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Season 2: Chapter 236: Talent (3)

Perfecting the baseball pitch was the condition for activating the special move. Naturally, activating a special move on the first attempt was difficult.

"This is certainly surprising! Tae Ji-Ho!"

"Almond?! How did you do that!?"

— Really LOL

— How did he do that??

— Tae Ji-Ho is flustered LOL

— Fiery baseball LOL

— ??? When I lived in the athlete's village...

"The special move is one thing, but the angle he threw it at was very sharp, wasn’t it?"

"Yes, indeed! He literally pushed the opponent into the dead space area! If this was baseball, Almond would be ejected from the game!"

"And the player hit would no longer be alive!"

— LOL

— Ejecting the player would be better?

— Literally LOL

Almond successfully pushed Tae Ji-Ho away with the baseball.

Then, he dashed and jumped to the opposite rooftop.

Tae Ji-Ho also quickly stood up, raising his guard against Almond.

"They’re finally on the same rooftop! It looks like a real brawl is about to unfold!"

Agile feet moved across the green urethane floor.

Swish, swish!

Tae Ji-Ho approached Almond with the unique footwork of boxing.

"Here comes Tae Ji-Ho!! Is he really the Mount Tai of Pangyo?"

Almond also gradually approached with taekwondo footwork. Naturally, he made the first move since taekwondo had a longer reach.

Whoom!

A light kick flew out first.

"Tae Ji-Ho is weaving! Good job!"

Whoom!

Almond's foot flew over Tae Ji-Ho’s head.

Tae Ji-Ho had dodged with a boxing-specific move called weaving.

"Boxing jets don’t have kicks, but they have evasive capabilities!"

Evasive moves received significant enhancements to surpass normal human speed. It would be problematic if evasive moves were commonly unsuccessful.

'Uh.'

Almond staggered because the opponent dodged much faster than he thought.

'What was that? There was no angle to dodge there.'

Naturally, it threw off his balance when a kick he expected to land or be blocked completely missed. His expected combo got tangled up and Tae Ji-Ho wouldn't miss this opening.

Tat!

Tae Ji-Ho stepped into Almond's stance.

"Is a counter coming?!"

Boom!

Suddenly, a red glove flew in.

Bang!

The double hit was instantaneous.

Bam-bam!

The boxing jet landed its basic five hit combo.

"Direct hit!"

Thud.

Almond crumpled to the ground from the five hit combo.

"Wow! At least it’s not a perfect game this time!?"

Typically, most JetPumped jets did not have the means to attack a downed opponent. Thus, the combo ended after five hits.

[HP: 73%]

Due to the game's mechanics, the basic combo by itself didn’t do much damage.

Almond needed to revise his thinking now.

"This opponent isn't like the last one."

He shouldn't have rushed in thinking the opponent was like Heo Won-Mu. Tae Ji-Ho was definitely better.

Most importantly, Almond still didn't understand the game that well. He had been caught off guard by evasive moves like the one just now.

'If this drags on, it’ll become more disadvantageous.'

As time passed, Almond knew that unfamiliar techniques and differences in knowledge would emerge. He had to quickly finish the match right now.

His opponent possessed evasive skills like weaving, which was significantly faster than actual movements. Tae Ji-Ho could also launch counters. Almond had a chance if he kept just these two things in mind.

If other elements came into play, it would only delay the resolution of the fight.

Thud. Thud.

Almond dusted himself off and looked around.

'A bungee might actually be the best approach.'

The most efficient way to kill an opponent in JetPumped was to make them bungee. In other words, to make them fall to their death. Fortunately, taekwondo had two techniques to push the opponent far away.

One was a special move and the other was a back kick. Both had large movements, which made it easy for the opponent to dodge. Almond didn’t hear it, but the commentators said something similar.

“A back kick or a special taekwondo move might be good to turn around the match.”

“Ah. Why is that?”

“Because weaving in boxing easily dodges taekwondo's foot attacks. Even a late reaction would still successfully dodge an attack and taekwondo carries a high risk if the attack misses because it's mostly kicks.”

Kicks had long range and high damage, but were risky if they missed or got blocked.

On the other hand, boxing had easy dodges with weaving skills and flexible timing to execute fast punch combos.

“Boxing jets are also great for quickly closing in. The weaving skill doubles as a rushing skill.”

“Ah. Isn’t that overpowered?”

“No. Boxing jets can't do much against a judo or wrestling jet.”

“Ah, they're weak against grappling techniques!”

“Yes. Their lower body is left unprotected. If you rush in and grab them, they can’t counter.”

“It's similar to real martial arts?”

“Yes.”

“Ah. Almond is approaching Tae Ji-Ho again. Tae Ji-Ho is just waiting with his guard up, right?”

“There's no need to approach first.”

“Good. Almond! Are you going to charge in with a flying kick?!”

A flying kick was a taekwondo move for charging in and kicking twice with the left and right feet while in mid-air. It was very fast, but a boxing jet’s weaving could still dodge it because the taekwondo jet had to charge in first.

Tae Ji-Ho prepared to lightly dodge it again while weaving.

Whoosh—

“Uh…!? He’s jumping over?”

Almond suddenly jumped. A Jetter’s jumping ability was so great they could easily hop between rooftops.

Of course, he easily jumped over Tae Ji-Ho’s height. Then, Almond spun around in mid-air and executed a kick.

“It was a jump kick!”

“Right?”

Defying the laws of physics with a strange angle, Almond flew in and struck Tae Ji-Ho in the back of the head.

Thump!

— Oh LOL

— Taekwondo jet is full of tricks LOL

— Wow

“Cough!”

Tae Ji-Ho was struck on the back of his head and his eyes comically bulged out.

Meanwhile, Almond spun around and landed behind him. He had just executed the taekwondo jet’s jump kick command. It was a very useful move that peculiarly ignored the laws of physics while charging in.

“Does a single jump kick change anything? Of course, it hit his head and did good damage, but it's just one hit, right?”

“Yes! But it’s important that he's figured out how to counter the weaving!”

“Almond! He's charging in again!”

Almond rushed toward Tae Ji-Ho again.

“!”

At that moment, Tae Ji-Ho realized he was standing at a crossroads.

'Is it a jumping back kick or a flying kick...?'

If it were a jumping back kick, Tae Ji-Ho would have to block it by turning around or delaying his weaving. If it were a flying kick, he would need to block it immediately or use his weaving immediately.

Swoosh—

Almond soared into the air.

"It's a jumping back kick!"

Tae Ji-Ho smiled and turned around to block it. Aerial attacks like jumping back kicks were easier to block than weaving around them. However...

Thump!

He was struck in the back of his head. Indeed, he wasn't just at a crossroads.

"A front jumping back kick?!"

He was at a three-way junction.

"Ah! This time it’s a front jumping back kick!!"

"There was no need to go all the way around to kick!"

"The low jump fooled him!"

This technique, called a low jump kick, was a trick only experienced players knew.

It involved jumping low to kick, confusing the opponent and making it difficult to block or dodge.

"Crazy."

Was it a flying kick, a jumping back kick, or a low jump kick? Or maybe...

"Is he really a beginner?"

Given the situation, Tae Ji-Ho could no longer just play defensively and aim for counters.

Thump!

He clashed his fists together and Almond rushed toward him again. He had to do something and couldn't always be the one having to choose. He had to be the one making Almond choose what to do.

"I’ll throw a double jab."

Tae Ji-Ho would test Almond with two jabs in a row.

"He’s coming."

The opponent entered his range.

Whoom! Whoom!

His fists quickly shot out and the opponent dodged. It looked like weaving.

"?"

A person not trained in boxing had dodged like he was weaving?

"Ah?! The battle has begun! Tae Ji-Ho initiated it!"

"Won't he regret it?! Almond's dodging stance isn't ordinary!"

Tae Ji-Ho felt slightly surprised, but he thought it didn't matter. After all, the jab was a very light attack and it didn’t matter much if the opponent dodged or blocked it. Plus, the opponent was now within range of his boxing jet, which was fatal for a taekwondo jet.

"Isn't it very difficult for taekwondo to win?!"

Whoom! Whoom!

Tae Ji-Ho threw another double jab.

Was it not a coincidence? The opponent dodged again.

"That’s fine."

It was okay because Almond was now within range.

"But why did Almond give up the distance so easily?!"

"Even if he kicks from far away, Tae Ji-Ho can simply dodge while weaving... Oh!?"

Tae Ji-Ho threw a decisive punch.

"Die...!"

Thump!

Instead, a counterattack landed on him.

"Huh?"

His mind went blank for a moment.

"Did Tae Ji-Ho just take a hit?! How did that happen at such a close range?"

"It’s his hands! Hand attacks are coming in!"

Almond stopped kicking and started fighting up close with his hands.

Thump!

His hand attacks perfectly countered Tae Ji-Ho’s double jab.

Even if taekwondo's hand attacks had low efficiency, the hits still made a big difference if they all landed as counters like this.

"What, what?!"

Whoosh!

Even as Tae Ji-Ho threw more punches, he couldn’t hit Almond.

Thump!

In the blink of an eye, Tae Ji-Ho's chin shot up. An uppercut had slipped through. This perfectly timed sharp counter gave him no chance to weave.

"Taekwondo is beating boxing with hand attacks!?"

"It's the first time I’ve seen someone overcome a boxer’s weaving with hand attacks!"

— lololol

— No time to weave lololol

— What the heck is this? lolol

— ??? Now who's the boxer?

— What mockery lol

Taekwondo was beating boxing in a fistfight. This indicated an indescribable skill gap between the two players.

"This can't be."

[HP: 62%]

Tae Ji-Ho had lost too much health and eventually made a mistake.

Shh…

"Tae Ji-Ho is retreating?!"

"Is this a mistake?!"

He weaved back.

"Ah. I panicked without realizing."

Tae Ji-Ho recognized his mistake. He had inadvertently increased the distance from the taekwondo jet. Moreover, he had done it by weaving. Now he couldn’t avoid the next attack by weaving anymore.

Almond didn’t miss this opportunity.

Swoosh!

In an instant, he changed stances and launched a kick. It was a simple and perfect spin kick.

Ting!

[Finishing Move]

A clear sound effect rang out as the tip of his foot struck Tae Ji-Ho’s chin.

Thump...

Tae Ji-Ho's body shivered and stiffened.

The commentators rose from their seats and cheered, "Finishing mooooove!!! It got triggered!!!"

In the meantime, Almond’s kick combo struck the opponent at a speed impossible to follow with the eyes.

Thumpthumpthumpthump!

— Wow!

— Wow, a finishing move!

— Against a boxing jet?

"Ahahah...! The mountain is crumbling! No Tae Ji-Ho! It's a landslide!!!"

— A landslide lol

— lololol

— lololol

Bang!

Tae Ji-Ho's body flew back after the final blow of the finishing move.

Swoop.

He disappeared from the edge of the rooftop.

"The angle for a bungee is perfect too!"

"The mountain of Pangyo! Down!!"

[Victory]

Today, Almond quickly defeated his second opponent while playing JetPumped for the first time.

"This is talent, everyone! Look! This is someone playing the game for the first time!? Unbelievable!"

— A landslide... cough!

— Almond tears down mountains! Almond tears down mountains!

— Did you know? There’s actually no mountain in Pangyo! Did you know? There’s actually no mountain in Pangyo! Did you know? There’s actually no mountain in Pangyo!