Chapter 73
Speed is a huge advantage.
All kinds of actions—dodging the enemy's attacks, deflecting and blocking them, landing my own strikes, twisting and hiding them—become more advantageous the faster you are.
But in a game, if you gain something, you always lose something else.
'Compared to its speed, the damage is definitely weak.'
The enemy's next attack was a thrust.
He pulled back his sword, immediately landed to regain his balance, stepped forward with his front foot, and aimed for Seojun's chest.
The sequence of movements flowed as naturally as water, and a natural attack was, by definition, threatening.
Instead of dodging, Seojun twisted his body slightly and took the enemy's attack on his left shoulder.
His health did not decrease by much.
But simply taking hits didn't suit Seojun's personality.
As he absorbed the enemy's attack, he simultaneously seized the advantage.
Before anyone knew it, the edge of Seojun's blade was looming right at the enemy's neck.
The enemy's pupils instantly dilated.
He hurriedly tried to use his lightness skill to retreat, shifting his body's center of gravity to pull away, but...
It was already impossible to avoid the sword right in front of him.
Shwaaak!
He slashed across the neck.
The force wasn't fully delivered, but Seojun's attack was more than enough to recover all the health he had lost.
- That counter is insane
- He basically brought his neck to the sword
- Ahh. This is what swordsmanship is.
- Was I worrying for nothing? lol
* * *
Sapa's Dignity retreated and gritted his teeth.
His eyes were fully exposed, revealing his flustered emotions.
"I let you have the first strike, so this time, I'm taking it."
It was a constitution that couldn't afford to be leisurely.
Seojun approached, and the enemy retreated to pull himself together, but the map was narrow.
The current map was atop a canyon.
A stream flowed below, and the faint sound of a waterfall grated on the nerves.
At a glance, falling below seemed impossible.
Right now, a translucent wall was erected at the cliff that Sapa's Dignity was slowly approaching.
Seojun activated his sword aura.
The enemy witnessed the effect enveloping the blade and snapped back to his senses.
Hwoooung.
He put strength into it and swung his arm widely.
A faint sense of weight was added.
This meant a hit was confirmed.
Just like the enemy, it was a heavy attack hit confirm.
The enemy raised his sword, which had also released sword aura, to block the attack.
Even if your body is fast, the speed of thought and perception cannot be accelerated at the same time.
Therefore, gaining the upper hand purely from a difference in speed is not easy.
Of course, the Salmak school's characteristics don't increase perception speed to that extent, but still, utilizing it requires considerable mastery.
And Sapa's Dignity was a user who had built up that mastery.
The enemy, who quickly collected himself, kept his eyes fixed on the tip of the sword, intending to parry.
And at the last moment, he smiled.
Seeing this, Seojun inwardly scoffed.
How cute.
Clang!
"Huh?"
To the enemy who was flustered because the parry failed, Seojun kindly explained.
"It's not only high speed that lets you twist it at the last moment."
Ultimately, all actions that deceive the enemy by mixing changes into an attack are a battle of timing.
Seojun knew this fact well.
He also knew exactly how to do it.
With high speed, it would be easier to time and execute.
But even without that speed, while it wouldn't be easy, it was still possible.
Seojun retracted his sword and prepared to thrust.
The situation progressed in exactly the reverse of before.
He lowered his stance, placed his left foot on the floor beside the enemy, and thrust his sword.
Even if he tried to aim for the neck, it would be impossible.
Because he would accurately aim for the heart.
The enemy, realizing how the situation was unfolding, glared, but unable to decide between attacking like Seojun had or dodging, he hesitated.
Hesitation.
Normally, he would have chosen to dodge without a second thought, but the memory of being hit in the exact same situation just moments before made him waver.
That wavering led to the worst-case scenario: a sword piercing his heart.
His health drained rapidly.
This was partly because Seojun's sword was imbued with sword aura and partly because the difference in base attack power was significant.
"Tsk tsk. It's a shame since you can't even recover health here. *Clicking tongue*."
Seojun laughed and clicked his tongue.
It was a shame he didn't have a long beard to stroke.
"Now then, why don't you try running away?"
Having noticed that the enemy had revised his strategy, Seojun looked down at him and declared.
The contrast was stark: the 5th-ranked player's health was halved, while Seojun's was completely full.
* * *
"Ah, everyone, the 5th ranker! The 5th ranker is caught in the game!"
From the matchup that was made in the second round, Bangju swallowed a bit of worry and began his commentary for the second match.
- Insane lol
- Looks like he's about to be exposed as a fraud.
- A true veteran's skills are probably on a whole different level.
- Real lol
- They were betting in the other room, it was 50/50. 'Win streak possible' vs 'not possible' lol
"Sapa's Dignity-nim's school is Salmak. As you know, Salmak's advantage is its fast speed. In one-on-one, it's a tier 1 school."
'Tier' is an English word meaning grade or level, indicated by placing a number in front.
Tier 1 means top grade. In other words, Salmak belongs to the good side.
Of course, the best school characteristic setups, which are almost flawless, are called OP (overpowered), and Salmak wasn't quite at that level.
"Even in occupation battles, it's popular for its high tier, but its high speed makes it difficult to handle, and each individual hit deals low damage."
Before the battle started, Bangju quickly explained the basic information.
"In contrast, Seojun-nim's Absorbing Star Art, as everyone now knows, has powerful attack strength but comes with the risk of needing to finish off enemies quickly, right?"
The battle begins.
"Alright, first, Seojun-nim starts off lightly with informal speech. The Heavenly Demon villain has appeared again! Earlier against a regular user, he used polite speech. This is a classic case of bullying the weak and sucking up to the strong!"
- Could it be he's actually nice?
- He only trolls strong players.
- No, look, he trolls NPCs too with all kinds of nasty stuff lol
- From the start, their conversation is vicious.
- The mental fight is crazy.
- They're good with words.
- Bug battle lol
"Sapum-nim's opening attack! It's a heavy attack, and Seojun-nim blocks it lightly. However, the parry didn't connect. As Sapum-nim lands and regains his balance, a thrust! But! Ah, Seojun-nim's sword is already at Sapum-nim's neck! How did he move like that?"
As the battle progressed, Bangju's words turned into rapid-fire bursts.
- ㄷ ㄷ ㄷ ㄷ
- Definitely fighting well.
- In just a few seconds, it's intense lol
They exchanged blows, and Sapa's Dignity retreated in confusion.
Bangju didn't miss this moment and inserted his commentary.
"Now, let me explain quickly. Seojun-nim attempted to knock away Sapum-nim's sword. Here, a technique unique to Salmak users appeared. Twisting the sword right before it makes contact. It's like a Brazilian kick, but the trajectory isn't that large. The goal is to purposely fail the parry against a predictable heavy attack, then land a follow-up hit on the flustered enemy for a confirmed combo!"
It was quite famous, but many people didn't know about it. The reason was that the majority of users couldn't even parry properly.
They rarely had the chance to see such a technique.
- There's a technique like that? ㄷ ㄷ ㄷ ㄷ
- As expected of a commentary veteran.
- My eyes are feasting from the very first move.
- Is it okay to just reveal industry secrets like that?????
- Everyone who knows already knows, what industry secret?
- Bangju isn't part of the Evil Sect anyway, so revealing it is fine.
- Detestable Orthodox Sect scum!
"Now, Sapum-nim falls back, and Seojun-nim immediately follows. Since it's not a typical Absorbing Star Art build, it seems he can't afford to give any breathing room."
In the first match, there was nothing to commentate on.
The opponent had been beaten so one-sidedly, lost their will to fight, and left the game.
"And... huh?"
Seojun's sword was swung in an obvious manner.
From the moment the blade cut through the air to the process of clashing with the enemy's sword, Bangju felt a strange sense of déjà vu.
Wait, this...?
[It's not only high speed that lets you twist it at the last moment.]
- ????
- What's that?
- Why surprised?
And Seojun's subsequent actions also evoked that same sense of déjà vu.
He took a low stance.
Raised his sword and aimed at the enemy.
Pushed his arm forward and thrust.
"Wow!!!!"
Unlike before, the thrust accurately pierced the chest.
- He's doing the exact same thing lol Isn't this also trolling?
- Isn't he returning the attack exactly the way he received it????
- Seems like he's clearly showing the difference in skill.
- This is truly insane.
"Everyone, if I haven't seen it wrong, Seojun-nim returned the attack in exactly the same manner! Including the technique I mentioned before!"
- ???? That twist at the end?
- Another user can use that?
- Didn't I see that wrong?
- Is that even possible?
"I don't know if a non-Salmak user can use it either, but judging by Seojun-nim's words, it seems so."
Since both he and the viewers were uncertain, it seemed he'd have to check the replay.
["Tsk tsk. It's a shame since you can't even recover health here. *Clicking tongue*."]
["Now then, why don't you try running away?"]
- Lolol his mouth is the epitome of a seasoned veteran.
- Look at him clicking his tongue lol
- But isn't even the 5th ranker getting crushed? Is this right?
- That 5th ranker really is running away just like the Heavenly Demon said lol
First, back to the commentary.
"Ah. Indeed, Sapum-nim is starting to avoid the fight. It seems he's trying to stall for time, but if he had run with determination from the beginning, it might have been different. With his health already halved, this is tough!"
There was no more to see in the first round.
Anyway, even though he allowed fatal attacks to the neck and chest, that trait build which halved his opponent's health in just two exchanges... was it really that powerful?
'If another ranker had taken that build...'
It wasn't clear yet, so Bangju reserved his judgment for the time being.
"Ah, he's dead. GG! Alright, now we move on to the next round."
Now, at the starting point, waiting time was given to change traits and prepare for the next round.
"Then, shall we go to the replay? Let's check if he really used that unique Salmak technique, just as I said."
Bangju skillfully manipulated the replay, and the viewers chattered among themselves.
- Lol probably not.
- No, the chat says not even rankers can do that?
- Even Salmak users have to spend quite some time to master that lol.
- Are we sure that chatter is really a ranker?
- Still, he won the first match super easily. Sapa's Dignity isn't an incompetent user.
- He was once a candidate for the best under heaven ㄷㄷ
Having plenty of experience conducting post-mortems or re-confirming details through replays, Bangju quickly set the time and brought up the screen.
Crossing his arms, Bangju spoke.
"Alright then. Let's take a look."
The footage played at 0.25x speed.
Right before the swords touched, a minute twist could be seen at the perfect timing.
The angle was much smaller than the usual angle one would normally see, but it definitely moved.
- ? What, it looks like it's right?
- Crazy lolololol
- He's smiling, got chills.
- Acknowledged as a super expert.
- That's actually possible?
"As expected! One of the key points of this technique is to prevent a parry while simultaneously allowing the opponent to still knock your sword away. The difficult part is developing the sense to fine-tune all of this minutely... If he really did that just after seeing it for the first time today, that's truly absurd talent!"
Bangju rewound the footage again and read the comments.
"Saying that can't be it? Well, who knows. Hehe. Now, I'm curious what choice Sapa's Dignity-nim will make against Seojun-nim. Will he use stealth and speed right from the start to deliberately stall for time? Or will he face him head-on with skill again? He's probably agonizing over it."
If he decided to run wholeheartedly, it could become quite troublesome for Seojun.
No matter how narrow the map, it was possible with the right combination of high speed and various traits that grant stealth while moving.
But then.
Bangju, who had switched the screen, opened his eyes wide.
"Ah! What is this? That option. It's gone now?"
Seojun was suddenly changing his traits.
- Why is he changing that now of all times lol
- Stalling for time? Then isn't the solution to just not use Absorbing Star Art? lolol
- Ah lol he's playing the game like a jerk lolol