Chapter 255 – Skill
“Wow, the heat is no joke. It’s stifling even when I’m just standing still….”
“Well, there are tens of thousands of people here. There’s no noise that can escape, and the space is completely enclosed.”
Madison Square Garden, 7:30 PM.
The opening ceremony had ended, the player introductions were finished, and the game had begun. Every few seconds, cheers and shouts erupted, sometimes lasting only a dozen seconds, other times stretching out for a minute. The entire atmosphere started heating up – which meant that this excitement was contagious, spreading to us as well.
The fortunate part was that every seat in this place had a hologram projector, allowing viewers to select and watch their preferred scenes and commentaries. Noise-canceling barriers were not entirely absent either.
Nevertheless, the sheer number of people was an unavoidable burden. Just being here, after passing through the super competitive selection process equivalent to the Super Bowl, meant the crowd in Madison Square Garden was ready to fully unleash their energy.
But enough excuses.
This was also my first time watching a match as a spectator, so I was a bit disoriented. However, I tried my best to focus. Everyone else had to force themselves to concentrate, lest they get swept away by the vibrant atmosphere.
“Regardless of overlapping squads, ignore unnecessary parts and closely observe how they use their skills. Save clips of impressive or sloppy moments, and note how to improve or adapt them.”
“It’s essentially a live debriefing.”
“Exactly.”
That was all.
Before I knew it, my eyes were following the dozens of teams navigating the field. Among them, the Korean squad was under my jurisdiction. This was because my title included not just Soloing
– the Korean representative, but also special coach for the national team.
The first map was Aurora Power Plant. The four people in front of me entered the building without losing their tension. The control building, which managed much of the liquefied natural gas facility, was the largest structure on the map.
The building wasn’t old, but it wasn’t well-maintained either. The Korean squad advanced through such facilities without hesitation.
The reason this was possible was simple.
‘…It all comes down to repeated practice.’
The map was large but only had eight sections.
There were many buildings, but they were limited in number.
Human memory was far better than people gave it credit for, and I had put the Korean squad through ruthless training to hone their combat experience in every building based on the data I’d collected.
Of course, this was before the Korean national team set foot on American soil.
The method was simple.
I grouped Dice, Ink, Michael, and Gambit as a team, constantly ambushing the Korean national team. The stage was random maps with random buildings. Initially, the Soloing representatives relied solely on their individual skills without my orders. If the national team started to get overwhelmed or adapt, I would gradually give more orders.
It took a considerable amount of time, but the time acceleration function of VR was literally revolutionary, and the squad representatives were driven hard by me until they were utterly exhausted.
That was how we established the basic framework.
And at that moment, the announcer added his enthusiastic commentary.
“Oh, just in time! Korea’s Talon is facing off against the UK’s Razor! An intense battle is expected!”
Talon was the call sign given to Korea for the first match, and Razor was the UK’s.
It seemed we were unlucky to encounter such formidable opponents right from the start, but life is 99% about dealing with unwanted situations. The key was how well the Korean team handled this battle.
As expected, an intense firefight broke out.
Comments scrolled rapidly beside the broadcast screen.
-Wow, they’re up against really tough opponents right from the start lolololol
-This doesn’t look good~
-Shouldn’t they retreat? Surely they won’t get crushed, right?
-Fact: Once the fight starts, there’s no turning back without losses
-Preserve your strength, dammit!!!
However, those were the reactions from the Korean comments. The automatically translated British comments told a different story.
-The Korean team? Not sure how skilled they are
-Didn’t they shoot up the ranks suddenly over the past year? Their scrim results show about a 40% win rate against all teams
-Might have been different in the past, but now they could actually beat us XD
-Go for it! Make them regret stepping foot in New York!
-Did this guy forget we also crossed the Atlantic to get here?
As the comments kept pouring in, both sides began to expend their ammunition at a similar pace.
The battle location was inside a building, specifically a large materials warehouse. It was a notorious area where vicious brawls frequently broke out due to the combination of containers, materials, and the scaffolding used to store them.
The cluttered materials, pillars reaching the ceiling, pipes, and containers. Half-broken lights dangling from the ceiling. All these elements hindered drone operation and rendered turrets almost useless.
I recalled what I had once told the Korean squad representative.
-[In this area, bringing down the high-rise storage shelves can significantly influence the outcome.]
The real mind games began.
In an instant, the warehouse was engulfed in a dazzling flash and crackling energy.
“Talon triggers an EMP first. For the next five minutes, no skills can be activated in the materials warehouse. Both sides are limited to basic combat support functions while their systems reboot.”
Two circles appeared on the minimap. These would be invisible to the Korean and British teams engaged in the live combat.
Anyway, what was this? It marked the limit for maintaining combat support functions. Calibrated through the squad leader’s ICARUS Gear, the range was roughly a 15-meter radius. Beyond this, all UIs and optical devices would shut down. Only basic functions would remain.
As dozens of transparent cams captured the warehouse, the Korean squad began to move in earnest.
A smile gradually formed on my lips.
“The Talon squad is taking some action. They’re moving quickly… Ah, what are they doing? They’re dismantling the skills. It looks like they’re attempting something with the turret’s stabilizer and the chemical canister.”
Reactions of confusion poured in from all directions, but the squad’s movements were extremely swift, as if they had practiced this several times.
What they did was simple. They opened the chemical canister and placed the turret stabilizer at an angle beneath it. After setting traps on about five metal supports, they discreetly covered them with scattered junk.
The trap structure was so simple that the entire setup took less than 20 seconds, and the Talon squad quickly vacated the area.
And after a few seconds…
“The Razor team is approaching. With the EMP in effect, no remote detonation devices can be used, but how will they trigger it—”
The 15-meter radius.
As the trap entered Razor team’s 15-meter radius, a part of the turret’s stabilizer module activated – because stabilization wasn’t a main function like shooting, auto-reloading, or scanning.
At that moment, the tilted chemical substance fell, spilling purple liquid onto the steel pillars, melting them faster than ice on a hot plate.
A foreboding sound echoed.
The storage section’s pillars in front of the Razor team collapsed entirely.
“Back, back! Damn it, what’s happening!”
-???????????????
-What the hell!!!!!!!!!!
-What just happened lololololololololololol
-It’s collapsing ahhhhhhhhhh
-Oh my god, what the lolololololololol
With a thunderous roar reminiscent of a landslide, everything in front of me came crashing down.
There were various methods to bring down the supports, such as using delayed grenades, but the reason I taught the Korean squad this particular technique was simple. It was quiet, precise, and allowed us to determine the direction of the collapse.
But the biggest reason and advantage was that through this skill’s activation, we could accurately pinpoint the enemy’s location.
Ratatatatat!
“Talon team launches a fierce offensive! It’s as if they were waiting for this exact moment to strike Razor hard!”
Muzzle flashes pierced through the rising dust. HPs dropped rapidly on both sides, but the Korean squad had already seized control of the battle. The British team was completely caught off guard and found themselves in a very disadvantageous position.
Moreover, the collapse of the warehouse had blocked their predetermined escape route, adding to their misfortune.
As a result, it only took less than three minutes for the outcome to be decided.
“Incredible! An unimaginable result right from the first match! Korea’s Talon team defeats Europe’s powerhouse, Razor squad, head-on!”
At that moment, the people sitting next to me slowly turned their heads towards me.
“…What?”
Even though I hadn’t done anything special, their expressions screamed, “Was it you again, Yoo Jin?” It seemed my reputation was already quite tarnished.
“Wow! That was insane! Amazing!”
“Yeah, I was wondering what they were up to. Oh my….”
-Oh shit lololololol
-This is the connecting room, and at 5 AM, everyone screamed and scared the crap out of me lolololol
-Wow, they beat the UK head-on, these crazy guys lolololol
-Even at 5 AM, no sleep~ I already slept like a log in VR, so I’m not sleepy at all~
-I knew this would happen, so I went to bed at 9 PM yesterday ww
It was 5:30 AM.
The time difference between Korea and New York was 14 hours, making it 7:30 PM in New York. However, in Korea, many viewers were either staying up all night or had already slept the entire day to watch the live broadcast before dawn.
The ensuing cheer erupted as if someone had scored a goal in the World Cup, causing quite a ruckus in the dead of night when people were supposed to be sleeping.
It was a situation unprecedented in Korean history, made even more remarkable because it resulted from an incredibly simple tactical trap. eSports reporters would undoubtedly trumpet this battle once they confirmed the match details.
Or, they might already be writing articles about it.
However, after some time passed, the excitement began to wane, and sobriety took its place, leading to several conclusions.
“…Could it be?”
“Of course. The play style is completely different from last year. And they wouldn’t use such innovative strategies. Who else would come up with dismantling skills to make traps?”
“True.”
-For real lololololol
-Who else but ‘that snake’ would pull off such a crazy stunt in a match lolololol
-At this point, we need to question if this person is really an ICARUS Operator
-Oh, Yoo Jin with an ICARUS tattoo on her lower abdomen is hot….
-What’s wrong with the guy above? Are you out of your mind lolololol
Singularity.
Even a touch from Yoo Jin twisted common sense and tore down all existing curricula. The problem was that whatever the intermediate process, the result was always much better than before.
But there was another hidden essence beyond that.
The Soloing pro-gamers sitting next to Yoo Jin vaguely sensed this.
Dice, who had been staring intently at the screen, spoke up.
“This is what Yoo Jin was talking about. Those who are accustomed to the existing paradigm are vulnerable to the variables created by skills….”
“The same goes for the opposite. They are not familiar with creating variables using their own skills.”
I had explained this before, and the reason was simple.
There were no skills in this world. Therefore, former special forces from North America or Europe, now pro-gamers, would struggle to get used to this disparity and would continue to do so.
Their training manuals, learned over several years to more than a decade, lacked content about skills that could change the paradigm of combat itself.
“Of course, this fact doesn’t guarantee an advantage over the enemies. Quite the contrary. The Korean squad has only now reached an equal footing with the enemies.”
Due to the specificity of the situation.
Due to the specificity of the combat area.
Due to the diverse objects that could be destroyed or repositioned.
Talon’s success was due to meticulous preparation and exploiting the weaknesses derived from the specificity of the combat area.
Meanwhile, the match results were progressing from the mid-game to the late-game.
The Korean team had suffered several engagements, reducing their numbers by half, and the other squads were in a similar situation.
Yoo Jin cautiously opened her mouth.
“There are two more matches left today. Perhaps the skill our team needs to develop today is the discernment to precisely distinguish between luck and skill.”
Unfortunately, it wasn’t a problem that Yoo Jin’s words could solve.
So, she just stared at the screen with a cold gaze.
The Final Championship had only just begun.