Chapter 199: Challenger's Hurdle (3)

The support died too early.

'Let me play as if I'm playing against another challenger player.'

She had no choice but to admit that her opponent was skilled. Even BlackTea didn't expect a kill from the earlier skirmish. BlackTea could feel that all the rumors about Almond were true without verifying them.

'What should I do now?'

BlackTea looked everywhere to read the situation.

[Sorry, unnie! I'll be there right away!]

Lemon respawned and was already on her way. It would take her around 15 seconds to get there. Fifteen seconds was a short time in real life, but in

LIL

, it could change the tides of the game.

'Let me survive as long as I can.'

During that time, she had to survive against those two. She couldn't back off and let them hit her turret for free. Almond and Tako were using their momentum and pushing forward with their minions. Almond was positioned forward and determined to kill BlackTea. Even though Almond was in a threatening position, BlackTea didn't back off.

Bzzzt...!

A white light made of mana formed a musket. The musket was formed from her hunting memory with her father when she was young.

Chul-kuk.

She aimed the perfectly formed gun at Almond.

BANG!!

The white mana flew through the air as Almond hid behind a minion.

Thud!

The poor minion collapsed on the ground. Behind the falling minion, Almond's arrow flew out. BlackTea tilted her head and easily dodged it.

— Wow!

— That's crazy

— Is this what a challenger fight is like!?

However, she couldn't dodge the next one so easily.

Swoosh!

'How is he so quick?'

The next arrow targeted the center of her abdomen.

Tak!

BlackTea kicked off the ground and accelerated. She became blurry on the screen in between the frames. The viewers were in awe of her performance.

— Is this how you're supposed to frame glitch? Wow.

— Almond did it earlier too

— Damn, what a skill

However, there was a limit to how much she could dodge with her skills. Another arrow flew in.

Pung!

She was eventually hit by one. The target exploded.

'What the?'

The arrow flew as if it expected her to dodge to the left. Another one was coming.

Pu-bung!

Once the first one hit, it became easier to hit the second one.

[Mana Explosion]

Kwang!

The blue target exploded on her body.

'What the. How is he shooting so quickly?'

[HP 65%]

Along with the damage inflicted on her earlier, her HP was almost cut in half. However, that didn't mean she was in a disadvantageous position.

'The turret!'

Keeeeng...!

The turret turned its head. It was starting to target Almond. Because the turret was targeted, it was much more difficult to dodge.

Kwang!

Almond managed to dodge the first attack.

Kwang!

However, the second one hit him. He was knocked back as the turret continuously fired at Almond.

Kwang!

Smoke covered his entire body.

[HP 55%]

Almond's HP was almost down to half. The turret's attacks were stronger than any other champions' attacks. Almond gave up trying to kill BlackTea and backed off. He looked unhappy while BlackTea felt slightly relieved.

'Phew. I fended him off.'

She was straightforward in the voice channel.

[Hey, jungler.]

[Yes?]

[Come.]

***

"

Ah.

It's hard to kill her since she's just hugging the turret," Almond mumbled and felt annoyed that he couldn't kill her.

— RubySword: Phew~

— LOL

— Close. You almost got the mission reward.

— Damn. It's been a while since the stakes were this high.

Almond was annoyed because the mission reward was 500,000 won.

[Mission]

[Kill the Challenger]

[500,000 won]

The opponent was a Challenger tier player. They were staying true to their number one rule: don't die no matter what.

Tako came over and gave him some advice, "It's okay not to kill the opponent. What did I tell you

LIL

was about?"

"A game about destroying turrets."

"That's right."

— LOL! Are you in kindergarten?

— LIL preschool?

— Mom! Can I go to LIL pre-school?!

— Hahaha, Almond's so responsive. How much did you brainwash him?

— He reacted so quickly to the question, LOL.

'But it's a shame.'

Almond thought it was a shame since BlackTea was so close. He constantly looked around and analyzed. During that split second, something came from behind.

"Argh!"

"Kugh!"

Chaak!

A bloody wave swept over the minions.

Slam!

An axe was embedded in the ground at the end of the blood wave.

'The Axe Warrior?'

The enemy jungler appeared. Almond didn't notice him because he came from way back. The jungler was blocking off their path.

'Did this happen... because I overextended and tried to kill BlackTea?'

BlackTea was purposefully stalling for time. That meant...

"Kill them all!"

BlackTea backed off and ran toward him with her support, Lemon. A shining musket formed in BlackTea's hands.

Tang!

The trigger was pulled without hesitation. Instead of gunpowder, the musket let out a bright white light.

Kwaaaang—

Almond widened his eyes and started concentrating.

Aaaaang...!

The speed of the mana energy approaching him slowed down.

'Now!'

Almond thrusted his left leg and slammed into the ground.

Puuu—

As the white mana blew up, Almond's figure brushed past it.

Uuung!

"Kugh!"

This time, instead of the knockback, he dodged the damage.

[HP 55%]

His HP was the same, but his body flew back.

Pung!

He landed from mid-air right in front of the jungle. Almond hoped for this. He calculated where he would get knocked back to.

"Huh...?"

The Axe Warrior was startled as Raina suddenly appeared before him.

"You came to die on your own."

The Axe Warrior lifted his axe while Almond pulled on his bowstring.

Creak…

Blue mana concentrated on the arrow.

[Targeting]

Raina formed twenty targets on the warrior's body. Meanwhile, the warrior threw his axe.

Swoosh!

Almond kicked with his right leg and dodged the axe. The axe passed through Almond's afterimage. He was able to completely dodge it without even tumbling.

"!?"

He was using the frames, but the Axe Warrior was only in the Gold tier and was confused about what just occurred.

'That didn't hit him? This fucking game...'

The Axe Warrior was blaming the game as a blue target exploded.

Pung!

The cost of missing his axe was huge.

'Huh?'

While he had a confused look on his face, two more arrows flew by.

Pung!

Pung!!

Another blue target exploded.

[Mana Explosion]

Kwang!

There was a chain of mana explosions from the three-hit combo. The blue fire flared up and took his HP.

'W-What kind of damage is this?!'

Raina was currently Level 5, and her mana explosion was at the peak of her power creep.

'I have to hit him!'

The Axe Warrior only gained HP when he hit his opponent. He picked up the axe once again.

Swoosh!

At the same time, BlackTea fired from behind him.

Kwaang!

The two attacks simultaneously came for Almond. Right as the two attacks were about to hit…

[Tumble]

Swish!

Almond disappeared, and the two attacks missed.

Pung...!

"!?"

Raina suddenly disappeared. The Axe Warrior panicked because it was the first time he saw Raina disappear like that after tumbling. He heard about it before, but it was his first time seeing it up close. As a Gold player, keeping his cool in a situation like this was difficult.

"Come over here!"

Charrk!

Meanwhile, Tako threw his net. The net wrapped tightly around the warrior.

"I caught him! Almond!"

Swiff.

Almond's figure came out from the right side.

Bzzzt...

Blue mana gathered into his arrow.

"Ah..."

Puung!

After tumbling, the next attack would hit even stronger.

[HP 54%]

Even though the Axe Warrior was only hit once, his HP was cut down by 10%.

Pung!

The target exploded once more.

[HP 47%]

Meanwhile, the damage was increased because it was the fourth combo.

[HP 41%]

The damage was starting to stack up.

Pung!

Another target exploded.

[HP 29%]

Pubung!

[HP 5%]

Puung!!!

The attack blew up within a second of each other.

[Dead]

The warrior fell.

[Level Up!]

Raina turned to Level 6.

'I'm Level 6 now.'

Level 6 was special in

LIL

because they could use their ultimate. Just then…

"Urgh?!"

Puuung!

Along with a scream, Tako rolled on the floor. BlackTea had aimed and shot at Tako. She and Lemon had changed their target. They planned to kill Tako before going back.

"!"

Almond ran straight to help him, but Tako shouted, "Don't come! I'll just die here!"

Tako was planning to sacrifice himself. If Almond went in to help Tako, they would both die. The enemy was in a better position health-wise as well. Tako's decision seemed to be correct. However...

'I don't think I need to back off.'

Almond decided to make his own decision.

'Tako can't see the minimap right now.'

Tako wasn't properly making decisions because he was being attacked.

[Miho.]

[Yes!]

[Come quickly.]

[I'm coming~!]

'Good.'

Almond quickly turned around.

Tako shouted in surprise, "

Huh...!?

Why are you coming!?"

"Tako! Give them everything you got!"

"... What!?"

Tako couldn't understand why Almond was acting like that, but he could understand that they were trying to retaliate. He threw his trident and tried to fight back.

Tako asked Almond again, "B-But, is there really any chance—"

Kwaang!

The shot BlackTea fired interrupted Tako and killed him.

[Ally has been slain!]

[BlackTea -> Takoyaki]

It was too late to save Tako. However, Almond set his eyes on a bigger target. He released his bowstring.

Pung!

The target on Cuifan's body exploded.

Cuifan flinched and shouted, "

Eek!

Eat my barf!!"

It opened its jaw and spewed vile things from its mouth. Using the momentum from its spew, Cuifan backed away. At least, he tried to.

"I'm here, oppa!"

Fwoosh!

Miho suddenly appeared on the path that Cuifan was supposed to escape from. BlackTea's reaction speed was incredible. She instantly started to aim at Miho.

Kwaang!

Kwang!

The white explosion made Miho slightly back off, but since she was healthy, she continued to spit fire at Cuifan.

Fwooosh!

The fireball burned Cuifan. Cuifan stopped in his tracks, unable to proceed further. The timing of that hesitation turned the tide.

Creak…

Almond readied his bow.

'Perfect.'

Amid this chaos, he calmly released his right hand. The flying arrow blew up the targets on top of Cuifan's body.

Pung!

Puuung!

Arrows started raining down.

Pubububung!

Without a mistake, every single arrow struck its target.

— How is he hitting all those small targets???

— Cuifan, you're dying again??

— Miho is here~~!

— Wow...

— Cuifan = hedgehog

[4 Combo!]

[8 Combo!]

[10 Combo!]

The combo increased along with the damage as Cuifan's HP decreased.

"

Kyaaaaa!

Unnie!"

Lemon fell again like a deja vu from earlier.

'Next is BlackTea...!'

Almond changed his aim to BlackTea right away.

"Sorry~~!"

BlackTea was already way out of his attack range. She was fleeing for her life.

— LOL, She's so good at seeing the timing to run away.

— An expert at running away.

— Sigh. This is why I hate quick people!

This time, BlackTea backed off without even trying to defend the turret. She was playing it safe and thought Almond's jungler would also join them.

"Oh no, we can't kill the ADC?" Miho muttered.

Almond kicked off the ground while staring at BlackTea, who was getting smaller and smaller.

"She's too far..."

While muttering, he started thinking.

"Hmm...?"

Then he shook his head.

"No."

"?"

Almond stared at a text in the corner of his eye.

[Pride of an Archer x 100]

He was Level 6 and fully stacked from hitting Cuifan.

"It might work."

[Ultimate Skill - Demian's Liberated Arrow]

It seemed like he finally had a chance. The chance to kill a Challenger player.

Bzzzzzt...!

An enormous mana energy shook the environment as a blonde woman descended from the sky. Almond slowly formed a smile.

"500,000 won ultimate coming right up."