Season 2: Chapter 242: Mecha Leg (3)

In the world of

JetPumped

, numerous jets and pumps existed. Even considering their combinations, it would be impossible to count them all.

Finding the exact counter jet to a newly released jet was an extremely difficult task unless the counter had been predetermined during its creation. Unless it was the original designer of the game.

Kim Yi-Seo was indeed a difficult opponent if not a god-like entity in this world.

“This, this is a counter pick! There was a counter to the mecha jet that hasn’t been out long!”

“Can it be... Was this designed from the start!?”

“It’s possible! Kim Yi-Seo is the arbitrary designer after all!”

Yes. Conversely, if one was a god-like entity who designed the game, finding counters immediately was possible. No matter what variation or pumping was added to the mecha series, Kim Yi-Seo was confident in finding all the counters.

The crucial element, engine pumping, already had its deadly weakness revealed.

“Cold pumping! High compression cold pumping seems to be the counter!?”

“Not only that! The frost option has been enhanced too! It's usually a trivial option!”

The design to incapacitate the mecha engine already existed. Kim Yi-Seo acknowledged that it wouldn’t have been easy for players to find.

Not just any cold, but compressed cold with enhanced pumping that included the frost option. The frost option allowed the cold to remain as long as possible in one place and compression allowed the accumulated cold to overlap.

This led to the area reaching the realm of absolute zero where it could even extinguish high-heat engines.

“As expected of the designer!?”

“To create such a trick. Really... it is impressive.”

Of course, designing and crafting such a counter required remarkable ability. It was a combination of marvelous imagination and meticulous planning.

Then, what kind of ability was it to overturn all these meticulous plans and concepts?

“Uh oh!? Ah, Almond counterattacks!”

“Wasn’t the engine supposed to be off!”

Ziiiiing!

Almond's frozen engine roared back to life. He gained a moment's opportunity away from the cold and he chose to execute an axle kick for the maximum thrust in the same spot.

“It’s an axle kiiiick!!”

“He instantly gained 80% thrust!”

Boom—!

"Kugh!"

Kim Yi-Seo's face turned to the side with his spit flying.

It was only 80% thrust, but the shock from the counter felt like 100%.

“It's so satisfying!!!”

“Wowwwwwwwww!!”

A tremendous cheer erupted and Kim Yi-Seo's health dropped to the 30% range.

“Almond landed a direct hit, but the cold will soon build up again!? He can't keep fighting like this!”

As the commentator pointed out, Almond couldn't continue attacking anymore.

Whoosh!

Kim Yi-Seo was already swinging his sword. The cold compressed to the max swiftly took over the area. It was impossible to fight properly here and would only cost more health.

'First, let’s get away.'

Screeeech…

Click!

The mecha engine sounded like it was leaking air as Almond moved.

“He can't stay for long where the cold starts to build up again! Get moving!”

“Good judgment! But how does he plan to fight!?”

The mecha leg jet required tremendous engine thrust. A fight was essentially unfeasible in the current situation where Almond couldn’t even approach Kim Yi-Seo.

Almond had to find some way.

“Kim Yi-Seo's cold isn't disappearing! It continues to dominate the space!!”

The high-density frost option wouldn’t vanish. Instead, it would continue to build up and take over the rooftop.

Kim Yi-Seo simply roamed around, leisurely swinging his sword.

— Wow, that’s seriously overpowered.

— Is that supposed to be game money??

— LOL, is the balance okay?

— ??? It's not that the balance is off, you guys are just dumb.

— This is the worst in the mecha series for real.

“If this were a typical jet, the cold wouldn’t be so bothersome! It's because it's a mecha that there's a problem!”

“Actually, it would be a problem for any jet related to engines!”

“Ahhh… that's regrettable!”

The commentator wailed as he watched Almond, who had to keep running away.

“We just managed to bring out Kim Yi-Seo! And now, like this, nothing can be done!?”

“We might have to start over from the beginning again... It's truly terrible.”

“Ahhh…”

Sighs spread among the gamers.

Looking at the rooftop increasingly filled with cold, there seemed to be no solution. As the white cold consumed the rooftop, despair grew. Their minds were turning blank like the cold.

"So! I didn’t make this without thinking, okay?!”

On top of that, Kim Yi-Seo began running his mouth.

“Why does everyone always complain without trying? Huh?!”

He hadn’t been talking when his health was instantly halved. Now that the situation was better, he started talking.

— Damn him...

— Ah, LOL

— Just one punch, please...

— I hope you go bald, trash

— If he wins, I have nothing to say ??

The users hated seeing him act like that, but had nothing to say. If even Almond was struggling this much, Kim Yi-Seo's words inevitably carried weight.

“Have you looked for a counter? I always asked! Did you find one? What is this then? What is this~!?”

It felt like getting reprimanded by a workplace boss and the players all grew even more gloomy.

— LOL, extreme damage

— Is this the company experience?

— Is this guy’s jet the High-Speed Mecha Mouse?

— LOL

— Ha... please… Almond!!

As this happened, their focus inevitably shifted to Almond on the screen. It seemed there was no one else but him who could defeat Kim Yi-Seo. Hadn't all attempts to bring out Kim Yi-Seo been failures so far?

They were desperate, but he was the only hope in their despair.

“Ah… he’s really merciless. I guess you make a lot of money living like that.”

The commentators continued with disheartened voices.

“But still! Almond finally succeeded in completely escaping the cold!”

Almond, who had only been fleeing, jumped to the rooftop of the building across.

“Yes! He went to a completely different rooftop!”

“Is he planning to drag out the time?”

“Ah! Does that mean Almond will win? After all, he has more health!”

In

JetPumped

, there was a time limit and the person with more health won when it ended. That was the basic rule of all fighting games.

However…

“Ah…!? These, these new challenge stages have no time limit!!!”

“Gasp…”

The challenge had no time limit. It was clearly an intentional design created to use this cold tactic from the start.

— Obviously rigged -_-

— Ha… trash

— Why isn’t this invalid???

Despite the hostile comments in the chat, Kim Yi-Seo ignored them.

“No. A challenge is a challenge. If it were like a normal game, it wouldn't make sense to have started from the tutorial!” he retorted while continuously swinging his sword.

— ??

— Sophist

— What does that have to do with anything?

— He’s actually right lol

Kim Yi-Seo arrogantly added on after shouting, "Yeah~ right~ I—"

Something broke through the cold white clouds.

Bang!

Kim Yi-Seo’s mouth contorted as it hung open. The shock was nearly enough to cave in his face.

‘What on earth?’

“What!?!”

“Dead ball!”

‘Dead ball?’

The audience felt puzzled, but they quickly grasped the situation from that exclamation.

"Could it be!"

"Is that a baseball!?"

"That's crazy!"

Almond had thrown a baseball from a distance.

“No, that's incredible! To throw a ball from that building across here and hit him!?”

“Is he a former baseball player!?”

— Archery LOL Baseball LOL

— For real

— Insane accuracy, really

Fwooosh!

Whether a special move was activated or not, the baseball caught fire and Kim Yi-Seo lit up along with it.

[Kim Yi-Seo]

[HP: 25%]

Kim Yi-Seo's health started to plummet.

‘Where are you…?’

He looked around frantically.

‘Could it be…?’

A dark shadow could be seen in the distance from the rooftop of another building. Did he hit from that distance? It was an unbelievable accuracy.

As Kim Yi-Seo fell silent, the commentator remarked.

“Ah, he’s finally quiet after taking one hit, huh!?”

— Ah... this is what they call education.

— LOL, classic digital brain. Gets fixed when hit LOL

— But seriously, isn’t Almond going to win this???

“Almond!? He moved to another rooftop to look for another baseball!”

“He's figured out how to counterattack! Ah! He found one!”

Almond found another baseball on the rooftop of another building.

‘I didn’t think he’d bring long range immunity.’

As expected, Kim Yi-Seo chose a jet to counter him and didn’t consider long range immunity necessary. He figured that neutralizing the mecha jet would be enough to defeat Almond.

It was a logical calculation. In a battle between jets, neutralizing the opponent’s build was critical. However, what if the opponent possessed more lethal skills?

Click.

Almond positioned himself once again and looked at the opposite rooftop filled with cold.

Kim Yi-Seo was also staring back at him. He intended to block the baseball.

‘Hmm.’

Almond had no plans to let that happen.

Boom!

He activated the mecha engine and took flight.

“What? Instead of throwing, he’s flying around!”

He began to fly over areas not covered by the cold, gaining speed. Kim Yi-Seo could no longer see where he was in the dense cold.

‘Where... where…?’

This typically made it harder for the thrower.

“Hey! He's trying to make it so the opponent can't block… But if he’s flying around like this, how will he throw!?”

“Right?? It’s even harder for the one throwing!”

The next moment...

Boom!

With a backfire of the engine, Almond suddenly halted and struck a perfect pose in the blink of an eye.

"!"

The two commentators momentarily stood from their seats in astonishment. Almond’s performance was on such a level. He perfectly pitched the baseball like a cannon shot.

Boom—!

It flew precisely and the special move even activated.

Fwoosh!

The baseball lit up in flames as it flew toward Kim Yi-Seo.

"Wha…?"

Kim Yi-Seo failed to locate the baseball and took a direct hit on the temple.

Kaboom—!

A brilliant burst of flames accompanied Kim Yi-Seo's flying figure.

[Kim Yi-Seo]

[HP: 9%]

He survived with a thread of health remaining.

“Ahhh! He’s not dead yet!!”

The commentators screamed in a high-pitched shriek.

“He, he's not dead!”

“But what was that!? Flying around and just activating the baseball special move! Truly, what a crazy performance!”

“Does he need to find another baseball now? But is there... Oh!?”

Boom!

Almond could have looked for more baseballs to finish the job.

“Look, he's flying over himself!!!”

Almond chose not to do so. There was no guarantee of finding more baseballs and this opportunity only came once in a lifetime.

'The path has opened.'

The flaming baseball had momentarily pierced through the layer of cold.

'I saw it earlier.'

It was a phenomenon he observed before, but he hadn't thought to charge in then. This time was different.

He knew it would split. Like Moses parting the sea, he knew a path would open. That was why he immediately flew in.

Almond rode that path and instantly appeared right in front of Kim Yi-Seo.

— Wow

— Insane

— Wow

Fwoosh!

The shadow cast by Almond, who appeared at supersonic speed, looked like the Grim Reaper to Kim Yi-Seo.

"This… this is madness…"

Click.

Almond's foot soared up and eclipsed the sun.

“Stomp!!!”

Just as the commentator ripped his vocal cords while shouting, Almond’s finishing move was a stomp attack.

[Engine Thrust: 100%]

He struck at maximum thrust and speed with perfect accuracy. The mecha leg radiated a hot, white light as he kicked.

"Stomp…"

It smashed down onto Kim Yi-Seo's head.

"Cha!!!"

Kaboom—!!

At that moment, all the spectators leaped up in excitement.