Chapter 313
Three colossal pillars of light—or more precisely, swords so massive they resembled pillars—tore through the sky and descended.
The time it took was a mere 10 seconds.
Just 10 seconds.
Four-second Judgment Sword?
For Seojun, it was more than enough time.
His attack speed and movement speed had become far faster.
So fast that it was even shorter than four seconds, catching all six participants off guard.
*Rumble, rumble!*
As if someone watching the city from afar might truly feel that judgment day had come,
The gigantic holy swords instantly appeared above their heads.
Moreover, as the three pillars struck the ground and pierced through the pavement, half-obscuring their vision, Seojun relentlessly continued his assault.
His attitude made it clear that the ultimate he had just used was nothing more than a basic attack.
Though the Mastermind’s opponents were shocked, their response was not slow.
“Ten seconds have passed!”
*Clang!*
He snatched the shuriken flying out from his sleeve and swung his arm,
Putting distance between them.
The shuriken shot through the gap like a bolt of lightning, sucked in a straight line toward Kael’s face.
Even with invincibility still active, it was a move that instinctively forced a dodge, and unless someone had trained to overcome it, few could suppress that instinct.
Unfortunately, his opponent knew his own situation all too well.
As if nothing had happened, without even blinking, Seojun took the shuriken head-on and closed the distance.
Naturally, his HP didn’t drop.
The blade cut across his throat. It was sooner than expected.
‘The blade…!’
It extended freely. Thanks to the rune. He’d been able to buy it on Day 12.
*Boom!*
The Judgment Sword burrowed into the ground, causing a deafening roar as it shattered.
“Did everyone survive?”
*Slash!*
Even as they checked, their vitals were being slashed.
Inexorable sword strikes kept flying at them.
The pillars vanished, and their vision cleared. The invincibility period would be over.
“No one’s dead!”
Those who had scattered in a radial pattern all simultaneously flipped direction by 90 degrees and charged.
They knew the Blessing of Radiance was still active, but now was the moment for a counterattack.
No one had died.
Even the hero on whom the Heretic Mark directly appeared hadn’t been executed.
He might have been if he’d taken a few more hits, but oddly, the opponent used his ultimate right as the third mark appeared.
The tank, having gained a temporary shield, obviously survived, and the dealer’s HP didn’t reach execution threshold.
He’d completed a quest on the train and immediately chugged a potion.
One remaining was a dealer with only 40% HP. If anyone, they’d target him.
The six heroes naturally began designing their combat plan, envisioning the situation that would follow.
The low-HP hero would go to the rear,
So he could assess the situation and intervene a little later.
They understood without speaking, without even exchanging glances.
How to unravel the fight, where to aim against the Mastermind, and which situations to be wary of.
Their odds were still high.
‘Without HP, he’ll drop in one hit!’
For the Mastermind, the most important thing was having high HP, after all.
First, the Mastermind had to withstand their attacks.
Otherwise, a single lapse in concentration could mean getting bombarded by multiple skills and dying screaming.
The more people there were, the more cautious one had to be.
Second, he lacked exclusive skills advantageous for fighting groups:
Area-of-effect skills, skills that summoned pets scaling with the number of enemies, and so on.
And the opponent was missing those two most efficient tools for handling multiple foes.
Thus, naturally, no one doubted Seojun’s defeat.
At that moment,
“Huh?”
Seojun instantly broke through their net of attacks and burst out.
He didn’t use an invincibility skill.
Because just before their skills could land, his movement speed increased ever so slightly, so they didn’t connect anyway.
And that slight speed was fatal.
Without any invincibility, escaping the barrage of skills, Seojun charged toward where the dealer with 40% HP was.
‘Momentary acceleration!’
Kael’s runes didn’t have anything like that. Then it was from the shop, or a reward from a special quest.
But the difference was so subtle it was ambiguous, and there was no time to deduce its source.
[Phantasm Prison]
A crowd-control skill flew instantly to catch Seojun.
His speed hadn’t increased significantly,
So the CC skill thrown by the one who had quickly adapted was sure to target accurately—
“Damn it!”
The reason they hadn’t used this skill earlier revealed itself.
In that split second, as Seojun passed them and turned his back, his body was enveloped in light.
[Blessing of Radiance]
A perfect invincibility skill granting immunity to crowd control.
The dealer with low HP was exposed to the threat called Kael.
The foot-binding skill should have been used after this ended.
Still, they thought it wasn’t a big problem yet.
As long as he didn’t die. As long as they could block. They were about to join in.
Then, before the five’s eyes, a merciless scene unfolded.
A pro’s sword lost its way, drifting uselessly through the air.
In contrast, Seojun’s sword tore through the body without creating a single unnecessary path.
As if it were only natural.
By then, they had realized what kind of existence they were dealing with.
Why, by the team leaders (no), he had been chosen as the Mastermind.
And why he had boldly abandoned HP.
“Sword God.”
Someone muttered Seojun’s nickname as they approached.
He slashed vitals. Beyond slashing, it was like a wolf biting with its teeth.
That’s what it looked like.
The moment a white line appeared, it was bitten by the sword and burst.
*Slash!*
Relentless.
“Rush in!”
“He’s still invincible!”
And then they realized something else. About the second rune Seojun had chosen.
The dealer died. Bitten to pieces.
Immediately, Seojun turned to face them.
Chilling.
He was smiling.
His HP had decreased. The invincibility of Blessing of Radiance wasn’t that long.
So now they could kill him.
“He’s CC’d, catch him!”
A pure white aura enveloped Seojun again.
In their minds, information about a certain rune naturally surfaced.
[Judgment Sword: Upon killing an enemy who has had the Heretic Mark appear and then disappear, all skill cooldowns of the hero are reset. Damage against enemies with the Heretic Mark is increased.]
Typically, it’s a rune designed for Kael, allowing him to use Blessing of Radiance and Judgment Sword again after an execution.
Because it synergizes well with the executing Judgment Sword.
But for Kael, since it was a conditional ultimate, having skill cooldowns reset didn’t mean much.
Thus, among Kael users, it was a neglected rune with other better options, but for the opponent, that wasn’t the case.
“Still, his HP dropped!”
“Let’s aim for later! Focus on defense!”
“Looks like he’s healing?”
“Life steal!”
Watching Seojun continue his next move without a shred of hesitation, they thought:
Had this entire battle been orchestrated from the start?
If so, wasn’t the outcome predetermined?
And that thought was correct.
“Brothers? Let’s take it once more.”
[Judgment Sword]
Seojun continuously shifted his attack and movement speed in tiny increments as he attacked, and just like the dealer who’d died earlier, they helplessly exposed their vitals.
An overwhelming gap in skill.
He landed his attacks, cutting down their HP faster than the opponent could recover.
The three pillars fell again.
“Ah….”
There stood Kael with full HP.
Despairing.
Like a true final boss.
“How about one more time, brothers?”
It was despairing to see the opponent grinning as he announced another death.
Only one option remained.
“We have to run!”
“Where do you think you’re going?”
Seojun chuckled.
* * *
[The 6 foreign brothers are already wiped out? What do you think?]
[Potions used so far? Zero lololololololol]
[lololololol So easy?]
Seojun won the first fight.
It didn’t take long.
It was while other parties were still busy clearing the remaining corridors right up to the end.
So no reinforcements could come.
[Shocking, right?]
==
This is the true boss!
==
-Watching 6 pros get wiped without being able to do anything is terrifying though.
-Why did they lose so easily?
-They must have been dried out.
-They lacked info.
└Same for the opponent.
└└But since he had invincibility, he could have led the fight favorably even without info.
└└└So in the end, it's just an overwhelming gap in skill, isn't it?
[Seems like a skill gap for real.]
==
World's best analyst, John Peto: The Mastermind is deliberately controlling his speed right now.
We know. What potions the Mastermind bought.
So the fact that the sudden acceleration isn't from potions—that it's actually his base speed—we know that.
In other words, the Mastermind is intentionally slowing down and then speeding up.
This kind of play is insane, normally breaking your own rhythm.
It usually just messes yourself up before the opponent.
But the Mastermind pulled it off naturally, steering every moment of the fight exactly as he wished.
Incredible skill.
==
-Wait a sec. Where exactly did his speed get faster?
└Right. I don't get where the sudden acceleration was.
└└Watch Peto's stream, you idiots! Hahaha!
-This is the true boss!
-lololololololol That's right.
-Yeah, the boss explained it~ lololololol
[Don't get cocky, Koreans. There are still many participants left, and they'll band together once they sense something's off.]
[Acting like it's already over! How arrogant!]
[To be fair, there are Americans who just copy those "lololol"s even though they're not Korean. Hahaha!]
[The more they gather, the harder it gets for the Mastermind. Even if he gave up HP, it's true he's over-spec. Participants must group up, and they'll figure that out.]
[Backpedaling now lololol You cute little things.]
* * *
While destroying the Phase 2 corridor, a change appeared on the map system window.
Briion, the great city of Ashyos.
The list of participants there was being erased one by one.
“Hey, are you seeing this?”
Yon asked his comrades who were destroying the corridor with him.
These comrades were precious people who had come to where Yon was.
Unlike some damn brother.
“Yeah, checking it now.”
“Deaths?”
“Must be. It shows Kael is in Briion too. 6 of them, and they’re dying easily.”
“Looks like the opponent is fighting with a do-or-die resolve? Maybe they used one or two HP recovery potions? Maybe they chose life-steal potions. Should we head straight to Briion after this?”
“Hold on!”
Yon said firmly.
Because he was feeling it.
We have to go together. We need to gather.
“Next, let’s go to another Phase 2 corridor and move in a group.”
Already, only one, no, two were left in Briion.
Those who disappeared from the list either fled or died.
Since they could only see who was in the area with corridors,
Yon thought the death probability was 100%. That monster never lets anyone go.
“Got it. But that one remaining in Briion seems to be holding on well? Still not dead? Should we go help him?”
Yon was certain.
“He’s not holding on.”
“What?”
“He’s not holding on. They’re just keeping him alive. Otherwise, they’d get bored with no one to talk to. His HP is probably one hit away from death.”
And most importantly,
It’s also a trap.
To make it look like he’s holding on, blinding them with greed to catch the Mastermind.
That’s what made Seojun terrifying.
Broadcast of a Swordsmanship Veteran’s Game
Chapter 314
24.03.19