Perfect World [EN]: Chapter 470

472

“What are you going to do?”

Zackeed glared at the king, who was radiating anger.

“Didn’t you hear that bastard making fun of me? How can I not be angry?”

“So, you’re going to go over there, punch him, and get honorably discharged? Don’t do anything useless and stay still. You’ll have your chance to fight him soon enough. If you’re so upset, then go and show him your strength.”

Then, Hamilton, who had followed behind, grinned and patted Zackeed on the shoulder.

“Hehehe. Yeah, if you don’t want to be the laughingstock of the world, then listen to the king and be patient. If you fall for such clumsy provocations, you’re just admitting you’re a fool.”

“But… the way he’s acting…”

The moment Hamilton’s sharp eyes flashed, Zackeed drooped his shoulders. He was usually a jovial old man, but once he got angry, even his teacher Remrant couldn’t stop him. It was better for his well-being to shut up and stay quiet now.

Hamilton, with a bright smile again, looked at the king.

“Ahem. Then, let’s go.”

“Yes, Brother.”

All the gladiators who had participated in the match gathered together and were having a serious discussion. Even though only five were participating in the match, if there was a draw, they had to send out representative gladiators until a winner was decided. Naturally, even those who weren’t selected as the five participating gladiators couldn’t just sit back and do nothing.

And after a while, when the list of matches appeared on the electronic display, the entire stadium was in an uproar. They saw Beomseok at the very front of the five participants from Abundance.

“What on earth is going on? Why is Gladiator Oh Beomseok the vanguard [the first fighter in a battle or contest]?”

“I don’t know? Did the coach eat something wrong? Why did he set up such a lineup?”

“Well, he must have some idea. Coach Clark is the one who brought the Abundance team to the World Cup finals. He wouldn’t have done this without a good reason, right?”

“I guess that’s true.”

They expressed their doubts, but the fans’ commotion soon subsided. They trusted Clark, who had brought the Abundance team to the World Cup finals, and the gladiators.

In the meantime, the five participating gladiators from both teams came forward and took their places. It was the moment the match was about to begin.

‘Hmm. So, the first one is Asura?’

Currently, the gladiators participating in the match from Yrat were Asura as the vanguard, Eurine in 2nd place, the King as the center, Hamilton as the vice-captain, and Zackeed as the captain. It was a choice that deviated from the typical match strategy, and it seemed like they were intentionally trying to catch Beomseok.

They were planning to defeat four of Abundance’s match gladiators with Asura, who had excellent offensive skills, and then exhaust Beomseok’s stamina with Eurine, who had excellent defensive abilities, and the King and Hamilton, who showed excellent performance in 1-on-1 matches. And then, they were planning to win this match with Zackeed in the final showdown.

Thanks to this, Asura, who came out as the vanguard, showed a clear look of embarrassment. If Beomseok was the first, then there was no point in her coming out first.

“Ah, hello. But this is unexpected. Beomseok-nim is the vanguard?”

“Hehe. Well, it can happen. The vanguard is usually a young and aggressive gladiator. And I’m one of those gladiators.”

Asura checked that the starting time was approaching and drew her sword. It was about 1 meter long, and the thick, crescent-shaped blade was impressive. If you were accidentally grazed by such a heavy sword, you could be incapacitated.

“I guess so. But Beomseok-nim, you should draw your sword. The match is about to start.”

“It doesn’t matter. It’s not too late to draw my sword after the match starts. You’re no match for me at all.”

Asura was about to argue with his arrogant remarks, but she was stopped by the approaching referee. The match was about to begin soon. The referee checked the bird cameras placed around and hurriedly stepped back, lowering his raised hand.

“Match start!”

At the same time, Asura jumped forward with all her might and brought her crescent blade down on Beomseok’s head, who was reaching for the hilt of his sword. If your body is floating in the air, your body’s movement is not free and it is dangerous, but now a quick attack is necessary, so she adopted this attack pattern.

She believed it was safe because her opponent hadn’t drawn his sword yet, and if she did well, she might be able to defeat Beomseok with an early surprise attack. Then she could flatten that arrogant nose.

“Get ready! YAH!”

Beomseok, who glanced at the trajectory of the crescent blade drawing a long parabola in the air, slightly raised one corner of his mouth. As expected, Asura was letting her guard down and launching a quick surprise attack. In fact, he had no intention of drawing his sword in this match.

Beomseok immediately leaned his upper body forward and dug into her arms, then hugged her sword-wielding wrist and waist as they were, and threw her down. Then he twisted the crescent blade and slashed Asura’s neck in one fell swoop.

Asura’s body stiffened with a dumbfounded expression. The referee, who had been staring blankly at this for a moment, announced the result of the match when Beomseok glanced at him.

“Oh, Oh Beomseok wins!”

The moment the first match ended in an instant, the home fans all stood up, hugged each other, and shouted. They had no doubt that Beomseok would win, but they didn’t expect it to be decided so quickly.

The King quietly turned around and looked at Beomseok, then smacked Zackeed on the head for no reason. He grabbed his head and glared at the King. He had taken off his helmet, so it hurt quite a bit.

“Hey. Elder. Why are you hitting me again all of a sudden! What did I do wrong!”

“You idiot! If you let your guard down, you’ll end up like that in an instant, so be careful! That Beomseok’s tricks are no joke. If you get swayed around, you’ll just get taken out in one shot.”

“Am I a fool! Do you think I’d fall for such a pathetic trick!”

“Thinking about what you were doing earlier, it seems like you would fall for it, so that’s why I’m saying it! Anyway, if you end up fighting that guy, keep your wits about you and never fall for his provocations. Don’t embarrass us for no reason!”

Zackeed pouted.

“Then, why don’t you win, Elder? Judging by the way you’re talking, you seem almost invincible.”

“You idiot, how can I beat such a young guy at my age?”

Zackeed stared at the King with squinted eyes. When he ran out of words, he always brought up his age and yelled. Honestly, the King was much younger as a modified human.

“Tch. You’re younger than me in body age…”

“Yeah, you idiot. Honestly, as you said, my body age is younger than you. But what can I do if it’s too young to develop everything! Anyway, you’re all talk… Tsk tsk tsk.”

Hamilton grabbed the King’s shoulder as he was getting angry.

“King. Be quiet. Eurine is coming out. It’ll be worth watching this time, so focus.”

The King watched Eurine get up from her seat. She was the world’s strongest sword and shield gladiator. If she focused on defense, even Beomseok wouldn’t have it easy. Moreover, she had prepared a special weapon for today. It was the dual shield, one of the main weapon positions of the Gods Knights rear gladiators. Since she had no intention of attacking anyway, she didn’t need a sword.

She clashed the tower shields in her hands against each other and looked at Beomseok, who was walking out with a long spear.

“You defeated our Asura very easily.”

“Well, it’s easy. There’s no opponent as easy to deal with as someone who’s let their guard down.”

“I guess that’s true. But you know that I’m different, right?”

Beomseok let out a long sigh. He was burdened by the dual shields that Eurine had brought out.

Beomseok had introduced the dual shield as a new role model in the gladiator world, so he knew its power. If she had mastered it perfectly, this match would be very difficult.

Moreover, Beomseok had to win, while she only had to stall for 5 minutes. This difference in circumstances added to his burden.

“I know. But have you completely mastered how to use the dual shield? I’m sure there was no one to teach you, right?”

“Don’t worry about that. I’ve been inviting a boxing coach since last year and gradually building up the basics. And I’ve only recently completed it.”

Beomseok ran his hand over his face. She knew the meaning of the dual shield too well. This was really troublesome.

“Tch. Where did you hear that story? I’ve never leaked such a thing to the media.”

“Hehe. You can tell by looking at the battle scenes of Gods Knights’ Venus and Agelia. The battle method is almost identical to boxing, so you can’t not know.”

“Tsk. Is that so?”

Beomseok, who clicked his tongue, took a fighting stance with a gloomy expression. He had to save his stamina to defeat her within the 5-minute time limit. If he was careless, the time might run out and this match would end in a draw. Then he would have to step down, and the remaining gladiators, including Tiela, would have to face the King, Hamilton, and Zackeed.

“Match start!”

With the referee’s cry, Beomseok fiercely swung his spear horizontally. It was enough to make one feel intimidated by the powerful force, but Eurine crossed her shields and brought them up. Soon, the shields vibrated greatly with an ear-splitting impact sound. But her posture showed no signs of wavering.

‘This is not good. Her defense is no joke. But why did Eurine, who is a center, learn such a defensive technique!’

Beomseok, who turned the spearhead back, grumbled with a dissatisfied expression. He couldn’t understand why a center would build up the qualities of a dual shield.

Well, she learned it as a last resort to stop Zackeed and the strongest trio including him, but Beomseok couldn’t understand it.

“YAH! Here I come!”

He launched a series of powerful strikes and attacked Eurine. To attack a dual-shield user, it was necessary to break their posture, so it was necessary to attack fiercely. But she deflected his spear appropriately from a stable posture with her elbows close to her waist.

Looking at this, it was believed that she was definitely proficient in dual shield.

‘Damn it. I can’t afford to lose stamina like this from the second one…’

Beomseok’s heart grew impatient as Eurine was not easily attacked. He had to face all five of them, but he was unexpectedly met with a hidden danger, so he couldn’t help but be flustered. If this continued, the physical damage he would take even if he won would be very great. But he couldn’t move forward without defeating her.

He continued to swing his long spear and looked for Eurine’s weakness.

Clang. Kwahang. Clang clang.

Beomseok suddenly moved quickly to her side. Since his attacks were not working properly, he was thinking of taking her from behind with a quick movement.

Of course, the possibility was low because Eurine’s range of motion was small. Even if he moved a few steps to change his position, she could just turn her body slightly and wouldn’t give up her back. But he had no choice but to try in case there was a gap in such a small movement.

He stretched out his spear with all his might towards Eurine’s right foot, which was the axis of rotation.

“I won’t fall for such tricks!”

Eurine, who immediately bent her upper body and blocked the spearhead digging into the floor, immediately dashed and threw her body. Even though the dual shield user performs a battle that is entirely defensive, it does not mean that they do not attack at all.

She could do light body checks or jab attacks through the corners of the shield. At the same time as Beomseok jumped back, he hit her shield hard with his spear and slid sideways to avoid it.

He used the force of the impact to move in the air.

Thanks to this, Eurine, whose body attack failed, frowned her beautiful face and looked at Beomseok.

‘As expected, Beomseok-nim’s sense is extraordinary. He uses the impact of the spear to avoid my dash attack… I should refrain from attacking. My purpose is to hold on to Beomseok-nim for as long as possible, so there is no need to take risks. And if I’m lucky enough to stall for 5 minutes and make this match a draw, it’s the same as me winning. Of course, there’s no reason for me to rush.’

Eurine took a firm defensive stance. The entire front was blocked by the shield, so it was difficult to find a place to attack.

Seeing this, Zackeed, who was watching from behind, suddenly started grumbling. He was annoyed that Beomseok, whom he considered his rival, was struggling against Eurine.

“Hey. What’s so difficult about defeating a kid like that that you’re taking so long? He should hurry up and get rid of her and come to me. Did that guy eat something wrong today?”

“Hehe. Zackeed. Are you upset that the guy who beat you is struggling?”

Zackeed shouted angrily at the King’s taunt.

“Why would I be upset? I’m just saying that because I think he’s pathetic.”

“What’s so pathetic about it? Do you think you can handle that Beomseok guy better than him?”

“Of course! Eurine. That kid has never beaten me once! And it will be the same in the future.”

The King looked at him with a pathetic look. He was sad that a guy with such outstanding swordsmanship had such a poor eye for seeing the big picture.

In his opinion, Zackeed would struggle even more than Beomseok. In a situation where physical abilities were almost the same, if he used two shields and focused only on defense without any intention of attacking, it would not be easy for the attacker to find a place to break through.

“Tsk tsk tsk. You think you’re strong and look down on others as weak, your patheticness has reached its peak.”

“Then, are you saying that Eurine has become stronger than me?”

“You idiot, who said she’s stronger than you? I’m saying that even the weak have their own survival rules. Right now, Eurine has found a way to deal with that guy and you and is showing it to the world. Since she can’t beat you anyway, she’s just going to block you thoroughly. Maybe in a little while, you’ll have a hard time in league matches too.

Since they’ve seen such results, other teams will desperately raise dual shield users.”

When the King said this, Zackeed looked at Eurine with new eyes. Anyway, she was not an easy opponent if she was making Beomseok struggle so much.

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

The Chuseok holiday starts tomorrow. Everyone, have a happy Chuseok [Korean harvest festival]. I’ll see you again tomorrow.