Perfect World [EN]: Chapter 471

“Hyah!”

With a short shout, the long spear hurtled toward Eurine. She blocked it with her shield in her left hand and took a firm step forward.

It wasn’t to counterattack, but to close the distance. The spear’s power would diminish significantly without enough room to maneuver.

Beomseok retreated to maintain distance and responded by thrusting his spear, aiming for the gap in her defenses.

With a dull thud, Eurine’s shield shifted slightly. Inevitably, the force concentrated on one point at the shield’s edge, off-center. She quickly stepped back, readjusting her stance.

‘Whew~ That was close! I’m glad it bounced off the shield and went off course; if the spear tip had hit me directly, I would have been in serious trouble.’

Relieved, Eurine began to move, adding flair to her steps to facilitate quick movement and changes in direction. This would disrupt Beomseok’s aim, reducing the risk of being hit.

“Hey, Eurine. Aren’t you overdoing it?”

“It doesn’t matter. I only need to hold out for five minutes anyway, and that time is almost up.”

Beomseok swung his spear once and chuckled. That wasn’t what he meant. While her footwork made it harder to target her, it also put the Dual Shielder at risk of losing balance. The shield’s flat surface was greatly affected by air resistance.

Of course, some sword-and-shield users incorporated footwork. Eurine was one of them.

She had honed her skills and gained experience over a long period, allowing her to use such techniques in actual combat. However, there was a clear difference between using one shield and two. No matter how accustomed one was to handling a single shield, the situation changed completely when wielding two.

He had tried applying footwork techniques to develop as a Dual Shielder, but the side effects outweighed the benefits, so he stopped. Controlling two shields against the wind resistance caused by jumping was very difficult.

‘Huhu. What’s with her? She’s even learned completely useless techniques. I guess she doesn’t know what’s good or bad since she learned it alone? It may be similar to boxing, but boxing gloves and shields aren’t the same.’

Beomseok mirrored Eurine’s steps. If they were in the same rhythm, it would be easier to find an opening.

He cautiously approached, waiting for Eurine to make a mistake. The moment the shields wavered would be his chance to attack. And it seemed he wouldn’t have to wait long.

Though subtle, her shields continued to twist strangely.

“Eurine, amazing. Even though our guys have been Dual Shielders for years, they haven’t learned to step like that.”

“Huhu. What’s so difficult about it?”

“No, contrary to what you might think, it’s very difficult for a Dual Shielder to step. As expected of an S-class gladiator. Hahaha.”

There was a hint of mockery, but Eurine didn’t notice. She was encouraged by the fact that she had blocked Beomseok so well. In just over a minute, she could secure a draw and eliminate Beomseok from the showdown.

“Aren’t you short on time right now? Stop talking and come at me.”

“Well, I guess so. Okay, here I come!”

Beomseok held the long spear in one hand and placed the other on the hilt of the katana [a type of Japanese sword] at his waist. After a few running steps, he charged at Eurine with fierce momentum.

The whistling long spear ridiculously swept over her head. It looked as if Beomseok couldn’t control the long spear properly, and Eurine looked embarrassed. Even wielding it one-handed, he wasn’t one to make such absurd attacks.

Then, the long spear hovering in the air sharply rotated its crescent blade and slashed up and down. As expected, she quickly increased her tempo and raised one shield upwards, anticipating a pull-down attack. If the shield got caught on the crescent blade and fell off or twisted, part of her body would be exposed.

“I won’t fall for such tricks!”

Eurine, shouting confidently, suddenly stiffened. The long spear had only grazed her without any impact. Moreover, he was drawing his katana, using the motion of returning the spear for momentum. She quickly bent the remaining shield to block Beomseok’s draw.

With a small thud, the spear tip stretched out again. Judging that this draw was also a feint, she lowered the shield she had raised, but the spear tip flowed sideways without any impact and hooked the crescent blade on the edge of the shield that had just blocked the draw.

Soon, Eurine staggered as the spear pulled forcefully, disrupting one of her shields. Fortunately, she avoided dropping it, but part of her body was exposed. However, instead of attacking that area, Beomseok kicked the shield in her stable stance.

His goal wasn’t to knock Eurine down, but to partially incapacitate her. Of course, that would be ideal, but he didn’t have time for uncertain gambles.

Beomseok quickly stepped and chased after Eurine, who was retreating. She couldn’t give up her footwork, so there was still a chance.

“Hyah!”

The spear tip stretched toward Eurine’s neck. She readjusted her shields and brought them into the spear’s path.

With a thud, the shield was roughly pushed up. She hurriedly swung the remaining shield to block the katana flying in next. At that moment, the shield shook greatly as it met air resistance.

She hadn’t considered the air resistance when quickly returning the shield while stepping. As a result, she lost her timing, and his katana deflected the edge of the shield and struck Eurine’s left side.

“Match over!”

With the referee’s announcement, Beomseok looked nervously at the electronic scoreboard. The second hand pointed to 0, meaning this strike could be in vain. But with the subsequent ruling, color returned to his pale face.

“Oh, Beomseok wins!”

Released from her brief stiffness, Eurine looked at Beomseok, bewildered.

“No, how could you break through my Dual Shields head-on? In the sparring simulation, I clearly lasted more than 5 minutes.”

The sparring simulation was a training tool that allowed virtual battles with avatars created by analyzing opponents’ skills and movements. Its reliability was high because it used a lot of data and match information. Eurine had fought Beomseok with Dual Shields and lasted more than 5 minutes in nine out of ten matches.

Godknights also had the simulation, so Beomseok knew about it.

“I wonder. Could it be because I showed movements I haven’t shown until now?”

“How?”

“It’s simple. I identified your weaknesses and acted accordingly. The combat method was different, so the sparring simulation couldn’t figure it out. The sparring simulation can’t capture the opponent’s thoughts.”

Eurine knew this and nodded.

“I see. But what is my weakness?”

“Hmm. I can’t tell you that. If you’re really curious, find out for yourself. Huhu.”

Beomseok turned around without another word. He could have revealed her weakness, but he didn’t want to help an enemy improve.

Today’s sparring meant Beomseok would face a major challenge. Even if it was Eurine, the fact that she had perfectly blocked him alone for 5 minutes was a great achievement.

Now, each team would train Dual Shielders specifically to mark him, and he couldn’t help but worry. He might have to fight Markmen [players assigned to guard a specific opponent] in an even more difficult situation.

‘I need to increase the team’s power. Should I accelerate the recruitment of Prisika?’

Dual Shielders weren’t perfect. Their slow movement speed and weak attack power were problems. Therefore, such Markmen couldn’t easily chase him, who played a free role, and could provide an excuse to raid the main camp.

Of course, they could catch up if he turned his back, but they had no weapons to attack, so there was no problem.

However, these shortcomings could be solved by adding Markmen who could attack separately. Beomseok had always faced two or more Markmen alone, so the possibility was even greater. In addition, it could also be solved by attaching sharp spikes to the shield.

However, these situations could be solved without any problems if the power other than himself was increased. The teams that Beomseok worried about were strong teams such as Real Heroes and Ancient Warriors. If other mid-tier or lower teams deployed two people to him, they would be pushed back in the main camp vs. main camp battle and eventually collapse. That’s why Beomseok was desperate for Prisika.

With her alone, he could defeat the main camp of a strong team that was one short, even with the current lacking power.

“Huhu. Eurine. Very well done.”

Wang patted Eurine’s shoulder as she returned weakly and smiled. He had failed to defeat Beomseok by a narrow margin, but it could be seen as a success. Beomseok, who had faced Eurine, had poured out a fierce attack for about 5 minutes, so he must have been very tired both mentally and physically. Now, if he and Hamilton did well, they could try Zakidra once.

Eurine turned her head and looked at Beomseok.

“Still, it’s a shame. If I had bought a little more time, our team would have definitely won.”

“It’s okay. That’s all you needed to do. And in fact, I was a little worried at the end of the match.

What if you defeated that guy? I’ve played against Godknights about twice so far, but I’ve never fought that guy 1v1. So I’ve only heard that he’s great, but I don’t know exactly how good he is.”

“Really? Don’t you have a sparring simulation system in your team?”

“Huhu. I do have one. But I don’t think I can know the opponent with that. A living human and digitalized data can’t be the same. Especially when you reach a certain level.”

Eurine nodded as if she thought the same. She had also faced Beomseok in the sparring simulation system and tasted successful results several times, but today a completely different result occurred. As expected, you had to cross swords with the opponent to know their skills.

“I guess so. Then I’ll wish you good luck. Our victory depends on Wang defeating that person.”

At those words, Wang scratched his head and walked out to the arena. Even though he had never fought him, he had eyes. He knew very well that he couldn’t beat him with his current abilities, although he might if he grew physically later.

Still, he couldn’t show too weak of a side as a veteran of the Kendo Association [a Japanese martial arts organization]. Until he came to the gladiator world through the rookie draft, he had seen gladiators as mere shells.

The novice swordsmen who were only strong were the true 모습 [Korean word meaning ‘appearance’ or ‘aspect’] of the gladiators he had seen. Of course, he didn’t want to admit in front of other gladiators that he would lose to Beomseok.

“Well. I’ll try to do that if possible.”

As Wang stood in the center, Beomseok picked up the spear again. He wasn’t unwilling to face him with a sword, but this showdown was to determine the World Cup winner, and Wang was a typical swordsman. He probably didn’t have many opportunities to face a spear, so he could face a favorable situation.

“Wang. Is today the first time you’re fighting me?”

Wang, frowning at the spear he brought out, said.

“Why is a swordsman using a spear? Where is the dojo [a Japanese martial arts training hall] that taught you?”

“I’m a gladiator?”

“I saw in your profile that you used to go to a kendo dojo. Of course, they wouldn’t have taught you spearmanship, would they?”

“Huhu. The dojo I went to wasn’t orthodox, it was a bit fake, so they taught me all sorts of things.”

Wang shook his head as if he was dissatisfied. Certainly, some dojos taught various weapons. But as much as there were various things, there was no depth. He couldn’t understand how they had raised someone like Beomseok. According to Remnant, the association’s top elder and director, Beomseok’s martial arts were much deeper than theirs.

“That’s how a guy like you grew up to this point.”

“I’m just too much of a genius. Hahaha.”

“But your mental training is lacking. A person with the right mind wouldn’t easily say such a thing.”

But there was no other way. Beomseok had no other way to excuse his situation other than that.

“Huhuhu. What can I do? If not, people can only see others as incompetent. Rather than putting others down like that, it’s better to just admit that I’m a genius.”

A vein momentarily thickened on Wang’s forehead, but he soon calmed down. He believed that he was provoking him.

“You. You have quite the eloquence.”

“I’m originally like that.”

In the meantime, the referee gave them a look in turn, telling them to stop talking and prepare for the match. Because it was almost time to resume the match, there was no time to chat.

The referee checked the clock for a moment and immediately started the match.

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

Today is the eve of the Harvest Festival. Have a happy Hangawi [Korean harvest festival, similar to Thanksgiving], everyone. I’ll see you again tomorrow.