NOVEL WEB Chapter 71
“Whether I drop in the round of 16 or the quarterfinals, it doesn’t make much difference.”
Honestly, unless I make it to the semifinals or get knocked out in the round of 64, it really won’t leave much of an impression.
More than anything, it’s just so ambiguous, really—16 or 8; what’s the difference?
But if it’s Jinhyeon I’m up against, that changes things a bit. I absolutely do not want to lose to that guy. Even if it’s in the quarterfinals, I’d be gritting my teeth to win.
So, I was actually grateful for the current situation.
Instead of meeting at the quarterfinals and basking in the spotlight, I could simply drop that guy in the round of 16.
Plus, I could snatch away his chance at the spotlight too.
“Let’s fight fair and without regrets.”
Jinhyeon still seemed to be talking about ‘fairness’ as though expecting fair play. What a naïve guy.
If an elementary school kid or a girl was that innocent, it might’ve been cute, but seeing a grown man be this naive wasn’t particularly endearing.
More like disgusting. Ignorance is only forgivable up to a single-digit age.
“Ready, go!!!”
As soon as the match started, I responded by throwing a nitroglycerin capsule wrapped in black bubbles with all my might.
Jinhyeon managed to conjure ice out of thin air just before the bomb hit him and barely succeeded in defending himself.
I wasn’t disappointed, thinking he would block it. If I had been caught by that, I would have twisted his neck.
“Wait—”
Jinhyeon blurted out something casual, clearly caught off guard right from the start, but that didn’t mean he would stop.
Having already been hit by an explosion, I smashed the ice that was on the verge of breaking with my fist and closed in on him.
Following a hunch, I dodged falling bolts of lightning aimed at me and leaped toward Jinhyeon using the rising ice as a springboard.
I had gotten close enough, but I also aimed to seal off his abilities.
Just like me, Jinhyeon didn’t have resistance to his own powers. Touch some ice, he’d feel cold; touch fire, he’d feel hot.
While it was less painful than real fire or ice damage since it came from his own mana, that didn’t mean it was something to ignore.
As I closed in on him, Jinhyeon, who’d stained his hair green as if to launch an ice attack, quickly changed to green and created a strong wind.
Being suspended in the air, I had no choice but to be pushed back.
Jinhyeon seemed intent on pushing me out of the arena, coloring his hair a deeper shade of green while unleashing powerful winds.
It was neither a wise nor an appropriate choice. If he wanted to knock me out, he should’ve hit me with an ice chunk instead.
Gathering all the slime covering my left arm and leg into my right arm, I elongated it like a rope and hurled it toward the arena.
Simultaneously, I secreted a strong adhesive at the tip of the rope to ensure it wouldn’t fly off from the wind.
Since I could spill chemicals on the slime just like on my body, I made this all possible.
Slowly reeling the rope back as if absorbing it into my suit, I attached myself to the ground.
Crawling closer while secreting adhesive from my palms and soles, Jinhyeon seemed to realize the winds were futile and swiftly changed his hair color back to prepare for ice.
Well, let’s see if I can hit him. Ice rising from the ground— I could hit it even with my eyes closed. And, unsurprisingly, ice erupted from the ground.
It was so predictable. The signs of his ability were clear, and the way he utilized it was just too simplistic.
Considering he had such a good ability but could only use it like that, it was both fortunate and utterly pathetic.
If I jumped high in the air, he’d just blow me away with the wind. So, I’d have to approach him from the ground.
I readied another bomb while dodging the ice rising from the ground.
Now and then, icicles would come flying as if pretending to be variations, but compared to Seolhwa’s attacks, it was just child’s play.
I had dodged even worse things before. This was just funny.
As I got close enough, Jinhyeon seemed to prepare another lightning attack, dyeing his hair yellow.
That guy could only use one at a time. And somehow, that annoyingly overlapped with my weakness, making me feel worse.
As I tossed a bomb, Jinhyeon surrounded himself with ice to defend. However, like last time, it didn’t hold up until it was about to break.
Since I’d only thrown one, I still had another bomb in hand.
With the suit consolidated on my left arm and hardened into a small demolition wrecking ball, I brought it down toward the ice wall.
Then, I tossed the bomb orb I had kept hidden into the hole I made. There’d be no escape for him now.
With a loud bang, the ice wall shattered. It seemed to be the end…
Or so I thought. Amazingly, Jinhyeon managed to withstand the explosion by layering ice on himself.
From within the nearly shattered ice pillar, Jinhyeon twisted his body out with great effort. He hung on, huh?
It would’ve been easier to just fall down like that. I kicked him, who was still on the ground catching his breath, sending him flying.
“Cough, ugh…”
“Is that really your best?”
Timing my kick with his descent, I sent Jinhyeon flying far away without kicking hard enough to knock him out of bounds.
Otherwise, I wouldn’t be able to hold back my pride.
If I really wanted to win, I would’ve just blasted gas right at the start. I wouldn’t have cared about paramedics or anything.
Since it was my job to take him out anyway.
The reason I was holding back was that I wanted to beat him until I was satisfied.
Rotating my wrists and ankles to loosen up, I looked at Jinhyeon, who was staggering to get back up as the adrenaline faded away.
“I’m still… here!”
He didn’t look fine, but with his hair now dyed red, it seemed I could finally get a decent fight.
Fire, huh? Yeah, I should use at least that to get the upper hand. Inhaling deeply, I filled my lungs with air.
After that, I soaked my whole body in water. My slime suit had some fire resistance, but soaking it in water was definitely better.
Moreover, I couldn’t rely on the suit’s protection for the upper part of my neck.
The announcer was rambling on about something, but I was too focused on the fight to hear a thing.
No matter how much hydrogen was in my body, spewing it out like this was still a bit burdensome.
I needed to finish this quickly.
Ducking below flames soaring from the sky, I dashed straight toward Jinhyeon.
Continuously dripping water, sometimes using moisture as a shield to leap over walls of fire.
Relying on the endorphins my body produced instinctively rather than any ability, I charged endlessly toward Jinhyeon.
And finally, as I reached right in front of him.
I unleashed all the pent-up frustration I had bottled up, aiming directly for his face.
“Get out, die!!!”
With a hit that made my fist tingle, Jinhyeon smoothly soared out of the arena like a baseball hit by a bat.
…Ah. A bit of my true feelings slipped out there. Well, they’d probably overlook it.
Even though I’d enhanced my strength with mana and cooled it down with water, I could still feel the lingering effects buzzing through my body.
But whatever, I was prepared to drop out in the quarterfinals. Honestly, I couldn’t care less at this point.
Refreshing, huh? It felt less satisfying than actually killing him, but beating him like this felt pretty nice.
Seeing my face flashing on the screen, I glanced at the camera and smiled before walking towards the opposite side where Jinhyeon was being dragged out.
I intended to go to the infirmary for some healing, but someone called out to me, stopping me in my tracks.
It was Changwon.
“Can’t you see you’re hurt?”
I shot back, telling him to shove off, but Changwon, with both eyes wide open, threw me a random question.
“Are you here to become a hero?”
What’s this guy on about now?
“Of course, I’m in the Hero Department to become a hero. What else would I be doing here?”
Annoyed at his riddle-like question, I tried to brush him off, but he used telekinesis to lightly halt me and continued his inquiry.
“Is that hero a true hero in the truest sense, or just a hero?”
“…Why do you care?”
“I see.”
After shaking off his telekinesis, I escaped from this guy whose intention I couldn’t comprehend.
What on earth was he trying to ask? Grabbing onto an injured person.
This guy couldn’t possibly be genuinely aiming to be a hero.
I was only here to help that person.
That was it.
Relationships with friends and all that were just trivial matters. Everything was for that person.
…Since it was for that person, there wasn’t any need for hesitation.
So why, when I think about betrayal, does my heart feel a little crushed?
I couldn’t understand it at all.
I chalked it up to the heat of battle and entered the infirmary to get my wounds treated again.
There was really no need to think seriously about betrayal or whatever, right?
Right now, I had to figure out how to lose without raising any suspicion.