"I don't know whether I should be happy that it's as expected… or sad."
Fisher, who had been observing the scrim, muttered to himself. In order to make the best decision as a coach, he had tried having Pilgong move on his own while directing the other team members separately.
It was something he could only experiment with because it was still just a scrim, and he had attempted the strategy on the off chance it might work.
And the moment he did, Pilgong immediately secured a kill. Not just one, but two.
"They were N rank and SR rank, but two kills is definitely a result."
Taking that performance together with the previous scrims into account, Fisher arrived at a single conclusion.
"A demonic sword."
What was a demonic sword?
A demonic sword was one that granted immense power to its wielder in exchange for a great price or corruption.
And Pilgong's presence was no different from a demonic sword to the team.
With his outstanding physical skill, he could eliminate many enemies. However, the other team members couldn't keep up with his mechanics, and because he lacked understanding of the game itself, he couldn't make proper calls.
There was no more fitting term for Pilgong than demonic sword.
"How am I supposed to balance this…?"
An ordinary person would have agonized over this situation, trying to adjust that demonic sword by giving it some semblance of teamwork so it could move in coordination with the others.
But Fisher thought differently. A strategy that had never once appeared in the history of the Quasdae brushed through his mind.
After pondering over it for quite some time, he muttered quietly,
"If you draw a demonic sword, you have to be prepared to pay the price that comes with it…"
The scrim ended.
Our final placement was second.
We had roamed around securing as many kills as possible, but our teammates were eliminated first, and in the end, I died fighting three against one.
"Of all things, the ones who survived were high-rank players…"
If only the remaining opponents had been R rank or N rank, we would have had a solid chance. With that somewhat disappointing result, we regrouped in the team waiting room.
The coach was waiting for us with an unusually cheerful expression. I couldn't quite understand how he could look that pleased despite the disappointing outcome.
"Good work on the scrim today, everyone. Wrap up your individual streams and then gather again."
"Understood."
The team members and I dispersed to end our personal streams. Some ended their broadcasts on the spot, but I returned to my own lobby.
There was something about the tournament I had been keeping quiet about, so I had an announcement to make.
"Thank you for watching today's stream. There won't be any GG coaching this weekend."
"That's a shame."
"I was looking forward to that."
"If you're competing in Quasdae, it can't be helped."
"If he skips a day of coaching like that, won't GG have a hard time? Their opponent is S1."
"If you became GG's temporary coach, you should take responsibility for that!"
Some GG fans called it irresponsible. From their perspective, it was a perfectly reasonable thought, so I had no intention of criticizing them.
It was better to explain things properly.
"Well, this was discussed with GG in advance. Margus has to do commentary that day too, so weekend practice would have been difficult anyway."
"That's true."
"Couldn't they practice without Margus?"
"If it was coordinated in advance, then that's fair."
"Right, Margus is commentating."
Aside from a small number of viewers, it seemed most people understood.
Since I had finished the most important announcement, I started wrapping up the stream. The viewers knew I had practice, so they didn't try to keep me longer today.
"Then I'll be back tomorrow with another scrim. Phil-bye!"
"Phil-bye!"
"Phil-bye!"
"Bye."
"See you tomorrow."
"Good work today."
After ending the stream, I immediately moved to our team waiting room in the Quasdae room. Only Yeonju, who had ended her stream earlier, and the coach were there.
The others seemed to have dispersed and hadn't finished their streams yet.
When I entered, the coach smiled and said,
"You can rest a bit until the others arrive."
"Understood."
I answered quickly, grabbed a chair in the waiting room, and leaned back against the wall. I had been roaming alone and concentrating hard during the last scrim, so I felt a bit tired.
"Maybe I should close my eyes for a bit."
Since I didn't know when the others would arrive, I closed my eyes to get even a short rest. Before long, I fell asleep.
While I was asleep, Yeonju and the coach talked.
"What do you think, Coach?"
"About what?"
"About Pilgong. If you just look at how he plays, he's amazing, but in a team game, he's just…"
From her perspective, it was a very accurate and objective assessment. But from the coach's standpoint, having watched the overall game from the outside, it wasn't quite a perfect answer.
"For now, I'd say he's a demonic sword close to an unpolished gem. That's my judgment."
"Demonic sword really is the only fitting name."
Yeonju gave a small laugh at Fisher's words. She agreed that there was no better term than demonic sword. Of course, that wasn't the only reason she had brought it up.
"I meant the strategy. Honestly, when Pilgong is on the team, it's true that things get pretty unstable."
"I've thought about that too. I'll explain once the others get here, so just wait a bit."
"If you say so, Coach…"
Yeonju replied and began manipulating the window in front of her, watching videos as if nothing had happened.
Soon after all the other team members arrived, I woke up and we began a full-scale strategy meeting.
"First, can everyone tell me what your most-used weapon is?"
Before diving into strategy, he asked about each person's main weapon, and the team members listed them.
Dagger, sword, crossbow, axe. Everyone named their most-used weapon, but I couldn't give a proper answer.
"The only weapon I've handled is the spear."
What people commonly called a one-trick. I hadn't been playing the game long, so in a way it was natural, but hearing everyone else list various weapons made me feel a bit awkward.
The coach looked like he had expected it, but the other team members stared at me in shock.
"You've really never used any other weapon?"
"…No."
At Minchojoa's question, I scratched my cheek as I answered. Realizing I was serious, they looked at me with fascination.
They had seen plenty of people who mainly used one weapon, but almost no one who had used only one.
"I like that."
"Excuse me?"
The coach said something unexpected. While everyone else was shocked, he reacted differently.
The team, including me, looked at him as if to ask what he meant. Even our team leader, Ponia, looked confused.
Seeing their expressions, Coach Fisher slowly explained.
"That means you're a blank slate, right? We can teach you other weapons besides the spear in a way that fits our team. And in our main strategy, Pilgong will probably need to switch weapons."
"Understood."
Since the coach had spoken that firmly, the team and I stepped back, thinking he must have something in mind.
"Then I'll now explain our team's strategy in earnest."
We huddled close together, talking about the plan as if we were conspiring. After that, we gathered and practiced until 7 a.m. the next morning for a rehearsal of the strategy.
"Phil-hi, everyone. Yawn."
I greeted the viewers with a yawn.
"Phil-hi."
"Phil-hi."
"Did you not sleep?"
"That was one massive yawn."
"I'm sleepy too, man."
"What time did you go to bed?"
We finished practice at 7 a.m., washed up, ate something simple, and I went to bed at 9.
And now it was 5 p.m.
I had woken up in the middle because I was hungry, so I had only slept about four hours. No wonder I was yawning.
"We practiced until 7 today. I'm tired, but there's a scrim, so I'll still stream. Don't worry."
"That's a relief."
"I was never worried about you, just about the stream."
"Doesn't the scrim start at 6?"
"Maybe he came early to prepare?"
"It's a bit shocking that you weren't worried about me."
I joked and immediately launched Battle Hill. There was still an hour before the scrim, but I hadn't properly warmed up yet.
I needed to loosen up beforehand so I wouldn't be a burden during the scrim.
After entering Battle Hill, I headed straight to the training grounds. Instead of my usual spear, I selected a completely new weapon.
The viewers reacted in surprise.
"You're using that weapon?"
"You're not even going standard route, you're using that route?"
"Isn't that insanely hard?"
"Wow, he's really doing it."
The route I chose was dagger and Esper.
Anyone who played Battle Hill knew it as one of the so-called trash combinations. It wasn't called trash because it was weak.
On the contrary, its performance was easily top three. The problem was that it was extremely difficult to scale it to that level, and before reaching its peak, its performance wasn't great.
In Battle Hill, it was common to end up with no level cores at all. But dagger and Esper required not just one but several to reach their peak, which was why people called it a trash combination.
"There's probably a reason people call it that, but the coach told me to, so I'll do it."
Until 7 a.m. this morning, I had been swinging a dagger relentlessly to get used to it. I had learned some basics in the military, but that was years ago.
Naturally, it took time to get accustomed to it again.
"I'll warm up a bit in the training grounds before joining the room."
"Okay."
"You chose the hard road."
"We tried to stop you."
"Good luck."
"Hahahahaha."
After telling the viewers, I practiced hard in the training grounds, then moved to our team waiting room in the official Quasdae room. Everyone except me was already there.
Once the coach confirmed we were all present, he gathered us and said,
"Today, just think of it as practicing your individual weapons. So don't be too nervous and just go out there."
Seeing the coach offering encouragement even though this wasn't the main tournament made me chuckle.
When I laughed, the others burst out laughing too.
And in that warm atmosphere, the scrim began.