Chapter 253: Light of Pasa

Sung-Woon didn’t give any response to Hegemonia’s calling because he knew she wasn’t actually addressing him. It was merely a rebuke.

'She must be wanting to ask how I did it.'

In The Lost World, Skip was indeed a powerful skill. Because it required investment in Small Areas related to wind and flow, using Skip meant giving up on movement skills that required similar Small Areas. Though Skip itself could be used as a movement skill, it was not considered efficient due to its relatively high Faith point consumption. Nevertheless, even taking into account the sacrifice of a movement skill, Skip was a very powerful ability.

'In the game The Lost World, if used well, it was overwhelmingly powerful in fights between Hierophany bodies, and now, Skip is even more powerful.'

When Hegemonia first used Skip, Sung-Woon couldn't help but be surprised. Since everything but the moment of swinging the sword was skipped, it was pretty much impossible to defend against it or counterattack.

'If any other player were in my place, would they be able to block Hegemonia's attack?'

Other players would also know about Skip and would likely choose it quite often. However, no one else had skills comparable to Hegemonia's.

'Wisdom would prefer a mage over a fighter, which would actually be disadvantageous when facing a fighter. Only Lim Chun-Sik could perhaps stand a chance in terms of combat capability, but it would still be insufficient. The rest are...'

Sung-Woon recalled a few players from the now non-existent Lost World who were as good as Hegemonia. Anyone less skilled would struggle against her, especially with Unique Domain: War in her possession.

'Even the swinging of a sword that isn’t skipped takes only a moment. Observing and blocking it is impossible.'

Despite this, Sung-Woon had managed to block Hegemonia's attacks multiple times. Eventually, he counterattacked and killed Hegemonia's horse.

'Not a significant loss of ability, but her mobility and Faith point efficiency related to movement must have drastically decreased, and the troublesome ability of bringing about misfortune disappeared too.'

Hegemonia walked slowly. The knight in red, heated armor passed between short trees of a few meters in height, and the heat alone set the surroundings aflame. The path of the Angry One was all flames, and nothing but ashes remained in her wake.

From afar, where others watched the battle of the gods, cries of grief over Kazaha's death could be heard.

Sung-Woon looked down at Hegemonia.

'What are you thinking, Hegemonia?'

No matter how strong a Hierophany body was compared to mortal beings and how accelerated thought processes understood received sensations, with the addition of Skip, predicting and blocking Hegemonia's attack was impossible. Therefore, Sung-Woon had been blocking Hegemonia's attack before seeing it.

'The attack after a leap would be the shortest distance, but she wouldn’t do that.'

Sung-Woon knew that Hegemonia still had plenty of Faith resources.

Hegemonia disguised deep anger through her silence. But Sung-Woon knew Hegemonia well, especially her play style, perhaps even better than Hegemonia knew herself.

'You would be more composed than anyone else right now.'

This narrowed down the potential approaches for Hegemonia's attack, especially those involving Skip and Space Cut. There were limited options for Hegemonia to inflict a substantial hit on Sung-Woon.

'...No, no. Hegemonia must be thinking she needs to land a solid hit on me to gain the upper hand. So, there's no need to insist on a fatal attack.'

Therefore, when Hegemonia disappeared using Skip, Sung-Woon immediately turned around. Hegemonia was right there. Instead of a Space Cut, Hegemonia, in closer proximity, was attempting to strike Sung-Woon down with her right fist.

'Right, this attack won’t cause me much harm, but it will knock me to the ground. The move after that is clear. Even without using Skip, a Space Cut aimed at the ground from this distance would engulf me as I'm pinned down.'

Thus, Sung-Woon had already anticipated this before Hegemonia appeared behind him. He caught Hegemonia's right hand. Even though she was in a Hierophany body in armor, Sung-Woon knew Hegemonia was very surprised.

-Got you.

It was significant for one player to catch the Hierophany body of another player. Due to the interference between divinities, the captured Hierophany body could no longer use movement skills or Skip.

When they were too close together, Hegemonia belatedly switched to the sword in her other hand. Meanwhile, Sung-Woon had already thrust his sword in.

-...!

A light exploded. Due to the recoil of the massive explosion, Sung-Woon could only watch as he let go of Hegemonia, who was thrown away. But it didn't matter. Hegemonia spewed lava like an erupting volcano as she flew, which engulfed several buildings in the Rasdasil Ruins, and Hegemonia, falling, rolled mid-air to regain her posture. Then she blocked the lava coming from herself with her hands.

-This is....

Sung-Woon realized that Hegemonia had recognized his skill for the first time.

The skill Sung-Woon used was called Light of Pasa. It was superior to Space Cut in terms of destructive power and easier to create by combining various Small Areas. However, its higher cost and a critical flaw made it a less chosen option among players.

'Light of Pasa is a good skill, but it always has a pre-delay. No wonder it's not popular.'

Players generally undervalued skills with delays, no matter if it was before or after, as they left one open to counterattacks. They offered high returns but were ultimately high-risk skills. Therefore, players preferred Space Cut, which was a powerful attack skill that could be used instantly, despite Light of Pasa being stronger.

Sung-Woon also typically preferred Space Cut, but this time it was different. The first reason was his desire to leave a strong impression on Hegemonia through unpredictability, and the second was his intention to maximize efficiency due to the limited remaining Faith points. As a result, Sung-Woon set contact as the condition for using Light of Pasa. This condition was more challenging than cutting with a sword, which involved using a tool.

'Even so, it can’t end things in one strike.'

Hegemonia had already skipped the recovery process.

Sung-Woon thought while looking at Hegemonia.

'As expected, this is all quite similar to the game.'

After becoming a god, Sung-Woon learned about swords and combat with the abundant, unskippable time he had to live through. Of course, learning directly from someone could undermine the dignity of a god, so typically, Sung-Woon learned indirectly, or more precisely, he utilized all the scouting resources a god possessed and observed skilled swordsmanship instructors handling swords and fighters engaging in combat to learn their methods.

If he were a mortal, his learning would have had limitations, but understanding and mimicking styles was not a significant task with a god's capabilities. Furthermore, once he reached a certain level, he could even discuss topics related to legendary warriors like Lakrak, which was an enjoyable experience for Sung-Woon. But as Sung-Woon learned more about such battles, he realized something was missing.

'After all, it's a mortal's fight.'

Beings that bled died once all their blood was drained. However, gods, namely players, weren't the same. The spilled blood was proportional to the amount of Faith points that was consumed, and while they couldn't bleed indefinitely, they wouldn’t die from a stabbed heart or a split head.

'It's no different from a game. There's no fatal wound that could cost a life... It's just that Faith points is the HP bar.'

Hegemonia charged again. Faster and more intense than before. As Space Cut burst, space twisted, the view distorted, and light refracted, dyeing the world in previously unseen vibrant colors before slowly recovering from the edges.

Hegemonia then said.

-...Impossible!

-What do you mean?

In the next exchange, Hegemonia's attack sliced off the edge of the Rasdasil Ruins. Sung-Woon recognized the closeness of the attack. Hegemonia was still conscious of her objective while fighting Sung-Woon.

-No matter how much you use that skill, to such an extent...

-That skill?

-Don't play dumb. You're using Future Sight.

Sung-Woon admired Hegemonia's sharp inference.

-I thought you didn't know.

-Nothing else would make sense.

The skill Sung-Woon was using was known as Future Sight. As the name suggested, it read the future, but only a few seconds ahead at most.

In the game The Lost World, it was merely the ability to see other players' immediate skill choices, movement directions, and windows showing the current location they were observing. Such reconnaissance skills weren’t well-regarded. Even at a low level, there were cheaper ways to utilize reconnaissance, and players felt that momentarily gaining specific information was not particularly useful.

Compared to skills like Space Cut, which were unavoidable even when known, Future Sight seemed less useful. Of course, if the opponent had a hidden card, Future Sight could be valuable, but typically, there would be no significant secret till the endgame.

But Sung-Woon wasn’t aiming for that. His belief was that even if Future Sight was useless in The Lost World, it would be different now.

-But then what do you mean by impossible? Seeing the future and countering it?

-Even with Future Sight, it can't be that specific. That's why it's impossible.

Hegemonia was right.

Despite some differences in balancing between The Lost World and this world, the essence was the same. Future Sight could only narrow down a few of the opponent's intentions, not provide a clear picture of the future. For example, if Hegemonia was in front of him, Sung-Woon could learn that she would swing her sword, but not whether it would come from above, below, or either side. Sung-Woon had to predict that himself.

-But that's enough. If I can reduce dozens of possibilities to just a few, I can block them.

-Stop the nonsense!

Hegemonia swung her sword, and Sung-Woon easily parried it. He had already seen the trajectory. It was so perfect that Sung-Woon could parry it perfectly.

Hegemonia's retort implied that if Sung-Woon had narrowed it down to a few possibilities, he should have been hit at least a few times out of the dozens of clashes.

Sung-Woon disagreed.

'I chose Future Sight over defensive skills because it's closer to the game I used to play better.'

With Future Sight, everything became simpler, and in turns, the relationship between each situation and Sung-Woon's actions became clearer. Things like light punches, grapples, combos, and finishers were just a systematic way of organizing information about how much risk they carried, which actions countered which, and which action was faster, making them easier to understand. Once that system was mastered, it wasn’t impossible to counter every attack of the opponent.

At least that was what Sung-Woon understood from his understanding of swordsmanship.

'If I had to criticize myself, revealing my Hierophany body first was a strategic mistake. It allowed her to see my pattern first.'

Everything had its rhythm, matching not only the movement of the body, but also the cognitive abilities. Revealing a skill that was better hidden first and getting one's behavior pattern read was a disadvantage.

Now, Sung-Woon believed he had mostly figured out Hegemonia's pattern.

'There's more I want to confirm…but this is enough.'

Sung-Woon launched his counterattack. His sword lashed out several times.

Hegemonia had to block the attacks while consuming her Divinity. Even without any specific skill used, a sword wielded by a god was a mass of divinity in itself.

An apostle, not to mention a mortal, would be devastated, especially given Sung-Woon's Divinity level.

Hegemonia hesitated between closing in or widening the distance, and eventually retreated.

Sung-Woon knew why.

'She thinks if she gets caught, she'll face another strong attack.'

But that was exactly what Sung-Woon meant to impress Hegemonia with when he made the attack. The memory of the damage taken when close made it easier for Sung-Woon to predict Hegemonia's actions.

'Skip. But the pattern is too clear.'

Hegemonia, too, was becoming agitated by the relentless assault. Hegemonia appeared again, this time from Sung-Woon's left where his field of vision didn't reach, attempting to disrupt Sung-Woon's offensive rhythm.

'Unfortunate, Hegemonia.'

However, Sung-Woon's sword swing was a feint. He wrapped his elbow around the wrist Hegemonia was swinging the sword with and drew a dagger with his right hand, plunging it into Hegemonia's chest.

'We've fought too much for me to not know you.'

A second Light of Pasa exploded in the air.