Chapter 73

Fast speed is a huge advantage.

All kinds of actions—dodging, deflecting, and blocking enemy attacks, as well as landing, twisting, and concealing your own attacks—become more advantageous the faster your speed is.

However, in games, if you gain something, you also lose something.

‘The damage is definitely weak compared to the fast speed.’

The enemy’s next attack was a thrust.

He recovered his sword and immediately landed while maintaining balance, stepping forward with his front foot and aiming for Seo-jun’s chest.

The entire sequence flowed as naturally as water, and natural attacks were inherently threatening.

Instead of dodging this, Seo-jun slightly twisted his body and took the enemy’s attack with his left shoulder.

His health didn’t decrease by much.

But just taking hits didn’t suit Seo-jun’s personality.

Seo-jun absorbed the enemy while simultaneously seizing advantageous high ground.

Before the enemy knew it, Seo-jun’s blade was hovering in front of his throat.

The enemy’s pupils instantly dilated.

He tried to hastily use lightness skills to retreat, shifting his body’s center of gravity backward.

But he couldn’t avoid a sword already at close range.

Slash!

He sliced the throat.

Though the strike lacked full power, Seo-jun’s attack was sufficient to fully recover his lost health.

-That counterattack was insane

-The enemy just brought his throat right to where the sword was

-Ah. This is what swordsmanship truly is

-Was I worried for nothing? Lmao

Unorthodox Faction’s Dignity retreated and gritted his teeth hard.

Flustered emotions were completely exposed in his eyes.

“I gave you the first move, so I’ll take this turn.”

He wasn’t the type to show restraint.

Seo-jun approached while his enemy retreated to regroup, but the map was narrow.

The current map was atop a gorge.

Water flowed below, and the waterfall’s sound faintly grated on the nerves.

It obviously looked impossible to fall down.

There was a translucent wall erected at the precipice where Unorthodox Faction’s Dignity was gradually approaching.

Seo-jun generated sword energy.

Seeing the effect surrounding the blade, the enemy snapped to attention.

Whooom.

He put strength into his arm and swung it in a wide arc.

A subtle weight was added.

This meant the judgment had been made.

A strong attack judgment, just like the enemy’s.

The enemy raised his sword, which he’d drawn with sword energy, to block the attack.

Even if your body is fast, you can’t accelerate the speed of thought and perception together.

That’s why gaining advantage through speed differences alone isn’t easy.

Of course, the Assassination Guild’s characteristics don’t become fast enough to discuss the speed of perception, but even so, utilizing this effectively requires considerable skill.

And Unorthodox Faction’s Dignity was a user who had accumulated plenty of that skill.

The enemy, who quickly regained his composure, kept his eyes fixed on the sword tip, intending to parry.

And at the very end, he smiled.

Seeing this, Seo-jun inwardly snorted.

How cute.

Clang!

“Huh?”

To the enemy who was flustered by his failed parry, Seo-jun kindly provided an explanation.

“You don’t need fast speed to twist at the last moment.”

Ultimately, all acts of deceiving enemies by adding variations to attacks are battles of timing.

Seo-jun knew this fact well.

He also knew how to do it equally well.

With fast speed, it would be easier to time and execute.

But even without that speed, while it wouldn’t be easy, it was still possible.

Seo-jun recovered his sword and prepared to thrust.

The situation from earlier proceeded in exact reverse.

He lowered his stance, stepped his left foot beside the enemy, and thrust his sword forward.

Even if he tried to aim for the enemy’s throat, it would be impossible.

He would aim precisely for the heart.

The enemy, who realized how the situation was unfolding, glared but couldn’t decide whether to attack like Seo-jun had or dodge.

Hesitation.

Normally he would have naturally chosen to dodge, but the memory of being hit in the exact same situation just moments before made him hesitate.

That hesitation led to the worst outcome—a sword piercing his heart. ^[1]

His health decreased drastically.

This was both because Seo-jun’s sword had sword energy and because there was a significant difference in base attack power.

“Oh dear. Your health won’t recover either. How unfortunate. Tsk tsk.”

Seo-jun clicked his tongue while laughing.

If only he had a long beard to stroke—what a shame.

“Now then, let’s see you try running away.”

Having noticed the immediate strategy change, Seo-jun looked down at his enemy and declared.

The health of the 5th-ranked player, now reduced to half, contrasted with Seo-jun’s full health bar.

* * *

“Ah, everyone! Ranking 5th! 5th place got caught in the game!”

Navigator swallowed his slight worry about the matchup that had formed from the second round and began commentary on the second match.

-Insane lol

-He’s about to get destroyed right away

-True veterans have quite different skill levels

-For real lol

-I heard people were betting in that room earlier, split fifty-fifty. Full sweep possible vs impossible LOL

“Unorthodox Faction’s Dignity-nim’s sect is Assassination Guild. As you know, Assassination Guild’s advantage is fast speed. In one-on-one, it’s tier 1.”

Tier is an English word meaning grade or level, displayed with numbers in front.

Tier 1 means first grade. In other words, Assassination Guild belongs on the good side.

Of course, the best sect characteristic settings with almost no flaws are called OP (overpowered), and Assassination Guild wasn’t quite at that level.

“It’s also popular as a high tier in territorial battles, but fast speed has high difficulty and the disadvantage of low damage per hit.”

Navigator quickly explained basic information before combat started.

“In comparison, Seo-jun-nim’s Absorption Technique has powerful attack strength but carries the risk of needing to quickly eliminate enemies—you all know this by now, right?”

Combat began.

“Now, Seo-jun-nim starting off casually with informal speech. The Heavenly Demon villain appeared again! He used formal speech when facing regular users earlier. This is typical strong-against-strong, weak-against-weak behavior!”

-So he’s actually kind-hearted?

-His trash talk is only for strong opponents

-No way. He does all sorts of trash talk to NPCs too LOL

-The conversation is intense from the start

-The psychological warfare is insane

-He talks well

-Battle of insects

“Dignity-nim’s first strike! It’s a strong attack and Seo-jun-nim easily blocks it. But the parry didn’t work. After landing and maintaining balance, Dignity-nim’s thrust! But! Ah, Seo-jun-nim’s sword is in front of Dignity-nim’s throat! How did he move like that?”

Navigator’s speech became rapid-fire as combat progressed.

-Damn

-He definitely fights well

-It got intense in just a few seconds lol

After exchanging moves, Unorthodox Faction’s Dignity panicked and retreated.

Navigator didn’t miss this moment to insert commentary.

“Let me quickly explain here—Seo-jun-nim tried to deflect Dignity-nim’s sword. This is where Assassination Guild users’ signature technique appeared. Twisting just before the sword makes contact. It’s like a Brazilian kick, but the trajectory isn’t that large. It’s a technique aimed at successfully landing follow-up hits on enemies who fail parries after trying to parry obvious strong attacks!”

It was quite famous, but many people didn’t know about it. The reason was that most users couldn’t even parry properly.

They rarely had opportunities to see such techniques.

-There’s a technique like that? Damn

-As expected from an experienced commentator

-Eye candy from just the first exchange

-Is it okay to reveal industry secrets?????

-People who know already know, what industry secrets

-Navigator isn’t Assassination Guild anyway. It’s fine to reveal secrets

-Disgusting orthodox faction bastard!

“Now Dignity-nim retreats and Seo-jun-nim immediately follows. Since it’s not ordinary Absorption Technique, he can’t afford to give any breathing room.”

There was nothing to commentate in the first round.

It was so one-sided, with the opponent losing fighting spirit and leaving the game.

“And huh?”

Seo-jun’s sword swung obviously.

Navigator felt a sense of déjà vu in the process from when the blade cut through the air until it clashed with the enemy’s sword.

This is?

[You don’t need fast speed to twist at the last moment.]

-????

-What is that

-Why the surprise?

The action that followed also triggered déjà vu.

Lowering his stance.

Raising his sword to aim at the enemy.

Pushing his arm forward to thrust.

“Wow!!!!”

Unlike before, a thrust that landed precisely in the chest.

-He’s doing the exact same thing lol. Isn’t this also trash talk?

-He’s returning exactly what was done to him????

-Seems like he’s clearly showing the skill difference

-This is insane for real

“Everyone, if I’m not mistaken, Seo-jun-nim returned the attack using exactly the same method! Including that technique I mentioned earlier!”

-???? The twisting thing at the end?

-Other users can use that too?

-Did you see wrong?

-Is that even possible?

“I’m not sure if non-Assassination Guild users can use it either, but judging by what Seo-jun-nim said, it seems like they can.”

Both he and the viewers were uncertain, so it seemed they’d need to check the replay.

[Oh dear. Your health won’t recover either. How unfortunate. Tsk tsk.]

[Now then, let’s see you try running away.]

-LOL That mouth of his is truly a master’s

-Look at him clicking his tongue lol

-But it really looks like 5th place is getting beaten. Is this right?

-That 5th place is running away just like the Heavenly Demon said lol

Commentary first.

“Ah. Dignity-nim really starts avoiding the fight. He seems to be trying to stall for time, but while he might have managed if he’d started running from the beginning, it’s difficult when his health is already down to half!”

Round 1 had nothing more to see.

But still, even though he’d allowed critical attacks to the throat and chest, was that characteristic build powerful enough to reduce health by half in just two exchanges?

‘If another ranker had selected that build…’

It wasn’t clear enough yet, so Navigator withheld judgment for now.

“Ah, he’s dead. GG! Now we’ll move to the next round.”

Now came the waiting time to change characteristics at the starting point and prepare for the next round.

“Shall we go check the replay then? Let’s confirm whether he really used that Assassination Guild signature technique like I said.”

Navigator skillfully accessed the replay, and viewers chatted among themselves.

-Lol. Probably not

-But the chat saying there are no rankers?

-Assassination Guild users need quite a lot of time to learn that lol

-Is that chat really from a ranker?

-Still, he won the first round super easily. Unorthodox Faction’s Dignity isn’t a bad player

-He was one of the candidates for best under heaven, damn just like that

With plenty of experience in post-game analysis or re-verification through replays, Navigator quickly set the timestamp and brought up the screen.

Navigator crossed his arms and said,

“Alright then. Let’s take a look.”

The video proceeded at 0.25x speed.

You could see the sword twist minutely at the perfect timing just before contact.

That angle was much smaller than normally seen, but it definitely moved.

-? It looks right though?

-Holy shit lol

-He’s smiling, that’s creepy

-Confirmed master

-That actually works?

“Indeed! One important point about this technique is that you have to prevent parrying while simultaneously allowing the enemy to deflect your sword. The difficulty lies in developing the sense to minutely adjust all of this… If he did this after seeing it for the first time today, that’s truly unbelievable talent!”

Navigator rewound the video while reading comments.

“You think he couldn’t have known? We don’t know. Hehe. Now, I’m curious what choice Unorthodox Faction’s Dignity-nim will make against Seo-jun-nim. Will he use stealth and speed from the start to deliberately stall for time! Or will he face off with skill in a direct confrontation again! I imagine he’ll be quite conflicted.”

If he decided to run from the start, it could become quite difficult for Seo-jun.

No matter how narrow the map, if he skillfully combined fast speed with various stealth characteristics during movement.

But then.

Navigator’s eyes widened as he turned the screen.

“Ah! What’s this? That option. It’s gone?”

Seo-jun was suddenly changing his characteristics.

-Why is he changing that right now lol

-Stall for time? Then just don’t use Absorption Technique lol

-Ah lol he’s playing dirty lmao