‘He can restore 150% of the damage done?’

‘It must be a one-time thing.’

Everyone in the world was paying attention to Grid. The players who were participating in PvP right now, as well as the healers who didn’t participate in the National Competition.

Grid. He combined top class power with the best blacksmithing skill, and was also capable of exercising a tremendous force as head of Overgeared. There were countless forces in the world who hadn’t yet proven to be overwhelming, but were watched with vigilance. This was a great chance to analyze Grid’s strengths and weaknesses, so people focused on Grid, especially Kraugel.

‘Grid...’

If Kraugel thought about his mother, he hoped that Grid wouldn’t reach the finals. But his heart wanted the opposite result. He wanted to compete with Grid. He wanted to fight, enjoy, and develop with Grid.

'...A selfish greed.’

Kraugel painfully repressed his heart and left the waiting room. It was to prepare for the second round that would start in 30 minutes.

***

Boo!

Boooooo!

The crowd was booing. Amidst the booing, Chinese curses could be heard.

"Ni chi fan le ma!” (https://hinative.com/en-US/questions/4621545)

That was 100% a Korean. In any case, the crowd couldn’t hide their anger towards Hao. There were even people throwing rubbish.

"Why did you give up!?”

After logging out, Grid refused the interview from the host and ran up to Hao. Why would he give up after beating up Grid for 20 minutes? It was obvious slapping and hitting! It didn’t feel like Grid had won. Above all, Grid wanted to fight longer to reduce the cooldown of Assimilation and gain item experience.

Peok!

Hao, whose face was hit by a plastic bottle thrown by a Chinese audience member, turned towards Grid. His eyes were clear as he looked at Grid, no signs of anger, resentment, or regret anywhere.

"It’s foolish to cling to a losing fight.”

Things would’ve been different if it wasn’t official. Hao would’ve fought against Grid without giving up to the last minute. He would ‘learn.’ But this was the National Competition. All types of people were watching the battle and there was great risk in revealing all his skills.

"I have been fighting you for 20 minutes, but my attitude from the start was the problem. I am ashamed that I didn’t recognize your skills.”

Grid was above him. Hao realized the truth and humbly bowed his head.

"I am in awe of you.”

Think about it. Why did Grid call himself dull-witted? Then Hao looked back. Grid’s past. All the information on him. Then Hao was able to come to a conclusion. Grid had reached this position because of his hard work. Other rankers had the weapon of ‘innate talent.’

"...You are special.”

Hao’s passion was lit. The next person since Kraugel. It was also the complete opposite to Kraugel.

‘The genius Kraugel was the sky from the beginning.’

The dull-witted Grid was a tower. He stacked the stones piece by piece and headed towards the sky. Hao had no choice but to feel awe. However, there was one thing that worried him.

“Don’t let it fall.”

A tower would eventually collapse at some point. The more height that was accumulated, the riskier it was. If Grid met a disaster that couldn’t be overcome with effort, it was doubtful that he could escape from the impact. Hao didn’t know if Grid would admit defeat or give up.

‘I don’t know who I should be worried about right now.’

Hao smiled and turned his back to Grid.

“If Grid breaks the sky, I will have to serve Grid.”

Lauel’s strong words once again rang in his mind. This time, Hao was no longer offended.

***

32 participants entered the second round. Among them were the strongest candidates: Russia’s Kraugel, Canada’s Chris, Japan’s Damian and Katz, the United States’ Skull, Spain’s Pon, and Britain’s Regas.

『 And there is the Korean Grid. 』

『 Hey... I didn’t expect China’s Hao to be eliminated in the first round. It was also a forfeit? It’s an unheard of incident. 』

『 Grid’s ability to grow and recover transcended Hao’s expectations. No matter how hard Grid is beaten, he is like a zombie and his attack power even becomes stronger? 』

『 But Hao still gave up too easily. Maybe Hao’s stamina was too weak 』

The second round started while the commentators were talking. The contents of the matches weren’t bad. It was a situation where each of the winning candidates beat the opponent to advance to the next round.

Kraugel effortlessly won without allowing a single attack. Skull was doing his best in the belief that he would lead the United States to victory. Katz was intoxicated by his own strength. Pon won while dreaming about being the best spearman. It happened when the ratings started to drop slightly due to there being no big surprises.

『 It’s finally here! 』

『 The 15th match in the second round! 』

"Waaahhhhhhhh!"

The somewhat quiet atmosphere of the Stade de France National Stadium changed drastically. The ratings of the international broadcasts rose sharply. It was a glimpse of how high the interest in the 15th match was.

『 The main characters of the match that everyone has been waiting for! 』

『 Damian and Regas! Regas and Damian! 』

The first user pope, Damian. He specialized in the sword and magic, had overwhelming tanking power and buff power, in addition to his recovery power. He boasted the perfect combat balance and was comparable to Kraugel and Grid. Regas also couldn’t be ignored.

He was the strongest since the days when the Overgeared Guild was the Tzedakah Guild. He was the idol of all martial artists in the world for a long time and attracted attention as the only ‘Asura’ class.

『 Isn’t the Asura class really tricky? 』

『 It is said to have the highest difficulty among the 3rd advancement classes. I would rather get a hidden class than the Asura. 』

『 There is speculation that the Asura 4th advancement class will be linked to a hidden class. Due to this, many martial artists haven’t switched to a third advancement class and are focused on the Asura class quest. 』

『 The strength of an Asura is amazing... Each skill has an abnormally high accuracy and every hit adds combo damage. 』

『 There is an additional aspect that when fighting the enemy, it deals extra lightning damage. 』

『 But it is questionable if he can link a combo with Damian... 』

Nobody could predict the winner. Damian and Regas greeted each other onstage.

“It feels strange to meet you in a place like this.”

“Yes.”

The two smiling men. They were usually very good friends. Damian liked Regas, who never despised him for being an otaku, while Regas was just friendly to people. But their eyes changed the moment they received the signal to start the battle.

“Divine Protection, Incarnation of Light, Goddess’ Blessing.”

From the beginning, Damian used buffs that increased his attack power, defense, all stats, and pulled out a shield. It was because it wasn’t possible to deal with Regas in a no buffs state.

“Great! Hahat!”

Damian was surrounded by a gold and silver aura that gave off a brilliant radiance. Regas couldn’t find a gap and rushed wildly towards him. Kraugel, who returned to the waiting room and watched the match, was rarely amazed.

‘Isn’t this too hasty?’

If the opponent used buffs, you should buy time until the buffs ended. Especially if the opponent was someone strong like Damian. Kraugel couldn’t understand why Regas attempted a frontal match against Damian. Even he thought it was too difficult to touch Damian in a full buffed condition.

It was as he expected. Regas rushed wildly and received a counterattack. Damian’s shield absorbed the damage and unleashed a fast and elaborate attack. An Asura had the worst defense and it was lightly shattered.

‘...It can’t be.’

Regas countered against Damian’s shield, allowing attacks and not worrying about his rapidly dropping health gauge. His attack speed was slowly but surely getting faster. But the only person who detected this was Kraugel. In fact, even Damian didn’t notice the slight change in Regas and before he knew it, he allowed a strong counterattack.

“Cough!”

Damian didn’t have time to raise a shield as he was hit in the stomach, causing him to fall towards the ground. His face was then hit by Regas’ ruthless knee.

"Kkuk!”

The damage of the second strike was different from the first. The second blow was more painful. The third blow would be even more painful.

'I can’t allow him to achieve a combo...!’

Damian hurriedly lifted his shield. The timing and angle was perfect to block Regas’ fist. Just before Regas’ fist was blocked by the big, square shield.

Peeok!

“Keok!”

Damian coughed up blood again. He was struck by Regas’ kick!

‘When did he kick...?’

Regas could freely move his arms and legs with no time difference? No one was surprised by Regas’ skills.

『 Regas, who defeated the 3rd ranked Chris in the National Competition last year and played a nice match with Grid...! He has further evolved! 』

『 He has good control skills comparable to Hao, and has transcended the existence of a martial artist. I can only feel admiration. 』

Would Regas win this time? As everyone was carefully guessing, Regas’ next attack struck Damian’s chin.

“Wow...”

The crowd exclaimed. The more combos that were linked, the more damage that Regas dealt. Damian’s health gauge was noticeably reduced. But Damian was a pope.

“Goddess’ Breath.”

An absolute recovery skill. The most powerful healing skill that restored 100% of his health, and 70% of his party member’s health.

“Goddess' Protection.”

Peeeeeong!

A shield that negated the enemy’s attack once, it completely stopped Regas’ combo. Then Damian used an aggressive skill.

“Goddess’ Wrath.”

Puaaaaaaaah!

A gleam of light struck Regas.

***

『 The winner is Damian!! 』

Damian vs Regas was the most intense match in the first and second round. The two men fought for 31 minutes and 20 seconds, putting on a show that thrilled the spectators and viewers. The commentators couldn’t express the richness and depth of the confrontation.

Perhaps that was why? The people of the world couldn’t emerge from the afterglow. They couldn’t focus on anything that the host was saying on stage. But it was only for a short moment.

Grid and Chris. The moment that the two big names were mentioned by the host, people concentrated their attention on the stage again.