KYB Ch 29

Out of the five rounds, two were already over. In round one, Kisekki kept dying from falls.

Everyone burst into laughter at what was clearly deliberate trolling. And because the person they were talking about was Kisekki, none of the guild members found it strange. After all, who in the guild didn’t know about the relationship between Ye Woo-won and Kisekki?

Everyone thought that Kisekki had intentionally joined Ye Woo-won’s team on purpose to troll. Ye Woo-won had the exact same thought as the guild members. He was sure that Kisekki would rather choose death than let him have a victory.

‘Kind of childish, though.’

At first, the blatant trolling annoyed him, but later he couldn’t help laughing at the absurdity. He did worry it might happen again in round two, but thankfully it didn’t.

Maybe because of that provocation, Kisekki was extremely serious in round two. Both Ye Woo-won—who had been playing together with Kisekki—and the guild members could clearly see it. This time, he didn’t fall to his death; as if to show that the first round had been nothing but a joke. And just as he usually did in Territory Wars, he grabbed the flag and sprinted back to the base.

Ye Woo-won did the same. Both of them gave it their all, but—

They still lost. Unlike round one’s obvious trolling, this round was a narrow defeat.

“Hmm…”

Ye Woo-won let out a small sigh. He was more aware than anyone of exactly what the cause was. And that reason remained true in round three.

When Yewoo Beomjeol tried to put a shield on Kisekki—

‘Ah, he moved out of range.’

Of course, Kisekki happened to be mid-skill or had slipped out of shield range.

‘Again…’

Whenever Ye Woo-won used a reposition skill, Kisekki was just outside its effect range because he’d gone to stab Nyamnyangi’s throat.

At first, Ye Woo-won thought Kisekki was dodging his skills on purpose, but that wasn’t the case. They simply kept missing each other like mismatched puzzle pieces.

By contrast, ITrustCactus and Nyamnyangi seemed to have done Territory War together often. Their movements synced perfectly. Ye Woo-won tried to adjust, too, but no matter how he tried, the coordination didn’t come together.

Just because they were out of sync, that didn’t mean they were just dying all the time.

Both of them diligently killed their opponents and raised the score. So on the surface, it looked like a normal Territory War, but—

Jinhee wasn’t wrong.

‘This’s so frustrating.’

Even though Round Three wasn’t going particularly badly, it was still tough. Ye Woo-won felt like he could do better, that he could move with cleaner, sharper play than this. But contrary to his thoughts, it was strangely as if shackles had been fastened to his ankles, making every movement feel uncomfortable. They were on the same team, yet it felt more like he was dealing with an enemy.

He couldn’t shake the frustration throughout the entire Territory War, but thanks to the flag he’d secured with that kill just now, they were finally tied. However, even after catching up to a tie, Ye Woo-won felt no joy. The Territory War wasn’t fun. It just felt like he was forcing himself to grind out points.

‘This’s weird.’

If even easygoing Ye Woo-won felt frustrated, was Kisekki okay?

‘He must be frustrated too.’

It was strange that Kisekki, who reacted more explosively than anyone in situations like this, was staying completely quiet. Ye Woo-won would’ve preferred if Kisekki at least cursed at him… What was he thinking?

Normally, even when they were just going to kill a single boss monster, Kisekki would unload every kind of feedback and complaint imaginable. But during this Territory War—where feedback was needed far more than usual—his constant silence kept bothering him.

Ye Woo-won decided he couldn’t leave it like this. He thought he should at least ask Kisekki’s intentions again through chat, so he called out to him. But this was a Territory War — a battlefield.

Thud!

An arrow from ITrustCactus plunged into the ground at Ye Woo-won’s feet with a sharp sound. He immediately looked toward the shot, but the area was already filled with hazy smoke.

‘Smoke Screen skill.’

They had to kill ITrustCactus before he shifted positions inside the smoke screen, or their chances of winning would disappear. Kisekki seemed to think the same, as he quickly kicked off the ground and rushed in to cut ITrustCactus’s throat — but.

It wasn’t ITrustCactus—Nyamnyangi casually emerged from the smoke.

‘…Damn.’

It was a trap. Nyamnyangi had been pretending to be ITrustCactus in the smoke. So where was the real ITrustCactus now…?

‘Above.’

Ye Woo-won and Kisekki looked up late—but too late.

Arrows planted in the ground linked together and formed a star. The star flashed, binding Kisekki and Yewoo Beomjeol’s feet and stunning both characters.

Nyamnyangi then finished off the stunned duo one by one.

Like twisting a child’s wrist, Nyamnyangi easily plucked the flag and hummed as Ye Woo-won looked at the score, frustrated.

If they lost this round too, it would be three losses out of five—a complete defeat. Ye Woo-won rubbed his brow and stared at the screen.

‘I can’t let that happen.’

Waiting for his respawn, Ye Woo-won thought. A little over one minute remained. It was quite a plenty of time if he called it plenty, and too little if he wanted to call it little.

‘Defend? Attack?’

The other side was aggressive; they’d surely charge.

‘What should I do…’

He’d adapted to most opponent skills by now and ran mental simulations, but no clear breakthrough appeared.

‘Their coordination’s better than I thought, this’ll be tough.’

Because as time went on, their skill combo became more and more natural.

‘Still, that doesn’t mean there aren’t any openings.’

While the two chatted, Yewoo Beomjeol quickly used a skill. Luckily, the two were distracted and standing together, so he bound their feet simultaneously. He hurled his greatsword into the center and activated a skill at the perfect angle.

A blue ember leapt from the greatsword, forming a dragon-shaped shadow that engulfed Nyamnyangi and ITrustCactus.

TL’s Note

[1] Briefing: Strategies discussed through voice or chat, or explanations given to deal with an upcoming boss pattern. e.g., “In 20 seconds, the boss will use the XX pattern. Prepare yourselves.” / “There’s a monster behind you. Be careful.”
[2] Kill count: A term referring to the number of people someone has killed, or the number of kills they have made.
[3] You know that meme people talk about online when magical girls or superheroes in anime are going through a long transformation scene, and the enemy just politely waits for them to finish? LOL