Chapter 265

The world went absolutely wild the moment Do-Jin and Tanto’s finals matchup became reality. There were too many angles for people to obsess over: the history between them, the national rivalry, the party dynamics, and a long trail of shared battles. Yet the two people at the center of the chaos stayed completely calm.

Tanto: Somehow, it ended up like this...

Do-Jin: Really? I figured this was coming the second I saw the bracket.

Theresa: Sigh...

Tanto: Maybe you did, but I kept doubting myself the whole way here.

Do-Jin: The moment I saw the bracket, I thought, “Yeah, the finals will be against you.”

Theresa: Seriously.

Soso: lol.

Theresa: Hey, Kim Soso.

Do-Jin: Well, since it turned out this way, let’s make it a good match.

Tanto: Same here. Looking forward to it.

In their group chat, the two had only exchanged simple pleasantries. Outside of that quiet understanding, however, the world was booming with tension. The noise only grew louder as the finals approached, and by the time the day arrived, the hype had reached a boiling point. Instead of cooling off, the atmosphere burned hotter than ever as Do-Jin and Tanto stepped onto the championship stage.

「Finaaaally! The last and greatest stage of Colosseum L begins today!」

The commentator screamed at the top of their lungs, and the crowd exploded in response.

└ Great Japan! Great Japan! Great Japan!

└ If you are born Japanese and lose to a Korean, that is fucking shameful, right? If Tanto loses today, he should just off himself, haha.

└ To my Korean friends, these right-wing clowns are straight up embarrassing even here in Japan. They’re cringe as hell and most of us are tired of their crap. Please just ignore those losers. As a fellow Japanese person, I’m genuinely sorry.

└ Hold on. The idiots spamming “Great Japan” and talking about kys look Korean as hell judging by their usernames. They are just Japan-worshipping weirdos.

└ This chat is fucking chaos. Korean weeaboos praising Japan, actual Japanese people apologizing because they think the trolls are Japanese. What the hell is even happening.

It felt less like cheering and more like everyone screaming whatever thought crossed their mind.

└ Seriously, what the hell kind of relationship do Korea and Japan have for things to get this crazy?

└ Your profile picture has a Polish flag. Are you Polish?

└ So what if I am?

└ Korea equals Poland. Japan equals Nazis. You do the math now.

└ Oh my God. Why the fuck am I holding nachos right now? This is a popcorn-level match, not a snack you eat quietly.

The viewer chat had never been this chaotic before. The auto-filter for hate speech kept swinging like a guillotine, chopping down messages left and right as bans stacked up by the second.

「Just as we expected, whenever Korea and Japan meet, things heat up like crazy! The energy from both sides is so intense it feels like you could get burned just watching. Though, everyone, please try to calm down a little. You will need to focus if you want to fully enjoy the match between Do-Jin and Tanto that is about to begin!」

「Whew... Honestly, I might need to calm down too. I am so excited I feel like I can’t even breathe.」

The commentator and caster tried their best to cool the overheated atmosphere, but the moment Do-Jin and Tanto stepped onto the stage, all that effort went straight to hell.

└ Do-Jin Senpai! Even though I’m Japanese, I’m right here cheering for you! ( ′? ? `? )??

└ Nationality doesn’t matter. From today onward Do-Jin is my enemy. Tanto, you little shit, if you can’t cut that guy down today, I will fly to Korea and do it myself.

└ There are actually quite a few Japanese viewers cheering for Do-Jin. That is kinda surprising.

└ Because of K-Pop culture, Do-Jin has a lot of female fans in Japan. The idol fandom basically migrated over.

└ Fuck, all the girls spamming hearts have ridiculously hot profile pics. My life is fucking miserable. Tanto, please win.

「The two players are stepping onto the stage! Unlike the roaring chaos outside, the eyes of those two standing in the arena are eerily calm. Maybe this is what people call the calm before the storm.」

「More importantly, is there not a surprise announcement we need to share with the viewers before the match begins?」

As soon as Do-Jin and Tanto reached the arena floor, the caster smoothly followed the scripted cue.

「Ah, right. When I heard this news, my heart started racing so much that I could not sleep at all last night.」

「Luckily, I heard about it after arriving at the venue today.」

「And now, we reveal this exciting news with the help of our data screen!」

The moment the commentator shouted, Do-Jin’s player spec popped onto the broadcast.

[Do-Jin]

Tier: 1

Level: 190+

Equipped Gear: Lv. 170 C

└ ?

└ What the hell are we supposed to be looking at?

└ They made a huge fuss and it is the same shit as before.

└ Wait, wait. If they hyped it up this much and this screen showed up, something is definitely coming.

Equipped Gear: Lv.170 C → Lv.190 A

Just as the viewers started to sense what was about to happen, the display changed. When the listed item grade shifted upward, people gasped, ready to explode with reactions.

Equipped Gear: Lv.190 A → S+

The gear rank flicked again, this time landing on S+.

[Do-Jin]

Tier: 1

Level: 190+

Equipped Gear: S+

At the exact same moment, Tanto’s stats appeared beside his.

[Tanto]

Tier: 1

Level: 190+

Equipped Gear: S+

The equipment restriction had been raised to S+, which in practical terms meant the restriction no longer existed. For a split second, the entire arena froze in stunned silence before the realization hit like an explosion.

「Do you see this! After stubbornly sticking to low-grade gear throughout the entire tournament, Do-Jin is finally stepping into a match wearing equipment on the same level as his opponent!」

「And that is not all! As you all know, the tournament rules normally capped equipment at A-grade. However, for the finals, every single restriction has been lifted. That means both Do-Jin and Tanto will be fighting with the exact gear setups they truly want!」

「The proposal to remove the equipment cap actually came from Do-Jin and Tanto themselves. The organizers reviewed the fairness concerns and decided that there was no serious issue with the change, which is why this was approved.」

└ Holy shit... Things really turned out like this?

└ So he finally got nervous now that it is the finals? Why raise the gear grade all of a sudden?

└ Seriously, how the fuck can they just change the rules like this? There must have been matches that would have ended differently if everyone used their real gear.

└ Yeah right, as if the result would change, dumbass.

└ Are you fucking clueless about games? One core item can skyrocket an entire build. Nobody knows how the matches would have gone if everyone used their true setups.

└ Stop spewing bullshit just because the person you were cheering for got eliminated. You think the results would have changed? The ones standing there are Do-Jin and Tanto, for fuck’s sake.

└ Are your brains leaking out of your skulls? Try thinking for once. Who the hell in LOST could beat up those two just because of gear anyway?

The moment the equipment restriction vanished, a few people tried to stir up fake controversy, but nobody paid them much attention. If anything, Do-Jin and Tanto had been the ones handicapped by the limit up until now, not the ones benefiting from it.

└ Goddamn... a bowl of udon probably has more neurons than your brains. You do remember Do-Jin locked himself into C-grade gear this whole time, right?

└ Exactly. The guy deliberately nerfed himself and fought with a handicap. What the fuck do you mean the outcome would change now?

└ Screw all that noise. The important part is that we finally get to watch Do-Jin versus Tanto at full power, fully geared, and in peak condition. That is the real shit everyone has been waiting for.

Anyone hoping to turn the rule change into a scandal had an even weaker case because Do-Jin had reached the finals while deliberately keeping his own gear level and grade low the entire time. People could try to light controversy all they wanted, but nothing caught fire. The complaints were trampled flat beneath a massive crowd that was too busy getting hyped for a full-gear showdown.

「The match is about to begin, and both players are stepping toward each other!」

No matter how loud the outside world screamed, none of it mattered to Do-Jin or Tanto.

“Are you sure about this?” Do-Jin asked.

Tanto had been the one who first suggested removing the equipment restriction and fighting in perfect condition. In response, he adjusted the mask that had become his trademark, revealing his smiling eyes beneath.

“I think I would regret it if we didn’t fight under equal conditions.”

What a load of bullshit. Do-Jin let out a quiet laugh. Those eyes clearly said he believed he could win even like this.

He extended the fist wearing the Rune Gauntlet, and Tanto lightly tapped it with the edge of his dagger, the metal ringing out in a sharp clang. After that brief exchange, the two returned to their starting positions.

「Everything about them right now feels like it jumped straight out of a shonen manga!」

After some more idle commentary, the countdown finally began. During those few seconds, Do-Jin fixed his gaze on Tanto and steadied his breathing.

Out of all the rankers, he is the one I knew the least about.

In his previous life, Tanto had suddenly disappeared from streaming and vanished without warning. At some point he became a complete recluse, so all Do-Jin had known back then was that Tanto was a skilled rogue.

They had overcome a lot together now, and he understood him far better than before. Even then, they had spent more time operating separately than together. That meant neither of them truly knew everything about the other.

Honestly, I am a little nervous... but that’s exactly why this is fun as hell.

The countdown ended, and the moment the match began, Tanto’s figure vanished from the arena as if he had never been there at all.

***

Do-Jin had already expected Tanto to slip into stealth the moment the match started, so he immediately scattered embers across a wide area to keep the hidden rogue in check.

Without even needing to cast anything, he had created multiple Fireballs and shattered them midair, breaking them into tiny burning fragments that rained down around him. In an instant, the space where Tanto had been standing turned into a field of drifting sparks.

He’s over there.

Although Tanto’s stealth didn’t break, it didn’t matter. Whenever the floating embers brushed against something invisible and flared out before vanishing, it told Do-Jin exactly where he was moving.

After pinpointing the location, Do-Jin prepared to unleash a barrage of magic when something suddenly flickered in his peripheral vision. Tanto’s presence had just registered on the right, yet Do-Jin had seen another flicker far to the left. An instinctive alarm screamed through his body. Do-Jin turned his attention the other way without hesitation.

The embers over there are disappearing too.

Good thing he trusted his gut. On the opposite side, sparks were colliding with something unseen and burning out just the same.

He lowered the hand he had been about to raise for an attack. In that instant, a sharp tearing sound split the air from a spot Do-Jin noticed a second too late. A thrown dagger had already cut through the space and was screaming toward him.

Do-Jin sucked in a tight breath and reinforced his body with Psychokinesis, forcing power into his muscles in an instant.

I dodged it—

The relief had come too early. From the spot where the first embers had vanished, a second tearing blast ripped through the air.

「What is happening right now?! First a dagger comes flying from stealth, and now an axe is coming from the opposite side!」

The axe came in faster and heavier than the dagger. It closed the distance even quicker than the first blade. Its trajectory locked perfectly onto the path Do-Jin had taken to dodge the dagger.

Fuck, I can’t dodge this.

Despite his plans going awry, Do-Jin kept his cool. If he started scrambling here and tried to wing his way through it, he would lose the tempo. The second he let panic creep in, it would all be over.

The axe rushed in as if it meant to split him in half, but it never reached him. Anemone burst out and clamped her jaws around the axe blade mid-flight, snagging it cleanly out of the air.

“Ghk!”

The force behind it was insane. It was heavy as hell, and Anemone’s face twisted under the strain. Still, she held on and crushed the attack before it could do any real damage. At the same time, Tanto’s dagger whipped past Do-Jin’s side.

「What just happened? Time-delayed projectiles flying in from both ends of the arena! Tanto sets up a literal no-win situation, and Do-Jin still shuts it down! I can barely breathe watching this, AHHH!」

The commentator’s voice snapped into a scream.

The dagger that should have flown past Do-Jin and buried itself in the ground suddenly stopped dead in midair. It hung there like reality itself had glitched.

Do-Jin felt the solid weight of the handle snap into his palm behind his back. He caught it without even turning around.

A slow, vicious grin spread across his face. This is pretty brutal.

Blue lightning tore across his entire body and burst outward in crackling arcs, raging like it was ready to fry everything in the arena.