Hard Carry Support

Chapter 79 - What's Hidden in the Tournament Arena (1)

[ <Extra Points: x 5.05> ]

Before they knew it, the power of the undead appearing had increased.

TarrTarr, who had finally come out of shock, asked Hyun.

「What should we do...?」

「I'm not sure...」

Hyun looked around but didn't know what to say.

It seemed like the quest would end when he died.

The number of undead would probably increase until he died.

Although even if it were a Duke, he for sure wouldn't be able to control such a big army.

Since it was a virtual battle, maybe the number of possible enemies was set as infinite.

[<Extra Points: x6.01> ]

「Let's try to resist for as long as we can.」

From far away, a monster named Balrok was approaching them.

'Isn't that a monster rather than an undead?'

The fact that a level 380 monster had appeared meant that there was no more hope.

No, the biggest issue was if they'd be able to hold up until it arrived.

«Vision Sword».

Even while thinking that, Hyun had absorbed damage to pull out the sword made of light.

A sword of over two meters cut down the building next to them and blocked the space.

He did the same in the other directions, too.

To resist as much time as possible, it would be better to block their surroundings with obstacles.

After all, he wouldn't be able to withstand an attack from multiple high-ranking monsters.

[You've received 329 damage!]

[You've received 294 damage!]

Skeletons managed to enter through the cracks even though he'd created a barricade in all directions.

Since the cooldown time of the «Vision Sword» was at 0, he used it to cut down the building's remnants.

Their sight was blocked from the falling rocks, but that was the same for the enemies.

[ <Extra Points: x7.54> ]

Making a mess of the battlefield was more effective than he initially thought.

As he hid between the remnants of the fallen fortress, the undead were having trouble finding Hyun.

The undead, whose intelligence was low, were just digging through remnants where there wasn't anything underneath.

But those strategies worked only until Balrok swiped everything with green fire.

[You've received 59281 damage!]

[Someone who's receiving the protection of a transcendent doesn't die easily!]

[For three seconds, your HP will be fixed at 1!]

[You've died!]

A hot light of emerald color devoured everything.

TarrTarr's body, which had been entangled with a bunch of undead, became ash and instantly scattered away.

Before dying, the effect of ‘The Robes of the Praying Priest’ that gave him immortality had activated, but it didn't make any difference.

[Calculating the results.]

But that was a game inside a game, so there wasn't any death penalty.

Even after dying, messages kept appearing.

[ - State of the Fortress after clearing: 12% (x1.12) ]

- Number of survivors after clearing: 16 people (x1.59)

- The total number of killed monsters: 4110 (x5.11)

- Elite monsters killed: 54 (x2.07)

- Time resisted after the quest was cleared: 167 seconds (x10.6)

- Amount bet: 500 points.

<Result: 500 x 199.67>

[Congratulations! You've received 99835 points!]

[Since you've successfully cleared it, you won't be able to challenge the same theme again!]

* * *

The first combat was over.

TarrTarr's body had returned to the tournament arena.

Hyun was immersed in his thoughts while the results were being calculated.

The title “Virtual Historical Battle” was, as the name indicated, virtual.

Even if he knew that, Hyun was still shocked by what he'd seen.

An NPC had committed suicide.

Before the undead could devour him, he had chosen to take his life.

How close were the NPCs to real humans?

Was that also a difference between Asra and Asrian?

TarrTarr's voice woke Hyun, who was deeply immersed in his own thoughts.

「What's happening...?」

On the ceiling and all the walls, there was the number 77777 showing, and a celebration broke out.

TarrTarr, who was just looking around dumbfounded, came back to his senses after looking at the sudden messages that appeared.

[You've set a new record in the Virtual Historical Battle!]

[You've obtained a lucky chip!]

[You can exchange the lucky chip for 77777 points!]

While reading the message, TarrTarr finally understood what all that commotion was about.

The reason behind all that commotion was them.

"What? Who got a jackpot?"

All the users around them stopped what they were doing and gathered around the virtual historical battle magic circle.

What they saw there was a shockingly high score.

"Someone broke Lattice's record?"

After someone shouted that, everyone's attention got focused on the leaderboard.

The ID in 1st place was an unfamiliar one.

1st place. TarrTarr: 99835 points - Defend against undead (57 seconds ago)

2nd place. Lattice: 71619 points - Royal Castle Invasion (9 days ago)

3rd place. Flame Hell: 58194 points - Immortal Knight (3 days ago)

…

"TarrTarr?"

After looking at the rankings, everyone tilted their heads.

TarrTarr, who had barely reached level 70, wasn't a ranker in the Hall of Fame. Not only that, he wasn't even a Grand Master in PvP. He was just an average user.

It would be normal if no one knew about him.

But that wasn't the case.

Someone shouted while pointing at the ID.

"Huh? I've seen that name somewhere before!"

"Yeah, me too!"

Channel TarrTarr.

Some people in the tournament arena had seen the video he had uploaded.

"What? Was he a famous player? No wonder…"

"Yet… From what I remember from the video, he seemed to have good skills. But I didn't know he was this good."

"Maybe… is defend against the undead easier to get points than the other ones...?"

"Still, getting to the 1st place is amazing."

At that moment, Hyun and TarrTarr didn't know that the video they uploaded was getting much attention.

The reason was simple.

It took time for the video to spread through the communities of other countries.

Even in the Korean communities, it took TarrTarr's video a while before it became popular.

But as time went on, views started to come. And it went from ten thousand to a million views in just a few hours.

Translator - Daniel Shin

Proofreader - ilafy

* * *

The Duke's tournament was an event that gathered the interest of both Abyss and Heaven's users.

The scale and content were enough to capture the attention of users.

It didn't take long before the news that someone had beaten Lattice's record spread.

The scoreboard had been shown through streams or some users who were taking part in the tournament.

Just at that moment, TarrTarr's video began to get some momentum.

The hot topic in the communities was that a user appeared on both sides.

As the video became famous and TarrTarr's name became a hot topic again, all communities became flooded.

<The Appearance of a New Master?>

<Is a Scouting War Between Top Guilds going to start?>

News about TarrTarr had surpassed the communities and was also being covered on game-related websites.

Arneng…

He was the one who had given TarrTarr some advice in regards to YouTube. He couldn't hide his surprise while watching the current situation unfold.

"What's happening...? It seems somewhat wrong..."

Arneng watched TarrTarr's video only after it had become a hot issue and was very surprised by it.

He couldn't forget the scene of that guy hunting skeletons with a godly level of control.

He even wondered if that really was TarrTarr.

It was as if he was a completely different person.

It was understandable for him to react like that since he didn't know about «Assimilation».

"What are you doing while going around...?"

It didn't matter how much he thought about it or how many times he watched it—he couldn't come up with an answer.

While feeling astonished, Arneng kept reading different threads on the community boards.

* * *

"We must incorporate him, no matter what. This time, we mustn't fail."

The guild leader, XL, said to the rest with a serious look on his face.

They were also eyeing the new emerging figure TarrTarr.

People from Darkness had begun considering Ain two steps more dangerous than they'd first thought.

That day, Mayday looked as if she was about to cry. And the guild leader, XL, started to reconsider his evaluation of the top users.

"If we can incorporate TarrTarr, we should be able to mitigate the error of losing her."

"Sorry..."

Pias, who was next to him, looked depressed.

After all, because of him, they'd become enemies with Ain.

He never thought that being unable to suppress the feeling of shame would bring such results.

"It's okay. We cannot do anything about the past. We just have to do things right this time."

"Did you say that his ID is TarrTarr? Since he broke Lattice's record, I guess he will surely enter the top 10."

Bearshield picked up on the important point.

Because of how popular the Duke's tournament was, many people were currently streaming it.

From what they could see, he currently had almost 100 thousand points!

There was almost no chance of someone taking the number one position from him.

That meant that he was for sure going to receive the biggest reward. The 'invitation.'

"Once the tournament is over, I guess he will also participate in the banquet. Let's approach him there."

"So the banquet is where the battle will take."

They were always the first to jump into the recruitment competition, which was also why they'd managed to maintain the first position in the rankings.

XL's sixth sense was telling him something.

If they lost him, they could end up losing the crown for the first time.

* * *

Berard…

He was a veteran who had once reached 5th place in the rankings on Asra.

He had gotten to know TarrTarr because of the day’s incident. After watching the video on TarrTarr's channel, he couldn't hide his surprise.

"Who's this?"

He remembered the name of the most famous users of the previous game, but among them, there wasn't anyone with the ID TarrTarr.

But from what he'd seen in the video, that guy was using techniques that only a few Asra rankers were able to do.

"Can... You do that?"

Steel Rock, who was next to him watching the video asked him.

Even though he had also played the previous game, since his rank wasn't that high, he couldn't make a correct judgment.

"I'm not a combo Thief..."

"Then if you change your skills to a combo one, could you do it?"

"I probably couldn’t. Although those look easy, they aren't things that you can easily do, even with lots of practice."

"Then... Does that mean that this guy is the 2nd Lattice?"

When they saw Lattice's growth rate, there was something they wondered about.

Was he an Asra Online user?

But after investigating, they concluded that he wasn't.

He had been able to reach that place thanks to his talent, luck, and money.

Was TarrTarr that kind of player?

"Maybe he's on an even higher level."

"What?"

Berard began explaining.

"From what I've seen, that guy is level 70. He achieved a hundred thousand points on the Virtual Historical Battle with low specs and non-special items. Do you think that is even possible?"

"What, level 70...?!"

"Yes, it doesn't make sense. He's going to be someone dangerous if he becomes our enemy. He's already crazy good. I don't want to imagine how much better he will become once he grows."

Everyone could see TarrTarr's information with just a simple search.

Although his ID wasn't in the hall of fame, his overall ranking appeared.

A level 70 Thief. With a PvP ranking of Master.

But those pieces of information were worthless.

Maybe he had begun playing Asrian late. Or perhaps he still hadn't shown his true abilities.

"Why is his level so low? Did he start playing late?"

"That's probably the reason. But the talent is real. I wouldn't be surprised if he becomes a ranker by next week."

"This reminds me of someone," Steel Rock said while laughing in disbelief.

Why was it that he thought of that name?

"Are you talking about Hyun?"