Perfect World [EN]: Chapter 99

Wowww. Wowww.

The emergence of a new star brought great joy to the Rima City fans. Her name was Rapine. Her performance was truly remarkable. She subdued the marksman in one fell swoop and was now attacking the rear of the opposing team, causing chaos. In response, the Fire Phoenixes urgently sent two gladiators to intercept her, but far from suppressing her, they were being dragged around, creating another crisis.

“Now’s the time! Cross over!”

Detecting the disarray in the enemy lines, Beomseok ordered a simultaneous river crossing. Led by him, Oscar and Matilda leaped across the city and swung their swords at the Fire Phoenixes gladiators who were rushing towards them.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

“Everyone, fall back and maintain formation!”

Under the command of the chief gladiator bearing the number 11, the Fire Phoenixes team gladiators formed a nine-person square formation. With the majority of the Gods Knights team gladiators having successfully crossed the river, they now had no choice but to maintain their defensive line and stall for time. They held up their shields and spear tips in all directions, preparing for the enemy’s attack.

‘Wow. I’m impressed.’

Beomseok was slightly impressed by them. Clearly, most of the regulars had their main weapons, but they were skillfully handling swords and shields. As expected of professional team gladiators; there was a clear difference between them and the Gods Knights, who were inexperienced and specialized only in their respective weapons.

However, this was no time to be impressed. They needed to end this round quickly while they had the upper hand. To get through this year’s long season, it was better to reduce match time as much as possible to conserve stamina.

He soon broke away from the group and shouted towards Erpina.

“Erpina, you take command and attack the opposing team’s main camp! I’ll act separately.”

“Yes, I understand.”

Beomseok, who had switched to a free-roaming role, ran towards Rapine, who was fiercely fighting. She was handling Gladiators 7 and 3 well, but she wasn’t overwhelmingly pushing them back.

So, he decided to help Rapine defeat the Fire Phoenixes’ gladiator who had come to intercept and then return to the main camp. If she led the way with Oscar, they could quickly break through such a formation.

“Watch out for the interceptors! Someone’s approaching from behind!”

The attempt to secretly target the rear was thwarted by the opposing team’s chief gladiator’s shout. Before he could even reach them, Gladiator 3 stepped back and aimed the tip of her sword at Beomseok. The surprise attack had failed, but it didn’t seem to matter much. The ones they had to face were Beomseok and Rapine.

He deeply pulled back his katana and then used the recoil to strike Gladiator 3 strongly.

Clang.

Gladiator 3 flinched. At the same time, Beomseok’s sword twisted strangely and flew towards her waist. She desperately lowered her shield to block it, but she staggered from a low kick to her knee that followed. He quickly snatched the wrist of Gladiator 3’s sword-wielding hand and hugged her tightly. Then, he immediately hooked her leg and slammed her face-first into the ground.

With a thud, Gladiator 3 rolled. Beomseok, still holding one of her arms, brought his sword to her neck and slashed it.

– Gladiator Oh Beomseok. As expected of one of the world’s top 5 prospects. He defeated the opposing gladiator in one fell swoop.

– But Gladiator Rapine is also amazing. She’s now unilaterally pushing back the remaining Gladiator 7. The combination of Gladiator Oh Beomseok and Gladiator Rapine. It’s truly terrifying. I wonder who can stop them.

Ignoring the arena broadcast, Beomseok attacked Gladiator 7 from behind. She already knew that her teammate, Gladiator 3, had been defeated and was preparing, but there was no way she could properly block the combination of the two. In the end, she continued to retreat, tripped over her own feet, and fell backward. Rapine’s sword accurately struck her abdomen, and she slowly fell into an incapacitated state.

“Okay. Rapine, return to the main camp.”

“Yes, Master.”

She followed Beomseok back to the main camp. Although she hadn’t received proper organizational training, she was more than capable of standing at the forefront and clearing the way. Rapine soon paired up with Oscar and began to break through the center of the Fire Phoenixes team, wielding their twin swords.

“Don’t let them through! Block them!”

The chief gladiator, number 11, didn’t know what to do in the face of such a powerful attack. They had formed a solid formation, but the vanguard of the Gods Knights was digging into the formation, disrupting it. He was trying to keep them in check by flicking the tips of his spears, but Beomseok’s clever moves thwarted his efforts. It was clear that if things continued like this, they would soon be broken through and scattered.

“This isn’t going to work. We have to fall back!”

“No! If we do that, we’re really done for! Just keep blocking!”

The command system of the Fire Phoenixes team was in chaos. Some gladiators were rebelling against the chief gladiator. They couldn’t understand why they were being told to hold on when they were clearly being broken through.

However, Gladiator 15 had no choice. It would be a disgrace for his team, ranked 3rd in the pro rankings, to be broken while retreating in formation against a newly promoted team, even if it was in enemy territory. Of course, if they could retreat and secure victory, they would do so regardless of face. But if they were being broken through now, would retreating prevent it? Just as they had legs to retreat, it was obvious that the Gods Knights also had legs to advance.

“Now’s the time! Everyone, charge in!”

Beomseok, noticing that the opposing team’s formation had been slightly cracked due to the chaos, ordered an attack. In response, Oscar and Rapine dug into the center and swung their swords powerfully to the left and right, back to back. With a chilling whooshing sound, several Fire Phoenixes gladiators were knocked away. Fortunately, they blocked with their shields and didn’t fall into an incapacitated state, but they couldn’t prevent the formation from collapsing.

In the meantime, Matilda led the way, and Beomseok and his teammates charged in all at once.

“No! Gather quickly again!”

However, it was too late. The formation had already been torn to shreds, and they were in a state of melee.

Clang. Clang. Clang! Bang.

“Take them all down!”

“Fight back and buy as much time as possible!”

Sparks flew and loud metallic sounds erupted from all directions. The Fire Phoenixes team was being unilaterally pushed back. No matter how well they were armed with swords and shields to effectively counter the opponent’s attacks, they were behind in both numbers and skill, making it difficult to overcome the current difficulties. In particular, the situation was deteriorating as Beomseok and Rapine reunited and eliminated their teammates one by one.

“I, I can’t do it!”

As the Fire Phoenixes team’s gladiators continued to fall, despair filled Gladiator 15’s eyes. If things continued like this, they would be annihilated. She quickly retreated, put down her shield, and ran away.

Woahhh! Woahhh!

Jeers erupted from all over the audience. They would have kept their mouths shut if their cheering team, the Gods Knights, had done that, but as everyone knew, the Fire Phoenixes team was the away team. No fans would cheer for the other team’s cowardly tactics.

In the meantime, the Gods Knights’ gladiators, with only three or four remaining opponents, swung their swords and spears, leading to an incapacitated state.

“Okay. Now there’s only one left. Catch him quickly and end this round.”

As soon as Beomseok’s command was issued, Rapine quickly ran towards Gladiator 15. Her agility stat was 87+10. Even Beomseok couldn’t keep up with her running speed unless he activated his trait. In the end, the last remaining Gladiator 15 was grabbed by the neck and rolled to the ground.

Wowww! Wowww!

“Amazing! Gods Knights!”

“A nuisance in the Avand Area League! With such skills, get out to the Wide League quickly!”

Amidst the enthusiastic cheers of the audience, the Gods Knights team gladiators returned to the dugout. Even though it was a home game, the fans were bound to be excited to see them crush last year’s league 3rd place team so miserably. It was the first time the Rima City fans had seen their local gladiator team play so refreshingly.

Beomseok waved his hand to the cheering fans a few times and then returned to the bench and plopped down.

‘Whew~ It’s over. Oh, right. Those guys have a match today too, don’t they? I should check it out.’

Beomseok pulled the bag next to him, put it on his lap, and opened the zipper. There were a lot of miscellaneous items inside, and the item he picked up was an electronic notebook. It had nothing to do with the Gods Knights, but there was a match he had to check out. He quickly brought up the hologram TV screen and began to watch calmly.

‘Hmm. They’re playing a match here too.’

The scene on the screen was a match between a gladiator team wearing white suits with black polka dots and a gladiator team wearing plain green suits. It was one of the World League opening matches, the match between the Dark Hyenas team and the Hell Dryers. But why was Beomseok interested? It was because Jermia was playing in today’s match.

She was the elf gladiator he had promised to recruit during the promotion tournament, and she had recently been promoted to the reserve position due to Loria’s slump, who had come to the Great Hyena team with her.

‘The round record is 2 wins, 1 draw, and 1 loss?’

As of the end of the 4th round, the Dark Hyenas team was leading the Hell Dryers team with 2 wins, 1 draw, and 1 loss. Those guys were in the lower ranks of the World League, but they were pushing the Hell Dryers team, which had just been promoted this year, with the advantage of being at their home stadium. If they managed to draw or better in the 5th round, they would gain a valuable 3 points after the match.

‘Hehehe. Very good.’

The Dark Hyena team was a World League team belonging to the Hyenas Group, which was chaired by Julian’s father. Even though Jermia was playing, Beomseok had no reason to like them, as he had a lot of resentment towards them. But the reason why he was smiling like this was very simple. As long as Jermia was playing in his hands and the Black Society was helping, those guys would never win today.

He immediately took out another electronic notebook from his bag. It was an electronic notebook that was not marked with an owner, and it was directly connected to the same electronic notebook that he had given to Jermia before.

Beomseok opened the communication menu and had a short, secret conversation with her. There was something Jermia had to do today.

‘Julian, you son of a b*tch. Get a good taste of this.’

Beomseok closed the electronic notebook and approached Emma, who was nearby. As a reserve, she was preparing to participate in the 2nd round.

“Emma. We’re going into action.”

She, who was sharpening her sword, stared at Beomseok blankly.

“Action?”

“Catching polka-dotted dogs. Don’t you know?”

As soon as she heard those words, Emma looked around and quickly whispered to him.

“Really? Now?”

“Yes. Right now. It’s very urgent. There’s less than 30 minutes left.”

“Okay. I’ll take care of it right away.”

Beomseok smiled as he watched Emma, who had taken her electronic notebook, quickly enter the dressing room. This was because the owner of a pharmacy, who was being controlled by the Black Society, would soon report to the association that an elf who had bought banned drugs was playing in the match.

Under the current match rules, if someone in the team took banned drugs, the gladiator would be banned from playing for at least one month, and the team would be penalized with -3 points. In addition, the match would be forfeited, so the Dark Hyenas team would face a total of -6 points today. Considering that relegation is often decided by 1 or 2 points for lower-ranked teams, this penalty score would clearly inflict great damage on the Dark Hyena team.

Of course, there was a problem that Jermia’s growth potential could be reduced due to drug use. However, she could be treated at the soon-to-be-created medical center, and her value would drop significantly due to today’s events, making it easier to recruit her.

‘Okay. Then let’s leave this to Jermia and the Black Society for now, and I’ll focus on the match?’

The gladiators who will participate in the 2nd round are Venus, Polia, and Erpina in the rear. Emma, ​​Mirly, Lilith, Reimei, Erica and 1 other in the mid-level. Oscar, Matilda and 1 other in the vanguard. And Rapine of Free Role. Although some less skilled teammates were included, it was not a bad force. At the very least, they thought they would draw against the second team of the Fire Phoenixes team.

After a while. The 2nd round started, and he sat calmly on the bench and watched the 2nd team’s game calmly.

‘Hmm. They’re defending again.’

The tactic adopted by the Fire Phoenixes team in the 2nd round was the circular formation. It was easier to break through than the square formation because only one layer had to be broken through, but the spearmen in the center of the circle were not easy to deal with. If you try to break through recklessly, you may be hit hard while entering because the spear tips of the double and triple layers fly.

However, there was one disadvantage: it was quite difficult to move the formation. A square formation in which the ranks are closely aligned in a square can maintain its formation even while moving, but in a circular formation, one layer of lines is made up of a circle, so if the formation is moved, cracks may occur. If the attacking side enters at this time, there was a risk of being broken through quickly.

Thanks to this, the second team of the Gods Knights was able to easily cross the river and rush towards the Fire Phoenixes team.

============================ Work Review ============================

Today, I will explain in detail about the GA Cup.

The GA Cup is a festival where all amateur and professional gladiator teams compete in one place. The problem is that so many teams participate that it is impossible to hold and finish the promotion tournament all at once. So, the tournament had to be held throughout the year, and a total of 21 matches were held.

1. (Rounds 1, 2, 3): Only amateur teams compete at this time. It is usually held in the spring before the season.

2. (Rounds 4, 5, 6, 7): At this time, the amateur teams that survived from Rounds 1, 2, and 3 and the Area League teams come together and play the game.

3. (Rounds 8, 9, 10, 11): The teams that came up from the 7th round and the Wide League teams compete.

4. (Rounds 12, 13, 14): The teams that came up from the 11th round and the Central League teams compete.

5. (Round 15): The teams that came up from the 14th round and all World League teams except for the World League champions and runners-up from last year compete.

6. (Rounds 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21): The teams that came up from the 15th round and the Drigue [likely a typo and should be League] champions and runners-up from last year participate and compete to determine the final winner.

It’s too complicated to go into more detail than this, so I won’t explain it any further. Then everyone have a comfortable day. I’ll see you again tomorrow.