“Welcome!”

“Hahaha- eat and drink to your heart’s content!”

Here again?

I only tagged along because he promised to buy me a proper meal.

Maybe dwarves have a different standard for what counts as ‘big.’ What a cheapskate.

I needed to fill my stomach at least, so I should order plenty of food.

I called the server over and pointed at every item on the menu.

“Over here-! Two cans of Bihokin beer and one of everything on the menu, please!”

“Yes, sir-“

The menu was nothing more than stir-fried meat, steamed fish, and fried vegetables, but these were dishes I could never afford on my own. I planned to eat until I burst.

The tavern’s fare was exactly the kind of food I’d find too precious to buy for myself but would gratefully devour if someone else was paying.

The bill showed a rather hefty amount, hardly what you’d expect for two adults’ meals, but Hans just chuckled it off as if it were nothing.

Hans didn’t earn much, but to him right now, it was pocket change.

He had placed fourth through the consecutive second preliminary rounds, advancing to the main tournament for the first time and thereby securing a main tournament prize.

“Hehehe- thanks.”

He threw his arm around my shoulder with an affectionate look in his eyes, but—

“Ugh- what are you doing?”

A man. And a bushy-bearded dwarf at that. I had no desire to be embraced by him, so I shoved Hans away in disgust.

“Hehe, I made it to the main tournament.”

Hans just grinned, seemingly unbothered by my reaction.

His foolish antics drew the attention of those around us, but I only sighed and discreetly covered my face with my hand.

Fine, he says he’s so happy he can’t help but laugh. What can you do?

“Thanks, Shin Lee! I knew I could count on you.”

Hans was genuinely thrilled, thanking me repeatedly.

“Just words?”

I said it with a playful laugh, but I was serious.

The value of the Hardcore Assassin deck I’d shared with him. Did Hans truly understand the worth of that information?

Just because we were friends didn’t mean I was going to do him favors for free.

A player’s skill was equivalent to their social standing.

The information I’d provided had essentially laid the groundwork for his rise in status.

“Huh?”

Hans was briefly caught off guard by my unexpected response, but after a moment of thought, he laughed heartily and clapped my shoulder.

“Hahaha- of course, I was planning to repay you. Alright! I’ll give you all the prize money. Just expect me to rank high!”

Even eighth place started at fifty silver coins, so it was no small sum.

I was slightly surprised, but Hans seemed to have no attachment to the money whatsoever.

Hans knew too. He’d received something far greater than a small immediate prize.

‘Just as I thought…’

I had little connection with most people, but this was the reason I stayed close with Hans.

The exchange was always reciprocal.

Was it a dwarf trait?

If anything, he gave more than he received. Hans had never once taken something for nothing.

Of course, for a beer-crazed dwarf like Hans, beer was the exception.

“Can you take first place?”

I only knew the outcome—third and fourth place—I didn’t know the details of how the battlefield had played out.

It was only natural, since spectating a battlefield was impossible for anyone but a player.

“Hmm- the assassin deck is good, but I don’t think I can pull off first place.”

I expected him to answer with a confident ‘sure,’ but Hans seemed to have sensed something, his response uncertain.

The reason was easy to figure out.

“It’s because of tanks, right?”

“Yeah, it works fine against mage, archer, and especially gunslinger decks, but when the front line is thick, it can’t do much.”

“Hmm…”

“Ah, of course, I’m not saying the deck is bad. Don’t get me wrong.”

The gunslinger meta that was popular in the Luteran region. And the assassin deck that targeted it.

The fact that assassins were strong against ranged champions was a well-known, textbook counter throughout the Empire.

Was there truly no way to deal with this?

By their very nature, assassins were inevitably weak against tank-heavy decks.

The reason was that assassins had explosive power but suffered in sustained combat.

Tanks mostly possessed skills related to damage reduction, shields, and health recovery, so unlike fighting fragile gunslingers, assassins lost the war of attrition.

But if you asked whether the assassin deck could definitively crush other decks—

I couldn’t confidently say ‘yes.’

‘With proper placement alone, it stops working from then on.’

The reason the assassin deck never became mainstream.

What was the most important thing on a battlefield?

I could point to battle formation as one of them.

What made assassins advantageous against gunslingers?

The ability to pierce through and bypass the tank front line to attack the damage dealers in the rear.

This trait, which allowed them to create one-sided battle formations, was the assassin’s greatest strength.

The battlefield had many rules.

One of them was that during combat, you had to target the nearest enemy.

That was why the floor was divided into a chessboard pattern.

Once combat began, you couldn’t change your target until one of them fell.

This was an immutable law that had never changed since the battlefield’s inception.

Of course, skills that changed targeting were an exception.

In normal circumstances, this rule held true.

That was why placement was the most important thing.

And it played a crucial role in determining a player’s skill.

Which meant that simply running a Hardcore Assassin deck had its limits.

“Hans. Listen carefully. This is the most important thing if you want to take first place.”

I lowered my voice and shared a piece of information with Hans.

The single most important element in running an assassin deck.

I hadn’t originally planned to reveal this much, but the prize money Hans had promised was too tempting.

“What…?”

Hans wore a bewildered expression. I knew it sounded strange.

But I knew.

There was one method that could change the battle formation of a battlefield.

And it existed for assassin decks too.

A chance to verify whether my knowledge applied to the battlefield as well.

I was looking forward to tomorrow.

And the prize money, of course.

***

Chasey Einthoven.

Her face was filled with worry as she recalled the last battlefield.

She had comfortably taken first place in the subsequent second preliminary round, but she couldn’t shake the thoughts swirling in her head.

‘…Can assassins really counter gunslingers?’

The seven players she’d encountered in the second preliminary round.

Three of them had chosen the same gunslinger deck as hers.

They weren’t identical, but since they were similar decks, she had suffered a few defeats.

She couldn’t control the luck-based elements like the skills champions possessed or the shop’s offerings.

Of course, she’d managed to hold onto first place later thanks to the power of her combination formula, but she couldn’t afford to be purely optimistic.

‘They had some skill too.’

They couldn’t compare to her Silver-tier father, but as befitting talents gathered from the Luteran region, there were quite a few skilled players among them.

Some of them even had item combination formulas, so one slip and…

The players in tomorrow’s battlefield would be the final eight selected through two preliminary rounds, so each of them would have their own tricks.

“That man too…”

Among them was the man who had given her the fresh shock of the assassin deck.

Her worries deepened. For Chasey, who had just experienced her first real battlefield, this kind of deliberation was a good sign.

After all, her father Federer Einthoven had funded this tournament out of his own pocket solely for her sake.

“Chasey, is something on your mind?”

Einthoven, who had been watching his daughter review the battlefield even during dinner, gently spoke up.

“…Ah!”

Only then did Chasey remember she was in the middle of a meal.

Her face flushed red.

Her intense focus was one of her strengths, but sometimes it made her oblivious to her surroundings.

Her father, who was also her teacher.

She voiced the question that had been nagging at her.

“Could assassins be the answer to the gunslinger meta?”

Given how powerful they were said to be, there was no reason she wouldn’t use them herself, but—

Truth be told, Chasey didn’t particularly care for gunslingers.

‘Guns just aren’t very elegant.’

Boys her age generally loved gunslingers, but Chasey had never warmed to the concept of guns.

Was it because she loved druids?

Perhaps the gun, as the antithesis of nature, had always rubbed her the wrong way.

Chasey was a devoted fan of Liriha, the named druid champion.

As a child, she had once tried to sneak off to Elania, the holy land of druids.

Her father’s opposition had thwarted that plan, but she still dreamed of one day becoming independent and making her mark as a druid champion.

Perhaps because of that, her decks inevitably included druids.

But the trending gunslinger decks were overwhelmingly strong against druids.

The subject she had studied most deeply while preparing to become a player was druid deck management.

Unfortunately, it was far removed from the current meta.

Left with no choice, she had compromised with a mix of minimal druids and gunslingers.

The results were good, but she wasn’t entirely satisfied.

She wished the gunslinger meta would fade as quickly as possible so she could run a proper druid deck.

“You must have encountered an assassin deck. How was it?”

Achieving Silver Tier was no easy feat.

Einthoven, with his wealth of experience and skill, could easily guess what was troubling his daughter.

“It seemed effective against gunslingers.”

“Yes, it’s widely known that assassins are strong against ranged champions. They have the trait of moving to the enemy’s rear at the start of combat.”

Einthoven began Chasey’s lesson as he always did.

Chasey listened intently.

She trusted that her experienced father could help resolve her concerns.

“But do you know why assassins aren’t commonly used?”

Her father’s question. Chasey thought for a moment before answering.

“Because they’re weak against tank champions?”

“Correct. That’s the assassin’s biggest weakness and one of the reasons they never became mainstream.”

“Still, they should be good for taking down gunslingers…”

“Chasey, what do you think is the reason assassin decks are weak against tank champions?”

Chasey pondered for a moment.

The assassin deck’s weakness was in sustained combat.

But what was the reason for that?

“There’s no front line to hold…”

“Exactly! That’s right. An assassin deck inevitably has a weak front line. That’s what puts it at a disadvantage in battles of attrition.”

Einthoven nodded at Chasey’s answer.

He was thoroughly satisfied with the answer she had arrived at through experience.

‘She truly has talent.’

In Einthoven’s eyes, Chasey had the talent for Silver Tier—and perhaps even beyond.

Of course, as her father, an objective assessment was impossible, but Chasey genuinely possessed talent as a player.

Einthoven gazed lovingly at his daughter and thought.

‘To think such a girl would want to become a champion… Absolutely not.’

It wasn’t as though no one had ever dual-roled as both champion and player.

But he believed it was no pursuit for someone with her level of talent as a player.

Above all, he could never permit his lovely daughter to take orders from someone else.

“Once you understand the reasoning behind an assassin deck, you can find a way to counter it.”

“The reasoning…”

“An assassin’s goal is to eliminate the damage dealers in the rear as quickly as possible. So, can you think of a way to protect our damage dealers from assassins?”

Chasey recalled the first preliminary round.

Six assassin champions infiltrating the rear and attacking simultaneously.

That assault had wiped out the gunslinger champions before they could do anything.

‘Especially the first attack—we took too much damage. So then…’

“We need to change our placement.”

“Exactly!”

Clap-!

Einthoven clapped his hands, delighted.

He hadn’t expected her to arrive at this answer.

‘She’s grown so much.’

It was an insight she couldn’t have reached without experiencing an actual battlefield.

Chasey’s growth had exceeded his expectations.

Einthoven didn’t regret a single coin of the prize money or the item combination formula he’d put up.

‘First place belongs to Chasey anyway.’

He’d never once imagined the combination formula ending up in someone else’s hands.

Excluding the first-place prize, the actual amount he was spending was only a few gold coins.

For Einthoven, who ruled the Luteran region, the gold and silver coins used as prize money were pocket change.

“An assassin’s greatest strength and weakness is its trait of moving to the farthest enemy’s rear.”

Chasey’s lesson continued naturally.

She focused on her father’s words, absorbing his knowledge.

“There was a time when the assassin meta briefly rose to prominence. But even then, it was only a flash in the pan and ultimately couldn’t become mainstream.”

“…Why?”

To Chasey, assassins still seemed strong. So why hadn’t they become mainstream?

Curious, she waited for her father to speak.

Having thoroughly enjoyed his daughter’s rapt attention, Einthoven slowly began to speak.

“It was because information about the <Box Formation> was revealed. A placement method developed by a Diamond-tier player sank the assassin meta in an instant.”

“The information was revealed?”

Chasey couldn’t believe what her father was saying.

Information that precious, being passed around by word of mouth?

Diamond-tier information was supposed to hold astronomical value.

“That player was none other than Romaro Vatican.”

“The Holy King…!”

“Yes, Romaro Vatican, the current ruler of the Holy Kingdom. It’s widely known that his parents were murdered by assassins from Zaun.”

It had happened when the Holy King was young.

The full details were never revealed.

But after that incident, Romaro Vatican had harbored an extreme hatred for assassins.

“Of course, not everyone could access that information. I only learned of the Box Formation’s existence after reaching Silver Tier myself. It was truly astonishing…”