Overgeared

"Jishuka has S-grade individual ability. Ever since becoming the Bow Saint, she has no weaknesses because she is strong even in close-range battles."

"Most of Jishuka's melee skills are counters, right? It isn't easy to hit if the other person is vigilant in advance."

"That is the problem of your fingers. Isn't Jishuka different from you?"

"How dare a man who is nothing evaluate Dia hyung-nim's fingers?"

"That is Player Diana. What type of nonsense are you saying?"

"Ah, really… Please don't be ridiculous."

One of the main sources of income for high rankers was the portrait rights. They earned high profits not only from their images being used in broadcasting, advertising, and photography, but also from their images used as secondary creations. A typical example was games.

Games—the cultural life that modern humanity preferred the most. People weren't satisfied with just one Satisfy. It was an unavoidable physical issue. The premise was that they had to use the capsule to play Satisfy. It meant it was hard to do it in parallel with work. There was also a timeout. There was a limit to playing all day long during the holidays or enjoying a short break.

This was why video games and mobile games still remained in existence. People felt that games other than virtual reality games were somewhat trivial, but they couldn't completely turn a blind eye to them. They used these games as a substitute. There were many games on the market aimed at them. Satisfy Online, Satisfy Mobile, Satisfy World, Satisfy National Competition, and more…

The secondary Satisfy games were released every year, some of which were significantly successful. The successful games had something in common. They purchased the portrait rights of high rankers and presented them as game characters. It was easy to think about it as existing sports players being characters in football games, basketball games, etc. Game companies broke down the rankers' stats and personality using their own rules and interpretations. Then they were released as game characters.

The public immersed themselves in various games by playing characterized rankers. This was why ordinary people and even primary school students could analyze Jishuka's skills like a pro. It was an era where information flooded in. Satisfy's rankers had been exposed in countless media and analyzed. The public believed they knew the rankers well.

"Most of the games portray Jishuka as an overwhelming 1st tier character. Characters with her equivalent performance are Kraugel, Yura, Euphemina, Chris, and the demon king version of Damian. Do you know why?"

The hair that was parted 5:5 without an inch of error strangely attracted attention. Looking closely at their feeling of strangeness, they found that there were no wrinkles in the man's suit. As evidenced by his upright back and sitting posture, he seemed to have nothing unnecessary in his actions and always insisted on the right posture.

"Isn't it because she is so popular?"

Jishuka had maintained her top 10 ranking almost every year. She was undoubtedly a talented person, but she tended to appear as an excessively OP character in secondary creations. Sometimes it was hard to understand.

By this point, it was even questionable if the game developers around the world had selfish motives in regards to Jishuka.

It was true, but it wasn't the right answer.

"Popularity is naturally an important measure. However, if they were going to excessively overdo a character's stats because of popularity, Laella would be the immovable 1st tier character."

Laella is also a top ranked high ranker in the top 100. Furthermore, she wasn't inferior to Jishuka and Yura when it came to popularity. The strange thing was that her popularity had increased since she started dating Zednos… it wasn't unnecessary to analyze the reason except for entertainment media.

"The reason for Jishuka's high evaluation is her 'vision.'"

A man who wore glasses on his sharp nose gave the right answer. He was the CEO of Red Moon Thunderstorm Art. He was an emerging giant in the game industry and was directly in charge of the production of Satisfy Online, the biggest hit among the dozens of secondary Satisfy games.

"It is said that the eyes of the Bow Saint are in the sky. She has a vision that makes all terrain and covers useless, so she has the potential to play without restrictions in any environment."

"That huge potential was seen by game developers?"

"Yes."

Many directors reinterpreted Jishuka's abilities in different ways and integrated them into the game. The result was now. Jishuka was depicted as an OP character in almost every game.

"It is probably a lot of pressure. It is hard for her to use her strengths, especially on such an ordinary, flat stage."

Jishuka, who came onto the stage as the first player—people's expectations of her were different. There were many people who believed she was going to show her invincibility. It was almost distorted enough to resemble the feeling of inviting Grid. This was despite the stark difference between the secondary creations and reality.

"In return for getting benefits from the creations, she is going to suffer in reality…"

The reporters responded like it was a pity. Psychological pressure must be felt due to excessive expectations from the public. The condemnation she would receive if she didn't meet the public's expectations. It felt pitiful for Jishuka to take all of this. A young woman at the center of the world changing every day. Could she endure all types of hardships with her slender body?

It happened as the reporters in the audience were worrying…

-Yes, I'll work hard.

Jishuka was trying to calm her excitement. That's right. She was excited. Unlike the concerns of the gaming industry experts and reporters, she didn't feel any pressure. It was natural. It was because Grid was cheering for her. Above all, she was skilled. Her skills in the various secondary creations were no exaggeration.

"It is going to be so advantageous for me. It is a bit embarrassing."

Jishuka's opponent was Pon. He sat on top of his white horse and believed he had an advantage. It was a common sense judgment. Flat land with no cover. It was the ideal terrain for Pon, who had high speed mobility. On the other hand, it was the worst for Jishuka. An archer's shooting was maximized only when taking advantage of cover and distance. Arrows that were obviously seen didn't pose much of a threat to the opponent.

'I just need to pay attention to the intangible arrows mixed in with the quick fire arrows and the counters she will try the moment I approach.'

In fact, the intangible arrows weren't a concept that could be countered just by paying attention. Recently, Jishuka shot more than 10 arrows at a time and it was hard to get a glimpse of them when she mixed the intangible arrows in between. In particular, the arrows that flew in a parabola were threatening. What if an intangible arrow fell over his head? He had to get hit no matter what.

The comforting fact was that the damage of the intangible arrows wasn't very high. There was a limit to the damage because it was an arrow made of magic power, not an actual arrow. It was difficult to deal a significant blow to Pon, who was armed with Grid-made armor.

However, an arrow aimed at the fine gaps in his armor would lead to a rapid drop in health. For example, Pon judged that as long as he paid attention to situations where arrows could dig into the gaps of his helmet to poke his eyes and cause blindness, he could win without any major variables.

'Jishuka, I'm not denying you.'

He was just affirming his own life.

"Hiyah!"

No one in the Overgeared Guild lived in vain. If there was such a person, they wouldn't have joined the Overgeared Guild in the first place. Pon had always done his best. He might not have a legendary class but he tried so hard that he was proud that the character 'Pon' itself would become a legend someday.

The white horse carrying Pon gradually accelerated.

Jishuka, who was standing only 700 meters away—she felt very close to the white horse, who had been in a war with Pon. It thought she would be quickly reached.

Hihing!

This was its idea until an invisible arrow flew and hit its knee.

"Che!" Pon quickly jumped from the horse. It was a situation where he couldn't keep his position on the horse due to the arrows that were aiming for his vital points. This was expected. In fact, there was no damage caused by falling. It was an expected situation, so he responded immediately with the falling method.

After rolling a few times, Pon raised himself and ran without delay. There was no hesitation of even 0.1 seconds. He remained focused so as to not lose the spear knight's charge gauge, which increased his attack power as he 'charged toward the enemy.'

"Spear Flower."

Pon, who got off his horse, felt like a prohibition was lifted. He didn't hesitate to use a large-scale skill to neutralize Jishuka's arrows. The distance between the two people gradually narrowed.

'Now I need to be careful of the counters.'

He had accumulated more damage than expected to reach this point. He had noticed it since a single arrow made his horse fall, but Jishuka's intangible arrows were much more powerful than they were during the Great Human and Demon War. Pon deeply realized it as he got closer and was in the center of a rain of arrows.

As much as he worked hard, others also worked hard. Time was equal to all. Others were getting stronger as he was getting stronger. Luck and talent were the qualities needed to jump over the 'wall' encountered and stay ahead of others.

'This time, luck followed me.'

The tip of Pon's spear started to vibrate. It created a magnetic force that gathered all the pouring arrows together. The tip of the spear that pulled hundreds of arrows was bulging like a mace.

"Destroyer."

Coincidentally, a week ago. He unveiled the new ultimate skill of he fourth class advancement of the spear knight, which was acquired from leveling up. It was also an unexpected skill for Pon himself. It was no wonder why he couldn't expect it. Pon was ranked 1st in the spear knight rankings. He was the pioneer. There was no way to know which level would gain a newly added skill.

Ever since last week, Pon was conscious of the competition and never leaked Destroyer. He used it secretly in a private training room to improve his proficiency, but he hid it from his colleagues. It was in order to win the competition.

His colleagues who gained hidden classes, the apostles of the Overgeared God, the rulers of their species, and the dukes of the empire—Pon felt like he was falling behind in strength. He was determined to prove his skills this time in order to protect his honor. He wanted to fight the rulers and overcome them. He ended up in the same group as Jishuka. Even so, Pon had watched Jishuka for a long time and didn't think she was worse than the other monarchs. Instead, he prepared for this day more vigilantly and thoroughly.

'I will win today.'

He secured a new ultimate technique and favorable stage terrain. It seemed like the sky had given the day of victory to Pon. Pon had no choice but to win. This was a natural flow.

This was the case until the arrows that Destroyer pulled up and exploded were stopped in the air like it was a lie.

"……?!"

Destroyer was one of the precious counterattacks in Satisfy. Among those precious counterattacks, it was a type of super killer move that belonged to the ultimate group. It was a structure that attracted the enemy's skills, magic, or projectiles and absorbed them with its own power, releasing them and returning them with several times the damage.

Yet it was defeated. It was also as soon as it was made public.

'A reverse counter…!'

A chill went down Pon's spine. He remembered that Jishuka was the Bow Saint. Any attempts to take the lead in regards to 'arrows' against the Bow Saint was a failure.

"Whole Sky Flower Rain."

Jishuka also unveiled a new ultimate technique. Hundreds of arrows stopped around her and a storm was projected in a dizzying manner onto Pon's bloated pupils.

'Rebellion isn't easy.'

Jishuka had always been Pon's captain. Maybe his luck was over from the time the match with her was decided. Pon thought this as he collapsed. It was the moment when one of the 12 captains was decided to be Jishuka.

"Waaahhhhhhhh!"

"Jishuka! Jishuka! Jishuka!"

"…From today, Jishuka will be more OP. At this rate, she will soon be changed to a hidden character like Grid." Was he embarrassed when his prediction was wrong? In the midst of the cheering people, the CEO of Red Moon Thunderstorm Art explained.

***

A total of 16 participants.

The eight people who won in the first matchup would immediately become captains. The remaining eight people would face each other in the second match with the four winners taking the remaining four captain positions. It was a rule established on the principle that 'all participants are eligible to be captains.' The four who failed to become captains today would be captains of four additional units in the future.

Unlike the hearts of the participants, the competition didn't mean much. The reason why Lauel held the competition was a type of show of force. It was already common sense in the world that the Overgeared Empire had the best power on the surface, but putting aside common sense, it was necessary to show it frequently. This was why military powers like China and the United States constantly held soldier inspection parades.

"……!" Lauel was watching the event with a satisfied expression only to get up with surprise. The hot atmosphere of the venue became as quiet as a library.

"Crazy." Grid was also astonished.

On the stage, Orc Lord Teruchan collapsed in front of Katz. Katz' majesty as he wore the blood shed by Teruchan as a cloak was reminiscent of a great demon.

Beriache's Knight—it was the moment when the ancient being who served one of the three evils of the beginning was reproduced by a player.