Chapter 88
Swoosh!
The sword, brimming with the maximum sword ki, sliced through the stiffened Cheonsalseong's vital point.
His remaining health, slightly less than one-third?
Vanished.
[Cheonsalseong defeated!]
[Enemy fortress HP –20]
The damage of the sword ki enhanced by the Heavenly Demon Divine Art was reliable.
Though internal energy wasn't infinite but a limited resource, if this return seemed strange, I hoped people would remember that most didn't even use it now.
-Cheonsalseong got cut while fighting 3 vs 1!
-ㄷㄷㄷ
-Are they seriously gonna win????
-That guy is dead, seriously using a strong attack there, ugh, that bastard's like a cancer on the orthodox faction
-Tried to finish in one hit instead of two and went straight to the grave lol
"It's a case of too much is as bad as too little. Of course, if he hadn't been greedy, I would've kept dodging until he did, so the result's the same."
From the moment it became 2 vs 1, the relaxed Seo Jun began reading chat and replying while lightly dodging Namgungsega Jeomsoi's attacks.
-Ah. So you're gaslighting like that?
-The confidence that you can keep dodging, kyaa
-Since you always show and prove, no one can say anything lol
"Ah."
Clang!
Namgungsega Jeomsoi, his attack blocked, let out a lament.
He'd had his attacks blocked just as much as Cheonsalseong the day before.
"Got PTSD?"
Hanpunman said.
"No."
The two moved to Seo Jun's sides instead of surrounding him front and back.
Because standing apart was now dangerous.
Even if the enemy's sword was slow, hadn't they already proven it enough yesterday?
That it was unavoidable and powerful.
Of course, even now Hanpunman thought that with two people, they could create another variable or escape.
But that was only possible after learning martial arts at level 6.
The reason was the fundamental gap in skill.
"Looks like honest combat won't work."
Hanpunman judged as his shoulder was cut, and his comrade beside him grumbled.
"Where the hell did he crawl out from, seriously."
They weren't pressing him like the day before, but their enemy Seo Jun was steadily landing attacks.
In contrast, they had been failing entirely since Cheonsalseong died.
"If we at least had martial arts, maybe we could clash."
As Hanpunman analyzed to the end, a sword pierced his chest, his health drained completely, and he turned into a corpse.
"Now it's 1 vs 1."
[Hanpunman defeated]
[Enemy fortress HP –20]
* * *
"We won the first round, everyone."
It wasn't a long fight.
Because both he and the enemy wanted to decide the match quickly rather than stall.
The result was his victory.
After dealing with the enemies, Seo Jun swiftly captured the central outpost and entered it.
Health and resources recovered.
-Kyaa
-He won 3 vs 1
-Is he a boss mob, seriously lol
-But isn't it an advantage that he could use martial arts traits alone?
-What about the Heavenly Demon Divine Art penalty?
-If there was no penalty and no traits, he would've beaten them all without his health ever dropping.
Since recovery stops if an enemy is nearby, he had to finish it now.
"That's right. If I could only use the sword without the penalty, I wouldn't have gotten hit even once."
[User 'Naeganugu?' has donated 50,000 won!]
[Shin Ha-yeon Slayer!]
"It's a ban."
-ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-Lol
-First of all, if you don't like that kind of thing, shouldn't you refrain from bragging yourself?
-Even if it wasn't terribly disadvantageous, winning 3 vs 1 makes bragging legal lol
-Why are you downplaying multiple-enemy fights? Isn't the streamer's skill higher than those three rankers?
-What nonsense lol, just because it's 3 vs 1 doesn't make the difficulty tripled lol
His health nearly full, he rose from his spot.
"I'll clarify about multiple-enemy fights, so don't fight."
Seo Jun calmed the chat that looked ready to bicker and gave a simple explanation.
The fact that more people make you stronger was a natural principle, but that the strength didn't increase proportionally wasn't hard to grasp, and most interested people already knew.
Of course, this only applied in Hyeopwi, where team-killing was possible.
No matter how much you scattered skills everywhere in the system and did whatever, if the team wasn't in sync and only the enemy was affected, wouldn't the difficulty of cooperation drop tremendously?
-Ah, so that's how it is in Hyeopwi
-It's different, alright
-Why watch a Hyeopwi stream if you don't know this?
-Yeah, I watch because I like the streamer~
-Ignoring the OG viewers who've been watching since Dawn of the Assassins, these guys
-So the streamer isn't worth three rankers, got it
"Ah, I didn't say I wasn't worth three rankers. Obviously, I'm higher."
Seo Jun had only explained the characteristics of multiple-enemy fights; he never said he was lower than the combined skill of three rankers.
-??? ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ Well, you didn't say you weren't
-It's true, though
-Not entirely without credibility
Huh?
This wasn't the reaction I expected.
Why were they so readily acknowledging it?
Normally, a consonant combo gift set of 'j', 'r', 'n' would flood in, so it was a bit bewildering that viewers were surprisingly letting it slide.
Fortunately, the chat he had anticipated started appearing after a time gap.
'Whew.'
-Horseshit n
-Without the Heavenly Demon Army Stride, couldn't have won yes or no – you'll see the difference from level 6
-Then what about the Green Forest? The Green Forest also gets passive traits from the start lol
-The Assassins also have basic passive traits applied
After confirming his health and resources were fully restored, Seo Jun left the outpost and went to the center.
"Well. Once we see fights after level 6, we'll know who's right. Isn't that so?"
-That's true lol
-So where are you going now?
-Don't tell me the enemy fortress?
-Spawning soon and blocking the entrance would be a bit awkward lol
The viewers were guessing he would go to the enemy fortress now.
The reason was that Seo Jun always went to the center first, beat all opponents, and then did that.
Fighting them as they revived, preventing them from leaving, and through chat sending his teammates to the center to kill soldiers—that was his main pattern.
He preferred it because the continuous damage from three outposts and the damage from each soldier kill could end the game quickly.
But suddenly, Seo Jun, who had gone to the center, started killing soldiers.
"If I aim for vitals, it's three hits without using resources."
Entering the battlefield in the center where orthodox and demonic sect soldiers fought, Seo Jun began thrusting his sword, unerringly targeting soldiers whose health had dropped below a certain threshold in the chaos.
[Enemy fortress HP –5]
[Enemy fortress HP –5]
[Enemy fortress HP –5]
The soldiers of the demonic and orthodox sects had differences in equipment, but it wasn't easy to distinguish them by equipment.
Instead, the colors of their insignia or similar parts were painted red for the demonic sect and blue for the orthodox sect, making differentiation by color rather easy.
[Enemy fortress HP –5]
[Enemy fortress HP –5]
[Enemy fortress HP –5]
-What are you doing?
-Why are you suddenly killing minions, you never used to
-Scared? lol, going hardcore lol
Seo Jun killed soldiers with full concentration.
One by one.
Even in the chaos, he made sure not to take any light damage, thoroughly aiming for vitals and killing efficiently.
"Why am I doing this? To end the game quickly."
No one believed him.
-Then just go to the fortress lol
-Look at him trying to widen the level gap
-No, capturing the center is right for that, but lol you never did this
The in-game level rises by killing soldiers, dealing with special map objects, or capturing and holding outposts.
"Leveling up doesn't make a big difference, though."
He knew well that although martial arts traits might unlock or improve every 6 levels, no matter how much you killed, it was impossible to widen the gap by more than 6 levels.
So, Seo Jun, who had another reason, spoke the truth.
[Enemy fortress HP –5]
[Enemy fortress HP –5]
[Enemy fortress HP –5]
-If it doesn't make a big difference, then stop lol
-The streamer who's scared and wants to speed up just a little more, upvote lol
-So you think it's really difficult?
Of course, no one believed him.
* * *
"They're losing."
Cheonsalseong said inside the fortress.
For a user who became a corpse, two options were given.
The way of lying where you fell, surveying the surroundings, and rejoining immediately if a comrade revived you.
Second, judging there was no hope and simply going to the fortress in a dead state.
The latter was a system that allowed dead people to communicate smoothly with each other.
"Ah. What is the rank 2 doing? We lost because of you."
Namgungsega Jeomsoi and Cheonsalseong chose to go to the fortress and wait.
The respawn waiting time was short, less than a minute, but these two were somewhat impatient.
There was also the disadvantage that if they stayed, the distance made communication inconvenient.
"Yes, yes. Sorry. Didn't know he'd spin and parry there."
It wasn't like he had eyes on the back of his head, and if he had planned that while being surrounded alone, it was absurd.
"Sure."
Jeomsoi accepted it. It seemed like he had just said it offhandedly.
"You're calm."
"You too. I thought you'd be shocked after losing."
"Yeah. Losing 3 vs 1, I don't feel that wronged."
Cheonsalseong said, nodding his head.
"Guess pure skill isn't enough."
They had no intention of making excuses like the enemy could use martial arts skills or something about numbers.
Clearly, three of them couldn't beat one.
Namgungsega Jeomsoi thought to himself.
'How far can I win 3 vs 1?'
Looking at ranked game tiers, maybe about 3 tiers down would be possible.
That meant he and that streamer had a difference of over 3 tiers.
No matter how much Hyeopwi was a bit of a stagnant game, he was undeniably a top-tier user, so it was an absurd result.
There were excuses.
"That's only when considering pure physical ability; it'll be different after hitting level 6."
They could lose in pure combat skill.
Even if Hyeopwi was a game with a high emphasis on pure combat skill, it was still a game.
"But that guy can't play the game anyway."
"Right."
He fights well and has good controls, but he can't play the game.
"He always crushes with physical ability, so he probably doesn't need game skill."
He seemed good at the game itself, but that was completely false.
He had never seen someone play the game as sloppily as that streamer.
"Anyway, what's this beggar doing?"
20 seconds left until respawn.
As soon as he finished speaking, Hanpunman was summoned to the fortress.
"What were you doing?"
"I watched what the opponent was doing. This isn't the time."
"Why?"
"Right now, the Heavenly Demon is gritting his teeth and leveling. We have to stop him, but if we go right back to the center after reviving, can we win?"
He came quickly to the fortress, assessed the situation, and asked.
Because Hanpunman was also a veteran, but compared to the other two, his skill was a step lower.
"Seems better to hit level 6 before jumping in."
"Looks like we can't win."
Hanpunman said without a moment's hesitation, as if he knew it would come to that.
"Then it can't be helped. We have to close the gap as much as possible, hit level 6, and fight. Let's split up. Jeomsoi, you go to Gap, Cheonsalseong and I go to the outpost soldiers."
The moment they revived, they scattered.
And they didn't notice until then.
The fact that from the moment they revived, the fortress HP depletion speed had slowed down noticeably enough to be seen at a glance.