Chapter 78
“You seem to know, don’t you?”
“What are you talking about?”
“That when the higher forms of the Plum Blossom Sword Technique are used, even the Heavenly Demon Divine Art can’t do anything about it. Isn’t that why you blocked it?”
Cheonsalseong frowned.
“Is that so?”
“Yes.”
“I’ll be more careful from now on.”
He’s playing dumb.
No matter.
From now on, it’ll be different.
A moment ago, I couldn’t gain anything because I didn’t expect it and my sequence was broken, but from now on, if he tries to break my sequence, I’ll make him pay a clear price.
His goal wasn’t completing the forms, but victory.
He slightly pulled back again to start building the forms properly from the beginning.
And as he raised his sword to execute the 2nd form.
Clang!
Seojun’s sword, already in front of him, blocked his sword path once again.
His sword couldn’t advance past his waist.
“You have quick reactions.”
As if waiting, Cheonsalseong relaxed his arm, breaking the equilibrium with Seojun’s blocking sword and freely pulling his sword away.
If you tried to block the form, you must pay the price.
His unhindered sword intends to unleash a different form.
The speed of his arm movement was clearly faster, and the sword path was efficiently short.
This can’t be blocked.
Just as a smile was about to naturally form on his lips.
Clang!
Blocked again.
Seojun was smiling.
Extending his arm lightly to block him.
“…….”
He was bewildered.
Even when he widened the distance, Seojun approached in an instant, so this time Cheonsalseong swung his sword with the intention of making him fall back on his own.
No, he tried to swing.
He thought it would be hard to block since it wasn’t a form and the movement wasn’t fixed.
Clang!
Huh?
Cheonsalseong’s eyes trembled as he saw Seojun’s sword precisely placed against his.
Why was this blocked again?
Again, he couldn’t extend from his waist.
Clearly, his speed was much faster, and there was no hesitation whatsoever.
Why?
‘Is it because I was tied to forms from the beginning?’
He was flustered, but more than that, his pride was hurt.
Because blocking his attacks with clearly slower speed meant that his thoughts were being read.
He decided from now on to completely abandon forms and focus entirely on each moment’s exchange.
His pride would not tolerate being blocked any longer.
The moment he made that resolve, Cheonsalseong saw it.
Seojun swinging his sword with a leisurely expression.
“Try blocking this well.”
So he won’t block anymore and will attack instead?
Judging by his sword swing, it was a strong attack.
‘I’ll lightly block this attack too!’
First block this attack, then seize the timing on the next move.
Even if it was slow, in reality, it wasn’t that leisurely.
If you lost focus for even 1 second, you’d get hit just the same.
But against swordsmanship that evades and deflects even swift swords, 1 second?
Are you kidding me?
Next, I’ll definitely deflect and counterattack.
Clang!
Unfortunately, he couldn’t parry.
Even though he clearly read the trajectory, he lacked just 0.1 second; if he tried to parry, he might have been hit.
Better to just block and prepare for the next.
Whoosh!
Huh?
Seojun, having retrieved his deflected sword, stepped in one step deeper.
Thud.
At the same time, aiming for his neck from the opposite direction as before.
‘Is the speed of linking attacks this fast? It’s a heavy attack?’
Had he judged the speed as too slow?
He made a quick decision.
Block rather than deflect.
Indeed, blocking itself was easy again.
But the fact that he again lacked a little time to parry…
Thud.
Whoosh!
Seojun stepped in once more and brought his sword down.
‘What is this…’
Before any doubt could arise, the next attack was already upon him.
The attack itself was nothing special.
The sword’s trajectory showed no pattern, and the rhythm was reckless, but because of the speed alone, he could read it.
It was just Seojun approaching and freely swinging his sword lightly or greatly, recklessly, while Cheonsalseong stepped back one step and blocked somewhat regrettably, repeated.
That was all.
But an unknown unease encroached on his body.
His intuition seemed to warn him.
A warning that he shouldn’t be dragged around like this.
Cheonsalseong didn’t ignore the feeling of growing urgency.
So, to break this situation, he tried to pull back all at once.
At that moment!
Suddenly, his foot wouldn’t lift.
As if his ankle was caught by someone, he almost lost his center completely.
Was it because Seojun, having closed in with another restrained step right before his nose, was bringing his sword down?
He must have been impatient. He made a mistake.
Whoosh!
He couldn’t take his eyes off the enemy’s sword.
In that instant, his perception expanded and time felt like it slowed.
The sword came down even slower than before.
He knew he had to block. It was too late to dodge. So he made a fast choice. He knew what to do.
But the sensation of something holding his body was still there.
Only when the sword was right in front of him could he barely block it.
Huff.
His breathing grew ragged as he narrowly blocked it.
He lost his pace, missed the timing, and made a mistake.
From where?
He didn’t know.
Thud.
The sound of a foot digging into the dirt pierced his ears clearly.
Then next.
Whoosh!
Without a moment to catch his breath, the next sword path aiming for his neck was drawn into the world.
‘Why is it so fast!’
The opponent’s attacks were fast yet slow.
They really were.
In this paradoxical situation, all he could do was block.
Clang!
Clang clang!
Seojun, leisurely swinging his sword once per step, approached.
And Cheonsalseong, desperately blocking, was pushed back step by step.
However, the fact that the opponent hadn’t landed an attack yet was important.
‘You think I’ll just take this?’
Somehow, he squeezed his mind and thought of a sword path to deflect Seojun’s sword and simultaneously counterattack.
He found an opening.
0.1 second of time.
An opening that wouldn’t have appeared if Seojun’s sword speed hadn’t been slow.
Cheonsalseong gritted his teeth and aimed for the opening, extending his sword.
‘Now!’
Swoosh!
But.
Even though he stretched his arm out fully, the sword he thrust stopped right in front of Seojun’s nose.
“…….”
“…….”
It wasn’t that Seojun showed mercy.
The distance was lacking.
If only his foot had been one step further forward.
If only he had gripped the sword just a little longer.
It would have definitely reached the enemy.
In that split second, he felt wronged as he met Seojun’s eyes and felt fear.
Clang.
The opponent smiled just like the beginning, deflecting the sword that came right up to his nose, and took a step forward.
Thud.
And as if it were nothing, he continued the motion of his arm and brought his sword down.
A sword whose start, speed, trajectory, and even where it would touch him were all clearly visible.
But he instinctively realized.
‘I can’t dodge this. Damn.’
Slash!
A sword that cuts from the shoulder down across the torso.
His health decreased.
In the midst of not understanding why this happened,
“Why aren’t you attacking? Go ahead and attack.”
Seojun said, stepping back a step as if to give him a moment’s rest.
An attitude of giving a chance.
Cheonsalseong, still unable to grasp exactly what had happened, swallowed.
Gulp.
He pulled himself together. The fight wasn’t over yet.
What just happened was clearly because he got swept up in the pace.
‘The first button was buttoned wrong.’
If he starts over from the beginning!
* * *
Clearly, he had regained the flow again.
His sword is blocked.
That restrained—no, even the word restrained is a waste.
With movements that seemed almost bothersome, all his attacks were blocked from the very start.
From the beginning of the form, it was deflected to break the sword path, blocking attacks and counterattacking.
It felt like being a mouse searching for a path in a maze.
Moving this way and that, guided by the experimenter’s dividers in the sky, looking for the exit.
But just when the exit seemed within reach if he just stretched out his hand straight, a wall would drop from the sky, mocking the mouse.
Wandering the maze like that, once again a situation unfolded where he could do nothing but stare at the enemy’s sword.
A slight opening.
A slight twist.
A slight moment.
All the elements involved in combat worked against him, as if today just wasn’t his day.
‘How can this kind of crap happen!’
His health was nearly depleted.
‘If this goes on, I’ll lose without doing anything.’
Just like the others.
‘I can’t let that happen.’
Cheonsalseong ultimately decided to accept the loss of the first round.
But even if his health was completely exhausted and it ended, he would at least land one hit!
The resolve of fighting with death in mind.
Not a form. No need to infuse sword energy.
Just one single hit!
But that desperate wish.
Thud.
“That’s too bad.”
Cheonsalseong’s gaze turned downward.
Once again, his sword was blocked by Seojun’s lightly extended sword.
“Then, farewell.”
“Haha.”
Damn.
* * *
-Easy 7-win streak cut!
-Seojun is the sect leader! Seojun is the sect leader! Seojun is the sect leader! Seojun is the sect leader!
-Please take responsibility for the demonic sect! Take responsibility for the demonic sect! Please take responsibility for the demonic sect!
-Don’t push that onto others, you crazy demonic sect bastards lolololololololololol
-I don’t think there’s ever been someone who got a 7-win streak by openly telling them to come at them without any tricks, this is insane for real
-One round left
-But it’s obvious who’ll win, right?
* * *
“Uh…”
Bangju doubted his eyes.
Spectator mode.
It’s a game mode that shows a screen about 30 seconds behind real game time.
Since spectating is also possible on the computer, Bangju comfortably commentated the 7th match from the opponent’s point of view instead of Seojun’s screen.
Although it’s possible to view from an aerial perspective, Ireongeonmurimianiya specifically requested to show it from the opponent’s point of view, so Cheonsalseong’s perspective was displayed on the screen.
“…Was Seojun-nim’s sword always that fast?”
-Why are you asking us lol
-For real lol it was so damn fast
-For a moment I thought he didn’t take Heavenly Demon Divine Art
-No really it’s ridiculous
-All blocked lololololol
-Please stop coming closer
-But more than that, didn’t this just prove that the 2nd place is trash? That kind of guy was the previous number one under heaven?
-How can you still say that after seeing this lololol
“No…”
Now he understood why Ireongeonmurimianiya told him to watch from the opponent’s perspective.
As a result of watching from the opponent’s perspective, he realized he had been seriously mistaken.
Of course, he knew the rankers’ skills weren’t inflated, but he couldn’t help but doubt them—yet after experiencing a battle from the opponent’s perspective, that doubt completely vanished.
“Well, one thing’s for sure: Seojun-nim is damn good.”
Thoughts like ‘How would I have dodged that?’ completely disappeared.
He felt that anyone standing in that situation would have been helplessly defeated.
-This seems right
-At this level, isn’t he really the number one under heaven?
-Really good
-Seen from the opponent’s side, there’s no answer lolol
-No lol lol give us commentary lolol
Commentary, he says.
“Just a moment, everyone.”
Bangju rummaged through past experiences and knowledge, falling into deep thought to explain this situation well.
Hmm.
He remembered his childhood.
When playing baseball with friends.
When he was the pitcher, the ball he threw didn’t feel particularly fast.
The distance from the mound to the catcher actually seemed far.
But when he stood at bat, the speed of the ball flying toward him felt faster than a bullet.
And the distance felt incredibly short.
In other words, depending on what situation you’re in, the perceived speed can differ, that’s possible.
But this alone is insufficient to explain.
“I don’t know. Maybe it’s just because Seojun-nim is incredibly good? Since he knows all of the opponent’s movements, he blocks everything. The reason the attacks look fast is probably because you’re on the receiving end?”
-It was a bit scary
-He moved so casually but it was really fast
-Him taking a step closer each time is so effing scary lololol
So everyone feels similarly.
Watching from the opponent’s perspective, he too felt an increasingly overwhelming sense of fear.
“Yeah, I felt the same.”
As Bangju was empathizing, the relief pitcher appeared again.
[‘Ireongeonmurimianiya’ has donated 200,000 won!]
[A sword that compels choice. That is the dull sword. If you read the explanation I left for Nohyeop, you will understand.]