As soon as they saw my Ice Field, they got scared and began to disperse widely outside the arena.
However, their attempt to escape totally ignored the power of my Ice Field backed up by Multiple Thin Ice.
Even if the arena here made for the 30 versus 30 was bigger than that of the one-on-one matches, my Ice Field still filled the entire arena.
Of course, they didn’t stop counterattacking me.
“Fire Field!”
“Fire Field!”
“Shaking Land!”
They used similar type skills to break my Ice Field backed up by Multiple Thin Ice.
But my Ice Field, reinforced by Multiple Thin Ice, stayed intact without even a single crack.
Rather it neutralized their counterattack.
What was left after their attack?
Of course, it was my turn to counterattack them.
“Ice Tornado!”
Wheeeeeeeeeng.
“Kheeeeek!”
“How come this Ice Tornado is so powerful?”
“Obviously other ice tornadoes are not as strong as this one…”
My Ice Tornado was accompanied by a gust of wind, not to mention an ice whirlwind, which swept everything in the surroundings as my Intellect was so high. Since this kind of ice tornado was different from what they had seen until now, they were very much startled.
Of course, their shock didn’t last long.
Flop.
Flop.
Flop.
In less than a few seconds, they fell one by one.
Right after that, a message that I advanced to the next round rang.
Anyway, I continued to win.
Of course, I sometimes confronted a team that used some strange skills.
“Slow! Slow!”
“Block the enemy’s eyesight! Blind!”
“Soar, and bind my enemies! Death Roots!”
:
:
“Weaken your body and mind!”
“My shadow will be an unbreakable net! Shadow Knot!”
This team was heavily armed with all kinds of debuffs and trapping skills.
Probably, even a fairly well-known strong player would have a hard-time confronting such a team. To be honest, this kind of attack was more annoying and intimidating than a lot of attacks.
Therefore, it was necessary for a normal strong player to receive the help of dealer, tanks, healers as well as enchanter.
But such an attack had no effect on me at all because I possessed ‘All Buffs, All Debuffs’.
And even if I did not have this trait, they could no longer pose any meaningful threat to me.
Why? Because my current willpower alone exceeded 40,000, not to mention my resistance stats.
Nobody could achieve such a level even if the top 0.00001% enchanters devoted all their stat points to Intellect, and even chose their skills and items to synergise with their intellect.
In other words, I could easily defeat the team heavily armed with all kinds of debuffs and trapping skills which would normally frustrate other strong players.
***
It has been 15 days since I started the ‘Strongest Guild Selection’ event.
Even though thousands of teams took part in this event, the number was reduced by half each successive round. Finally, only 16 teams survived.
Ironically, five teams out of the 16 belonged to one guild, the Chinese Government headed by President Xi.
Of course, I kind of expected it because in the ‘Strongest Player Selection’ event, it was the Chinese Government headed by President Xi who filled more than half of those players in Round 16 with his own men. Xi himself took second place.
So, I had no choice but to say to Director Sok, “It’s clear that they can manipulate the draw this time as well.”
Director Sok, the head of Myongjin’s Intelligence Department replied, “Yes. I guess they did so like before. Of course, it’s not perfect given the occasional mismatch.”
But I asked as if I had something more to say, “Even if they manipulated it, I guess they will fail to win like before, right?”
“You’re right.”
As he said, no matter how cleverly they manipulated the competition bracket, they had to confront me at the end of the day.
That’s why President Xi had no choice but to settle for 2nd place in the previous event.
Anyway, starting with the round of 16, I advanced to the quarter-finals the next day, the semi-finals the day after, then finally moved on to the finals safely with my team.
As expected, my opponent was the Chinese Government’s Team 1 led by President Xi.
Of course, many people believed that the winning team was already decided from the moment when the 16 teams were decided. In other words, their unanimous consensus was that Myongjin Team 1 would take home the title.
As if to confirm such an atmosphere, President Xi, who met me in the finals, said, “I will give up. Instead, can we have a brief conversation before I give up?”
Like he did before, President Xi first expressed his intention to give up.
So, I nodded slightly because it was President Xi who first gave me the information that those who appeared in America and Osaka, Japan were not NPCs, adding that they were real enemies.
I said, “Sure, why not? We can talk. By the way, it’s nice to see you again like this.”
“Haha. Well, I would like to seek your understanding why I have to give up in a situation like this.”
President Xi had no choice but to be content with winning 2nd place, blocked by me.
If China was not in Region 11 like me, but in some other district, he would have most likely won, especially because they manipulated the competition bracket in their favor.
But he was placed 2nd because of me again, so I just smiled at him subtly.
After noticing me, President Xi opened his mouth again.
“Well, I think you guys at Myongjin will fully understand what this change means.”
Of course, I knew it. Even though I didn’t express it to him openly, the message pointed to only one thing.
So I said, reconfirming it, “Well, I guess the system guys are pressing us to get stronger quickly.”
“That’s right.”
President Xi immediately agreed with what I said, then continued, “That’s why I envy you and Myongjin because the person who keeps up with the current trend the most is you, Juyoung Hong. Besides, by winning 1st place again this time, you will step forward dozens or hundreds of steps in front of us when you are already so far ahead.”
“I’m flattered.”
I expressed my humility by waving my hands at him. Anyway, we exchanged pleasantries like that for a while. Then, at the end of our conversation, he said with a serious expression, “Maybe they will show up more often this time than they did in Osaka. Maybe they are much stronger than before. Apart from being the head of the Chinese Communist Party, I feel sorry for you as a fellow human on this Earth.”
“Pardon?”
I was startled by his unexpected words. Of course, I did not readily understand his point. And I especially did not get why he said he was sorry.