Chapter 349: A Valuable Defeat (3)

When Katherine was first struck, she thought,

Oh my, I must’ve let my guard down.

She believed she was struck by a pathetic attack only because she was careless. She thought Banish had simply gotten lucky.

Still, getting attacked like this really ruins my mood.

She focused all her attention on dodging Banish’s attacks and stabbing her dagger into his heart, but it was meaningless.

Banish’s second slash sliced straight past her left arm.

Ding!

[You have taken massive damage! Your left arm is now fractured. You cannot move it.]

Huh...?

What was this? What was happening? Katherine’s mind turned blank, and began to fall into complete disarray.

Even so, Banish’s sword continued pressing her with sharp force.

I-I have to dodge...

A downward slash from the upper left to the lower right.

[Your weak point has been attacked. Your left eye is blinded.]

She wasn’t able to dodge.

Eeek!

A clean horizontal slash from left to right.

[You have taken critical damage to the neck! You have been afflicted by the Silenced status effect.]

Of course, she couldn’t dodge. What made the Swordsmanship of the Dawn truly fearsome was that it gave no time to even come to one’s senses. It was as if a tiger named Dawn starved for an entire month and relentlessly swung its claws. And Katherine, the herbivore, had her entire body torn apart by those claws.

The spectators, with popcorn in their mouths, could neither chew nor swallow, just staring at the match. What they had hoped for was a brilliant, twist-filled duel that would stir the heart.

But this is...

This is embarrassing to even call a duel.

The Undefeated Empress is being toyed with like a child?

This is absurd.

An awkward silence fell, so tense that even chewing popcorn felt inappropriate. The only sounds were Banish swinging his sword and Katherine getting slashed.

Kai, who had been relentlessly pressing Katherine, suddenly stopped. The health bar above her head showed that barely 5% remained.

Katherine looked at her own tattered, ragged body and held in a dry laugh.

What is this? There’s not a single uninjured part left on me.

Left eye blinded, left arm fractured, right leg wounded, silenced, and so on. If this had been real life, she would have already died from blood loss or shock.

I want to ask, but I can’t even speak.

Due to the cruel Silence status effect, even her voice couldn’t come out.

Well, since it’s come to this...

Katherine reversed her grip on her dagger and aimed it at Banish.

I’ll figure it out myself.

No more, no less, just one time. For that one chance, Katherine threw her final card. Her health began to drain rapidly. 5%... 4%... 3%... In an instant, it dropped to 1.5%. At that point, even the slightest graze from Kai’s sword would mean death, and defeat. But in exchange, her dagger began to radiate an aura fiercer and stronger than ever before.

Is that a buff skill? But if it doesn’t hit me, it’s meaningless... What is she thinking?

Kai, who still had 92% of his health remaining, was curious about her intentions, but wasn’t swayed by them. As an absolute strong man, his mindset was as calm as a frozen lake in winter. Even if a stone were thrown in, not even a ripple would form, a state of perfect composure.

Here I go.

Contrary to expectations, Katherine stepped back five steps. She backed up until she was nearly at the edge of the arena, then extended her long legs forward one step, two steps, and three steps! By stretching her strides to the maximum, her body extended like a spring and surged toward Kai.

“A head-on charge.”

Kai respected her resolve. Even knowing she couldn’t win, she charged first. He couldn’t help but acknowledge her courage even though she was an enemy.

She’s a respectable woman.

Because of that, Kai also gave it his all. Without letting his guard down in the slightest, he aimed to end her at once.

From Katherine’s perspective, that outcome was nothing short of a disaster. However...

In this square battlefield, unexpected variables tend to show up sometimes.

In one corner of Katherine’s vision, she saw Banish’s sword tearing through the air as it came down vertically.

Oh, there’s no way I can dodge this one.

She had known it from the start, but even so, she charged. Because what she had aimed for from the beginning wasn’t some noble victory or tearful resistance.

I’ll find a way... no matter what it takes...

Katherine bit down hard on her lower lip. At the same time, the sword that was about to split her from the crown of her head passed straight through her.

Phantom Dash.

It was a skill that literally meant illusory charge. Even in the arena, she had never shown this skill to anyone since acquiring it. In fact, the only guild member who even knew of its existence was Reload.

But it doesn’t matter.

Katherine revealed the sharp claws she had been saving for the final moment.

Her dagger slammed into Kai’s forehead like the stone shot from David’s slingshot.

At that same moment, Kai’s left hand clamped down on Katherine’s neck as if to snap it.

Ahhh!

That attack instantly reduced Katherine’s health to 0.

He slowly let go of Katherine's body, which had become unable to continue the match. Her body collapsed onto the arena floor, softly, like whipped cream melting on top of a cup of coffee.

I was a bit surprised at the end.

It was a skill with a mechanism similar to Ethereal Body. The difference was that while it had a short duration, it allowed her to dash in a desired direction.

At the same time, the bell signaling the end of the match rang.

Ding!

[You have defeated Champion Katherine in the duel.]

[Your rank points have increased to 2,742.]

[You have become the Champion. You may now enjoy all the facilities and privileges of the Duel Arena.]

[Special title acquired: Champion.]

[Swordsmanship of the Dawn has reached Advanced Level 8.]

“Check title.”

Kai checked the title first.

[

Champion

]

Rank: Special

Description: A title given to the one who becomes the Champion of the Duel Arena.

Effect: +1 to all skill levels (This effect remains even when title is unequipped.)

*The title is automatically lost the moment you lose the Champion title.

“

Huh...?

”

Kai, who had maintained his composure, made a face as if he had just been scammed on a secondhand item. Then, an overwhelming flood of messages clouded his view.

[Skin of Magical Resistance has reached Advanced Level 5.]

[Sunlight’s Warmth has reached Level 11.]

[Solaris Blessing has reached Level 11.]

[Solaris Armor has reached Level 11.]

[Holy Explosion has reached Level 11.]

.

.

.

The skills that had stubbornly refused to level up, despite being on the verge of advancement, began to reach their maximum levels one after another.

However, Kai's eyes were fixed on a single line of text.

[Swordsmanship of the Dawn has reached Advanced Level 9.]

Advanced Level 9...!

He clenched his fist tightly as the meaning it carried was unlike any other.

Only one step left to Master.

In

MID Online

, skills were generally divided into two types. Active skills, which players could use directly, and passive skills, which triggered automatically without being used. Going a bit more deeper, skills were also divided into two forms.

Skills that can be mastered and limited skills.

For example, Swordsmanship of the Dawn came with prefixes like Beginner, Intermediate, and Advanced. It was a skill developed with the intention that players would aim to reach Advanced level 10 and master it. Of course, no one had ever managed to master a skill yet.

On the other hand, limited skills are a little more lenient.

Skills like Solaris Blessing or Sunlight’s Warmth fell into this category. The first shared trait of limited skills was that they did not include any prefixes like Beginner or Intermediate. Their max level was fixed at 10. Thus, as long as one repeated their use and built proficiency, anyone could raise them to max level. In fact, most rankers had mastered at least ten limited skills.

But I exceeded level 10 and reached 11...

Kai had heard rumors going around the online community that there was a rare item in

MID Online

capable of increasing a skill’s max level.

I didn’t expect there to be a special title with the same effect though.

As an unexpected jackpot came from a title he hadn’t even hoped for, Kai’s heart began to race.

At the same time, the voice of the announcer began to echo, “A-a new champion is born! Katherine, who had defended the champion’s throne for fifty-two months, steps down! And the one to inherit the crown is none other than the super rookie Banish—who doesn’t even have a proper nickname yet! He did it! He broke the record set by the previous champion Katherine, and now claims the fastest-ever Champion title!”

Fireworks exploded across the arena, celebrating the birth of a new champion. The audience joined in. They clapped as they welcomed the new champion.

“But isn’t it about time he got a nickname? I mean, come on, a champion with no nickname is kinda lame...”

“A nickname? Why would that even be a problem?” a player known for being a commentator in the arena mumbled as he looked at Banish.

“My limited imagination can’t find any words to describe someone who crushed the champion Katherine, who is also ranked twelfth. He’s practically unbeatable...”

“

Oh?

Unbeatable? That sounds kinda good. What about Invincible?”

“Invincible...?”

That word, which rolled off the tongue so easily, started spreading among the crowd.

“

Ooh,

Invincible Banish! That sounds sick!”

“Isn’t that a bit cringey though? Won’t he be embarrassed?”

“Why should we care? If anyone should be embarrassed, it’s Banish, not us.”

“You have a point.”

“Alright then! Invincible! Let’s go with Invincible!”

The nickname that had remained undecided for a month was settled in just four minutes.

“Wait, hold on...” Kai gave a reluctant response, but there was no going back.

“Invincible Banish! At last, our champion has a fitting nickname!”

With the announcer sealing the deal, Kai officially became Invincible Banish.

Katherine, who was now standing with Reload’s support, pouted and mumbled, “Invincible,

huh

. You must be feeling on top of the world.”

In response, Kai nodded at her. “It was a good match.”

“No it wasn’t. From my point of view it was a fucking bad fight, okay? Or what, is this one of those pain builds character moments or something?” Pouting like a child, Katherine stuck out her hand. “Give me back my dagger.”

“Dagger...?

Ah

.”

Only then did Kai look up at the dagger still stuck in his forehead.

Right, she slammed that in at the last second.

At that moment, she had shown the courage befitting the master of one of the world’s top seven guilds.

Because of that, Kai pulled the dagger from his forehead and offered her an apology. "About earlier, I'm sorry for provoking you. You are definitely a warrior worthy of being one of the seven great guild masters..."

But Kai didn’t expect what came next. The moment he pulled out the dagger, his already damaged helmet split in half.

“

Ahahahaha!

Did you think I stabbed that at the end just because...

huh...?

”

The moment the Unknown helmet split apart and she looked at the blank expression of the person revealed beneath it, Katherine broke into a cold sweat and apologized, “

Um... uhh

... I’m so sorry.”