Season 2: Chapter 241: Mecha Leg (2)
The shelf life of a jet was known to be six months. Kim Yi-Seo was well aware of that. There was no way he didn't know what every player knew.
— Knowing this and still doing it, trash bag, lol
— This is how it sells
— Tsk tsk, crazy for money…
Thus, he was criticized even more. Everyone was certain that he was doing this knowingly. The company deliberately made the jets not last long. That way, people would keep buying the new ones. The newly released jets were stronger. This was an obvious fact.
However, there were exceptions. Sometimes, old jets were used correctly.
— Where is that winter sword from?
— Wow! It was a romantic item because it could only be matched with game money.
— Could that be a counter?
— ?? Is that winter sword real?
— A counter, damn it??
As varied as the jets were, developers or high-ranking users sometimes didn't foresee certain matchups appearing.
For instance, a jet launched just yesterday could be countered by a jet released two years ago. Such matchups were hard even for old users to find.
With so many users and many ongoing games, it would eventually be discovered. Yes, everyone thought that way.
Many players happened to uncover these matchups by chance. The developers were just randomly assigning attributes without keeping matchups in mind.
"Funny joke."
Kim Yi-Seo drew his sword emitting a chilly blue coldness.
"It's all planned."
Whooooooosh!
Before him, Almond flew toward him with a high-capacity engine.
[Engine Thrust: 40%]
[Engine Thrust: 56%]
[Engine Thrust: 78%]
Given the long distance, the thrust rapidly filled up.
'Come on.'
Kim Yi-Seo, as if waiting, drew his pale cold sword and stared at the fast-approaching Almond.
He muttered, “Now!”
When Kim Yi-Seo swung his sword. Almond backfired his engine as if he had been waiting.
Whooooooosh!
Almond suddenly stopped.
“He backfired and stopped!!”
Whoosh!
Kim Yi-Seo's sword passed in front of him.
'He dodged?'
Afterward, Almond soared up again.
Boommm!!
“He moves like a UFO! What amazing control!!”
“And nearly all the thrust has been filled!”
As Almond ascended, these words appeared in his view.
[Engine Thrust: 99%]
He had reached almost full charge in thrust.
'It's done.'
Almond aimed at the crown of Kim Yi-Seo's head below.
Screeeeech!
Raising his right leg high with the last thrust, he struck down from above. An immense noise accompanied the smashing attack.
"Crazy…!"
Whooooooosh─!
Kim Yi-Seo raised his sword to block. Despite blocking, due to the features of the mecha series, the immense pressure still resulted in significant damage.
"Kugh!"
[Kim Yi-Seo]
[HP: 89%]
Kim Yi-Seo lost more than 10% of his health even after blocking.
“What insane control!!!”
“A full power attack at 100% thrust for the first hit!!!”
“How many times did he change the direction of the engine thrust?!”
A tremendous cheer filled the venue at the first successful hit.
"Wowwwwwwwww!"
"Really! Is he really winning!?"
"Damn! Almond, I believed in youuuuuuuu!"
It felt like the first human footsteps on the moon. The audience felt such a thrill.
[Current Viewers: 51,000]
Thanks to that, Almond’s viewers also surpassed 50,000. Naturally, the chat was scrolling at a speed hard to read with the eye.
— Wow
— It feels refreshing!
— Headshot, wow
— What was that move just now??
— A UFO?
“Kim Yi-Seo counterattacks!”
Whooooosh!
Kim Yi-Seo's ice sword swung toward Almond. It froze the air as it swung, but—
“Useless! Almond jumped again and dodged!”
He couldn't knock down Almond. Hovering in the air, Almond thrusted his engine again and changed direction.
Boommm!
With a huge explosion, Almond's new model moved directly behind Kim Yi-Seo.
[Engine Thrust: 57%]
He had moved quite the distance, so the thrust quickly soared to over 50%.
“His engine control is so flexible!”
“Those seeing this for the first time wouldn't know how difficult this is…”
“Like talking while doing a spinning kick!!”
Bang─!
After spinning a couple of times, Almond appeared. His entire body spun around and struck Kim Yi-Seo.
Kim Yi-Seo swung his sword, but that wasn’t enough to block. He was hit directly this time.
[Engine Thrust: 100%]
Again, he suffered damage from the 100% thrust.
"Kugh!"
He flew far away.
— Wow, direct hit!
— Wow
— This is breathtaking! lol lol
— Wow!
[Kim Yi-Seo]
[HP: 72%]
“Wowwwwwwwww!”
Another tremendous cheer erupted.
“Ahhh! Almost 20% of his health is gone!!”
“He didn't block it this time, did he!?”
“Yes! And please continue explaining how hard it is to handle this mecha leg!”
“Yes! Imagine playing billiards underwater and always making three cushion shots! That’s how it is right now!”
“No! Is it that precise!?”
“Yes! That's the level of accuracy with such quick reflexes!”
— Wow
— Makes me dizzy just listening
— For real
— You’ll get seasick if it's your first time
— Fact: Not only is it Almond’s first time using the mecha leg today, but it's his first time playing JetPumped lol
Almond, like an annoying fly, kept flying around Kim Yi-Seo and only delivered fully charged attacks.
“Kim Yi-Seo! He’s trying hard to swing his sword and desperately block the attacks!”
Kim Yi-Seo swung his sword wildly as if determined to catch a fly, but he failed to land any hits on Almond.
— Lame LOL
— Better bring back the Plum Sword LOL
— Ah, I love this, I want to see this every day LOL
The winter sword wildly swung, but couldn't touch Almond at all. It was a pitiful sight. If Kim Yi-Seo hadn't been so disliked as a developer, Almond would have been criticized instead.
— It's too one-sided
— Honestly, it looks a bit pitiful!
— Is this a developer? More like someone getting stomped!
“Ahhh! Kim Yi-Seo!? Didn't you have a plan?”
“What use is a plan in front of such power!? Huh!?”
“This time it's a back kick!”
Almond, flying around Kim Yi-Seo like a fly, launched a surprise attack.
[Engine Thrust: 100%]
Again, it was a strike with 100% thrust power.
Boommm!!!
A loud noise rang out along with fireworks like a rocket launcher and a chunk of Kim Yi-Seo’s health disappeared.
[Kim Yi-Seo]
[HP: 55%]
The venue was in a festive mood.
"Oooo~~ Ohhhhhhh~~!"
"For victory~~!"
There were people linking arms and singing cheerful songs. They were sure victory was theirs. However—
'It's done.'
Kim Yi-Seo, dusting himself off the rooftop, had eyes that said otherwise.
'From now on just watch.'
Crack.
Strength entered his hand holding the winter sword. In fact, the top players of JetPumped once hinted at such a thing.
— The winter sword seems good against mechas since it benefits from longer battles as its cold intensifies with each swing.
— Could this be the setting…??
— With the cold damage option and high compression pumping… it doesn’t disappear, does it??
Whoooosh…!
The winter sword made an ominous howling sound like a typhoon in the distance.
“Huh?”
One of the commentators noticed it.
“Could it be…?”
The rooftop turned stark white because of the coldness spreading everywhere, which Kim Yi-Seo had scattered while swinging his sword during the battle with Almond. The coldness from the winter sword kept accumulating and consumed the space.
Screeeeech… Screech!
The engine of the flying Almond began to make strange noises.
“Huh? Why is the mecha leg like that!? Did it run out of fuel already!?”
“My, the cold seems to be interfering with the engine heat!”
“What!?”
“The cold naturally has a slowing effect! And it also has the ability to neutralize heat-related pumps!”
Almond felt it too.
'Huh?'
For a while, the engine thrust hadn’t been filling up completely.
'What's going on?'
Unaware of the matchup, Almond just kept circling around without striking at 100%.
'Is it a bug?'
— Did a bug occur??
— Shouldn’t it fly faster?
— This is the effect of the cold!
— Ah, damn, so this happens???
Most players didn't even know about the matchup. The engine of the mecha leg gradually began to fail and couldn’t be properly used anymore.
Whoosh… Fwoosh…!
With a deflating sound, Almond fell and landed with incredible agility.
Swoooosh!
"Now it's my turn!"
Immediately upon landing, Kim Yi-Seo's sharp sword struck him.
[Almond]
[HP: 94%]
While the damage wasn’t as high as the mecha leg, the onslaught of attacks did considerable damage.
— Wow
— Waited just for this moment
— Ah, so sad, damn sad
— Could he lose like this???
Almond's health began to drop at a frightening speed.
'There's no way to block.'
He couldn’t block the sword strikes. Jets could block other jets, but the mecha leg without any engine acceleration was too slow to block Kim Yi-Seo's sword strikes.
Whoosh!
The mecha leg flailed about in the air and Kim Yi-Seo's sword strike penetrated sideways.
"Die!"
Pwook!
The cold pierced deeply into his body. The surroundings also turned white as mist.
'The cold…'
It had been accumulating in one place for a long time.
'I need to get out of here.'
“He’s getting continuously hit by the sword strikes!”
“Ahhh…! It's too painful!?”
Swoooosh! Swish!
Almond’s health continued to decrease. Suddenly, he had lost half.
[Almond]
[HP: 48%]
Almond gave up on moving with the engine and simply ran.
“He’s running away like a mecha leg out of fuel!”
Once the mecha series ran out of fuel, the performance of the jet fell below 30%. Of course, it wasn't that Almond had run out of fuel. The engine was just barely functioning. Effectively, it was the same issue.
Kooong… Screeeech!
Still, Almond tried to operate it bit by bit while attempting to escape. However, Kim Yi-Seo was not about to let that happen.
"Where do you think you're going!"
Fweeeeng…!
Kim Yi-Seo activated the winter sword's special move. This technique froze everything in a straight line.
Crackkkkkk!
The brutal sound of ice forming struck and passed Almond. Not being trapped inside an iceberg and merely being struck was somewhat fortunate. Indeed, Almond managed to dodge the special move by rolling.
“He dodged it!?”
“He dodged that in the middle of everything!”
However, his escape had been delayed.
Tap—
Kim Yi-Seo chased down Almond and blocked his path.
'Just once.'
Almond sharply opened its eyes.
'It’s not that cold here.'
As he moved away from the area with the harsh cold, he could slightly use the engine again.
'He doesn't seem to know.'
Almond didn’t show it either. Once Kim Yi-Seo was careless and launched a major attack, Almond would counter him. Countering would be difficult since the scrap mecha parts slowed him down.
He needed to anticipate it instead of just reacting. Could a player with no experience in this game anticipate the opponent's attack? Impossible.
Almond had long given up on that. However—
'I'll just focus.'
Almond decided to trust his incredible reaction speed. He chose to watch the opponent’s shoulders and waist instead of the sword. That was where the movement started.
'Here it comes.'
A sword strike was coming. Kim Yi-Seo's avatar was grinning with his mouth wide open, already sensing victory.
This was the opportunity.
[Engine Thrust: 28%]
Ziiiiing!
With a high-speed whirring sound, the engine began to turn again.
[Engine Thrust: 55%]
Almond quickly went over 20% more thrust.
'More.'
To gain as much thrust as possible in one place, a simple spinning kick wouldn't do. Almond's body spun around, completing one full turn.
Swoosh!
The sword strike grazed past his back.
“He do-dodged it!?]
With the added rotation, his leg soared up.
'If it's an axle…'
A spinning back axle kick.
'This will do some serious damage.'
[Engine Thrust: 84%]
Although it wasn’t 100%, this was the best he could do given the thrust accumulated from spinning in place.
Fweeeek!
With the rotation, his foot lashed out.
“Back, it’s a back kick!”
Kaboooom!
With crimson flames, the engine blazed as if it was about to explode.
"!?"
Kim Yi-Seo noticed the engine burst too late. His eyes bulged.
Kooong—!
Almond's heel struck right next to that ludicrous face.
“Counterattack!”
“The continuously beaten Almond suddenly launches a counter!”
“A counter with a back kick! This is huge!?”