Season 5: Chapter 54: Solo Leveling (1) |
Meanwhile, one man still hadn’t left the battlefield. Like a wandering soul drifting beyond the mortal plane, he hovered above the fight and watched everything unfold.
“Ah, I’ll just watch a bit before I go. Your current boyfriend? Let’s see how good he really is. Let’s see what kind of marriage she landed herself in!”
— Are you out of it
— You crazy?!
— The energy of the Demian Club is seeping in…
— Turning off the mic so Raina can’t hear while saying this is honestly pathetic…
— LOL
— Nah, you gotta watch this before leaving
Zelo couldn’t help it after trying so hard for Raina and never being acknowledged even once. How could he not be curious about the man who had captured her heart from the very beginning? Even if that man wasn’t playing Raina right now.
Coincidentally, or maybe not, Almond had chosen Flashy Blade Swift. For those who had once lived and breathed LIL, this champion symbolized exactly one person.
‘He pulls out that guy’s main?’
Even pro gamers and aspiring pros barely dared to speak aloud this untouchable existence’s name. Whenever that pick appeared in tournaments, even years after his retirement, everyone was always compared to him.
‘Alright. Let’s see.’
In truth, Raina had just been an excuse. Zelo really wanted to know just how good Almond’s Flashy Blade was. The champion Almond had supposedly unleashed in the LIL tournament that Zelo never bothered to join. Zelo watched the battlefield with a surprisingly serious expression.
Ding.
[InnerTruth has donated 10,000 won.]
[Zelo already knows… It’s just because of the face.]
The chat kept poking fun at him.
— LOOL
— FR
— You know it, so why are you still watching~
— Zelo really needs to confirm it himself…
— For a second, I thought that was Zelo narrating LOL
That much, he could ignore.
Ding.
[Honestly has donated 10,000 won.]
[You’ll admit Bubblegum is better now, right?]
“…”
— LOL
— Oh no
— Get out.
— Look at Zelo’s face LMAO
Zelo didn’t bother banning the donor. Bubblegum’s skills? One just had to see it for themselves. Anyone would understand.
“Alright. Let’s take a look. Perfect timing, the combat has just started.”
Almond’s team had run into another squad, essentially their first fight since Zelo’s team.
“Almond is still level five! Frost Archer! The Frost Archer is already level six! Did they run a different route?”
— Oh
— What?
— Damn
— Level 6 already??
Kwa-gwagwagwa!
The Frost Archer opened with their ultimate, kicking off the fight. An ice wall surged up, reshaping the terrain. Almond’s five-member team had been split into two and three.
Zelo said too excitedly, “Wow. Frost Archer just slices their formation cleanly in half…”
— LMAO
— Zelo, you sound happy~
— Ah~ Bubblegum is about to get wrecked~!
— Your current boyfriend? Let’s see how good he really is!
“This, this, can a level-five Flashy Blade even do anything here? Huh? Running with Iron Ball?! You think you’re saving the farm with that!?”
— Oh no
— Dang
— LMAO
— Haha…
— The jelly farms are thriving today!
***
Ragtag teams had a defining trait. They held together decently at first, but everything would fall apart the moment a sudden variable appeared. Especially if that variable disrupted communication, their combat power would plummet absurdly fast.
‘Th-This…’
BornToB, an A-rank commander from Civil Empire, felt it instantly.
‘We’re screwed.’
He’d seen this problem countless times while commanding troops. When walls cut off lines of sight, soldiers would stop acting like one unit and instead fight like separate teams. Right now, BornToB had been split off from LetMeTank.
“Uh… what do we do? I, I only know the Dagger Rush…!”
— Why say that now LOL
— Does that matter??
— Ugh…
BornToB was panicking. It was one thing to command soldiers. Being one was another matter.
LetMeTank was reaching the edge of her patience. “What the hell even is that! Shi…”
— LOL
— She almost swore but barely held it in LMAO
— What is that, you damn nerd!
However, LetMeTank forced herself to calm down. “No. BornToB, Almond acknowledged you as an archer. Did you forget? Who gave you that bow?”
BornToB’s eyes welled up.
— LOOOL
— Simple-minded bastard
— Kya~
“You can do this. Hammer the nails I set!”
“Yes! Bow! I can use the bow!”
— Is he good
— LOL
— Bow boy!
The enemies were coming. The ice wall had split their team. The enemy would obviously target the two of them.
‘They’re coming.’
[Scatter Nails]
Chwaak!
LetMeTank smoothly cast her skill, disrupting the enemy’s advance. Sharp nails erupted from the enemies’ bodies.
“Bow, you can do this!”
Fwoosh!
BornToB fired, but it was useless.
Thung!
The enemy shield user blocked it, and the Frost Archer behind them attacked. Ice arrows fanned out.
Pababat!
They had no way to dodge.
[Chill]
[Movement Speed Reduced for 1 second]
LetMeTank and BornToB became slowed as frost bit into their limbs.
‘One more hit like that and…’
Another hit in the same spot and they’d be frozen solid.
“I’ll take the front!” Even as she charged, LetMeTank knew the truth.
BornToB wasn’t worth protecting like this, but what choice did she have? That was a tank’s job.
‘Damn it! I said I was a DPS!’
Her resentment drifted toward Almond.
‘If only we had one more tank here…’
She wouldn’t feel this powerless if their side had three players with another tank to push together.
“Screw it! Let’s just die! Almond will save us!”
Crash!
LetMeTank charged forward recklessly, soaking up hits.
— Oh no…
— The fate of a tank…
— LOL fr
— If you seek death, you shall live. Please die.
LetMeTank closed in and swung her massive hammer.
Dudududududu…!
A strange roar echoed as someone appeared on top of the ice wall.
It was Bubblegum.
“Ironball. Has arrived.”
“Huh?”
Everyone froze.
— ?
— ???
— How the hell did he get up there???
— Damn, high-rankers really move different
— That positioning is insane LOL
‘What is that?’
Even LetMeTank, an ally, looked dumbfounded.
‘You can’t climb that.’
In LIL, players could only climb certain terrains. Ice walls weren’t climbable. Of course, the distinction wasn’t perfectly strict. If they struggled hard enough, sometimes they could get up somehow.
‘No way. Did he work his way up by rolling?’
Iron Ball could spin at high speed and charge forward. He had actually climbed the ice wall like that.
— Does that guy only use bugs?
— He’s literally a bug himself…
— LMAOOOO how did he even do that?
— He actually worked his way up??
The ice wall had split their team in two, but it lost all meaning if someone crossed it like this.
“What the!?”
“Th-there’s someone on the wall…!”
“Am I hallucinating?”
In that moment, the enemies froze in confusion.
“Rolling time!” Bubblegum rolled around gleefully.
Kiiiiiiiiing!
Shining metal scraped down the ice as he streaked down.
Kwaaang!
In an instant, Bubblegum crashed straight through the enemy formation’s right flank.
“U-ugh!”
“What the hell is that!? How can he get over here!?”
The enemies completely panicked. They had formed up on the assumption that no enemy could ever cross over. That very premise had just collapsed.
Puh-ung!
“Keuk!”
Bubblegum’s charge didn’t just shatter their formation. It shattered their minds.
“Urgh…!”
[Lifted into the air]
The Frost Archer, who took the direct hit, was launched airborne. The three next to him became slowed.
“Now’s the time!”
[Scatter Nails]
Chwaak!
“I can shoot freely!”
In that opening, LetMeTank closed in and swung her hammer. BornToB’s arrows also flew in like a storm. Iron Ball, still in his ball form, continued ramming into anyone he could reach. LetMeTank’s nails pierced the enemies one by one.
Pung!
[An enemy has been defeated!]
[BornToB → WaterStrider]
Even though it was a three-versus-five team fight, Almond’s separated team drew first blood.
— Whoa
— An archer that Almond acknowledged, damn
— Nice
— BornToB can really shoot LOL
— That actually killed him holy shit
Bubblegum cheered excitedly. “Woooo! T-told you! Huh!? I said I could climb that!”
— Damn
— God of jank skills
— Bug-tards, damn
— How did he even do that, seriously?
Their luck only went that far.
“Uh… uh…?”
Bang! Bang!
Under the enemy’s fierce counterattack, Bubblegum’s health completely plummeted.
[An ally has been slain]
[OdenSoup → Bubblegum]
Bubblegum instantly died, and the situation turned into a two-versus-four.
‘But it’s fine.’
LetMeTank wasn’t worried.
‘The wall will fall now.’
She was extremely sensitive to timing and knew the ice wall would collapse soon. When that happened, it would be four-versus-four again once Almond could join them.
LetMeTank swung her hammer and pulled back. “We’ve won this. The wall is about to break!”
Kwarururur!
The wall really did collapse.
“Fireball!”
From behind the white ice mist, Choco Shroom’s Fireball flew in. The enemies knew when the wall would collapse as well. Their low-health damage dealers had already retreated, and the shield user stepped forward to knock the Fireball aside.
“Huah!”
Thung!
The enemy tank completely nullified the Fireball.
Choco Shroom froze in shock. Instead of dealing a massive blow, her attack vanished far too easily.
— This is bad
— Gasp
— They blocked that???
— That shield is insane
— There’s a reason he’s been holding a shield this whole time
LetMeTank realized that the enemy wasn’t ordinary.
‘That guy… The shield user isn’t normal.’
The shield was a sacred relic that had to be contracted by a tank. Usually, tank players picked a champion within the first or second opportunity. She had found it strange that he was still holding a shield at this stage.
‘He’s skilled.’
Skilled enough to perform the tank role properly with just a shield. That Fireball block had been a parry, which meant it also stunned Choco Shroom.
[Stunned]
— Wait, that was a parry???
— Stun, damn
— That guy is cracked
“Counterattack!”
CRACKLE!
The enemy mage champion was Electric Wizard Kaizad.
[High-Voltage Current]
He sent a current flowing through the ground and rapidly moved to one of the electrified points.
[Teleport]
Bzzzt!
He appeared right in front of BornToB, their ranged DPS. When Kaizad met a ranged DPS one-on-one, he rarely lost. BornToB was in minion form, which made for the worst possible scenario.
BornToB screamed, “A-ah! I’m latched onto! Scatter some nails here!”
LetMeTank didn’t react. Instead, she scattered nails in front of herself.
[Scatter Nails]
Chwaak!
“Give what needs to be given.”
— LOOOOOOL
— LOL
— For real LOL
— Why aren’t you saving BornToB?
— Is he getting ignored for being small-time!?
“I-I’m an archer that Almond acknowledged!? You’re abandoning me!?”
— Holy shit LOL
— You trusted that?
— That person gave him a straw hat…
— Fuck LOL
Bang! Bang!
Even as BornToB got beaten and begged, LetMeTank didn’t waver.
“This is correct! He’ll be here soon!”
Almond would come, so they needed nails scattered here in advance to have a future. He would enter with Flash Blade, instantly embed all the nails, restore LetMeTank’s health, and deal damage to the enemies. That was the picture she had drawn. It was a precise judgment worthy of a Master tier player.
However, Almond didn’t appear.
“Urgh!”
[An ally has been slain!]
[BabyDumpling → BornToB]
Bang.
Only BornToB turned into a rune spirit.
Choco Shroom’s heal flew toward him too late.
She shrieked, “M-my… We’re doomed! The heal!”
LetMeTank desperately deflected the enemy attacks with her hammer. “N-no! Almond oppa! Where is Almond oppa!?”
Choco Shroom answered as if it were obvious, “He went to level up!”
LetMeTank doubted her ears. “He went to level up?”
“Yes! He said he was going to level up alone…”
— Holy shit LMAOOOO
— LOOOOOOL
— He’s literally solo leveling
— This is legendary
— Even Sung Jin-Woo would be fighting together right now
— Solo leveling by himself LMAOOOO
— He hit level six and went to reawaken~
— Absolutely insane judgment LMAOOOO
‘Is that guy completely insane!?’
The patience LetMeTank had barely held onto finally snapped, and a fire flared in her eyes.
***
[Beginner’s Tip]
[The champions who achieved legendary feats all say the same thing: “Only those who are mad about something can reach our level.”]