[Infinity Arena Semi-Final - Match 2]

[Battlefield: The Silent Pine Forest] [vs. Team CP Crow (Necromancer)]

The cold air seeped through my clothes as the surroundings came into view.

Under the overcast sky was a dense pine forest. Unlike the vast forest of faerie trees, this battlefield wasn’t entirely filled with trees, with patches of snowy plains visible here and there. Occasionally, a snowstorm would whip through these plains, though it wasn't a frequent gimmick. No need to worry about it for now.

After losing the previous match, it was unclear what strategy Crow would use. As I quickly scanned the area for any sign of magic, nothing appeared yet.

Especially with a necromancer, their magic wouldn’t be easily noticeable. I spotted a few undead scattered around. It was safe to assume that magic detection wouldn’t be reliable here. So, he must have replaced that with something else as his eyes... just as an unnatural shadow fell across the ground.

It wasn’t as large as a Bone Dragon, but it wasn’t small either. Its form was that of a griffon, with patches of rotten flesh peeling away in places. Crow was probably sharing his sight with these creatures.

Aerial surveillance... in a forest? I swallowed the question rising in my throat and kept moving, searching for my opponent.

‘Finally found them, footprints.’

Tracking footprints in snow or dirt was basic fieldwork. Of course, Crow would know this too, so there were plenty of other tracks scattered around. Most were likely camouflage created by the summoned undead.

Among these numerous footprints, only one would belong to a mage. It was a clever disguise, but it needed to be even more thorough.

The depth of a footprint correlates with weight. Ghouls, with their decayed flesh, are lighter than they appear, while Dullahans or Death Knights wear heavy armor. Considering the gait and weight from the last match, I could make an educated guess.

While tracking Crow’s footprints, a sudden sharp scream echoed nearby.

• "Kiyaaaaah!"

My body reacted faster than my mind. I instinctively threw a dagger, and something grotesque hit the ground with a thud.

[Detected by the Familiar ‘Watching Eye.’] [The undead are watching you.] [All undead controlled by the necromancer are...]

“Ha.”

A ‘Watching Eye’ familiar? Exceptional at detection, but draining on points—a costly summon.

Crow sacrificed the convenience of magical detection. Instead, he opted for aerial surveillance and familiars, both of which had the advantage of not revealing the caster’s position. The emphasis on stealth hinted at several possibilities.

Crow likely had minimal means of protecting himself this match. Therefore, the moment I located the necromancer, the match would be mine. But it was also likely he had something incredibly annoying up his sleeve.

I followed the footprints further until Crow’s undead reached me.

First to arrive was the griffon that had been flying overhead. Faint sounds of hoofbeats echoed in the distance. More and more undead were closing in, with a noticeable increase in higher-tier undead.

The Death Knight lurking in the distance could wait. First, I had to deal with the griffon.

The massive creature cast a shadow as it descended, its beak and claws still intimidating despite the decay. Just as I prepared for an airborne attack, a curse slipped out.

“This crazy...!”

The griffon abruptly pulled back up into the sky. Neither its beak nor claws came my way. Instead, my vision was suddenly filled with a dozen or so ghouls.

They were free-falling from the sky, their bodies swelling ominously. Lifeless eyes and mouths glowed with a red flash, and my grim suspicions became reality. Exploding corpse fragments came flying at me mercilessly.

The pressure was staggering, propelling me backward. I finally came to a halt after colliding with a tree. My guard was already shattered, and I hadn’t even managed to create a shadow to hide in.

I deflected a few of the visible shards, but my health bar still took a hit.

“Gah!”

[You are affected by ‘Corpse Poison.’] [Suffer damage equivalent to 1.75% of current health per second...]

[You are affected by ‘High Viscosity Toxic Corpse Blood.’] [Movement speed reduced by 16%, and defense...]

To make matters worse, the sound of hoofbeats was now dangerously close.

The problem I had been putting off had now come back to haunt me. Directions hardly mattered—there were threats approaching from nearly every side.

Should I try leaping into the air? No. The griffon was still circling above.

Without wings, defending myself in the air would be difficult. If I were to be attacked mid-air and fall, there would be no recovering from that. Better to face them on the ground than to take a senseless beating.

The Death Knight that soon emerged looked far more formidable than the one in the last match. Its dark aura was unusually thick, the likes of which I hadn’t seen throughout this game. It was impossible to gauge just how much Crow had invested.

Crow had gone all out with an extreme summon-strengthening build. Hence the need for total stealth and that insane idea of transporting ghouls via griffon.

If I had known from the start, I could have countered it easily. Had I brought a stealth-heavy build, I could have secured an easy victory. But it’s not like I’ve ever encountered a strategy this insane before.

In this arena, no strategy is invincible. Gaining one advantage means sacrificing another. Reasonably speaking, the current forces must be all Crow had.

Abandoning the search for Crow’s main body was the wise choice. With the movement debuff and the enhanced Death Knights on my tail, it was too risky. Plus, I didn’t know his exact location, just that it was nearby.

That left another path to victory: surviving until these undead were all depleted. No matter how injured I became, I wouldn’t lose to a necromancer with no summons or spells left.

[You are affected by ‘Whisper of the Black Moon.’] [All attack power and...]

I parried a charging spear, slipped below its shaft, and aimed for the knee. I abandoned the attempt almost immediately—pressing further would leave me vulnerable to a flanking attack. Instead, I used a pine tree as a shield to protect my rear.

For an ordinary Death Knight, its movements were too precise. This wasn’t just the standard AI—Crow himself was directing it, putting everything into this match.

Not a bad call. Instead of clumsily throwing spear attacks, he aimed to overwhelm me with sheer numbers and relentless pressure. It worked well up to this point, but it ends here.

If those Death Knights couldn’t kill me, all this effort would be meaningless. I had already set up wire traps between the trees and avoided the incoming spear thrust.

With one wave deflected, the Death Knights pulled back. Their place was taken by ghouls dropping from the sky once more, seemingly in greater numbers this time.

“Damn... it’s raining garbage from the sky.”

A halberd slammed down heavily. I knocked the spear off course from the side, but the impact still left my wrist throbbing.

It was proof I was weakening. Too much exposure to the ghoul poison, and my clothes were torn in several places, the injuries piling up, slowing me down.

Fortunately, the bombardment frequency of the ghouls had dropped sharply. A few griffons were still carrying ghouls overhead, but their numbers were dwindling. It was obvious: this was Crow’s last stand.

A smirk escaped me.

I understand wanting to be cautious, but isn’t he underestimating me?

Being overly aware of a weakness is a limit in itself. The problem with focusing on weaknesses is that it often leads to overcompensation.

In other words, the spot of overcompensation reveals a weakness. Nearly ten bombing runs, a barrage of Death Knights. If he thought I was just quietly fighting, that would be his downfall.

As the Death Knights lunged, I teleported through the shadows I had laid out. I gained some distance and stood atop the wire traps I had set.

“Found you.”

The undead’s eyes flashed red. The Death Knights charged in with terrifying speed, with ghouls dropping from above. I deployed a smoke bomb and vanished into the cover.

Then, the new model of 'Assassin' shot straight towards the necromancer's main body.