“Aaaack!”
Siegfried was flustered by this first close call, as this was his first ever close call since the tournament started. He didn't expect that his opponent would be capable of teleporting, and neither did he expect her to use that to ambush him.
This made it clear that Yong Seol-Hwa was not another favorite to win the tournament for nothing.
“Tsk… Too bad,” Yong Seol-Hwa clicked her tongue and grumbled after she missed.
She was carrying a gigantic mace double the size of the +13 Vanquisher’s Grasp on her shoulder as if it were nothing.
‘W-What the hell is that mace? Why is it so big?!’ Siegfried could not help but be shocked by the size of her mace.
[Merciless Mace]
[A gigantic mace crafted by the Radiant Blacksmith.]
[This mace boasts extremely fast Attack Speed and extremely high Attack Power the first time it is swung, but it is extremely slow in the next consecutive swings.]
[Type: Blunt Weapon][Rating: Unique]
[Effect 1: +500% Attack Speed the first attack (Cooldown: 30 seconds)]
[Effect 2: -250% Attack Speed after the first attack]
[Effect 3: 50% chance to stun the opponent (Stun lasts for five seconds and can be longer depending on the target’s defense)]
The Merciless Mace had clear pros and cons, which made it the perfect weapon to catch enemies off guard.
What if Siegfried had ended up getting hit by the Merciless Mace?
A chill traveled down his spine after realizing that he would have lost the first round of this best-of-three match.[1]
‘She’s extremely sharp,’ Siegfried thought, realizing that she was indeed Yong Tae-Pung’s daughter.
Yong Seol-Hwa used Siegfried’s calculations against him and created an opportunity for herself rather, which was indeed a frightening ability.
‘I should be on my guard from now on,’ Siegfried thought after realizing that Yong Seol-Hwa was extremely sharp and cunning. He gripped his +13 Vanquisher’s Grasp and got into his combat stance.
Meanwhile, Yong Seol-Hwa changed her weapon into two clubs. These clubs were called Twin Headbreakers, and this was an item she had crafted to counter Siegfried’s +13 Vanquisher’s Grasp.
Yong Seol-Hwa possessed a legendary class called "Radiant Blacksmith," and she also possessed a unique class called "Weapon Vanguard."
In other words, she was a dual-class user, and she could use the weapons she had crafted without any problems, thanks to her second class.
‘So you can read my moves? Then can you read this?’ Siegfried rushed toward his opponent and used Irradiate.
Swoosh!
A cloud of green fog filled the arena.
[Yong Seol-Hwa]
[HP: ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬜]
Just like how Siegfried changed his equipment to the Deep Dark Soul Set for PVP, Yong Seol-Hwa changed into gear specialized for PVP as well.
The most important stat in PVP was none other than HP Regeneration, but the fact that a huge chunk of her HP was shredded by Irradiate, which was a DoT-type skill meant that Irradiate dealt a ton of damage.
Irradiate boasted damage that overpowered the HP Regeneration that Yong Seol-Hwa’s gear had bestowed upon her.
‘Alright!’
Siegfried attempted to fight in melee combat while Irradiate was active.
Bam! Bam!
The +13 Vanquisher’s Grasp and Twin Headbreaker clashed.
‘She’s good!’ Siegfried was in awe of Yong Seol-Hwa’s melee combat ability.
How long had it been since he fought someone capable of fighting toe-to-toe against him in close combat? Siegfried was thrilled upon realizing that he was finally facing a worthy opponent after all this while.
Meanwhile, Yong Seol-Hwa found herself feeling the pressure the more moves they exchanged.
‘I-I have to get away from him!’
She was losing a significant amount of HP from Irradiate. She jumped back and commanded her golems to form a barricade between them once again. Then, she changed her weapon to the crossbow and shot steel bolts at Siegfried from range.
However, Siegfried was not the type who would just stand around and do nothing. He summoned the Night Stalkers from Shadow Hell and commanded them to interrupt Yong Seol-Hwa’s aim while he destroyed the golems forming a barricade with his +13 Vanquisher’s Grasp.
“Kyuuu! Are you feeling lonely, owner punk?!” Hamchi asked.
“Nope!” Siegfried replied. He did not feel the need for Hamchi to get involved just because of Yong Seol-Hwa’s golems. He smashed them to pieces and closed the distance between them once again.
‘D-Disgusting!’ Yong Seol-Hwa could not help but feel disgusted by the Debuff Master’s skills.
Siegfried had used Irradiate to make melee combat very disadvantageous for Yong Seol-Hwa, and he had used Shadow Hell and the Night Stalkers to make it difficult for her to fight from range, too.
Yong Seol-Hwa was stuck between a rock and a hard place. However, there was nothing she could do about it. However, she was not the only one feeling disgusted by Siegfried, as others found his playstyle to be quite disgusting, too.
– Han Tae-Sung is vicious! He’s really vicious!
– No, that’s called being dirty. Wait, I think "filthy" is the right word.
– He’s really good, but his skills are scary too! Is this what we call overpowered?!
– His playstyle has no gaps at all!
Even the commentators found the Debuff Master to be overpowered, and they found Siegfried’s playstyle of taking thorough advantage of his class' skills to be quite disgusting, repulsive, and vicious.
‘I-I can’t catch a break…!’ Yong Seol-Hwa could feel the match slowly slipping away from her hands.
It was then.
‘What?!’ Yong Seol-Hwa exclaimed in horror after noticing that an invisible force was dragging her toward her opponent.
Shwiiiiiish!
Siegfried clenched his fist, forming a powerful vacuum that sucked Yong Seol-Hwa toward him.
This was the secret technique of Leonid—Black Hole Strike!
***
‘N-Nooo!’ Yong Seol-Hwa cried out and resisted with all of her strength to no avail.
Black Hole Strike was simply too strong for her to resist, and it seemed that there was no way to prevent being sucked by it.
‘I have no other choice! I’ll have to counterattack the moment he attacks me!’
Surprisingly, Yong Seol-Hwa did not give up. She played to her strengths and paid close attention to Siegfried’s movements in hopes of counterattacking the moment she was close enough to Siegfried.
She channeled Teleport while flying toward Siegfried, and she was planning to use the same ambush method that she had employed earlier against him. Fortunately, Teleport had gone off cooldown, and she was confident that she could pull that trick again.
‘Three… Two…’ Yong Seol-Hwa counted down and gauged the timing. Then, she put her plan in motion the moment she got close enough to her opponent. ‘One… Now!’
Bam!
Siegfried punched with Black Hole Strike, but he struck nothing but air.
Flash!
Yong Seol-Hwa evaded the punch just in time and appeared right above Siegfried’s head.
‘Alright! I got him!’ Yong Seol-Hwa exclaimed inwardly and swung her Merciless Mace at Siegfried's head—no, she tried to swing her mace but was unable to do so.
Flash!
A blinding white light flashed.
Thud!
Yong Seol-Hwa dropped to the floor, causing a dull sound like a big block of ice hitting the ground. Interestingly, she looked completely stiff as if she was frozen or petrified into a rock.
The Debuff Master’s most powerful crowd control skill, Absolute Zero, had frozen her completely. Yong Seol-Hwa's journey in the Super Rookie Tournament was practically over at this point.
“Time to end this!” Siegfried exclaimed and swung his +13 Vanquisher’s Grasp with all of his strength.
Baaaam!
Yong Seol-Hwa shattered into pieces from the impact. In other words, Siegfried had struck her while she was frozen solid, causing her to shatter into numerous pieces, just like a block of ice.
“W-Winner! H-Han Tae-Sung!”
The referee was so shocked that he belatedly announced the winner.
“Whoaaaaaaaaa!”
The V-Sports Stadium erupted into cheers.
***
The second round was going to start in ten minutes.
‘I’m not going to lose this time.’ Yong Seol-Hwa steeled her resolve and swore to win this round. She had been using every skill in her arsenal to steer the momentum in her favor, but there was a limit to what she could do.
‘I-It’s the same as a while ago!’ Yong Seol-Hwa exclaimed after getting caught by the disgusting skills of the Debuff Master, just like in the first round.
Siegfried would stubbornly chase her down if she widened the distance between them, and the green fog would gnaw away at her HP if she decided to fight him in melee combat.
Yong Seol-Hwa was once again stuck, incapable of doing anything, due to Irradiate and Shadow Hell. She considered using Teleport and ambushing him numerous times, but she was reminded of what had happened earlier when Siegfried had frozen her solid, which ended up in her losing the round.
‘W-What should I do? How can I beat him?’ Yong Seol-Hwa searched for solutions nonstop while making sure that her eyes were always on her opponent, but she felt like she was sinking deeper into the abyss as the battle dragged on.
Her only saving grace right now was the superhuman reflexes she had inherited from her father, Yong Tae-Pung, but even her superhuman reflexes only allowed her to barely stay in the fight.
‘Huh? When did my HP…?!’ Yong Seol-Hwa was shocked after seeing that she had lost more than eighty percent of her HP bar.
There was a saying about how tiny things would accumulate and become massive; it seemed that the Irradiate enveloping the entire arena had gnawed away a significant chunk of her HP.
‘I need to hurry up and find a solution!’ Yong Seol-Hwa thought.
It was then.
Shwiiik!
Siegfried exploited the gap in her concentration and closed the distance between them in the blink of an eye.
‘N-Nooo!’ Yong Seol-Hwa tried to run away, but that was no longer a possibility.
Baaam!
The +13 Vanquisher’s Grasp struck the arena floor instead of Yong Seol-Hwa.
Fwaaaah! Krwaaaang!
Then, pillars of flames shot up from the arena floor, forming the Barrier of Victory that swallowed both Yong Seol-Hwa and Siegfried.
Escape was no longer an option, as Siegfried had trapped her in the Barrier of Victory, preventing her from running away.
– Ah! What’s going on?!
– We can’t see anything!
– A barrier has swallowed both contestants!
Everyone was curious about what was happening inside the Barrier of Victory, but it did not take long for their curiosity to be satisfied.
Krwaaaang!
The Barrier of Victory collapsed, revealing the result of the second round between Siegfried and Yong Seol-Hwa.
Yong Seol-Hwa was sprawled out on the ground while Siegfried was clenching his bloody weapon, the +13 Vanquisher’s Grasp.
Siegfried was the winner of the second round as well.
– H-Han Tae-Sung has won!
– The winner of the Super Rookie Tournament’s semi-finals is Han Tae-Sung!
– Han Tae-Sung advances to the final round!
Siegfried defeated Yong Tae-Pung’s daughter, Yong Seol-Hwa, advancing to the final round of the Super Rookie Tournament.
***
Meanwhile, Kaosin crushed the beer can in his hand upon witnessing the result of the match in his home.
Soon, Siegfried was interviewed by the reporters.
– Please tell us what you think about facing Kwon Oh-Shin in the final round.
– Hmm… There’s nothing much. Ah, I noticed that he has a penchant for mentally abusing his opponents during and after his matches.
– Hahaha…
– So I’ll be doing the same thing to him.
– W-What?
– I think Kwon Oh-Shin was really lucky. He made it all the way to the final round without running into me.
– I-Is that so?
– For those of you who haven’t heard, we dueled at the arena before and…
“Aaaaack!” Kwon Oh-Shin screamed and smashed his TV the moment Tae-Sung brought up the incident at the arena.
“That fucking bastard! Just you wait! I’m going to destroy you! Hehe…! Hehehe! Mwahahaha!” Kwon Oh-Shin growled and laughed hysterically like a madman. He truly couldn't wait for the finals of the Super Rookie Tournament.
1. Author did not specify it in the prior chapters, but it seems the matches are fought in three rounds, and the first to get two wins will win the match. ☜
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