I Have a Reason to Hate Streamers

[Author: Dongtan Mishi]

[Title: So, tomorrow I’m up against Gawol’s Muse?]

So can I see them getting all tangled up in a submission then?

Am I finally going to achieve enlightenment?

This is it.

This is what a proper tournament looks like.

[Comments]

– What happened to this guy? He hasn’t even been streaming lately and now he’s a mess?

– What does that have to do with your enlightenment?

– Just start streaming, you crazy guy!

[Author: ㅇㅇ(478.417)]

[Title: But I’m really looking forward to Muse and Gawol]

First of all, Muse matches are just nice to watch.

Both Gawol and Muse are skilled in martial arts, right?

Truly a heh heh heh moment.

[Comments]

– Beast!

*

[Infinity Arena Main Round of 8 – Match 1]

[Battlefield: Pilgrim’s Desert]

[vs Latin V7 Muse]

Today’s battlefield luck was a total nightmare.

I can’t recall a single battle in this arena that favored me.

Even when Shadow Arena appeared, the lighting was just a bother.

Looks like I’m in the opponent’s home ground now.

At this point, I felt like I was taking on all the world’s malice.

Pilgrim’s Desert. And a Muse.

A class that uses wind as a weapon is meeting the harsh sands.

Muse’s attacks are hard to see at the best of times, and in this battlefield, it’s going to be even tougher.

“Phew…”

This is so irritating.

The ground feels like a swamp under my feet.

The glaring sun isn’t a welcome guest for an assassin, and this desert has woefully little cover.

Most importantly, it’s getting hot.

I’d take a lava zone over this; at least I could invest in flame resistance.

Sadly, to a superhuman like me, this heat is only bearable.

Even if I did end up with heatstroke, it would be better to just endure it.

[You have been exposed to intense sunlight.]

[Warning: Continued exposure to sunlight may lead to heatstroke.]

But for someone with high sensory synesthesia like me, it’s a different story.

Dust from the desert gets in my mouth, making it gritty, and moving around makes my body all sticky from sweat. It feels disgusting.

There’s no in-game merit in suffering through this kind of nonsense.

At least there’s some luck in finding my opponent early.

In the middle of the desert stood a woman with bronzed skin.

True to her class as a Muse, she wore an outfit barely hiding her chest and draped chains.

Translucent chiffon fabric revealed her curvy figure, and she held a curved dagger in one hand and a fan in the other.

‘The blade looks heavier than I expected. But it seems awkward for stabbing,’

I quickly assessed and closed the distance.

Using the sand dunes as cover, I circled around and came up from behind.

The first ambush is the privilege of the assassin.

My dagger sliced into the Muse’s Achilles’ heel.

The chain wrapped around her ankle broke with it, but the satisfaction was a bit lacking.

It was due to her reaction being quicker than I anticipated.

‘What a shame. I was aiming to slice right through her ankle.’

I guess cutting that deeply in broad daylight was a bit ambitious.

Binding her agility would have made this a much easier match, but my plan fell apart right from the start.

Since my attack was over, it was now my opponent’s turn. The graceful curve of her dagger aimed directly at me.

I jumped back to evade, and a kick from the Muse followed.

She aimed for somewhere around my head to neck.

…But there’s no way she can reach from that distance, right?

My senses can’t be wrong.

There’s no way her distance calculation can be off either.

If she didn’t have that kind of intuition, she wouldn’t be standing in front of me right now.

Was she swinging her leg from the injured side?

As that thought crossed my mind, something clicked.

I lowered my ambition, deciding to dodge just half a step back.

A light breeze left a small cut on my cheek.

The subsequent splash of red blood dripped, falling right beneath my eye and giving off a faint metallic scent.

If I hadn’t noticed, I might have lost sight of her.

“Ha. I expected this.”

“Not bad, huh? Guess you didn’t just defeat the Ripper by chance.”

“Don’t look down on me from above, you arrogant brat.”

“Oh my.”

It’s not a new story that I’m a bit of a runt, but it’s hard to stay patient when some stranger looks down on me and weighs my worth.

Tiny little brat. If I were in good shape, hmm.

But reminiscing over what’s past is useless.

Infinity Black doesn’t showcase brutal depictions like bodily destruction or dismemberment.

Yet it does depict blood in a pretty realistic way.

Things like clothes getting soaked in blood or the wounds left on skin.

And the Muse in front of me utilized those elements of blood and environment exceedingly well.

It’s not just about her alluring appearance and playstyle gaining popularity.

As I said, if she lacked skill, she wouldn’t have made it to the Round of 8.

A gust of wind from her fan disrupted my posture.

The sand whipped up and blocked my sight, and before I knew it, a chilling blade came slicing down toward my crown.

I deflected the edge of the blade, retrieving my dagger but leaving a mark between my thumb and index finger.

That’s the muscle humans use when bringing their thumb together.

It’s not a major wound, but it will make fine-tuning the trajectory of my blade harder.

Maybe it was that feeling of losing in the first exchange that set her off?

The Muse launched an aggressive string of attacks.

“Are you mad? That’s cute!”

“Cute… What? This is absurd…”

Found a gap.

I can’t lose focus while talking.

I lowered my head and stabbed my thigh.

I shifted the positioning of my dagger between my fingers.

As I twisted my body, I lightly grazed my neck but sadly ended up just slicing through her veil.

If I didn’t get anything out of that, I could always regenerate.

Pulling back my head meant my body leaned slightly forward.

With my abdominal muscles exposed, I created a long cut, while in my other hand, I took out a smoke bomb and threw it.

If only the throw had connected well.

The wind from the fan swept away the smoke, and within it, the curved dagger moved.

‘Here it comes.’

The Muse’s curved dagger fires sharp winds along its blade.

The incoming wind is only detectable by a slight distortion in my vision.

In this scorching heat, where mirages rise, it’s all but impossible to see.

Fortunately, the wind’s power itself isn’t that strong.

So it was originally designed to consume guard gauge, but it isn’t really useful for an assassin.

So, I have to predict based on the blade’s path, not the wind.

Moving with the elegant dance-like motions, the blade followed the rhythm.

Every time the sunlight shimmered off the blade, it sparkled.

If I could just stand there and watch, it would be quite the beautiful sight, but if I stared too long, my life would be the price of admission.

Adjusting my dagger according to the remembered blade’s path.

The clear sound of metal rang out, signaling successful parries.

After successfully parrying a total of eight strikes, this time, the Muse aimed low.

“Your skills are commendable. But you’re just unlucky, aren’t you?”

“Do you know what happened to that girl who told me the same thing not long ago?”

“……?”

“Actually, it’s fine if you don’t know. I’ll let you experience it.”

It’s nothing new that the desert favors the Muse.

So to say now that it’s ‘bad luck’ means a sandstorm is coming.

I was already getting worried about the sand shifting between my legs.

And sure enough, the sandstorm slowly began to rise.

A yellowish storm approached rapidly from the other side of the map.

For a moment, our clothes and hair fluttered in the wind.

The Muse smiled mischievously as she took up a stance for her sword dance.

With this, I had to unleash my trump card.

[You receive the effect of the ‘Blessing of the Red Moon’.]

[You gain all beneficial effects for defense and survival.]

[Detection ability…]

Soon, the Muse’s form vanished into the sandstorm.

I might struggle to move properly in that hellish place, but the Muse would not.

I can see it.

The silhouette of a woman dancing within the sandstorm.

The sword dance performed like a giant curtain of wind brandished its fangs.

Using my main buff for pure defense isn’t exactly ideal, but I had no choice if I wanted to overcome the disadvantage of this battlefield.

The gust from her sword dance scratched the sand beneath.

I met the deluge of blade winds with my dagger, scattering them away.

The shattered wind turned docile and brushed against my clothes, while the heavy gust from her fan shattered my guard and left an impact.

My health bar remains relatively intact. Still, I’ll need to avoid taking hits from now on.

‘17 seconds until the sandstorm ends. The sword dance will end 2 seconds prior.’

The reason an assassin is at a disadvantage in this desert is that utilizing shadows becomes cumbersome.

The scorching sun and lack of cover.

With limited shadows to use, it’s practically like fighting without a weapon.

But when that storm comes, things change.

Dense clouds and dust provide plenty of usable shadows.

It’s always like this.

Opportunities tend to arise in the most dangerous moments.

Withstanding the Muse’s blade winds, I moved slightly forward.

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