Chapter 122
[Who the hell is this guy with 20,000 viewers? Never seen him before.]
A post appeared on The League community.
It was because an unfamiliar streamer had popped up in the Travel The League category.
A viewer count of 20,000 is incredibly high for a streamer.
He wouldn’t be classified as a corporate giant, but rather a solid mid-tier streamer, and that’s not something to scoff at.
Only a small fraction of mid-tier streamers ever reach that level.
So when an unknown streamer occupies such a spot, curiosity is inevitable.
==
(Travel category screenshot)
Who’s this?
==
Comments poured in on the purely questioning post.
-You don’t know the Heavenly Demon?
└Yeah (OP)
-Can’t believe you don’t know him
└LOL for real
└Idiot lol
In truth, it wasn’t purely a question.
The post title itself used a swear, “this bastard,” so the replies answering the question were bound to have a spicy edge.
-Why, should I know him? (OP)
The OP seemed to feel wronged.
And yet, this many people knew that streamer?
Most of the commenters seemed to be in the know.
Of course, that’s because the community users who don’t know him wouldn’t bother commenting.
└I’m a viewer of the streamer, and that guy is literally a nobody. (OP)
A nobody.
Slang for someone you’ve never heard of or seen before.
└A nobody? That’s the Heavenly Demon you’re talking about
└He’s the Sword God now, though?
└Hey, orthodox faction. Stop your nonsense.
└Gal!
└Hmm. You guys from Nohyeop or something? (OP)
Seeing comments like that, any user with even a slight interest in gaming would naturally think of *For the Martial World*.
It’s the only martial arts game with any real weight behind it.
Coincidentally recalling that a tournament had just ended, the OP posted this:
-Was the tournament really that big? Hmph lol (OP)
The OP thought to himself:
*Isn’t the tournament something only a niche audience watches, and even if it gets big numbers, it’s just spikes in room count, views, and viewers—it doesn’t really produce mid-tier streamer numbers?*
*It doesn’t even reach The League’s average.*
Surprisingly, that was a valid point.
That’s how dismissive one could be, given the sheer scale of The League.
└Now you’re dissing *For the Martial World*?
└You’ll come to your senses after getting parried by the Heavenly Demon.
└This is The League community, you’re the ones who need to wake up. (OP)
We live in a world where YouTubers with 1 or 2 million subscribers exist whom you’ve never heard of.
Even though Seojun made a huge name for himself and achieved incredible feats in *For the Martial World*, it’s inevitable that far more people still don’t know who he is.
So League users who remembered Seojun’s *For the Martial World* days started urging him to watch just one gameplay video.
└You’re just fangirling over some mediocre streamer lol (OP)
└Don’t run your loose mouth off.
└Just watch one gameplay clip and you’ll get it.
└He’s insanely good. A real skill-based streamer. Just watch one.
└Brought some (clip) (clip) (clip)
└Watch this too. It’s insane. (clip)
But the OP responded:
└Yeah, you’re only saying that because he fought in *For the Martial World* lol. Martial world level lol (OP)
They realized.
The OP was writing comments without even watching the clips.
Because if he had actually seen Seojun’s gameplay, the urge to write such a comment would naturally vanish.
At least, if he had functioning eyes.
Fortunately, it seemed he did have eyes and was watching something.
└Whoa, shit, he picked Kael? Is he a Kaeltard? (OP)
Only then did the commenters who knew Seojun feel at ease.
└Looks like you’re watching the stream now?
└Then no need to say more lol
└Retreat!
└What. Why are you guys all leaving mid-fight. (OP)
└This bastard’s about to become a demon cultist lol
└LOL for real
└What the hell are you talking about! (OP)
* * *
Kael is a character who lives and dies by pressure points.
His skill itself can only be used after slashing three pressure points within a certain time window.
That time window is 10 seconds after attacking a pressure point.
If you fail to hit the next pressure point within 10 seconds, it resets.
Surprisingly lenient, and for someone familiar with it and focused, it’s a doable condition.
Of course, it’s also a difficulty level high enough to mass-produce fanatics obsessed with him.
His ultimate requires an additional three, totalling six stacks, on top of that.
This isn’t completely impossible either.
But similarly, it’s more than enough to breed fanatics.
*‘High risk, high return—if you slip up even a little, you get nothing.’*
The measure of a Kael player’s skill is how quickly they can strike the pressure points and use the skill.
Why is that?
Aren’t the pressure point locations random anyway?
*‘They’re not random.’*
Seojun drove his sword into the pressure point before him and moved his blade toward where the next one would appear.
While Seojun predicted in a split second, the viewers were reminiscing about what had just happened.
-Wait, for real, did you memorize some kind of pattern? LOL
-It takes 2 seconds to stack the skill, that’s f*cking insane lol
-The pros are fast, but... this is too fast! Streamer!
Right.
The pros can chain-attack Kael’s pressure points faster than others.
Here, "pros" specifically means the artisans—those who have played one character, Kael, for thousands or tens of thousands of games.
Seojun’s sword moves without hesitation.
The light reveals the emerging pressure point.
A horizontal slash. Then a thrust.
Clang! Clang!
And from the instant it forms, the tip of his sword touches it, moving to shatter it.
Exactly 2 seconds.
[Radiance’s Blessing]
A reloaded arrow flies in, and Seojun’s body is enveloped in light.
-Again? Seriously?
-Crazy
-Is the invincibility skill getting duped?
-What the heck lol, so ridiculous
-This is way too OP
Players who have delved to the extreme, performing all kinds of techniques and possessing incredible skill at least with that one character, are called artisans.
And Kael has quite a number of artisans.
What kind of feats can these Kael artisans show?
It’s quickly fulfilling the skill conditions and unleashing the ultimate amidst complex and disadvantageous battle situations.
If you can fulfill the skill within 20 seconds regardless of the situation, you’re considered decent.
If you pull it off within 10 seconds, you qualify as an artisan.
If you can use the skill within 8 seconds, you are undoubtedly a Kael artisan with Challenger-tier mechanics.
But then.
-2 seconds again! WTF lol
-Does that even make sense?
-Are you sure there isn’t a cheat sheet for this?
-Cheat sheet my ass lol
Seojun’s sword cuts the pressure points.
Slash after slash. Without a moment’s rest. When it seems like he might get blocked, he uses what is considered the best skill by pure performance.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
“Huh? Hey. Wait, stop!”
The health bar that had been depleting with each pressure point Seojun struck ran out completely.
[First Blood!]
The enemy, eyes wide in bewilderment, had died.
[Mid nice]
[Whoa! Kael good!]
The voices of his teammates.
In The League, you can talk to your entire team even during the game.
You can also see their locations on the minimap.
And you can place pings to send quick information to allies.
Just pull up the desired option from the interface floating beside you, much like the chat window summoned with a thought.
This user-friendliness was a strength The League had possessed since its PC days.
Seojun smiled slightly and went to farm minions.
“Oops. Failed my force control there.”
* * *
[Unstoppable!]
Seojun briefly opened his interface at the narration.
He saw the enemy’s KDA.
It was 0/5/0.
Since Seojun’s KDA was 5/0/0, the enemy mid laner had already died to Seojun five times.
[Hey hey. Kael, are you crazy?!]
[So you were a Kael artisan!]
[I believed in you.]
[Isn’t the enemy mid just trolling?]
Seojun spoke amidst his team’s cheers.
“No, the enemy mid had to leave again as soon as they came back. I’m lonely.”
-If he fails force control twice, he might get a pentakill lol
-Streamer, hurry up and reveal the cheat sheet! Reveal it! Reveal it!
-How the hell is he doing that... seems like there really is some rule?
-The Kael fanatics drooling right now, upvote lol
In the past, Kael was a bit different from how Seojun remembered playing him.
*‘I was a bit surprised when I checked the info yesterday.’*
The concept of spotting pressure points and attacking them quickly for an advantage was the same, but there was no invincibility skill, and the ultimate had no requirements.
Instead, he remembered the speed buff from attacking pressure points being more than double what it is now.
The core is the same. But the skills have changed slightly.
*‘So back then, people didn’t focus so much on attacking pressure points quickly.’*
Now it’s different.
-There’s definitely a pattern, it’s a dead giveaway.
-But if there really was one, there’s no way someone wouldn’t have discovered it... geez. It’s seriously amazing.
-This is the flavor! It’s like when he discovered the texture! The streamer is an alien!
-Is it possible because he’s smart?
-Nah, streamer is the successor of Surface, so game companies probably spill all their secrets to him.
-Why would such an esteemed person be in Travel category? lol
For Kael now, speed is life.
*‘If it were truly random, luck would be life, not speed.’*
The reason artisans can cut pressure points faster than normal people is because.
After thousands and tens of thousands of games, they have slightly grasped a fragment of the rules.
When they play Kael, their instinct barely steps foot into the domain where Seojun stands.
“Everyone, why did you think the rule generating pressure points was random in the first place?”
-Well, lol, because we couldn’t find it.
-If you play a lot, you can kind of sense where it’ll appear, but lol... when you go into detail, you don’t actually know.
-It was partially random.
Until now, users and artisans had inferred this:
Roughly, whether it’s left or right, top or bottom, there’s a set rule, so you can know with experience!
But more specifically, whether it descends from the shoulder, is a circular thrust, a vertical slash, or where the path begins—that’s random!
Because we can’t figure it out!
This was the established theory before Seojun played the game.
Likely, the majority who don’t watch Seojun still think that way.
“Everyone, you get it now, right? Game companies only love randomness when they’re selling gacha items.”
Seojun’s viewers had witnessed the truth: Kael’s pressure points have a pattern.
-ㅔ
-He found this too, like seeing the texture lol
-Ugh lol gacha items lol
-They sure do love dirty gacha.
-No but seriously lol, what kind of person is he that he sees things like this!
-A common newbie from the peninsula.
-That’s our streamer for you.
-More detailed explanation please!!!!
“I’ll give a detailed explanation later. Now then. I’ve hit level 6, so shall we see how long it takes to use the ultimate?”
If it took 2 seconds to stack 3, then how about stacking 6?
Conveniently, the mid laner who had died 5 times was trudging back without a thought.
Normally, after dying that many times, your soul leaves your body and you move mechanically.
Seojun approached.
The enemy mid laner, who had been spacing out, flinched in surprise. But perhaps having lost focus, their reaction was slow.
He traced the first trajectory in a diagonal line.
Clang!
Next was the thrust’s turn.
*‘Left chest, then.’*
Seojun’s sword, which he had pulled back, extended in a straight line.
Clang!
Pathways of countless angles appeared and vanished in an instant, cut down by Seojun’s sword.
“I don’t want to see this anymore……”
The shattering sound of glass rang out six times in rapid succession.
As the condition was met, a mark appeared above the enemy’s head.
*‘So that’s the heresy mark.’*
That mark signified that whoever had it above their head had become the target of the ultimate.
*‘In the old days, you had to aim and land the ultimate precisely, but now they said it guarantees a hit once the mark appears.’*
Needless to say which one is better for Seojun.
Only 4 seconds had passed.
“That’s how it’s done.”
As Seojun imagined a sword descending from the sky and thrust his own into the ground with both hands.
Rumble-!
[Judgement Sword]
A great tremor shook the air as the sky split open.
In just 4 seconds, Kael’s ultimate was activated.
The colossal sword descending from the heavens fell upon the face of the enemy mid laner, who stared blankly up at the sky.
“Wow. Seeing it in person, Kael’s skill is really cool.”
Those were the words that came out of the enemy mid laner’s mouth.
It’s easy to end up like that when you die every time you return to lane.
“You didn’t die, though.”
The Judgement Sword had an execute effect, instantly killing anyone below a certain health threshold.
And while the enemy had been cut at the pressure points six times, their health hadn’t been whittled down that much.
“Yeah, I’m not dead. Then kill me now. I saw the skill well, I’ll be going.”
-lololol Their mental is completely gone lol.
-Originally Kael is supposed to go 0/6/0 lol
-Oh, I saw the skill to my heart’s content, I’ll be on my way~
-Please explain the method... I play Kael and I really can’t stand it.
* * *
Unbeknownst to Seojun, Kael was a hero who had already been massively popular, and after receiving a rework (skill redesign), his popularity had exploded.
To the point of being hailed as the successor to the iconic "hasagi" swordsman character from the PC days.
But the ones responsible for creating that perception didn’t care even if they were called fanatics.
They didn’t care about the skills, or winning or losing the game.
Only the ultimate!
They picked Kael and played the game solely to use the Judgement Sword, and their only concern was how many seconds it took to pull it off.
Speed had been important since the past.
Even during the PC era, there was a character, a precursor to Kael, who wielded a rapier and burst pressure points.
That 2D character’s ultimate created pressure points simultaneously in all four directions: front, back, left, and right.
And people created countless combos to burst those four pressure points in one second.
Because that speed was power, and skill.
After transitioning to virtual reality, the fundamental environment, pressure point mechanics, the hero’s concept, and countless other elements changed, but the essence seemed not to have changed easily.
After all, many Kael fanatics believed that Kael’s skill depended on how quickly you could burst the next pressure point by “predicting” it to some extent.
And now, a piece of news had appeared on the community that would drive every last one of those Kael fanatics absolutely insane if they saw it.
[Whoa... crazy... did a 4-second Judgement Sword just happen??]
And the one who first carried this news was the OP of the post who had earlier asked about Seojun.
Although the beginning was different, it was the moment the second Joseon’s Assassin was born.