Chapter 54: Arena Tournament(3)

The second day of the Arena Tournament had begun.

With everyone’s attention focused on the event, the main tournament was set to begin.

Unlike the preliminary round, where players only had to play 10 matches, they now had to complete 15 matches within just two hours.

As a result, all participants played in quiet, undisturbed locations.

Two hours passed.

It may have felt like a long time for some, but for the players competing in the Arena Tournament, it passed in the blink of an eye.

Once the main tournament ended, the profiles of the players advancing to the finals were revealed along with their match records.

As expected, most of the finalists were professional players from VRS.

However, the player with the highest win rate wasn’t one of them.

[Yeon]

15 wins, 0 losses

100% win rate

They were a pure Deron player, completely unrelated to VRS.

The result was unexpected.

No one had anticipated this outcome, and the online community erupted in chaos.

[Deron Online Gallery]

[Who is Yeon? 15-win streak is insane ㅋㅋㅋ] [2]

[15 wins? That’s gotta be a cheat record, right?] [2]

[Probably just got lucky with matchups ㅋㅋ The pros will win anyway] [4]

[Yeon is really a middle schooler, he’s in my class] [4]

[Doesn’t archery have aim assist?] [1]

[The best pros only got 10 wins though ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ] [2]

[Middle school girl!!! Middle school girl!!! Middle school girl!!!] [2]

[Did our gallery champion just join for the wings?] [5]

[Gallery champion’s soft and chewy cow.jpg] [22]

Due to Deron’s game company investing heavily in advertisements for streamers, many users who had only played VRS started flooding into the Deron Online Gallery.

The influx of new users was a good thing, but not everything about it was positive.

Some of these newcomers had a superiority complex.

They openly mocked dedicated Deron players, calling them old men or claiming they lacked mechanical skill.

Of course, not all of them were like that, but the loud minority naturally stood out the most.

Unusual users always attract more attention than ordinary ones.

Their posts, dominating the trending section and praising their own game, left many Deron players frustrated.

As VRS pros gradually adjusted to Deron’s Arena mode and started crushing the original Arena players, that loud minority became even more arrogant.

As a result, the Deron Online Gallery had been in complete shambles for the past week.

And in the middle of that chaos, Yeon’s match record was revealed.

But they didn’t believe it.

They were too busy trying to downplay the achievement, claiming it was just luck and that Yeon would be eliminated as soon as the finals began.

To them, Deron was nothing more than a P2W game that required no real skill.

And so, with all eyes now locked on Yeon, time passed, and the third day of the Arena Tournament arrived.

Finals – Day 1

Friday, October 14th, 7:00 PM.

The Round of 128 began.

The three-round, best-of-three tournament matches, lasting 50 minutes in total, had officially started.

Some people watched the broadcast, while others logged into Deron themselves to view the match directly.

Among all the streams, the one broadcasting Yeon’s match had the highest viewership.

A girl holding an ornate sword appeared on the screen.

She was a small girl, barely over 150 cm tall, gripping a sword shrouded in dark aura as she stared down her opponent.

Yeon’s opponent was a man wielding a long rapier.

Only one class could equip a rapier—Fencer.

Yeon took a slow breath as she observed her opponent standing before her.

[PTX-Kiki]

The tag at the beginning of his nickname indicated his affiliation with a professional team.

This meant that Kiki was a professional player who had come from VRS.

Before the match began, there was a brief waiting period.

Yeon’s mind started racing.

She recalled the counter-strategies she had studied, the ones she had drawn in her notebook.

It wasn’t just VRS gameplay videos.

Yeon had also reviewed every available video of VRS players competing in Deron’s Arena.

Only one thought filled her mind.

She would win—without question.

She would utterly dominate her opponent and earn the glorious wings she desired.

And with that, the match began.

There was no need to measure her opponent’s range.

Yeon immediately closed the distance.

She sprinted across the vast, open Arena map, rapidly narrowing the gap between them.

Her opponent moved in response.

He took slow steps forward, raising his slender rapier.

The moment Yeon entered his range, a piercing thrust shot toward her like a streak of light.

A stab aimed at her head.

But Yeon had already been observing his arms, legs, and waist movements before the attack even came.

Her upper body glided downward.

As her extended leg shifted diagonally, the rapier sliced through empty air, tracing a flawless yet futile trajectory.

His abdomen was left open.

Yeon immediately swung her sword.

The enchanted sword, radiating brilliant effects, couldn’t fully unleash its power due to Arena balancing.

However, the swirling aura around the blade was enough to make her opponent feel immense pressure.

Slash!

The moment her sword grazed him, his body slid backward.

A skill activation.

The vanishing afterimage signaled the use of [Evade].

Yeon didn’t pursue.

She immediately pulled her sword back and raised it overhead.

The blade pointed downward, and her sharp gaze locked onto her opponent from a low stance.

Yeon let out a small sigh.

Kiki had also been streaming his Deron matches.

It was only natural that Yeon, having watched his streams, had felt frustrated.

That was why she had tried to help him—just as she had done in other streams—by sending donations along with tactical advice.

But the result had been the same.

Kiki ignored her and refunded every single donation.

They wouldn’t believe unless they saw it with their own eyes.

Professional players had unwavering faith in their own skills.

In that case, she would show him.

The moment that thought crossed her mind, Yeon’s body shot forward.

A skill activation with no preparatory stance.

As a surge of blue mana enveloped her, the small girl closed the distance in an instant—appearing right in front of her opponent.

He was a professional.

Though caught off guard by the unexpected speed of her attack, his reaction was not slow.

The slender blade of the rapier pointed forward, and its tip began to glow.

[Riposte]

A counterattack stance.

A terrifying skill that inflicted powerful damage and a stun effect in response to an opponent’s attack.

It was a lifeline for Fencers.

She saw it.

She wasn’t too late.

She could have stopped her attack.

But Yeon didn’t stop.

She swung her sword at her opponent.

The moment her ornate blade clashed against the rapier—

Ping!

A sharp sound rang out as the counter skill activated.

A straight, piercing counterstrike shot toward Yeon.

But just before it grazed her body, a red aura burst from her, deflecting the counter.

Slash!

[Reversal]—a Highlander skill.

Since it was also a counter skill, it negated her opponent’s counterattack.

For the first time, a flicker of surprise crossed Kiki’s face.

He hadn’t expected to have his counter countered.

His body staggered backward, completely off balance—

And in that moment, a flurry of sharp sword strikes rained down on him.

Slaaash!

Yeon’s sweeping blade slashed across his upper body.

In the next instant, the flowing motion of her sword curved like a serpent, slicing deep into the inside of his thigh.

His breath was completely stolen away.

Kiki desperately swung his sword to regain control, but Yeon’s blade slithered like a snake—

And cut cleanly across his throat.

Slash!

“This is…”

Winner.

[Yeon]

1 Win – 0 Losses.

Loser.

[PTX-Kiki]

0 Wins – 1 Loss.

The result of the first match appeared.

Both fighters were instantly teleported back to their starting positions, fading into a dim glow as they returned.

Kiki stood up and brushed off his body, his focus now locked onto the strange movements of the girl called Yeon.

Her swordplay moved like a serpent.

No matter how he thought about it, that was the only way to describe it.

No way…

Kiki took a deep breath, his gaze sharpening as he fixed his eyes on his opponent.

At first, he had assumed she was just another ordinary player.

But that was far from the truth.

She was a secret weapon.

A hidden ace that another professional team had been secretly nurturing.

The proof was in the movements she had just displayed.

White Snake.

W.S.

The way her sword slithered—it was unmistakably the swordsmanship of W.S.

Kiki’s eyes darkened.

If his opponent was a concealed pro, then he, too, had to respond in kind.

His stance shifted.

No longer the standard fencing posture—

His body now took on a bizarre stance.

One hand stretched forward, measuring the distance between them, while the other extended far behind, gripping his sword.

His legs spread unnaturally wide.

A technique he had never revealed in this game before—

A technique from VRS.

Yeon watched him with amusement.

A small smile appeared on her lips.

That sharp presence—

It was something professionals occasionally revealed.

In critical moments, pros displayed movements that seemed almost unnatural.

It was something Yeon didn’t have.

Something she had never learned.

The way to wield a sword.

Swordsmanship.

The cooldown ended, and the match began immediately.

Once again, Yeon was the first to advance.

The moment her small frame dashed forward, Kiki’s sword swung through empty air.

Swish—

The thinly sliced air stopped Yeon in her tracks.

He had predicted her approach and swung his sword preemptively, cutting off her movement.

Fighting a real opponent was undeniably harder than battling an imaginary one.

Yeon’s clear eyes locked onto her opponent’s every motion.

Her mind burned white-hot.

The world she saw began to shine.

Using the knowledge she had drilled into her head,

A web of possible routes unfolded before her.

She found the most perfect path.

Whoosh—!

Her sword extended swiftly, aiming for Kiki’s throat.

But the attack never landed.

Kiki’s body withdrew smoothly, letting the strike slip past him.

Pure movement.

A skill-less evasion.

But Kiki had overlooked something.

He had been too conscious of VRS.

But this wasn’t VRS.

This was Deron.

While VRS techniques could be adapted, the unique system of [Skills] in Deron couldn’t be ignored.

Suddenly, a golden light burst from Yeon’s outstretched blade.

[Holy Blessing]—a skill exclusive to Paladins.

It increased attack damage and extended attack range for a limited time.

Slaaash!

Kiki twisted his body in a last-ditch effort—

But it was too late.

The radiant golden blade had already pierced his head.

Winner.

[Yeon]

2 Wins – 0 Losses.

Loser.

[PTX-Kiki]

0 Wins – 2 Losses.

[Yeon advances to the Round of 64.]