The Mist Vol 4 Chapter 18

Vol 4 Chapter 18

After hearing Je-hwan's answer, Seo-hwan continued signing documents for a while, making scratching sounds with his pen. Finally, he finished the last page and looked up. His inscrutable eyes reflected through his glasses.

"Alright. Then, since this is an official situation now, I should properly instruct you again."

"..."

"I think you already know that the core of that game lies in the supercomputer THE MIST. I only want satisfactory results. The president feels the same way. We don't have time to experience failure. I hope I won't be disappointed in you. Think carefully about the Circuit Eye matter."

Before he finished speaking, Jin Je-hwan turned around, opened the door, and left. Jin Seo-hwan's eyes flashed sharply behind his glasses as he watched Je-hwan's retreating figure.

***

"Kap. You were really amazing! That arrogant high school kid was no match for you, I'm telling you! Really, really. When on earth did you practice so much?"

At Kran's excited voice, Kapros let out a long, low breath imperceptibly. All three of them had finished their first-round matches and had managed to shake off Rob, who kept trying to follow them.

Un-o and Kapros's matches took place without much time difference. Some voices of bewilderment and jeers poured from part of the audience when Un-o came out holding an unusually large bow, but Un-o stood calmly with the bow slung over his shoulder. Then, as soon as the start message appeared, he countered his opponent's persistent attacks, which were aimed at not giving him distance to shoot, with the dagger strapped to his leg. Suddenly, he retreated to create distance, and then, at a speed almost invisible to the eye, he nocked an arrow and pierced the opponent's head.

It was one shot. Un-o's opponent died instantly, and the entire colosseum was in an uproar over the terrifying speed that demonstrated a literal one-shot, one-kill. Kran, who had been praying with his hands tightly clasped, hoping Un-o's words would be wrong, collapsed on the spot.

However, unlike Un-o who had finished cleanly, Kapros, who was next in line, barely managed to win after quite a long fight.

The first thing Kapros felt as he came out of the waiting room following the guide was the tremendous energy of the audience. He had expected there to be a difference between being inside and standing here now, but actually standing there, he felt as if an overwhelming pressure much greater than he had imagined was pressing down on him from above. Seeing his opponent standing far away, he slowly walked towards him. His opponent, with his hand on his scabbard, looked at Kapros and sneered.

"What's this, is your concept gloominess?"

"..."

Kapros quietly placed his right hand on the scabbard on his left side without responding. As Kapros maintained his silence, his opponent seemed to lose interest and closed his mouth, scanning Kapros sharply. Since the opponent was also carrying an ordinary longsword like Kapros, there was no room to gauge his combat style by his weapon. Kapros first tried pushing mana into his hand without drawing the sword.

- Hum...

As if the mana had been well pushed in even inside the scabbard, soon Kapros felt the scabbard touching his leg tremble very slightly.

At that moment, a green message appeared above his head.

[ Start! ]

"Haaah!"

As soon as the word dropped, his opponent drew his sword at a terrifying speed and charged. For a moment, a conflict arose in Kapros's mind. The consciousness that reflexively tried to draw the sword he had been accustomed to for a long time and the consciousness that hesitated to draw due to fear of the sword after the accident were in fierce opposition for a very short time.

Clang!

In the end, as the blade flew in close, instinct won. As Kapros quickly drew his sword to block, he saw the wavering blade, barely visible to the eye, standing firm against a force that would have pushed him back considerably under normal circumstances.

"Wooooah!"

Shouts rained down from above. The opponent's strength, which Kapros had initially thought he wouldn't be able to withstand for long, was gradually becoming bearable. Was this due to the effect of increased physical strength, one of the passive skills of Ma-Rakian swordsmanship?

As Kapros took a quiet deep breath while matching strength, he felt the consciousness that had been hesitating to use the sword being pushed back slightly. After grappling with both hands on the sword, Kapros suddenly let it slide, causing his opponent to step sideways. As Kapros also stepped in the opposite direction, they instantly entered a state of circling each other in confrontation.

However, this standoff was one of the disadvantages for Kapros. It was clear that the longer it dragged on, the higher the possibility of Kapros losing as his stamina and strength decreased. Kapros gauged the distance and then rushed in first, launching a preemptive attack. This was primarily to gauge his opponent's level in the early stages.

Clang! Clang clang! Clang!

"Ugh..."

Kapros saw his opponent, who had been matching him well for a few exchanges, faintly groan through his teeth as the exchanges continued. Kapros also felt his stamina being consumed quite quickly, but it seemed he was in a better situation than his opponent. The fundamental source providing strength for Kapros's swordsmanship now was his mana. But unlike his stamina, which was being consumed with every movement, he still had much more mana left.

"Haha..."

Kapros laughed and gripped his sword tightly with fingers that kept trying to hesitate, pushing in even more mana.

Woong!

As he pushed in a much larger amount of mana than he had ever tried before, the blade instantly began to visibly distort. He saw his opponent's eyes widen in surprise.

"Wh-what? What is this? It's not even sword energy..."

"It seems I won't be able to fight for too long."

Responding in informal speech since his opponent had done so, Kapros attempted a downward strike that had been engraved in his body and mind through long repetition. Sliding from top to bottom, but with power.

Crash!

"Ugh?!"

With a feeling as if something small had exploded, Kapros felt his opponent's balance falter. A downward strike is one of the most powerful attacks that even someone lacking in strength can use effectively. This is because it can add the power of gravity to one's original strength, and for Kapros now, there was no other technique that could attack the opponent more strongly than this. Kapros didn't spare his opponent, who had grimaced as if his hands had received a great shock, and continued to press on.

Crash! Crash! Clang! Clang!

"Ugh, th-this..."