Chapter 96
“It really worked.”
The Third Elder said, dumbfounded.
He never expected they could push the Righteous Faction into such a defensive position.
Actually, just putting them on the defensive was possible. They could just throw everything into an all-out war with the Righteous Faction.
But the important thing was speed.
It was crucial to finish as quickly as possible, and they had almost achieved their goal by drawing in the Evil Faction well.
“Didn’t I tell you! That it would work!”
Dang So said from beside him.
“It’s not because of you, though.”
“What are you saying? It’s all because I came that the Demon Cult is doing so well.”
“Yes.”
The Third Elder nodded as if he understood.
A villain from the Evil Faction had come all the way here and was causing a ruckus.
At first, it was nice to have another ranker added, but now that he thought about it, maybe they didn’t need Dang So after all?
“Anyway, it’s brutal. He’s like a scary older brother.”
The Third Elder was watching the two people fighting in the sparring ground, along with the Bandit King and Dang So.
The Bandit King said.
“Still. Seojun hyung really beats... no, teaches well.”
The ones fighting in the sparring ground were Seojun and the World’s Number One Swordsman.
Not even broadcasting, Seojun was beating up the Swordsman under the pretext of training.
The Third Elder asked uneasily.
“He teaches well? That?”
“Uh...”
Isn’t that just a punching bag for stress relief and venting emotions?
The Third Elder glanced to the side.
The Bandit King’s eyes were slightly moist.
“That thing is surprisingly effective...”
How do you know that?
For some reason, his eyes said he didn’t want to know that about himself either.
The Third Elder didn’t know the whole story, but a chilling sensation made him shiver for some reason.
Meanwhile, the Bandit King, no, I Dongsu, thought to himself.
‘Didn’t he say it was training for broadcast content?’
But now the broadcast wasn’t even on.
Come to think of it, the gym too...
It was truly a nasty personality.
But.
‘His skills are improving...’
I Dongsu looked up at the sky in despair for a moment.
‘Same for me.’
Within the club, there were several in-house programs that tested various physical conditions and skills.
That was only natural, as they were one of the top clubs in the massive virtual reality market.
And recently, those test results, though slight, were continuously improving bit by bit.
-Is his body still growing?
-His reaction speed is improving too.
The manager and coaches tried to analyze the cause.
When the manager asked if he had any guesses about the reason, he talked about Seojun.
-There’s a hyung I spar with, he’s pretty good so I often face him.
-That streamer?
-Yes.
-Just fighting makes your skills improve?
-You’ve seen him play the game, manager-nim.
-Really? But I heard you’re playing the same game now?
-Yes.
-Good! Free time it is!
Was it because he showed clear results?
If his skills were improving, as the manager there was no reason to block interactions with Seojun.
Free time was only a tiny amount, and he still had to digest all mandatory schedules, but anyway, thanks to that, he was participating in the battlefield like this.
As a side note, I Dongsu didn’t mention that he always only got hit because of his pride.
“Hmm. So that’s actually effective?”
“It’s good but... uh... yeah. Good. Very good.”
The lower the starting point, the bigger the improvement tends to be.
They were witnessing in real time how the World’s Number One Swordsman’s skills were growing at a rapid pace day by day.
“Then, should I try asking for it as well?”
I Dongsu’s face turned to the side.
At that look full of things he wanted to say, the Third Elder flinched.
“I mean... it’s not bad...”
I Dongsu, the reason he kept getting hit was because of his professional spirit.
Even though his brain seemed to have gone on strike and couldn’t perceive that he was learning anything no matter how much Seojun beat him.
Still, his body was commendably learning on its own after getting hit, so he had no choice but to go get hit.
‘If there wasn’t at least some effect, I’d avoid it.’
Above all, Seojun hit well.
Painfully, yet not fatally.
“Do you remember how Seojun hyung treated him last time?”
I Dongsu decided to remind him of the price first.
“Hmm. He beat him to death with strong attacks, telling him to try parrying?”
For reference, the Swordsman had never once succeeded in parrying, and just got beaten to death and it ended.
“Then what about now?”
“Uh.”
The Third Elder’s gaze landed straight ahead.
This time.
On the contrary, he told him to attack with strong attacks, and he was the one parrying.
‘Wow.’
For a moment, the Third Elder was amazed.
Does he really have no conscience?
After parrying, he mercilessly attacked the Swordsman.
As if giving immediate feedback like, you failed so you take a hit. No wait, how is a regular user supposed to succeed against someone who does 3 vs 1 against rankers!
Even Satan wouldn’t go that far.
It’s amazing that skills improve despite that.
“As expected.”
“Right?”
I Dongsu and the Third Elder exchanged glances.
It was clear they were thinking the same thing.
They must be imagining themselves in the Swordsman’s position right now.
“Haha, would he train me if I asked? He’s busy. So I just shouldn’t even ask.”
“...”
I Dongsu could answer that much with certainty.
That he wasn’t someone who’d dislike increasing punching bags.
Of course, he had no intention of disrupting the Third Elder’s rationalization.
“Ha. You’d be better off learning from me.”
Dang So, who had been listening to the conversation from the side, said.
The two naturally ignored him.
“By the way, we might not be able to push the Righteous Faction today, right?”
I Dongsu said to the Third Elder.
“Because it’s the Evil Faction.”
Yesterday, Seojun had become able to attack the Righteous Faction’s home base, but didn’t engage in a full-scale fight.
Because having lost Shanxi, the connection was still severed, and the Evil Faction also had one region left to reach the home base.
So they tried to see the situation first before making a choice, but the Righteous Faction only defended without attacking Shaanxi.
Since they had even lost Shaanxi, they couldn’t pull any other tricks anyway, so it was as good as saying let’s just fight without dragging time.
Thus today, the Righteous Faction’s home base would face the Demon Cult, which had retaken Shanxi and linked up, and the Evil Faction that had pushed in.
Nevertheless, the Righteous Faction actually showed a more relaxed appearance than when they were being dragged around.
Because.
“The Righteous Faction probably trusts the Evil Faction.”
“That’s right.”
Why does the Righteous Faction trust the Evil Faction?
Obviously because it’s clear the Evil Faction won’t attack.
“As expected, the Evil Faction is wicked. They are beings not to be trusted.”
Hearing that, the Third Elder looked at I Dongsu with absurd eyes. His gaze moved above I Dongsu’s head to re-check his ID.
[Bandit King]
A person who was doing banditry in the greenwood before the battlefield started, if he’s going to say that, at least change his nickname.
“Yeah... well, they’re wicked.”
“Compared to that, how fair and righteous we are.”
That’s also a bit...
The Third Elder shook his head.
* * *
One minute before 7 o’clock.
An enormous number of viewers had gathered in Seojun’s room.
‘It’ll hit 20,000?’
Probably because he’d become something like a symbol who pushed into the Righteous Faction.
-Are you really going to send the Righteous Faction?
-I was so excited I couldn’t sleep.
-Don’t come! I said don’t come!
-Righteous Faction is screwed lololol
[Anonymous has donated 10,000 won!]
[Man, this isn’t fun. If you play to ruin one faction by giving up on winning like you guys, will the battlefield run well? This is a bit disappointing.]
“Thank you for the donation.”
It was something that could be unfair, and could be disappointing.
The battlefield as content quickly becomes boring if one faction plays with malice towards another.
So although it hadn’t become a big controversy yet, if the Righteous Faction really got knocked out from the battlefield, angry Righteous Faction people could cause a controversy.
The Demon Cult that led this would get cursed, and so would Seojun.
The way to avoid this.
“No, who on earth said we gave up on winning? Didn’t you see the stream title?”
It’s telling the truth.
Because they really didn’t have malice.
[The championship is the Demon Cult’s anyway]
-For real lol
-The streamer has a plan!
-It’s been that title for days
“And two of them ganging up on one.”
Seojun said with a look that really said ‘what are you talking about’.
Soon, 7 o’clock came.
-Let’s go let’s go let’s go
-Advance!
-I’ll watch the end
As everyone expected, the Demon Cult and Evil Faction arrived right in front of the Righteous Faction’s home base.
It was literally a situation like a light before a strong wind, but strangely, no battle indicators appeared on the Righteous Faction’s home base.
On the contrary, at the meeting point of the Demon Cult and Evil Faction, the Evil Faction’s rankers started making games.
Those who expected an all-out war with factions charging from the start showed question marks.
-Huh? What are those Evil Faction guys doing
-Crazy
-As expected lol
-Betraying now? Why?
-I knew this would happen.
Reactions were divided.
Seojun was on the side of those who knew it would happen.
Probably those with a lot of battlefield experience would have predicted the betrayal.
“The Evil Faction will want to keep suppressing the Righteous Faction through us. Because if this standoff continues, the best off will be the Evil faction.”
In other words, the Evil Faction wants the Righteous Faction to succeed in defense.
Because.
“They’ve probably figured out what we’ll do. After we send off the Righteous Faction, the next target will be them. The Demon Cult’s strategy is to push down all enemy home bases.”
Seojun stated the Demon Cult’s strategy.
Now there’s no point in hiding it.
-Was that really it? lololol
-I kept thinking no way, but he’s publicly declaring it lolol
-Everyone had predicted it to some extent, but the fact that they really planned to push through is legendary lolol
-Then why did the Evil Faction help you and come all the way to the Righteous Faction’s entrance?
-Explanation for newbies please
“We cooperated for this from the beginning. We drew them in knowing it would be like this.”
To summarize the situation:
The Demon Cult set up a strategy to push home bases.
But when they occupied Shanxi, time got delayed due to the Righteous Faction’s scheme.
Even if time dragged on, they could blow away the Righteous Faction’s home base.
However, the longer it took to force out the Righteous Faction, the less time they’d have to blow away the Evil Faction’s home base.
So Seojun decided to draw in the Evil Faction.
At the time, the Evil Faction had occupied a lot of territory, but it wasn’t very meaningful.
Because if 2nd and 3rd place start keeping 1st place in check, a new 1st place emerges and they’ll have to check that new 1st place together with the other 3rd place.
Unless there’s only one day left in the battlefield, as long as there’s not an overwhelming advantage, the situation can turn at any time.
Then at that moment, the Demon Cult said let’s target the Righteous Faction with their help.
The Evil Faction would have realized to some extent what the Demon Cult was aiming for.
Force out the Righteous Faction, then force out the Evil Faction.
Even so, the reason they cooperated was.
“Then you can definitely eliminate the competitor called the Righteous Faction. Also, from now on with the board set like this, if the eliminated Righteous Faction holds on.”
The Demon Cult will also be eliminated together.
“The Evil Faction will win the championship.”
The Righteous Faction realized late and, since they can’t turn the tables anyway, is sharpening their sword saying just try to push.
That was the current battlefield situation.
-Oh lolololol
-The battlefield is more complicated than I thought
-So the Demon Cult and Evil Faction read each other’s intentions and used each other
-Kyah
-This is fun lol This is cooperation! This is the battlefield!
-So what will you do, master?
Right after finishing the explanation, a playful chat appeared.
What to do.
Isn’t what to do clear?
Nevertheless, asking means they want to hear it directly.
I think telling the viewers what they want to hear is a streamer’s duty.
“What will I do? It’s simple. Today, take down the Righteous Faction.”
So Seojun opened his mouth in front of viewers that had swelled to 20,000 before he knew it.
“From tomorrow, we hit the Evil Faction. That’s all. So, once again, I’ll say.”
He said with a smirk.
“Anyway, the championship is the Demon Cult’s.”
As soon as that ended.
As if waiting, a red marker appeared on the region where the Righteous Faction’s home base was, Hebei.