Chapter 54
Raid.
The nickname given by the users, its official name was [Deathmatch (NPC)].
The reason it was called Deathmatch was that if either the enemy commander NPC or the user died, the game would end.
However, it wasn’t simply a one-on-one duel.
Since the battle took place on a battlefield, you had to find the enemy commander, and other regular NPCs clashed in various places as well.
“In a raid, speed is the most important thing.”
Finding the enemy commander quickly and killing them fast.
That was the way to earn more fame and contribution.
-Time attack mode
-Let’s wait a bit until the info is out and then go
-The rankers all do that lol
-Don’t start right away
-This is consulting
Seojun understood what they were saying at once.
“It’s fine. Let’s go right away.”
The viewers had advised him to play after information was released and set a faster record based on gathered intel.
But Seojun decided to just go.
Since the first run didn’t give any fame anyway.
It was a practice round designated by the game company.
And Seojun thought that gathering information by playing himself on the first run wasn’t much different from playing after getting info from other people’s gameplay.
‘I heard rankers even devise routes and traits within a short time and use the first run as a rehearsal.’
However, Seojun lacked game knowledge so he couldn’t do that.
“Ah, and I heard you have to know how to use resources efficiently in a raid too.”
Since there were no recovery means like bases in Deathmatch.
You had to rely on naturally recovering resources.
“Oh, the Star Absorption Art only applies to the enemy commander? Thanks for the advice.”
After hearing detailed advice, Seojun’s trait wasn’t particularly advantageous. Maybe even disadvantageous.
“Let’s just go righteous faction. Since we can’t meet that guy from the Tang Clan earlier anyway.”
Another defensive day today.
* * *
Seojun chose the same region as the day before.
The game started and Seojun opened his eyes inside a building.
After checking his surroundings, he tried to open the door but couldn’t go outside.
Letters appeared before his eyes.
[Deathmatch starts in 30 seconds]
-I wonder which sect NPC he’ll fight
-The building looks like a tavern, but it doesn’t seem like the Beggars’ Sect. There’s no way beggars would have money to come to a tavern
Hmm.
While waiting, Seojun nodded as he read the chat.
That made sense.
[Deathmatch starts in 10 seconds]
But where were the allied soldiers?
Left alone in the room, Seojun felt a question.
‘If it were fighting alone, it would be called assassination, not deathmatch.’
And before he could think further on that question, as soon as ten seconds passed, an enemy with a sword kicked open the door and appeared.
“Enemy commander of the Demon Sect! Die!”
Neat attire. Not a martial arts uniform, and not a beggar. Then.
-It’s the Namgung Clan lol
-Does anyone know which Namgung Clan NPC appeared?
-No idea, it’s only been 1 minute since it started lol
First, the righteous faction’s identity was revealed to be the Namgung Clan.
The enemy NPCs began rushing at Seojun the moment they spotted him.
‘The location is a tall and wide building. And the enemy is the Namgung Clan. The target is the enemy commander.’
Seojun checked the health of the martial artists.
Not as much as the soldiers that appeared in the occupation battle, but definitely lower compared to users.
Seojun held his sword in a reverse grip and took out a dagger from his waist with his left hand.
Thanks to the Grandmaster, he had many weapons for free, and the dagger was one of them.
Carrying many weapons slowed you down, but for a dagger, the penalty was almost nonexistent.
However.
‘I didn’t take traits related to daggers, so it’ll be inefficient.’
Anyway, this was the first run, so he had to gather as much information as possible.
‘And the Star Absorption Art is not activated.’
This was definitely a setback.
It meant he couldn’t make use of his trait until he found the enemy commander.
‘Then the damage...’
The enemy’s sword grew larger in his vision, closing in.
Seojun dodged to the side and slashed the enemy with his sword.
Half the health of a regular soldier was shaved off.
“It takes two hits with the sword.”
Quickly, he threw the dagger at another enemy behind him.
About a third of the enemy’s health was shaved off.
Seojun dealt with the enemy using the sword and put the dagger back.
“The dagger won’t do.”
He had to explore and find the fastest and most efficient route.
That was the core of today’s game.
-If it were the Tang Clan, there are so many damage-boosting traits for throwing daggers that it’d probably be one-hit
-This is bad. If the Star Absorption Art isn’t on, he’s just going around with no traits at all
-Change martial arts? There’s still 3 hours left lol and this is still the first run.
Seojun went out into the hallway through the door the enemy had kicked open.
The hallway of the building was quite large, and when he turned his head to the side, martial artists of the Demon Sect and the Namgung Clan were clashing.
Passing them, Seojun looked for stairs to grasp the structure.
The enemies who spotted him abandoned their fights and rushed over.
Swaaak!
They were dealt with in just two strikes.
Since they were merely regular NPCs, no matter how many there were, they were nothing more than a means to stall time.
“Let’s go down first. I need to see how big the building is from the outside.”
Facing martial artists, Seojun went down the stairs and soon realized that the place he started was the 3rd floor.
On the 1st floor of the tavern, a greater number of martial artists were clashing.
When Seojun came down the stairs and revealed himself to them, the NPCs’ heads all turned toward him at once.
And the cries burst out.
“Capture the enemy commander!”
“Protect Heavenly Demon 14!”
With those cries, the martial artists’ formation began to change.
The Demon Sect assumed a defensive formation as they approached Seojun, and the Namgung Clan the opposite.
-Lololol Heavenly Demon 14
-Change your nickname, it breaks immersion
-It’d be better to just use Seojun
-Seojun is already taken
“Waaaaah!”
The NPCs started fighting again.
Seojun pushed through the Demon Sect fighters surrounding him, dealt with enemies moderately, and headed for the main gate.
“Not sure if I can get out of here.”
He wondered if it would be blocked like at the start, but fortunately, there was an outside.
After exiting, Seojun turned around to check the building’s height.
Tall.
Very tall.
“Uh, if the enemy commander is at the very top, it’ll be a bit bothersome.”
It looked to be about 13 floors.
Since there was no enemy commander on the 1st and 3rd floors, he would have to search floor by floor from now on.
-No worries, if another user finds the enemy commander location, we’ll tell you
-These are real viewers
-Lololol I’m excited to lie
In case the commander might be on the 1st floor, Seojun looked around the outer garden and then went back inside the building.
“It’s the enemy commander! Catch that guy!”
Because he hadn’t dealt with all of them earlier, the same situation repeated, and Seojun dealt with them without using internal energy and returned to the stairs.
“Without the Star Absorption Art, I can’t use much internal energy, so even simple tasks take time.”
Seojun steadily continued exploring, true to his intention.
-Anyway, the most time-consuming part is the fight with the enemy commander
-Even if the arrival time is slow, the damage is strong, so if you catch the commander fast, the slow arrival can be sufficiently covered
-What if even the arrival time is fast?
-That’s only possible for assassins with tons of mobility skills like Sallyak
Soon, Seojun began rummaging through the tavern floor by floor.
It didn’t take long.
Even without the Star Absorption Art, Seojun’s basic attacks dealt a decent amount of damage because he had invested only in attack-related traits.
And honestly, just giving Seojun a sword was enough.
As he searched floor by floor, when he reached the 11th floor, Seojun felt the air flow change.
From the stairway entrance, Demon Sect martial artists, long dead, lay fallen like obstacles.
On the scorched walls were sword marks.
Above all, the surroundings were silent.
The sounds of weapons clashing, shouts, and screams existed only as faint noises drifting up from below.
“It seems they’re here.”
He wondered if it was okay to make it this obvious, but considering it was essentially a time attack format, it seemed fine.
Since the game was about speed, not about the problem of finding and catching the enemy commander.
Seojun entered the hallway to check the 11th floor.
He didn’t move cautiously or slow down, but he hadn’t let go of his tension either.
‘They said NPCs use martial arts similar to users.’
The Namgung Clan martial arts in For the Cause had two types.
The Heavenly Thunder Divine Sword, which used lightning energy for swift attacks.
And the other, the Imperial Sword technique that expressed the dignity of a ruler.
The Imperial Sword Form.
‘Depending on which martial art the enemy commander has learned...’
The fight would change.
Crackle.
When he turned a corner, a faint sound was heard.
Seojun turned his head.
“He’s here.”
Before the words finished, a figure flew in.
* * *
Walls crumbled, and faint lightning energy in the form of static electricity sparked on the floor.
Dust settled, revealing all sorts of scorch marks and debris from collapsed walls.
“Got him.”
Seojun spoke calmly, looking down.
There lay the enemy commander, face down with Seojun’s sword lodged in him.
The NPC’s name was Namgung Cheon.
One of the elders of the Namgung Clan, they say.
Not that it mattered.
-Seems much easier than the Ruler
-You can’t compare it to the Ruler lol. That one was made to be unbeatable, and this one is meant to be caught quickly.
-He catches them fast.
With the battle over, Seojun was assessing the surrounding terrain and reading the chat when he spoke.
“If I don’t catch them fast, I die. It’s a time attack in the truest sense.”
While others might get low contribution if they didn’t catch fast, for Seojun, if he didn’t catch them quickly after encountering, it was immediate defeat.
-For real, it’s a true time attack lol He’s playing a death game alone lol
-Still, his catch time is decent, so the record will probably be good.
Seojun then looked around the 12th and 13th floors as well.
There was nothing there.
Next, he filled his internal energy and slashed at a wall.
He wanted to see if he could also do it after seeing Namgung Cheon’s sword energy collapse walls.
Crash.
It was possible.
A chat came in telling him not to destroy property. Seojun lightly ignored it. Then he experimented with various things.
“Fortunately, they give time to experiment. If they kicked me out as soon as the game ended, I couldn’t have tested these.”
Having finished his experiments, Seojun dusted off his pants, opened the game window, and pressed exit.
Once outside, Seojun didn’t start another game immediately.
-So what are you going to do?
-The record came out to 17 minutes. It’s meaningless since it’s the first run anyway.
-The veterans usually aim for around the 5-minute mark.
Seojun looked at the chat window.
Because no good method came to mind.
“Wow, under 5 minutes?”
-Yeah
-Super fast
-Optimal pathing, optimal traits, optimal weapons, optimal strategy.
-But those guys only strategize for 2 hours and start at 9 or 9:30.
-While regular users like us just go to whatever NPC we feel like fighting lol
It was said that ordinary users who didn’t strategize and just enjoyed the game took about 15 minutes.
Those lacking in skill sometimes couldn’t clear it at all.
Seojun calculated the time it would take to run up to the 11th floor from starting on the 3rd.
Plus the time to catch Namgung Cheon.
‘I could probably get around 6 minutes.’
The catch time itself was fast, but the time taken to reach was long.
Because he had to deal with enemies obstructing him in between.
Enemies that could be handled with just two slashes.
But there were many, and the stairs were broken on the 5th and 8th floors.
‘5 minutes versus 6 minutes.’
A simple one-minute difference, but considering the competitors who spent two hours strategizing to shave off a few seconds from others, it was quite lacking.
‘Maybe I should watch others play.’
Looking at the viewers now, it didn’t seem so, but still, others might think of things he hadn’t.
‘Things I hadn’t thought of.’
Seojun went over his strengths first.
Attack power. Internal energy recovery speed. Control skill.
And then.
‘Hmm?’
An amusing idea suddenly came to mind, and Seojun curled up the corners of his mouth and, as usual, just went ahead with it.
Unaware that quite a few people had been watching him since the previous day’s issue and his starting with a Deathmatch game.
“Everyone, I think 4 minutes will be enough.”