087
Time passed quickly and it was the 6th day of the Olympiad.
“With this, the third game is all over.”
“It can’t be a really exciting development.”
third match.
The reel side finals just ended, and the schedule for the 5th day was all over.
The commentators and casters were exchanging words with each other to organize the things they had done so far.
“With this, Korea, England, and the United States each have one championship to share. hey It’s literally close combat.”
The winner of the first game, Siege War, was Korea.
The winner of the second game, Rivers Field, was Great Britain.
And the third game, the reel side that just ended, was won by the United States.
“Ah, the current ranking just came out.”
The commentator opens the current leaderboard he just received.
[Overall 1st Place – USA, Harvard Affiliated Academy]
[Overall 2nd Place – England, Oxford Affiliated Academy]
[Overall 3rd place – Korea, Obelisk Academy]
Three matches were played, and Korea, which was in first place, fell to third place.
The score difference is also surprisingly large.
They clearly shared the championship, but why did this result appear?
The reason is simple.
“As expected, Korea lost in the round of 16 on the reel side.”
“Before that, I unfortunately fell in the semifinals at Rivers Field.”
America’s all-time record is 2nd, 2nd, 1st.
And England were eliminated in the quarterfinals, 1st and 2nd.
However, Korea ranked first, was eliminated in the quarterfinals, and was eliminated in the round of 16.
The results of the two games that did not win are overwhelming compared to England and the United States.
It was only natural for Korea to drop to third place.
“I think meeting the U.S. in the round of 16 on the reel side was especially important. No matter how much I said Shin Ha-yul didn’t participate, it wasn’t my power to drop in the round of 16.”
“I put on a pretty good performance, but the opponent was really bad.”
The commentators and casters started talking about the reel side they had today.
A trio of seniors Jin-Seok Ma and Shin-Woo Kang, led by Jin Hee-Yoon, took part and showed their own good side.
Unfortunately, in the round of 16, she met Dalia Salentia of the United States and was defeated in the end.
For reference, Rivers Field also lost to the British team led by Kyle Bentia in the semifinals.
“But this is just the current score. The next game is more important.”
“you’re right. There is a good chance that other countries will come up, such as Germany in 4th place and Spain in 5th place.”
“More than anything. Currently, Korea has only used 087 cards of Shin Ha-yul, a powerful card.”
“Yes!”
The US and UK have already played their best players, Kyle Ventia and Dalia Salentia, twice.
On the other hand, Korea only participated once.
This difference is huge.
“Ironically, South Korea, which currently ranks third, has the most advantage. I can look at it like this.”
“you’re right.”
The caster and commentator continued tiki-taka with an expression that the future development was exciting.
“Yeah. We are already looking forward to the game tomorrow.”
“Neither do I.”
More than half of the spectators left the stadium like that.
The caster and commentator started the final finish.
“What other aspects will unfold in tomorrow’s tie-break? Please look forward to it all.”
“Then see you tomorrow.”
After the two of them lowered their heads, all the lights on the monitors went out.
That’s how the 6th day of the Olympiad was completely over.
* * *
1:00 a.m. that night.
Time for everyone to sleep.
I was engrossed in weaving the circle of truth in my quarters.
‘Similar to the ring of incarnation, but weave another ring that is not a ring of incarnation.’
The Circle of Truth, a complex multi-infinity circle made up of three small rings and one large ring.
In order to weave this loop, we must first weave the smaller loops one by one.
I am currently trying to weave a small infinity circle that is symmetrical with the Ring of Incarnation.
‘The ring of truth is different from the ring of extension. As the two rings are different, I have to weave the ring of incarnation with its own variation.’
It is a proportional structure and a symmetrical structure.
By adding the characteristics of the circle of truth to different laws, they form a circle of deliberation.
The mana that circulated inside my body followed my will and started to walk on an unorganized wild path.
Although it has not become a complete wasteland through several explorations over four days, the unpaved road still retains the rough feeling of the wild.
When this rough road is made into a whole road, it becomes a link of deliberation, but not a link of deliberation.
The ring of brotherhood of the ring of incarnation will be fully settled in my body.
‘It’s a good feeling.’
It seems that the trial and error of the past four days is about to bear fruit.
Mana was getting faster and more confidently cutting out a new path.
‘Let’s just go like this.’
The sense of the new Infinity Circle taking its place is clearly conveyed.
It’s not even half done yet, but you can tell. It’s a success.
There can be no failure.
Ooh, ooh, ooh!
As if to put an end to my confidence, the resonant sound of mana rang.
It sounds like the mark of the Infinity Circle.
The sound of Mana asserting herself powerfully.
I listened to the sound and continued to move mana.
‘Good mood.’
The joy of the moment when four days of hard work bear fruit.
The sense of exhilaration of reaching a new level.
The sense of stability I felt as the mana flowed through my body.
My mood was elevated by a storm of all kinds of emotions.
Whoops, whoops!
Intoxicated with my mood, the mana also rotated more and more violently.
In unpredictable time.
I felt the rotation of mana getting stronger and felt it again and again.
And the next time I open my eyes
“… … done.”
Inside my body was a new circle of infinity, a ring of siblings symmetrical to the ring of incarnation.
‘This is it.’
It was the moment when I was one step closer to the circle of truth.
“It was very close this time too.”
The current time is 6:30 AM.
In 30 minutes, it’s time to leave for the stadium.
I started preparing to leave right away.
* * *
Day 7 of the Olympiad.
The long-awaited fourth game.
30 minutes before the tie break begins.
Dahlia was in a state of annoyance soaring to the top of her head at the unexpected appearance of an uninvited guest.
“Kyle. Aren’t we good enough to watch the game together?”
Kyle Ventia.
He was beside Dahlia, looking down the field with interest.
“I’m not here because I really want to see you. It’s because this place has the best view.”
The relationship between Dahlia and Kyle is indescribably bad.
Right now, the masters of the mage tower, the teachers of these two, are not on good terms.
The United States and Britain are also not on good terms, so how could they be good?
“There is a VIP room on the other side, right? go there.”
“On the other side, you can only see Ha Yul’s back. If you don’t like me, you go the other way.”
Tie-breaks are small sport-type matches that do not require a huge battlefield like previous matches.
Each team faces each other and faces each other, so if you go to the opposite side, you can only see Shin Ha-yul’s back.
“I came first.”
“hmm. Was this a single room? I think I’ve never heard of such a thing.”
Dahlia half forced Kyle to answer with a grin.
“… … Oh really.”
Dahlia glared at Kyle.
Kyle accepted the gaze as if nothing was wrong and turned his gaze back to Shin Ha-yul, who was preparing at the stadium.
Tie-break round of 32 in one minute. The match between the Korean team and the Dutch team begins.
If you don’t like Dahlia, that’s not the point right now.
“Please see the round of 16 from different places.”
“If you’re going to go to Ha Yul’s back, I’ll gladly accept it.”
“… … Really annoying.”
Dahlia frowned and turned her gaze to Shin Ha-yul.
Whether you’re annoyed or not, Shin Ha-yul’s information collection is necessary.
Dahlia swallowed her irritation and focused on the game.
―Then, the game will start in 30 seconds.
With the referee’s words, the representative of the Dutch team began to prepare.
Stores mana so you can use magic at any time.
“Ha Yul has plenty of room.”
On the other hand, Shin Ha-yul was very relaxed.
It started after 30 seconds, and he was just laughing naturally.
“It will be relaxing. Because winning the tie-break is virtually a win for Korea.”
Fourth match of the Olympiad.
Kyle and Dahlia are not on the tiebreak list.
As long as the only two people who can stop Shin Ha-yul are missing, Korea’s championship is decided.
It was natural that Shin Ha-yul was relaxed.
– Let’s start counting. 5!
Even though the referee’s count began, Shin Ha-yul’s leeway did not disappear.
-3!
3 seconds ago, let’s get ready now. He opened his eyes sharply with an expression of want.
-One! From now on, we will start the tie-break Round of 32 4 matches! The first is the Netherlands!
At the same time as the start, the representative of the Dutch team held the prepared ball in front of him and activated the magic.
A magic sphere the size of a volleyball.
The magic algorithm configured exclusively for the tie-break was fully seated on the ball, and it glowed red.
Then, put all the enchanted balls on the prepared battery right in front of you.
Again, the battery was activated through the magic algorithm for the tie-break, and the ball was fired.
The red sphere flew towards the ‘protective stone’ of the camp where Shin Ha-yul was standing.
Clink!
The sound of the protective stone breaking resounded loudly.
-brake! With this, the Korean team has 9 protective seats! The Netherlands happily take first place!
Dahlia and Kyle’s eyes widened at the same time.
“… … uh?”
“Did you just give me one point? Even in the first playthrough?”
Tie-break, as I said, is a sport-type magic match.
Airplay changes every turn, and the attacking side uses a magic sphere to destroy the opponent’s protective stone.
The defending side uses a magic shield to block the sphere.
This process is repeated a total of 10 times, and it is a simple game with simple rules, in which the side that breaks more protective stones wins.
Of course, the rules are simple, but if you go into details, it’s a pretty deep game.
As a representative example, there is a system called ‘durability’ and ‘balance’ of magic spheres and magic shields.
If you continue to put powerful mana into the magic sphere and magic shield, the ‘durability system’ makes it unusable for one turn.
If you put more mana in the magic sphere, the magic shield weakens on the contrary, the ‘balance system’.
In short, the rule that was created to prevent hitting with achievement is the ‘durability system’.
The attack and defense are in inverse proportion to each other, and the rule that was created to give strategic diversity is called the ‘balance system’.
“At this rate, the Dutch representative would lie down.”
“I will lie down. It didn’t even contain that much mana in the attack, but it succeeded like that.”
As the rules are like this, the first point is more important than you think.
If you easily score 1 point in the early stages like now, you can give up on offense and go all-in on defense.
This makes it very difficult to break through an opponent who is not good at defense due to the balance system.
Shin Ha-yul’s disadvantage can be seen just by looking at the previous tie-break records.
If you look at all of the past tie-breaks, the winning rate of the person who scores the first move is 74.7%.
That’s why early scores have a huge impact on winning or losing.
“Why did you just give it a 1?”
Could it be that you were careless?
Or is it an operation?
Or is it a technical problem?
“Aren’t you confident? Overwhelming confidence that you can overwhelm even if you give 1 point at the beginning.”
“Shin Ha-yul is not Kyle or you. You can’t do something stupid like that.”
Kyle and Dahlia’s heads became complicated at once.
―The reason is unknown, but the Korean representative gave up defending. Now we move into the attack.
Caster announced Shin Ha-yul’s attack with an exciting expression and voice.
Shin Ha-yul held the magic sphere and inscribed the magic formula.
A magical orb that instantly turns red. The amount of mana he had was unusual.
“The amount of mana right before durability exceeded… … . Are you all-in?”
If that attack fails, the magic orb and magic shield become unusable for one turn according to the durability system.
In short, Shin Ha-yul risked everything for this attack.
“Don’t you know what a tie-break is? What are you thinking?”
Kyle and Dahlia’s eyes widened even more at the behavior that was incomprehensible with common sense.
Whether the two were surprised or not, Shin Ha-yul loaded the magic sphere into the gun with a calm expression.
Then, through magic, he fired a magic sphere.
―It flies fast!
A sphere that quickly flies towards the Dutch camp’s protective stone.
―Netherlands representative! As if I can’t just watch it like this, I enchant the magic shield to the limit and block it!
The Dutch representative raised his shield and blocked the sphere.
A look as if he was sure of his victory.
‘I can’t pierce this.’
That’s when I lowered my posture and prepared for the shock.
“uh?”
“The orbit… Did you break it?”
The magic orb’s trajectory was bent.
As if the ball were alive, a magic sphere that bent at a right angle and moved to the right.
“Nonsense… … .”
The magic sphere shot by Shin Ha-yul went through a total of 13 trajectory corrections.
Clink, click, click-!
Destroy all 10 protection stones.
―Ta, tie-break! Shin Ha-yul, representative of Korea! Successfully breaks all protective stones in the first attack!
Defeat all protective stones.
The ‘tie-break’ was successful.
– Mr. Rayman. I would like an explanation. What the hell did the Korean representative do now?
The caster and announcer, who don’t know much about magic, called the commentator excitedly.
However, the commentator was not in the mood to answer the announcer’s question.
-Nonsense… … . Is the magic orb broken? how the hell… … .
The narrator was completely distraught. It is an expression that makes you wonder if what you saw is real.
-Mr. Rayman?
—… … First of all, this is the first time in an official game.
-Is this your first time?
Rayman said with a weak smile.
―A successful tie-break in the first attack.
A representative magic sports tie-break with 50 years of history.
In that long history, Shin Ha-yul was the first to achieve a ‘tie-break’ in the first round.
―If it is judged that there is no dishonesty in what the Korean representative has done now, the history of the tie-break will change.
