Yelp-!

“Nice to see you.”

The first battle.

The enemy encountered in the monster hunting round was a rather unique creature.

A massive body sporting eight eyes and eight legs.

Unlike the somewhat endearing Dire Wolf, this creature possessed a truly horrific appearance that could only be described as a monster.

Giant Spider.

It wasn’t an unfamiliar creature. We had crossed paths several times already.

Though, of course, it wouldn’t be the same one from before.

Boom-!

Crunch-

After a brief exchange of greetings, something burst with a popping sound, and dark green fluid oozed from its eyes.

Splat- splat-

Viscous fluid clung to the shield.

“Ugh-“

As a shieldbearer who had to treat the shield as dearly as life itself, there was never a moment more tempting to hurl it away.

Yelp-!

The Giant Spider shrieked in agony.

A horrifying scream somewhere between an insect’s screech and an animal’s wail echoed through the air.

Still, despite its appearance, it was far easier to deal with than a Dire Wolf.

The Dire Wolf encountered before possessed formidable attack power, making it a monster that fragile champions struggled against.

The Giant Spider, on the other hand, traded low attack power for high magic resistance, making it a monster that mage champions found troublesome.

The shieldbearer class had the advantage of not being heavily countered by any particular monster in hunting, and among them, the Giant Spider fell on the easier end of the hunting difficulty spectrum.

Thud-!

The sound reverberated throughout the entire cave.

The creature lay on its back, its eight legs curled inward, staring up at the sky. Grotesque even in its final moments.

Fwoosh-!

Along with a flash of bright light, the creature incinerated, leaving behind some loot in its place.

【+1G】

▶ Base reward of 1 gold has been granted.

【Acquired: Dull Dagger】

▶ Dull Dagger: Increases critical hit chance by 10% when equipped.

Critical hit chance, huh…

Without an Item combination formula, this was quite a useful item for me.

This time, instead of equipping the item directly, I sent it to storage.

The star of this battlefield would undoubtedly be Magic Engineering, after all.

【+2XP】

▶ Level 2 reached! You can deploy an additional champion.

Thanks to the experience gained from combat, my level had risen as well.

To hire an additional champion, I’d need to use the shop.

Manipulating the Device brought up the shop listing, with three options available.

《LV.2 Shop》

Druid(★) – 1G

Brawler(★) – 1G

Swordsman(★) – 1G

Unfortunately, the champion I needed didn’t appear. Instead, I hired a Swordsman champion, a solid melee option.

【-1G】

▶ Spent 1 gold to hire Swordsman(★).

* Gold Held: 0G

Chuck (★)

– Swordsman

– HP: 180/180

– Mana: 30/100

– Mana Sword(★): Increases attack power and attack speed by 40% for 5 seconds, dealing 10 additional damage on hit.

‘That’s a pretty decent skill.’

Since I’d only be using this champion briefly before selling, I had to swallow my disappointment.

Thud-!

This time I brought down two Giant Spiders, but frustratingly, they left no loot behind.

【+2G】

▶ Base reward of 2 gold has been granted.

【+2XP】

▶ Level 3 reached! You can deploy an additional champion.

Still, having safely cleared the first stage, I checked the shop once more.

《LV.3 Shop》

Robot Assassin (★) – 2G

Swordsman(★) – 1G

Magic Engineering Mage (★) – 2G

“Whoa-“

The offerings were far too good for a Level 3 shop, and an exclamation of admiration escaped me involuntarily.

‘I need all of them right now…’

All I had at the moment was 2 gold from base rewards. These were champions too valuable to pass up.

【-1G】

▶ Spent 1 gold to hire Swordsman(★).

* Gold Held: 1G

For now, I hired a Swordsman champion to activate the Swordsman synergy.

A properly synergized 1-Cost champion was more efficient than deploying a 2-Cost champion right away.

Two offerings still remained in the shop, and I had no choice but to press the lock button.

Now the shop wouldn’t refresh even when the next round came.

The downside was not being able to check new offerings, but since both champions were ones I needed, it was an unavoidable choice.

Pandin (★)

– Swordsman

– HP: 185/185

– Mana: 0/40

– Thrust(★): Deals 40 physical damage to the enemy in front. On-hit effects also apply to ‘Thrust’.

Swordsman(2): 30% chance to perform an additional attack on hit.

Two Swordsmen and one shieldbearer.

In the early game, melee champions with high HP were highly efficient, making this a fairly solid composition.

One of the Jackpot conditions: ‘Win while maintaining 77 or more HP.’

To achieve this, health management was the absolute top priority.

I’d need to adjust my strategy depending on how the first round played out.

Dong- dong- dong-

The preparation time ended, and the battlefield walls crumbled.

I frowned upon confirming the opposing player’s formation.

*player 8 / Lv.3 / HP.100

Swordsman(2): 30% chance to perform an additional attack on hit.

*player 7 / Lv.3 / HP.100

Swordsman(2): 30% chance to perform an additional attack on hit.

Two Swordsman champions positioned at the front line. Their active synergies were identical.

But the biggest difference was that I had chosen a shieldbearer for the remaining slot, while player 7 had opted for a mage champion.

The difference between my shieldbearer and their mage would decide the outcome of this battlefield.

As soon as the battle began, I immediately utilized an item from storage.

▶ Dull Dagger (Pandin)

I’d given the item to the champion more likely to survive based on the enemy’s formation.

It might seem like a negligible difference, but when deck values were similar, small margins determined victory and defeat.

Shhhh-!

The enemy champion swung their sword, exploiting the brief moment I’d spent manipulating the Device.

An attack so straightforward it was almost telegraphed.

I placed the shield directly in its path, and the enemy champion twisted their entire body, desperately trying to escape the shield’s coverage.

All I needed was a slight adjustment to my position.

The shield’s broad surface area made defense far more advantageous than offense.

Kaang-!

As the blade met the shield, a cacophonous clang of metal echoed through the cave.

Vroom-!

A brief opening while their stance was unsettled. I seized that moment and swung the shield.

The enemy champion hastily raised their sword.

Watching this, my eyes flashed.

Binggeul-!

In an instant, I changed my grip on the shield and twisted my shoulder sideways.

The resistance I felt in my hand diminished.

I was now swinging the shield’s narrow edge rather than its broad face, reducing air resistance.

The shield accelerated.

Clack-!

But the opponent had already settled into a perfect middle stance.

A lump of iron obstructed the shield’s trajectory.

Hiss-!

I extended one foot forward, settling into a lunge stance.

A lowered center of gravity.

The opponent hastily repositioned their sword, but a sword was not a weapon suited for defense.

My body reached them slightly before their sword could.

Thud-!

As the heavy mass weapon struck both ankles, their feet, robbed of any footing, flailed in the air.

I didn’t stop there.

Chwaak-!

To counterbalance the weight and centrifugal force of the shield, I extended one foot far forward.

Rather than resisting it, I used it to my advantage.

The shield continued to pivot around my body, and thanks to its weight, my body was spinning along with it.

As if drawn with a compass, a circular trail of footprints was being left behind.

Less of a backspin blow, more of a backspin shield, perhaps.

It was a massive movement with extremely low accuracy, and a miss would invite an immediate counterattack—but the opponent was in no position to resist.

Just short of completing a full 360-degree rotation, a heavy impact registered in my hand.

Boom-!

It was a wide swing, but it possessed enough power to justify the risk.

Outside the battlefield, this attack alone would have shattered a skull, but within the battlefield, damage had its limits.

Crash-!

The struck enemy champion tumbled across the ground like a puppet with its strings cut.

Still, with a critical hit triggering, I’d managed to inflict tremendous damage.

‘Has my skill improved a bit?’

Even I, having pulled off the attack, was dumbfounded.

I’d adapted a technique used against me by that monster during the Placement Exam—I never imagined I could replicate it so easily.

So how must the other champions watching nearby have felt?

“Damn it, how is there already a monster like that?”

A voice brimming with despair, as if sensing defeat.

“Impressive skill! Let’s press the advantage and attack!”

A voice overflowing with hope, as if sensing victory. Both reached me simultaneously.

The outcome had far exceeded expectations.

I had expected a fierce battle where the item equipped on Pandin would tip the scales.

Yet it was none other than I who had decided the battle’s outcome.

Crash-!

The Swordsman champion rose again and charged at me, but I casually shoved them aside with the shield, sending them tumbling across the ground once more.

The opponent’s attacks felt painfully predictable. Battles where I’d always had to give everything somehow felt easier now.

Zap-!

Something was setting off alarm bells within me. I felt a sense of danger, as if a concealed serpent were targeting me.

I immediately raised the shield against the empty air.

Clang-!

A sensation registered in my hand. Then, a voice full of astonishment reached me.

“No way! There’s no way anyone could block that right now!”

Swordsman(2): 30% chance to perform an additional attack on hit.

The additional attack attached to the Swordsman synergy.

I had blocked an invisible, formless attack with the shield.

‘How did I do that?’

I wasn’t sure myself either.

Let me finish the battle first and think about it later.

【+4G】

▶ Base reward of 4 gold has been granted.

* Gold Held: 5 gold

Having won the battle without taking any significant damage, I took a moment to reflect on the battlefield.

‘Player Rotton from the Carpet faction, was it?’

Based on the opponent’s synergies, I could roughly guess what kind of player they were.

Player Rotton, who had drawn ‘Swordsman’, ‘Mage’, and ‘Glacier’ synergies from the roulette.

According to the gamblers’ talk, Carpet was a faction that primarily utilized the Mage synergy.

So the synergy Rotton would ultimately pursue would be Mage.

I jotted down a note labeled ‘Mage’ next to player 7’s name.

Lee Shin(★)

– Shieldbearer

– HP: 200/200

– Mana: 0/70

– Solid Exoskeleton(★): Gain a shield that absorbs damage for 8 seconds. The shield is set at 40% of maximum HP.

I checked my champion information again. Nothing had changed in the stats displayed by the battlefield.

But something had definitely changed.

It was positive news, yet I couldn’t help but wear a serious expression.

An uncontrolled element was, by definition, a variable.

If even I couldn’t grasp the value of my own deck, I couldn’t possibly predict the outcome of battles.

‘I need to figure it out as quickly as possible.’

What had changed, and how it had changed—I had to fully comprehend it through this battlefield.

Still, I had things to do.

I hired two new champions from the shop I had locked.

【-2G】

▶ Spent 2 gold to hire Robot Assassin(★).

【-2G】

▶ Spent 2 gold to hire Magic Engineering Mage(★).

* Gold Held: 1G

Shadow Alpha (★)

– Robot

– Assassin

– HP: 190/190

– Mana: 0/100

– Mana Burn(★): Removes the opponent’s mana and deals fixed damage equal to the amount of mana removed.

Rockefeller (★)

– Magic Engineering

– Mage

– HP: 160/160

– Mana: 0/80

– Magnetic Field(★): Gain a magnetic field enveloping the body for 8 seconds. When hit, deals 25 magic damage to the attacker.

“Hmm…”

As evidenced by why Robot and Magic Engineering weren’t considered mainstream, both champions possessed rather tricky skills.

Shadow Alpha could be used strategically in the later stages of the battlefield.

Rockefeller, however, seemed unlikely to perform at full capacity without an Item combination formula.

A champion that was more burden than boon, yet too valuable to discard.

But the probability of the desired Lineage synergy appearing in the shop was exceedingly low.

For the Jackpot, I needed to gather up to four champions with the Magic Engineering synergy, so I had to bring Rockefeller along no matter what…

For now, I left both champions in the waiting room without deploying them to the battlefield.

Because in the early game, two Swordsmen with an active synergy held more value, even as 1-Cost champions.

Even in terms of skills, the two Swordsmen’s were far more practical for immediate use.

Though a round had passed, the deck’s overall value hadn’t changed.

I discreetly checked the Device and spotted two players already at Level 4.

That meant two players had pushed their tempo.

There was no need to overextend trying to keep up. With a solid plan in place, maintaining my own tempo was equally important.

Dong- dong- dong-!

The bells rang out, and the battlefield walls crumbled.

The number of enemies that came into view was…

One, two, three… four.

Unfortunately, I’d been matched against one of the two players who had been pushing their tempo.