***
***
Seong Jihan’s actions upon arriving in the US drew a lot of attention from many people.
Especially the broadcast team that had come to the New York BattleNet Center early for the Space League match against the World Tree Elves.
In the pre-game broadcast before the start of the Space League game, they live-streamed the US national team players coming out of the center’s medical room after receiving treatment.
=Oh… The national team players are coming out after receiving treatment from the medical staff!
=According to the coaching staff, they will be participating in the Space League right away!
=It is said that player Seong Jihan, after Korea, has also freed all the US players.
=That’s really fortunate. The timing was tight!
=It’s not because I’m American, but the US national team accounts for a significant portion of the Space League representative team’s power! We have a match against the league’s No. 1 World Tree Elves 200 coming up, so they were freed at a good time!
The World Tree Elves 200, who were leading the Space League.
Humanity’s power to face them had been greatly shaken because of Gilgamesh.
Although Seong Jihan had resolved this just before,
“Ah… I don’t know if we can properly play the Space League match.”
“My physical condition has recovered, but the mental fatigue hasn’t been relieved.”
The US players, who had been pretending to be fine until entering the Space League,
showed tired expressions as soon as they entered the game and the humanity representative team’s waiting room.
The Korean national team players at least had 2 days to rest, but the US players had to participate in the match right after being freed.
Moreover,
“Ugh… The stat bonuses from the King of Humans’s sponsorship have all disappeared since it was cut off.”
“Do you want to receive that bastard’s sponsorship? I still have trauma from being left with just a head back then.”
“No, I’m just saying…”
“The bonuses are regrettable though. The effects were considerable.”
The constellation bonuses given by the King of Humans were famous for having the highest benefits among the various known constellations.
The players whose constellation sponsorship was cut off lamented this.
Still,
“Player Seong Jihan. Could you perhaps free me too…?”
“I accepted it because they said the King of Humans was such a good constellation, but I was shocked after seeing the final match.”
“The bonuses may be good, but I don’t want to be brainwashed for that.”
Among the players from other countries, excluding the Korean and US players, those who received Gilgamesh’s sponsorship were horrified after watching the finals match and approached Seong Jihan, who had a solution for this.
The number totaled 25.
“Got it. Besides these people, are there any more?”
“…”
When Seong Jihan glanced at the other players, excluding the 25, a few of them avoided his gaze.
Then, Sophia, who had been watching this from behind, approached Seong Jihan’s side.
“Uh, Jihan. It’s strange. That player over there, Martinez, definitely bragged about it on SNS, right? Later, he criticized Jihan, saying we should follow the king’s orders.”
“Really? Come out.”
“Ugh. Urk. I-I’m fine! I will continue to serve the king!”
Then, Martinez tried to run away from Seong Jihan.
It seemed that he had served the constellation King of Humans for a long time, so loyalty to the king was already deeply imprinted in him.
‘This won’t do.’
Martinez wasn’t the only one hiding like that.
On this occasion, I should eliminate the remnants of Gilgamesh hiding among the Space League representative team players.
“Everyone, excuse me for a moment.”
Then, Seong Jihan began writing the domination code.
He wrote on each of the 25 gathered before him, erasing it when Gilgamesh retreated.
“L-Loyalty…! Ah. Thank you for freeing me.”
“Ah. The constellation…disappeared!”
“The stats have been greatly reduced…”
After resolving the 25, he went to each of the remaining players and wrote and erased the domination code.
“Ah. I-I’m fine, you know?!”
“Ugh. Urk…! Please. Don’t! Leave me to be loyal to the king!”
Most of the players here didn’t have the King of Humans as their constellation, but Seong Jihan didn’t care and completely uprooted those related to the King of Humans.
“…Uncle, isn’t that tiring?”
Yoon Seah asked Seong Jihan, who was writing and erasing the domination code for each player one by one, with a worried face, but,
“It’s fine.”
Seong Jihan finished the work on all the players in the waiting room with a body that wasn’t tired at all.
The amount of life force used to write the code was enormous, but the power of the stat ‘Eternity’ fully compensated for it.
‘The name Eternity really suits this stat.’
Although the maximum amount of power supply he could receive was only equivalent to stat points 2, as long as he bound Eternity with Heavenly Tree Descending Spirit, it kept coming in.
If the Eternity stat rose to 3, he would be able to use the life force corresponding to 3 infinitely within his body.
‘Still, it’s not possible to put the life force from Eternity back in to develop it.’
The power from Eternity could only be consumed.
Storing it back into Eternity to accumulate and develop the World Tree form wasn’t feasible.
If that were possible, the Eternity stat would have already self-developed continuously.
‘Is that why it’s an incomplete stat?’
Thinking so, Seong Jihan released the chains of Heavenly Tree Descending Spirit inside his body.
“Are you done with the work?”
“Yes, it’s done.”
“That’s a relief. The power has inevitably weakened, but there won’t be much difference in front of the World Tree Elves.”
Coach Davis, who approached Seong Jihan, looked around at the players.
“I have something to tell you all.”
“What is it…?”
“As a result of the coaching staff meeting, humanity will not ban or select this time. And…”
* * *
The Space League match began.
On the broadcast screen watched by all of humanity, the representative of the World Tree Elves 200, who had the same appearance as the previous World Tree Elves 71,
The Elf High Priest made a declaration first.
“We will definitely execute your No. 1 today.”
The public opinion was in an uproar at the elves’ death sentence.
-Ha, those bastards are trying to pull something again…
-But if they used the ban card, they can’t change the game options, right?
-They didn’t select. I think they’ll mess with the map at the end.
-No, what kind of game has a map that does whatever it wants ?
However, when the opponent leading the league undefeated said that, they couldn’t help but worry.
-Looking at the ban card they used, it seems like a strategy to definitely win the 1st and 2nd matches.
-If Seong Jihan gets banned, our chances of winning are slim.
-Then, after losing the 1st and 2nd matches, will they lose the 3rd and 4th matches and bring out another bizarre map in the 5th match?
-But if the game options don’t change, how will they execute?
-Who knows. Maybe an instant death map will appear…
-I’m afraid that might really happen;
Like the ‘Tuseong’ map they saw in the recent Champions League finals, viewers were afraid of what strange map might pop out again.
But,
“We won’t just take it lying down.”
Coach Davis smiled as if he had already anticipated this and didn’t take out the ban and select cards given to him.
The Elf High Priest’s eyebrows twitched at that.
“You’re not using the cards.”
“We can’t fall for your strategy again. It seems you’ll summon a specific map, so we’ll save the cards and do the same.”
=Oh! Coach Davis. He looks confident!
=What’s the meaning of saving the cards like this?
=Ah… I think he plans to designate a map in the 5th match by saving the select cards like the opponent! If both teams designate a map, one of the two will be randomly selected!
=Ah! Then it will be determined by a 50 percent chance whether humanity’s map or the World Tree Elves’ map will be selected!
=This is good. It’s an excellent countermeasure!
Coach Davis’s counter-strategy prepared for the match against the World Tree Elves.
This was one of the scenarios humanity had thought of in advance.
‘If the World Tree Elves hadn’t banned player Seong Jihan, we would have easily won the game.’
The World Tree Elves, who had shown a powerful appearance in the previous match.
But Seong Jihan was a monster surpassing them.
If the World Tree Elves didn’t use the ban card and select card like last time, saying they would execute 20 percent of the players, humanity could put Seong Jihan at the forefront and crush the World Tree Elves just like that.
However,
‘They’re not fools either, so they must have thought they couldn’t beat player Seong Jihan. Then, the card they would use is banning the No. 1 ranker. The choices diverge from here.’
Will they tie up Seong Jihan and do their best to win the game?
Or will they mess around with the select card again?
The staff of the Space League representative team considered both possibilities and devised a strategy.
If they use both the ban and select cards, we’ll do the same.
If it seems like they’ll mess around with the select card,
‘We’ll also save them and reduce the probability of selecting a special map to 50 percent.’
No matter what map they pull out with the select card, humanity can’t beat the World Tree Elves without Seong Jihan anyway.
So, the strategy analysis team of the humanity representative team agreed to block their special map selection as well.
Meanwhile, Seong Jihan watched the situation on the screen and thought,
‘It ended up like this in my previous life too.’
The races that suffered the World Tree Elves’ executions countered like this from the next match, not using their cards either.
In fact, this strategy didn’t completely block the World Tree Elves’ strategy, so they ended up being executed with a 50 percent probability,
but it was still better than 100 percent.
However, there was a problem with this too.
‘When the cards were sealed, the elves couldn’t be beaten at all.’
The World Tree Elves were already powerful.
When the strategically important ban and select cards were also sealed against them, the possibility of winning in battle was 0 percent.
And then,
=The match begins!
This applied to the current humanity as well.
=It’s the Lone Bridge map. The Sword King is blocking the enemy at the front, but…
=Ah… The Elf High Priest! When she reaches out her hand to the sky, meteors fall in large numbers!
=Still, they are somehow enduring it by putting up a protective barrier, but…
The two races clashed on a single bridge.
The power of the World Tree Elves was overwhelming.
Although humanity had developed a lot compared to the first match of the Space League,
-Ah. We’re being pushed back…
-The elves sure are strong
-Ah, look at that arm getting cut off and growing back right away;
-What kind of crazy race are we matched with? Where the hell is balance, really.
-Ugh, the barrier is breaking… The meteors are piercing right through;
-Wow, but look at the bridge being fine even after the meteors fall, haha. How did Seong Jihan get rid of the bridge last time?
-That was Dragon Breath, haha.
-Ah, the Sword King’s head flew off from a wooden sword…
-It’s over.
The 1st match ended quickly.
Afterward, in the coach’s room shown on the screen,
“Are you going to keep not using the cards? Then it will be the same as the 1st match.”
The Elf High Priest said that with a smirk, but,
“It’s the same even if we use them. Humanity still can’t beat a monstrous race like you.”
“Heh… At least you know your place.”
Coach Davis didn’t waver.
No matter how many of those monstrous elves they banned, it wouldn’t change the game anyway.
‘Still, we endured a bit longer than before.’
Coach Davis considered that a gain and saved the cards in the 2nd match as well.
Then, the elves took out the No. 1 ranker ban card again.
=We lost the 2nd match too…!
=The wall of the World Tree Elves is too high.
=Coach Davis’s judgment seems to be correct. They are not opponents we can beat even if we ban them!
=That’s right!
With the World Tree Elves leading 2:0 like that, the Space League match entered the 3rd match.
The Elf High Priest withdrew the Seong Jihan ban card and smiled,
“Let that monster come out now.”
“You must be thinking of losing from now on.”
“Who knows?”
The Elf High Priest smiled at Coach Davis.
She deliberately released Seong Jihan, and she seemed determined to go all the way to the 5th match.
Seeing that, Davis also smiled back.
“Let’s wait and see.”
And so, the 3rd match began.
=Uh… The lineup is a bit strange.
=Player Seong Jihan’s ban was definitely lifted, but,
=He’s not participating?
=Moreover, the main players aren’t coming out, and they are all second-string level…
The commentators were surprised to see the players representing humanity.
The players who appeared this time were low-level among the national team players. They were not players who could be selected as starters by any means. The situation was surprising enough just from the lineup, but this was only the beginning.
“Inventory.”
The players who participated like that took out daggers with a red glow from their inventory and then,
“…Let’s go!”
“Yes!”
Poof!
They all stabbed their own chests at once.
Flash!
Then, the players logged out one by one.
=Ah, no…!
=The humanity representative team players… they are committing suicide!!
The commentators screamed upon seeing this.
‘They really did it.’
Seong Jihan, who couldn’t participate in the 3rd match, watched this and recalled the coach’s words from a little while ago.
***
***
