TGMBS 03

Chapter 03

New Battlefield (3)

[Match type: 1v1 individual battle]

[Match category: Japan amateur league match]

[Victory condition: Kill the opposing participant]

[Map: Silent City District (small)]

[Current viewers: 1,042]

[Match: 2,749 vs 8,674]

This map was the center of a city district shrouded in darkness.

Thanks to the light leaking from building windows and the streetlights here and there, there wasn’t much difficulty in identifying the surroundings.

“……!”

I rolled my body to dodge a flying object.

Shoooook— Thud!

What embedded itself in the roadside tree was an arrow.

This opponent was an archer.

Whether they had received professional training, or whether they were the type who used multiple weapons but chose a bow due to the characteristics of this map, I couldn’t tell yet.

What mattered was that the opponent had chosen concealment, mobility, and guerrilla warfare for this match.

I immediately slipped into a dark alley.

‘This match is going to be pretty tricky.’

The bow is a weapon that’s hard to build proficiency with.

I had also tried shooting a bow at one point. Because there’s no better weapon for stealthily sniping a target.

‘Of course, I gave it up quickly.’

That was why I knew better than anyone how dangerous the current situation was.

Arrows flying in the darkness were fatal even to a trained mercenary.

All the more so if the map is a city district—that’s the worst.

Streetlights, neon signs, and light leaking from inside buildings all mixed together, creating scattered shadows everywhere.

Moreover, a city district is a vertical battlefield.

Simply grasping the direction isn’t enough to pinpoint the archer’s location accurately.

This vertical structure would surely turn the opponent into a thorough hunter and me into a helpless prey.

‘First, I need to find the sniping points.’

I left the alley and sprinted along the main road.

Sswaaaaaak! Pasusususu—

At that moment, along with a red line, an arrow that grazed past my side tumbled onto the asphalt.

Thanks to that, I got a rough fix on the guy’s position.

Based on the tallest building, the 8 o’clock direction.

Considering the general range of a bow, it was estimated to be within 2-300 meters.

‘Fortunately, their skill level is terrible.’

I moved in a zigzag along the trajectory the arrow had come from.

The method for hunting a sniper is simple.

They always stick to a safe zone.

A space with secured visibility, an escape route, and stable wind.

There were a few points that satisfied all those conditions, but fortunately, there was only one near me.

‘Behind the rooftop billboard of K-Denki Electronics Market.’

After approaching close, I threw stones and tapped the wall with the flat of my blade, deliberately making noise.

It was to induce the opponent to change their hiding position.

At that moment, a red line aimed at my forehead.

“……!”

I reflexively turned my head.

Sswaaaaaak— Pak!

The arrowhead struck the concrete wall, and cement dust scattered in all directions, hitting my face.

And beyond that, a man wearing a dark gray hooded jacket and a tactical vest with light ballistic panels.

“……Tch!”

The exposed archer immediately jumped down from the billboard and hid in a nearby high-rise building.

They probably intended to use the complex interior structure to create another sniping point.

But there was one thing the guy didn’t know.

That stealth and close-quarters melee and pursuit in narrow spaces like this were my specialty.

I began climbing the stairs of the building the archer had entered without hesitation.

Wearing multiple pieces of equipment means versatility for various situations is excellent, but it comes with the weakness of reduced mobility.

From the moment the archer’s position was caught by me, it was already as good as having their back taken.

‘They walked into a dead end on their own feet.’

Like that, passing the 5th floor and just as I was about to go up to the 6th floor.

“…….”

I grinned beneath the mask.

A vivid red line crossing my vision.

Even before the guy thrust his sword, my blade was already guarding the endpoint his blade would reach.

‘I knew you’d ambush around here.’

Chaeng!

At the same time as I knocked aside the guy’s sword, I drew a dagger with my free left hand and drove it into the guy’s thigh.

“Krk……!”

Then I knocked him down just like that, pressed his left arm roughly with my right knee, and pointed my blade at his chest.

The archer, frowning from the pain, trembled his lips.

“Sasuga…… uwasa no toori da. Yokereba waga girudo ni konaika? Saikoo kurasu no taiguo o yakusoku shi…….”

What is he saying.

I only knew basic Japanese, so I drove the sword in just like that.

“Tch…… hi, hitoga hanashitenda…….”

A chilling sensation of cutting through bone traveled up my palm.

The man’s body trembled finely, then soon went limp.

At the same time, a notification window appeared before my eyes.

[You have defeated participant ‘8,674.’]

[Victory!]

* * *

“……Ugh, my eyes are stinging. Did I focus too much?”

Go Taemin let out a long sigh as he climbed out of the capsule.

His whole body was drenched in sweat.

Although he didn’t actually die, combat was still combat.

Every match he fought, the energy drain was severe.

Considering that even when carrying out requests, he fought at most two or three times a week, Nova Arena was a very harsh environment for participants.

And above all……

‘What is this? The opponents seem to be getting stronger. Wasn’t it random matching?’

Until the first 3 days, they were mostly similar in level.

But now, every opponent he met was at the level of the samurai from the first day, or even beyond.

Just as Go Taemin was puzzled by the suddenly rising level of participants, Chae Geonuk dragged a chair over and asked.

“You out? We should eat. What do you want?”

“Bulgogi burger.”

At Go Taemin’s answer, Chae Geonuk made a disgusted expression.

“Hamburgers again? Eat something more varied, man.”

“That’s why I change up the menu.”

Yesterday for lunch, it was a shrimp burger.

For dinner, he ate a chicken burger, and this morning he ate a rice burger.

When he explained it like that, Chae Geonuk’s expression only got worse.

Go Taemin tilted his head.

‘How can someone dislike hamburgers?’

Hamburgers are a complete food.

The ratio of carbs, protein, and fat is good, there’s the stability of always tasting the same, and it’s a high-calorie food.

Plus, you can eat it simply and immediately.

And above all…… it’s cheap.

He couldn’t understand why his senior disliked hamburgers like this.

“Ugh, because of the minimum order amount, I have to eat hamburgers too.”

Chae Geonuk burst out in frustration while looking at his phone screen.

Go Taemin let out a chuckle at his appearance.

He grumbled like that now, but when they first met, his senior was a completely rigid soldier.

Their first meeting was at a temporary FOB (Forward Operating Base) near the Cameroon jungle, where he greeted with a cold expression.

At the time, Go Taemin was an operative belonging to the 9th Covert Operations Unit, which selected only a very few within the Republic of Korea Defense Intelligence Command.

A specialist who infiltrated and carried out missions as an individual unit (Cell), not as a team.

Meanwhile, Chae Geonuk belonged to the Special Mission Group (SMG) directly under the Defense Intelligence Command, specializing in reconnaissance and rescue.

The bond formed during an operation to support and recover Go Taemin’s escape route after he had penetrated deep into enemy lines had continued to this day.

Honestly, Go Taemin never imagined Chae Geonuk would work as an information broker after discharge.

That his senior, who worshipped discipline and procedure, would become a gray-market information broker.

This is why you can never predict people’s lives.

Ding-dong—!

Shortly after, the food Chae Geonuk ordered arrived.

Go Taemin asked while chewing on his hamburger.

“Did you dig into those guys who ambushed me last time?”

“Oh, them? They were really determined. It seems an entire company was deployed just to bury you. They cleaned up so thoroughly there wasn’t even a trace left.”

“That much? Seriously, what’s there that they’d deploy so many people?”

As Go Taemin let out a hollow laugh in disbelief, Chae Geonuk tapped his phone screen and continued.

“And these days, high-difficulty infiltration requests are suddenly pouring in. Ones that are perfect for you to carry out.”

“So they’ve set up a nice little mousetrap?”

Go Taemin muttered low while stroking his chin.

Considering the radio transmission he’d overheard at the end, the opponent was clearly targeting even him.

With this, continuing activities as a mercenary had become difficult for the time being.

For him, who desperately needed money, the reason to climb to the pro league had become even more certain.

Go Taemin muttered as he tucked the lettuce that had fallen off his hamburger back in.

“Who will be the prey…… we’ll find out if we watch to the end.”

* * *

Nova Arena earns more money the higher you climb.

Fight money, sponsors, advertisements, and viewer numbers all increase exponentially.

Simply put, it was a structure where the more people watched, the more revenue increased.

In that sense, the amateur league has the most participants, but conversely, it’s the league with the least interest.

Generally, it was hard for viewer numbers to even exceed double digits.

However, these days there were matches in the amateur league that started with at least 1,000 viewers.

That was No. 2,749.

Go Taemin’s matches.

【Nekopunch】 2749 is here!!!!!!!

└Wow.. Still undefeated?

└That’s why they’re already being called the demon

└Personally, I hope they set their nickname as ‘demon’ when they go up to the pro league. I’ve already become a fan

└Won’t they continue winning after going up too? Their movements are already world league level

└Hey, isn’t that too disrespectful to the world warriors?

【Sake Dregs Samurai】 Where can I buy that demon mask (serious)

└There’s talk that 2749 made it themselves

└If you search ‘demon mask’ on Mercari, similar ones come up

└But doesn’t wearing a mask narrow your vision and make it uncomfortable?

【Nameless Swordsman】 I analyzed 2749’s combat patterns [long post]

└Thanks for the long post (didn’t read)

└Looking at how their breathing is constant when swinging the sword, they seem like someone who’s experienced this kind of combat often before

└I’ve been waiting for an analysis post like this! So what’s the conclusion?

└(2749 counter summary: Don’t get matched)

└Thanks soooooo much for the summary

└Could this be the first undefeated promotion in the Japanese amateur league?

The people who watch the amateur league are mostly participants aiming for the pro league.

So the related communities had a similar character.

Mostly passionate participants exchanging information and studying solely to obtain a pro license.

Given the circumstances, Go Taemin’s activities couldn’t help but spread quickly.

And this situation quickly reached Korea as well, which was thirsty for producing top-tier warriors.

“Did you hear that story? There’s a participant in the Japanese amateur scene these days racking up an undefeated record.”

Nova Korea Arena.

Oh Hyunseok, the CEO of NKA for short, asked his secretary.

“You mean the participant who’s already been nicknamed the demon? Currently on an 85-match undefeated streak.”

“That was yesterday, and with two more matches today, it’s now 87 matches undefeated. Damn, Amagi Shohei is going to laugh at us again.”

Oh Hyunseok pressed his forehead and groaned low.

Amagi Shohei, the CEO of Japan’s NJA, was good with words and had a knack for provoking rival branches.

The secretary smiled awkwardly and carefully added.

“That must be frustrating.”

Korea is a country with world-class competitiveness in esports and VR content.

That’s why many expected Korea to stand out in Nova Arena as well.

But reality was not so kind.

This modern-day Colosseum, which had never existed before, was not a simple virtual reality game but another domain of combat platform that demanded real combat sense and even physical limits.

As a result, Korean warriors were failing to produce notable results in Nova Arena.

There wasn’t a single Korean-born warrior in the Super League or Master League, and only about ten were active in the World League.

So NKA had invested all sorts of efforts over the past several years—developing prospects, supporting equipment, recruiting overseas coaches—but the results still weren’t good.

This was because promising players who had soared under the spotlight quickly hit the limits of their talent and broke.

“We need at least one guy like that to come out of our side too…….”

CEO Oh Hyunseok shook his head while looking at the participant wearing the demon mask on the monitor screen.

Nova Arena is no longer just a cultural content.

Once BCI technology made it possible to reproduce casualty-free combat, each country began cultivating combat talent in Nova Arena instead of reducing the risks of military training and covert operations.

In other words, performance in Nova Arena had become a measure of national power.

Furthermore, Nova Arena had already far surpassed the popularity of existing sports like soccer, baseball, MMA, and boxing.

The viewership ratings of the Super League surpassed the World Cup final, and the names of rankers were mentioned even in summits between heads of state.

The number and quality of high-tier warriors.

That was the era where it directly translated to a nation’s status.

It was only natural that Oh Hyunseok was thirsty for a Korean warrior active in the upper leagues.

“Moreover, I hear headquarters is preparing a national competition these days?”

“That’s right. They say the goal is to make it a global event surpassing the Olympics.”

The two let out a sigh simultaneously.

For Korea, which lacked promising high-tier warriors, it was an unwelcome event.

“Damn. That No. 2,749 should have come from the Korean league…….”

Oh Hyunseok muttered while watching the replay video of the man in the demon mask.

The silhouette moving like black lightning before his eyes made him feel even more bitter.