Chapter 380 – 380. Special Training (9)
Mad Tiger Gaming was swung around by Beelzebub and Loki.
The Battle Angels gradually pushed the opponent into a corner.
After that, it was an extension of the vicious operational battle.
Since I completely dominated the top line with Beelzebub, I was at a slight disadvantage, but I could run away from the top, and when I tried to do something from below, I started to break through the top line highway.
When the time comes for the top line inhibitor to be destroyed and Messiah to respawn, Beelzebub goes down to the bottom.
After that, I drilled the highway on the bottom line exactly as I pushed the top line.
If anyone went down to catch Beelzebub, he would not be able to recklessly pursue it because he would lose important objects and penetrate deeply into the top line where the suppressor was already pushed.
Eventually, Mad Tiger Gaming slowly began to wither away.
Director Park Seong-pil, who was next to him, shook his head with a bitter smile.
“At this rate, it would be difficult to see it as practice.”
“Shall we finish with this?”
“OK.”
By the time we exchanged those words, it was after all of Mad Tiger Gaming’s 3 inhibitors had collapsed.
Now, unless the Battle Angels made a mistake, it would not be easy to turn around, so it seemed meaningless to proceed with the scrim any further.
So we decided to stop the first scrim under the agreement of both teams.
The facial expressions of the players who came out of the capsule were different.
Still, most of them were expressionless or gloomy, but only two could not hold back their smiles.
It was Heo Sook-hee and Ryu Seo-yoon.
They looked at each other, giggled and laughed, then glanced at the Mad Tiger Gaming players.
I couldn’t tell what kind of words they were exchanging, but the way the pretty girls made expressions that didn’t know if they were laughing or genuine laughter made me feel a sense of entitlement.
“Scream… One more round.”
In such a situation, the first thing that spoke to me was Mad Tiger’s one-handed skill, Psychic.
He was looking at me with an unfair expression at the thought of losing with a ridiculous combination.
I seemed to know roughly what the feeling was.
I felt like I lost because I was flustered because my opponent made a strange combination, and I felt like I could win as much as I could if I did it again.
But I firmly shook my head.
“No. Play the game is waiting for you. We should take turns so that we can help each other.”
“…”
Upon hearing that, the Psychic muttered to himself, ‘Is that combination useful for practice?’, But he simply ignored it.
Since it was none other than themselves who lost with a combination that would not come out in the actual competition, they would not have the confidence to actively protest.
After that, we took turns playing scrims as we planned before.
It was good for the players’ stamina and it was easy to give feedback because they took a break after two hard matches.
Time passes quickly and the time of evening approaches.
During that time, we played 6 matches, 4 each.
And the Battle Angels took the victory as if for granted.
“You seem to have become stronger than when you faced him in ACK.”
Director Park Seong-pil said in a voice filled with half admiration and half bittersweet feelings.
It seems that he did not know that he would lose in 2 rounds.
In addition, one of them was swung by a strange combination and lost, so it was reasonable to feel skeptical.
But I didn’t mean to be awkwardly comforting.
“They showed a lot of wandering around.”
“…You can see it, right?”
“Yes. After Wizard and Hwang Ji-yeon left, I think the center of the team disappeared. When are you going to hit it fast?”
Haha… !”
He smiled heartily, then gradually lowered the corner of his mouth, erasing his laughter.
And he said it with a serious face.
“Do you really think that’s the only answer?”
It sounded like he genuinely cared about the team.
I nodded slowly.
It was not meant lightly as a joke.
In the past, Mad Tiger Gaming had veteran gamers leading them on top of the current players leading the team.
Hwang Ji-yeon, the early members of Mad Tiger Gaming, Wizard, and I were in that position.
‘So when the direction of the team was decided, the kids would follow without saying anything.’
If a wise leader gives the right direction, the team members following will believe in the leader and charge with one mind.
A leader in a democratic society may need the ability to listen to the opinions of his teammates and make decisions that will satisfy everyone, but at least in an in-game game where the moment is competitive, there are times when the pulpit is important.
Everyone on the team makes an order, and many teams follow the best judgment among them, but you also have to know how to ignore the opinions of your stupid allies.
I tapped director Park Seong-pil on the shoulder.
“I think so.”
“Okay… “
In my heart, I wanted to step out and discipline myself, but now that I’m an outsider, that’s all I can do.
In the end, the coach or coach who lives with the players and eats together has to create the atmosphere.
I left coach Park Seong-pil, who was in trouble, and headed to my players.
###
After dinner, the players, coaches, and managers of the three teams gathered again.
And again practice, practice, practice.
We shared and discussed strategies without any fault, and tried to find clothes that fit our team while running scrims.
Training continued the next day.
Since the very next day was a Group E match involving Play the Game, Coach Mesa’s eyes were serious.
“The group stage will be won easily.”
She said nice things to relieve her tension, but it didn’t diminish her fighting attitude.
“I think I finally found a potential in my players. I don’t want to miss this flow!”
In fact, at the end of scrim matches, the performance of Fledgem, which was the weakest among the three teams, was gradually improving.
And finally, we succeeded in capturing Mad Tiger Gaming once.
It was still not enough for our team.
In the evening, the players of Play the Game packed up and left for their respective lodgings.
It was for condition management.
“Then shall we stop here for today?”
Everyone was exhausted because they were immersed in the game and heated up, regardless of whether it was a coach or a manager.
When manager Park Seong-pil said that he knew, the remaining two teams also decided to part ways and have time for individual maintenance.
Returning to the dorm, we also concentrated on resting without anything special.
One more night’s sleep and lunch on the day of the Group E match.
Starting with Hwang Ji-yeon, the players gathered in my room one by one to watch the group stage together.
Right before the tournament started, Hwang Ji-yeon briefly talked about Group E.
“If you just watch out for Mexico’s VIVA, it won’t be too difficult.”
Looking at the games that followed, there were really not very high-level matches.
It is much more aggressive and irregular than the Korean league.
I preferred teamfighting to management, and often tried ganking and roaming rather than growth.
Thanks to that, there was an unstoppable melee, and it was fun to watch.
“Uh? Start.”
Soon after, it was the turn of the play the game.
Players, led by Coach Mesa, appear regularly to greet the fans.
Looking at her impression, her dark circles were visibly coming down as if she hadn’t slept the whole night.
“You seem to have been thinking about it all evening.”
As Hwang Ji-yeon said, coach Mesa, who had been struggling all night, had confidence in her eyes.
The first match was against Thailand’s BQQ.
The opponent was not a strong team, so the game was not difficult.
Coach Mesa just showed us the ACK-style operation he taught us last night.
After selecting tier characters and equipping them with teleports, split pushes based on personnel fights and joining fights are turned.
The key was to shake the opponent without giving up the initiative even for a moment by operating the dehydrator without slowing down the reins.
And Play the Game did a pretty good job.
I was used to it because I learned it while getting beaten up by Mad Tiger Gaming, who was robbed and furious by us last night.
That’s how Play the Game takes 1 game.
Around that time, our players also started leaving one by one.
Watching the game is important, but it seemed like we were going to have individual practice time for our round of 16.
“The play game will also come up.”
Only Hwang Ji-yeon and I stayed until the end to watch their game.
She also revealed her intention to recruit coach Mesa to Hwang Bo Ji-yeon, so she was watching with interest what she would do.
Did the 3-day training help a lot?
In the end, Plethegem won three consecutive victories and easily advanced to the round of 16.
“Are there three groups left now?”
I nodded.
Now, in just three more days, the group stage is over and the long-awaited round of 16 approaches.
“Looking at the remaining groups, it seems that most of the teams that will advance to the round of 16 have been decided.”
“Huh.”
As Hwang Bo-ji-yeon said, the results of the matches so far could be said to have been almost unchanged.
I don’t know if the competition for the lower middle ranks was fierce, but at least the clubs known as strong teams were advancing to the round of 16 with excellent results.
And after 3 days.
As expected, the strong teams advanced to the round of 16, and the brackets for the tournament were finally confirmed.
All that was left was to play through the lineup and determine the winner of the 2055 World Championship.
– Arena World Championship Tournament Stage, Round of 16
1. Battle Angels (Korea, Group A 1st)
VS
2. Extreme Korea Telecom (Korea, 2nd in Group B)
3. Best E-Sports (China, 1st in Group C)
VS
4. HEX (Brazil, 2nd in Group D)
5. Play the Game (USA, Group E 1st)
VS
6. Team Flash (Spain, 2nd in Group F)
7. Crystal Snake (USA, Group G 1st)
VS
8. Tosca R3 (Russia, 2nd in Group H)
9. TinTin Chimera (China, Group B 1st)
VS
10. Cyber Akuma (Japan, Group A 2nd)
11. Royal Blood (UK, Group D 1st)
VS
12. Karf Brasilia (Brazil, runner-up in Group C)
13. NingNing Gaming (China, 1st in Group F)
VS
14. BTT Gaming (Vietnam, 2nd in Group E)
15. Mad Tiger Gaming (Korea, Group H 1st)
VS
16. Canada Assassin (Canada, 2nd in Group G)
According to this bracket, the round of 16 will be played against Extreme Korea Telecom, and the round of 8 will be played against Best Esports or the winning team from Hex.
I decided not to think about it until the fourth round.
For now, the first priority was to defeat Extreme Korea Telecom.