Perfect World [EN]: Chapter 430

The one-month transfer window closed, and the spring season began. God’s Knights’ opponent for their 20th home game was Horror Veres, a mid-tier team in the World League.

With their power from the previous fall season, they would have been a formidable team, but Beomseok entered the Lima City Colosseum with a relaxed attitude. God’s Knights had been strengthened by the addition of Tiela and Josiah, while Horror Veres had lost their key player, Madel, an S3-class gladiator, to another team, significantly weakening their lineup.

They had become a team that could be easily defeated.

He sat comfortably on the dugout bench, gazing at the stands filled with spectators.

‘Heh heh. The fans seem to have high expectations for Tiela and Josiah.’

God’s Knights’ home fans were very pleased with Beomseok’s recent moves. They were greatly satisfied with the addition of two star gladiators. Thanks to this transfer window, God’s Knights were closely chasing the championship-contending teams.

However, Beomseok’s mind was not entirely at ease. Although he had inflicted significant financial losses on the Three Musketeers, their overall power had increased considerably. Ancient Warriors had acquired Irolita and Rakami, while Chaplin Whisper had acquired Bormia and Madel. To compete with them, God’s Knights needed to improve further.

‘The problem is Chaplin Whisper. With Bormia and Madel added to their already strong lineup, there’s no team that can stand against them now.’

The general consensus was that Chaplin Whisper’s power was invincible. They had firmly maintained their top position in the league during the previous fall season, and now they had added S-class gladiators Bormia and Madel.

It was no exaggeration to say that Chaplin Whisper’s golden age had truly arrived. Even with the newly renovated home colosseum, God’s Knights would likely be unilaterally crushed by them.

‘But there’s still hope.’

The reason Beomseok didn’t give up despite this power gap was because of Prisika, who would be available in the upcoming summer. If he could acquire her and the promising rookies could grow further, God’s Knights could definitely compete with the current Chaplin Whisper. However, the problem was that securing a large amount of funds was essential.

Even though Prisika might only play for 5-6 years before retiring, she was still an S2-class gladiator. She certainly wouldn’t come cheap.

Furthermore, God’s Knights had borrowed 5 billion krang [currency unit] from LHN to acquire Tiela, resulting in an annual interest payment of 250 million krang. Considering this amount, Beomseok needed to work even harder.

‘This is why I hate debt…’

Frowning, Beomseok stood up. The financial issues could be considered later. He needed to focus on the game now. He approached Jelsomina, who was communicating with someone on her electronic notepad behind the dugout. She was participating in a league match for the first time in a while, so he needed to pay attention to her.

“Jelsomina, who are you calling?”

Smiling brightly, Jelsomina handed Beomseok the electronic notepad.

“Take a look, Senior. It’s our Ilaza.”

The screen showed a babbling baby. It was Ilaza, the daughter recently born to Beomseok and Jelsomina. He waved at his daughter, who was being held by the nanny, and smiled.

“Hello, Ilaza.”

“Isn’t our Ilaza cute, Senior?”

“Heh heh. Of course. Whose daughter do you think she is?”

Ilaza smiled brightly as Beomseok made a funny face. He spent a moment connecting with his daughter before looking at Jelsomina.

“Jelsomina, how’s your condition? It’s your first game in a year.”

After ending the call, she looked at him with a confident expression. She had focused on recovery training during the winter break and had almost regained her previous condition.

“I’m in very good shape. You can look forward to today’s game.”

“Really? That’s good. I’m counting on you today.”

“Yes. Don’t worry.”

Beomseok patted her shoulder and walked to the bench on the right side of the dugout. Tiela and Josiah, who had been recently acquired, were sitting there side by side. Although their teamwork wasn’t fully refined yet, they were participating in today’s game because the fans and local media had high expectations for them.

As Tiela and Josiah stood up to greet him, he immediately said,

“Tiela, Josiah. How do you think today’s game will go?”

They smiled with confident expressions. They had fought countless battles against today’s opponent, Horror Veres, so they were confident.

“We’re confident against Horror Veres.”

“Yes, that’s right. They only know how to charge.”

“Heh heh. That’s true.”

Horror Veres’ strength and greatest weakness was their offensive-focused playstyle. This was the same even when facing strong teams. If they could strategize well, they could easily secure a victory. However, they should never be complacent.

Because their charging power was so strong, they could be easily breached and put in danger if they were careless. If they didn’t establish dominance early on, they would be in trouble in many ways.

Tiela stepped forward and said to him,

“So don’t worry. Although we haven’t been with the team for long, Josiah and I have a lot of experience and skill from playing in the World League for a long time. We’ll definitely show you results that will satisfy you, Master.”

“Alright. I’m counting on you.”

“Yes.”

After hearing her answer, Beomseok walked to Diana, the coach. She was currently refining today’s strategy with Sheila. Sheila had been active in Horror Veres for a long time, so she knew the opponent’s characteristics very well. Naturally, she was a great help to Diana in devising the strategy.

“Diana, how’s it going?”

“I’m reviewing the strategy with Sheila, and it seems like there are no problems. However, I’m worried about whether this strategy can be properly implemented. Jelsomina is participating in a game for the first time in a long time, and Tiela and Josiah haven’t been working with us for very long.”

“Don’t worry about that. Those kids are experienced professional gladiators. They know what they need to do during the game.”

Diana glanced at Tiela and Josiah and nodded.

“Yes. We can’t ignore game experience.”

“And if problems arise, I’ll do my best, so there won’t be any major issues. So don’t worry.”

“Yes.”

“Then keep up the good work.”

After talking with Diana, Beomseok returned to his seat. He prepared for the upcoming game by maintaining his equipment.

His main focus for today’s game was Tiela’s performance. She was a star gladiator acquired with a huge investment, so the fans had very high expectations. If she performed well today, those expectations would turn into satisfaction, which would lead to them opening their wallets again. In other words, the focus of today’s game shouldn’t be on Beomseok himself.

Soon after, he heard the call to prepare for entry and headed to the tunnel outside the dugout.

“Today is the opening day of the spring season. Everyone must do their best to win. Do you all understand!”

“Yes!”

After hearing everyone’s loud response, Beomseok turned around and cast a sharp gaze towards the stadium. Although the opponent’s dugout was hidden by the dense foliage, the gladiators of Horror Veres, today’s opponents, would be over there.

– Both teams, please enter.

With the signal announcing the entry, Beomseok and the God’s Knights gladiators walked into the stadium in two rows. The cheers of nearly 110,000 spectators erupted, and their power was truly immense.

“God’s Knights! Make sure you win today!”

“Tiela! We’re counting on you!”

“Tiela! Live up to your price tag!”

As expected, the fans’ attention was on Tiela. Although there was the outstanding gladiator Beomseok, they couldn’t help but pay more attention to her, as it was her first appearance.

He turned his head to look at Tiela. He was worried that she might be burdened by the fans’ support. However, there seemed to be no need to worry. Her gait was steady, and she was smiling and waving to the cheering fans, exuding confidence.

As expected, her long experience in the World League hadn’t gone anywhere.

“Alright. Everyone, enter the forest.”

As Beomseok and the God’s Knights gladiators entered, several bird cameras [aerial cameras] flocked to start filming. He gestured towards the lenses and focused on the front.

He could see several figures wearing red suits in the opposite forest. They were clearly the gladiators of Horror Veres.

He gripped the katana at his waist tightly and waited for the game to begin.

– Peeeeeep. The game begins.

The God’s Knights gladiators emerged from the forest and headed towards the iron bridge. However, Beomseok, Tiela, and Liza jumped and began climbing trees. They were highly adaptable to the forest, so they intended to engage in jungle warfare.

“Move quickly. Cross the iron bridge and attack the God’s Knights gladiators.”

Following the orders of the leader, the number 1 gladiator, the Horror Veres gladiators entered the iron bridge and quickly ran forward. With the forest spreading to the left and right, staying here was extremely dangerous.

Having thoroughly analyzed the God’s Knights, they knew how skilled Beomseok and Tiela were in forest terrain combat. However, their intention was blocked by the God’s Knights main force, who were advancing. Although they were outnumbered due to the absence of three members, they could still block the path for a while.

“We have to stop them no matter what!”

Sheila, who was at the forefront and collided with a gladiator, smiled brightly. She was Rilaya, the vanguard gladiator of Horror Veres and a close teammate of Sheila in the past.

“Long time no see, Rilaya.”

“Yes, Sheila.”

Although they were exchanging greetings, they were in fierce opposition, swords clashing. Since they had met as enemies, they had to forget their past friendship. These two were merely enemies who had to be defeated for the team’s victory.

Rilaya frowned. Because they were crowded inside the narrow iron bridge, it was difficult to extend their swords.

It was better to push the opponent back with a power-to-power confrontation for now. However, it wasn’t easy. Although they were constantly retreating due to the numerical disadvantage, Sheila was rearmed with much better physical abilities than in the past.

It meant that she wasn’t going to be pushed back so easily.

At that moment, a sharp shout erupted from behind Rilaya.

“Beomseok is coming! Everyone be careful!”

Instantly, Horror Veres was greatly shaken. Everyone had seen Beomseok flying through the air. The scene of his match against the Forest Elves in the previous fall season was a great source of fear for the World League gladiators.

However, he only stepped on the iron bridge railing and jumped to the other side, without launching any special attacks. Of course, he threw throwing knives after arriving in the opposite forest, but the Horror Veres gladiators easily deflected them because they were well prepared.

‘Heh heh. They fell for it.’

He wore an elated expression, seeing that all the opposing gladiators were focusing their attention on him. With this, the Horror Veres team had fallen into a trap. He wasn’t the only one active in the forest. Soon after, a small throwing knife flew and struck the back of Rilaya’s head.

“There’s someone else in the forest! Everyone, watch out!”

At the shout of the leader gladiator, the Horror Veres gladiators turned their heads in all directions. They had no way of predicting where the attack would come from, so they had no choice but to monitor their surroundings. However, this distraction led to a decrease in their charging power. Despite the numerical disadvantage, the God’s Knights gladiators slowly began to push forward.

Sheila, who had passed the incapacitated Rilaya, attacked Igaya, who was in the mid-tier. In order for a surprise attack to succeed, it was necessary to focus the opponent’s mind on oneself.

“Igaya! You’re my opponent!”

After several collisions, Igaya looked at Sheila with surprised eyes. It was because she wasn’t the same as she was in the past. She seemed to have become stronger, and even a seriousness that hadn’t been seen before was evident in her swordsmanship. It felt like she was facing a different person.

“Sheila. You’ve improved a lot.”

“Improved? My skills were always like this.”

Igaya, who had deflected the long-drawn sword, shrank her body and thrust her sword in. In such a compressed state, the effectiveness of a thrusting attack was very high. However, soon after, the tip of the sword was stuck on the floor by Sheila’s downward strike, and she took a punch to the face.

Igaya’s head was thrown back. But this wasn’t the end. Suddenly, Tiela, who had sprung out of the water, shot an arrow, fully drawing the bowstring.

“Ah, no…!”

With a scream, Igaya fell over the railing and plunged into the central city. The number 7 gladiator of Horror Veres, who saw this, immediately jumped off the iron bridge in pursuit.

Tiela and the number 7 gladiator glared at each other. Soon after, Tiela retreated, left the water, and hid in the forest. She could definitely fight him, but that wouldn’t be polite [strategic, as he was going to help his teammate].

The number 7 gladiator had come down to save Igaya, who had fallen into the central city.

Seeing this, the commentators began to rave with deeply admiring expressions.

– This is amazing. Tiela came out of the water.

– I agree. She hated water so much, but this is unexpected.

– Heh heh. But it’s understandable. Elves don’t spare their bodies for their masters. She seems to have corrected her weaknesses by serving Beomseok as her master.

– Hahaha. Yes. Tiela who has corrected her weaknesses… Anyway, I’m very much looking forward to the future. Hahaha.

While the commentators’ praises were being listed, Tiela, who was crossing between the trees, smiled brightly. She had defeated one person, so her first appearance today could be said to be a success. However, she soon composed herself and began to move quickly.

Although she had defeated one person through a surprise attack, she couldn’t just sit back and relax because her master, Beomseok, was hoping for even greater achievements.

============================ Author’s Notes ============================

Oh no. Queens Park Rangers are losing. They conceded a goal early on, which is really… I hope Park Ji-sung can do his best.

Then I’ll go watch soccer now. Have a great day everyone. I’ll see you again tomorrow.