Ding-!

A sound rang from Chasey’s device.

– Lee Shin: Are there any particular issues?

It was a message from Lee Shin.

Chasey immediately typed a reply.

– Chasy: Big trouble. I might not be able to get first place in this private battlefield.

She hadn’t written this message simply to lay the groundwork.

She wanted to ask if she could get advice on facing players of a higher tier than herself.

‘How should I manage things when a Silver Tier player is in the same battlefield?’

Just as she was about to hit send.

[Do you wish to participate in the Moran Social Club Private Battlefield?]

The participation prompt for the battlefield overlaid her message, and the text Chasey had written vanished.

“Ah…”

Chasey swallowed her disappointment.

It would have been nice to receive one last piece of advice…

“Let’s just do my best based on what I’ve learned.”

Chasey tried her best to bolster her confidence.

If she could just overcome this private battlefield, she would be able to grow significantly.

Given her situation with item combination formulas, it would be difficult, but it was by no means impossible.

There was even a player who hit the jackpot without any item combination formulas.

Chasey recalled the last piece of advice her mentor had given her.

“A perfect deck does not exist in the battlefield. The same goes for other players.”

Ultimately, the goal of the battlefield was to take first place out of the eight players.

It meant that rather than trying to build a perfect deck, she needed to focus on constructing one that could beat the other seven.

Keeping this advice in mind, Chasey entered the battlefield with a resolute heart.

***

Toros Private battlefield.

“Seup-“

The scent of the battlefield tickling my nose released a rush of dopamine.

Entering the battlefield brought a feeling that all my worries simply vanished.

I simply focused on the moment itself, enjoying the battlefield and doing my absolute best.

Shing-!

I tore the champion summon scroll in front of me.

Clank- clank-!

The shieldbearer’s scrap metal armor enveloped my body, and the newly purchased 35-gold equipment, the Steel Visor, was fitted over my head.

Finally, as a shield reinforced with iron over wood was gripped in my hand, the ‘1-Cost Shieldbearer Lee Shin’ made his appearance on the battlefield.

Clank-!

Pulling down the face guard attached to the visor, most of my face was concealed except for my mouth.

Still, the eye holes were open, so it didn’t obstruct my vision.

It couldn’t completely hide my face, but this much was satisfying enough.

Even those who knew my face wouldn’t be able to deduce who I was from this appearance.

Round 1-1.

Dong- dong- dong-!

The battlefield bell rang, and the walls crumbled.

Yelp-!

First stage. The monster that appeared this time was a creature with the head of a dog, yet standing on two legs.

It reminded me of the creature called a Kobold, which I had seen in fantasy novels.

Grrrr-

Dirty saliva dripped long from the creature’s mouth.

I observed it closely.

If there was anything to be careful of, it was the long spear in its hands and its sharp teeth.

Other than that, there was nothing particularly threatening.

Thud- thud-!

Whoosh-!

As I approached, it swiftly thrust its spear forward.

I angled my shield to meet the spearhead.

Screech-!

A single shallow line was drawn across the shield.

“Not bad.”

It wasn’t clumsily wielding a weapon; it was quite proficient, wasn’t it?

Using tools meant it possessed that level of intelligence.

But it posed no real threat to me.

While it was difficult to predict the movements of quadrupedal monsters, the behavioral patterns of humanoid monsters didn’t deviate much from those of humans.

Facing the monsters of the first stage was far too easy for me now.

Boom-!

【+1G】

▶ 1 gold has been provided as a basic reward.

After finishing the battle, I checked the shop and hired a champion.

It was a new type of champion I hadn’t previously considered, but it possessed the synergy that would become the core of my deck in this battlefield.

Retroka (★) – 1G

– Bard

– HP: 130/130

– Mana: 10/60

– Song of Peace (★): Disarms one enemy champion impressed by the song for 3 seconds.

That synergy was the Bard.

The Bard was one of the exceedingly difficult, high-difficulty synergies to use.

They merely possessed skills that applied buffs to allies or debuffs to enemies.

The fact that their skills lacked any damage was the Bard’s biggest flaw.

Of course, there were exceptions, but most were like this.

“Heung-heung-“

♩♬♪~

Deployed on the battlefield, Retroka was humming a tune while playing the instrument in her hands.

She carried only an instrument, lacking any protective gear or weapons to attack the enemy.

Seeing her appearance so out of place on the battlefield naturally caused concern.

Still, the fact that she could participate in the battlefield meant she was capable of combat.

Strangely enough, every time she played her instrument, mana-infused musical notes materialized to attack the enemy.

This mystical phenomenon, brought about by the battlefield’s power, operated on a similar mechanism to a Mage champion’s basic attack.

Dong- dong- dong-!

Round 1-2.

This time, a shield-wielding Kobold and a spear-wielding Kobold each appeared.

Vroom-!

How well could a monster possibly handle a shield?

‘Would someone who learned the spear feel a similar emotion looking at this guy?’

You see what you know; the feeling I got looking at the one using a spear was different from the one using a shield.

Watching the Kobold using a shield, I felt it had many shortcomings.

If there was a champion who lost to such an enemy, it would be better for them to just give up on the battlefield.

The comparison to Dire Wolves or Cave Spiders was meaningless; the Kobold was the easiest opponent I had encountered among monsters.

【+2G】

▶ 2 gold has been provided as a basic reward.

【Acquired: Dull Dagger】

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

“Ooh-“

Checking the message log, I cheered inwardly for a moment.

The combination item dropped after defeating the Kobold archer was none other than the Dull Dagger.

That material needed to craft the ‘Dice of Fortune’.

I already had a plan in place for when an item dropped in the first stage.

The battlefield might unfold easier than expected.

I withdrew from the battlefield, leaving only Retroka behind.

“Huh?”

Glance around.

Left alone, Retroka stopped playing her instrument and looked around with anxious eyes.

However, no additional champions were deployed before the battle began.

Dong- dong- dong-!

What could a Bard do all by herself?

Left alone, Retroka faced the concentrated fire of three enemy champions, and due to the Bard’s naturally low HP, the battle ended in an instant.

That’s right.

I intended to intentionally lose until the 2-4 stage began.

There was a reason for this.

During the early build-up phase, having sturdy and strong champions was everything, and in that regard, the Bard was practically trash.

Because the Bard had the lowest base stats among all champions.

With a Bard in tow, even if I constructed the best possible deck, I couldn’t guarantee a winning streak.

Alternating between wins and losses was the worst possible move.

Therefore, I chose the next best option: a losing streak.

Just that reason alone might not be a sufficient explanation.

There was one more option I could aim for by going on a losing streak.

The 2-4 Shared Selection Round.

Since priority is given to those with lower HP, I could choose the option I wanted.

This advantage alone was reason enough to go on a losing streak.

With just one ‘Dull Dagger’, I could complete the Dice of Fortune.

Calculating the probabilities, there was a chance I wouldn’t be able to complete the Dice of Fortune until the end of the battlefield if I missed the 2-4 round.

Why was that?

Items could only be obtained during the Shared Selection Round and the monster hunting rounds.

The monster hunting rounds were purely based on luck, so there was a probability that the Dull Dagger wouldn’t drop until the end of the battlefield.

Therefore, to guarantee the item’s completion, I had to make my move during the Shared Selection Round.

The Dull Dagger was a highly preferred combination item, so without priority, it wouldn’t remain by my turn.

The biggest problem here was that my skills were superior to the others.

If I didn’t intentionally lose, my HP would always remain in the upper ranks, and naturally, my selection order would be pushed back.

This meant the likelihood of obtaining the ‘Dull Dagger’ would only decrease as the battlefield progressed into its later stages.

The deck I intended to use this time absolutely required the Dice of Fortune, so failing to complete it could even lead to my defeat in the end.

Therefore, to be absolutely certain, I had to obtain the Dull Dagger in round 2-4.

Swish-

Having finished the battle early, I stared at my device and waited for all players’ battles to conclude.

As it was the early phase of the battlefield, the battles didn’t take long, and the players’ statuses were newly updated.

Player 3 / Lv.3 / HP.100

Player 5 / Lv.3 / HP.100

Player 6 / Lv.3 / HP.99

Player 7 / Lv.3 / HP.98

Player 1 / Lv.3 / HP.94

Player 2 / Lv.3 / HP.93

Player 8 / Lv.3 / HP.93

Player 4 / Lv.3 / HP.92

In this battlefield, I was assigned the name player 8.

There were still two battle rounds left until 2-4, and I planned to manage my HP with the goal of having my name written at the very bottom.

‘I need to shave off a bit more HP.’

【-1G】

▶ Spent 1 gold to hire a Mage (★).

【-1G】

▶ Spent 1 gold to hire an Archer (★).

*Held Gold: 4G

After hiring two new champions from the refreshed shop, I deployed three champions to the front lines of the battlefield.

I observed them through the screen in the command room, and surprisingly, no voices of complaint arose.

Win or lose in battle, the gold they received was the same.

It wasn’t as if there were no players managing losing streaks, so the champions understood the situation to some extent.

Round 2-2.

The player I met this time was building up normally.

Since my goal was to construct the weakest possible deck, the battle naturally ended in defeat.

【+4G】

▶ 4 gold has been provided as a basic reward.

【+1G】

▶ 1 gold has been additionally provided as a 2-loss streak reward.

*Held Gold: 9G

Afterward, I rehired the three dead champions.

Due to the HP loss from the defeat and the HP loss from rehiring, a total of 9 HP was shaved off.

My current HP was 84, and the player right above me had 85 HP.

“First, I need to collect the interest.”

【+1G】

▶ Terminated the employment contract with ‘Mage Laroshi (★)’.

*Held Gold: 10G

Here, I deliberated slightly.

Should I deploy shieldbearer Lee Shin to fill the third slot, or should I only place the Bard and the Archer to guarantee a defeat?

Shieldbearer 1, Bard 1, Archer 1.

Looking solely at the troop composition, losing was the normal outcome, but if that shieldbearer was me, I somehow felt like I would win.

“I should rest one more time.”

Ultimately, my choice was to only place two champions on the battlefield.

By resting for three battlefield rounds, I missed out on the 3 gold I could have earned as a champion, but since the most important thing was winning the battlefield, I had to judge things from a macro perspective.

I couldn’t ruin the entire plan for the battlefield over a mere 3 gold.

Dong- dong- dong-!

The bell rang, and as my opponent was decided, I was certain my choice was not wrong.

Player 8 / Lv.3 / HP.84 – 2-loss streak

– No Synergy

Player 4 / Lv.3 / HP.85 – 2-loss streak

– No Synergy

This was because player 4, whom I was matched against this time, had also chosen to manage a losing streak.

In normal battlefields, players competed over who built the stronger deck, but when players managing losing streaks met, who built the weaker deck determined the victor.

Those who knew how to build a strong deck also knew how to build a weak one.