Chapter 291
“What is he doing?”
Seojun suddenly began roaming the city, and Sara had to provide commentary in response to the caster’s question.
“Isn’t he just scouting the city?”
“Why scout the city?”
“Inspecting the environment where a battle could break out is always beneficial, never a loss.”
“But it’s a waste of time.”
“He’s in first place anyway.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes. He probably judged that a fight could break out on the train, don’t you think?”
“As expected! Top-ranked players are always preparing for the next step!”
- Ah, I see!
- No wonder his movements seemed aimless; he was checking everything.
- That Korean guy is unexpectedly meticulous, huh?
- Is that one of the secrets to his skill? I’ll respect that.
- But still, what’s the point? He’s about to get ambushed.
“Who says he’ll get ambushed and that it’ll end today? You never know what’ll happen. Since Kael is moving around without a clear purpose right now, it might actually prevent an ambush.”
At the caster’s words, Sara let out a scoff.
“I doubt it.”
“Why?”
“Based on the mastermind’s appearance when they were a guard yesterday, there wasn’t the slightest hint of anything off.”
“Is that so.”
“Yes. Who knows, they might still be watching right now.”
“Hahaha.”
The Day 6 camera was focused on Kael, who was doing nothing—or rather, very boringly scouting the city.
If nothing happened elsewhere, the screen would remain fixed on Kael for the time being.
Because no one knew when he’d be ambushed.
Sara clapped her hands.
“Kael is diligently exploring the city. He might as well just enter the otherworld.”
“The otherworld?”
“Yes. At least there, the chances of getting ambushed by an NPC are lower, don’t you think?”
“That’s true.”
“Yaaawn. Even with an ambush looming, he looks so at ease.”
- Hahaha, true.
- But I like watching Kael when he’s calm like this.
- Why?
- He doesn’t do anything weird.
- But he’s the richest one, hahahaha.
“Right? It’d be such a shame if he died without using all his achievement points.”
Sara commented disinterestedly while watching the screen.
The other heroes were still in the early stages, so nothing major would happen, and it looked like they’d have to watch Kael for at least five more minutes without a choice.
And at that moment.
“Huh? What’s he doing? Hahaha!”
The caster and Sara laughed.
“Suddenly putting on a mask! What’s he up to now!”
The moment an innocent-looking NPC, rolling its eyes slightly in Seojun’s field of vision, appeared on the screen.
- What!!!!!!
- Am I the only one who got chills?
- This is horror... pure horror......
- What were the two of them just doing?
- He wasn’t just roaming the map?
- An intense battle of wits?
- Hahahahaha! Even Sara had no idea! Hahahahaha!
The boring situation flipped in an instant.
***
In truth, just because their eyes met didn’t mean the person was an attacker.
It could have been Seojun’s paranoia.
Seojun knew that too.
Even so.
He had a criminal permit.
If he attacked and it turned out to be nothing, he could just let them live.
Locking eyes with the startled NPC, Seojun gave a bright smile.
Why are you panicking and stopping like that?
‘Now I can’t help but suspect you’re actually an attacker.’
Oh? Even stepping back?
Then I really have no choice but to draw a line.
Seojun struck at the white line etched onto the opponent’s body.
And as his sword moved from the starting point and traced along the body, a noticeable change occurred on the opponent’s form.
The body began to crumble.
In an instant, the flesh shriveled as if scorched.
The surface decayed like rot, and a green glow began to emerge from within.
‘So it really was an attacker?’
Seojun’s confidence in his intuition solidified even further.
It wasn’t a false alarm.
Since his instincts had never been wrong, he had no choice but to check every time.
“Are you an attacker?”
Seojun’s sword followed through, slicing the next vital point—a dot.
Only then did the opponent snap to attention and raise a weapon.
Seojun focused on the weapon’s form.
In the left hand was an explorer’s grappling hook attached to a rope, and in the right, a small dagger.
The hood was pulled down as a default, so seeing the face would be difficult.
“Yeah.”
A counterattack flew in.
PAANG!
The grappling hook shot out from the opponent’s hand, like chains bursting from Eric’s magic circle.
The shooting motion itself was identical, even if other aspects differed.
“You dodged that?”
There had been a sign.
The hook had momentarily detached from the hand and aligned toward Seojun’s head.
“Of course I’d dodge it.”
Sigh.
Letting out a sigh, Seojun closed in and sliced the third vital point.
“Hup.”
The dagger was aiming for Seojun’s shoulder as he targeted the vital point, but without using a single skill, Seojun leaned his shoulder back and pivoted his body to evade.
Then his sword continued in a circular motion, as if drawing a circle from above, and cut the next vital point.
After allowing four attacks in rapid succession, the opponent genuinely looked panicked.
In such situations, the usual move is to break the flow.
SWOOSH!
The opponent yanked the rope back into his hand and retreated.
It was exactly as Seojun had predicted, and he didn’t interfere.
The grappling hook pulled back, menacingly grazing Seojun’s body.
It only grazed him.
“Does getting hit by that deal a lot of damage? Or does it have a crowd control effect?”
“Do you think I’d tell you, Korean?”
“Then I won’t be able to solve the mystery? You know everything about me, after all.”
“Still won’t take the bait.”
“Seeing as you deliberately showed up in front of me, weren’t you trying to hunt me?”
Seojun approached again.
They exchanged a few more blows.
The attacker moved backward once more.
He had come out of the alley.
He didn’t seem like he would flee.
“Looks like you have a lot of health?”
Seojun remarked with a smirk.
The opponent had taken all the attacks unilaterally, but their health values were currently similar to Seojun’s.
“It could have been much higher in a few days.”
“But you came looking for me? Or maybe you didn’t come looking for me, and I just noticed you.”
The main reason Seojun kept allowing the flow to be broken was to gather information.
“I came looking for you!”
This time, the attacker’s body shot forward.
The battlefield shifted back into the alley.
Seojun deflected the grappling hook flying straight at him, embedding it into the nearby wall, and brought his sword down from above.
The opponent, knowing that the downward slash wasn’t targeting a vital point, didn’t block it and simply attacked Seojun.
‘Is it a skill? Doesn’t seem like it.’
Seojun’s intuition told him this attack was an attempt to draw out his skill.
But.
Seojun used the skill just as the opponent wanted.
[Radiance’s Blessing]
“You fell for it!”
No.
“Block this!”
How should I dodge this?
He debated.
The sign of the grappling hook about to fire appeared.
But this time, a green aura was gathered far more densely.
‘Is it layered?’
BANG!
Multiple grappling hooks fired—one made of green energy and one solid.
They spread around Seojun like a cast net, and in that moment, the opponent yanked his left arm back. Seojun was helplessly pulled in as the hooks impaled his back.
It was a CC.
‘It’s almost guaranteed, so the cooldown must be long.’
“Hahaha!”
The damage was significant, with the skill damage followed by a dagger attack.
His health dropped by a third.
The CC ended, but the opponent, intent on finishing him, continued the assault and activated his ultimate skill.
The green aura around his body swelled, then burst, spreading energy in all directions.
Naturally, Seojun couldn’t dodge it on first sight, but it didn’t deal damage or inflict any abnormal status.
However, a monster from the otherworld began crawling up from the ground beside Seojun.
“That’s your ultimate, right?”
“Yeah, that’s right. And it has the same characteristics you know. But I have to deal with it too.”
It probably isn’t exactly the same.
“Hmm.”
“Looks like you’re finally realizing you’re going to die.”
“Uhmm……”
“Too flustered to speak? Why don’t you take off that mask?”
“Mmm.”
With the monster charging and the suspected mastermind participant pouring in attacks, Seojun was deep in thought.
A very serious thought.
It was an important matter.
And the content of that troublesome thought was as follows:
‘Should I kill him now?’
It seemed like they’d obtained just about all the information they could.
Yeah, let’s kill him.
“Aren’t you going to explain your skills?”
“Ha. I’ll just tell you my skill cooldown has 20 seconds left. If you get hit one more time then, you’re dead.”
“Guess you’re not going to tell me. Then die.”
Seojun’s eyes changed.
It seemed they’d gathered enough information.
From then on, Seojun pressured the opponent without using Radiance’s Blessing even once.
First, the monster.
Dodging the flying grappling hook, kicking the dagger-wielding opponent away, and dispatching the monster was simple.
Its health wasn’t even higher than the otherworldly monster’s.
“Cooldown’s up! One more hit and you’re done!”
“Do you still believe that?”
The opponent was clearly trying to force out his invincibility skill.
But.
“Just once… if you’d just use it once!”
Seojun began to toy with him.
The opponent, not realizing how easily he was being led on, continued trying to draw out Seojun’s skill.
All of this…
‘Hmm.’
…was possible because the openings were so visible.
To the point where, compared to the fundamentals on display, the openings seemed excessively large.
Seojun had also figured out it was because the opponent wasn’t accustomed to the weapon.
‘If it were a regular sword, they would’ve fought much, much better. Those openings probably weren’t as visible to others.’
But he could see them.
Because he had reached a higher, supreme realm.
In his previous life, of course.
Seojun changed his tone.
It was time to set the atmosphere.
“How unfortunate. Servant of the mastermind.”
“Just one more… What?”
“Farewell. You know the execution threshold of the Judgment Sword, don’t you?”
“H-huh? When did it get to this? And what do you mean, servant? What are you talking about?”
“To think you’d try to deny your identity now. How pitiful. Tsk.”
“Wait!”
The attacker, now aware that his health was nearing a certain damage threshold, began to panic severely.
He bit down hard on his jaw, visible beneath the hood.
His reaction was markedly different from the other heretics Seojun had dealt with before.
Was he that fond of the history books?
It was a bit pitiful, but what could be done?
“Wait! Stop!”
The attacker was fully focused on dodging and fleeing.
But Seojun easily stuck to him, dealing additional damage.
‘He’s flailing too desperately.’
“Farewell.”
Seojun planted his sword with both hands into a gap in the stone path before him.
“NOOOOO!”
[Judgment Sword]
A rift tore open in the sky above the city.
Seojun clasped his hands together and offered a prayer.
“With this, one servant of evil has been reduced.”
“I said I’m not a servant…!”
KWAAAAANG!
“……?”
He’s dying.
The attacker.
The rags burned away, and the green light exploded.
The city was destroyed once again.
It’s fine.
The permit will cover it.
Seojun walked toward the rubble.
Was it not over yet?
Or was this a chance to converse with the final boss?
Or perhaps?
The enemy’s corpse resembled a ghost.
Its face remained, and Seojun asked it.
To see if conversation was possible.
“So, how many more of you are there?”
Now that he’d roughly figured out the patterns, he could probably take down about ten right now, couldn’t he?
While Seojun was thinking that, a reply came.
“None. You crazy bastard.”
“What?”
“I am the mastermind.”
“Aha. Is that so. Then, is this phase 2?”
“No. I’m dead. I’m dead, I tell you! It’s over, Kael!”
Despite trying to act cool, the agitation in the opponent’s eyes made it clear he was seriously worrying about how to handle the aftermath.
“Hmm?”
Seojun assessed the truth from the opponent’s reaction.
So.
“You’re the final mastermind?”
“Yes.”
“Don’t act all high and mighty after getting wrecked.”
“……”
“So, is it over?”
“Probably. Haha.”
Having said that, Seojun looked down at the corpse, its face dissolving into a green mist as the connection severed.
Turbulence spread across Seojun’s eyes as well.
‘This is bad. What do I do?’
Naturally, he had assumed it was just a minion.