Chapter 259
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The human representatives, selected from the top 1st to the 3,000th in the world rankings, harbored strong pride in their abilities. While they respected and highly regarded Seong Jihan's skills, they were reluctant to simply sit idly within the "The Myriad Ghost Sealing Gods" and do nothing
Despite not being the main stars in the Space League, most desired to play a significant role rather than being mere extras. However, the disparity in strength between their own species and the Dragon race was overwhelming.
"I...I don't remember it being like this during the rehearsal...!"
As the Absolute Shield dissolved in an instant, Barren bit his lip, watching in shock. The dragons during the rehearsal game were indeed strong, but not to this extent. Barren had believed he had grown significantly himself and could contend adequately. He never anticipated being swept away by flames in one fell swoop.
Meanwhile, amidst the torrents of Fire Breath, Seong Jihan stood unscathed and even chuckled upon hearing Barren's remarks.
"Did you intend to fight thinking it was still a rehearsal? Last time, the Dragon Race was also made up of Platinum-ranked dragons. Just like you have grown stronger, so have they."
"But, still... I didn't expect such a huge gap..."
"You should always expect the worst."
As the barrier vanished completely, Barren was engulfed in flames, looking at Seong-Jihan with a dismayed gaze. Despite the world being a sea of fire, he stood untouched, feeling like he was in a different world altogether.
"How... are you unharmed?"
"I have my ways."
Swoosh...
A purple light flickered across Seong Jihan's entire body.
The fire breath seemed to halt in its tracks, unable to infiltrate the space where he stood.
He had learned the Crimson Divinity technique from Dongbang Sak.
This martial art, which dealt with the void, proved to be quite useful.
Though he had not mastered the technique completely, having only learned it recently,
'Crimson Divinity's purple aura seems to act like a barrier itself.'
The untamed force swirling around Seong Jihan perfectly blocked the fire breath.
Perhaps if he had spread Crimson Divinity more broadly, he might have been able to save more people from being burned by the fire breath.
'But for players who do not possess the void, covering them in Crimson Divinity might lead to them being devoured instead.'
For the average player, this purple energy could potentially be fatal.
Seong Jihan looked at Crimson Divinity for a moment, then said to Barren, who was sinking into flames,
"Sorry. I'm still not good enough at controlling this power to use it on others. This is the limit for me."
"...There's nothing for you to apologize for. It's me who wanted to fight...!"
"Did you? Actually, I'm not sorry at all. Next time, listen quietly."
"Cough...!"
With a bitter smile, Barren disappeared, triggering the disappearance of all the players summoned alongside Seong Jihan. The representatives of humanity vanished without seeing the dragon's form, succumbing to the Fire Breath bombardment from afar.
=The human side, trapped in Fire Breath, has been wiped out in an instant!
=Only 500 have perished so far. Oh, my mistake, it's 499! Seong Jihan is still alive!
=As expected of Seong Jihan! He truly withstood that powerful Fire Breath!
=But seriously, if they were going to perish so quickly, why not just obediently enter the sword formation... What is Barren even trying to do?
=Chris, your mic is on!
=Ah, ahem. Sorry about that! Emotions got the best of me for a moment!
In a series of events, the commentator, Christopher, expressed irritation, and it was broadcasted live.
-The American commentator criticizing American prospects, lol.
-Well, it's justified. Barren was boasting about his pride as soon as he joined the human representative team but got cut in 10 seconds.
-Christopher's commentary was definitely intentional, lol.
-Seriously, he's already loaded with supporting gifts, lol.
-But still, they can't just keep riding on Seong Jihan's coattails forever. They have to make the players fight somehow...
-If the human ranking drops, will you take responsibility?
-He needs a dungeon in his house to get his act together, lol.
The consensus on the representatives was at rock-bottom, as they were easily obliterated by the fire breath.
And then,
=Human representative team. It's okay. If we strategize around Seong Jihan, we can still win! Only 499 have fallen so far... Oh, the number of casualties is rising rapidly!
=Breaths are pouring out from all over the battlefield!
=But where on earth are the dragons? Are they up high in the sky? We can't see them!
The overall situation was overwhelmingly against humanity.
'Indeed, this map is tough.'
Seong Jihan looked up at the sky.
The place swept by breath no longer had flames raining down.
But far off where the human forces were presumed to be, fire breath continued to pour down.
'Given the near-simultaneous attack, it seems like 10 dragons were summoned in a similar region. Even if I had used Myriad Ghost Sealing Gods, saving 1000 would not have been easy.'
Had he confined the 500 people from Seong Jihan's region with Myriad Ghost Sealing Gods, the game would have ended before they could have moved to another location.
Seong Jihan decided to at least appreciate making the representative team face the harsh reality for the first match, as he gazed at the sky.
'But I should at least take down one dragon.'
Swoosh!
Seong Jihan leapt toward the sky to locate the unseen dragon.
As he maneuvered beyond the clouds,
[Over 80 percent of the human players have been eliminated.]
[The game is going to end soon.]
Quickly, the message that the game was coming to an end appeared.
'Already?'
It was indeed potent, the breath, but this was excessively harsh.
As he decided he might as well search for a dragon before logging out, Seong Jihan maximized his lightness skill.
And soon,
he discovered a massive life form high above in the sky.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
Crossing clouds, he saw a red dragon with a tremendous presence in the distance.
As he appeared quietly flapping its wings,
The dragon, which had been resting with closed eyes, noticed Seong Jihan's arrival and slowly opened its eyelids.
"..."
The dragon gazed at him, a sense of calm in its eyes.
=Ah, is that the dragon?
=It's huge...
=The dragons from the rehearsal game must have been just babies.
The red dragon, gigantic enough that it couldn't even be compared to the hatchling witnessed during the rehearsal, instilled primal fear in the onlookers.
'Shall I try slicing it up.'
Seong Jihan wasn't deterred and was filled with the intent to attack.
Swoosh...
His left arm manifested the shadow sword Eclipse, and his entire body, which had been radiating purple energy, drew it into the sword.
'Since we've lost the first match already. There's no need to go all out... Just a light jab will do.'
Being too strong might make him a focal point for the opponent's concentrated countermeasures.
Consequently, considering future matches, Seong Jihan lightly drew a horizontal line with his sword.
Fundamental Divine Art, Triad of Martial Mastery -Total Annihilation Horizontal Sweep
Then,
Zishsh...!
The barrier in front of the dragon's head formed countless times and split apart instantly.
The sword, which sliced through everything, reached the dragon's forehead.
Psshh... Psshh...
From the cut, dragon blood spewed in all directions.
Touching the atmosphere, it boiled instantaneously and became smoke that disappeared.
'...Adding Crimson Divinity makes it stronger than I thought'
Seong Jihan's light jab, meant to merely scratch, made a deep gash on the dragon.
[The game is ending.]
[The player is logging out.]
Flash!
As he landed a hit and logged out, the red dragon looked at the spot where Seong Jihan disappeared in silence.
[While unremarkable, there is something peculiar about you...]
A fleeting spark ignited in the indifferent eyes of the dragon,
[And there's the Void. Perhaps... ]
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=We lost the first match. The game ended in an instant...
=The dragon. Truly a formidable presence worthy of second place in the league...!
The first match ended in defeat.
This game instilled a strong sense of helplessness in humanity.
-Well, is it over just from getting hit by breath attacks in the sky...?
-Even if we increase the ratio from 50:1 to 500:1, we would still lose, right?
-We played the ban cards well, and Seong Jihan survived, but to lose so one-sidedly... is there any hope for this series?
The match ultimately ended with dragons reigning their breaths from the sky.
Although Seong Jihan survived and managed to injure the Dragon Race, by then the game had already ended.
Such a dramatic disparity in racial capabilities couldn't be mitigated just by improving the numbers.
'Too strong... This is just too strong.'
Coach Davis entered the coaching room with a significantly darker expression than before.
The Dragon Race.
While they were expected to be strong, no one anticipated such a crushing defeat despite favorable ban cards.
How were they supposed to fight such creatures?
'For now, we must focus on Seong Jihan.'
In the previous game, unlike the others, Seong Jihan had easily withstood the breath.
If they didn't strategize around him, victory for humanity seemed impossible.
'We can't always rely on this situation...'
Being dependent on a single ace player, Seong Jihan, wasn't a strategy Coach Davis favored.
However, humanity urgently needed a victory right now.
Having decided to select the warrior map Valhalla for all remaining matches,
Coach Davis walked through the clouds within the coach's room.
'We'll go with the same cards as before.'
He set the ban and select cards the same as the first match, then,
[You, the insignificant one.]
Once the opposing side initiated contact without uttering a word in the first match,
Coach Davis, startled, stumbled again.
-Why is the coach falling down so much today?
-Seems like he got scared because the dragon spoke suddenly.
-Did he not know it could talk?
-To call him trivial... after seeing the first match, it's sad that we can't refute.
"What, what is it?"
Davis scrambled to his feet, replying hastily to the dragon.
He tried to exude confidence, but his voice betrayed a tremor.
The dragon gazed down at him and spoke once more.
[Summon your true representative. I wish to have a conversation with him.]
"Our true representative?"
[The one who inflicted pain upon us. He is a mutation born from an insignificant race.]
Was it referring to Seong Jihan?
Coach Davis frowned, not understanding the dragon's intentions.
'Seong Jihan is our core player... If he comes here, he'll likely get pinned down by the enemy. We don't need to listen to their stories.'
Davis was ready to decline the conversation with the dragon right away, but then,
[If you summon him, I will let you win the second match.]
"What... what..."
[Is one match not enough? Then I'll give you the third match as well.]
Lose the second match?
Coach Davis's pupils trembled.
"How, how can we believe that?"
[I promise in the name of the dragon. Witnessed by the system.]
"Well... that's..."
Just by changing the coach, would they give up the second match?
Davis swallowed hard.
The Dragon Race.
They were an adversary humanity faced difficulty defeating in the first match.
Yet they were willing to give up two matches merely for a conversation with Seong Jihan...
"W-We'll take the authentication first."
Coach Davis couldn't easily believe such favorable conditions, so he requested authentication from BattleNet first.
[Agreed.]
The dragon's coach accepted the proposal immediately and proceeded swiftly.
=...What on earth is happening?
=Why is the dragon suddenly interested in Seong Jihan?
As the situation took a strange turn, the commentators and viewers, all unable to understand the situation, had no choice but to proceed after BattleNet's authentication was completed
"Seong Jihan. I will need to ask you a favor."
"Understood. If they'll give us two wins, let's have a look."
Seong Jihan thus replaced Coach Davis in the coaching room, and...
And so, instead of Coach Davis, Seong Jihan stepped into the coaching room.
Flash...!
[Better than expected.]
The dragon looked at Seong Jihan with glowing eyes.
[What do you say? Will you join our clan?]
"Um...?"
The dragon made a sudden scout offer to Seong Jihan.
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