NOVEL NEXT Chapter 52
There’s not a hint of hesitation in the movement.
When the fierce blade zeroes in with pinpoint accuracy, it’s rare to find someone who can keep their cool.
Leaping over the Silver Magic and coniferous trees is—definitely a nightmare for any Mage.
But Crow has risen to the semifinals against a Necromancer.
He’s far from an ordinary character.
Even in this moment, his mind hasn’t forgotten the Assassin’s clones.
If, by any chance, he misjudges in the blink of an eye, blades will pierce his neck and heart.
Could the real one be hiding in the smoke?
Or is what appears visible the truth?
There’s no answer to this riddle. The wisest approach is to prepare for every possibility.
Sending a Death Knight into the smoke is a bad strategy.
It’s impossible to pinpoint the exact location of the Assassin inside, and his precious undead would end up being wasted.
Thus, there’s but one solution left.
‘Expend all the Ghouls remaining. No need to hold back now.’
The Gryphon dropped all the Ghouls it had been holding.
With this, the Gryphon, having fulfilled its role, became just a large explosive.
As the bodies exploded, the area erupted in chaos, and a storm of blood and flames rattled the earth.
At the same time, Death Knights charged toward the Assassin.
The Assassin’s agility is undoubtedly exceptional.
But they’ve been hit with powerful slow debuffs repeatedly, which overshadowed that advantage.
In a frenzied state, the Death Knights managed to lock onto the Assassin’s back.
A rusty spear pierced the petite form.
The spear that penetrated the abdomen and heart… did not spill any blood.
It merely slid out with no resistance, as if slicing through empty air.
A mere illusion, with no physical judgment existing at all.
Having filtered out the clones, only one location for the real body remains.
‘Did the Assassin survive that bombardment? Unbelievable.’
How on earth? Crow pushed back his rising questions.
His curiosity could wait until afterwards when he reviewed the match footage.
The moment Crow’s antique staff struck the ground, the Death Knight pivoted around.
Time was running out before the smoke cleared.
With the Gryphon exploding, the Assassin was surely left with almost no health; at this point, finishing him off should be a breeze.
Just as Crow’s calculations reached this conclusion, an animalistic unease struck his mind.
He had seen something he shouldn’t have.
“Why… didn’t the clones vanish?”
“Because that’s not a clone, it’s the real deal.”
Inside the dissipating smoke, there was nothing to be seen.
His undead had lost track of their prey, while, in contrast, a blood-soaked girl had locked onto her target.
Two daggers cut off the Necromancer’s breath.
*
The day after the semifinals wrapped up.
The game-analysis streamer Yulang switched on his broadcast.
[Title: Arena Semi-Final Breakdown + Finals Preview]
[‘Yulang’ is live now.]
He kicked things off with light chit-chat.
Greeting the viewers and briefly sharing recent updates, as usual, a neatly organized PPT popped up on screen.
In the center was the match footage from Day One of the semifinals, featuring Gawol and Crow.
《 Incredible! This is… a play that could only come from trusting the opponent! 》
《 Who could even think of this? And to execute such a play and achieve victory! 》
《 From Crow’s perspective, it must have been shocking. What? He lost after all that? 》
“Ah, I think we should start with the second match, right? Gawol’s second game.”
– Didn’t cover the first match?
– Why skip to the second?
“Because… I don’t really have anything to say about it. They just fought well, so what’s there to analyze? Let’s just watch the second game.”
He boldly stated, yet his attention seemed distracted by the viewer reactions.
The timeline for the video moved slightly slower.
Luckily, not many people were flipping tables over not watching the first match.
In other words, they weren’t completely absent, but most were familiar names.
Yulang recalled them as folks who simply enjoyed flipping tables.
Only then did the timeline speed back up.
The commentary crew was making a fuss just before switching to the analysis desk.
The footage flashed back to the beaten-up Assassin’s figure, and the scene of indiscriminate bombardment passed by for a moment.
A little more. As the footage transitioned to the beginning of the match, the Gryphon could be seen picking up Ghouls.
“Alright. In the second match, we definitely can’t skip this discussion, right? The bombardier Gryphon meta. As you know, it was just adjusted in the last patch. Honestly, it probably wouldn’t have been usable in pro scenes, but it was way too strong in ranked.”
Ghouls raining down from the sky.
The moment that shocked viewers watching the match was, of course, intriguing many.
‘Maybe I should give that a try?’ Interest peaked in the Necromancer class.
Well, that didn’t last long.
Complaints poured in from the classes lacking countermeasures.
The unexpectedness of a niche class brings vitality to a game.
Yet, overly extreme metas tend to gnaw at the game’s environment.
With the patch significantly reducing the Gryphon’s hanging time, various counter-methods emerged.
Crow, who created such a ripple, was defeated in the third match while focusing on a bone magic-heavy build.
He left the arena with even more attention than Gawol, who had beaten him.
Yulang thought it was inevitable.
The countermeasures Gawol attempted were just too difficult.
“I think many others have tried this as well, and I tried it yesterday and filmed it. It’s quite tough. But it can be done.”
A brief pause on the match footage.
With a clicking sound, another video popped up in the presentation.
Yulang’s character moved in perfect synch with the clones.
The Assassin’s clones come in two main types.
Tangible clones and intangible clones.
Among them, the tangible clones qualify as summons.
The intangible ones have no physical judgment at all—pure illusions in every sense.
Swinging a weapon at a clone meets no resistance, and if the path is set incorrectly, it can even pass through objects.
Of course, they could overlap and move together.
Though usually, there wouldn’t be any reason to do so.
“Shall we take a look at this together? It might be a bit embarrassing, but I think it’ll be funny.”
Yulang played his own video, then played the match footage simultaneously for comparison.
In the left frame, Gawol burst out from the smoke.
At this point, the real body was already moving in sync with a clone.
Jumping off the planted Silver Magic, he swung around a conifer tree in a mid-air maneuver.
Yulang hit the pause button and said,
“The path taken here was quite meticulous. Notice how he hasn’t touched the ground anywhere? If the real body touches the ground, footprints appear, you see.”
– Damn it.
– Are you insane?
– I thought he didn’t use Silver Magic properly.
– Can someone really make such a decision in that chaotic situation?
“Of course it is. No pro can’t do it. Checking footprints when an Assassin uses clones is basics.”
「gajigajinamusari donated 10,000 won」
「But you didn’t do it, right?」
– So you’re not a pro anymore, right? lol
– Ah, hahahaha
– hahahahahahaha
– Sticking to your own words, huh…
“Damn it! I did it! I did it! I checked the footprints and made a judgment! It’s just that my reactions were too slow to block it! Professor who said I’m not a pro is banned for a week.”
He really poked at the people’s sore spots.
Yulang grumbled while issuing the ban.
After a bit of bloodshed, the video resumed.
The moment when the clones and the real body split was precariously passing beneath the conifer tree.
As the shadow movement was executed with almost no effect and delay, the Death Knight struck Gawol’s clone.
A dense black aura surrounded the Death Knight. The Assassin’s skill effects weren’t visible at all.
Thus, a misjudgment was inevitable.
Convinced he had double-checked and unable to harbor a single doubt.
It was a play made possible because he believed that the opponent wouldn’t gamble and would make precisely the same judgment as he did.
If Crow’s strategy demonstrated that “Necromancers can operate like this,” Gawol showcased that “Assassins can use this kind of trick.”
Not much to discuss for the final third match, either.
A simple strategy of dodging or bouncing back didn’t work against Gawol’s Assassin.
Once again, the fact proven countless times by preceding players was reconfirmed.
“Well… that’s all for Day One of the semifinals. Honestly looking back, there isn’t much content. It doesn’t seem like it needs long-winded explanations, so let’s jump right into the matches for Day Two.”
The page of the materials turned.
After the matches ended, all the results filled the broadcast screen densely.
[Infinity Arena Semi-Final Results]
[Day 1] Gawol 3:0
[Day 2] AT Kelberos 3:1
The light of glory faded.