Perfect World [EN]: Chapter 399

401.

“Don’t be fooled! It’s a trap!”

With a troubled expression, Beomseok slowly moved his feet. As expected, Amelie wasn’t fooled by his tricks. If he had to overcome this situation with a head-on fight, he wasn’t confident.

‘Damn it! This is hopeless.’

Beomseok absentmindedly tapped his helmet. He was trying to wipe the cold sweat from his forehead, but his face was blocked by the shield. He was so nervous that he forgot he was wearing the suit.

Seeing her chance, Amelie quickly lunged forward, swinging her sword at his lower body.

Whoosh.

Reacting to the strange sound, Beomseok stepped back and immediately sprang to his knees, rushing towards Amelie. He thrust his sword at her face with all his might, then twisted his upper body to avoid Millia’s incoming strike.

“2 against 1? Seriously, isn’t that too much?”

Amelie immediately retorted his meaningless grumble.

“But sword fighting isn’t a solo match.”

Beomseok blocked the transforming sword coming for his waist, then kicked Millia in the stomach with his leg. He stared at them with his mouth tightly shut. As Amelie said, sword fighting was a 12-person match.

In other words, his grumbling was just empty complaining. If he felt wronged, he had to develop the God’s Knights to prevent this from happening.

Or he had to win against both of them himself.

“Well, sword fighting is a team match. But it’s a match where the outcome can be determined by one person.”

“That’s right. The moment Millia here scores a kill point, the game will quickly tilt in our favor.”

“Heh heh. And if I stop you two, I can prevent the momentum from shifting. If I’m lucky enough to take you down, I can reverse it.”

Amelie frowned at Beomseok’s muttering, feeling unpleasant. It felt like he was writing her off as an afterthought. There was no swordsman in the world who could face two people, including herself.

“Do you think that will be easy?”

“It’s not impossible. After all, you’re just a mediocre swordsman. Just because you have one more support doesn’t mean I’ll lose.”

As Millia slowly approached Beomseok, Amelie raised her arm to stop her.

“What do you mean by that?”

“I mean you’re not someone I’d compete with for the title of the strongest.”

Amelie smirked and stepped forward, utterly dumbfounded.

“Me? Haven’t you seen my results this year?”

“Of course, I have. You’re ranked number one among swordsmen.”

“Then why are you ignoring me? My skills are proven by my record.”

“Yes, I admit you have skills. But that’s it. You don’t have the pride of the strongest. Why do you think I complained about the 2-on-1 situation in a team sword fighting match? Because it didn’t make sense. Relying on others in a place where you’re fighting for the title of the strongest? That’s ridiculous.”

“I just told you, sword fighting is a team match.”

Beomseok immediately retorted.

“But there’s only one spot for the strongest. It’s not a place anyone can share.”

“So what?”

“What do you mean? Even if you two defeat me, people won’t consider you superior to me. A 2-on-1 victory is unfair to anyone. If I were you, I wouldn’t do that to someone I’m competing with for the title of the strongest. You might win the battle, but you’ll be further away from the title of the strongest. Zakid knows this very well. He would face me alone.”

Amelie chuckled. Zakid had earned the nickname ‘Judas the Betrayer’ for his underhanded tactics when he appeared on a broadcast hosted by Karen. And she was the one who suffered at the time.

Naturally, Amelie didn’t think he would risk a reckless one-on-one battle, even if it meant rejecting a favorable situation to win the title of the strongest.

“That Zakid? Beomseok, you know what he did on that broadcast last time, right?”

“I know. But that was a show. It wasn’t a place to compete for the title of the strongest. But it’s different here. I’m sure he’ll show a different side if we meet in the Colosseum. He’s a swordsman who instinctively knows how to reach the top.”

“You’re just saying things I can’t understand. Do you even have any certainty that Zakid would do that?”

Beomseok raised the swords in his hands, getting into a fighting stance. He didn’t want to waste time with pointless talk. There was no need to persuade someone who didn’t understand.

But there was one last thing he wanted to say.

“How did you feel when Millia joined in? If you felt something, that’s my answer to your question.”

With that, Beomseok rushed towards them. In an instant, a chilling flash of sword light cut through the air, flying towards Amelie’s chest.

She hurriedly raised her twin swords to block it, then lunged into Beomseok’s arms with Millia, who was retreating. She roughly understood what he meant, but her resonance meant nothing to the elf.

Her glory now was to defeat Beomseok and lead her team to victory. Then the Chaplin family’s sword fighting team would be one step closer to winning.

Beomseok knocked away Amelie and Millia’s strikes and furrowed his brow.

‘As expected. Meaningless words to an elf. I shouldn’t have bothered talking.’

He stopped backing away and lunged forward again, swinging his sword wildly with relentless force. As Millia, intimidated by Beomseok’s fierce counterattack, retreated, Amelie clashed her twin swords against his. They entered a brief power struggle, and she shouted at Millia.

“Millia! Now’s your chance, attack!”

Beomseok, unable to use his hands freely, kicked Millia’s sword, changing its trajectory. Amelie pushed him forward with all her might, intending to completely subdue Beomseok while he was off balance from the kick.

‘This is crazy. This is no joke.’

Beomseok, who had been stepping back for a while, jumped and kicked Amelie’s shin with all his might. But she only staggered slightly and continued to pressure him, slashing her sword sharply. She had to keep pushing him relentlessly, or he would quickly recover and counterattack.

“Beomseok! Are you just going to keep running away?”

“Who said I was!”

He knocked away the incoming sword, looking for an opportunity. The close calls came one after another, but he watched their movements without fear, trying to find a gap to take down Millia. If he could get rid of her, he could handle Amelie.

But things didn’t go as easily as he thought. The God’s Knights swordsmen were being pushed back, and another victim was claimed. This time, it was Iphis, who was fighting Meya. In the fierce battle, she seemed to have made a mistake and allowed a strike to her waist, as she had become separated from her twin sister, Herse.

‘This is bad.’

Beomseok, who had retreated to avoid Amelie’s transforming sword, stared intently at the battle unfolding beyond her. Meya was quickly joining forces with Yoshia to push back Shaila.

It was fortunate that they weren’t coming for him, but this was still a worrying situation. If Shaila fell here, the God’s Knights would collapse rapidly.

Anxious, Beomseok gripped his sword tightly and rushed towards Millia.

Clang.

As the clear sound of swords rang out, Millia staggered. Surprised by Beomseok’s sudden attack, she lost her balance. However, Amelie managed to block him just in time, narrowly avoiding the crisis, and attacked him with a combined strike.

Meanwhile, Herse, who had lost her twin sister, and Shaila, who had been surrounded by two swordsmen, were defeated, and the tide of the battle shifted rapidly to one side. Now, the God’s Knights swordsmen were cornered and slowly collapsing.

‘This is crazy! This! I can’t even go support them!’

As Seiya, who had been acting as the leader, fell, the game ended. Beomseok, who was the only one still standing on the ground, glared at Amelie and Millia with resentful eyes.

He couldn’t vent his frustration on his teammates, whom he couldn’t blame for not being able to defeat Amelie, so he directed his anger at them. If he didn’t resolve this unpleasant feeling, he wouldn’t be able to sleep tonight.

“Damn it, congratulations. On winning the first round.”

As upset as Beomseok was, Amelie wasn’t feeling great either. She was bothered by the fact that she hadn’t been able to defeat him, even though she had faced him with Millia, who was ranked 17th in the world.

Of course, Beomseok had been on the defensive the whole time, but that wasn’t an excuse in a 2-on-1 situation. This was evident in the silent home fans, who maintained a quiet silence despite their victory, and the away team’s cheering section, who didn’t let their enthusiasm die down despite their loss.

As a result of this round, the fans placed Amelie below Beomseok.

“As expected, Oh Beomseok, you’re the best! Don’t be disappointed that you lost!”

“Yeah! You can win next time!”

Despite the fans’ shouts, Beomseok turned his body and walked silently towards the dugout. It was unlike him, as he always responded to the fans’ support. The encouragement was comforting, but it didn’t erase the humiliation of defeat.

Back in the dugout, Beomseok returned to his seat and remained silent. Knowing he was angry, his subordinate elves looked at Diana with anxious eyes, signaling her to go and cheer him up.

She was a little reluctant, but she eventually stepped forward. As the manager, she needed to refresh the team’s atmosphere.

“Master. Are you angry?”

Beomseok, who was watching the stadium silently with his arms crossed, sighed deeply. His teammates were weak, and he couldn’t have a fair fight with Amelie, but he was responsible for everything. He was the one who managed the God’s Knights.

“Haa~ No. I’m just thinking about something, so I’m keeping my mouth shut.”

Only then did the relieved teammates sit down. Diana, who had been watching this scene, said in a quiet voice.

“What are you thinking about?”

“Hmm. Various things. Like how to face Amelie in the third round. Or how to develop the team in the future.”

“Ah. Is that so? Then what strategy do you want to use in the third round?”

Beomseok turned his head sharply towards her.

“You’re the one who should be telling me that.”

“But you said you were thinking about something.”

“That’s the problem, I don’t have any ideas. Fortunately, I managed to break through and force a close battle in this round, but we lost due to the inevitable difference in power.”

That was true, but not entirely. The reason Beomseok had to take on Millia, along with Amelie, was because Jeremia had lost.

She was a W2-class swordsman, and it was too much for her to face Millia, who was ranked 17th in the world. In fact, Shaila or Nikita should have been the ones to face her. And Iphis was defeated because she had rushed in recklessly and become separated from her sister, Herse.

“That’s not true. If everyone had fought the right opponent, the outcome might have been different. It was a bit much for Jeremia to face Millia.”

Beomseok stared at her and shook his head.

“No. You never know who you’ll face when you enter the arena. We can’t just match up the swordsmen we want to fight. Especially in a chaotic battle like this. Jeremia was unlucky enough to face Millia and lost? That’s just an excuse.”

It was difficult to choose an opponent in a chaotic situation. Usually, you would just take down the first opponent you made eye contact with.

“Well, we can’t always have the game go our way.”

“And there’s no solution either.”

Diana hesitated at Beomseok’s agreement, afraid of fanning the flames. But it was a way to put out the fire, like a palm-leaf fan, so she thought it would be okay to say it.

“Well. Wouldn’t it be possible if we increased our strength this winter?”

“Heh heh. Of course, it would be. If we increase our strength, what couldn’t we do? But you know it’s not easy, right? The swordsmen we need are those who can beat or adequately face someone like Millia. Do you know how much those swordsmen cost?”

“At least 3 billion Krang or more.”

“You know it well. But do you know that we only have about 1.1 billion Krang to spend when the winter transfer market opens?”

Diana smiled faintly and looked at him.

“Yes, I know. But we can buy Yoshia, who participated in today’s game.”

Yoshia was a swordsman from Chaplin Whisper who had put up a good fight against Shaila in the game earlier. She was currently ranked 32nd among swordsmen. Her age, 29, was a drawback, but she was expected to perform well for 5-10 years, and she could add experience to the God’s Knights, which was mainly composed of young swordsmen, making her the best choice.

“Heh heh. It would be nice if Yoshia came. But would Chaplin Whisper let her go? And how can we afford her price with 1.1 billion Krang?”

“Yes. Don’t worry about either of those things. She’ll be the biggest item on sale at the World Walker Auction Market this winter.”

In that moment, Beomseok’s eyes lit up. Even if she was a great swordsman, her price would drop significantly if she went to the World Walker Auction Market. It was worth considering with the expected transfer amount of 1.1 billion Krang this winter.

The question was whether Chaplin Whisper would send her, who was still in her prime, to the Walker Auction Market.

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

Thank you for the 400th chapter celebration messages. Haa. I somehow made it this far. But ever since I started writing Perfect World, I keep forgetting about the 100-chapter milestones. It was the same for the 200th chapter, and the 300th chapter last time. It wasn’t like that when I was writing King God Mad World.

Is it because I’m getting old? Lately, my mosquito interception rate has also decreased. Hahaha. I used to catch them with my feet.

Have a great day, everyone. I’ll see you again tomorrow.