Chapter 249. Flashy Blade (1)
Sa-Rang hung up the phone and handed it to the butler.
"He doesn't seem to have said anything in particular to the manager."
"That's good news, but what will you do about this guy?" the butler asked while showing her a YouTube channel called TimeTrouble.
"I warned him last time, but he came back. I suggest you do something about him.
TimeTrouble also carefully dug into JeonJaPa before too. However, he couldn’t find anything about JeonJaPa and exposed himself instead.
"About him..." Sa-Rang pondered while resting her chin.
She knew this YouTuber’s real identity. If she exposed him, he would self-destruct without even having to get her hands dirty. Lawsuits, as well as some people, would even target his life.
However, Sa-Rang contemplated for a while and shook her head.
"First, he might not think that he's meddling in my business. Second, someone else will just appear even if we deal with him. All of that costs money. Better to tame someone we know."
"Taming... Understood."
The butler seemed certain that he had found a method of taming this guy. Then, his expression changed back as if nothing happened.
"Fortunately, he posted the video without any details. We confirmed that no medical records were leaked."
"He must have been in a hurry because today is the final round. The issue he's covering in this video is minor compared to his other videos. He probably made this one quickly without much information."
If the video received a lot of likes, he would’ve started investigating further for more videos.
Then, Sa-Rang's medical records could potentially leak too. Fortunately, that didn’t happen.
It was time to get into the capsule.
The doctor waited restlessly in the next seat for Sa-Rang to get inside.
Sa-Rang pressed the power button on her wheelchair.
The butler looked puzzled at the cell phone that Sa-Rang handed him.
"By the way, Miss, did you properly activate the voice modulation during the call earlier?"
The hand pressing the wheelchair button hesitated for a second.
"Ah, yes. Of course."
The butler narrowed his eyes. He was certain she had forgotten.
"Anyway, I'll see you later."
Sa-Rang quickly disappeared into the capsule. It wasn’t merely because she felt embarrassed.
'He picked Flashy Blade.'
Even she found today's match interesting. She wanted to watch it properly from the beginning.
Almond swung his sword forward while facing SweetRadish.
"Huh!? Are they starting even before the minions arrive?! Almond just charged in!"
The minions hadn't arrived yet. It was a fight solely between Almond and SweetRadish.
"Isn't this exciting!? Could this be a Level 1 fight!?"
"Although they say Flashy Blade only truly starts at Level 6, Level 1 fights are as intense for Wind Sword! Getting hit once with Blade Energy will still do incredible damage!"
Players commonly said Flashy Blade was weak until Level 6. To be more precise, Flashy Blade was strong in Level 1 fights and weak between Levels 2 to 5.
However, players generally thought Flashy Blade only became stronger at Level 6 since anyone hardly ever fought at Level 1.
Such small details could be bothersome to remember, but Almond knew the importance of these small things.
He had to gain an advantage to comfortably level up to Level 6.
With a flash, Almond appeared out of thin air.
"He floated in the air and flashed!? It isn’t easy to attack like that!"
Contrary to OrangeKing's worry, Almond smoothly caught the blade in the air and swung it with his rotational force.
He swung the blade that he practiced with hundreds and thousands of times. Blue flames surged from the blade.
[Passive. The first attack after suddenly approaching and swinging at the enemy grants the Blade Energy effect. Blade Energy deals significant damage proportional to the enemy's lost health. Cooldown: 5 seconds.]
Flashy Blade’s passive, Blade Energy, activated after suddenly approaching the enemy from a distance.
"Blade Energy has activated!"
With a fierce noise, Blade Energy charged toward SweetRadish.
Bright red flames erupted, and a loud noise rang out.
"Oh, no! It's been blocked!"
"SweetRadish! He pretended to be off guard, right?"
The surprise attack had been blocked.
Just a moment ago, SweetRadish had been idly staring at a distant mountain and now suddenly smiled with a look of victory.
"Ah-ha! SweetRadish planned for all of this! He completely blocked the surprise attack! Almond is screwed!"
"Almond is... screwed?"
"Flashy Blade is only stronger than Wind Sword at Level 1 because of Blade Energy! It's over once that gets blocked! Flashy Blade has to get far away from the opponent to reactivate it, but that's impossible in this situation! SweetRadish wouldn't just watch and wait for that."
Now, Almond couldn't use Blade Energy again. He already used the Flash skill too.
It was SweetRadish's turn to attack.
The sword made of wind split the atmosphere.
It struck Almond’s upper body, and red blood scattered.
Almond admitted, 'He's fast.'
Indeed, the sword was quick and accurate. Even among challengers, SweetRadish’s attack was several times smoother than ForeverAlone's. Thanks to that, he could deliver two sword strikes with just that one opportunity to attack.
The sword moved differently from before because of the passive.
[The wind is always by my side.]
[Passive. Wind Sword will gain more wind with each hit, increasing the attack power and the sword's length. Maximum of 10 stacks. Will last 5 seconds per stack.]
The sword grew longer due to the passive and became lethal in one-on-one close combat. Moreover, the wind sword was made of wind and hard to see.
Almond had to dodge just by roughly guessing the wind’s silhouette. He thought it would've been better if he instinctively ducked.
Almond bent his waist back with all his might, and a strong wind passed across his chest.
"Wow. In this case, he can take one hit and run away again, right?"
"Let's call it a tie!"
Although it was a dangerous attack, Almond successfully dodged it.
Now, he could run away.
The opponent also retreated from Almond while attacking, but Almond only focused on the Flash cooldown.
Almond wanted to try one more time. His plan started now.
“Fights between masters are always a game of numbers and physical ability.”
Tako had taught him that.
“Like chess, you must continuously put the opponent into check.”
Yes, the first attack was nothing but a check.
Almond stepped forward.
“In the end, you corner them with checkmate.”
Almond kicked off the ground, and dust scattered.
'If my calculations are correct, a check is needed three times...'
The casters wondered why as Almond rushed forward again instead of retreating.
"Almond! Aren't you running away?"
"Without Blade Energy, a frontal battle will be tough!"
"What are you thinking, Almond?"
Almond quickly charged in and thrust an attack as if to answer them.
SweetRadish lightly parried it.
"His thrust attack was blocked!"
"SweetRadish's reaction speed! It's really fast!"
Almond didn't care. He turned and kicked off again toward the parried blow. He wanted to close the distance again so the long wind sword with an advantage would become a cumbersome obstacle, but SweetRadish wouldn't allow that so easily.
SweetRadish retreated while swinging his sword upward.
Almond quickly twisted his waist to dodge.
Again, they repeated their actions.
The blade and wind sword collided.
The blade thrust forward, and the sword parried. It was a battle between one trying to penetrate and the other trying to repel.
Almond thrust forward while moving and turning. SweetRadish retreated while adjusting his stance. It looked like they were dancing.
— Is this a level 1 fight?
The two weapons ping-ponged back and forth like a table tennis rally, but every rally had an end.
Almond won this time. His blade eventually found an opening.
A harsh noise rang out as the blade rushed toward SweetRadish's neck.
'This is the second check.'
There was no way his wind sword could block at this angle. The blade grew closer to SweetRadish’s neck. When only a few inches were left…
"SweetRadish! He dodged by twisting his neck at the last moment!"
SweetRadish lightly twisted his neck and dodged. He only received a shallow scratch and suffered no changes to his health.
Almond's attack had missed. However, his face was filled with confidence.
After all, Almond wasn’t aiming to cut his neck. The purpose from the beginning was to close the distance!
When SweetRadish hesitated while twisting his neck, Almond fully closed in until their chests touched.
"Huh?! Almond completely stuck to SweetRadish!"
"Doesn't this mean they can't hit each other?!"
"I don't think so...?!"
Although the long wind sword couldn't attack, Flashy Blade could.
Almond gripped his blade in reverse and stuck out his hand toward SweetRadish's back. Then he immediately exerted his strength and stabbed into the opponent's back.
The blade dug in deeply. At this point, sufficient damage would be dealt.
"Since Flashy Blade can only use one sword right now, he can grab and stab the opponent!"
SweetRadish's health dropped after the successful attack.
On the other hand, SweetRadish tried to slash at Almond with the wind sword, but their distance was too close. It couldn’t be considered an attack as the sword simply rubbed against Almond.
"The distance is too close, so the wind sword's length actually gets in the way! SweetRadish can't stab or slash!"
"On the other hand, Almond keeps stabbing! He even stabbed while hugging him!"
Almond didn't stop once he started stabbing.
Plenty of blood spurted out from SweetRadish's back.
"SweetRadish has to quickly escape! He needs to distance himself right away!"
"That won't be easy! SweetRadish has to move back to escape while Almond is moving forward to follow him! There’s a definite speed difference between them!"
SweetRadish tried to create some distance by stepping back, but there was naturally a speed difference between going back and going forward. He struggled to create enough distance while Almond easily caught him and stabbed his back again.
— What the hell is this lol.
— Utilizing the range difference is awesome. Is this his first time using this?
— His skill is almost at an artisan level.
— Is level 1 Flashy Blade this strong?
"Ah! SweetRadish! His health is dropping sharply!"
SweetRadish finally found some room to escape when his health hit rock bottom. An opening in the lower left appeared. He quickly kicked off and succeeded in getting out.
"Fi-Finally, he gets out!? But his health has dropped too much!"
"It's fortunate that he blocked that last attack. If it landed, he would've died!"
SweetRadish finally escaped from Almond.
The audience and the casters simultaneously sighed.
— He couldn't kill him.
— But it looks like Almond will gain a lot in the laning phase.
"No! Almond must be disappointed! He could've gone all the way!"
"It's hard to reactivate the passive at Level 1. It's unfortunate. However, the laning phase is in a favorable situation for him now... Wait, what!?"
OrangeKing suddenly noticed something and banged the table as he stood up.
With a dazzling light, Almond appeared behind SweetRadish.
— When did he throw his blade?
— He flashed without the blade?
Almond had used Flash without throwing the blade behind SweetRadish.
OrangeKing shouted while everyone questioned this, "Oh, no! The blade was stabbed into SweetRadish’s back!"
— SweetRadish is screwed now.
Almond had deliberately let SweetRadish escape. Why?
Blue flame enveloped the blade as he activated the passive.
"Th-he blade's passive! It activated again! Almond closed the distance again!"
"Thi-This is dangerous! The passive deals damage proportional to lost health! The lower the health, the more damage it’ll be!"
Almond pulled out the blade that was stabbed into SweetRadish’s back.
A burning light stretched to the left, and Almond rotated in the air. Power transferred from his thighs, waist, and shoulders immediately to the blade.
Almond slashed through the opponent in front of him.
He finally succeeded in the first kill that he imagined.
[Almond → SweetRadish]
Almond had killed SweetRadish for the first time.