For a brief moment, my vision went dark, and then I felt the salty taste of tears at the tip of my nose.
Before my obscured vision could return, I felt the drizzle of rain against my skin.
The floor beneath me swayed strangely, and the creaking sound—“kkeeeeeeek!”—of the tormented wooden planks filled the air.
My senses had already started hinting at what this battlefield would entail, even before the system message appeared.
Sure enough, as soon as my eyes adjusted, a gloomy indigo-gray sky greeted me.
[Infinity Arena First Round – Qualifiers – Round 3]
[Battlefield: The Place Where Storms Sleep]
[Opponent: Unknown Adventurer (Witch)]
[Combat will begin in 3 minutes.]
[Note: Please inspect your Equipment, Traits, and Skills before the fight begins. Modifications will not be possible once combat starts.]
“The Place Where Storms Sleep” was a battlefield set amidst the wreckage of sunken ships.
True to its watery setting, relentless waves battered the ruins, causing the broken debris of ships to tilt unpredictably, making the ground unstable. Furthermore, the heavy rain that poured down, coupled with the darkness of early dawn, made it almost impossible to detect any hidden enemies.
This wasn’t a bad environment for an assassin. The more the battlefield restricted movement and awareness, the easier it was for me to stage a surprise attack.
But the problem was that the opponent’s advantages were also formidable.
“Why do I have to face a witch here of all places?”
Under other battlefield conditions, I would’ve easily had the upper hand against her. However, this rain-drenched sea might as well be the witch’s home field.
I stood on a piece of a shattered ship, and the rain, which had been falling since I arrived, had already soaked my clothes. If I were to be struck by the witch’s signature lightning magic in this condition, it was as clear as day that my health bar would drain significantly. Each hit could be fatal for an already fragile assassin like myself.
“As always, if I can’t score right at the first surprise attack, it’s going to be tough.”
But, oddly enough, this was actually a lucky turn of events. I was eager to try something out.
[Title: Riding the Black League’s Last Train!]
[‘SylphieRose’ is live streaming.]
[Notice: Automatic translation is active.]
With each step, the girl’s soles splashed against the water.
The faint light from the tip of her staff glided along the deck like a phantom.
The old hull appeared deserted, but her blue eyes roamed the surroundings, mindful of any lurking threats. After ensuring the safety of the sides and back, the girl finally spoke.
“The battlefield lucked out this time. My spawn position isn’t bad, either. I’ll check if there’s a wider area to secure a good spot first.”
– If it’s an assassin, I just need to time my moves right.
– If I secure my spot and rotate my familiars, I should be fine.
– Aren’t all the top assassins already in the second round?
– Shouldn’t Silph apologize for the “empty house” controversy?
“Empty house? Oh, come on, how can it be empty with me here? Now it’s a packed house.”
A playful chuckle rippled through the air, a sign of confidence that seemed to radiate from her slightly upward-curved lips.
This confidence wasn’t unfounded, either.
Silph, the recognized master of witches in the European league, had always been a solid player when using witches, despite character limitations that kept her out of the regular starting lineup.
In terms of handling the witch class, her skill was world-class. Considering the fact that most professional gamers and streamers who declared their participation in the arena had advanced to the second round, it was only natural that none of her viewers expected her to lose.
– Even assassins are manageable on the sea.
– Let’s aim for a 3-0 win and secure my spot in the qualifiers.
– Who is the opponent again? Some foreign guy?
– Since they’re not on any global broadcasts, they probably just entered out of boredom.
– Haha, what are the odds that Silph’s first round match is against that person?
In the midst of these comments, Silph started sensing something off.
“The Place Where Storms Sleep” isn’t a particularly large map. Though the wrecks are randomized, the battlefield’s size remains relatively consistent. Given an assassin’s mobility and stealth abilities, they should have spotted her a long time ago.
Yet the opponent remained unnervingly silent.
“This is strange. Why hasn’t he come out?”
In this setup, as the time dragged on, the assassin was putting themselves at a disadvantage. Unless their opponent was an amateur who had no idea about the common assassin-witch matchup, the only other conclusion was sinister intent.
Everyone has some sort of well-thought-out plan—until they get hit.
Silph pointed her staff toward the front of the ship.
[Familiar ‘3’ is dead. Marking its position.]
There was no need for the system message. She had already been keeping track of the familiars’ health and positions. Before the red indicator even appeared on her screen, a lightning bolt struck through the air.
The comments flowed rapidly:
– Reacts fast.
– That attack didn’t connect, right?
– Looks like he killed the familiar and then dodged immediately.
A fleeting shadow of an assassin appeared within the dark rain. They were faster than expected. Was it from sheer stats? Or was it due to a mobility-focused trait?
Whatever the case, it was far from standard configurations, and Silph raised her alert level accordingly.
Planning to cast her follow-up spells from a little further away, she sprinkled her magic around to cover her bases.
A powerful electromagnetic field rippled through the air, freezing the rain-soaked deck into sheets of ice.
No major hits were landed. The assassin, weaving through wrecks, seemed to have evaded her attack without too much damage. Watching her opponent glide across the frozen surface only irritated her further.
“Nice movement, but who the hell are you? Gotta check the nickname when this ends.”
Silph repositioned herself a little further back.
The basic principle in facing an assassin is maintaining distance. Not just “this ought to keep them at bay” but strategically standing just out of their reach is key, especially given how fast her opponent had proven to be.
Taking into account their initial stealth of 5-10 seconds, Silph couldn’t afford to be overly optimistic.
Thus, Silph didn’t let her guard down.
“Invisibility has been used. I’ll shoot as soon as it ends.”
Of all human senses, vision is the most relied upon. Invisibility, a technique that conceals your figure from sight, is widely considered one of the most powerful utilities in the game. However, by staying focused, there are ways to detect it.
For instance, in rainy conditions like these, you can spot the splashes created by stepping in the rain, even while invisible. Though it’s tricky to pin-point an attack, at least you can confirm your opponent’s presence.
Hold out until their invisibility timer ends.
Given this battlefield, where you have to navigate the wreck’s decks, hiding spots would run out soon. At most, 4 seconds… maybe 3. Smiling with confidence, Silph prepared her staff’s magic, getting ready to cast at exactly the right moment as her opponent’s invisibility time would surely be close to its limit.
“Where are you? Huh?”
The assassin’s figure didn’t reappear.
Did she misinterpret the initial invisibility usage?
No, not possible. Silph wasn’t called the witch master for nothing, having faced assassins in “The Place Where Storms Sleep” numerous times. Mistakes like that were simply out of the question.
If they weren’t where they were supposed to be, then they had to be somewhere unexpected.
Realizing this, Silph frantically scanned her surroundings. And just as her gaze turned to the sky…
A feeling of something tightening around her neck, followed by the sensation of being flipped, overwhelmed her.
“Huh…?”
The powerful force pulling her seemed as though she would scrape along the ground, causing immense pain, but the Infinity Black system filtered out excessive sensory inputs, allowing her to calmly assess her situation.
The sensation in her hand… it felt like… a chain?
So now, she was being dragged by a chain wrapped around her neck, huh? The more she thought about it, the more confused and chaotic the situation seemed.
Before she had even finished pondering, her body, thrown out of the ship’s hull, caught a glimpse of something—another assassin of similar height with flowing silver hair.
And the sharp edge of a blade at the end of the chain.
[Defeat.]
[vs. Gawol]
Gawol? Who the hell is she?
Silph sifted through pro gamer databases and internet broadcasting platforms for over an hour. She didn’t get satisfactory results. She found a few mentions but nothing suggesting the player had ventured into professional leagues or streaming.
Thus, the only thing left to do was analyze the replay to figure out where she went wrong.
“Huh, impressive. Who’d have thought that the game still has hidden experts like this? I must meet this person again before the finals.”
–At the same time, Da-eun was also watching the video of Gawol.
“What is this…?”
Not just on the forums but also across all major strategy websites, a recurring post seemed omnipresent.
It featured the “supposedly flirtatious” moments of her interactions with male characters. Some posts had even duplicated, appearing twice or three times with the same content. After seeing the hundreds of comments, Da-eun’s eyelids twitched nervously.
