The Tone-Deaf Healer Kills with a Song - Chapter 51

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Tone-Deaf Healer Kills with Song – Episode 051
Day 3 of the ranking tournament.
I was suffering from withdrawal symptoms.
“Ye-ah, what’s wrong?”
“I miss Liri.”
“….”
Only those who had participated on day 2 of the ranking tournament knew my name, but since information would spread eventually, I decided to get ahead of it and release my details.
My information, which had been recorded only as “Yeom” on Hanttae’s homepage, would have been updated to Yeom Ye-ah, and Jung Hwan-jae had apparently lodged a formal protest with Dante last night and secured compensation.
I was well aware that it wasn’t common for a Guild Master to personally step in and protest on behalf of a single guild member.
Everything was being resolved smoothly. Everything except for the withdrawal symptoms I was experiencing regarding Liri.
“Since awakening, I’ve never been separated from her. When I need to use my skills and she’s not by my side, the anxiety is unbearable.”
Today was a day when neither I nor Jung Hwan-jae had any matches.
I could have spent it leisurely at the lodging or trained, but since Sung Ji-wook and Rosalind Brown had a match today, I came out to watch.
He had even bought me a cup of coffee.
I was touched that he brought it with hazelnut syrup added, even though I’d never mentioned that I drank it that way.
He had said it was better to study by observing others’ combat styles rather than practicing against imaginary opponents, and I agreed with that opinion.
Whoever wins between the two of them will become my next opponent.
“Won’t I do?”
“You and the senior have different positions within me, so it won’t work.”
As I replied in a grumbling tone, Jung Hwan-jae’s expression fell slightly.
I hadn’t meant to discourage him—I was speaking truthfully because these two beings had different effects within me.
Jung Hwan-jae was the boss who saved me, and Liri was the mentor who pulled me forward.
And right now, I needed a mentor who could teach me each step, rather than a genius boss who was born knowing everything.
“Why can’t we be together with my handler here?”
“Well, this place is dominated by Baldur’s mana, so even if the handler tries their best, they can’t manifest an avatar form that wouldn’t affect ordinary awakened ones, or so I’ve heard.”
“What about messaging?”
“If you try to send a message, it gets transmitted almost like a divine decree.”
So no matter what restrictions they imposed, they couldn’t avoid negatively affecting awakened ones, which is why they simply banned handler interference altogether.
It was an undeniable reason I couldn’t argue against.
If Liri forced her way here and caused harm to someone else, I wouldn’t feel good about it.
I looked up at the scoreboard with a gloomy expression. That meant I had to finish all the remaining ranking matches with my own strength.
Whether my next opponent was Rosalind or Sung Ji-wook, I was certain I would stop there.
I shifted my gaze to the screen. People had gathered to watch the match between Rosalind and Sung Ji-wook.
With fewer people than yesterday, even though most of the crowd had assembled, it wasn’t particularly difficult to see the scoreboard.
“How many people will be left by the final day of the ranking tournament?”
“Since only one match remains to determine rank 1, only two people will be left. Some tournaments wrap up before day 7.”
“So they finish in five days and that’s it?”
“Usually if there’s no match on day 7, they fill it with ranking announcements and awards and such. There’s never a day with absolutely nothing scheduled.”
True, it wouldn’t do to end the festival early just because there were no people, when normally they run for a full week.
I was about to say something more when the screen came to life, stealing my attention.
Sung Ji-wook and Rosalind Brown stood facing each other.
A vast, empty Wilderness Arena stretched out around them.
“When I first awakened, Rosalind Brown lost, but after changing my combat style, I’ve been losing consistently. It seems I’m trapped in the healer’s role—I can’t attack my own allies, after all.”
Sung Ji-wook’s abilities specialized not in attacking someone, but in protection.
You might call it the textbook image that comes to mind when people think of a healer.
That’s why he inevitably falls short against Rosalind Brown, who deploys her skills offensively. He’d apparently tried to correct this many times without success.
Once a hunter’s skill deployment becomes ingrained, it’s nearly impossible to change—though it’s strange for a greenhorn like me to be saying such things.
“I thought you desperately wanted to beat Rosalind Brown.”
“Not really. Joke doesn’t care much about rankings. I simply do my best because I was told to do my best.”
Jung Hwan-jae raised his hand as if to begin, pointing at the scoreboard.
The sprawling arena was so dark on all sides that it seemed daylight didn’t exist here.
Unlike Earth, there was no sun or moon, yet the ground beneath their feet glowed with light.
A murky green luminescence began spreading from Rosalind Brown’s fingertips. Something closer to darkness and mist than light crept sluggishly across the ground.
Impossibly slow, yet gas cannot be grasped all at once. Unless pushed back by a powerful wind, it was certain to completely envelop Sung Ji-wook.
‘Poison?’
Rather than retreat or panic, Sung Ji-wook calmly watched the smoke gradually pressing toward him.
It was the most serene gaze I’d ever seen from him.
Sung Ji-wook closed his eyes as he watched the approaching smoke.
Wind seemed to blow from somewhere, rustling Sung Ji-wook’s clothes and hair. Between the currents, something like star fragments glimmered.
Rather than pushing back the green mist, it seemed to create a defensive barrier to protect Sung Ji-wook.
Solid and utterly beautiful.
“Can you spread it radially like I do and provide healing or buffs?”
“No, it’s different. Joke’s range is limited, but the protection is extremely potent. There’s no ability quite like his for blocking poisons mixed into the air.”
“Wow….”
Magnificent.
Doesn’t it feel like an impenetrable shield? Just like a tank.
I strained my eyes, trying to figure out what the two were discussing. I was determined to read their lips and somehow grasp the situation.
But I couldn’t read anything at all. As I groaned beside him, Jung Hwan-jae seemed to understand my frustration and carefully opened his mouth.
“Rosalind Brown is marveling at how Joke’s barrier has become even more solid than before, telling him to come over to Nike. She also says she’s improved quite a bit herself.”
“So people in Hanttae hear the pitch to join Nike once or twice?”
“Yes, well. It happens fairly often. It’s a guild assembled with only the rarest of talents.”
That’s certainly true.
Hanttae has a short history and no actual foreign deployments or exchanges, yet the world’s number-one guild keeps contacting them—that’s blatantly showing interest.
Honestly, I was starting to wonder if someone would actually be swept away to Nike during these ranking matches.
And the moment I thought of something else, the screen began changing rapidly. Countless things flashed.
Rosalind Brown’s green mist suddenly began vibrating violently. What had been gas flickered and shot toward Sung Ji-wook like bullets.
“I heard she attacks without distinguishing friend from foe and only heals her own allies.”
“Yes, that’s why she doesn’t get along with hunters who prefer close combat.”
With the same skill she’d shown shattering wine glasses at the gathering, she unleashed light in all directions as if to destroy Sung Ji-wook. But the light firmly enveloping him protected him.
And Sung Ji-wook wasn’t simply standing idle either.
The light enveloping his body gradually eroded away, but in that moment he pierced through the mist and closed the distance to Rosalind Brown in a heartbeat.
As light flashed from his hand, Rosalind Brown smiled brilliantly.
Her golden hair swayed magnificently, and just as Sung Ji-wook’s hand was about to make contact, Rosalind Brown seized his wrist.
With Rosalind Brown’s smile—so radiant it made my chest flutter—as the final image, a flash so blinding that the two figures vanished filled the entire screen.
Jung Hwan-jae shook his head and opened his mouth.
“And Joke prefers close combat. He seems to manipulate light, but the effective range of that light is short. Short and devastating.”
“I see….”
“So he needs to be agile, but it’s not easy to be faster than Rosalind Brown. His vision is obscured by mist on all sides, and he has to protect himself in that situation. Since he’s originally a healer, it’s also difficult for his offensive skills to match Rosalind Brown’s proficiency.”
Rosalind Brown—the hunter known as the strongest among healers. Whether rank 10 or within the top 5.
With overwhelming destructive power, if it came to close combat, there would be no healer capable of defeating Rosalind Brown.
Gradually, a figure appeared on the display screen.
Rosalind Brown, casting heal on Sung Ji-wook’s body as he lay on the ground twitching intermittently, winked toward the display screen.
I stared blankly at the screen before releasing a deep sigh.
“It’s decided. My next opponent.”
“Yes.”
“Do you think I can do well?”
Jung Hwan-jae nodded as if he had been waiting for this, and gently squeezed my hand in encouragement.
I also gripped his hand firmly in return.
Stat ??? responds to your will.
The debuff ‘Labyrinth’ finds its existence threatened.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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