Chapter 314
“Hey, Black Curtain?”
“What is it, brother?”
“Why are you keeping me alive?”
Five were dead. The sole survivor was a bruiser hero with a brief immortality skill.
Seojun had bluffed that he’d kill him if he moved even an inch.
Having lost, he didn’t mind dying.
But still, he was curious why he was being kept alive.
That guy, Kael.
If he could survive, he was dying to pass on the information.
“Well, I needed someone to talk to. Is that all right?”
“Ah. But you’re not just trying to lure people in, are you?”
“Are you curious?”
“Right. So that instead of the other hero parties banding together, they’ll target me.”
“Think whatever you like.”
“I suppose I must die.”
“Shall I kill you now, then?”
“…….”
He gave up on trying to extract something through the threat of death.
The man seemed to have nothing to lose.
Still, if he could somehow relay information about this wicked being right before dying, it would be a huge gain.
“I’ll stay quiet, so how about not killing me until you meet someone else. You said you needed a conversation partner, Black Curtain.”
“Hmm. That’s a suggestion I quite like.”
“When you say meet, does that mean at least face to face and hearing each other’s voices? Is that possible?”
“Why wouldn’t it be? As long as you stay quiet.”
“Good. Then I’m curious about something, Black Curtain.”
“So that’s why you kept me alive. Very good.”
A madman.
He was experiencing Seojun for the first time.
And he thought he understood now why everyone who met him said he was completely insane.
But at the same time they said he was intelligent, that everything was calculated, so he had to stay completely alert.
The fortunate thing was that he generally kept his promises.
“That acceleration in speed, what was that? A special item?”
“Ah, that?”
“Yeah.”
It was essentially one of the biggest reasons they’d been completely helpless.
“It was just me moving a little slower than my original speed and then returning to my normal speed, you know?”
“……. Not a little, it was a very tiny bit.”
“Exactly.”
Rhythm.
Every battle has a rhythm shared among those in it.
But what if you could freely alter that rhythm in minute ways?
If the speed difference is large, you’d catch on quickly, but the opposite is different.
Of course, altering it is far more difficult than countering it.
Meaning, it’s a useless skill.
It’s for stomping noobs.
A technique that only barely works against opponents a few levels below you.
“Hmm…….”
He could forcibly keep a straight face, acting as if nothing was wrong, but he couldn’t suppress the respect welling up inside him.
It was the God of Swords.
‘Truly, the name is not wasted.’
And then.
“Ah, the next party will be arriving soon. Farewell.”
“Huh……?”
That respect vanished in an instant.
Sensing the killing intent, he immediately used his skill.
[Will of Rejection]
An ultimate skill that prevents his health from dropping below 1 for a certain duration.
Swaaaak!
The killing intent was precise. A sword slashed across his torso.
And because of the news that someone was coming, the ultimate he used to hold on saved his life.
He had no thought of counterattacking. He just ran as fast as possible toward the teleport magic circle, intending to meet his comrades and relay the information.
And Seojun began slashing at him at full speed—hitting CC and dealing damage, but not killing him.
Within 3 seconds, the dual-mark had formed, but he just kept running forward.
4 seconds.
5 seconds.
6 seconds.
7 seconds.
What the hell, when are they showing up.
I have to tell them.
The ultimate’s duration was 13 seconds. It was this long thanks to the runes.
Seojun began to walk slowly. He was still running. The distance grew.
The ultimate effect ended.
And then.
‘They appeared!’
He could see them in the distance.
Faces full of shock.
Why are they shocked?
Because I have no health?
Ah.
A sword was falling from the sky.
‘From behind me.’
There was no time. Time to convey something.
The optimal choice.
“Just run……!”
Kugugugung!
His dying words were delivered clearly.
He heard the voices of his comrades, flustered.
And he thought.
‘Is he some kind of devil himself?’
To keep a promise like this.
Soon, from beyond the cloud of dust, the Judge approached slowly with an upright posture and greeted them.
From the perspective of the heroes who had just arrived, it was a half-destroyed city.
A comrade running frantically, shouting to flee.
A sky sword piercing and killing that comrade.
And then a sacred yet sinister Judge appearing.
In other words,
it was terror.
“W-what the.”
“Were we too late?”
“They were fighting, right?”
Seojun was wreathed in white light. To anyone, it was the effect of Blessing of Radiance.
Right from the start, he displayed the consumption of his ultimate and skills to induce complacency.
Seojun’s goal was to minimize the number of participants gathering in the final party.
And so far, it had been going smoothly.
* * *
Yon continued to deal with the hounds.
There was no sign of the stage 2 portal being cleared.
The stage 2 portal required killing the alpha among the hounds, using its transcendental energy to destroy the portal.
And when that alpha would reveal itself to them was unknown.
[Four! No, three more!]
Meanwhile, Brion’s situation was becoming urgent.
Because parties kept filling up.
“This isn’t good.”
[Why? Does it look like it might really end like this? Should we go too?]
[Deal with the portal first.]
The first party that went to support Brion had four members.
And then two more parties quickly joined, numbering three and two.
One member of the first party had died in an instant, so currently, 8 out of 9 were in Brion.
7 is better than 6, 8 is better than 7; the more people, the more disadvantageous the fight becomes for the Black Curtain.
But so what?
The opponent is Seojun. You need at least 20 to feel secure.
Sadly, that was already impossible.
“Let’s close the portal quickly and join the party in Tireas over there.”
[Alright, alright. Got it.]
[The remaining personnel is 13…….]
There were 3 stage 2 portals left.
Three parties, including Yon’s, were tied up, totaling 13 people.
‘This is…….’
If even one more party here finishes destroying a portal and heads to Brion, it’s over.
It would be better if all three parties went to Brion right now, but.
‘Looks like the other two also plan to destroy the portal before moving.’
It was impossible for them to give up on destroying the portals right now, roam around gathering the two parties, and head to Brion.
Time for a decision was short.
Just look.
From 8, it dropped to 7 in an instant.
Now 6.
‘Damn.’
While he wandered to the other two locations, the fight in Brion would be over.
And then if they faced Seojun and Seojun stalled for time?
The correct move was to destroy the portal and then move.
Time passed. Two remained in Brion.
‘Just as expected.’
It was surprising they fought for quite a while.
But in the end, they were defeated.
Seojun probably didn’t take much damage.
That’s why it took so long.
[Oh. They say the Tireas portal is almost destroyed?]
[Haha. Huh? The last one too. We’re last.]
Now, all they could do was trust the remaining participants.
If those two parties go to Brion.
‘One.’
Then they’d have to abandon everything and rush as well.
And while monitoring the map.
[Huh? Found it! The alpha hound! I’ll catch it!]
“Phew.”
At least they might be able to join, albeit a bit late.
And then more participants arrived in their zone.
“Nice, Rachel!”
And Bernard.
A party that knew Seojun well.
They hadn’t been consumed by the greed to catch Seojun.
“Good to see you! Haven’t found the alpha yet?”
“We found it. Let’s head to Brion soon. To the final fight. The last party is…….”
Rachel climbed onto the plateau where they were and greeted them.
Soon, another name was added to the roster.
“Divine Sword. As expected.”
This side wasn’t consumed by anger.
They weren’t agitated.
With Gerte there, Yon had been worried, but it was a relief.
Making eye contact with Divine Sword, Yon shook hands like true comrades-in-arms, man to man.
“Let’s catch that bastard.”
Divine Sword glared. His PTSD from being scared of Yon seemed to have disappeared.
“Yeah, let’s catch brother.”
“Brother, my ass. Curse him. Why now.”
“Brother.”
“Fine…….”
13 people. There was a possibility.
The final suicide squad had assembled.
It would be the last chance to catch Seojun, who had expended resources.
[Destruction complete. Let’s meet up.]
And then.
“Good. Now then, shall we discuss on the way?”
“What?”
“Everything about brother.”
The two heroes who knew Seojun best put their heads together.
* * *
Brion, piled with corpses.
‘Hoo. This is tough.’
The fight had been exactly as difficult as Seojun expected.
And the difficulty Seojun had envisioned was extremely high.
He’d never struggled this much in this historical record.
‘The second fight was harder probably because of the presence or absence of support.’
Supports.
Heroes in healing or utility buff roles double their performance when there’s an appropriate number in the party.
On top of that, the increased number of people played a part.
In one-versus-many, the difficulty never increases proportionally with each additional person.
And the next opponents.
“Thirteen, huh. That’s become a hassle, hasn’t it?”
He’d killed fifteen without expending much, but in the end, he had to face over ten at once.
‘Will they be pleased?’
— Yes, it’s become a hassle. It would’ve been nice if just one more party had come.
— Things don’t go your way, right?
— lmao the streamer just had a tough time catching them a moment ago lmao
— And the time is pretty generous too
— The utility supports are the problem
— Still, thumbs up for the streamer squad who thinks he’ll win lmao
— lmao meanwhile Yon and Divine Sword are perfectly piecing together the situation while talking, hilarious lmaooo
— They even matched up the runes, how he fought, and even the fact that the fight was prolonged because he deliberately tried to minimize expenditure lmaooo
— The two who respect him more than anyone lmao
— Overseas reactions are like ‘we’re done for!’ but also half in doubt lmaooo
— The streamer crew has grown so much...
I don’t know.
Are they getting heated? Or are they cursing?
Do they predict he’ll win, or lose?
Fifty-fifty?
They must be confused.
But one thing was certain.
In the end, they would cheer for the victor.
For that, Seojun had to overcome.
He’d already expended a great deal of mental strength.
He was tired. In truth, he could fight like this for a few more weeks, but machines can’t do that.
He could roughly gauge it.
‘So I’ll rest in advance.’
If he had to log out mid-fight, he’d suffer losses.
If that was the case, he’d just leave it on auto and then rejoin.
Seojun warmed up and smiled.
“Once again, it’s become a hassle. So, everyone?”
— ???
— Am I the only one nervous?
— For real lmao
“I’m going to let auto-hunt run for a bit.”
Since asking for understanding honestly would be boring.
“Tell Yon and Divine Sword to survive my AI first before coming back.”
After that, Seojun—no, Kael—suddenly knelt in the middle of the city and began to pray.
— ?
— ???
— ????
Sword Master’s Game Stream
Chapter 315