Chapter 397: Magnums vs. Ravagers

29 days later, one day until the release of the Virtual Reality Pod X, and the day when the world would forever change.

Megaworld Apartments, Floor 130, Hard Football Stadium.

"Magnums! Magnums! Magnums!"

The fans of the Magnums chanted loudly. Waving the flag of Magnums, which had a large M emblazoned in gold and black.

"Ravagers! Ravagers! Ravagers!"

At the other side of the stadium, fans wearing crimson red tried to drown the chant of the Magnum fans.

A large flag of a beast, with sharp teeth and claws, flapped proudly in the wind.

"Drinks! Hot dogs! Snacks! We got it all!"

Roaming vendors, carrying trays of food and drinks, walked between the rows of spectators, and everything they got disappeared in a blink of an eye.

The Hard Football match was about to begin.

"The atmosphere is insane."

Chaewon said with a smile—she was sitting with Raon and Della—surrounded by the crazy fans of Magnums.

They weren’t fans of either team, but they thought it would be good to come to watch a match, since Della had never seen a match in person before.

Swoosh~! Cheers~!

The whole stadium erupted in cheers as players started appearing in the field—like they came from nothingness.

"They’re using the Virtual Reality technology, right?"

Della asked.

"Yes. The actual players are somewhere in the stadium inside Virtual Reality Pods right now, but their avatars are shown in the field.

"Their avatars have special abilities that they can use."

Fang Raon said.

"Whoah..."

Della whispered in amazement.

In that moment, a round ball appeared in the middle of the field—Magnums had the ball possession first—the goalkeepers rubbed their gloves together.

Whistle~!

A whistle echoed throughout the stadium, and the whole stadium started doing a wave, like a giant ocean wave crashing against the shore.

Magnums captain kicked the ball. It rolled to the foot of his teammate. And then he started making his way up the field.

It didn’t take long for Ravager players to stop them, as they quickly closed in on the Magnums player and stole all the space they had.

"You aren’t getting past me!"

Baruman said with a grin as he pressed his body against the Magnum’s player, who was in possession of the ball.

"Hmph!"

Quintin shielded the ball with his body, and then he lobbed the ball high into the air—it went really high.

There was no way anyone could intercept.

In that moment.

Magnum’s captain, Nathaniel, looked towards the ball high in the air, and he then crouched down low.

It was like he was about to jump!

"Super Jump!"

Nathaniel jumped high into the air—even higher than the ball—at least thirty meters up in the air like it was nothing.

"WHOAH!"

The crowd exclaimed.

Nathaniel pulled his leg back and then gave the ball an incredibly strong kick, and it flew across the field with incredible speed.

It was heading for the upper corner of the goal!

But then!

The goalkeeper of Ravagers soared through the air like an eagle and snatched the ball from the air.

It was an insane save!

The ball was moving at such an insane speed that no one thought that the goalkeeper could save it, but he did.

Ravagers goalkeeper—Rew—had been voted as the greatest goalkeeper in the world for three years in a row.

"Good try."

Rew said coldly.

Nathaniel clicked his tongue, and then he landed back on the ground and shrugged off his shoulders.

"You’ll get him next time."

His teammates patted him on the back, and they started running back to their side of the field.

Rew whipped his arm back and then threw the ball across the air—it was like he was shot by a cannonball.

Baruman caught the ball with his chest, and then it dropped to his feet, and he immediately turned his heels around and started making his way down the field.

Magnum’s defenders were immediately ready. They made it so that he couldn’t just run straight for the goal.

Baruman kicked the ball to his winger, who passed it between the legs of Magnum defender and back to Baruman.

"Speed Demon!"

Baruman suddenly sped up—still dribbling the ball with his feet—but his body started to release lightning bolts.

He was moving so fast that he just ran past everyone!

Then.

A Magnum defender slid across the grass, and Baruman effortlessly dodged the tackle with a quick spin move.

The ball landed right in front of him—he had straight sight to the goal—Magnum’s goalkeeper lowered his stance.

"Haaaaaa!"

Baruman kicked the ball with all of his strength, and it headed for the right corner of the goal—the goalkeeper jumped for it.

But then, while the ball was soaring through the air, it suddenly started turning towards the left like it had a mind of its own!

"?!"

The Magnum goalkeeper stopped his lunge to the right, but it was already too late, and the ball just smashed into the back of the net!

Goaaaaaaaaaaal!

"GOAL FOR THE RAVAGERS!"

Ravager fans jumped to their feet—looking so excited that they might pass out—they blasted their drums and horns.

"That was insane! He went through the entire team all by himself and even scored without any help!"

Chaewon gasped.

"Baruman has been one of the best players in the world for decades by now. He is already 38 years old and quite close to an end of his career, but he can still do ridiculous stuff like this."

Fang Raon said.

"What about Nathaniel?"

Della asked.

"He is only 24 years old and is already captain of the Magnums. He has talent to become the greatest player to have ever lived."

Fang Raon said.

He had been keeping his eye on Hard Football scene ever since it was created—it had only been a few years.

It came out after Black Online, so it was very new compared to other sports, and it hadn’t spread out to other corners of the world just yet.

There were about fifty Megaworld Apartments in Smog Region, and Hard Football was only held in those apartments.

Hard Football Federation was trying to spread the influence of their sport to other regions, and it was happening slowly.

But Hard Football was the fastest-growing sport in the entire world.