Chapter 249. shy de (1)
Thud.
Sa-Rang hung up the phone and handed it to the butler.
"He doesn''t seem to have said anything in particr 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 himst 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 contemted 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 minorpared 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''s gettingte."
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 modtion during the call earlier?"
The hand pressing the wheelchair button hesitated for a second.
"Oh..."
"?"
"Ah, yes. Of course."
The butler narrowed his eyes. He was certain she had forgotten.
"Anyway, I''ll see youter."
Sa-Rang quickly disappeared into the capsule. It wasn’t merely because she felt embarrassed.
''He picked shy de.''
Even she found today''s match interesting. She wanted to watch it properly from the beginning.
***
Almond swung his sword forward while facing SweetRadish.
Whoosh!
"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 shy de only truly starts at Level 6, Level 1 fights are as intense for Wind Sword! Getting hit once with de Energy will still do incredible damage!"
yersmonly said shy de was weak until Level 6. To be more precise, shy de was strong in Level 1 fights and weak between Levels 2 to 5.
However, yers generally thought shy de 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 tofortably level up to Level 6.
[sh]
Snap!
With a sh, Almond appeared out of thin air.
"He floated in the air and shed!? It isn’t easy to attack like that!"
Contrary to OrangeKing''s worry, Almond smoothly caught the de in the air and swung it with his rotational force.
Whoosh!
He swung the de that he practiced with hundreds and thousands of times. Blue mes surged from the de.
Sizzle!
[de Energy]
[Passive. The first attack after suddenly approaching and swinging at the enemy grants the de Energy effect. de Energy deals significant damage proportional to the enemy''s lost health. Cooldown: 5 seconds.]
shy de’s passive, de Energy, activated after suddenly approaching the enemy from a distance.
"de Energy has activated!"
With a fierce noise, de Energy charged toward SweetRadish.
Bright red mes erupted, and a loud noise rang out.
Ka-boom!!
"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 nned for all of this! Hepletely blocked the surprise attack! Almond is screwed!"
"Almond is... screwed?"
"shy de is only stronger than Wind Sword at Level 1 because of de Energy! It''s over once that gets blocked! shy de 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 de Energy again. He already used the sh skill too.
It was SweetRadish''s turn to attack.
Whoosh!
The sword made of wind split the atmosphere.
Swoosh!
It struck Almond’s upper body, and red blood scattered.
[LazySoldier]
[HP: 92%]
Almond admitted, ''He''s fast.''
Indeed, the sword was quick and urate. 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.
Whoosh!
''It''sing again.''
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. Willst 5 seconds per stack.]
The sword grew longer due to the passive and became lethal in one-on-one closebat. 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.
''Is this it?''
Inhale.
Almond bent his waist back with all his might, and a strong wind passed across his chest.
"He dodged it?"
"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 sessfully dodged it.
Now, he could run away.
The opponent also retreated from Almond while attacking, but Almond only focused on the sh cooldown.
''2 seconds.''
Almond wanted to try one more time. His n 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.”
Stomp!
Almond kicked off the ground, and dust scattered.
''If my calctions 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 de 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.
ng!
"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 be 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.
ng!
Again, they repeated their actions.
ng! ng!
The de and wind sword collided.
The de thrust forward, and the sword parried. It was a battle between one trying to prate and the other trying to repel.
ng! ng!
Almond thrust forward while moving and turning. SweetRadish retreated while adjusting his stance. It looked like they were dancing.
— Wow, insane.
— It''s thrilling.
— Is this a level 1 fight?
— What, so fast?
— Whoa, whoa, whoa!!
ng! ng! ng!
The two weapons ping-ponged back and forth like a table tennis rally, but every rally had an end.
Almond won this time. His de eventually found an opening.
Shrring!
A harsh noise rang out as the de rushed toward SweetRadish''s neck.
''This is the second check.''
There was no way his wind sword could block at this angle. The de grew closer to SweetRadish’s neck. When only a few inches were left…
"SweetRadish! He dodged by twisting his neck at thest moment!"
Swish!
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.
Chin—
"Huh?! Almondpletely 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, shy de could.
Flick.
Almond gripped his de in reverse and stuck out his hand toward SweetRadish''s back. Then he immediately exerted his strength and stabbed into the opponent''s back.
''Third check.''
Thud!
The de dug in deeply. At this point, sufficient damage would be dealt.
"Since shy de can only use one sword right now, he can grab and stab the opponent!"
[SweetRadish]
[HP: 92%]
SweetRadish''s health dropped after the sessful attack.
On the other hand, SweetRadish tried to sh 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 sh!"
"On the other hand, Almond keeps stabbing! He even stabbed while hugging him!"
Thud!
Almond didn''t stop once he started stabbing.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
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.
— Chuckie meta, 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 shy de this strong?
"Ah! SweetRadish! His health is dropping sharply!"
[SweetRadish]
[HP: 23%]
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 seeded in getting out.
"Fi-Finally, he gets out!? But his health has dropped too much!"
"It''s fortunate that he blocked thatst attack. If itnded, he would''ve died!"
SweetRadish finally escaped from Almond.
The audience and the casters simultaneously sighed.
— Damn.
— He couldn''t kill him.
— But it looks like Almond will gain a lot in thening 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, thening phase is in a favorable situation for him now... Wait, what!?"
OrangeKing suddenly noticed something and banged the table as he stood up.
[sh]
sh!
With a dazzling light, Almond appeared behind SweetRadish.
— What!?
— When did he throw his de?
— He shed without the de?
Almond had used sh without throwing the de behind SweetRadish.
OrangeKing shouted while everyone questioned this, "Oh, no! The de was stabbed into SweetRadish’s back!"
— Wow, that''s true!
— Creepy;
— SweetRadish is screwed now.
Almond had deliberately let SweetRadish escape. Why?
[de Energy]
Whoosh!
Blue me enveloped the de as he activated the passive.
"Th-he de''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 de that was stabbed into SweetRadish’s back.
Swish—
A burning light stretched to the left, and Almond rotated in the air. Power transferred from his thighs, waist, and shoulders immediately to the de.
''Check... mate.''
Almond shed through the opponent in front of him.
sh!
He finally seeded in the first kill that he imagined.
[First Blood!]
[Almond → SweetRadish]
Almond had killed SweetRadish for the first time.