Chapter 90

Nickname ‘DemonicCultLover’.

He was currently in the bushes a short distance from stronghold A, following Seo-jun’s orders.

Seo-jun had initially told him to hide, then capture stronghold A when he could clearly see the enemy from the center and received a chat message.

After that, he said he’d return, so hide again.

So now he was hiding in the grass.

‘Here they come.’

From the distant stronghold, NamgungFamilyWaitress approached.

The enemy ranker began recapturing with a somewhat tired expression.

‘He said if they leave again, capture the stronghold immediately this time.’

Seo-jun hadn’t revealed his plans.

He’d only told each teammate what they needed to do.

But judging by how things were unfolding now, it seemed to be going according to plan.

‘What’s he planning to do now?’

Return to the center to gain experience?

Or come to stronghold A?

There was nothing to do but watch, but it felt good anyway.

When he’d first heard that three enemy rankers were involved, how absurd had it felt?

He’d wondered if the game company was even sane.

Even if there was a user among the teammates who had accumulated legendary contribution levels.

But the important thing was.

‘We’re currently winning the game.’

It didn’t make sense, but the streamer had single-handedly won a 1 vs 3 and then cut down the enemies afterward for clean-up.

According to his plan.

What was his nickname again?

Heavenly Demon14.

‘Isn’t he really the Heavenly Demon?’

Regardless of who would win this game in the end, he felt they’d shown enough skill.

‘Hm?’

NamgungFamilyWaitress suddenly left the stronghold with a flustered expression.

For unknown reasons, but he followed Seo-jun’s words and immediately headed to stronghold A to complete the capture.

Since there were no additional instructions, he’d follow the previous orders.

And after a bit more time passed, a message appeared, leaving DemonicCultLover with no choice but to show a surprised expression.

[Heavenly Demon14 –> Heavenly Killing Star]

[Heavenly Demon14 –> OnlyOneWon]

“Crazy.”

Did he really just catch them right after they respawned?

This was absolutely ridiculous.

The enemies weren’t ordinary users or just regular rankers but top-tier players and rankers, weren’t they?

From deep in his heart, anticipation began creeping up.

‘If it’s the Heavenly Demon, surely he’ll lead the Demonic Cult to victory…!’

No.

That’s too much like a fanatic.

Anyway, for this battlefield,

He really felt like the Demonic Cult could win.

* * *

[Heavenly Killing Star eliminated!]

[Enemy fortress health –20]

[OnlyOneWon eliminated!]

[Enemy fortress health –20]

Is 3 vs 1 burdensome?

No, wasn’t this pretty easy?

Looking at his remaining health after the battle ended, it might be a bit much to call it easy, but those were all attacks he’d allowed to end the fight quickly.

The most important thing in combat is vision.

Being surrounded can cause you to lose sight of your back, but you can handle that by glancing around intermittently while predicting the next move.

How could he have known Heavenly Killing Star would launch a heavy attack?

Then what if the opponent was in a state where their potential for using skills had awakened?

Even then, Seo-jun was confident it would be hard for them to win.

“Now I’ll return to the center.”

Seo-jun spoke as if for the enemies who had become corpses in front of the fortress to hear, then entered the side path between strongholds A and B instead of the wide-open central road.

-What kind of psychological warfare are you conducting again, heir of Jegal and master of the Demonic Cult!

-Are you planning to slice up Waitress too, you goat of the assassination world!

-When exactly did he assassinate anyone lmao

-Mod, stop with the goat talk and manage the chat lol

Seo-jun went to a point outside the enemy’s vision range, then emerged from the side path onto the central main road.

The map’s side paths were narrow and branches got in the way, making movement quite hindered.

“Now. Let’s go to the center and level up.”

Seo-jun, having emerged onto the main road, even used movement techniques to increase his speed.

And the moment he arrived, he burst into where the soldiers were fighting.

“Has the Heavenly Demon arrived?”

The teammate who had been steadily killing enemy soldiers in the center as Seo-jun requested greeted him with a bright expression.

“Yes, hello.”

“I believed in you!”

Seo-jun began killing soldiers alongside him.

No matter how many they killed, the front lines wouldn’t move, so there was no worry.

“Let’s kill them all.”

If three people seriously focused on killing enemy soldiers, they could see allied soldiers resting before the next wave came, and he’d wanted to see that.

[Enemy fortress health –5]

[Enemy fortress health –5]

[Enemy fortress health –5]

.

.

-As expected, the streamer is a genius!

-Shake them up once, then maximize the experience gain

-I trust you! You really are from Korea University!

-But grinding this hard is a bit…

That was the initial reaction.

“Stronghold A has been captured.”

Seo-jun confirmed the stronghold’s color had changed while unleashing sword energy toward an approaching shielded enemy, smashing through both shield and enemy soldier.

[Enemy fortress health –5]

-Using sword energy at just the right moments, Heavenly Demon-nim!

-There must be a reason he’s leaving stronghold A alone!

-He always have a plan

But.

Gradually, as time passed and Seo-jun continued staying in one place killing soldiers, reactions began to change.

“Come on, you guys are way too scared.”

Even while saying this, Seo-jun ducked to avoid a soldier’s obvious attack while stabbing another soldier who had exposed his weak point after being blocked by a shield.

[Enemy fortress health –5]

-He’s working so hard that we can’t believe it lol

-Let’s stop killing and fight now!

-He seems serious this time

-Shaking them up once and trying to build the biggest level gap possible lol

-This is strategic too

Public opinion swayed back and forth.

“Come on, didn’t I show you earlier? Me overwhelming three Orthodox rankers.”

-Ahh. You ‘overwhelmed’ them, yes

-That brain combat was indeed sexy lol

-Watching those Orthodox guys get helplessly beaten was satisfying lol

-Anyway, you’re leveling now because you’re worried about what’s ahead

Seo-jun spoke while reading the comments.

“I’m not worried about this round. I’ve already won.”

-Then stop killing

-Head to stronghold A!

Seo-jun ignored the chat while looking at the approaching enemy soldiers and raising his sword.

‘But I’m not sure about the next round.’

From the next round onward, the enemy would come prepared, making psychological warfare likely.

He was confident in himself, but psychological warfare always carried high failure rates.

Currently.

The enemy fortress health was steadily being whittled down.

Waitress, who had been at stronghold A, returned to the fortress after Seo-jun appeared in front of the Orthodox fortress, fearing he might go to A, then returned with three teammates.

This choice was correct from Seo-jun’s perspective.

If they had sent one person each to the three strongholds from the beginning, it would have been difficult for Seo-jun to properly counter.

But now that the game had progressed significantly, the situation was different.

MovieSoft’s algorithm wasn’t completely unreasonable, so his teammates were quite skilled.

‘They said slightly below ranker level?’

If Seo-jun stayed in the center and sent his remaining three teammates to one place?

While they could handle a 3 vs 1 to some extent, that was only when levels were equal.

Three level 6 players were beyond what they could defeat.

“By the way, it seems like the Orthodox rankers are trying to hit level 6 somehow rather than dying pointlessly?”

-Lol ugly Orthodox guys

-Ah, as a member of the unorthodox faction, today’s stream is really fun lol

-Shaking and trembling

-Unorthodox characteristic: About to get wrecked soon

-Nope

-The Demonic Cult with the streamer keeps winning!

So.

Victory had essentially come to him.

[Enemy fortress health –5]

[Enemy fortress health –5]

[Enemy fortress health –5]

All the soldiers disappeared again, and the enemy fortress health had dropped considerably.

“The enemy level is 5.”

They were gradually rising due to natural experience gain and experience from maintaining one stronghold capture.

But Seo-jun’s level was 10.

A 2x difference.

This was why the center was important.

Though they’d held the three strongholds for quite a while, it couldn’t compare to the experience gained from killing enemy soldiers.

“When the enemy hits level 6, I’ll probably be level 11.”

There were many laughing chats.

Excluding the martial arts enhanced every 6 levels, the stat differences from levels weren’t that significant.

The prevailing opinion was that he was aiming for level 12.

‘Actually, it’s not necessary.’

He just wanted to keep killing enthusiastically.

Really.

-Heavenly Demon-nim, the stronghold A rankers have departed.

Seo-jun confirmed the team chat and began loosening up while his teammate quietly slipped away.

-Let’s make a comeback! The streamer couldn’t hit level 12!

-There’s a possibility with martial arts rankers? It’s different lol

-Well, it would be ridiculous for martial-arts-less rankers to beat the streamer who’s the pure skill #1 in Korea from Training Hall

-Really curious how this will turn out

* * *

For the Murim’s signature martial arts made the game stale.

The reason was that the techniques were complex and highly versatile.

But where could you find a game that wasn’t difficult?

The real cause lay with the veterans who continuously researched and dueled with those martial arts’ traits and techniques.

Techniques weren’t simple skills but realistic movements you could utilize.

So saying Seo-jun would naturally win by discussing pure skill wasn’t quite right.

For the Murim rankers especially had good physicality, and many even looked down on the 9th-level AI called professional grade.

The problem was.

Seo-jun had won too easily in yesterday’s duels, shattering their pride completely.

Swordsmanship! Let’s fight without skills!

Those who said this were nine times out of ten For the Murim users, while users from other games would go ‘there they go again’ while secretly acknowledging them.

But.

After the duels, their pride disappeared and all that remained was ‘martial arts one-trick’.

‘Small fish in a big pond rankers’ was their own self-perception.

So they really wanted to win this fight.

“Damn it! Get hit!”

OnlyOneWon’s staff, applying a slight variation of Strike Dog Staff Technique, overwhelmed Seo-jun.

His chosen martial art characteristic was Drunken Eight Immortals Technique, so he couldn’t expect additional effects from the martial art itself, but purely in terms of technique, it was powerful.

The forms were most suitable when Seo-jun was cornered.

“Think that’ll work?”

But when Seo-jun leaned forward instead of backing away while moving his sword, the staff-wielder could naturally picture what would happen next.

The opponent would soon deflect his staff and then slash his body.

He wondered.

Why did such a simple response create this result?

Just as Seo-jun’s sword diagonally deflected the staff and was about to slash his throat.

Clang!

Fortunately, support came from Heavenly Killing Star beside him.

Next, Waitress attacked, but.

‘How does this make sense? We’re three people?’

Seo-jun, whose attack had been blocked, now blocked an attack in return.

A situation where neither side had succeeded in landing a single attack.

While they weren’t losing, even going fifty-fifty was extremely humiliating for them.

“If we can’t catch him quickly! We really lose!”

As Heavenly Killing Star shouted while drawing his sword and channeling internal energy to deploy a technique.

Seo-jun thrust his sword into the air preemptively.

That point in the air was precisely positioned to block Heavenly Killing Star’s movement.

“Come on in.”

OnlyOneWon truly didn’t understand what he meant by ‘come in’ when he was blocking everything himself.

And Seo-jun.

-Here it comes

-Been a while since we’ve seen this lol

-We couldn’t see it during Absorption Technique because he had to end fights quickly

-Kyah! What a ride!

-The dull sword is no longer dull!

Leisurely retrieved his sword while flicking his hand.

Soon, the reason he’d sent his teammates elsewhere would arrive.