Chapter 56: Arena Tournament(5)

The 128-player and 64-player rounds of the arena tournament had concluded.

Despite the tournament being over, public interest showed no signs of fading, especially with so many people paying attention.

And at the center of the spotlight was, of course, the small girl named Yeon.

She wasn’t a professional player.

She was just a regular player from Deron.

It was extremely rare for a non-pro player to defeat a professional athlete and advance in the tournament.

Yeon was already a player of interest before the tournament even began.

However, starting from today’s broadcasted matches, she gained even more attention.

Her fearless determination against professional opponents.

Her ever-confident smile.

And her overwhelming skills.

During the 128-player round, many people downplayed Yeon’s abilities.

To those familiar with VRS, the way Deron’s arena duels worked seemed strange.

But during the 64-player round, public opinion flipped.

Her opponent, Storm-inzk, displayed dismissive behavior toward Yeon.

And since the match was being broadcasted live, inzk was undoubtedly aware of the situation.

Yet, he didn’t hesitate to mock her.

Such blatant disrespect was more than enough to draw the ire of other VRS players watching the match.

Everyone thought Yeon would lose her temper and cut off inzk’s head in a fit of rage.

But she didn’t.

Yeon remained calm.

She didn’t fall for his provocations.

Instead, the small girl began to taunt him back by mimicking the sword stance used in VRS.

Unfortunately, the conversation between the two wasn’t revealed, but it was clear that inzk fell for Yeon’s taunt.

After a brief hesitation, inzk copied her stance.

Thus, the duel began.

Just like in VRS, the two exchanged sharp sword strikes.

But this wasn’t VRS.

Here, the nonexistent stats from the game allowed for impossible movements.

Yeon’s body twisted in an uncanny motion, leaping high into the sky before driving her sword into inzk’s neck.

Regardless of what the viewers thought, it seemed that inzk acknowledged Yeon’s skill.

Despite his earlier behavior, he now fought with composure and caution.

His movements were sharp and precise, as he approached the battle more carefully.

But once again, Yeon was victorious.

As inzk fell to the ground, he removed his helmet, revealing his face.

There was no sign of resentment in his expression.

[Deron Online Gallery]

[LOOOOOOOL]

[Blood Demon!!! Blood Demon!!! Blood Demon!!! Blood Demon!!!]

[2-0 against a pro player LOL] [6]

[It would’ve been different in VRS LOL] [5]

[Where are the VRS fanboys now? LOL Your pro got destroyed 2-0 LOL] [2]

[Her panties were visible when she jumped] [21]

[Ban inzk LOL] [3]

[Second Holy Sword on the server appeared LOL] [17]

As Yeon’s consecutive victories continued, the Deron Gallery users began to vent their pent-up frustration.

Having been constantly taunted by the influx of VRS players, their resentment had grown immense.

It was an undeniable defeat.

The VRS trolls who had migrated over gradually began to disappear.

Meanwhile, a suspicious post appeared on the VRS Gallery.

[VRS Gallery]

[Is Yeon actually a pro?] [12]

(Video clip of the 64-player round highlights)

If you watch this video, both Yeon and inzk are using the same stance.

That’s the swordsmanship exclusive to Storm team, isn’t it?

There are plenty of people who try to copy swordsmanship, but how many can actually pull it off?

Unless they’ve practiced alone while watching videos, it’s impossible.

And if you look closely, Yeon mixes in techniques that are different from the Storm team’s swordsmanship.

There’s no way she’s an ordinary player.

It’s clear she was professionally trained by a swordsmanship instructor from a pro team.

(128-player round highlights)

If you watch here, you can see her sword faintly flickering and moving oddly at the last moment.

That’s the swordsmanship used by players from W.S..

I’m guessing this whole thing is just a staged performance to debut a new pro player.

[Comments]

[Is the debuting player a girl?]

[That’s just the character’s design.]

[Female characters are weak, though.]

[Not in this game.]

[She’s insanely pretty LOL. All the characters in VRS look ugly because everyone plays male characters for the strength stats.]

[Disgusting seeing male characters bumping bodies against each other.]

[Playing a female character makes you weak.]

[Her agility stat is high, though.]

[After watching this, I’m going to install Deron.]

[What the hell is this, you weeb?]

[So, which team is she from???]

ㄴ[Storm, maybe?]

However, the post didn’t gain as much attention as the author had hoped.

VRS users weren’t particularly interested in the game called Deron.

So, the user moved to the Deron Online Gallery and created a new post.

[Deron Online Gallery]

[The Blood Demon girl is definitely a middle schooler in real life] [37]

(A video explaining the side effects of having a different physique in virtual reality compared to reality)

(Character customization info of VRS pro players)

(Random wiki entries and irrelevant meme screenshots)

Everyone knows that when playing VR games, people tend to create characters that resemble themselves.

If the difference is too drastic, it causes side effects in real life.

Even VRS pro players customize their characters to be similar to their real-life physiques.

But look at Yeon.

She’s definitely the same person being called Blood Demon or the middle schooler.

(An image of inzk and Yeon facing off)

According to his profile, inzk is 178 cm tall.

Because of the armor, he appears a bit taller, but he probably didn’t alter his character’s proportions.

Now, look at Yeon.

At best, she’s around 145 cm? Maybe 140?

And yet, she moves incredibly well.

Her control isn’t lacking at all.

This means she’s perfectly in sync with her small character.

In other words, it’s highly likely that Yeon has a similarly short stature in real life.

There’s no way an adult man would be 140 cm tall, right?

So, Yeon is definitely a short woman in real life.

In virtual reality games like VRS and Deron, most players create characters that resemble their real-life appearances.

Even if they alter their facial features, they usually keep the same height and limb proportions.

Since these games require physical movements, matching their in-game physique to their real-life body is the common choice.

Even players who initially played as characters completely different from their real selves would eventually create new characters over time.

The reason was simple: the disparity between their in-game and real-life bodies became too overwhelming, making it difficult to play properly.

Everyone knew this.

But it was also something they hadn’t given much thought to.

Then, a post that confirmed this suspicion was uploaded.

There weren’t many videos of Yeon’s gameplay available, but this time, her skills were revealed to a much larger audience.

The atmosphere in the gallery, which had been mocking VRS pros while cheering for Yeon’s victory, suddenly shifted.

Day 2 of the Finals

October 15 (Saturday)
Round of 32 Begins

Yeon’s opponent was a mage wielding a staff.

Judging by the blue robe, it seemed they had invested heavily in the ice magic branch.

The opponent was not a professional player but rather an ordinary Deron user.

“Blood Demon!!!”

During the brief waiting period, they waved at me from across the field.

Their bright smile, partially hidden beneath a large hat, made it clear they were a devoted fan of mine.

Had I become too famous?

There were now people who occasionally reacted to me as if they were seeing a celebrity.

Since they weren’t from a hostile guild, there was no reason to be cold toward them.

Although the nickname Blood Demon irked me a little, they clearly meant no harm, so I smiled and waved back.

“I’m a huge fan!!!”

The mage player bounced up and down excitedly in response to my greeting.

As the waiting period neared its end, I rested my sword on my shoulder and gave the opponent a faint, mischievous smile.

The tip of their staff wasn’t rounded.

It looked as if it had a sharp blade attached.

They weren’t a typical spell-casting mage.

They were a Battle Mage, a hybrid class that preferred close-quarters combat.

I quickly identified their 1st-, 2nd-, and 4th-rank skills.

But the problem was their 3rd rank.

There were no visible effects on their body indicating a specific class.

After a brief moment of observation, the match began.

The mage immediately unleashed a barrage of long-range attacks, making use of their specialty.

They cast spells from their 1st and 2nd ranks, which had extremely short casting times.

A flurry of ice arrows shot toward me, covering the area ahead.

Their accuracy wasn’t particularly high, but the sheer number of projectiles made up for it.

Calmly, I closed the distance while deflecting the ice arrows.

Clang!

Shards of blue ice shattered against my sword and scattered in all directions.

It was the moment I drew close.

Suddenly, a blue wave pulsed from the mage’s body, and in the blink of an eye, they vanished from their spot.

It wasn’t a Blink spell used to create distance.

I felt a chill accompanied by a faint presence right behind me.

Clang!

Spinning around, I swung my sword just in time to barely block the mage’s staff attack flying toward me.

They weren’t surprised.

As if they had expected this outcome, they immediately activated their next skill.

Zzzt—!

The sword clashing against the staff began to freeze.

The opponent had activated a freezing skill that temporarily halted my movements.

There was no time to waste.

I immediately used [Charge].

In that instant, the ice encasing my body shattered and fell away, dispelled by the surge of blue mana.

While [Charge] used at close range didn’t deal much damage, it had the useful effect of nullifying crowd-control skills like this one.

I shoved the opponent back and swung my sword.

At that moment, a blue barrier materialized in midair, blocking my attack.

The mage had activated [Mana Barrier], a basic defensive ability.

However, due to their Ice Caster specialization, the barrier carried a frost effect.

A faint layer of frost began to settle on my body.

The frozen debuff started to stack.

My attack and movement speed gradually slowed.

The mage had tailored their skill tree specifically for PvP combat.

If I carelessly tried to close the distance, I would be the one at a disadvantage.

But keeping my distance wasn’t an option either.

I had no other choice.

Once the frozen debuff reached full stacks, the opponent, who had been keeping their distance while spamming ice skills, slowly began to close in.

As a Battle Mage, they favored close-quarters combat, so to finish me off cleanly, they had no choice but to approach.

The moment they drew near, I used Leap Smash to rapidly close the gap.

Boom!

My sword clashed against the staff.

The force of the blow shattered their barrier in a single strike—but their HP remained untouched.

At that moment, a strange smile appeared on the mage’s face.

– It’s a trap.

The instant I realized it, the mage used Blink, pulling me along with them.

We teleported to the spot where they had initially stood when the match began.

The moment we landed, tiny lights flashed all around us, followed by a series of explosions.

Kwa-ga-ga-ga-gang!

My HP drained rapidly, and my vision blurred violently.

Their 3rd-rank class was revealed—Arcane Scholar.

Thanks to the countless magitech mines they had planted, my health plummeted, triggering [Combat Persistence].

All of my Berserker passives activated—but my body was frozen solid, unable to move.

This match was my loss.

In the arena, certain powerful skills had their effectiveness significantly reduced for balance purposes.

[Combat Persistence] was one of them.

The [Undying] effect lasted only one second.

The frozen status also took one second to wear off.

The moment my frozen body thawed, I collapsed to the ground.

Winner:
[Snowmage]
1 win, 0 losses.

Loser:
[Yeon]
0 wins, 1 loss.