Regardless of what sport you play, there is always an instance in which one of the teams or players takes the lead. What's crucial at this stage is how much time is left in the game, and for how long can a team/player maintain their advantage. Time is of the essence, as they say. Who ever can time themselves, gauge their position, and maintain their forward momentum are usually the ones that come out on top in these scenarios. HARDCORE LEVELING WARRIOR is a little bit like that in CH.47 and 48 with our heroes taking a commanding lead over the other teams in the Hunting Ground. And why shouldn't they have a commanding lead? It isn't everyday that a Player Character (PC) completely obliterates the strongest devil in all of Lucid Adventure. Suffice to say that taking down an ice wielding, Nightmarizing, psychopath has its benefits including twenty one stars, and rare items across three parties of three players. The only problem is that the Hunting Ground phase of the tournament has only just started, and now HLW and friends have been marked with a big red "X" by courtesy of Giga and the System Notification Board.
Now, here is where we break from the sports metaphor because normally, if a team/player scores a bunch of points that nobody can hope to top that usually means the game is over. In this situation, the parties allied under HLW are now putting their lives on the line to maintain their lead, and time is against them in this matter. Holding this in mind, the major protagonist - filled with a wealth of experience and luck - concocts a scheme to get him and his team out of a rapidly closing trap. By courtesy of Choco BiBi's "Teleportation" skill, as HLW's alliance is swarmed upon by enemies, they break into three separate groups in order to better hide out and buy time for the Hunting Ground phase of the tournament to draw to a close. From there, things get pretty wild because only someone filled with luck and a ridiculous amount of confidence would hatch the sort of scheme that Kim Se-hun has his characters enacting over the last three chapters. Frankly speaking, having to go to the bathroom in the middle of a raid or game is always a hassle. Drip Soup finds himself in this situation as his relog finds him by himself in the middle of the battlefield where he was originally killed by the Toadish. Upon his arrival, a special item left by Choco BiBi activates upon contact with Drip Soup's unique mana revealing a letter. Within this note Choco BiBi explains the circumstances of the teams disappearance, with additional instructions specifying that Drip Soup has his own crucial role to play in the alliances survival. There is a comedic interplay between Drip Soup and the letter that really helps to loosen the tension of the events leading up to this point. This has the added benefit of fully characterizing the relationship between Drip Soup and Choco BiBi in particular, as his comfortable talk of bowl movements and bathroom scents appears to indicate a closeness derived from a long time friendship. Turning to more serious matters, Pooh Upooh's zombies prove to be fairly light work for Giga's teams as they improve their moral, and subsequently, their combat prowess. Pooh Upooh reveals that there is more to the zombies than initially meets the eye, and uses the "Soul Whisper" ability to create a significantly more powerful zombie. Marked as a high undead, General Lich is able to rally the other zombies allowing them to recall their own pasts in order to augment their combat skills. Stunned by this development Dark comments on the implausible nature of Pooh Upooh's abilities and interactions thereof. Pooh Upooh, however, stresses that Dark is able to rewind time to a degree. Effectively, Kim Se-hun states that nothing is impossible within the boundaries of Lucid Adventure, allowing for a level of cognitive normalization with regards to the overpowered and unbelievably unique paradigms that affect each and every character of HARDCORE LEVELING WARRIOR. With their current enemies engaged, Pooh Upooh reassess the battlefield which is largely populated by the parties under Giga. Pooh Upooh's assessment boils down to a simple strategy. Defeat or distract as many teams as possible in order to reinforce the other groups under Pooh Upooh's alliance. It is with this in mind that Dark is tasked with using the skills he has just observed under Pooh Upooh in order to take down a small party dispatched by Giga. Although hesitant to engage more than a single player at a time, Dark nevertheless is driven to show that he is above the average Dark Magician. By taking on this challenge he additionally gains Pooh Upooh as a mentor, and receives a quest as an added bonus assignment revolving around skill combinations. Dark is quick to dismiss Upooh's teaching and instead strives to take the enemies down using his own methods. There is an inherent stubbornness to Dark's character that has been seen plenty of times since he was first introduced into the cast of HARDCORE LEVELING WARRIOR. Though he can be considered a central protagonist, and even the crux of critical plot points, he struggles to maintain an image of strength when contrasted against his peers. These two chapters really paint Dark is a valuable asset to HLW and Sora as a team member and protagonist. In CH.48, Dark is able to resurrect the dead, but his low skill level stops him from allowing them to recall their past lives. Instead, he devises a wholly new strategy revolving around his "Deja Vu" skill that instead augments his skeleton armies base strength. Dark is able to thus defeat the majority of his enemies, but one of Giga's party members is able to avoid death at the hands of the skeleton army. This enemy is then defeated by Lazie who has significantly powered up and changed forms after having integrated Rigos' horns. Charmingly, this display of his capability against Giga enamors Choco BiBi, who remarks that Dark is an exceptionally quick study of skills and abilities. As Dark learns the ropes of being a Dark Magician under Pooh Upooh's tutelage, HLW and Tak attempt to make quick work of BJ Umai and his scouting party. In a party of anthropomorphic animal characters - namely a turtle and rabbit - Umai is distinctly human, and provides support for his rabbit companion while HLW engages in a one-on-one with the turtle. Tak proves to be astoundingly resilient to magic, and is able to easily incapacitate the rabbit even with Umai shooting arrows at him. It is while catching arrows shot by Umai that Tak reveals that the character facing him is in fact an impostor and not the real BJ Umai based on the Impostor's lack of archery skill. Though the rabbit was easy to defeat, the turtle facing HLW is much more powerful and throws a multitude of significant strikes. Given his luck and general speed, however, HLW is able to easily avoid most of these ground breaking blows. It is during one of these extremely powerful punches that HLW kicks the turtle into a whole of his own making, effectively trapping the turtle. With a single use of his "Moonlight Slash" skill, HLW is able to defeat the now defenseless turtle by attacking his soft underbelly. As HLW turns to help Tak there is an exceptional amount of shock seen in HLW's countenance that is a fairly rare reaction within the series. Surprisingly, Tak struggles to defeat the Impostor despite the fact that his enemy is using a bow as a sword. HLW leaps into the fray and discovers first hand that this Impostor possess a physical strength that is far above that of an archer. The Impostor then reveals "The Third Dagger", a weapon which bears a striking similarity to the dagger that was used to kill both HLW and Master Swordsman. This mysterious reveal, and whether the Impostor is the individual that has been hunting down other players within the tournament serve as driving forces that heighten the tension lost at the beginning of CH.47. The unique cliffhanger is particularly taunting as Se-hun focuses instead on Dark and Sora's development at the start of CH.48 before finally focusing on HLW and Tak once more. Elsewhere on the battlefield, Sora continues to struggle with her Ego Sword as her opponent is an exceptional swordswoman in her own right. The difference in skill between Sora and the unnamed, blue skinned swordswoman is significant enough that Sora's leg is almost completely severed by a single lunge. Distressed by her wound, Lime insists that she refrain from fighting for much longer, but Sora bravely states that she'll defeat her opponent without the need for healing. Much like Goku in DRAGONBALL Z, Sora gains a golden aura as she uses her Taster's special skill to turn her satiety into damage. Though this proves to be significant combat buff for her, she still lacks in the necessary skills to turn the battle around. It is at this critical moment that the Ego Sword - apparently named Ego now - activates a special skill allowing it to eat up the enemies weapon. Faced with a defenseless opponent and fully powered up, Sora is then able to easily defeat the enemy swordswoman. It is revealed in the subsequent panels that both Lila and Tempest have been able to subdue their own opponents leaving the Taoist as the last man on the enemy team. The Taoist, however, insists on saving his teammates and has Korean Ninja - yeah, that's one of his team members - use a "Smoke Bomb" skill which, you guessed it, creates a smokescreen. Capitalizing in the lack of vision, the Taoist then grabs Korean Ninja and kicks Lila away from his other companion before using his "Run For Life" skill. Having technically defeated the opposing team, Lime sets about healing the party members as Sora states they must reconvene with the others. Apparently, Kim Se-hun's sense of humor truly knows no bounds in how he uses his side characters. Where major antagonists like Han Gun-soo are extremely powerful with traditionally named skills, the Taoist and Korean Ninja both have impossibly generic skill names. Whether this is a play off his statement last chapter about anything being a possibility within Lucid Adventure, a simple nod to humor, or a mixture of both is difficult to pin down. It does make for a spot of comedy in an otherwise combat heavy chapter. This also gets some of the jollies in before Se-hun returns to HLW and Tak as they face down the Impostor! Although it still has yet to be explicitly stated, the Impostor certainly seems like the individual that has been killing many players during the early rounds of the tournament. The current situation faced by HLW is a result of these earlier killings. It is the realization of this relationship that creates a subquest for HLW wherein, if the Impostor is the murderer, he will receive another fragment of "Zero's Memory". Should the Impostor be someone else, however, his luck score will decrease. HLW agrees to the quest conditions which engages the games PVP system, locking both players into a one-on-one to the death. Never slow on the draw, HLW uses his "Golden Lucky Coin" skill to receive a buff as the Impostor slashes him with "The Third Dagger" which paralyzes HLW. Of course, despite the dire nature of this status effect, our hero is not one to simply roll over a die a second time to the same tactic as before. By using his "Borrow" skill to take Tak's skills and stats momentarily, HLW is able to overcome the paralysis and deals a significant blow to the Impostor with "J.R.I.R Crush" and his "Golden Lucky Coins" 100% accuracy buff. HLW postures in front of the downed Impostor who stresses that he cannot defeat HLW in his current form. In a shocking twist, the Impostor reveals himself to be none other than the woman who initially killed our hero way back in CH.1. With yet another startling cliffhanger, Kim Se-hun has brought readers full circle in his story. As per usually there have been exceedingly few reveals about the world of Lucid Adventure and its characters. Despite this, Se-hun has narrowed his focus and has brought readers to the heart of our heroes story. There is still a long way for the story to go, and while this conflict is not the last it is certain to be a significant battle within the mythos of HARDCORE LEVELING WARRIOR. Next chapter, readers will be able to look forward to Sora and friends meeting up with Pooh Upooh's team, HLW fighting against the mysterious antagonist from CH.1, and Drip Soup may actually do something interest all by his lonesome! Let it be made clear here and now that HARDCORE LEVELING WARRIOR has never a dull moment, and Se-hun is continuing to elevate both his story and his artistry through this charming series. Written By: ALAN "VIENNA" SINGH
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