The World Championship was being held in Berlin, Germany.
In this city, players from all around the world had gathered.

It was impossible to cram all those players into one hotel.
After the qualifiers, many teams who had been eliminated left, but they weren’t exactly too far apart.
Sigma Esports, who had contributed significant funds to our team, was no different.

Temporarily, a sort of player village had been set up in the area.
If you walked around the city, you could often run into players from other teams.
So, it was bound to happen at least once.

The day before the match with Falcon.

Hekate and I went out for dinner and ran into some familiar faces we couldn’t possibly mistake.
A tall Korean player.
And one foreigner who looked tired and grim.

“Hmm?”
“Hmm?”

The Korean player was Traveler, who had transferred to the UK.
The foreigner was the ace assassin from the same team, Reaper.

Is the team ace out for dinner too?
It seems like Traveler has adjusted well to life in the UK.
I heard that his transfer was actually requested by Reaper.

We weren’t strangers, and since we ran into each other, there was no need to eat separately, so we sat down at the same table.

“Is this place good?”
“I don’t know. This is my first time here too. Ye-won suggested it.”
“Oh, it's supposed to be a great place according to a blog.”
“We’re here based on a teammate’s recommendation. It should be fine.”

Today’s dinner menu was Schweinshaxe, a German pork dish.
We ordered beer, but no one at the table was thinking of getting drunk.

The tournament was still ongoing.
Is there anything more pathetic than dragging yourself around with a hangover?
If you’re that much of a mess, you wouldn’t even make it to the championship.

The food was delicious.
Pork is hard to mess up, and the crispy skin was perfectly textured.
None of us were particularly lively, so it turned into a rather quiet meal.

Hekate can be surprisingly shy too.
She has a certain innocent charm that’s hard to hide, but she doesn’t show it unless she’s with close people.
Though sometimes, when she can’t contain her dopamine, she shows a little bit even in formal settings.

Surprisingly, the first one to speak up was Reaper.
I wasn’t fluent in English, so Traveler translated for me.

It stung my pride a little.
He speaks English, but I can’t?
I’ll have to study it later.

“Reaper says things are going well with your preparations. Aren’t you playing Falcon tomorrow?”
“Well, I’m always ready, anytime.”
“I’ve watched most of your matches. I can vouch for it. Seriously. Oh, and I’m curious about Hashashin too. He didn’t get along with me, so he had a hard time.”

That might be the case.
Reaper’s back-line interference wouldn’t have worked as well against Hashashin’s skills.

Before I joined, the three assassins had a dynamic of mutual dominance.
Hashashin struggled against Phantom, who would target the main team while avoiding direct combat.
And Phantom was weak against Reaper, who would interfere with the backline and lay traps.

I briefly made eye contact with Reaper.
Despite generally being considered arrogant, Reaper always showed me respect.
It seemed like he was waiting for me to answer, so I gave a reply.

“I have to admit, he’s a good opponent. But the main team was too weak. If it was just a fight, I’d be much stronger.”
“I’ve always liked that confidence of yours. I think the current Sigma is a higher-tier version of Dune Sentinels. But… one question, are the limits of the two teams different?”
“So, does that mean our team is useless except for me?”
“Depends how you hear it. I’m not asking with bad intentions. That’s just the way he is.”

It wasn’t the first time Reaper had asked such a question.
If my feet were tied up, would Sigma still have a victory plan?
At a glance, it seemed like a reasonable question.

The assassin is the class with the highest peak in this game.
The ability to create variables by targeting the enemy’s heart.
Assassins can flip a losing game and solidify a winning one.

But an assassin can’t win the game alone.
The assassin’s role is one of many cards for victory.
There are many players on world-class teams who could neutralize me, and in the end, the main team’s power is also tested.

The real question is, “Is Sigma’s main team ready right now?”
And of course, my answer was a resounding yes.

“Let’s see after tomorrow’s match. I’ll surprise you. Especially you, Traveler.”

[Author: SigmaJoeAyo]
[Title: Finally, all the questions are answered]

(Attached photo: The unimaginable identity)

There have been so many rumors about high and low points going wild,
I really didn’t know what to think, but now I get it.

Was this the mysterious trebuchet that was only seen in scrims?
Was it you?

[Comments]

• Seriously, how did you know?
• Well, how else could you build data if not in scrims?

The World Championship is a festival for gamers from all over the world.
Naturally, it was much larger and more vast than the IKL’s dedicated arena.
When I looked at the fans filling the stands, I always felt a sense of wonder.

Human emotions are truly fascinating.

It’s just a scene where people are sitting.
The match hasn’t even started, and the people are chatting about various topics that probably aren’t important.
Even if you listen carefully, there probably won’t be any meaningful conversations.

But still, the audience always creates some great emotion.
Expectations, anxiety, nervousness, joy, longing, sadness, anger, relief.
All sorts of emotions mix together, creating a different atmosphere every day.

‘The air feels different today.’

I really liked the emotions they created.
And today, there was particularly a strong sense of anticipation and excitement.
On days like this, regardless of the outcome, there would always be an interesting match.

Well, today it’s hard to think beyond the result.
If we lose, the aftermath will be hard to handle.
Though the tournament wouldn’t end here, the mental impact is undeniable.

When the scheduled time arrived, as usual, Ho-eun made the announcement.

“Hello, this is the World Championship Finals Group B Winner’s Bracket!”
“The match between Sigma Esports and Falcon is about to begin at the Berlin Esports Stadium!”
“Sigma, who had a huge victory in the previous match…”

It was the usual formal greeting.
Even though the broadcast started, it still took time before the actual match began.

But this match wasn’t even close to a final.
There were still 32 teams left in the group stage.
The best we could do was some simple analysis and story-building.

So, while they killed time with some light chatter,
the players started connecting one by one to prepare for the match.

“Thank you for waiting. We’ll now reveal the battlefield and rules.”
“The battlefield is the remains of the Dead World Tree, and the rule is a 4-player elimination match.”
“Hmm, the battlefield setup is quite interesting. Both sides will be busy strategizing.”

On the screen, a giant tree stood alone.
A vibrant tree, but now it appeared dried and dead.

‘The remains of the Dead World Tree’ literally referred to the dead World Tree itself as the backdrop for the battlefield.
The actual playing area was a portion of the massive tree trunk and a few branches.
In terms of flat area, this was the narrowest battlefield in the game.

That said, it wasn’t truly cramped.

The biggest characteristic of this battlefield was the height.
While other battlefields involved horizontal fights, the remains of the World Tree involved vertical combat.
Arrows from long-range dealers occupying the high ground would gain speed as they fell, and in close combat, one had to be careful of falling to their death.

“Let’s make a brief prediction. Sigma Esports, with their fast assassins, will likely take the initiative.”
“They’ll probably secure the high ground first. Ga-wol will secure the spot, and Falcon will probably try to attack.”
“But it’s not all optimistic. Falcon’s lineup is world-class.”

Both teams’ first positions were at opposite ends of the World Tree’s branches.
Securing the high ground was likely for the more mobile team.
Naturally, I imagined a defensive scenario against Falcon, who specialized in close combat... Ho-eun’s eyes widened.

A message from the analysis desk popped up on the broadcast monitor corner.

“Viewers, you should take a look at Luche’s build.”
“It’s quite different from usual, but once the gameplay starts, you’ll likely feel it’s very familiar.”
“This feels like an improved version of Hero’s build.”
“That’s right. If you can manage it… builds are something anyone can use, right?”