Episode 90
The nickname was ‘I_Like_the_Demon_Cult’.
He was hiding in the bushes a little distance from Base A, following Seojun’s orders.
Seojun had told him to stay hidden at first, then check the chat and capture Base A once the enemies were clearly visible in the center.
After that, he was to return and hide again.
So now he was hidden in the grass.
‘They’re coming.’
Namgung Sega Jeomsoi was approaching the distant base.
The enemy ranker, looking somewhat exhausted, began occupying the base again.
‘He said to wait until they leave, then immediately capture the base this time.’
Seojun hadn’t explained his overall plan.
He’d only told each team member what they individually needed to do.
But seeing how things were unfolding, it seemed to be going according to plan.
‘Now what’s he going to do?’
Go back to the center and farm experience?
Or come all the way to Base A?
There was nothing to do but watch, but it was enjoyable.
When he’d first heard that three of the enemies were rankers, he’d been completely dumbfounded.
It made him wonder if the game company was in its right mind.
No matter how much of an unprecedented contribution one of his teammates had made.
But what mattered was.
‘That we’re winning the game right now.’
It was absurd, but the streamer had taken on three opponents alone, winning 1v3, and then proceeded to cut them down afterward.
Exactly as he intended.
What was his nickname again?
Cheonma14.
‘Isn’t he really a Heavenly Demon?’
In the end, regardless of who won this game, he felt the streamer had sufficiently proven his skill.
‘Hm?’
Namgung Sega Jeomsoi suddenly left the base with a flustered expression.
Not knowing the reason, I_Like_the_Demon_Cult immediately headed to Base A and completed the capture, just as Seojun had instructed.
Since there were no additional instructions, he’d follow the previous ones.
And after a little more time, a message popped up, leaving I_Like_the_Demon_Cult with no choice but to wear a shocked expression.
[Cheonma14 --> Cheonsalseong]
[Cheonma14 --> Hanpunman]
“Crazy.”
Did he really kill them the moment they revived?
This is seriously insane.
Even if the enemies were regular users or rankers, they were top-tier, weren’t they?
A sense of anticipation began to creep up from deep within his heart.
‘If it’s Cheonma-nim, then surely the Demon Cult will win...!’
No.
This sounded too much like a fanatic.
Anyway, he felt a genuine anticipation that in this battlefield,
the Demon Cult really could win.
* * *
[Cheonsalseong eliminated!]
[Enemy fortress HP –20]
[Hanpunman eliminated!]
[Enemy fortress HP –20]
Was a 3v1 a burden?
No. Didn’t he win easily?
Looking at his remaining health after the fight, it might be a bit ambiguous to call it easy, but those were all attacks he’d allowed in order to end the fight faster.
The most important thing in battle is vision.
If you’re surrounded, you might lose vision and not see behind you, but you can just glance intermittently and predict the next action.
How did he know Cheonsalseong would use a strong attack?
And what if the opponent’s potential to use skills had blossomed?
Even then, Seojun was confident he’d be hard-pressed to lose.
“Now I’ll head back to the center.”
Seojun said this as if letting the now-corpsed enemies in front of the fortress hear it, and instead of the wide-open path to the center, he slipped into the side path between Base A and Base B.
-What psychological warfare are you weaving now, descendant of Jegal and master of the Demon Cult!
-Are you trying to slice up Jeomsoi too, oh GOAT of assassination!
-Since when did you even assassinate anyone lol
-Hey manager, stop with the GOAT nonsense and manage the chat lol
Seojun moved to a point out of the enemy’s line of sight, then exited the side path onto the main road.
The map’s side paths were narrow and obstructed by branches, making movement difficult.
“Alright. Let’s go to the center and level up now.”
Emerging onto the main road, Seojun used his movement technique to speed up.
And upon arrival, he immediately plunged into the area where soldiers were fighting.
“Cheonma-nim, have you arrived?”
The team member who had been steadily killing enemy soldiers in the center as Seojun had requested greeted him brightly.
“Yes, hello.”
“I believed in you!”
Seojun began killing soldiers alongside him.
There was no worry, as no matter how many they killed, the frontline wouldn’t move.
“Let’s wipe them all out.”
If the three of them purposely focused solely on the enemy soldiers, he’d heard you could see your own allied soldiers resting until the next wave came, and he wanted to see it.
[Enemy fortress HP –5]
[Enemy fortress HP –5]
[Enemy fortress HP –5]
.
.
-Indeed a genius!
-Shake them up once, then maximize the experience gap
-I believe! You’re definitely the one for Korea’s national team!
-But clenching your teeth this hard is a bit…
That was the initial reaction.
“Base A has been captured.”
Seojun confirmed the color of the base changing, drew a sword aura toward the enemy thrusting a shield, smashing both shield and soldier.
[Enemy fortress HP –5]
-Your use of sword aura is masterful, Cheonma-nim!
-There must be a reason you left Base A alone!
-He has a plan, I’m telling you
But.
As time passed and Seojun kept holding his position and killing soldiers, reactions began to change.
“No, guys, saying I’m scared?”
Even as he spoke, Seojun ducked to dodge a soldier’s obvious attack, and instead of the one blocking his front with a shield, he stabbed the neck of another soldier who exposed a weak point.
[Enemy fortress HP –5]
-Of course we don’t believe it when you’re that focused on killing lol
-Seriously, stop killing and fight now!
-He seems serious this time
-He’s trying to shake them once and create the largest possible level gap lol
-This is strategic too
Public opinion swung back and forth.
“No, I showed you earlier. Overwhelming three Orthodox faction rankers.”
-Ah, he ‘overwhelmed’ them
-It was brain-sexy though lol
-It was satisfying seeing those Orthodox bastards helpless lol
-Anyway, you’re leveling up now because you’re worried about the late game
Seojun read the comments and spoke.
“I’m not worried about this round. We’ve already won.”
-Then stop killing
-Head to Base A!
Seojun ignored the chat, raised his sword, and faced the approaching enemy soldiers.
‘But I’m not sure about the next round.’
From the next round, the enemy would come prepared, so psychological warfare was highly likely.
Of course, he himself would be fine, but psychological warfare always comes with a high probability of failure.
Currently.
The enemy fortress’s HP was steadily being whittled down.
Jeomsoi at Base A had apparently returned to the fortress fearing Seojun would show up near the Orthodox faction’s fortress and then come to Base A, then returned again with three teammates.
In Seojun’s eyes, that had been the correct choice.
If they had sent one person to each of the three bases from the start, it would have been hard for Seojun to properly respond.
But now that the game had progressed, the situation was different.
Perhaps because Mubi Soft hadn’t gone completely insane, his teammates were quite high in skill level.
‘They said a bit below ranker level?’
What if Seojun stayed in the center and sent the remaining three teammates to one place?
A 3v1, they could manage somewhat, but only if the levels were equal.
Three players who’d reached level 6 couldn’t beat them.
“By the way, the Orthodox rankers seem to be trying to hit level 6 somehow rather than dying in vain, don’t they?”
-lol Despicable Orthodox bastards
-Ah, as a member of the Evil Faction, today’s stream is incredibly fun lol
-trembling with rage
-Evil Faction trademark) about to get wrecked
-No they’re not
-The Demon Cult with the streamer wins streak after streak!
Therefore.
It was fair to say victory was already his.
[Enemy fortress HP –5]
[Enemy fortress HP –5]
[Enemy fortress HP –5]
All the soldiers vanished again, but the enemy fortress HP hadn’t gone down that much.
“The enemy’s level is 5.”
Thanks to the base experience that naturally rose and the experience from holding one captured base, they were still leveling up.
But Seojun’s level was 10.
A two-fold difference.
That’s why the center was important.
Even though they had held three bases for quite a while, it couldn’t compare to the experience from killing enemy soldiers.
“When the enemy hits level 6, I’ll probably be 11.”
There were many laughing comments in the chat.
Aside from martial arts that strengthened every 6 levels, the stat differences from levels weren’t that large.
The prevailing opinion was that he was aiming for level 12.
‘I don’t actually need to.’
He’d just wanted to kill them diligently.
Really.
-Cheonma-nim, the rankers have departed from Base A.
After checking the team chat, Seojun started loosening up, and his teammate quietly slipped away.
-Let’s recover! The streamer couldn’t hit 12!
-It’s possible; a ranker with martial arts? Different story lol
-I mean, it was ridiculous for rankers without martial arts to beat the streamer, who’s Korea’s top sword in the training ground with pure skill
-Really curious how this’ll turn out
* * *
For the Sake of Righteousness’s flower martial art is what turned the game into a stale one.
The reason is its complex techniques and high versatility.
But is there any game that isn’t difficult?
The real cause lay with the veterans who endlessly researched, dueled, and utilized the traits and techniques of that martial art.
The techniques weren’t simple skills, but realistic motions that could be utilized.
So it wasn’t right to dismissively say it was only natural for Seojun to win, citing pure skill.
The rankers of For the Sake of Righteousness especially had excellent physical abilities, and many of them casually dismissed the professional-level level 9 AI.
The problem was.
Seojun had won too easily in the previous day’s sparring, shattering that pride to pieces.
Swordsmanship! Let’s fight without skills!
Nine out of ten who showed such pride were For the Sake of Righteousness users, and while users of other games thought ‘they’re at it again,’ they secretly acknowledged it.
But.
After the sparring, the pride vanished, and all that remained was ‘only good with martial arts.’
Their own perception became ‘frog in a well rankers.’
So even though they desperately wanted to win this fight,
“Dammit! Take this!”
Hanpunman’s club, slightly modified from the Striking Dog Staff Art, descended upon Seojun.
The martial art trait he’d chosen was the Drunken Eight Immortals Art, so he couldn’t expect additional effects from the martial art, but as a technique alone, it was formidable.
Because the pattern was most suitable for the situation Seojun was pressured in.
“You think that’ll work?”
However, instead of stepping back, Seojun leaned forward, swung his sword, and Hanpunman, swinging the club, could naturally picture what would follow.
The opponent would soon deflect the club, then slash his body.
A question arose.
Why did that simple response produce such a result?
Just as Seojun’s sword obliquely deflected the club and was about to slash his neck—
Clang!
Fortunately, Cheonsalseong’s support arrived from the side.
Jeomsoi followed with an attack.
‘Does this make sense? There’s three of us?’
This time, Seojun, whose attack had been blocked, switched to blocking.
A situation where neither side had landed a single successful attack.
They weren’t losing, but even just going even was a huge blow to their pride.
“If we don’t catch him fast, we really lose!”
Cheonsalseong shouted, drawing his sword and infusing internal energy to execute a technique.
Seojun thrust his sword into the empty air in advance.
That point in the air was exactly where it would block Cheonsalseong’s movement.
“Come on in.”
Hanpunman wore a genuinely baffled expression at the words ‘come on in’ while the person in question blocked everything single-handedly.
And Seojun.
-Here it comes
-Been a while lol
-That move you couldn’t see during Soul Absorption Technique because you had to end fights quickly
-Kya! So satisfying!
-The Blunt Sword is no longer blunt!
Leisurely retrieving his sword, he gave a slight flick of his hand.
Because the reason he’d sent his teammates elsewhere was about to arrive.