Fenrir Translations
[General] Breaking news: Dice wins third round unexpectedly, lololololololol
<GIF of Dice looking blankly at the screen after the match>
She doesn’t even look happy, just completely stunned, lololol.
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What’s up with her? lolololol
Makes sense, though. Eugene and Case went down together, so she probably didn’t expect it, lol.
Thought Eugene was gonna win, so close, lol.
But seriously, the biggest losers here are the pro gamers from other countries who got smacked around by those three.
Eugene’s new playstyle is sick, though, lol.
If she wasn’t using the MPX, she would’ve smashed everyone.
Loving Korea’s domination, lol.
Alright, let’s break Japan’s back and send 5 players to the finals, baby!
[General] This is K-level spice. Any complaints?
<Image of future map pool>
<GIF of a smug frog teasing with a sly expression>
Oh, and you still have 9 more rounds against Eugene. Good luck with that~~~~~~~
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The third round just ended, but we still have a ton left today and tomorrow, lolololol.
It only takes one round to wipe that smug look off their faces.
Seriously, she’s a beast, lol.
They should’ve skipped the qualifiers and just taken her straight to the finals.
Check out the interviews from today—every international player’s face is just stone cold. Go watch, it’s a masterpiece.
Suzuran: “I didn’t expect Korea to have such a secret weapon.” lolol.
The way the other players are getting more and more down is legendary.
But seriously, even the other Korean players are killing it.
How am I supposed to wait for the finals after all this hype?!
"So even Eugene can die, huh."
A tired voice, though slightly relieved, as if the Japanese head coach had glimpsed a faint light at the end of a long, dark tunnel. But that was all it was—just a slight relief.
Behind him, the top players from Japan forced smiles, trying to raise the mood, but only Case maintained his usual heavy expression. Many had realized it by now—this wasn’t the same Korea that had struggled last year.
Something had changed. The skill level of individual Korean players now exceeded the average Japanese Republic gamer, and at the center of it all was Eugene, whom even Case couldn’t confidently defeat in a direct fight.
Watching that match—or rather, that real battle—it was hard not to feel overwhelmed.
But turning the tide and keeping morale high was part of the coach's job.
"So, it’s not completely impossible. If two top-tier players team up, they could chip away at her and stop her from winning."
Of course, that wasn’t easy. There were certain conditions that had to be met.
First, as many Japanese top players as possible needed to make it into the top 10—that much wasn’t an issue. Now that Case and Eugene had taken each other out, other countries would likely see an opportunity. This meant that Eugene would likely become every nation’s top kill target.
Second, their objective had to be clear: preventing Eugene from dominating. Fortunately, this too seemed possible.
Things were looking good.
Case, however, knew it wasn’t quite so hopeful. Sure, the result was decent, but…
‘Even that outcome wasn’t exactly ideal.’
The analysis of the match wasn’t complete yet, but from Case’s perspective, Eugene had an insane ability to take at least one person down with her, even when she was on the brink of death. The only reason things had gone the way they did in the third round was because Dice had also been in the top 3 with him and Eugene.
Dice had weakened Eugene significantly with her shotgun, and Case had thought that if he could just finish her off, he’d be fine. Up until the last moment, it had been going well.
But that last-minute attack caught him off guard, sending him to the lobby alongside Eugene.
Still, the head coach wasn’t exactly wrong. Nor was Case’s experience. The truth lay somewhere in between.
The mystery of Eugene was slowly unraveling, but that didn’t make things any easier. Just because there’s a path to climb a mountain doesn’t mean it’s easy. It was impressive, in its own way, how consistent she was.
If this were a normal video game, the challenge might be fun, and the final boss might be epic. But in real-time, it was nothing but pressure and fear.
In any case, the mood had improved slightly.
They would base their strategy for the next match on this, gathering data and adjusting as the day progressed.
Half of the first day of the Asian qualifiers had already passed.
"You did well. Hopefully, we can reclaim our position in the next match. Is there anything else we should focus on?"
"Don’t expect it to be easy. We’ll need to put in all our effort just to make the top 10."
"Of course. Analysis is humanity’s greatest tool... Let's start by kicking the ladder out from under the other nations so they can't climb any higher."
They had to remain grounded in reality.
As always, it wasn’t the strongest who survived but those who survived that were the strongest—and Japan could afford no more surprises.
There were 10 minutes left before the fourth match began.
But, as usual, things rarely go as planned.
Boom!
"Damn it."
Maybe the next note to add was that Eugene could easily escape concentrated fire from two or more players.
As that thought crossed his mind, Case was kicked by Eugene, sent flying through the air, and slammed into the twisted doorframe, thrown out of the kill zone.
It really was an unlucky day.
"───As you can see, Korea is maintaining a solid lead."
WOOOOOOO!
"Is this real life? Is this Eugene? Is she the goddess of AP?!"
"Calm down!"
"Oof!"
For every shadow, there is light.
Where there are the trampled, there are those who trample; where there is darkness, there is light—and today, in the Asian qualifiers, that light was shining on Korea.
It was an entirely different scene from the other nations, where words were chosen carefully, fearing they might sound too pessimistic. In Korea, they were freely celebrating, saying whatever came to mind—within reason, of course, as long as they weren’t insulting other nations.
The cheerful banter stemmed from that freedom.
The Asian qualifiers had long breaks between matches, unlike KSM, where the focus was entirely on selecting national representatives. Here, it was more like a festival, focused on quality rather than speed.
“…If you analyze this skirmish closely, you can see that an incredibly high-level psychological game was unfolding on a primal level. Take Dice’s small actions, for example. They all converge toward a single goal…”
Post-match analysis was thorough.
Even the casters and commentators were busy, breaking down the complex engagements into digestible segments for the viewers. What seemed like slow commentary was actually beneficial, as it gave everyone a chance to revisit the climactic moments they might have missed.
The replays, with additional commentary, were a different kind of entertainment.
Meanwhile, Eugene spoke up again.
“There's definitely something different about the Asian qualifiers. The matches are all real-time.”
“Well, the viewer count jumps to tens of millions at this stage. With that many people watching at once, VR time acceleration becomes risky. We had a huge mess last year because of it.”
Eugene’s explanation was concise.
In short, the VR broadcast system had crashed due to server overload when millions of viewers tried to watch at accelerated speeds during last year’s Asian qualifiers.
“You know how the VR broadcasts can add or drop frames to make it look like real-time at 3x speed? Well, once you get over 10 million simultaneous viewers, the servers can’t handle it.”
“Wait, they use the same servers for that and for handling viewer connections? Or did they have to borrow resources from the other servers because the viewer count was so high?”
“Exactly. They add servers every six months, but we still have these issues.”
The price of having a top-tier game, huh?
Still, that wasn’t my concern right now. I decided to change the topic and lightly poked Dice’s cheek. The soft squishiness was oddly satisfying.
She let out a long “Buuu” sound as she mumbled out a distorted word.
“Whaaat?”
“Congrats on getting first place in the third match.”
“Oh, come on. That wasn’t a real first place. I was fighting with everything I had, but suddenly both of them just dropped dead. I was so shocked.”
“Well, the fact that you pushed me to the point where I almost died shows your growth. And remember, no one can predict every outcome in combat.”
“Ugh…”
She still looked a bit dissatisfied, but hey, life doesn’t always go your way. Not every victory is flashy and glorious. Especially not in combat.
Sometimes, surviving is the victory.
While she scanned the room, Dice added something.
“Suddenly, I’m wondering... do Espers have an advantage when gaming?”
“They have to. My physical abilities alone are proof.”
“That’s true, but there aren’t many Espers in pro gaming, so I’ve always been curious. I guess it takes more than powers to back that up. Honestly, I’m just glad people like you aren’t swarming the pro scene or the military. That would’ve been terrifying.”
“…”
“...Why are you looking at me like that?”
The military, huh?
Dice had a strange talent for triggering my memories at the most random times.
But whatever she thought of my reaction, she started blurting out some wild nonsense, her imagination in full bloom.
“What? Are you saying there really is a Snake Tail Unit out there!?”
“There’s no such thing.”
“You’re lying! That reaction was totally suspicious!”
As Dice rambled on about some terrifying squad of snake-tailed warriors, I seriously considered giving her a flick on the forehead.
Maybe my tail was giving off pheromones I didn’t know about.
While I pondered whether I needed a hospital check-up, the fifth match was fast approaching.
“How do you feel about it, Laura?”
“I told you not to call me that, dammit. I’m already pissed off about getting forcibly demoted from Delta.”
“Alright, fine. I’ll call you Polar then—urk! I’m dying here!”
“You little bastard.”
Meanwhile, it wasn’t just the players watching the Asian qualifiers closely.