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nIan won against the Dark Sorcerer CoolHuni and made it to the finals. He then met the opponent he

nhad expected.

n‘Just as I thought, he made it to the finals.’

nIt was the Assassin Limlong who had shown great skills since the first round of the preliminaries.

nIan got tense, ‘This round will be really hard.’

nApart from the times where he had a match himself, Ian had seen all of Limlong’s matches.

nThe more he watched, the more impressed he was.

n‘He has used nothing but the basic skills of an Assassin to reach the finals.’

nThat was the scariest part.

nIan had seen all of his matches, but he didn’t know even one of Limlong’s hidden cards.

nHe just knew that Limlong had a great control ability.

nHowever, Ian had revealed everything he had during the previous match with Huni.

n“You must be Ian. I saw your quarterfinals match. It was quite impressive.”

nLimlong came to Ian first and stretched out his hand.

nIan nodded and shook his hand.

nIt was the finals of the Rookies’ League.

nThe match would take place in the main field of the Empire Arena and a huge crowd had come to see

nthe match.

nIt was the hugest crowd of the Rookies’ League ever since Kailan opened.

nEveryone had great expectation. Next, system message announced the beginning of the match.

nCheers went up here and there.

n“Yeah!”

n“Limlong, I’m your fan!”

n“Ian, show them the true power of the Summoner!”

nThe two users had shown the greatest talents in this Rookies’ League, so people’s excitement had

nreached its peak.

nIan summoned his pets and studied his opponent.

nLimlong looked calm, just as he had been in every match.

nThe eyes that could be seen through the gap in his bandana were piercing.

n‘The Summoner class is not good against the Assassin class. Especially the Taming Master hidden

nclass, which specializes in Taming and raising pets…’

nThe only way to react to Limlong’s Invisibility skill was to use his senses and reflexes to minimize the

ndamage of the first attack.

nAs the match began, Ian stared at Limlong.

nIan had thought Limlong would use Invisibility immediately. However, Limlong didn’t. He just walked

ntoward Ian slowly.

n‘What is it? Is he saving the Invisibility skill?’

nThe Invisibility skill was the Assassin’s most important skill. It was acknowledged to be one of the best

nskills for 1:1 pvp.

nIt was a hiding skill optimized for surprise attacks!

nHowever, the downside of Invisibility was that its cooldown time was 10 minutes.

nAs Assasins gained levels, he might get a higher version of Invisibility and the cooldown time may

ndecrease greatly then.

nHowever, there was no Assassin who could learn high-rank skills yet, so no one knew.

n‘Well, I would use the Invisibility skill in the most critical moment if I were him. If he used the Invisibility

nskill at the beginning and failed at assassinating me, he would be in big trouble.’

nTill now, Limlong had used the Invisibility skill as soon as the match began, so Ian had thought he

nwould do so this time as well.

n‘He fought like that because he thought he was fighting easy opponents… so, is he acknowledging

nme as a worthy opponent?’

nThe two users got closer and closer.

nLimlong started first, he leaped up into the air while Ian concentrated hard on his movement.

nNext, when Limlong got near Big Guy, Ian quickly gave an order.

n“Big Guy! Ice Wave!”

nThe Assassin was way faster than Ian, so he had to slow him down first.

nLimlong was so fast that Ian couldn’t hit him with the Lightning Spheres.

nHe needed to use Big Guy’s wide-range slowdown skill.

nBam-!

nBig Guy stamped his feet and an Ice Wave spread.

nBut then…

n“Shadow Move!”

nLimlong, who had been up in the air, vanished.

n‘What-what?!’

nIan was confused, he could see that it wasn’t Invisibility.

nIf it had been Invisibility, Limlong’s shadow would have been gone, but it was still there.

nA while later, Limlong jumped out of his shadow.

n“Gasp-!”

nIan gasped.

n‘He avoided Ice Wave?!’

nIce Wave was a wide-range skill.

nIt could not be avoided as long as Limlong was in the range.

nHowever, Limlong moved to the shadow that was at the far side of the field because of the angle from

nthe sunlight and avoided Ice Wave.

nIan realized something, ‘Shadow! It must be a hidden class that has something to do with shadows!’

nHe had never heard of something like the skill Limlong just used being one of the Assassin’s basic

nskills.

nIan had anticipated it, but now he was sure. Limlong had a hidden class.

nWhile Ian was surprised, Limlong got close to him again fast.

n“Ly, Frenzy!”

nGrowl-!

nLy lunged at Limlong as if it had been waiting for that.

nIan used the Lightning Spheres skill to form balls of lightning in both hands and focused on Limlong.

nLimlong would have to dodge Ly’s attacks, so Ian would be able to anticipate Limlong’s route and he

nwas going to throw the Lightning Spheres in that direction.

nEven if Ian could not hit Limlong, he would be able to stop Limlong and Ly would be able to bite him.

nThe moment Ly and Limlong clashed into each other…

nLimlong disappeared again.

n‘Shadow Move again?’

nIan frowned, opponents with many variables were tricky to handle.

nAs Limlong, who had moved through the shadow, leaped up, Ian threw the Lightning Spheres in that

ndirection.

n‘Shadow Move’s cooldown time will end now!’

nLimlong would not be able to avoid this attack without Shadow Move.

nEven though Limlong was nimble, he couldn’t change the direction midair.

nBut then, Limlong stretched out his hand, seven daggers were thrown.

n‘What is that?!’

nIan was confused. Limlong didn’t throw the daggers to Ian or Ly, he threw them into the air.

nMore accurately, he threw them on top of Ian’s head.

n‘Does he think I will stand and be stabbed by the daggers as they rain down on me?’

nIan quickly leaped away to where daggers wouldn’t fall.

nNo, he was about to leap.

nHowever…

n“Hup!”

nThe daggers’ shadow moved as if they were alive and flew toward Ian.

nThere was no way to avoid them.

nKwang-!

nIan was attacked by Shadow Flying Dagger. Cold sweat ran down his back.

n‘How can he have such great Attack Force?!’

nLimlong’s Attack Force was massive.

nAdditionally, he couldn’t move, so he could not avoid the daggers as they rained down on him.

nCounting the additional damages, Ian got 7000 damages in total.

n‘I lost this much Health to one attack…’

nHowever, he wasn’t the only one who was hurt.

nLightning Spheres and Ly also inflicted damages to Limlong.

nThe bad news was that Ly’s attack was not a fatal blow because Ian had been surprised by Shadow

nFlying Dagger and hadn’t been able to use the Aiming Weak Spot skill.

n‘But it’s good that he has been Paralyzed!’

nIan used Lightning Spheres again and formed balls of lightning in both of his hands.

nHe then lunged at Limlong as the Assassin also lunged at him.

n‘I should go straight. I still have about 40% Health left, so I must use myself as bait and make Ly

nattack him.’

nLimlong was too fast. To inflict him proper damage, Ian had to take some risks.

nLimlong was slower now because of the Paralyzing effect, so it was a good chance for Ian.

n‘The Assassin’s Health is as little as the Dark Sorcerer!’

nIan was going to give his flesh and take the bone.

nHowever, at that moment…

nLimlong, who had been running toward Ian, vanished once more.

n‘What? He doesn’t have a shadow to move through this time!’

nIan’s eyes widened.

nLimlong had been running on the field, so Ian thought he couldn’t move using Shadow Move.

n‘Is it Invisibility?’

nHowever, Limlong’s shadow was still there.

n‘Where are you?!’

nIan stopped moving.

nThen, something crossed Ian’s mind.

n‘Maybe my shadow…’

nIan trusted his instincts.

nThere was no time to hesitate.

nIan threw the Lightning spheres behind him.

nAnd…

nIan was right.

nLimlong, who had been moving through Ian’s shadow, was hit by Lightning Spheres.

nHowever, Limlong was already near Ian and he calmly continued to attack.

nBut there was something he hadn’t expected on Ian’s back.

n“Huo!”

nLimlong looked surprised for the first time.

nHowever, he remained calm and attacked Ian again.

nLimlong stabbed Ian’s body parts that weren’t covered by Bukbuk with his dagger.

n“Shit!”

nIan had been relived a little because Bukbuk protected him, but he braced himself again at seeing

nLimlong attack him again.

n‘He uses skills creatively.’

nBecause of the two critical damages followed by Bleeding, Ian’s Health was almost 0 now.

n“First Aid!”

nIan urgently used the First Aid skill.

nHowever, it could only recover the Health lost by the additional damages of Bleeding…

nLimlong had succeeded on inflicting Ian critical damage. He had gotten away from Ian and was

nwatching him from afar.

n“Shit…”

nIan had lost too much Health in an instant.

nIan had found out a lot about Limlong’s hidden cards, but he could not overturn the tide now.

n‘I cannot give up so early.’

nIan had been in danger in the previous match against CoolHuni, but he had won using his wits.

nIan caught his breath.

nThen…

nSeeing that the Bleeding effect didn’t kill Ian, Limlong started to move again to finish him.

n‘Well, what are you going to show me this time?’

nOne blow and Ian would lose.

n‘He cannot have more hidden skills.’

nThere were limits to hidden skills that could be owned by a Lv. 50 user.

nThere were no variables now.

nIan concentrated even harder.

n‘I have only one chance. One fatal blow of Ly can change things!’

nThey got close to each other.

nAnd, the next second, they started to run toward each other.

nLimlong’s sharp dagger almost reached Ian.

nIn that short moment, Ian used his last card.

n“Twisting Space!”

nIan was going to get near Limlong and make Ly inflict him a fatal blow.

nGrowl-!

nLy, who was in Ian’s place now, received Limlong’s attack instead and bit his shoulder.

nSeeing Ly succeed, Ian was excited.

n‘Great!’

nLimlong’s name started to blink fast.

nIan thought. He had guessed Limlong’s skills since he saw the shadow, but he had received too much

ndamage from skills he had never seen before. He was in disadvantage.

nHowever, if he dragged the time to make Ly’s Bleeding effect work, Limlong’s Health would be drained

ntoo.

nIan could now defend himself from attacks Limlong gave by moving through his shadow, so all he had

nto do was not let Limlong get too close to him.

nLimlong also knew that. Therefore, he then threw two daggers instead of using Shadow Move.

nIan had been prepared. He spun fast to parry them.

n‘You are so persistent!’

nIf Ian could survive a few more seconds and make Limlong get the full damages from Bleeding, he

nstill had a chance.

nIan clenched his teeth and focused. But then, Limlong used Shadow Flying Dagger again.

n“Shadow Flying Dagger!”

nThe shadows of Limlong’s daggers that Ian had parried changed direction.

nWhoosh-!

nThey flew toward Ian from both sides.

nIan dodged one of them and threw Lightning Spheres. He was going to use Bukbuk to block the other

ndagger.

nLy and Big Guy were lunging at Limlong.

nThat critical moment, the dagger shook a little and suddenly glowed in black. It moved into Ian’s

nshadow.

nSystem messages came up.

n‘Ha…’

nIan knew that it was over.

nHe smiled bitterly as the system message announced Limlong’s victory.

nIan lowered his head as he was displaced from the Arena.

n‘Ah… if I had been 1 second faster… no, if I hadn’t started like that.’

nHe acknowledged that his enemy was great, but he couldn’t help but feel bad.

n‘I played offense too early.’

nIan blamed himself for not playing defense in the beginning and force Limlong to reveal all his hidden

ncards.

nOf course, he had succeeded on countering. However, because of the characteristics of the Assassin

nthat inflicted a huge damage in an instant, he still received a big damage in the middle of the match.

n“Huu…”

nIan sighed with regret again.

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