Chapter 164
After Alpaca noticed the enemy jungler’s movement path and told Seojun about it, Seojun said not to come.
At that moment, the chat window of the official broadcast and the online communities were buzzing with debate.
It was about what Seojun was aiming for.
What he was aiming for was, to exaggerate a bit, utterly absurd, so it was a perfectly natural reaction.
-Multitasking? lol Are you seriously using that just to do that?
-Multitasking is overkill, he’s just trying to overpower them with physical skill lol
-Can Pado even be suppressed by pure mechanics? He’s not some Platinum or Diamond player, he’s a Challenger for a reason!
-A Challenger, you say lol. Cute. Our streamer is Unranked!
-Uack lololol
Unranked.
It means just that—unranked, a newbie with no rank at all.
Indeed.
Seojun was A-rank, but he was Unranked!
Anyway.
As signs of an imminent fight emerged in the mid lane, the observer positioned themselves near mid, capturing both the approaching enemy jungler and the angle Pado was calculating at the same time.
“What will happen?”
Arin asked, and Bangju answered.
“First of all, it looks like a fight will break out.”
“Really?”
“It seems like Seojun has made up his mind, and he’ll probably test it out once, don’t you think?”
“Yes. But will he really fight two-against-one with two clones? Is that what he’s aiming for?”
Because it wasn’t certain yet.
Seojun might have just been moving his body a little to test out a novel sensation.
-lololol
-He’s just a total attention whore lol
-Like with the tutorial and the parachute thing, he’s definitely an attention whore.
-Streamers are supposed to be attention whores, so let’s say our streamer has found his true calling.
-Tsk tsk, how can a commoner understand a genius
-A genius (couldn’t deploy his parachute) (needed the tutorial) hahahahahahahaha
“Khm.”
One of the casters reading the chat almost burst out laughing. Laughing out of the blue would draw all eyes, after all.
Actually, the other staff were reading the chat too.
So they were also holding back their laughter.
Anyway, the chat was a bit spicy.
-Just be the tournament clown honestly
-If you lose this game too, then just...
-If it’s not this game, then right now if the jungler gets caught and you lose, you’re a laughing stock.
-No, common sense—can you even fight 2v2 with clones? Like, you’re not just standing side by side going, ‘There! You hit me once, I’ll hit you once!’
And so the chat messages I saw were skeptical.
“Haha, but everyone, there still isn’t any evidence that Seojun is aiming for that.”
Arin was trying to calm things down when, at that moment, the fight began.
And the shadow splits off.
-lol As if he has no such intentions, my ass
-Without a moment’s hesitation, he sends it straight at the jungler hahahaha
-While he fights Pado himself lololol What incredible confidence
-Can this really work?
“Hahaha...”
The caster had nothing more to say either.
All that remained was to watch.
The observer was viewing from a slightly elevated diagonal angle to capture both fights.
So it could be seen in one glance.
-Huh?
-Did that guy just bat away an arrow?
-Wait, can’t you see him dodging Kama and stabbing at the same time?
-No, he just batted away another arrow, I’m telling you!
-But he’s even landing attacks on Pado!
-What the hell lololololol?
The moment the fight began, the situation turned on its head.
* * *
As soon as Pado vanished, Seojun switched places with his shadow.
Just as when Pado had used his tracking skill, Seojun’s perspective flipped.
What came into view was the enemy jungler 1898, whom he had seen from afar, and the surrounding terrain.
Seojun immediately attacked a minion he had already spotted.
He had moved the shadow nearby beforehand, so he only had to stretch out his arm sideways.
“Oh!”
“I hit level six first.”
The moment the jungler came for a gank, Pado had to share the experience from dying minions in the mid lane.
Thus, while Seojun had reached level six, Pado still needed to last-hit one or two more.
1898 still had a long way to go before level six, so he wasn’t a target for interference.
Seojun immediately used his ultimate.
He visualized the enemy’s shadow becoming a clone, and it activated.
[Shadow Usurpation]
According to the lore, it’s the secret technique of shadow arts.
The moment Pado turned around, his shadow detached from its master and assumed a different form.
Silently. Unbeknownst even to its master.
Unless one has a habit of regularly checking whether the shadow beneath one’s feet is intact, it’s not easy to notice.
Now the master of that shadow was Seojun.
He could wield it as if it were another body, according to his will.
Seojun immediately moved that shadow.
The instant he met Pado’s eyes as Pado turned around, he drove his sword into the opponent’s back.
Thud!
-Kyaa!
-On top of that, the mark damage he’d stacked earlier!
-He can stack mark damage again, and Pado’s about to be at a sliver of health lololol
-I believed in him all along!
-He had a plan all along!
“The shadow created by his ultimate is much better, right?”
Simultaneously, Seojun spun his body and used the assassination sword in his right hand to bat away an arrow.
He had grasped that the enemy jungler would attack, and the position was roughly determined.
In that case, seeing the shot while spinning, he could at least block it.
While moving, Seojun also spoke through his clone.
They could hear him even if he spoke from here, but it looked cooler that way.
“You said Phase 2, right? And that’s the real original body, right?”
As Seojun circled around and moved toward the direction of the enemy turret, 1898, who had distanced himself sideways from Seojun, loosed his bowstring and spoke, as if he had heard what Pado said.
Twhiuung!
Clang!
Not happening.
“And trying to escape that way won’t work either.”
1898 must have let his guard down when Seojun didn’t approach him.
His position was already fixed.
Seojun now took a spot where he could face Pado, yet still deal with the enemy jungler.
Simply put, he moved behind the original jungler. So he could face 1898 while watching the clone.
Even while positioning himself that way, Seojun kept glancing back briefly and controlling the clone.
Clang! Clang!
-Kyaa!
-Pado’s one hit from dying, so he can’t do anything, huh?
-No lololol But it’s still ridiculous, going up against our streamer who’s handling two at once lololol
Of course, even with the most generous description, the clone’s movements were not natural.
It blocked the opponent’s attacks and launched follow-up attacks with only the minimum necessary motion.
Kama and the assassination sword clashed.
Clang! Clang!
At the same time, an arrow flew from the front-left.
Twhiuung!
Seojun’s focus shifted from beyond it to what was in front, then back to beyond again, repeating.
To the viewers, it was bewildering.
But.
-It’s dizzying, but isn’t it just hella fun?
-hahahahaha Ah, how could it not be fun when our streamer is beating them down 2v1 with two bodies
-Anyone who was badmouthing on the official broadcast earlier?
-Is anyone still senselessly hating? Saying our streamer is a clown? lololololol Excuse me?
When had they ever understood Seojun’s movements and gameplay?
Right now, the sheer absurdity and fun of the situation—where he was fighting two at once—was all that mattered to them.
And whether they laughed or not, Seojun, unable to see any of it, was exerting extreme concentration.
Clang!
He kept Pado in check as much as possible while batting away the incoming arrows.
The fight would end soon.
Because this was an ultimate—no, a secret technique—the clone’s duration was longer than a normal skill, and he could swap positions more often, but it wouldn’t last beyond 15 seconds.
‘It feels a bit frustrating, though.’
Currently, Seojun was fighting with pure skill alone, without any tricks.
He wasn’t deliberating over what move to make, his trains of thought weren’t getting tangled, and his judgment was fast—so this was possible.
However.
Because he had to pay attention to two bodies, not just one, Seojun wasn’t engaging in a playstyle that more actively exploited variables.
And so, the fight remained a tight deadlock.
But it would end soon.
The moment an opening appeared, either the enemy or Seojun would mercilessly tear into the other.
Twhiuung!
Seojun’s arm slashed downwards from above.
Clang!
An arrow aimed at his thigh ricocheted away.
Clang!
Simultaneously, the sound of Kama blocking Seojun’s attack from afar was heard.
“Folks. This is truly offense and defense as one, right? Wow.”
Seojun also hadn’t forgotten that he was currently broadcasting.
He was devoted to his job.
-Why is he admiring himself lololololololol
-hahahaha It’s not that offense and defense become one, but he’s attacking with one body and defending with the other, so it’s offense and defense as one hahahahaha
-Don’t squeeze in gags even here lololol Focus on the game!
-Win it!
-But isn’t it about time for Terror Time to proc?
-Looks like the fight’s about to be decided
-Pado, win this!
-Go back to your own channel
-No, I can see better here, so I can’t help it~ If you don’t like it, ban me
And then.
An opening in the fight appeared.
‘Now.’
The eyes of the three people in mid lane all fixed on exactly the same spot.
A magic orb from a minion on Pado’s team was flying.
The orb’s destination was a nearly dead ranged minion on Seojun’s team.
The moment the orb hit, experience would be gained.
That was the moment they had been waiting for.
[Terror Time]
Immediately, 1898’s arrow shone, and Pado recalled his Kama and fell further back.
To use his ultimate.
Just as everyone entered a state of hyper-focus, Seojun made the first move.
He swapped positions, moving in front of Pado.
1898, as if he had expected that, aimed at the distant Seojun and shouted.
“I’ll cover you!”
Tali’s ultimate, Executioner’s Scythe, consumes one mark from an enemy hero, and after a 3-second charging period to gather energy in the scythe, it is activated.
It can unleash a wide, crescent-shaped slash of energy with immense damage, but during the charge, movement is heavily slowed, and the attack is interrupted if hit.
Once the charge completes and the energy settles in Kama, from that point on, free movement is possible.
‘He must have come directly to stop that. He’s given up controlling the clone and is trying to finish me off completely now.’
Pado had not been defeated when fighting Seojun’s clone.
On the contrary, he had even managed to land two hits of Kama on the clone.
Pado had been exerting extreme concentration just like Seojun, and Seojun had been using a clone, after all.
Thus, Seojun’s clone had two marks.
Those marks also counted as marks applied to an enemy hero for the sake of charging the ultimate.
The original intention of that condition was to prevent pre-charging when no enemy hero was nearby, so it fit the intended design.
‘I’ll use one for the charge, and the remaining one...!’
Pado used a skill.
Toward the location of the clone that had gone to 1898.
[Stigma Pursuit]
“Then finish it like this.”
Pado taunted, facing Seojun.
The ultimate clone could swap positions one more time.
So Seojun could come right into the middle of this.
1898 was aiming his bowstring at the spot where Seojun’s clone was, and Pado readjusted his grip on Kama.
“Even if it ends like this, your gank has failed, you know? You do realize your top laner is dead?”
“Heh heh. That’s true. But don’t you feel like it’s a waste? My health’s almost completely gone.”
Now it was up to Seojun’s choice. If Seojun were to dive in at them using the last remaining position swap, the fight would resume.
If not, it would end just like that.
“...Well, you’re right.”
Seojun smirked, cracking his neck and glancing straight ahead for a moment.
“Then shall we give it a go?”
He swapped positions.
Immediately after, on his left was Pado, on his right was the jungler, and they began attacking Seojun.
[Terror Time]
Along with five arrows spreading out like a casting net, Kama flew in.
Seojun chose to block Kama instead of the arrows. A choice to avoid giving more marks unnecessarily.
‘It’s done.’
Pado hid his delight as much as possible and swung Kama with all his might.
He gritted his teeth and discarded all distractions to the fullest extent.
He abandoned all extraneous thoughts—future combat situations, the objective of drawing Seojun’s attention—and concentrated solely on the present battle.
Perhaps it was thanks to the assistance of the arrows flying from behind.
For this moment, Pado was able to press Seojun back.
And.
“Now!”
At the sound of 1898’s voice, Pado stopped attacking and relaxed the strength in his arm.
Seojun’s assassination sword flew toward his face.
But.
The assassination sword stopped right in front of Pado’s nose.
The reason why.
“Nice! Pado! Now!”
Because the jungler had forcibly widened the distance and moved outside the range, the effect of Terror Time had triggered.
That had been the reason for pressing Seojun.
‘Finally!’
Pado immediately began charging.
1 second.
We could catch Seojun.
This would be his first death.
2 seconds.
The light gathered in Kama gradually stabilized. The indicator gauge floating before Pado’s eyes was approaching its end.
3 seconds.
Seojun’s terror state would end soon too.
But by then, he could use his ultimate.
If hit by the ultimate, Seojun would be reduced to near death just the same.
1898 was approaching. If they fought two-against-one like a moment ago, they could surely finish Seojun after that...
Thwump!
“I said it’s not two-against-one.”
Seojun, who had read Pado’s thoughts, spoke.
But the voice didn’t come from in front.
“Just like earlier.”
“Huh?”
Seojun, freed from terror, rose as the voice of the again-approaching jungler, tinged with bewilderment, was heard.
‘No way.’
His Kama with its charge interrupted.
His health reduced to the brink of death.
The voice coming from behind him.
This could only mean one thing.
Something he had overlooked.
‘He called it back even while fighting like that?’
Had he put some kind of auto-move function on the clone?
“The one who was driving you back and drawing your attention wasn’t you, Pado. It was me.”
Seojun smiled and explained, using the clone right up to the end.
He believed even his enemies had a right to know.
Honestly, he just wanted to try doing this.
““Then, let’s finish this now.””
The shadow in front and the one behind simultaneously plunged their assassination swords into Pado.
-No, when did he call it back!
-I was watching the streamer’s broadcast with my eyes glued, so why didn’t I notice either??
-When he was charging I really thought our streamer was done for lol
-In the midst of that, a surround death sentence.
-Surrounding death sentence lmaooooooo
* * *
At the same time.
“Wow!!! That’s insane!”
Bangju roared.