Chapter 161
“No. Why now of all times?”
Pado asked, forgetting to close his mouth. He seemed dumbfounded.
Of course, Seojun had his reasons.
“Because I can’t see the chat.”
“Ah……”
Pado immediately accepted that, then tilted his head as if wondering if that made sense. Seojun ignored him and spoke.
“Now. Quickly, explain.”
- Lol no why now?! How can you be so brazen about it lol
- You’re doing the tutorial in front of everyone? Host, stop being so consistent...
- Sometimes have some awareness...
- Still, does this mean you finally realize how precious we are? Lol
- The host has always been like this. Sorry sorry sorry
Well, since it was his first time, he needed a bit of guidance.
He knew what the skill did, but he had to get the feel right, didn’t he?
A few lines of chat from viewers scrolling by would have been enough, but he couldn’t see them.
[Good. Listen well, descendant. My—no, our secret technique unfolds based on shadows. Imagine the shadows enveloping your entire body.]
The skill’s name.
Shadow Arts.
Before the minions arrived, Seojun used the skill.
*Swish.*
The shadow on the floor climbed up Seojun’s body and stained it dark.
His body was covered in shadow, and Seojun felt a sense of connection to something.
[In that state, try moving only your body to the side. It should be a little faster than usual.]
“Got it.”
- Both of them gritting their teeth and using casual speech with each other is hilarious lol
- The pride lol
- Host, why are you like this even with AI lol
- Pado is still just watching from afar lol
Seojun moved to the side.
Then, his overlapping body split apart.
In the spot where Seojun had been standing, a shadow body remained.
A new body had formed, but his view hadn’t changed.
‘So I can’t send it far out of sight to fight.’
The duration wasn’t that long anyway.
Plus, the shadow body had set health, so the opponent could quickly dispel it.
[Now, try moving your clone. If you move the way you normally do, only your body will move. Imagine it. Picture the clone in front of you walking and swinging its arms, and that you can control it.]
‘As expected.’
So this sensation of being connected to the clone was real.
It was unfamiliar and foreign.
He’d heard that people with physical disabilities often do well with this “sense” after spending a lot of time in virtual reality.
Maybe that was because of the unfamiliar sensation of moving.
Controlling another body felt like having a third arm or leg.
The difference was that it was far more intense—far more.
The shadow turned its head and cracked its neck.
There was no sensation of movement.
He could only confirm that the clone was moving through his eyes.
That made it even more alien.
[Minions are spawning.]
Soon, the clone sank downward, traveled along the ground to beneath Seojun’s feet, and returned to its original place.
Seojun’s shadow reappeared underfoot.
“Is there nothing else to note?”
[The shadow splits your consciousness…….]
“No, not that kind of thing.”
What it was saying now was clearly about hero concepts and story, but Seojun considered it useless.
Though that kind of talk was the reason for having a conversation mode in the first place.
At least in The League, Seojun and the developer might be completely incompatible.
[Hmm. If you wish, you can swap places with your shadow. But be careful, as the enemy can notice that too. And the shadow mages have a mission…….]
As the AI began spouting more useless talk, Seojun pulled up the interface.
“Then get lost now.”
[What? Wait…….]
This much was enough.
“A thing that hasn’t even been created for ten years, daring to use casual speech so arrogantly…….”
Just as Seojun said that—purely for the broadcast’s sake, truly—Pado started moving.
“Hahaha! Well seen. Then shall we begin the laning phase now?”
The minions had arrived.
“Yes, let’s.”
Seojun smiled brightly.
- That was the reason for casual speech? Lol
- The epitome of a boomer lol
- Still, he’s not wrong lol
- If you think about the League’s hero kids, they really haven’t even been around for ten years.
The minions approached and began fighting the enemy minions. They formed up.
Seojun watched Pado beyond them.
After a brief wait, the interface below his vision confirmed that the skill’s cooldown was over.
Jen’s weapons were the twin assassination blades in his hands.
Their design was similar to the assassination blades he’d worn in Dawn of the Assassins.
The enemy hero was Tali, the Tracker.
‘Wasn’t she a classic Jen counter?’
A counter meant a disadvantage in matchup.
As if to prove he hadn’t picked later for nothing, Pado confidently brought a counterpick, leveraging that advantage.
“That accident last time was a shame.”
“Ah. That accident……”
“It was completely unintentional. The Windblade over in top lane is a bad driver.”
“I’m sure.”
He didn’t believe it.
“Guess we’ll have to finish that unfinished fight here, huh? The ultimate frying pan champion.”
“……. Fine! Let’s do this! I’ll give it my all.”
Shadows crawled up Seojun’s body and enveloped him.
[Shadow Arts]
Then, the shadow-covered body charged forward, and a form took its place in the original spot.
Pado couldn’t tell if it was the clone or not.
Jen’s clone was mechanically indistinguishable until it expired or was destroyed by taking a certain amount of damage.
You could guess from its movements, though.
‘That’s Seojun-nim.’
Pado was certain it was the real body.
Its approaching movements were natural.
Earlier, Pado had been watching Seojun use the skill.
The reason he hadn’t interfered then was to properly check his proficiency. Not that interfering would have gained him anything anyway.
The way Seojun had moved the clone back then was clearly that of a first-timer.
‘Not that there’s zero chance it was acting.’
But he knew Seojun was the type to act first and think later.
From what he’d seen again, even at Ground Zero, he hadn’t calculated anything in advance.
So there was no need for deep suspicion. There truly was no scheme.
‘Arrogance…… no.’
It was just that Seojun was so confident in his own skill that he didn’t bother preparing.
‘He was like that back then, too.’
That was something Pado had realized after properly checking on his opponent following Ground Zero.
Pado adjusted his grip on his sickle-like weapons, the twin kamas. Tali’s main weapons.
Strings were attached to the handles, allowing attacks at freely adjustable range.
“You know I’m a counter, right?”
Pado swung his arm and naturally released his grip. The kama, now a weight on a string, drew a semicircle.
Seojun didn’t answer.
“Just so you know, the clone can talk too.”
The shadow drew near, paused briefly, and the kama sliced through the air right in front of Seojun.
At that moment, Pado spun his body along with the kama, advancing toward Seojun.
Seeing this, Seojun closed the distance even further.
As if anticipating this, Pado pulled the string while spinning the kama, shortening its reach.
And then.
*Clang!*
The assassination blade from Seojun’s right arm collided with the kama.
At the same time, the shadow’s mouth opened.
“Oh. The clone really can talk. Should I have done more of the tutorial?”
Having successfully defended, Seojun aimed his other assassination blade at Pado’s flank.
“Stop pretending to be a clone. That’s the real body.”
“Is it?”
Though only a dark silhouette, it was clear that Seojun was smiling.
Pado didn’t try to block or dodge Seojun’s oncoming attack.
Normally, it was right to be careful, since the real Jen’s attacks could deal bonus damage after the technique ended.
Jen’s Mark.
And Tali also had a mark.
The two were heroes from the same school in the story.
Whenever Tali attacked with her kama, she branded her target with a mark.
Up to three marks could be stacked, and the marks, which naturally faded after a set time, increased the damage the target took while active.
But that wasn’t the truly important part.
“Hmm……”
The attacked Seojun exhaled meaningfully.
“I said I’m a counter, Seojun-nim.”
‘Though you probably know that already.’
Kama and assassination blade pierced each other’s bodies, and health dropped.
And then.
Above Seojun’s head, a mark formed from the two kamas meeting.
The true terror of the mark lay in Tali’s skill.
Tracker Tali’s skill.
Mark Pursuit.
A skill that consumed one mark on the target to teleport behind them.
These marks could be placed on jungle monsters and minions as well, and the skill had charges, currently up to three at maximum—equal to the number of marks.
“Four seconds left.”
Seojun stated the remaining duration of Shadow Arts.
“That’s nice. Should be plenty of time to land three marks, don’t you think?”
Pado grinned, aiming at Seojun with his kama.
A pure physical fight began, with no other skills intervening.
Assassination blade versus kama.
Naturally, the kama was advantageous.
A normal kama might be different, but Tali’s kama could be swung on a string.
In contrast, the assassination blade was a weapon specialized for concealed ambushes, not direct combat.
However.
Four seconds.
The assassination blade deflected the spinning kama and pressed deeper.
Again, Pado conceded the hit, attempting to land his own, but the distance was too close to swing his arm.
Seojun, who only needed to thrust, landed his attack.
Health depleted.
Three seconds.
Making a quick judgment, Pado tried to slice Seojun upward from close range with the kama in his left hand.
But Seojun spun his body, blocking Pado’s rising slash with his left hand, and using the momentum, drew a horizontal line across Pado’s cheek with his right hand.
Two seconds.
In the midst of the close-quarters brawl, Pado completely ignored defense and managed to land an attack on Seojun.
The marks became two.
One second.
Seojun swapped places with his original shadow.
‘I’ve lost this much.’
It was physical skill that transcended weapon matchups.
Pado played among the Challengers, but this was unavoidable.
Perhaps some of Pado’s fans had expected him to win even in such a fight, but Pado had cleanly given up on this part.
‘Though I’ve also dropped from Challenger for playing around too much. Anyway, I didn’t pull out my full strength, pick later, and ban for nothing.’
[Mark Pursuit]
In an instant, as if the shadows flickered and positions swapped, Pado’s view also flipped instantly.
He was behind the retreated Seojun.
Jen’s basic trade pattern was to create a clone, send the real body in to deal damage, then escape when in danger.
This was because damage dealt by the real body during the skill’s use could trigger bonus damage.
Tali could neutralize this with her skill, giving her the matchup advantage.
‘I’m sure he’ll turn around, knowing that!’
The strike after the pursuit dealt bonus damage. Plus, with one mark active, it would more than make up for things.
Seojun would turn around and try to block, but even he wouldn’t easily block the strike after Mark Pursuit.
Because after teleporting, Tali became stealthed for one second.
Thinking that, Pado moved the instant his view flipped, but unexpectedly, Seojun, whom he had appeared behind, stood still.
‘Did he give up?’
Pado easily landed the blow and looked at the clone, its health now equal to his own.
And in that moment, the severely damaged clone was dispelled.
The thing Pado had firmly believed was the real body was just Seojun’s skill.
A clone that would have vanished soon anyway if left alone.
Pado turned his gaze to the center of the lane where they’d been fighting just before.
Seojun stood there, his shadow gone.
“I told you it was a skill.”
“That really was a clone?”
Pado replayed in his mind the movements of the clone he had dueled moments ago.
And he reached a conclusion.
Seojun had definitely prepared Jen in advance.
In that case, maybe even the whole tutorial talk had been calculated acting.
“Wow. Isn’t that a bit too sneaky?”
It wasn’t something he, having picked later and used two bans, had any right to say, but still—he had done his best to face him with full strength.
Joking aside.
‘Did he really do that in one try?’
Pado was now uncertain.
Seojun chuckled and said,
“You know now, so take a few more hits, yeah?”
Their positions were now reversed. So instead of heading to the turret behind him, Pado had no choice but to return to his original spot. The problem was that Seojun was standing there, and he wasn’t going to leave him alone.
And.
Pado had been fighting Seojun’s clone until now, so Seojun’s current health hadn’t decreased at all.
Unlike Pado’s.
‘I won’t die, but the loss here is too big.’
Pado had no choice but to get as much help as possible in the upcoming fight. He’d wanted to handle it alone, but it really wasn’t going to work.
And Seojun.
“Welcome. We should switch places.”
He clenched and unclenched his hand, recalling the sensation from before.
‘This might be doable, just as I thought.’
What Seojun was currently thinking could be simply explained in one word.
Multitasking.
That was what Seojun was aiming for.