Chapter 87
As soon as the surroundings changed, Seo Jun checked his teammates through the interface.
Just as I thought.
"I knew this would happen."
There wasn't a single familiar nickname among the team.
I'd predicted it, but unfortunately, the worst-case scenario had unfolded.
-??
-wth?
-3 v 1?????
-Is this game difficulty for real? They say to beat 3 rankers lol
-what's going on?
-this seems tough
"It's probably because of the reputation gap."
After giving a brief explanation, Seo Jun looked at his teammates.
What level are they?
Average?
Or perhaps upper tier, where many players are distributed?
Not rankers.
As was customary, they exchanged greetings while checking out the team composition.
"Hello."
"Yeah."
"Nice to meet you. But the enemy nicknames look familiar, what's up?"
Seeing that he'd already checked the enemy names, one of them seemed quick on the uptake.
"Hello."
After replying, Seo Jun examined his teammates' specs.
Tank.
Dealer.
Dealer.
The tank has Blood Absorption Technique.
Not the terminal Blood Absorption Technique that Seo Jun had chosen, but one that sucks the enemy's blood to endure.
One of the dealers picked a palm technique spec.
The last one had chosen Sura Fist, a fist technique spec, making him a close-range fighter.
"How should we plan our strategy? Just go easy with 1-3?"
"Guys, I think the enemy are 3 rankers. And Cheonma-nim? Are you the contribution rank 1 Cheonma-nim?"
Looks like they figured it out quickly.
"Yes, that's right."
The one who had quickly informed the others about the situation was the user who brought the tank.
A strategy, huh.
"Omg. What do we do?"
"I can't get a read on how the enemy will play."
"Just go by the standard..."
Lost in thought, Seo Jun looked at the chat window.
-This match he really has to carry his teammates lol
-Good thing he picked Cheonma Shingong. Looking at the enemy, Blood Absorption Technique is a hard counter
-What's the counter to Cheonma Shingong?
-Nothing. It's a counter in itself. It's trash lol lol lol
Cheonma Shingong really is bad.
Not the game trait, but the actual martial art.
Anyway.
Seo Jun raised his head and spoke.
He quickly finished organizing his thoughts.
"I'll go to the center alone. Everyone else, go to the sides."
If he's a streamer, he shouldn't avoid a fight like this.
-Is he overdoing it?
-Doesn't he need help from his team?
-Let's go!
No.
On the contrary, they might hinder him rather than help.
* * *
Following Seo Jun's instructions, his teammates split off to the side bases, and he headed to the center with the NPC soldiers.
"How will the enemy come out?"
-idk
-With that enemy comp, they'll probably group up?
-They need to level too, so center is a must
-Think they'd expect the broadcast host to go alone?
The standard rule is 3 in the center and 1 on a side to capture one base, but focusing on the center.
If they choose the standard strategy and the enemy brings 4 to the center, they can hold out until the side user returns.
Usually, a user with a movement speed spec goes to the side, so they could even capture the opposite base too.
Considering the experience gain from capturing two bases and the damage you can inflict on the enemy fortress, as long as the 3 in the center don't die, it's an advantage.
Of course, all this strategizing was meaningless to Seo Jun.
"As long as we win, that's enough."
-The host's strategy. Win the fight. Capture the base. Hmm!
-Tactical Cheonma
-Normally you'd want to tell them not to spout nonsense, but after seeing that insane stuff yesterday, ugh...
-I seriously think he can win 1v3. It's ridiculous.
No matter how much people learned through the game, the users' skill levels were quite high.
Or maybe because they learned through the game?
As I've said before, virtual reality is the best environment to experience real combat.
It doesn't hurt, and you don't die.
'Children in real combat swing the same move hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands of times to avoid dying.'
That's why they survive more.
Conversely, if you survive real combat, you can skip those tens of thousands of swings.
'Well. Those tens of thousands of swings aren't just to survive real combat, but anyway.'
Whether that's the case or not.
Seo Jun locked eyes with the three rankers in front of him.
One was probably a regular user, so they must have gone elsewhere.
3 on 1, huh.
"It's a bit burdensome. What's burdensome, you ask? The flood of interest from all of you after I win this."
-Oh for ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ this crazy bastard for real ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-He's running his mouth again ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-They might have heard that? ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ Their expressions turned sour
It's a bit sad that I'm collecting so many 'k' laughs again today.
I meant it, though.
"Say that after you win."
Maybe because everyone's getting used to the way Seo Jun talks?
The enemies didn't waver and immediately charged with their weapons raised.
Or maybe they acknowledged that he was a skilled player.
For a 3v1 charge, their shoulders were packed with tension.
"This time, it'll be tough."
The first user to rush in was from the Beggars' Sect, Hanpunman.
He's the tank, so it seems like he intended to get a hold on him early, but he didn't come in too deep.
He's being careful of critical hits from sword energy.
In a conquest battle, most martial arts traits can only be used after leveling up, but one of Cheonma Shingong's characteristics is that it's always active, just like the Green Forest's.
The two who followed up began moving to encircle Seo Jun.
The fact that Cheonma Shingong's effects are always active means the debuffs are too.
They likely judged that if they surrounded the slow him and attacked, he wouldn't be able to dodge or show his swordplay.
Namgungsega Jeomsoi.
The ranker I fought the day before.
His chosen martial arts trait was the Imperial Sword Form.
A trait whose power multiplies the further you get ahead through fast leveling.
Its feature is a debuff that applies pressure when the martial art is used.
In short, they intend to make the slow him even slower.
All three don't have their martial arts right now, but that doesn't change the fact that two swords and a club are flying at him.
In case he parries, they absolutely never mix in heavy attacks.
It's also effective.
A sword passed just above his slightly ducked head.
At the same time, another sword from the side was drawing a line from top to bottom toward Seo Jun.
He twisted his body.
Then, from the opposite side, a club came at him.
The coordination was natural, as if they'd all fought more than once or twice.
Swoosh.
Without losing his center or being swayed, he dodged calmly.
Still, due to his slow speed, he had no choice but to allow attacks.
Cheonsalseong shallowly cut Seo Jun's arm with his sword and shouted.
"Nice!"
While dodging the relentless barrage of attacks, Seo Jun looked at Cheonsalseong with an incredulous expression.
-Look at him liking it
-He couldn't land a single hit yesterday, so I guess he should
-As a righteous faction member, I'm ashamed of this gang-up...
-The final boss is supposed to be ganged up on lol It's only natural, so no need to be ashamed
Seo Jun's eyes swept across the surroundings with rapid movements.
He kept falling back while deflecting and dodging swords, so he wasn't completely surrounded yet, but it was close.
"I'll body-check, so go in!"
As he blocked a sword aiming for his neck from the left, Hanpunman in front swung his club widely.
A move that risked taking a hit.
Seo Jun's sword gleamed.
When he infused it with sword energy, the enemy's eyes trembled, but there was no hesitation in his movement.
Rather, he seemed to be infusing his club with internal energy as well.
His intention is obvious.
"Fine, I'll take it."
Seo Jun's sword, brimming with sword energy, and Hanpunman's club collided.
"What kind of nonsense is that."
It was just a clash of sword energies, but thanks to Cheonma Shingong's trait, Hanpunman's health dropped by about a fifth.
There was no follow-up attack from the side afterward.
'As expected. Instead of attacking, they must have secured my back.'
-Finally surrounded
-Honestly, 3v1 isn't that disadvantageous, so I thought he might win, but it does look tough
-Why isn't it disadvantageous?
The claim that it's not that disadvantageous is correct.
For example, if you quantify combat power, what happens when a person with combat power 3 fights three people with combat power 1 each?
The total combat power is the same, and the opponent has numbers, so you might think the side with 1 each would win.
'Surprisingly, the person with 3 isn't at a huge disadvantage.'
Because when three people with combat power 1 gather, the sum of their combat power doesn't become 3.
If they had something like a combined formation, it might become 5, not 3.
"Regrettably, there's no such thing in 'For the Cause of Justice'."
In reality, only Seo Jun thought that way; absolutely, 3v1 was objectively advantageous for the 3.
However, because of the performance Seo Jun had shown the day before, people's expectations had risen too high.
In that case, I should show them.
"Regrettably? What does that mean?"
"Don't take the bait. He's probably talking to the viewers."
Completely surrounded, attacks flew at Seo Jun from all directions.
And unlike when attacking successively from the front and both sides, being surrounded gave the enemies more space to use, so attacks came in simultaneously.
Seo Jun looked at Cheonsalseong, who was positioned to the right, and said.
"Don't you think I got surrounded on purpose?"
As he dodged using all sorts of techniques, Seo Jun's health began to gradually decrease.
It was because unavoidable attacks were mixed in at his speed.
"While you're getting hit like this, you're still full of bravado."
Swoosh.
A sword thrust from behind grazed his side.
Right.
These guys weren't called veterans for nothing, and having experienced group fights, their coordination was quite decent.
-ㅠㅠ How will he manage
-One or two more hits and it's over
-No matter how not disadvantageous group fights are, if the coordination is good, there's nothing you can do ㅠ
-Is the host finally getting taught a lesson? kekekekekekekekekekekekekekekekekekekekekekekekekekeke
-He's fcking loving this, this bastard hahaha
But they're not without gaps.
"You've been hit too, haven't you."
Seo Jun flicked his sword and pointed at their health bars.
If his health was just a sliver, the three enemies had about half or a third remaining.
Namgungsega Jeomsoi looked at Seo Jun with an expression of disgust, biting his lips.
He couldn't understand Seo Jun's skill, as he had managed to counterattack here and there.
"You're really something. If your speed were just a bit faster, or if you'd decided to just dodge from the start, you might not have been hit at all."
"Maybe."
"Next time, don't try to force attacks! Or change your spec!"
Clang!
Seo Jun's sword met Jeomsoi's on the right, and soon Hanpunman rushed in.
'Cheonsalseong behind...'
The coordination is slow!
With his eyes gleaming, Seo Jun pushed Namgungsega Jeomsoi's sword away and simultaneously kicked Hanpunman approaching from the left.
Then, using his right foot as an axis, he rotated his body 180 degrees, swinging his arm along with the turn.
His head turned first, allowing him to check behind, and seeing Cheonsalseong, Seo Jun grinned.
Cheonsalseong was preparing an attack, and it was definitely a heavy attack.
"I've been waiting."
His head arrived first, then his upper body, and his left foot turned in sequence.
Finally.
His arm slowly extended out, just as it was.
Clang!
The swords clashed vertically, revealing the weakness of a heavy attack.
Cheonsalseong's mouth hung open in panic.
'They probably hadn't used it because of this weakness, but as the attacks from behind gradually succeeded, they must have gotten attached to it.'
A timing opened up.
As Seo Jun lifted his foot, someone from behind shouted.
"Dodge!"
Cheonmagunrimbo.
'A so-called just passive effect.'
The rankers had likely never had to deal with its effect before, but they seemed to have an awareness that it was dangerous.
As soon as the stiffness wore off, Cheonsalseong leaned to get far away from Seo Jun.
'Too late.'
Boom!
Seo Jun stomped his foot, gouging the ground as dark blue waves of energy spread in all directions.
'The effect's not bad.'
Since he hadn't gathered much internal energy, Cheonsalseong's health didn't drop much from this attack, but.
It inflicted a stiffness incomparable to when he was parried.
-Crazy ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-Are we seeing a reverse sweep here too?
-How on earth did he know about the heavy attack from behind ㅋㅋㅋ
-Is he actually using hacks or something!
-So the health he'd whittled down earlier was aiming for this, fck ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
Without a moment's hesitation, Seo Jun raised his sword, and sword energy formed on it.
"Now. It'll be 1 v 2."