Semifinals (5)
Caw! Caaaw!
Rund never rested.
Just as Baek Jinwoo never stopped training, Rund too had never once stopped hammering since the day he was summoned.
If you ranked Rund's crafting priorities, it went like this.
Baek Jinwoo > SKY Guild > major domestic guilds > overseas requests.
Overseas, rune orders were coming in through various channels, and thanks to that, Rund was able to raise his proficiency without spending much on materials.
As a bonus, he even got extra miscellaneous materials.
—Heh heh, you've come, Master.
Rune Dwarf, who had been swinging the hammer, wiped away his sweat and looked up at Baek Jinwoo.
For the past month, he had been crafting the runes Baek Jinwoo requested.
"Are they finished?"
—Of course! I finished them just this morning.
"Hoo."
Baek Jinwoo let out a sigh of relief.
What nice timing.
He had honestly been worried about what he'd do if they weren't finished before the World League ended.
—Look here. Six Ruin runes and six Fire Dragon runes. Thanks to these, I was able to pile up a huge amount of Luxury Crafting proficiency.
Ruin and Fire Dragon.
To explain again, Ruin was Gale Slayer's temporary rare rune.
[Ruin]
[Grade: Top-grade (Rare)]
A rune limited to 100 copies worldwide.
[Set Effect: Ruin]
-When 6 are equipped, critical damage increases by 500% in the Arena, and HP increases by 10,000.
-When only the summoned creature remains, all stats increase by 500%.
[Level: 1]
[Stat Increase]
-Strength +12%, Agility +12%, Critical Chance +10%, Critical Damage +40%
Just looking at the stats, it was obviously Gale Slayer's.
A rune specialized for PvP!
Even the set effect alone was enough to leave your jaw hanging open.
Critical damage increased by 500% in the Arena alone.
In other words, whether it was team battles or player-versus-player... that number applied to all of it.
And if you gathered three of those Ruin runes and handed them to Rund?
An insanely broken unique rune called Annihilation would be born.
'Annihilation is exactly Gale Slayer's endgame rune.'
As for information about that, it could be explained later once it was actually made.
And Fire Dragon?
That was Explosive Dragon's temporary rune.
Not just Explosive Dragon either, it was such a good rune for fire-attribute summoned creatures that it would suit Hong Ari as well.
[Fire Dragon]
[Grade: Top-grade (Rare)]
A rune limited to 100 copies worldwide.
[Set Effect: Fire Dragon]
-When 6 are equipped, damage increases by 100%.
-When 6 are equipped, a Fire Dragon (S-grade) appears every 10 hits and performs a basic attack.
-If the summoned creature is fire-attribute, all stats increase by 200%.
[Level: 1]
[Stat Increase]
Intelligence +12%, MP +12%, Critical Chance +10%, Critical Damage +40%
'This too.'
Just reading the description was enough to make you tremble. It was a rare rune of that caliber.
"Hoo, this is finally done. Our Explosive Dragon and Gale Slayer."
You guys had it rough fighting all this time with random placeholder runes shoved on, right?
Now let's give you something good, okay?
"Thank you, Rund."
—Heh heh, don't mention it. If anything, I'm the grateful one. Thank you for giving me the chance to craft such fine runes.
As expected of Rund.
His mindset itself was on a different level.
* * *
Baek Jinwoo moved quickly.
He handed over his national team ID and entered the London Player Zone, then immediately headed to the Enhancement Center.
[Welcome to the Enhancement Center!]
[Try enhancing or polishing your runes!]
London was the same as Korea.
Only the building's exterior looked different; the inside worked on the exact same mechanism.
He removed all the miscellaneous runes that Explosive Dragon and Gale Slayer had been using, then poured every junk rune he had stockpiled from weekday dungeons into leveling them up.
All the way to max level 10.
It felt good watching the stats climb steadily upward.
He had as many as 49 Omnipotent Polishing Agents, but he didn't use them.
'Because these aren't endgame runes.'
Even so, this was already enough to make them good enough not to fall behind in the World League.
Baek Jinwoo only had access to rare runes because he had Rund. For normal rankers, even getting a single unique rune was difficult.
It wasn't that they lacked money. There simply weren't any on the market.
—Krurk... kruruk!
—Hehe, thank you, Jinwoo.
The summoned creatures wearing their new runes looked delighted.
Good.
That finished the preparations for the match against the United States.
"Nice and clean."
Streeetch!
After stretching his body, Baek Jinwoo headed back to the hotel.
It felt like all he had to do now was work his breathing technique a little in his private room, then get enough rest.
* * *
The next day, in Korea.
Ahead of the semifinal match, the people of Korea had been out on the streets since dawn, dressed in red.
The elderly, children, pregnant women—it didn't matter. Everyone shouted with one heart and one mind.
"Dae~ Hanmin-guk!"
Clap-clap-clap-clap!
All 50 million citizens, without a single one left out, poured out their wish for Korea to win.
ㄴToday at 6 PM! In London time, that's 10 AM! At long last, semifinal day has arrived!
ㄴJust making it to the semifinals is already a miracle, but since a miracle has already happened, wouldn't it be even better if we made it all the way to the finals? Hahaha!
ㄴThat's right. The whole nation stayed up all night cheering since yesterday, hoping that our Baek Jinwoo will pull off another big one this time as well.
The commentators spoke calmly while waiting for the match.
There were cheering performances by famous groups and singers.
Even street vendors were making promises that if Korea reached the finals, they'd hand out free food.
Korea was, in every sense, a full-blown festival ground.
And then.
ㄴThe players are entering!
As the players were shown walking side by side into the arena—
"Waaaaaaaah!"
The crowd erupted in cheers as they welcomed them.
And especially the moment they spotted Baek Jinwoo walking at the very front!
"Uwaaaaaaaaah!"
"Baek Jinwoo! Baek Jinwoo!"
"Baek Jinwoo, wiiiin!"
"Crush Xenos!"
The crowd screamed in a frenzy.
As if he somehow knew, Baek Jinwoo waved at the camera, and the cheers grew even louder.
It felt good.
Seeing that young Korean player stand so proudly on the world stage and wave like that was almost unbearably endearing.
ㄴOur hope, Baek Jinwoo, is waving! I can hear the women cheering all the way from here.
ㄴHe really is handsome. A national hero, built like that, and handsome too... how is anyone supposed to live without feeling resentful?
ㄴEven if we feel resentful, that's fine. Please! That's all fine, just please beat the United States—that's all we desperately want.
At the same time, the players' rankings began to appear on the screen.
First, the list of Korean players appeared one after another.
Then, the list of American players appeared.
"Wow."
"It's no joke over here either."
"Honestly, the U.S. has better specs than Japan."
That really was true.
If Japan felt like a one-man team centered around Hikaru—
the United States gave off more of a well-rounded team vibe, closer to England.
Let's look at the roster.
[U.S. National Team Roster]
2. World Rank 8, Kobe Pochettino
3. World Rank 10, Clint Jones
4. World Rank 15, Emily Fox
5. World Rank 32, Emily Sonnet
6. World Rank 34, Casey Lavelle
7. World Rank 56, Sophia Plum
8. World Rank 90, Donovan Tate
9. Jaelien Brown
10. Greg Kerr
A whopping eight of them were world-ranked players considered major stars.
Even the remaining two were famous as players right on the verge of becoming big names themselves.
"Damn."
"This is insane."
"Isn't that basically comparable to England?"
"We have to beat that?"
Compared to them, South Korea looked truly shabby.
For starters, they did not have a single world-ranked player. On top of that, two of them were originally unranked even within Korea.
Though one of those two was Baek Jinwoo.
ㄴWell, there's nothing we can do about it now.
ㄴIt's definitely a burdensome roster, but wasn't England the same? What matters is an unbreakable spirit!
ㄴExactly. And even if we lose? Then we just come back having learned that much more!
The match began immediately.
The screen switched over to the London broadcast center's feed.
Rrrroll!
The dice of fate were cast.
The first American player was Donovan Tate, World Rank 90.
The first Korean player was An Gijeong.
* * *
An Gijeong used poison.
The Poison King(A-grade) Baek Jinwoo had gifted him this time maximized the damage of his poison-related summoned creatures.
The fight between Tate and An Gijeong was quite fierce.
That alone was enough to send Korea into a frenzy.
ㄴAmazing! Truly amazing! An Gijeong, who isn't even world-ranked, is fighting someone as big as Donovan Tate on this level!
What was even more surprising?
He beat Tate with only one summoned creature left!
"Waaaaaaaah!"
"An Gijeong! An Gijeong! An Gijeong!"
"A leader of Ilwol is a leader of Ilwol for a reason!"
Even though he only had a single summoned creature left, what mattered was that he still won.
The next American player is Sophia Plum. She's World Rank 56!
The next batter from the U.S. stepped in.
Naturally, the result was already decided.
ㄴAn Gijeong is taken out!
ㄴWell, there was no helping that. He only had one summoned creature left!
ㄴWho's our next player going to be?
ㄴIt's Kang Jihoe! Kang Jihoe the Mad Demon!
Overall, the exchange rate of wins between Korea and the U.S. was about one for one.
If this side won once?
Then the other side would eliminate that winning player, and another fair duel would begin.
That alone showed how much the level of Korea's national team had risen.
But then—
ㄴThe fifth player out is Clint Jones! World Rank 10! A monster ranked among the top ten in the world!
With Clint Jones entering the field, South Korea began getting pushed back hard.
Hong Ari, Gi Jaehyuk, Oh Sunyoung...
Their skills had improved a lot, but they still were not at the level of taking on a monster like that.
In the end, they were steadily driven back.
ㄴEighth! At last, Baek Jinwoo steps forward!
ㄴBaek Jinwoooooo! Our hope! Our national hero has stepped forth to conquer America!
"Waaaaaaaah!"
"Uwaaaaaaaaah!"
Finally.
Swoosh!
Baek Jinwoo stepped onto the stage.
'Sorry, but...'
Step.
Baek Jinwoo's eyes were cold as he walked onto the stage.
'Against America, I'm starting with HunGyo and ending with HunGyo.'
Absolutely.
He had no intention of using summoned creatures like Gale Slayer or Explosive Dragon.
Baek Jinwoo intended to crush the United States using nothing but HunGyo control alone.
The Clint Jones in front of him, Kobe Pochettino...
And finally even Xenos, one of the Five Emperors, would be no exception.
If he couldn't take those down through control while using HunGyo equipped with endgame runes—no, unique, peak endgame runes—then he'd have no answer even if he fought Rachel.
Rachel had two S-grades, after all.
Swoosh.
In front of Baek Jinwoo, who stretched out his hand, only a single summoned creature appeared.
It was the armored Training Instructor.
ㄴAaaahhh!
ㄴWhat is this?!
ㄴNo way, is he seriously trying to face World Rank 10 with only HunGyo again?
ㄴThis... no matter how good Baek Jinwoo is, this is way too arrogant!
"What is he doing?"
"What's he trying to pull?"
"I know HunGyo is strong, but... the opponent is Jones."
Baek Jinwoo could already picture Korea's reaction in his head.
They would all doubt him.
Could he really take that guy down with HunGyo?
"Are you looking down on me?"
The opponent felt the same way. Clint Jones' face twisted in displeasure.
"So just because one of the Five Emperors is backing you, you actually think you're that special."
Baek Jinwoo did not bother replying.
Shing!
He simply had HunGyo draw his sword.
There was no point explaining things a hundred times to people who doubted him.
Showing them was best.