NoveLight ™
On the spectator screen, Camellia's stamina gauge plummeted rapidly.
Despite this, the warrior's relentless barrage of attacks showed no signs of stopping.
She seemed determined to showcase her honed skills, unleashing a storm of blade strikes.
Only a few seconds remained before her stamina would be fully depleted.
After this outburst, she'd likely switch back to defense.
If she prolonged her attacks or made herself too vulnerable to a counterattack, her spear would once again glow with power.
Which meant, her weakest moment was right now—when she believed it was still "her turn."
"Look out, look out! The counterattack is coming before the warrior’s stamina runs out!"
As the majestic spear thrust toward the sky, a subtle shadow crept toward Camellia’s ankle.
The chain scythe used a tree as leverage, silently changing direction to aim at her rear.
But Camellia wasn’t one to easily fall for such a trick.
Her body spun half a turn, the spear skillfully switching direction to deflect the scythe.
At least, that was the plan.
However, the chain halted just short of its target.
A mere finger’s breadth separated the two weapons. With no contact, there was no trigger for a counterattack.
This unexpected situation left Camellia's mind racing.
'Was the chain too short? Normally, this would be a miscalculation. But...'
The memory of her crushing defeat from the last round surfaced.
Was it truly a mistake from an opponent who had shown such skill—or was there something else at play?
To Camellia, the latter seemed far more likely.
Her gaze darted around, finally looking upward in realization.
There, hidden among the branches of the forest, shadowy chains were descending upon her from the blind spots in her vision.
The spot where she had dodged was soon obliterated, leaving a crater in the ground.
That was close.
Had her reaction been even a second slower, this match would’ve ended right there.
As Camellia caught her breath, Sulbbang’s voice boomed on the stream commentary.
“It’s not over yet! Did you see that? Camellia just narrowly avoided disaster, but now she’s lost track of Gawol’s position.”
“And the warrior’s Sixth Sense passive is gone now, right?”
“Exactly. No more relying on skills to detect the ambushes. It’s all up to her raw abilities now!”
Just as he finished speaking, the chain scythe surged forward again.
Against an ambush from a top-class assassin, no amount of preparation guarantees a flawless defense.
Despite her razor-sharp reflexes, the scythe scraped across her forearm.
It was fine. Just a graze, not a fatal blow.
But before she could even register that thought, the attack hadn’t ended.
A skill-powered shadow chain crashed down.
Camellia parried it, but as the chain coiled, the weapon reversed direction.
The scythe she had just dodged came flying back again.
To make matters worse, a horrific system message appeared in the corner of her screen.
[‘Ancient Demon’s Curse’ is now applied.]
[All stats reduced by 8%, movement speed reduced by 20% for 4 seconds.]
[You will take 2% max HP damage per second.]
There were times when certain weapons had so few users, or their effectiveness was so low, that developers compensated by giving them disproportionately high effects.
The chain scythe was exactly that kind of weapon.
In no corner of the world was it a popular choice—no, it was barely a choice at all.
Even those who picked it never used it as their main weapon. But because of that, its additional effects were nothing to scoff at.
The result was a powerful curse, dealing sustained damage with heavy debuffs.
Time was no longer on Camellia’s side.
“This looks bad for Camellia. The dynamics of the fight have completely shifted,” Sulbbang explained.
“Is it because of the curse?”
“Yes, but more specifically, it’s the range of the chain scythe. The curse itself isn’t lethal when you account for her defense, but over time, the damage will add up.”
Sulbbang continued calmly.
Normally, this battle would have required Gawol to close the distance.
Spears have a longer reach than daggers, and warriors have excellent long-range control abilities.
When the warrior’s stamina recovers, they can unleash a barrage of long-range attacks.
When stamina runs low, they switch to defense, looking for parries.
Camellia’s plan was likely to force Gawol into a drawn-out fight where she could capitalize on an overextension.
But the introduction of the chain scythe turned that plan on its head.
Gawol, an assassin, was attacking from a longer range and slowly piling up damage with a curse.
And the unusual nature of the weapon made it difficult to predict where the next attack would come from.
“How do you even block something like that?”
“That curse is brutal. Assassins are already so fast, and now, Camellia’s slowed down. How is she supposed to keep up?”
Camellia’s stamina had fully recovered by now.
Her reaction time, even by first-tier league standards, was extraordinary.
Using pure instinct and peripheral vision, she had already parried multiple attacks.
But in PVP, reaction speed isn’t everything.
When one attack is blocked, the next one will come immediately after.
Parry-based defense has its limits.
If you dodge the chain scythe, the next skill is ready to strike.
Camellia parried the scythe’s redirected blade as it swung around a tree, but now the chain itself wrapped around her arm.
From the shadows, Gawol—or perhaps a shadow clone—prepared for another ambush.
“What was that combo just now?”
“I don’t know!”
“Pardon?”
“I have no idea! Gawol’s the only one using a chain scythe, so how should I know? It looks like a mix of shadow skills, but I honestly can’t tell!”
Camellia was certain she was in a one-on-one duel.
Yet, with the way her spear moved, it felt like she was fighting multiple enemies at once.
Camellia’s health bar shrank by the second.
The assassin was dealing blow after blow, while the warrior was barely clinging to life.
Finally, Camellia played her last card.
[Strength to pull mountains, spirit to cover the world—]
[Sigma’s Camellia is now under the effect of ‘Might that Shakes the Heavens.’]
It was her final stand, burning through the last of her life force.
The spear emitted an ominous aura, scattering all the surrounding shadows.
As the warrior’s vicious spear searched for its next victim,
A silver-haired assassin silently approached from behind.
The battlefield grew still.
A soft palm covered the warrior’s determined eyes, and like water, the dagger sliced her throat.
Red blood flowed, and peace descended upon the arena.
[Post by: KimchiNinja]
[Title: Time to Quit Playing Assassin, lol]
[Likes: 105(68)]
I have no hope of ever pulling that off, lol. Count me out.
[Comments]
[Post by: OriginalCreamUdon]
[Title: Don’t Queue Up for PvP Mode Right Now, lol]
[Likes: 185(152)]
(Attached image: 6v6 mode, 8 assassins in the queue.)
Don’t do it. The sound of chains is driving me insane.
[Comments]
[Post by: Anonymous (411.40)]
[Title: Tried to Copy Gawol’s Combo]
[Likes: 141(103)]
(Attached video: practicing chain scythe direction change using trees.)
I watched the second round against Camellia and tried to copy the moves.
As you can see, the chain direction changes pretty well.
Seems like the system was designed for this, with some auto-correction.
(Attached video: chaining skills with the scythe direction change.)
But the correction is minimal here, so it takes a ton of practice.
I’m hitting about a 5% success rate.
And this is the real problem…
(Attached video: chain scythe combo, movement skills, shadow teleport.)
(Attached video: assassin getting killed by their own chain scythe.)
See how the camera spins wildly with the movement spam?
Even trying to imitate this makes me dizzy. Just don’t do it.
[Comments]
[Post by: Anonymous (321.134)]
[Title: Is Yurang Streaming Soon?]
Apparently, they’re going to break down Gawol’s second qualifier match.
They’ll probably focus on the Camellia fight.
[Comments]
[Post by: Anonymous (321.134)]
[Title: Yurang is Now Live]