Scarlett charged forward, activating her skill, but Yuna effortlessly evaded the attack and retreated. Her expression remained unreadable, her face a blank slate. However, as she watched Scarlett lunge at her again, Yuna's thoughts churned.
The chat was buzzing with comments, but Yuna had meant exactly what she said.
The previous clash had not lasted long.
She should have pushed at least one of them to the brink of defeat by now.
'This is troublesome.'
Scarlett, a knight-class.
Kang Hoon, a mid-range spear wielder.
Maou, a swift and threatening archer.
Noctrynium, a mage capable of applying multiple debuffs.
Their combination was unexpectedly effective.
If her initial ambush had taken even one of them out, the fight would have shifted in her favor.
Unfortunately, she had missed that chance.
The only fortunate thing was that they had no healer.
They likely had backup plans, but so did Yuna.
Her cold, expressionless face surveyed them as she adjusted her grip on her sword.
The four solo rankers, in contrast, had expressions twisted with frustration.
"......"
"......Hmm."
"......Hah."
"Tch."
That brief clash had made it clear to all of them.
In terms of sheer control, defeating Yuna would not be easy.
If they had fought her one-on-one, would any of them lasted long?
They were some of the closest to the peak, yet—
Compared to Yuna, who was rising from below like a storm, they felt like fireflies before the sun.
Many geniuses existed, but there could only be one true apex.
And here, the one closest to that summit was undoubtedly Yuna.
They had always known this.
But experiencing it firsthand made the truth undeniable.
A tense standoff filled the air.
The viewers, watching from their screens, gripped their seats and swallowed nervously.
Yuna moved first.
She kicked off the ground, lowering her posture dangerously close to the floor as she sprinted forward.
Maou, already nocking an arrow, was the first to react.
His skill-activated arrow streaked through the air, leaving a blue glow like a piece of the sky itself.
It was silent in its speed, cutting through the air without resistance.
As it flew toward Yuna, the blue energy compressed, surging backward before exploding forward—
accelerating the arrow even further.
The moment it neared Yuna, her pupils locked onto its precise trajectory.
She gripped her sword tightly, and an orange light burst forth from its blade.
The sword moved—
Slowly.
The arc of the sword was so deliberate, so unhurried, that it seemed impossible for it to intercept the incoming arrow.
Yet—
Before the arrow could reach her, it collided with the sword’s path.
CRACK!!!
SHATTER!!!
The viewers' eyes widened.
The arrow stopped.
Frozen in mid-air as cracks spread across it.
The blue energy surrounding it fractured and dispersed into shimmering dust.
The arrow itself crumbled, dissolving into nothingness as the orange afterimage of Yuna’s sword remained suspended in the air, gleaming like a jewel.
The arrow’s remnants scattered like a celestial river of light.
Yet, Maou—who had fired it—bit his lip hard in frustration and immediately prepared another shot.
Using the momentary distraction, Noctrynium finished casting his spell.
FWOOOOOSH—!!!
CRACKLE—!!!
One of his staves unleashed a massive energy beam, a blazing pillar of light.
The other wrapped the beam in crackling electricity, turning it into an electrified magic cannon.
It was nowhere near as fast as Maou’s arrow—
But in terms of sheer power, it surpassed it by miles.
This wasn’t just a distraction—
It was meant to kill.
Noctrynium grinned, confident.
"Even Yuna can’t come out of this unscathed."
Yuna stared at the attack, her eyes calculating.
It was fast, but barely avoidable.
However—
She knew Noctrynium' specialty.
'If I dodge, he'll make it track me.'
A homing spell was the most likely outcome.
In that brief instant, she abandoned thought—
And let instinct take over.
Yuna halted—completely stopping in place.
Her blade ignited with an orange aura.
Unlike before, this time—
She twisted her entire body to the limit.
Her hips, shoulders, and core wound up like a coiled spring.
Her eyes flashed.
And then—
The coil snapped.
Her sword swung.
A towering orange slash burst forth.
The massive wave of energy stood still in midair, embedded in space like a living entity.
Then—
BOOOOOOOM!!!
The energy blast collided—
And split in half.
The two halves of the magic cannon flew past her, barely grazing the air beside her shoulders.
Standing unscathed, Yuna exhaled steadily.
Noctrynium’ expression twisted.
Kang Hoon, watching, felt his hands tighten around his spear.
For him, this was personal.
A fellow Korean.
Yet—Yuna had always overshadowed him.
A deep-rooted inferiority flared in his chest.
He hated it.
The fact that she was getting even further ahead.
He couldn’t allow that.
Korea’s strongest had to be him.
With that single thought, Kang Hoon gripped his spear—
And a dragon coiled around its shaft.
The phantom of a dragon, merging with his weapon, roared forward.
Simultaneously—
A blue-tinged arrow shot forward to match his assault.
‘This time, she won’t be able to avoid it.’
Kang Hoon surged forward, Maou’s arrow covering him—
A two-pronged attack.
If Yuna blocked, she would ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ be hit by the arrow.
If she dodged, the arrow would track her.
A perfect trap.
A deadlock.
A scenario where she had no options.
Or so they thought.
Yuna—expressionless—assessed her surroundings.
'Hmm.'
And then—
She swung her sword.
Her blade, sometimes slow, sometimes too fast to see—
A chaotic storm of orange energy erupted outward.
The phantom dragon’s head was shredded.
The arrow disintegrated mid-air.
Both attacks were nullified in an instant.
Kang Hoon and Maou’s eyes widened in shock.
And in that briefest of moments—
Scarlett made her move.
This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.
Her entire body burned with a crimson aura as she charged—
Like a meteor crashing toward Yuna.
And Yuna, calmly raising her sword, prepared to block it head-on.
Her skill was still on cooldown.
So she would have to take it head-on.
'...Tsk.'
As soon as Yuna's usually expressionless face showed the slightest crack and she clicked her tongue, it became clear. Sёarch* The nôvelFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.
Even for Yuna, this situation was difficult.
But she did not give up. Her eyes gleamed with sharp focus as she gripped the sword in her right hand with both hands.
It was as if she was about to perform a kendo match.
Scarlett's eyebrow twitched as she noticed.
No one in this room was unaware that Yuna had once won the World Kendo Championship.
That stance was something Scarlett found highly unsettling.
But it didn’t matter.
She had already activated her skill, and Yuna was currently unable to use hers.
Scarlett didn’t expect to win with just this one strike.
But she was certain that she could at least gain the upper hand.
Believing that without a doubt, Scarlett charged forward.
And as she did, Yuna didn’t flinch.
—KUAHHHHH!!!
Scarlett’s crimson aura stretched behind her like a comet, soaring forward like a meteor, her sword slashing down with a pressure that seemed to crush everything in its path.
It felt as if gravity had multiplied several times over.
In that overwhelming force, Yuna tightened her grip and focused her mind to its absolute limit.
Her breath felt heavy, her chest compressed under the pressure.
In that moment, she let out all the air she had been holding.
"Fuuuuh—"
Forgetting even to breathe, she pushed her concentration to the edge.
And in that absolute state of focus, everything became clear.
Not just her vision.
She could feel every sensation on her skin, hear every sound with impossible clarity, smell the faintest traces of the air.
Everything heightened, pushing Yuna’s senses to the limit.
With all of that surging through her, she thrust her sword forward.
It wasn’t particularly fast, nor was it excessively slow.
It was unlike any of Yuna’s usual sword strikes.
Normally, her attacks varied between slow but overwhelmingly powerful or fast but light.
But this time, her sword simply moved, as if the action itself was its only purpose.
When it met Scarlett’s descending attack, Yuna felt the rebounding force.
The sheer power of Scarlett’s aura, which was capable of cutting through anything in its path, was enough to send Yuna’s sword recoiling.
Yet Yuna did not resist it.
She accepted it.
At the same time, she pulled back her sword as if she were reeling in a fish, spinning her body in a swift motion.
The moment she made contact with Scarlett’s attack, she redirected the repelling force, using it to propel herself into a spin.
"...!!!"
Scarlett’s charge veered off course.
No—Yuna had perfectly manipulated Scarlett’s momentum, slipping past her like flowing water.
In a moment that felt like time had stopped, Scarlett realized it.
Her senses had never been this sharp before.
Everything was so clear.
Had she ever experienced this level of concentration before?
As she thought that, a chilling sensation ran down her spine.
Then—she heard it.
No, she didn’t really hear it.
It was too fast to be perceived by sound.
But somehow, she knew.
Shhhh—
The sharp sound of someone inhaling.
And then.
Crack, crack.
Yuna’s muscles, swollen to their absolute limit with tension, twisted as she moved.
Even in this slowed world, Yuna’s blazing orange blade moved at an impossible speed.
Like the radiant sun itself, the golden streak of her sword surged toward Scarlett.
And the moment she felt the blade tear through her back—
KWOAAAAHHHH!!!
CRASH! BANG! CRACK! BOOM!
Scarlett was sent hurtling through the air.
Like a skipping stone, she bounced along the ground, carving deep trenches into it before slamming into a wall.
Her breath hitched.
"Cough...!"
The equipment on her back had been shredded to tatters.
Blood gushed from her wounds.
Even as she coughed up red, she saw Yuna approaching, sword raised once more.
The other rankers rushed forward to intercept her.
But Scarlett knew.
‘...I lost.’
With that last strike, the outcome had already been decided.
2.
When entering the Temple of Apophis, players first arrived at the waiting room.
A vast, pure-white space where they had to wait for others to enter.
Naturally, Seong, who had entered before any of the single rankers, found it boring.
And so—
Even though he normally didn’t respond much to chat when streaming, today, he engaged in conversation.
—"Are you getting along well with your guild members?"
Seeing that message, Seong hesitated for a moment.
"Hmm... I do interact with the guild leader and some members now and then... so I guess, yeah?"
He hadn’t even visited the guild headquarters much.
That was the best answer he could give.
And then—
—"HOLY SHIT YUNA WON!!!"
—"SHE REALLY DID IT???"
—"MAWANG!!! YUNA JUST TOOK THEM ALL DOWN!!!"
Seeing the chat explode, Seong let out a small chuckle.
So, the single rankers really had fought.
And Yuna had won.
‘Well, of course she did.’
Nodding in acknowledgment, he muttered,
"Looks like my sister won."
—"...Sister?"
—"??????????"
—"Wait, what???"
—"They’re related???"
—"Hold up, hold up, hold up—are they siblings???"
—"Does that mean Mawang and Yuna have been close all this time?!"
—"Damn, they're both skilled AND good-looking... this is some drama shit."
—"LOOOOL are they dating?!"
As the chat exploded with wild speculation, Seong frowned slightly, visibly annoyed.
How the hell were they jumping to that conclusion?
For once, the ever-calm and composed Seong spoke without thinking.
"She’s my actual sister."
—"???????????????"
—"WAIT WHAT."
—"BLOOD-RELATED?!!"
—"REAL siblings??? Not just like... calling her sis for fun???"
As the chat was flooded with shocked reactions, Seong blinked, suddenly realizing what he had just done.
"...Ah.
Was I not supposed to say that?