat.
[One of 'humanity's' bases has been destroyed.]
"Ah! Another…!"
"How did they destroy it so fast?"
"The just destroyed base was clustered in the northwest…! We need to stop them quickly!"
"Then let's have the fastest person go there first…!"
The fastest person.
People's gaze naturally drifted towards Seong Jihan.
As the bases were rapidly being destroyed.
Ultimately, he was the one the current representative team would rely on.
'Coach Davis was right. If I hadn't come out, we might have lost.'
Indeed, in BattleNet, one can't ignore the advantages of the map.
Seong Jihan thought this as he reached out to the warriors.
"The rest of you go destroy the bases. I'll go after them."
"Alone?"
"Yes. I'm faster on my own. I'll cast the blessing of undead on the warriors and Seah."
Swooosh…
Seong Jihan used the blessing of undead on ten warriors and Yoon Seah, then dashed towards the destroyed base.
Whiz! Whiz!
Seong Jihan moved at ultra-high speed alone.
Having once traversed the middle of the West Sea as if hopping over to the back mountain, even if the werewolves gathered and moved swiftly, they were still within his grasp.
Arriving at humanity's third hidden base.
'More like a scarecrow than a base.'
A large human-shaped scarecrow made of steel.
Though called a base, it seemed more like a symbolic object meant to be destroyed.
And towards this third scarecrow, the wolf pack quickly assembled.
[Destroy it!]
Woong!
The leading blue wolf roared.
Almost a hundred wolves all charged at the steel scarecrow.
Considering there were a total of 100 players selected for this Great Plains map match.
This was the werewolf race's full power.
'Abandoning defense entirely and relying on agility to rapidly destroy the bases, huh?'
The opponent, having split their forces into offense and defense, would be helpless against this strategy.
Even if the opponent gathered their forces to counter, they'd fail due to inferior mobility.
For the werewolves, this must have been viewed as a sure-win strategy.
However.
Thud!
"They're all gathered here."
Seong Jihan's presence was the werewolves' misfortune.
[What, from where…]
[What's happening! It's just one person!]
[Kill him!]
As Seong Jihan stood in front of the steel scarecrow.
The momentarily hesitant wolf pack charged at him in unison.
Unlike Earth's wolves, these were giants, measuring 4-5 meters or more.
As they all charged together, Seong Jihan was briefly obscured by the masses of wolves.
But before they could reach him, their bodies exploded in mid-air.
[What…]
[Why can't we get close?]
As the first wave was blown away, the wolves hesitated to jump towards Seong Jihan.
'I guess they can't cross my space.'
The werewolves couldn't even invade Seong Jihan's realm.
Even though they were top players in their own world, had the gap grown this wide?
Seong Jihan thought it best to quickly end this as he drew his sword.
Swoooosh…
As the shadowy sword flared intensely, the lead blue wolf was aghast.
[That sword… is humanity's top ranked?! But he was definitely banned! V, is it the VIP effect…?]
The blue wolf leader.
Looks like he's the werewolf coach that was in the manager's room.
Seong Jihan asked him.
"How did you know that? Did the World Tree elves tell you?"
[Grrr… we can't beat him… scatter! Everyone, disperse and destroy the bases!]
Ignoring Seong Jihan's question, the wolf leader quickly ordered his comrades.
He'd clearly learned the hard way about Seong Jihan's strength somewhere.
He had no intention of fighting at all.
'It'll be annoying if they scatter.'
Second match, seems like I'll have to take the MVP title.
Fundamental Divine Art,
Triad of Martial Mastery:
Total Annihilation Horizontal Sweep
As Seong Jihan struck with his sword.
Whoosh!
The bodies of the werewolves were cleaved in half simultaneously.
More than fifty wolves perished with a single slash.
A rather anticlimactic end for the representatives of a race.
Still, because the leader wolf quickly ordered them to scatter, those who managed to avoid the Total Annihilation Horizontal Sweep totaled 40.
[Crazy… a single blow…]
[Run! We just need to destroy 17 more!]
[If three of us team up, we can take down a base!]
Seeing Seong Jihan's single slash, they realized they couldn't compete and scattered to somehow try to destroy the remaining bases.
If he let them go now, it would turn into a tiresome game of tag.
'Better wipe them out before they get too far.'
While using the Taiji Swordsmanship would sweep them all away, that'd be like slaughtering chickens with a butcher's cleaver.
Besides, using such a conspicuous skill in a public game might lead Dongbang Sak to barge in asking how he learned it.
'Instead, I should apply it to my existing martial arts.'
The uncontrollable flow of Taiji.
While managing it, he recalled a martial arts technique he thought was on a similar trajectory.
Thinking it was a good opportunity to try blending them, the time seemed right.
Whiiiirrr…
Seong Jihan's dark sword destabilized, whirling madly.
Fundamental Divine Arts,
Dark Shadow Technique:
Dark Soul Vortex
A massive vortex began to form.
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