'Tyrant...?!'

  The moment I checked the nickname, a chilling scoff leaked out from between my lips.

  An executive of the Toxic guild who forcibly locked down the abandoned mine I visited to clear a main quest early in the game.

  That malicious bastard was standing right in front of me now as the final boss.

  'What a perfect coincidence......'

  Having defeated the whales who fell like scarecrows once the pet system was blocked, my confidence was already piercing the sky.

  Vowing to thoroughly repay the humiliation I suffered in the abandoned mine in front of these tens of thousands of spectators, I glared at him coldly.

  "What's up with that nickname? ......Looks like you're planning on using cheap provocations. How foolish."

  Tyrant let out a fishy sneer and raised his weapon.

  A thick iron rod as tall as an adult man. The squarely shaped, ignorant chunk of iron attached to the end exuded a menacing murderous intent.

  He lightly rested that massive hammer on his shoulder and looked down at me as if looking at a bug.

  "That hammer looks pretty heavy, can you catch me holding that?"

  At Tyrant's provocation, bringing up my nickname and ignoring me, I didn't back down and fired back sarcastically.

  Then, as if finding my provocation quite interesting, he drew a chilling arc on his lips and stared at me with sharp eyes.

  "I will show you from now on. How to catch a rat with this heavy thing."

  Even in the oppressive abandoned mine, and even at this moment flashing with murderous intent, the bastard maintained a sickeningly polite formal tone.

  That peculiar way of speaking and the heterogeneous aura he exuded strangely reminded me of someone in my memories.

  But I didn't have the luxury to delve into it deeply.

  Erasing the distracting thoughts, I focused all my nerves on the murderous intent approaching right before my eyes.

  Bwooooo-!

  Amidst the taut war of nerves, the majestic horn announcing the start of the final match finally resonated through the arena.

  "Alright! The highly anticipated final match has finally begun! Player Tyrant of the Toxic guild, he's come up until now literally crushing his opponents with ignorant destructive power, hasn't he? We're looking forward to seeing if he'll show that monster-like performance on the final stage as well!"

  "But the opponent is by no means an easy target either! The power of the anonymous player [You Suck]'s bow has already been proven through the previous matches! Plus, that cunning and clever play of using goblins as meat shields! We expect this match will not be easy for Player Tyrant either!"

  Creeeeak-!

  It was before the horn sound announcing the start of the match even finished.

  I aimed at the forehead of that arrogant, obnoxious bastard and drew my bowstring taut to its limit.

  Thwip-!

  And without an inch of hesitation, I released the fingers gripping the string.

  The maximum condensed power was unleashed, and the shot arrow tore through the air, surging like lightning towards the bastard's forehead.

  He probably thought I'd run away while widening the distance.

  However, simultaneously with the first shot, I instead charged fiercely towards Tyrant.

  A breathless rapid-fire barrage while closing the distance.

  Tyrant used his massive hammer as a shield to block the arrows, and effortlessly deflected my attacks by narrowly twisting his head to evade.

  Finally, by the time the distance between him and me approached zero.

  "Summon!"

  I summoned a goblin right under his nose, as if throwing it at him.

  That 1-second opening when the bastard's gaze was drawn to the suddenly appearing summon.

  Instead of my bow, I gripped a sharp arrowhead tightly in my right hand and threw my body towards his nape.

  The bastard must have calculated and moved assuming an archer would naturally back away.

  I caught him completely off guard with a melee ambush that perfectly shattered that complacent common sense.

  A deep sense of bewilderment flashed across the arrogant Tyrant's eyes for the first time.

  Slaaash-!

  Putting my weight into the hand gripping the arrowhead, I surged in a single breath, aiming for his nape.

  However, Tyrant wasn't a named player to be taken lightly either.

  With monster-like reflexes, he grotesquely twisted his upper body, narrowly avoiding his vitals.

  But my stab was a span deeper than what could be completely avoided.

  "Keugh!"

  The arrowhead, which ruthlessly dug into the bastard's collarbone with a thwack, was dragged long and deep towards his shoulder, leaving a horrific bloody line.

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  "My goodness, he stabbed instead of shooting an arrow!! Player [You Suck], who is in the archer position, attempted a perfect melee assassination!! Player Tyrant takes a critical wound to the shoulder from the very first clash and bleeds!!"

  The casters' microphones filled with uncontrollable excitement, and the scroll of the real-time chat window taking up one side of the screen began to fly up at insane speeds.

  ? Is he really an archer?? lol

  ? Look at that movement putting assassins to shame lol

  ? Tyrant bug cut!! lol

  "......How dare a mere rat!"

  The eyes of Tyrant, who blocked the blood spurting from his shoulder, flashed.

  Having lost his reason to anger, he kicked off the ground and swung his mountain-sized hammer like a madman.

  CRASH-!

  A single horrific trajectory cleaved the air. Under that ignorant strike, the flanks of two goblins standing in a straight line formation blew out entirely.

  Without even being able to let out a single scream, they were knocked backward and instantly scattered into particles of light.

  'How is it that strong......'

  Chilling cold sweat ran down my spine.

  Those goblins were sturdy shields fully imbued with 120% of my stats.

  Such creatures blew out in a single hit, and two of them simultaneously at that.

  It meant that if my main body even wrongly grazed that ignorant chunk of iron, I would instantly die on the spot.

  'A graze means the end. I have to dodge no matter what......!'

  I immediately switched the last remaining goblin to 'Aggressive Mode' and made it attack him.

  And taking advantage of the split-second opening when it drew his attention, I instantly widened the distance backward using the acceleration of the Rare boots.

  CLANG-! SMASH!

  Tyrant lightly deflected the goblin's fierce attack with the handle of his massive hammer, and then swung the ignorant chunk of iron to ruthlessly crush the last remaining one as well.

  THUD-!

  Having cleared out all the summons that were like a thorn in his eye, the bastard slammed the massive, blood-dripping hammer down onto the ground with a thump.

  And with eyes dripping with murderous intent, he began to glare intently at me standing far away.

  "It seems the meat shields are done for now. The sight of you running away like a rat is quite a spectacle."

  Along with a mocking sneer, the bastard raised the massive hammer high into the sky.

  At that moment, tremendous energy began to condense along with a wavering yellow light on the ignorant chunk of iron part of the hammer.

  "I'll make sure you can't run around as you please."

  KABOOOOM-!!!

  Tyrant mercilessly smashed the hammer in the air down towards the ground.

  Along with a horrifying sound of air tearing, circular shockwaves spread out, and the flat sandy floor began to crack wide open as if an earthquake had struck.

  Fierce waves surging beneath my feet.

  I squeezed out every ounce of strength I had and leaped into the air.

  However, the destructive power Tyrant created far exceeded my shallow expectations.

  "Keugh......!"

  Battered all over by the merciless aftermath without time to dodge, I was smashed several meters away just like that.

  Red blood gushed out of my mouth, but my two eyes alone were glaring intently at him, filled with a vicious murderous intent.

  Breathing roughly, I turned my gaze to see that the colosseum floor between him and me had already transformed into a bizarrely tangled, rugged terrain with not even a place to step.

  It was a destructive power no different from crustal deformation.

  'Crazy, what kind of skill is that? Where did he even get something that OP so early......!'

  I didn't have a 'big hit' skill that could instantly flip the tide of battle.

  'How the hell am I supposed to overcome this wretched hurdle?'

  CRUNCH! CRASH-!

  The massive rocks that rose up blocking the view blew apart like cornstalks from a single swing of his hammer.

  Tyrant, narrowing the distance in long strides through the dust, completely ignoring the terrain penalty.

  I was momentarily flustered, feeling as if my breath was choked by that overwhelming martial prowess, but I began to rack my brain like crazy while staring intently at his trajectory.

  '......Wait a minute?!'

  A flashing realization crossed my mind. The skill that turned the ground into this kind of rugged terrain to tie up my feet.

  But thinking about it inversely, it meant that moving around the map had become much more difficult for that Tyrant holding the massive, heavy hammer as well.

  Scanning the rocks rising irregularly before my eyes, I instead began to nimbly dig in between them.

  Swoosh-! Swish!

  Compared to his sluggish mobility, my movement speed was overwhelming.

  Hiding my body behind the rocks that popped up here and there, I endlessly pulled my bowstring from his blind spots.

  'I can't cut off that monster's breath with these kinds of chip damage attacks anyway.'

  Right now is the time to thoroughly buy time.

  I just need to somehow survive this hellish game of hide-and-seek until the resummon cooldown for my only shields, the Goblin Royal Guards, returns.

  He must be bitterly lamenting inwardly looking at this dirty, rugged terrain he smashed up with his own hands.

  Using the rising rock fragments as shields, I dodged this way and that, fiercely dragging out the time.

  "Ah! Player [You Suck]! Just how long are you going to keep running away?!"

  "This is a clear misjudgment by Player Tyrant! He properly dug his own grave while trying to tie up the opponent's feet!"

  "Boooooooo!!!"

  The moment the jeering shouts of the spectators mixed in.

  [System: The Goblin Royal Guard summon cooldown has been reset.]

  Finally, the welcome notification sound I had been waiting for rang clearly in my head.

  Halting my fleeing steps, a fishy smile spread across my lips.

  'Gotcha......'

  "Summon!"

  Black smoke rose in the air, and the majestic guys I had finally been waiting for revealed themselves once again.

  'Did you think my goblins were just punching bags used only when quietly defending?'

  I immediately switched them to [Aggressive Mode].

  "Grrrrrr-!"

  With rough shrieks, the goblins ran fiercely towards Tyrant.

  Stealthily hiding my body in the crevices of the rocks, I drew my string and watched his next move.

  "This pattern again. Haa...... Just crawl out already. I'll end this quickly for you. It doesn't look like you have any other tricks up your sleeve anyway."

  As if sick of this tedious game of hide-and-seek, the bastard made threats in a tone pretending to reason with me.

  However, paying no mind to his mockery, my goblins fiercely thrust their silver spears and pushed him roughly.

  "These annoying rats......!"

  The moment the bastard, getting annoyed, was about to swing his massive hammer widely to the side at the goblins.

  Not missing that 1-second blind spot when his flank was defenselessly exposed, I swiftly planted a lethal arrow into him.

  "Keugh......!"

  As Tyrant staggered with a groan, the goblins in Aggressive Mode rushed in like wolves, swinging their silver spears.

  Clang! Clash!

  The flustered Tyrant barely parried their thrusts with his massive hammer.

  The moment he forcefully squeezed out an opening amidst the relentless assault and raised his hammer high once again to crush them.

  Above his flank where my arrow had lodged just moments ago, a clear 'red dot' began to bloom.

  Creeeeak-!

  Raising the hammer like a beast, a perfect blind spot defenselessly opened up.

  And the red mark that had turned into a fatal weak point due to a single hit.

  THWIP-!!!

  Towards his torn flank, I fired the most merciless and accurate strike without delay.

  SMACK-!!!

  My arrow, accurately lodging into the red dot, ruthlessly tore through Tyrant's flank.

  At the same time, a recoil powerful enough to push his massive body backward occurred.

  "Kuaaaargh!!"

  Dropping even the massive hammer he held in his hand, Tyrant let out a horrifying scream and tumbled roughly across the floor.

  Without hesitation, I lightly hurdled over the rocks on the ground and surged towards him.

  And towards the forehead of the bastard collapsed covered in dirt and dust, I coldly aimed my bowstring.

  Looking down at the bastard sprawled out miserably, the subservience I experienced in the abandoned mine early on came to mind.

  Normally, I would have kept my mouth shut out of fear of retaliation from a large guild executive, but right now, my identity was thoroughly hidden as an 'anonymous participant'.

  Having calculated that there would be no repercussions anyway, I felt at ease and casually tossed out the sneer I had kept bottled up inside.

  "The likes of you doing lockdowns, what a joke."

  "That anonymity...... I'll make sure to strip it away with my own hands. Let's see if you can sneer like that then......"

  Grind-

  In his two eyes looking up at me while grinding his teeth as if to break them, a sickening amount of murderous intent flashed.

  For a moment, a chilling goosebump ran down my spine, but without showing it outwardly at all, I snorted coldly.

  "Your mouth is still alive. Farewell."

  Thwack!

  It was the moment the merciless final arrow, putting a period on the long, long tournament, left the string.