Chapter 197
About 3 seconds after Spoon dodged the second chain.
Clatter!
The chain shot out again.
[Chain of Destruction]
The thin, long chain that sprang from the magic circle flew toward Spoon, once again narrowly grazing the minion.
Spoon moved while hitting the minion, spotted the chain, and barely twisted his body to dodge it.
That attack was Seo Jun’s setup.
Seo Jun laid this first attack and then designed everything that followed.
It’s not easy.
There are many variables, and even small errors can’t be fixed.
But if it’s 3 seconds later, and if he keeps clashing swords (or chains, when using Erik) against the opponent...
It’s possible to guide the enemy at least.
So, the chain that’s about to fly out again in 1 second...
[Chain of Destruction]
That’s Seo Jun’s aim.
If he had reached level 5 and could use up to 3 skills at once, he could’ve kept pushing like this.
He could have made the opponent like Sun Wukong, unable to escape the Buddha’s palm.
But now...
Spoon, like Sun Wukong, arrogantly taunts Seo Jun.
“Failed your gamble again? Hahaha!”
Spoon had stopped moving, and the chain passed right in front of his face.
The chain eventually pierced a backline ranged minion before disappearing.
“Huh.”
Lumi, standing in front of Seo Jun, was startled. Not because Seo Jun had failed.
It was because Spoon kept taunting.
“That’s not good.”
“I don’t care! Come at me with the next chain!! Hahaha!”
- Ack lol crazy confidence
- Spoon’s really annoying lol
- No, I can’t hear this on Spoon’s stream! Gotta tell everyone to come here
- Why the hell are those bastards muting voice?
- Seems like he lacks the qualities of a streamer
- So when is this bastard gonna get hit by a chain?????
Spoon didn’t seem to have any intention of attacking Seo Jun.
Rather than a trade, it looked like Seo Jun was throwing attacks and Spoon was dodging them one-sidedly. There was no sign of a counterattack.
In Seo Jun’s view, Spoon’s current goal was lane management. And not dying.
He always kept a minion between himself and Lumi, positioning so Lumi’s skills wouldn’t hit him.
He dodged the skills coming from Seo Jun and let basic attacks slide.
He hit minions one or two times fewer than Seo Jun, slowly pulling the lane toward their turret.
The series of actions looked very complicated, but it wasn’t that difficult.
The biggest factor was that Lumi couldn’t create any variables.
She wasn’t moving in a way that considered Seo Jun’s attacks and the subsequent situation; she was merely chasing after Spoon.
This couldn’t be helped.
It was something that required deeper skills than basics—something only the likes of the Wind Sword could pull off.
‘Still, she’s learned the basics of movement well.’
Seo Jun just smiled contentedly and made his next attack.
Creating was his role.
Because he could use two chains at once, he waited a moment.
And when a mental picture of the next situation formed, he instantly imagined a magic circle behind him, hidden from the enemy’s sight.
The generation range of the magic circle was a 2m radius around him.
Summoning it from behind would cost him 4m of range, but the reason he created it behind him was simple:
To hide it.
If the enemy sees the magic circle, they’ll prepare for 3 seconds and do all sorts of nonsense, making it hard to hit.
But if they don’t know it’s been generated, Seo Jun can guide them.
1 second.
2 seconds.
At that moment, Seo Jun subtly moved his body, and Spoon spotted the magic circle.
3 seconds.
Clatter.
The chain shot out with a dragging sound on the ground.
A chain thrown with the resolve to hit, not just to guide.
And that chain...
Thud!
It hit Spoon, who dodged to the left a bit late.
Spoon’s health dropped significantly.
It was a skill with high damage, proportional to its difficulty to hit.
Seo Jun laughed as if it was absurd.
Spoon made a slightly troubled expression and fell back, and Gongbeolle immediately began healing.
Gongbeolle’s hand glowed green. Then it disappeared shortly after.
[Sacrifice]
- Oh!
- Finally hit!
- But calling this prophetic or whatever is a bit much, isn’t it? Looks like normal Erik play
- Ugh, Youngdo^^ so annoying
- He wasn’t like this originally!
- So has he got the hang of it now?
- Looking at the host’s reaction, seems not.
And the second chain completely missed, going to a strange place. It was partly because Spoon got hit and just fell back.
- Yeah, not it
- If it were the original host, he would’ve calculated even that fall back
- From the start, he would’ve made sure he didn’t fall back
- How?
- Well, because he’s the founder of the Blunt Sword
- This bastard just slacked off for 10 days and seems to have been nerfed lol
Whether the chat teased Seo Jun or not, Seo Jun quickly reviewed the situation.
The flinch he showed in the first attack.
And in the second attack, though the situation was similar, he dodged differently from the first.
The third was the same.
There was no rule.
Why did he go with his instinct at first then change, and why didn’t he show that the second time?
What method did he use?
Actually, he had an inkling.
“Do you know how truly difficult it is to go against instinct?” Seo Jun spoke.
“Pardon?”
They began farming again in a calm state. Spoon didn’t seem to have any intention of trading with him.
Meanwhile, Seo Jun explained to Lumi. Spoon would hear it too.
“Humans automate many things. Walking, running, sitting, lying down. We can do them consciously if we try, but mostly we just act.”
It probably evolved this way because the brain would use an enormous amount of energy if it had to consciously perform each of those countless actions.
“That’s right…?”
Not just Lumi, but even Spoon, who was hitting the newly arrived minions, pricked up his ears.
- Is he passing on a secret method!
- No way. He’s probably making excuses because he’s embarrassed from failing this whole time
- That seems right lol
- These bastards are acting up again because the host isn’t watching lol
- It’s fine to say that to a host who slacked off for the last 10 days
- From the carrot, it actually kind of seems like he didn’t slack off
- Looks like he grinded hard
“It’s the same in combat. If we face the same situation in our current state, we’ll react the same way a hundred times out of a hundred.”
It’s just that situations in each battle change slightly, so we don’t realize it.
“The reason is there’s no time to act consciously. If we think and then react, we’re too slow. So the body moves according to its memory and instinct. Countless battles are fought that way.”
That’s why fundamentals are emphasized and repeated the most.
Ultimately, what comes out in critical moments is the movement most ingrained in the body, and the solid fundamentals displayed then can’t be ignored.
[Chain of Destruction]
Clatter!
Thud!
Even while talking, the laning phase continued.
Even fiercer than before. There was just no trading.
“I see.”
Lumi had heard this story in a different way recently.
Because Seo Jun had said something similar as a reason for training.
So she was curious.
Why was he talking about this? Now?
- Host, see, you’re just making excuses now lol
- How cute
- So what’s the reason for your failure, host!
- The chat atmosphere seems to have gotten worse... maybe it’s because of Spoon’s mute, people came over here?
- No, it’s just existing viewers who love it when the host gets screwed because he’s screwed them over many times
- Just recently, 10 million won lol
“I’ve been reading that until now. It’s almost like instinct, and surprisingly simple and easy to see.”
“I see. Well, if it’s really that simple, it wouldn’t be something only you can do, would it? And all the more reason I’m glad.”
“Why?”
“Because fortunately, what I prepared seems to be working well.”
“Ah, the method you prepared? Indeed, going against instinct is a truly difficult thing to do. Impressive.”
“Thank you.”
“Even if that means listening to someone else’s words.”
Seo Jun looked at Spoon leisurely.
He conjured a magic circle in the empty space to the side. Not behind.
For a moment, Spoon stopped moving. But he quickly came to his senses.
“Ha, ha, ha. What do you mean?”
Seo Jun smirked.
“Damn. Got caught?”
“Well, it’s not obvious, but just...”
He realized it while watching Gongbeolle, who had cheered during light fights before the minions came, but gradually fell silent when he couldn’t tell when Seo Jun’s chain would fly.
The silence could only be explained by the fact that they were using team voice.
And Gongbeolle lacked the skill to freely switch voice by manipulating the interface. He was D-rank, after all.
So it made sense for him to stay in team voice continuously.
The question here is why.
Why does Gongbeolle need to stay in team voice?
And he wasn’t like that at first.
Orders?
No. A D-rank giving orders is an extremely rare case, and “Just one bite” doesn’t fall into that category.
Then you can roughly infer.
Gongbeolle was giving orders to go against instinct.
He must be saying a direction. Just randomly.
And that method is quite fatal for Seo Jun.
If it were a method of changing habits every moment, he could just figure it out each moment.
Seo Jun was confident he could.
But the direction spoken randomly by a third person watching from afar can’t be predicted.
“So it’s really become a gamble. Right?”
“Yes. Gongbeolle doesn’t know that stuff anyway, and whenever you use a skill, he says a direction.”
Of course, what Gongbeolle says might coincide with Seo Jun’s prediction. Since it’s random.
But then that also means it coincides with the direction Spoon was about to move.
Then all Spoon has to do is go in the opposite direction of what Gongbeolle said.
“Hahaha. Using sound transmission. How interesting.”
Actually, it was familiar to Seo Jun. So he recognized it immediately.
- Sound transmission lol
- Is Gongbeolle a master? Is he coaching from behind? lol
- Ah, so that’s why they muted. They were thinking they might use it again when they meet in the group stage
- But how could that not be caught? lol Even if he didn’t know, he just figured it out
- Now turn on voice, Spoon!
“Hehe. You won’t be able to crack this either, Seo Jun. I’m only going to farm. So when I came to the bottom lane, I actually cheered inside.”
Gongbeolle was stuck far behind, out of range.
So he wasn’t wrong.
Spoon shouted vigorously and aimed his bullet at a minion with little health left.
And he immediately prepared to dodge.
The magic circle Seo Jun had generated moments ago. The chain would fly from there.
[Left]
Hearing Gongbeolle’s sound transmission (team voice), Spoon consciously thought about the direction he originally intended to move.
It’s different.
Then he can just follow that.
Since Seo Jun’s Erik had become an ordinary Erik, it was okay to take a few hits.
As long as he didn’t respond to a fight, Seo Jun’s harassment wouldn’t break through the heals eventually.
In his mind, now Seo Jun couldn’t hit with certainty and had no choice but to rely on probability.
‘Now.’
Bang!
Even if just one of the two bullets hit, he would farm the minion.
And as he moved his body to the left and fired the second bullet...
Huh?
Seo Jun’s eyes weren’t chasing him.
He wanted to break that leisurely face at least once.
Bang!
When the second bullet was fired...
Seo Jun’s magic sphere and chain were already shooting through the air like an arrow.
Not toward Spoon, but toward the bullet Spoon fired.
“Go ahead, try farming that minion.”
Clatter!
Clang!
The consecutive sound effects weren’t the sound of piercing a minion.
The minion Spoon aimed for eventually died at the hands of Spoon’s team minion, the bullet never touching it.
And Seo Jun conjured another magic circle beside him.
“I don’t necessarily have to predict only you, Spoon.”
Still leisurely. Just like before.
- Kya!
- I believed in you!
- Oh? Prophet 50% acknowledged lol
- Wow! Since it’s hard to hit the body, you hit the bullet! Crazy bastard!
- Is the paradigm of laning changing? lol
- The one who wants to eat vs. the one who wants to stop
"...Will things continue to go as you think, Seo Jun?"
"We’ll see. Go ahead and shoot."
The positions were reversed again.