From the very start of the battle, the gunslinger and mage had been relentlessly dealing damage. Thanks to Rocrani using his skill and dying in the process, the fight had flowed in our favor.

The Slaughterer champions were left at low health, while the shieldbearers remained in peak condition.

Although Rocrani and two shieldbearers were sacrificed during the engagement, what should have been a fierce battle ended in a flash.

After rehiring two shieldbearers, my remaining health was now 82.

Since I didn’t rehire Rocrani, the items I had stacked on him all returned to my storage.

Saving gold while only losing this much health was a solid outcome, but my remaining Death Count was now at 5.

I could not afford to lose even once.

At the same time, I couldn’t afford to take a loss on my champions either.

It meant I had to dominate every single round.

Round 3-7, the monster hunting round.

With one spot empty on the board, I hired a new champion from the shop.

【-4G】

▶ Hired the Avatar of the Sun Mercenary ‘Ember’ (★).

*Gold Owned: 18G

Ember (★)

– Sun

– Mercenary

– Health: 285/285

– Mana: 30/100

– Sun Sword (★): A flaming sword deals 150 magic damage to the target, reducing their defense and magic resistance by 30% for 3 seconds.

– Poison Coating (Passive): On hit, reduces the target’s health recovery rate by 25%.

A woman with blazing red hair.

Though she was merely an avatar, even while standing still, she exuded an overwhelming presence.

True to her status as a 4-Cost Champion, Ember possessed excellent abilities on her own.

I transferred the items I had stacked on Rocrani directly onto Ember.

With that, the preparation phase ended.

Thud- thud-!

The creature I encountered in this round was one I had never seen before, despite having participated in countless battlefields.

A towering height of about 3 meters. A heavily muscled body.

Instead of eyes, the creature had massive, funnel-shaped ears.

‘A Cave Troll?’

It was my first time seeing one in person.

Rrrooo-!

The moment the battle started, it charged right at us.

Standing at the very front of the battlefield was the 4-Cost Champion, Ember.

The Cave Troll swung a boulder-sized fist. Ember swung her scimitar.

Boom-!

A deafening boom—hard to believe it was produced by flesh meeting steel—echoed throughout the cave.

‘Just how tough is its body?’

I had only heard of them; facing a Cave Troll was a first for me, too.

This was only my second time even reaching Round 3-7.

No player would drag a skillless ‘Blank’ into the late game, and even after acquiring a skill, I hadn’t properly participated in battlefields until now.

The Placement Exam had been my first experience.

While Ember tanked the Cave Troll’s attacks at the vanguard, our allied champions swarmed the creature.

With five melee champions, space became so tight that there was barely room to maneuver.

As a result, one shieldbearer had to fall back temporarily and observe the situation.

I immediately charged at the creature.

Its towering height of 3 meters.

I needed to match its eye level.

Vroom-!

I swung my shield toward its ankle.

Since I was a free body not targeted by its attacks, I could pour all my strength into the shield.

Boom-!

A tingling sensation shot down from my hands to the tips of my toes.

Thud-!

The creature’s massive frame collapsed.

“Don’t let it get up!!!”

At my shout, the shieldbearers threw themselves into a bodily charge, covering the Cave Troll with their bodies.

Since they wouldn’t take damage unless targeted by it, they could act aggressively.

Fwoosh-!

<<Sun Sword (★)>>

A flaming sword deals 150 magic damage to the target, reducing their defense and magic resistance by 30% for 3 seconds.

Ember’s scimitar struck the creature.

Rrrooo-!

The Cave Troll thrashed in agony, rolling on the ground, before suddenly opening its mouth wide.

A sense of foreboding set off alarm bells in my head.

That’s…

“Everyone, cover your ears!”

Piiiii-!

“Keuk-!”

I hastily covered my ears, but the massive ultrasonic wave rattled my brain.

Blood trickled from my ears.

The ground felt like it was tilting sideways.

Flop-!

The champions fighting the Cave Troll were collapsing helplessly.

Stagger.

But for some reason, I didn’t fall and held my ground.

Was it because I covered my ears with my hands?

I didn’t know the reason, but the only ones capable of moving on the battlefield were me and the Cave Troll. Just the two of us.

Rrrooo-!

Crunch-!

Its enormous foot stomped down on the fallen Ember’s head.

With the sickening sound of something cracking, the light of the battlefield scattered into the void.

Proof that even a 4-Cost Champion couldn’t perform properly without any synergies.

The next target was the shieldbearer beside her.

Crunch-!

The 2-Cost Steel shieldbearer was crushed without any resistance, completely helpless.

Tatatat-

Hearing the sound, the creature’s face turned toward me.

After taking out two of us, I was next in line.

But I had already closed the distance.

It had a long reach. I needed to transition to extreme close-quarters combat to prevent it from generating enough force.

Clack-

I hooked my shield onto its knee joint like a latch.

It was my first time facing this monster, but if it was a humanoid, its anatomy would ultimately be similar.

“Euaaaa-!!!”

I pulled the shield with every ounce of strength I had.

Veins bulged on my arms and face, and every muscle in my body screamed for mercy.

Yet the creature stood as unyielding as a deeply rooted tree.

My base stats were low, leaving me lacking in strength, but I was currently under the effects of champion enhancement.

Kuuung-!

Finally, it was forced to its knees.

I hastily retrieved my shield before its legs could fold completely.

If the shield got caught between its thick legs, I would never be able to pull it out.

I gripped the edge of the shield with both hands.

I raised my hands high. The shield arced over my back, brushing against my hips.

I thrust my hands forward like swinging a flyswatter.

Using the recoil from my waist and legs, I channeled all my power straight ahead.

With my center of gravity lowered, I could finally reach its face.

The shield that had faithfully protected my body had transformed into an iron hammer of judgment against the creature.

Boom-!

Crunch-!

A tremendous recoil swept through my body, as if I had swung the shield against bare ground.

“Keuheok-!”

I spat blood.

I had merely launched an attack, yet I had taken massive damage in return.

Both my arms went limp as if they were broken.

Crash-!

The shield clattered to the floor.

The Disarmed status effect.

It had been a long time since I experienced a status effect that anyone but a novice would avoid.

If I had given it the chance to attack, I might not have been able to block even a single blow.

I didn’t even think about picking the shield back up.

The Cave Troll’s massive body was already falling backward.

Kuuuung-!

Dust rose from the floor and drifted through the air, soon blanketed by a white light.

A moment later, a wooden chest sat where the creature had vanished.

Creak-

Crash-!

As I opened the chest, gold poured out.

【+10G】

▶ Acquired the Cave Troll’s Treasure Chest.

“Nice. Very nice.”

Although I didn’t obtain any items from successfully hunting the Cave Troll, I secured a large amount of gold as loot instead.

If I had an Item combination formula, this would have been a disappointing reward.

But given my current situation, gold held far more value, making it a highly satisfactory payout.

【+4G】

▶ Base reward of 4 gold granted.

【+3G】

▶ 10-win streak bonus reward of 3 gold granted.

【+1G】

▶ Interest income of 2 gold has been additionally granted.

*Gold Owned: 37G

Round 4-1 preparation phase.

“The damage was less than expected.”

The only champions that died in this battle were the 4-Cost Champion Ember and two 2-Cost Steel shieldbearers.

The other champions had merely been afflicted by the status effect from the Cave Troll’s area-of-effect skill; they hadn’t died.

Was it because I covered my ears with my hands?

I was able to quickly recover from its status effect and deliver the finishing blow before it could inflict greater casualties.

Since it was making its last desperate struggle at rock-bottom health after taking Ember’s skill, a single critical strike was enough to bring it down.

Managing to take so little damage without an Item combination formula was partly thanks to Ember, but my own presence had played a crucial role.

After all, I was the one who brought it down and delivered the finishing blow.

If it hadn’t been me, we would have suffered at least two more casualties.

This wasn’t an overestimation of myself; it was an objective analysis.

【+4G】

▶ Employment contract with the ‘Avatar of the Sun Mercenary ‘Ember’ (★)’ has been terminated.

【+2G】

▶ Employment contract with the ‘Steel Shieldbearer (★)’ has been terminated.

【+1G】

▶ Employment contract with the ‘Shieldbearer (★)’ has been terminated.

*Gold Owned: 44G

Without wasting health on dead champions, I cleared out the unnecessary ones to secure more gold.

This was my last chance to complete my deck.

From Stage 4 onward, other players would clash with their own optimized decks.

From here on out, every single round would be critical.

A single loss would directly translate to a drop in ranking.

“I need to do a Bottom Reroll.”

A Bottom Reroll meant refreshing the shop until my remaining gold hit zero.

A surplus of 44 gold was more than enough resources to construct the deck I wanted.

I invested all my gold into the shop.

And finally, the deck was complete.

<1-Cost>

– Shieldbearer (★★)

<2-Cost>

– Magic Engineering Mage (★)

– Magic Engineering Mage (★)

– Magic Engineering Gunslinger (★)

<3-Cost>

– Avatar of the Earth Shieldbearer ‘Goros’ (★★) – 3-Cost

– Avatar of the Earth Assassin ‘Rakashut’ (★) – 3-Cost

<4-Cost>

– Avatar of the Magic Engineering Assassin ‘Reyan Rutabus’ (★)

The activated synergies were as follows.

– Magic Engineering (4): At the start of combat, allied Magic Engineering units fire a pulse bomb. Upon detonation, the bomb disables the items of enemies within a 2-tile radius for 5 seconds.

– Shieldbearer (2): Shieldbearers reduce damage taken from all attacks by 10.

– Assassin (2): At the start of combat, leaps to the enemy’s rear, and the first attack deals 130% bonus physical damage.

– Mage (2): Increases allied spell power by 20.

– Earth (2): Earth champions start combat with a 60-point shield.

The value of the deck had skyrocketed to an incomparable level compared to the previous round.

This was the optimal deck composition I could build in the Paradise Private battlefield.

Constructing the desired deck required luck, but navigating the process to get there was pure skill.

By consistently making the best choices during the build-up phase, I was ultimately able to achieve my goal.

With the deck completely transformed, I readjusted the overall formation.

I placed myself, Goros, and the two shieldbearers at the very front of the battlefield.

With a shortage of frontline champions, I focused my gold investments on upgrading the two shieldbearers to 2-star.

It was a small, elite frontline, but with myself and Goros, a 3-Cost 2-star champion, they would be more than enough to fulfill their roles.

There were two shieldbearers, but three champions stationed at the front.

The extra champion was none other than the Magic Engineering Mage.

Rockefeller, who possessed the ‘Magnetic Field’ skill that damaged enemies upon being hit, was the one in question.

Placing Rockefeller at the very front was to utilize the Magic Engineering synergy.

Since its range applied to a 2-tile radius in all cardinal and diagonal directions, the enemy champions positioned at the front would have no way to escape the Magic Engineering area of effect.

By positioning Rockefeller between the two shieldbearers, he would only have to deal with one enemy champion at most.

Taking the brunt of the enemy’s attacks would fall to me and Goros.

Since Rockefeller had relatively low health, I placed the gunslinger and mage behind him, designing the formation so that the champion Rockefeller faced would be eliminated as quickly as possible.

Just in case, out of the four items available, I equipped Rockefeller with the Steel Shield, which was specialized for defense.

Now, Rockefeller dying before the shieldbearers was unlikely to happen under normal circumstances.

I equipped the remaining three items entirely onto the 4-Cost Champion, Reyan Rutabus.

As the champion who would serve as the core of this deck, Reyan Rutabus’s role was more important than anything else.

Reyan Rutabus possessed two synergies: Magic Engineering and Assassin.

Between the two synergies, the one that activated first was the champion’s primary synergy. For Reyan Rutabus, that was his Class synergy, Assassin.

Which meant the Magic Engineering synergy effect would trigger from the enemy’s backline.

With Rockefeller and Reyan Rutabus, the enemy would effectively be without their items for 5 seconds.

Compared to other players, it was the only element I lacked.

It meant I could completely erase the gap in ‘items’.

A fair fight lasting 5 seconds.

That was the ultimate purpose behind designing this deck.

I am a Challenger.

The name inscribed at the very top of the Challenger rankings—the player known as ‘Meta’—was me.

A deck completed by a Bronze Tier player.

A deck completed by a player who had reached the summit through thousands, tens of thousands of experiences amidst a flood of information on the internet.

Which of the two would be stronger?

I had made the best possible choices from the beginning of the battlefield to the very end.

Leveraging the existence of the champion ‘Shieldbearer Lee Shin’, I was able to reap even greater advantages.

The snowball that had rolled from there.

Just how large had that single pebble become?

I would be able to confirm the results within a fair fight lasting 5 seconds.