Ian won against the Dark Sorcerer CoolHuni and made it to the finals. He then met the opponent he
had expected.
‘Just as I thought, he made it to the finals.’
It was the Assassin Limlong who had shown great skills since the first round of the preliminaries.
Ian got tense, ‘This round will be really hard.’
Apart from the times where he had a match himself, Ian had seen all of Limlong’s matches.
The more he watched, the more impressed he was.
‘He has used nothing but the basic skills of an Assassin to reach the finals.’
That was the scariest part.
Ian had seen all of his matches, but he didn’t know even one of Limlong’s hidden cards.
He just knew that Limlong had a great control ability.
However, Ian had revealed everything he had during the previous match with Huni.
“You must be Ian. I saw your quarterfinals match. It was quite impressive.”
Limlong came to Ian first and stretched out his hand.
Ian nodded and shook his hand.
It was the finals of the Rookies’ League.
The match would take place in the main field of the Empire Arena and a huge crowd had come to see
the match.
It was the hugest crowd of the Rookies’ League ever since Kailan opened.
Everyone had great expectation. Next, system message announced the beginning of the match.
Cheers went up here and there.
“Yeah!”
“Limlong, I’m your fan!”
“Ian, show them the true power of the Summoner!”
The two users had shown the greatest talents in this Rookies’ League, so people’s excitement had
reached its peak.
Ian summoned his pets and studied his opponent.
Limlong looked calm, just as he had been in every match.
The eyes that could be seen through the gap in his bandana were piercing.
‘The Summoner class is not good against the Assassin class. Especially the Taming Master hidden
class, which specializes in Taming and raising pets…’
The only way to react to Limlong’s Invisibility skill was to use his senses and reflexes to minimize the
damage of the first attack.
As the match began, Ian stared at Limlong.
Ian had thought Limlong would use Invisibility immediately. However, Limlong didn’t. He just walked
toward Ian slowly.
‘What is it? Is he saving the Invisibility skill?’
The Invisibility skill was the Assassin’s most important skill. It was acknowledged to be one of the best
skills for 1:1 pvp.
It was a hiding skill optimized for surprise attacks!
However, the downside of Invisibility was that its cooldown time was 10 minutes.
As Assasins gained levels, he might get a higher version of Invisibility and the cooldown time may
decrease greatly then.
However, there was no Assassin who could learn high-rank skills yet, so no one knew.
‘Well, I would use the Invisibility skill in the most critical moment if I were him. If he used the Invisibility
skill at the beginning and failed at assassinating me, he would be in big trouble.’
Till now, Limlong had used the Invisibility skill as soon as the match began, so Ian had thought he
would do so this time as well.
‘He fought like that because he thought he was fighting easy opponents… so, is he acknowledging
me as a worthy opponent?’
The two users got closer and closer.
Limlong started first, he leaped up into the air while Ian concentrated hard on his movement.
Next, when Limlong got near Big Guy, Ian quickly gave an order.
“Big Guy! Ice Wave!”
The Assassin was way faster than Ian, so he had to slow him down first.
Limlong was so fast that Ian couldn’t hit him with the Lightning Spheres.
He needed to use Big Guy’s wide-range slowdown skill.
Bam-!
Big Guy stamped his feet and an Ice Wave spread.
But then…
“Shadow Move!”
Limlong, who had been up in the air, vanished.
‘What-what?!’
Ian was confused, he could see that it wasn’t Invisibility.
If it had been Invisibility, Limlong’s shadow would have been gone, but it was still there.
A while later, Limlong jumped out of his shadow.
“Gasp-!”
Ian gasped.
‘He avoided Ice Wave?!’
Ice Wave was a wide-range skill.
It could not be avoided as long as Limlong was in the range.
However, Limlong moved to the shadow that was at the far side of the field because of the angle from
the sunlight and avoided Ice Wave.
Ian realized something, ‘Shadow! It must be a hidden class that has something to do with shadows!’
He had never heard of something like the skill Limlong just used being one of the Assassin’s basic
skills.
Ian had anticipated it, but now he was sure. Limlong had a hidden class.
While Ian was surprised, Limlong got close to him again fast.
“Ly, Frenzy!”
Growl-!
Ly lunged at Limlong as if it had been waiting for that.
Ian used the Lightning Spheres skill to form balls of lightning in both hands and focused on Limlong.
Limlong would have to dodge Ly’s attacks, so Ian would be able to anticipate Limlong’s route and he
was going to throw the Lightning Spheres in that direction.
Even if Ian could not hit Limlong, he would be able to stop Limlong and Ly would be able to bite him.
The moment Ly and Limlong clashed into each other…
Limlong disappeared again.
‘Shadow Move again?’
Ian frowned, opponents with many variables were tricky to handle.
As Limlong, who had moved through the shadow, leaped up, Ian threw the Lightning Spheres in that
direction.
‘Shadow Move’s cooldown time will end now!’
Limlong would not be able to avoid this attack without Shadow Move.
Even though Limlong was nimble, he couldn’t change the direction midair.
But then, Limlong stretched out his hand, seven daggers were thrown.
‘What is that?!’
Ian was confused. Limlong didn’t throw the daggers to Ian or Ly, he threw them into the air.
More accurately, he threw them on top of Ian’s head.
‘Does he think I will stand and be stabbed by the daggers as they rain down on me?’
Ian quickly leaped away to where daggers wouldn’t fall.
No, he was about to leap.
However…
“Hup!”
The daggers’ shadow moved as if they were alive and flew toward Ian.
There was no way to avoid them.
Kwang-!
Ian was attacked by Shadow Flying Dagger. Cold sweat ran down his back.
‘How can he have such great Attack Force?!’
Limlong’s Attack Force was massive.
Additionally, he couldn’t move, so he could not avoid the daggers as they rained down on him.
Counting the additional damages, Ian got 7000 damages in total.
‘I lost this much Health to one attack…’
However, he wasn’t the only one who was hurt.
Lightning Spheres and Ly also inflicted damages to Limlong.
The bad news was that Ly’s attack was not a fatal blow because Ian had been surprised by Shadow
Flying Dagger and hadn’t been able to use the Aiming Weak Spot skill.
‘But it’s good that he has been Paralyzed!’
Ian used Lightning Spheres again and formed balls of lightning in both of his hands.
He then lunged at Limlong as the Assassin also lunged at him.
‘I should go straight. I still have about 40% Health left, so I must use myself as bait and make Ly
attack him.’
Limlong was too fast. To inflict him proper damage, Ian had to take some risks.
Limlong was slower now because of the Paralyzing effect, so it was a good chance for Ian.
‘The Assassin’s Health is as little as the Dark Sorcerer!’
Ian was going to give his flesh and take the bone.
However, at that moment…
Limlong, who had been running toward Ian, vanished once more.
‘What? He doesn’t have a shadow to move through this time!’
Ian’s eyes widened.
Limlong had been running on the field, so Ian thought he couldn’t move using Shadow Move.
‘Is it Invisibility?’
However, Limlong’s shadow was still there.
‘Where are you?!’
Ian stopped moving.
Then, something crossed Ian’s mind.
‘Maybe my shadow…’
Ian trusted his instincts.
There was no time to hesitate.
Ian threw the Lightning spheres behind him.
And…
Ian was right.
Limlong, who had been moving through Ian’s shadow, was hit by Lightning Spheres.
However, Limlong was already near Ian and he calmly continued to attack.
But there was something he hadn’t expected on Ian’s back.
“Huo!”
Limlong looked surprised for the first time.
However, he remained calm and attacked Ian again.
Limlong stabbed Ian’s body parts that weren’t covered by Bukbuk with his dagger.
“Shit!”
Ian had been relived a little because Bukbuk protected him, but he braced himself again at seeing
Limlong attack him again.
‘He uses skills creatively.’
Because of the two critical damages followed by Bleeding, Ian’s Health was almost 0 now.
“First Aid!”
Ian urgently used the First Aid skill.
However, it could only recover the Health lost by the additional damages of Bleeding…
Limlong had succeeded on inflicting Ian critical damage. He had gotten away from Ian and was
watching him from afar.
“Shit…”
Ian had lost too much Health in an instant.
Ian had found out a lot about Limlong’s hidden cards, but he could not overturn the tide now.
‘I cannot give up so early.’
Ian had been in danger in the previous match against CoolHuni, but he had won using his wits.
Ian caught his breath.
Then…
Seeing that the Bleeding effect didn’t kill Ian, Limlong started to move again to finish him.
‘Well, what are you going to show me this time?’
One blow and Ian would lose.
‘He cannot have more hidden skills.’
There were limits to hidden skills that could be owned by a Lv. 50 user.
There were no variables now.
Ian concentrated even harder.
‘I have only one chance. One fatal blow of Ly can change things!’
They got close to each other.
And, the next second, they started to run toward each other.
Limlong’s sharp dagger almost reached Ian.
In that short moment, Ian used his last card.
“Twisting Space!”
Ian was going to get near Limlong and make Ly inflict him a fatal blow.
Growl-!
Ly, who was in Ian’s place now, received Limlong’s attack instead and bit his shoulder.
Seeing Ly succeed, Ian was excited.
‘Great!’
Limlong’s name started to blink fast.
Ian thought. He had guessed Limlong’s skills since he saw the shadow, but he had received too much
damage from skills he had never seen before. He was in disadvantage.
However, if he dragged the time to make Ly’s Bleeding effect work, Limlong’s Health would be drained
too.
Ian could now defend himself from attacks Limlong gave by moving through his shadow, so all he had
to do was not let Limlong get too close to him.
Limlong also knew that. Therefore, he then threw two daggers instead of using Shadow Move.
Ian had been prepared. He spun fast to parry them.
‘You are so persistent!’
If Ian could survive a few more seconds and make Limlong get the full damages from Bleeding, he
still had a chance.
Ian clenched his teeth and focused. But then, Limlong used Shadow Flying Dagger again.
“Shadow Flying Dagger!”
The shadows of Limlong’s daggers that Ian had parried changed direction.
Whoosh-!
They flew toward Ian from both sides.
Ian dodged one of them and threw Lightning Spheres. He was going to use Bukbuk to block the other
dagger.
Ly and Big Guy were lunging at Limlong.
That critical moment, the dagger shook a little and suddenly glowed in black. It moved into Ian’s
shadow.
System messages came up.
‘Ha…’
Ian knew that it was over.
He smiled bitterly as the system message announced Limlong’s victory.
Ian lowered his head as he was displaced from the Arena.
‘Ah… if I had been 1 second faster… no, if I hadn’t started like that.’
He acknowledged that his enemy was great, but he couldn’t help but feel bad.
‘I played offense too early.’
Ian blamed himself for not playing defense in the beginning and force Limlong to reveal all his hidden
cards.
Of course, he had succeeded on countering. However, because of the characteristics of the Assassin
that inflicted a huge damage in an instant, he still received a big damage in the middle of the match.
“Huu…”
Ian sighed with regret again.