The knight’s sword-lance came crashing in like lightning.
At the end point of his charge, the possibilities branched out like a tree spreading its limbs.
Thrust. Uppercut. Chop down, then shove forward again.
Slash. Swing. Whirl it around once more and retreat.
The knight did not surrender the initiative for even a single instant.
A barrage of consecutive strikes, filling every gap between one attack and the next.
An organic chain between attacks and delay-cancels, dashes and movement.
He would thrust out like a snake springing up to threaten, then flow away like water to widen the distance and reverse advantage and disadvantage.
From start to finish, he forced his opponent into back-movement and back-dashes, while he himself strode forward with long, confident steps.
[Title: Those fucking bastards. What are they, marathon runners?]
: Anon
They’re playing a different game among themselves again.
└Anon: They’ve been running nonstop for 3 minutes lol. What are they, hackers?
└MM: Seriously insane, as always.
└Big-Ears: They really need to nerf Zanshin stamina recovery.
In the brief lulls that formed between mind games, whenever the dwarf who had stopped moving tried to take a favorable position, the knight did not sit idle and immediately answered with a thrust.
Every time the dwarf tried to slip into forward movement, the sword-lance shot out like a thunderbolt.
The dwarf ran again, rolled, and sprinted, struggling to squeeze through the gaps between attacks, but it was futile.
Because the knight would not allow it.
While unleashing relentless chains, he pushed back the dwarf trying to dig into his range.
Every motion of the sword-lance was mid- to long-range. It could seize the high ground in a battle of reach, but in ultra-close combat there were few options to choose from.
Both sides knew perfectly well that if the dwarf were allowed to slip into his chest, the flow would be reversed.
Stepping on the delays between attacks, the knight’s two legs danced as if keeping rhythm.
A fierce mind game unfolded over reach and range.
The formulas of pattern combinations flooded out, chaining one into the next.
He threatened that if the dwarf carelessly threw out a familiar pattern, he would be countered at once; and if the dwarf failed to close the distance, another one-sided mix-up would follow.
-Clang.
But even while walking that precarious tightrope, the dwarf did not allow a single hit.
When unavoidable, he caught attacks on the shield fixed firmly to his shoulder, and even skillfully slipped past the mix-ups chasing the delay at the moment of guarding.
High and low. This time, low. Correct.
On-beat and off-beat. This time, on-beat. Correct.
Light attack and heavy attack. This time, because stamina was low, he instead squeezed out everything for a heavy attack. Correct.
[Title: How many consecutive clashes is that, seriously?]
: Anon
This isn’t even the practice room, and they’re doing that shit in the arena?
└Anon: Anyone seen them whiff?
└MM: Dunno lol. That’s basically hacking, seriously.
An ordinary player would have run out of stamina long ago, but the knight’s sword dance did not stop.
In the story’s explanation, it was the mental image that clung like an afterimage to the techniques performed by a warrior who had reached mastery.
In system terms, it was a timing action with a very brief judgment window at the moment an attack began or ended.
Odinson’s unique system, the flower of the Odinson-like genre: Zanshin.
By itself, it was nothing more than the sort of timing action every action game had.
A just-timing gimmick where a special judgment existed for an instant at the start and end of an action, and if you input the follow-up command at that timing, it granted an additional effect.
But this gimmick existed on almost every motion, attached not only to attacks but to dashes, guards, and even emotes.
As difficult as it was, the returns were varied: from recovery canceling to stamina regain and guard enhancement. Depending on the weapon, even stacking damage increase, crit rate, and armor penetration.
Of course, it was a technique as hard to learn as it was powerful.
The judgment window was absurdly strict, and the timing differed wildly from pattern to pattern.
That was right.
To put it bluntly, the number one contributor to turning Odinson into a dogshit dead game was none other than Zanshin.
Because systems like this inevitably built an insurmountable wall between veterans and newcomers.
[Title: If we sent a video donation of these bastards playing, wouldn’t we get new players?]
: MM
Whoosh-whoosh, swish-swish, it’s flashy as hell at least.
└Anon: They all already tried it, went “ptooey, it’s shit,” and ran away.
└MM: Sob sob.
└Anon: That streamer who said he’d be loyal last time ended up selling his Asgal stock.
[Title: When Odinson mad movies occasionally go up on WeTube, they do get views.]
: 00
The kids who make game mad movies are regularly sucking on that straw.
└Anon: Annoying that they’re leeching off us. Take them down already.
└MM: The head mod said it’s not like he’s making a living off this, so he gave permission.
└00: Lol, no way you could put food on the table as a WeTuber for this dogshit dead game.
└Anon: Sob sob.
[Title: What’s with the bastards saying the mod is a straight-sword one-trick?]
: Anon
He uses the sword-lance insanely well. That mix-up makes me want to puke.
└Big-Ears: Just forced hate.
└GeuncheopWoncheop: The mod basically uses every weapon he has.
└ArcherGoroshi: It’s just that the straight sword is the only thing that gets a decent win rate against that parry pervert... lol.
By nature, the sword-lance was a weapon that maximized the advantage of reach to pour out consecutive attacks.
Every risk was willingly accepted in order not to give up that advantage in reach.
Even if he gave up the first strike, as long as he thrust out, he could take the advantage in the stagger contest.
There was an overwhelming difference in weight between the two of them, and the momentum like chopping firewood, combined with consecutive attacks that did not waste that force, granted superior poise.
If it landed, it would guarantee a profitable trade.
The dwarf, too, saw through his thoughts in every detail.
A body less than half his size, and conversely, a bulbous nose that looked twice as large.
Without attacking at all, the dwarf was walking in and out of the sword-lance’s range.
Even the stamina to run was precious. No matter how perfectly he blocked, his stamina was already near its limit.
Mixing in only long, steady movements, the single dagger in his hand waited for an opportunity like a snake’s venomous fang.
[Title: The sword-lance hype is hitting me...]
: ArcherGoroshi
Since it’s a thrust, the startup is short, but the recovery into a slash is really insanely short.
Even with him rolling around like that, those predictive thrust shots are crazy...
└Anon: But if I use it, I’ll get five-seconded in the arena, right?
└ForRealLol: Jeju stone grandpa build totally possible. Swish-swish-swish-swish-swish.
└Anon: If I did it, I’d get perfected by those elf-eared elf bitches lol.
└ForRealLol: But why doesn’t rolling guard ever fail? Was that always that easy?
└MM: Nope. That activation is also Zanshin, and you have to clash with it to activate it lol.
└Anon: Two-stage Zanshin lol. These lunatics, seriously lololol.
[Title: I dug into sword-lance for a while.]
: HoldBreathInhale
The moment you mess up thrust Zanshin, you become a sandbag...
To delay-cancel when going from a swing to a thrust stance, you need two-stage Zanshin...
High, mid, low heavy attacks are all thrusts... trash weapon...
└Anon: Since thrusts are either heavy attacks or special attacks, they all get read.
└00: Maybe in bronze-silver, but in high rank it really is a flawed weapon lol. The mod is the weird one for somehow landing hits with mind games.
└ArcherGoroshi: Yakki spear) Has thrusts on light, heavy, mid, and special. Delay and range are varied. Short startup. Possible high-mid mix-up.
└ArcherGoroshi: Sword-lance) Three thrusts only on heavy attacks. Reach and range are all basically the same. Motions are basically the same too, so the mix-up is meaningless. Base startup is practically the Pacific Ocean.
└00: The sword-lance’s high and low special attacks are also thrusts, but since they’re special attacks, the thrusting posture is weird as hell.
└ArcherGoroshi: How does a weapon have five thrusts lololol.
└00: And yet it’s classified as a “sword” lol.
[Title: Still, the sword-lance]
: Anon
If you use thrusts well, it’s amazing. It only becomes trash when someone gets inside because of the thrust range.
└Anon: Since it’s a large spear, its startup is Pacific Ocean-level for a spear. Just react and dodge.
└Lol: If you get whiff-punished, it exposes everything, but that pervert hasn’t been able to land a single hit;
└Anon: But that’s because his weapon is poison-busted lolol.
[Title: Come to think of it, the poison-thorn sword’s motions are trash lolol.]
: 00
Nothing has reach longer than an arm. Is this even a weapon? Isn’t it a toothpick?
└GeuncheopWoncheop: TMI) The only people who shill the poison-thorn sword as OP are those perverts.
[Title: These guys use Zanshin like they’re using hacks.]
: PrayForNewGameDayX
It’s flashy, but when is an effective hit coming?
└Anon: Anyway, if one hit lands, it’s over.
└Anon: Look how naked the dwarf is lol.
[Title: I get why the poison-toothpick is busted, but why the sword-lance?]
: Anon
Looking at the dwarf’s setup, his stagger should be super short. Is the second hit guaranteed?
The sword-lance doesn’t have any guaranteed second hits except mid heavy-special and low special-light, right?
└Anon: You don’t even need a second hit lol.
└EarCollector: With the dwarf’s setup right now, he could probably roll even if he got hit by mid heavy-special.
└Anon: But the second hit is meaningless in the first place lol.
[Title: Roughly the pervert bastard’s stat screen]
: MM
(Gallery tournament dwarf stat screen.jpg)
└Anon: With stats like that, he dies if he gets hit anyway.
└00: No matter how many times I look, it’s such a giga-chad setup lolol.
└Anon: I ran the calculator, and even a graze from a low light attack takes 82% from full HP.
└GeuncheopWoncheop: If it hits at all, crit is guaranteed. Overkill.
└Lol: His combo stack has been maxed for the entire 5 minutes. If it hits, it’s a guaranteed crit.
└ForRealLol: Even a tap with a light attack is 164% overkill, fuck.
The dwarf slipped in, narrowly avoiding the narrow range of the thrusts, while the knight traced great circular arcs, blocking the dwarf’s approach.
The turning point came suddenly.
Between every chain of attacks, the knight had been constantly shifting his view and checking him—but the dwarf charged in like a shot.
The sword-lance grazed past by a hair.
He strode forward into the trajectory the knight had so carefully adjusted, dodging by pressing his body close.
If he had dashed too late, he would have been staggered. If he had changed the angle even slightly, he would have taken a clean hit.
But if he had dodged safely backward, he would not have reached.
The dwarf calmly passed through all those possibilities and gripped his dagger in reverse.
Having finally given up the distance, the knight shifted the weapon that had risen to the upper line back down to the lower line.
A follow-up command input at the exact timing of the judgment at the end of the attack.
A stance change performed so abruptly it seemed to cut out the intervening process.
With a delay cancel, the sword-lance dropped to the lower line in an instant, announcing the next attack.
From here on, it depended solely on mind games.
Against the sword-lance’s diagonal upward slash, the dwarf thrust his dagger forward to meet it.
The moment the dwarf’s opposing dagger’s high light attack command ended exactly—
The knight’s sword-lance touched the dagger as it entered its Zanshin judgment.
-Thooong!!!!
With a satisfying sound effect, the sword-lance slammed into the ground.
The stamina he had been carefully managing plummeted.
Into the knight’s abdomen, now left completely open at the center of his body, the dwarf’s poison-thorn dagger lodged itself.
-Pyok!!
There was still plenty of health left on the bar, but both the knight and the dwarf had already taken their hands off the keyboard and mouse and stopped.
The two of them had been so silent it was almost enough to make one wonder if there was a problem with the in-game voice chat, but at last Jincheol’s voice came out trembling.
-“...Next round... Let’s do the next round.”
-“You said that was the last one.”
-“Seriously, please!! Really, for real, last last!!”
-“...Ah, wait! Someone rang the doorbell!”
-Ding-dong.
-“Come on, old man!!”
[Title: Back Sensei, as expected, you can’t beat Belly Old Man with a large weapon, huh?]
: Anon
Lololol.
[Title: A straight-sword one-trick?]
: GeuncheopWoncheop
Call him a “straight-sword master.”
[Title: Stop. If the head mod runs away crying, we won’t have any slaves left to drag back.]
Anon:
Exactly lololol. Don’t lololol laugh too much lololol.
└Back: You’re the worst one... I’m about to ban you for namedropping.
└Lol: In this dogshit dead gallery, there isn’t a single nickname we don’t know, so what namedropping? lol.
[Title: The poison-thorn frontstab is seriously infuriating.]
: Anon
What the hell is “pyok”? Pyok? lololol.
[Title: Why doesn’t the poison on the poison-thorn dagger wear off?]
: MM
That tiny-ass tick damage is pissing me off;;
└GeuncheopWoncheop: If that goes in as a frontstab, the poison doesn’t wear off lololol.
└PrayDayX: Such an infuriating weapon lololol.
└HoldBreathInhale: I said what the hell is “pyok,” pyok? lololol.
[Title: Listen to his voice trembling...]
: Belly
So cute... heueung.
└MM: How did this old man get so much better at Korean? Really makes you feel the passage of time...
└Back: Old man. Get back in Discord.
└Belly: Ah, I’m sleepy now. I said it was the last round.
└Back: Scared?
└Belly: Lolol. You’re trash at the game.
└Back: I said it’s really the last one, so get in!!!
└00: Info) These bastards’ “real last round” has never once happened.
[Title: At this point, let’s look again at the sword-lance tooltip.jpg]
: 00
By nature, the sword-lance is a weapon devised to face both giants and dwarves.
It is neither as heavy as a giant,
Nor as light as a dwarf,
Nor as dazzling as a fairy,
Nor as sturdy as a beastman.
Because humans were inferior by nature, it is the fruit of their desperate struggle to follow, however inadequately.
A technique begun because, when faced with innate limits, they had not a single strength to claim as their own.
Human skill is, in the end, bound to be ugly and desperate.
└Anon: Typical shitty humans lololol.
└GeuncheopWoncheop: Ah, those hobbit bastards lol. Good. Today, it’s hobbits.
└Big-Ears: Archer ON.
[Title: But why did he GG the moment he got stabbed?]
: Anon
The poison-toothpick sword’s tick damage is tiny, so if he’d kept sticking close and fighting, wouldn’t there still have been a chance?
└GeuncheopWoncheop: Mod weight: 270.1/285. Gallery owner weight: 12.5/50. How’s he gonna catch him?
└Anon: Lol??? Why is the weight limit not even 100??
└ForRealLol: There’s a rune that lowers weight limit and enhances dash Zanshin.
└GeuncheopWoncheop: The gallery owner even mixes in emotes with his steps while running away...
└PrayDayX: It’s the Odinson Gallery entrance exam that only those who’ve suffered through it understand lololol.
***
“...What kind of dogshit dream was that?”
I’d held some vague hope that if I slept and woke up, I’d be back in my original world.
But what greeted me when I opened my eyes was an unfamiliar studio apartment, and a headache made even worse by its collaboration with a hangover.
“Aaagh... ugh. My head.”
Even the mattress of the bed I was thrashing on remained unfamiliar in its comfort.