Perfect World [EN]: Chapter 463

‘But why is Prisika acting like that? This isn’t a situation to be laughing in.’

Beomseok, who had been in a good mood, noticed Prisika’s face in the shadows of her face shield, and a somewhat suspicious feeling arose. It was only a fleeting moment, but he had caught a glimpse of a smile on her face. It was very slight, so he was unsure, but that’s how it seemed to Beomseok.

He hurriedly knocked away the sword Prisika had extended and stepped back.

‘No, could it be? Was all the luck up until now orchestrated by Prisika?’

The reason Beomseok thought this was because she had helped him avoid danger in two out of three critical situations, and she played the most decisive role in partially immobilizing Irolita. Luck and coincidence repeated several times made it impossible for Beomseok not to be suspicious.

‘B, but why?’

Beomseok’s question was soon answered. She had a clear reason for doing this.

It was to vent her anger, to dedicate this victory. The problem, however, was that it was actually possible. Even though his concentration and strength were divided by facing three opponents simultaneously, it wasn’t easy to anticipate his movements and respond appropriately.

But she was Prisika. A gladiator known to be unmatched except by himself, Zakid, and Amelie, and she had the meticulousness to thoroughly analyze his fighting style and habits out of a sense of competition. Looking at this alone, it might seem possible.

He slowly approached Prisika. It was to confirm whether his reasoning was correct and to find out what Prisika was thinking.

“Alright. Shall we start again?”

As he approached, Prisika rushed in and struck with her sword. It was truly questionable whether there was any intentionality this time. Beomseok blocked with his spear and immediately swung it wide, aiming for her waist.

Rakami rushed in from the side with a sound tearing through the air.

Beomseok gripped the spear tightly and swung it in a circle. Then, pretending to rush at Prisika, who was stepping back, he changed his step again and extended the spear towards Rakami.

“Those tricks won’t work on me!”

As expected, Rakami blocked it with her sword and rotated along Beomseok’s central axis. Then, as the spear approached Rakami’s face, it was pulled inward with force. It was an attack using the crescent blade. Having anticipated this, Rakami twisted her upper body greatly to avoid it, but she couldn’t help but lose her balance slightly.

Soon, Beomseok thrust his spear deeply towards her, watching Prisika’s actions.

‘Alright. What are you going to do here? Prisika.’

Prisika’s choice was to save her comrade. She knocked down the spear strike aimed at Rakami with her sword, changing its trajectory.

Beomseok stepped back again, a satisfied smile on his face. It was a pass, for now. If she had rushed at him without regard for Rakami, he wouldn’t have let Prisika off easily.

‘Huhu. So, you’re going to follow the obvious procedure. Is that it?’

The most important virtue in a coordinated play against strong Markmen [skilled ranged fighters] was to defeat them no matter what. And this included the condition of sacrificing comrades. However, this was only on the premise that the opponent had to be defeated. If a comrade was sacrificed but the attack on the opponent failed, the loss would be immense.

Therefore, Prisika’s previous action could be said to be a natural one.

But why was Beomseok even considering this? It was to confirm Prisika’s intentions. The actions she was taking now, subtly benefiting him with her play, greatly influenced his future choices.

‘For now, the possibility of her trying to screw me over is low.’

Prisika, who was currently in the midst of a life-or-death crisis, had two cards she could play against Beomseok. One was to beg for forgiveness, and the other was to prevent him from buying her at the World Walker Auction Market. However, her action of saving Rakami greatly reduced the likelihood of the latter.

Following the natural course meant she was trying to hide her scheme from outsiders. It could be seen as her having no impure intentions towards Beomseok. If it were the latter, she should have pretended to give him an obvious advantage in this match, then reported it to the association and claimed she was coerced into cheating in this match.

Then, based on this video footage, Beomseok would have been in a difficult situation, and he would never have been able to buy Prisika.

He laid the spear horizontally and looked at Prisika.

“Our Prisika is lucky. She came back alive from hell.”

Prisika smiled brightly. She wondered if Beomseok had noticed her intentions. The one who had been in danger a moment ago was Rakami, not herself. Naturally, Beomseok’s words could be interpreted as having a different meaning.

However, Rakami, who couldn’t understand the situation, glared at Beomseok. She took his words at face value and realized that there was a trap in his play.

“No, do you think our Prisika would be easily defeated by Beomseok? Not at all. If I team up with her, no one can beat us.”

He looked at Rakami with a perplexed expression. He couldn’t figure out what words of comfort to offer. She had been saved for now, but she would soon be backstabbed by Prisika.

“Hehe. But you lost to me in the first round, right?”

“T, that’s just a mistake. We didn’t know you would use such an absurd method.”

“A mistake? Don’t you know that the outcome of a match between swordsmen at the highest level is mostly due to mistakes? That’s just an excuse.”

Rakami’s lips moved slightly. His words were not wrong at all.

Gladiators who have reached the highest level have considerable physical abilities and swordsmanship. It was rare to be defeated due to a lack of skill. Of course, it was unavoidable against a monster like Beomseok, but even so, with a numerical advantage of 2 to 1, they could cover it sufficiently.

“B, but it’s only once. We won’t make mistakes like that again.”

Beomseok dragged one leg and pointed at Irolita, who had finally arrived, with his finger.

“Then why is she like that? Is Irolita’s condition due to the difference in skill between you and me?”

“T, that’s……”

Rakami shut her mouth. Looking at Irolita limping, she had nothing more to say. If it wasn’t a mistake or a difference in skill, it was just an accident, but it was too pathetic to use that as an excuse.

Beomseok shook his head and stepped back again. Irolita didn’t have mobility, but she knew how to wield a sword. There was no need to stay here and face the onslaught of three people.

“Stop talking nonsense. Just hurry up and attack.”

As he wished, Rakami gripped her sword tightly and looked at Prisika. It was a signal to rush in at the same time. There was no point in arguing with Beomseok; it would only be a loss for them.

“Prisika, let’s quickly go and defeat Beomseok. It would be a disgrace if we were defeated like this.”

“Yes. I know, sister!”

Rakami’s hand, attacking Beomseok, was trembling. She had misinterpreted the scolding from the previous conversation as mockery and was venting her anger. Because of this, each of her sword movements was large and powerful, but the depth was lacking. Beomseok could easily fend off this level of attack.

He moved his steps busily, provoking Rakami.

“This is scary, Rakami. My hand keeps tingling every time I block her attacks.”

Rakami, even more enraged by those words, immediately struck down with her sword following Prisika’s attack. She knew he was exaggerating. His expression was beyond relaxed, almost serene.

‘Good. Prisika will move soon.’

Seeing Rakami’s sword slashing wildly through the air, Beomseok subtly watched Prisika’s actions. If she were to play a trick now, there was a high possibility that all the blame would fall on Rakami. She was agitated and often made disjointed coordinated plays.

And soon, Beomseok witnessed a very embarrassing scene. Just as Rakami was about to strike down with her sword, Prisika, who was standing in front, suddenly moved horizontally and swung her sword quickly. Rakami’s sword strongly struck Prisika’s back, and she turned her head with an incredulous expression.

“R, Rakami, sister, why?”

“P, Prisika……”

Rakami, her face pale, looked at Prisika collapsing on the floor. She had team-killed in such an important match, which was mortifying. Since Prisika was in front, this mistake was clearly her responsibility.

However, she had no time to blame herself and had to quickly swing her sword. Beomseok’s relentless attack had begun.

– Oh, such an absurd thing has happened. What on earth happened? Gladiator Rakami. She made a big mistake.

– Y, yes, that’s right. Irolita is partially incapacitated, and now Prisika is down, so the victory is almost certain to be tilted.

Criticism of Rakami poured out from the commentary box as well. The mistake she made was very critical. Team kills are common accidents, but they should never have happened in this situation.

The announcer continued the broadcast with a pitiful expression.

– Then this second round is as good as over. Honestly, Rakami alone can’t stop Gladiator Beomseok, can she?

– Yes. That’s right.

The announcer shook his head and said.

– But why did this happen? What do you think, commentator?

– Well, first of all, the coordination play between the S-class gladiators was not very smooth. Since they are such outstanding gladiators, they have never properly played a support role. There may have been some problems with the interaction between them. And secondly, it’s still Rakami.

She was too excited when she attacked Gladiator Oh Beomseok earlier. I don’t know what they talked about before, but she should have maintained her composure.

In the meantime, Rakami was hit in the abdomen by Beomseok’s spear and floated into the air. Overwhelmed by embarrassment and excitement, she couldn’t withstand Beomseok’s offensive for long. Soon, he thrust the tip of his spear into Rakami’s chest and looked at Irolita, who was staggering away from a distance, heading towards the base. She was the last point.

However, he soon lost interest and slowly brushed past Prisika. Defeating Irolita would lead him and the gladiator world to a historic moment, but it was a somewhat unpleasant victory, so he thought it would be better to stop here. Besides, Irolita had lost her mobility, so going to the base would be a burden.

“Prisika, thank you. Thanks to you, I won easily. I will definitely take today’s events into account.”

Although she was unable to hear Beomseok’s voice as she fell into an incapacitated state, Prisika smiled brightly. Judging from his expression, his words didn’t seem to be in a bad tone.

She closed her eyes comfortably and imagined a rosy future.

Wow! Wow!

As Prisika and Rakami fell and Irolita greatly lost her combat power, the victory in the second round rapidly tilted towards Avon. Even with three main forces defeated, Beomseok was still intact, so the situation was worse than in the first round.

Soon, the Avon base, supported by his flank, shattered Kelot’s base and won the second round as well.

And on this day, Avon secured a ticket to the semi-finals with 3 wins and 1 loss. They could have achieved a flawless victory, but then the stamina damage to the main force would have been too severe. No matter how much Prisika cooperated, Avon’s second team could not face Kelot’s gladiators.

“Okay. Everyone gets free time today. Get some rest and see you at the national team training camp early tomorrow morning. However, due to jet lag issues, meeting your owners is limited to downtown Lima City. We will assign a manager separately, and there will be considerable consequences if you violate this. Understood?”

Coach Clark was happy with the victory in the quarterfinals and gave everyone a break in the locker room. Although today was almost over, so it was only a short time, there was no better gift for the Avon gladiators.

The gladiators from Gods Knights were always with Beomseok, so they had no complaints, but the gladiators drafted from Bluebird were different. They had been living in training camps and colosseums for several weeks, so it had been quite a while since they had seen their owners.

They busily packed their bags and took out their electronic notebooks to call their owners.

“Okay. Let’s go too.”

Beomseok also took his elf subordinates and headed to his home, the Gods Knights training camp. It didn’t matter if he stayed at the national team’s accommodation, but he didn’t want to enjoy his rest with a subtle sense of burden, so he decided to quit. Someone from the national team might come and bother him in many ways, and the coach’s mind might change, and he might have to give up his vacation and do tactical training.

Soon, he took Aaron, who had come to the coliseum with his elf subordinates, and returned home.

‘Then what should I do?’

Beomseok, who had returned to Gods Knights, was suddenly in trouble. When he actually came, there was nothing to do. Of course, the team’s office work would be piled up because he had been away from the team for a considerable period of time, but he didn’t want to spend his vacation, which was less than half a day, holding documents. He would rather sleep, but he couldn’t do such boring work at this precious time.

At that time, Beomseok smiled when he saw a blue car flying in the distant sky. He had just thought of something to do.

============================ Author’s Afterword ============================

Ah. It’s really hard to write a new book. Professional books are difficult after all. It’s only 5 volumes, but I don’t know how many months I’ve been holding on to it. Still, I have to be satisfied with the fact that it’s written in Korean. It’s well known, but it’s a field that’s hardly active in Korea, so it’s really fortunate that there is such a book.

Then everyone have a nice day. I’ll see you again tomorrow.