Chapter 61
Tang!
A clear, ringing sound echoed.
Seojun’s sword deflected the flying dagger, which had traced the shortest distance—a straight line.
The dagger failed to stop Seojun, and the distance closed in an instant.
“No one dodges, you say? Then I suppose you blocked them all.”
Seojun’s sword moved to cut down the enemy.
His right hand gripping the sword rose above his left shoulder.
“Who can block that!”
The sword, imbued with internal energy, slashed the bewildered enemy, who hadn’t even properly drawn a dagger.
Schwaack!
- LOL, that’s right, who can block that.
- Even a bullet seems slower than that.
- Fr lol
- Info) A bullet’s speed is 400 m/s, far faster than a dagger.
- Gtfo
The enemy’s health dropped.
Right after slashing the enemy from left to right, Seojun instantly switched his sword to a reverse grip, readying another strike.
“W-wait….”
Schwaaack!
And with that, he drove the sword down from left to right again.
That was precisely why he used a reverse grip.
Placing his thumb against the pommel allowed him to hold the sword with stability.
Crunch!
The enemy, whose health had been halved in an instant, had even greater shock in their eyes.
“Hold on! Why’s my health like this?”
“Talking during combat is a luxury.”
Flustered, the enemy ended up falling on his backside.
Seojun raised the sword high and brought it straight down.
Slash and slash again.
- Yeah, talking is a luxury.
- Time is gold.
- Even more so for the Absorption Technique.
- Even more so for the Abbot.
As the enemy died, his internal energy and stamina, which had been draining rapidly, returned to their original pace.
Killing one person had released the Absorption Technique.
“Hey! Why’d you die already!”
The bandit running from afar had burned his hoarded internal energy to use lightness skill when his comrade was in danger, but by the time he flew in, the comrade was already dead.
Having grasped the situation, instead of fleeing, the bandit chose to launch a surprise attack on Seojun.
Tuk.
Seojun turned around, and behind him the quickly approaching bandit planted his foot and swung his greatsword wide.
But Seojun’s body was already moving backward.
Choosing evasion over a counter, Seojun pulled back, and as the enemy’s sword passed, he thrust his own blade forward.
Once again, his internal energy began surging rapidly.
“Heh, nice dodge.”
The bandit retreated, snorting.
“Your sword is so bandit-like it’d be harder not to dodge.”
“What’s ‘bandit-like’?”
It’s nothing special.
“It means simplistic.”
“Heh heh. It’s strong because it’s simple. That’s why I chose the Green Forest. No one even considers blocking.”
“Is that so.”
If it required that much stamina and internal energy, who would choose to block?
- But didn’t you just say talking is a luxury lol
- Lol, it got reset lol lol
- He does whatever he wants!
- But the bandit guy’s kinda cool?
- Simplicity is strength!
- Ah, that’s something to be proud of as a Green Forest man.
- Is there still someone who hasn’t gone to the Demon Cult here?
- You crazy bastard, you want me to follow the Abbot to the Demon Cult?
- Yeah, I did?
From the chat window, Seojun briefly scanned and caught the nickname of a viewer he had met in the previous round.
‘So he followed me here.’
Simply amazing!
There were too many amazing people in this world.
“Hoo-uhp.”
The bandit took a deep breath, preparing his next move.
His motions were large and slow.
Because his sword was heavy. The bandit practically dragged his greatsword along the ground as he moved.
“There must have been plenty of light weapons in the Green Forest, but seeing you chose a greatsword, I get the idea.”
“What do you know!”
Whoosh.
The greatsword, initially noticeably slow, gradually sped up, growing larger in Seojun’s sight.
But that sword path merely moved from up to down.
“Your attacks are too honest.”
That was the pitfall of no one ever trying to block his strikes.
Seojun lowered his body and took a stance.
The descending sword met Seojun’s power and shot upward, perpendicular to the enemy’s attack.
“To not even consider the most basic parry.”
People probably dodged because even parrying would leave them at a disadvantage.
But for Seojun, it wasn’t such a big loss.
“Kheuk.”
Was it the completely unexpected blow, or the heavy recoil of the parry?
The bandit staggered backward.
Seojun attacked the enemy in that state, chipped away at his health, then stood before him leveling his sword.
“Come at me.”
“I won’t fall for that this time!”
The bandit’s next attack came with a tricky timing, making it hard to parry.
But then, who was Seojun?
“Kheuk!”
The bandit stumbled backward.
After reducing his health, Seojun smiled and leveled his sword.
“Come at me.”
- The Abbot’s enjoying this.
- The most excited expression I’ve seen today.
- Guy who chose the Green Forest because simplicity is strength – fake madness.
- Guy who chose the Demon Cult with the nickname Cheonma – true madness.
- Crazy psychos lol
- Choosing the Demon Cult really is true madness lol.
While Seojun glanced away for a moment, the bandit aimed for an opening.
But it was easily blocked.
Seojun wouldn’t have looked away if he couldn’t predict that much.
Seojun depleted all of the bandit’s health.
And when he heard the carriage approaching in the distance, instead of joining it, he ran ahead.
“I’ll catch them before they reach the carriage, as I said. And, everyone.”
The reason he could parry the bandit’s sword was entirely thanks to the Absorption Technique.
For others, consuming twice the resources would be a disadvantage, but the Absorption Technique continuously replenished those resources, bit by bit.
And the trait Seojun had taken replenished them not just slowly, but heavily.
So the conclusion he reached was this:
“No matter how I think about it, my trait build seems really good. I feel it more acutely the more I play.”
- Oh, don’t buy it.
- But seriously, wouldn’t it be decent even outside of smurfing?
- Don’t be fooled.
- I’m not fooled. It’s not the Demon Cult in the first place lol.
Ah.
So it might not even be the Demon Cult.
Seojun clicked his tongue and swallowed his disappointment.
* * *
“Whenever I play For the Cooperative, I always feel the game’s a bit lonely. Other than that, it’s a really good game.”
The game ended, and the carriage arrived at its destination.
The destination was a spot slightly further behind the enemies’ starting point.
- That’s because you always catch them alone in front of the enemy lines, you crazy bastard lol
- His madness can’t be matched.
- Professor, your pace is too fast.
The sole remaining teammate next to the carriage spoke.
“The ride felt incredibly smooth somehow, but what’s this subtle feeling?”
The enemies were defeated without ever getting a glimpse of the carriage.
When the carriage passed their base, Seojun had personally gone ahead and caught them.
“Anyway, thanks for the carry! I’ll subscribe to your YouTube channel! It’s Cheonma14 to search, right?”
The woman who had guarded the carriage the whole game, anxious that an enemy Seojun missed might come, thanked him and then left.
“Uh… She left.”
She left without even giving Seojun a chance to correct his streamer name.
[‘Solution’ has donated 30,000 won!]
[Quickly contact the editor and change your channel name!]
“Wow! There’s a method like that!”
Though he said that, he looked at it with a sour expression.
- Wow!
- Dude, are you a genius or something?
- This is collective intelligence! And this is the viewers!
- Fr lol
- If you really need to, just send a game message, you brickheads, why change the channel name lol
- Kek, that’s also collective intelligence! This guy’s a viewer too!
At least there’s some sanity.
“Ah, and before the next round, we have something to settle, right?”
Seojun opened the chat window and spoke.
“I remember that ID. The Travel ID and the game ID were the same, so you know what happens if you dine and dash, right?”
Thanks to the threat, the payment came quickly.
[‘OfCourseIKnow’ has donated 100,000 won!]
[Of course I know. But the money’s fine… It’s just that the magical girl and Christina all turned to bubbles…]
The notification sound rang as the message appeared on screen.
“Hm?”
The deposit amount is insufficient.
Obviously, it couldn’t be a dine-and-dash.
If they explained they were in a tough spot or were a minor short on allowance, Seojun would be willing to let it slide.
But the viewer hadn’t explained such circumstances.
“Could it be they want to donate again?”
Seojun’s prediction was correct.
The next donation came in succession after a brief delay.
[‘GoingWhenIGo’ has donated 100,000 won!]
[It’s just a bit of aggro, and I even ate the desertion penalty, so it’s all good, right?]
- He got predicted by the Abbot.
- Kyah! That guy leaves in an artistic manner, too.
- He hasn’t left yet.
- Lol, the desertion penalty isn’t wasted, mm-hmm!
So that’s how it is.
“Oh, yes. Thank you for the donation. Then, let’s go to the next round.”
From the mountain to the tavern, and back to the mountain again, he was summoned.
“Hello!”
“Hey.”
First, Seojun waited quietly.
Surely, there wouldn’t be a viewer sniping again.
“…….”
He was just checking.
“Why is this person not saying anything and just staying still?”
“Maybe his loading is stuck?”
“Is there such a thing?”
“Dunno.”
Thankfully, it didn’t seem so.
“Hello.”
He finally greeted.
“Hello. Well then, let’s do our best.”
“Have a good game.”
The pair naturally headed to where the carriage was, even though the NPC hadn’t come to fetch them.
Seojun quietly said that and followed.
“Looks like there aren’t any, thankfully.”
The viewers caught on to what he meant.
- No sniping lol
- Those two seem to have no idea.
- Anyway, these days snipers are so sloppy! Can’t you do it like me?
- You failed this time too.
- How can I snipe when I can’t even play the game because of the desertion penalty lol.
Since the game matches people with somewhat similar reputation levels, the more he wins from now on, the easier it will be to snipe.
Because the number of people with high reputation keeps dwindling.
This kind of phenomenon happens in other games with tier systems too.
“The goods you need to protect are these.”
Among the items in the carriage, the shipment to be guarded this time was alcohol.
[Hundred Flowers Wine]
The box containing the wine was closed.
“Depart!”
The carriage set off, and Seojun stuck close to it and started leisurely.
“First, since I can do ranged attacks, I’ll stick near the carriage, and Cheonma-nim, please protect the NPCs as much as possible.”
“What about me?”
“Stick to wherever we’re lacking.”
“Got it.”
“How about you, Cheonma-nim?”
Seojun silently listened and then nodded.
With roles quickly assigned, they took their positions and walked alongside the carriage.
They moved like that for a little while, and—
“Enemy!”
An NPC who spotted the enemy shouted.
“They’re coming right at us. Let’s prepare.”
“I just hope we don’t lose from the start because of bad luck.”
There were times when an enemy attack accidentally hit the shipment.
“For real. Here they come!”
Seojun watched from a bit of a distance as the enemies and his teammates clashed.
The number of enemies that got right up to the carriage was two.
The teammate assigned to cover weaknesses also moved over there.
“I wonder where the rest of the enemies are.”
Seojun scanned his surroundings while preparing to dash to protect the shipment if needed.
The remaining one enemy appeared on the opposite side of the road.
But the nickname seemed somehow familiar.
[Baekho7]
So the sniper’s on the enemy team this time, not the teammate.
Seojun inwardly let out a sigh.
“Miss me, you bastard?”
Resolving to absolutely avoid sniping from the next round, he turned to Baekho, who was staring at him smugly, and said:
“Who are you?”
“Wh… what?”
That moment of fluster was quite a sight.
“Hmm… I’ve never seen that ‘ID’ before.”
When Seojun specifically emphasized ‘ID’, Baekho caught on that he was being teased.
“You son of a bitch. It’s because of you.”
Anyway, it’s true he’s seeing him for the first time.
- Baekho ‘7’ lol, he lost the rare nick lol.
- Hmm, that’s right lol.
- Looks like he got his account deleted and made a new one lol.
- Still, he couldn’t give up Baekho lol.
- Instead of going with an ambiguous 7, he should’ve just gone with Baekho14, look at that lack of sense, tsk tsk.
- That’s what I’m saying lol