Chapter 237
While the rabbit mask stared blankly up at the training ground, the mustache mask respawned beside him.
The respawn wait time was one minute.
The next to die had been the mustache mask.
"Oh. You're back too? Come on up. I haven't been able to land a single potion yet, you know?"
He had deliberately said "haven't been able to land" rather than just "haven't used."
It was a jab at the fact that they hadn't landed a single hit, and thus couldn't even land a potion effect.
It was obvious.
The opponent hadn't even covered his face with a mask, so his derision was plain to see.
"That bastard!"
The mustache mask, who had stayed quiet because his slightly deep voice might be identifiable, took the provocation the moment he was reborn and rushed at the nearest master NPC.
The mustache mask was summoned right onto the training ground.
The rabbit mask snapped to his senses and followed the mustache.
He spoke to the NPC, climbed onto the training ground, quickly scanned his surroundings to assess the situation, and checked his opponent's timer.
Eight minutes and forty seconds.
Above his head, the ten-minute timer had started again.
"Time's ticking, time is."
A laughing voice and a provocative sword gesture seized his attention.
Amidst the scene, countless other sword gods had already descended around the training ground, encircling them and watching.
The rabbit mask, chewing his lip beneath the mask, used a three-stage dash combo.
A mobility skill and two skills that could be activated during movement.
On the other side, the mustache mask was already approaching the opponent.
'He's going to get caught again!'
The mustache was a warrior with slow attack speed.
If he had any sense, he'd try to use an attack that was hard to parry, but even that wasn't safe.
The opponent was more of a monster than they had thought.
'Damn.'
That streamer, from the moment he had taken down the three of them one after another, had already proven his skill thoroughly.
Now, the more they died, the more it would become a humiliation for them, and an achievement for him.
As quickly as possible. The answer was to end it now.
The warrior's giant greatsword was spinning in a continuous slash as he approached.
The rabbit mask used his third dash to leap upward, then chose an area-of-effect skill that plunged his sword into the ground around the opponent, dealing damage to the surrounding area.
From the beginning, he wasn't aiming directly at the opponent's body, intending to avoid parries and counters while accumulating damage and overwhelming him with sheer numbers.
And then.
He saw it again.
Seojun, who had been facing the mustache, had somehow turned around and, with a light movement, was already right in front of him.
He brought his sword down from above, just like him.
And the two weapons overlapped at precisely the right moment.
The moment his body went limp and he collapsed, the attack that came, gradually clouding his vision, was:
A double slash.
It was a universal skill that even he could have used right then by simply canceling one of his active skills.
* * *
"I mean, everyone, is this PVP balance even right?"
Seojun laughed as he walked back toward the entrance.
The cheers of countless sword gods rang out.
"Fourth cut! Fourth cut! Fourth cut!"
"That's insane! This is a guild master for you!"
"Mom! I want to be a sword god when I grow up! Mom! I want to be a sword god when I grow up! Mom! I want to be a sword god when I grow up!"
"Haha, the idiotic mask trio must be so embarrassed."
"Beginner's totally broken! Beginner's totally broken! Beginner's totally broken! Beginner's totally broken!"
"Ah. Do you hear the cheers of all these sword gods, O First Sword God?"
He could hear them.
And it was cringey.
Seojun glared at SwordGod436, who was talking nonsense, but he didn't single him out and snipe him.
To those people, that was a reward.
For real.
"No, everyone, I really think the PVP balance is off. If you throw in a skill during the incapacitated state, their HP goes straight to near-death. Does that make any sense?"
"You not making sense is even more nonsensical!"
-hahahahahaha
-How many times has that guy said that lol that's just chat window 2 at this point lol
-But seriously, isn't this guy the PVP overlord now?
-Can mages parry too?
-Yeah, for ranged classes, you don't parry magic or bullets, you have to physically hit their wands or guns. So ranged classes are crazy obsessed with managing distance. And the ones who hunt those ranged classes are assassins with insane mobility skills.
-Ohh
-Assassins are just good. And the guild master is god!!
-The guild master IS a god!
"Alright then, let's wait. Time waits for no one, so they need to get up here fast. They haven't even respawned yet, tsk."
-Why have you been worrying so much since earlier lol
-Ah lol they're ugly so they wear masks, how could you not worry about them?
-Is there really no way to figure out their identities?
Seojun took a potion from his battle interface and drank it.
So far, he'd gotten a total of 12 kills, but from the third kill onward, they'd rushed him all at once, so HP loss was unavoidable.
Still, it was fine.
The maximum potions usable in a single battle was eight.
This was only his second potion.
The time remaining, visible to others above his head and to him in the corner of his vision?
"Four minutes and twenty-five seconds. Oh dear. Time's almost up, isn't it?"
The enemies were spawning.
-Almost up (actually just barely over half)
-The guild master who worries about the mask trio's dignity more than anyone while mercilessly slaughtering them
-Please just land one hit! hahahahahahahaha
-He's teasing the hell out of them lol they must be so ashamed
It did seem like they'd be ashamed.
Sure, the fact that tens of thousands were watching on stream was one thing, but above all, what was probably shaming them the most was—
"Fighting, strength!"
"You can beat that nasty guild master! You can do it!"
"You guys are the real heroes, mask trio!"
"Hey, mustache! I bet on you catching the guild master, so fight!"
"Who the hell did you even make that bet with?"
"I bet on the rabbit! I'll cheer for you!"
Right.
It was those cheering sword gods around them.
"Hmm. Is that why they wore masks? To avoid showing their red faces?"
-Exactly lol lol
-You crazy sword gods lol why are you cheering for them lol lol lol
-Ah lol you guys are really awful
-But what are they doing? Giving up now?
"Yeah, what are you guys doing? Your time's ticking, you know?"
It was different from before, when after their first death, they would respawn and immediately dash back to the training ground.
The masks seemed to be talking among themselves, but why suddenly act like that?
Internal strife?
Or maybe.
The moment Seojun's eyes gleamed with interest.
Suddenly, the opera mask flipped him the middle finger and vanished.
Soon after, the other two masks also disappeared.
"Ah, what the hell."
The wind had gone out of it.
Though the viewers seemed plenty satisfied.
-Run lol lol lol
-Wow, press F to pay respects lol lol lol
-That's the end? Really?
-Next time they can come with dinosaur masks, tal masks, Beijing opera masks lol lol lol
-Beijing opera masks pfft lol lol lol
-You know, if you change your nickname, it's almost impossible to find them lol. The server seems to be Solarin, so maybe that's why? They just bolted lol lol
"Wow, we won!"
"Sword God! Sword God! Sword God!"
"Wait. There's four minutes left. Shouldn't we go and interfere?"
"Yeah, I don't want to die."
"Listen, sword gods. Even dying to the guild master is a reward. Do you acknowledge this?"
"Ugh. I have no choice but to acknowledge it."
"Then what's left?"
"It can't be helped. Ah, are your swords ready?"
"Of course, god."
"Idiots! But I'm joining too!"
Seojun listened to their conversation and was impressed.
They were moving to cheer him up the moment his mood had deflated.
What truly loyal followers they were.
No matter how many came, four minutes would be enough to hold out, right?
Seojun twitched his sword.
"Come on, everyone. Quickly. Time waits for no one."
"The guild master is starting his trash-talk on us too!"
"Kill him!"
* * *
Seojun held out those roughly four minutes with ease (though he used up all his potions), and the moment he held out for ten minutes, a notification popped up that the quest was complete, and he was moved down below the training ground.
"That was harder than those mask guys earlier. So this is what true sword gods are like? Impressive."
Seojun first gave the viewers a compliment.
-haha those guys were 3, and these guys are almost 20, you know? lol lol
-Crazy bastard crazy bastard crazy bastard crazy bastard he survived this?
-But hey, he still used all his potions, you bastards
-Twenty amateurs are probably a bit harder than three masters
-Were they masters though?
'They were indeed masters, but still.'
Seeing that the viewers quickly turned their interest back to the mask trio, it really was a disappointing conclusion.
"Everyone, honestly, you're curious about their identities, right? I mean, if you lose, you should at least take off your mask. Running away? That's just not right."
-Exactly lol lol
-Press F to pay respects incarnate
-Honestly, running away is acceptable, but that final middlefinger was the embodiment of F-to-pay-respects lol lol lol lol
Seojun also sounded regretful for a moment before shifting his tone.
"So, you see. I've received a tip."
-??
-A tip all of a sudden?
-Is it their identities!!!!!!
In fact, it wasn't a tip. During the fight, Seojun had simply asked the tasting corner to gather some links to guild war videos from the Monster guild.
"Just a moment, please."
If the opponents weren't from the Monster side, then he'd have no choice but to write it off as them just coming to the wrong place. But.
Seojun checked the video, hidden from the viewers, and smiled knowingly.
"The tip was spot on."
* * *
Solarin.
In the in-game system guild chat window, countless insults were being thrown around.
At the trio who had just returned to their main characters after exiting their Lunaon characters.
-hahahahahahahahaha Why did you bail at the end?
-Wow, shit. Thank god you were wearing masks.
-Honestly, Monster prides itself on being a stronghold, shouldn't we kick all three of them?
-hahahahahaha Let's 1v1
-Wow, that bastard was the opera mask? Shameless as hell
-Still, in the end, you guys don't even know it's thanks to that opera mask. Cheers~
-Did you literally graft an iron face onto your face? lol lol
Of course, the insults weren't about deliberately going there to provoke.
Birds of a feather flock together, after all.
It was a guild of like-minded people.
More precisely, it was a guild for people who wanted to play freely without being bound by what's generally considered manners, to do as they pleased.
People like that wouldn't say much over something like this.
They were just busy teasing.
However.
-??? I'm still watching the stream, and they said some tip came in?
-That's bullshit, what tip? We all made those characters during this event, like a month ago, leveled them to 300, and this was the first time we really played them properly.
-All three are sure about that?
-What kind of tip?
When Seojun started talking about a tip, the situation got a little strange.
[Now. Here, in the lower part of this video, watch this person closely. Yes. When they grab the sword and when they swing it, they unconsciously lift their pinky slightly, right? Doesn't that remind you of someone earlier?]
-????
-What kind of nonsense is that now?
-The video they said was tipped is just our guild war video? It doesn't even have any other editing lol lol lol lol
-But wait. That's the rabbit, right?
-Yeah, that's right.
[Now, if you watch this person too, when the distance to the enemy closes to a certain range, you can see them taking small quick steps, and right before swinging their sword, they twitch their left shoulder, see?]
-Huh?
-What the fuck????????
-Uh... How did he find this? That's the opera one too, isn't it?
[Before using this skill, the eye movement quickly scanning the surroundings...]
In the stream's chat, comments like "Did you even see the eye movements? You're not human" started pouring in, and a proper comparison began.
And in the Guild Monster's guild chat:
-Shit, we've been found out?
-If we just deny it for now, they won't be completely sure, right?
-Since our public image is bad anyway, how about we just curse them off or ignore it? lol
-Oh. Good idea.
As their identities were gradually exposed, everyone collectively slapped iron plates over their faces.
But one person was thinking a bit more deeply about the situation: it was Monster, the guild master of Guild Monster.
'The viewer count is really high. Is he trying to hold a public opinion trial?'
Of course, he wasn't too worried.
'If he tries a public opinion trial, we'll just manipulate the recommendations, muddle the issues, and cause chaos.'
He hadn't survived this long for nothing.
Honestly, what they had done to the opponent today wasn't a big deal at all.
'Does he not know that? What a cheeky newbie bastard. I wonder what he's planning by getting tips and acting like this.'
If he was just throwing his weight around, relying on his viewer count, then he'd be the one to get burned.
Adding a controversy to a streamer's career was easy if you set your mind to it.
Guild Master Monster kept monitoring the stream, and a little later, he understood the other's intention.
[So what am I going to do about it? Simple. Since I took a hit.]
-You were the one hitting them, Guild Master lol lol
-You're not human! You didn't even get hit yourself lol lol
-The Guild Master is a god!
[I'm going to do the hitting too.]
-Casually equating taking a hit to doing the hitting lol lol lol lol
-Revenge is always paid back double
-So how are you gonna hit them lol lol lol
'First off, he wasn't trying to start a public opinion war. But if it's revenge, could it be?'
[I saw from the guild wars that you can match with guilds you want. Come on in. The Sword God Corps will take you on.]
That 'could it be' was exactly it.
It was a challenge to fight with skill in the game.
'Huh.'
Monster shifted his gaze to the guild chat room.
-Sword God Corps my ass lol lol but yeah, Monster is a bit... you know.
-Guild Master! There's a traitor here!
-But why should we fight them? If we fight a low-level guild, even if we win, there's not much gain.
-Exactly lol
-I mean, streamer, we get that you're good at PVP lol, but in a guild war, you're just one fucking soldier.
-Exactly lol
-Exactly lol
-Go tell him lol lol wear a mask lol lol lol
-On top of that, we're top rankers on the server, and they're just newbies.
-Just hit that ignore button, go go.
Definitely.
Unless he was trying to do some 'They're bad people, viewers, please scold them for me' kind of public opinion trial, they could just ignore him now.
As the guild members said.
However.
[Hey, Monster guys. I know you're watching this.]
When the opponent calls them out like this in front of fifty thousand people, the story changes.
[Chickens?]
Guild Master Monster let out a hollow laugh.
'What a cheeky little shit.'