Chapter 75

Swoosh!

The enemy’s health dropped significantly after allowing a proper attack.

Since sword energy wasn’t drawn, it didn’t decrease by much.

Still, he’d gained the upper hand.

Seo-jun prepared to move his body to press his advantage.

But then.

The enemy suddenly flung his body backward.

His momentum was broken.

Running away in the middle of an exciting battle.

Was he panicked from allowing the attack?

No way.

“Hmm?”

Seo-jun reluctantly relaxed his strength and lowered his sword.

He hoped it wasn’t the case, but somehow it seemed like what he was thinking was correct.

The enemy distanced himself and suddenly disappeared.

At a glance, it seemed like when his body was hidden by the shadow of a large rock nearby, he naturally melted into that darkness.

Considering the canyon map had plenty of hiding places due to rocks and somewhat sunken terrain, it would be difficult to find him in a short time.

What an impressive performance.

In front of over 100,000 people.

Sigh.

Seo-jun let out a sigh.

“No way, I kept hoping it wasn’t the case, but what’s a ranker doing if he doesn’t even check the interface?”

When a round starts, you can check what core traits your opponent has taken.

His enthusiasm completely deflated.

-Ah lmao

-Let’s go teabag him

-If the streamer had Absorption Technique, I might have given that strategy some credit, but this is just lol

-Making the unorthodox faction lose face lol

-The streamer doesn’t have health recovery!

He never expected this at all.

No wonder he’d been acting strangely from earlier—he was preparing to run away. His attacks were weird because he was preparing to escape.

“Sigh.”

Seo-jun let out a deep sigh.

Even if he couldn’t check the traits, he should have been able to catch various clues that the trait had changed while fighting.

“Let’s just take a break. Might as well match his tempo.”

This was the price for ruining the fun.

-But why couldn’t he dodge that attack earlier?

-Looks like his unorthodox faction mentality broke

-He was pressuring well though

-For real lol

Did they rest for about two minutes?

Screech!

The sound of cutting through air came from somewhere.

Seo-jun guessed the direction and turned his body while consciously moving his arm at the same time.

If he tried to detect and then react, his body would be too slow to handle it.

A dagger was flying toward him.

Clang.

He blocked it somewhat precariously.

The next attack didn’t follow.

Seo-jun smiled slightly.

“He’s probably panicking right about now.”

-Lol

-???: Huh? Why did he give up looking for me?

-Why isn’t he still checking the interface?

-The greatest blockhead of the unorthodox faction emerges!

-Unorthodox Faction’s Dignity: I’m the early bird!

That attack just now was definitely thrown to test if the combat status had reset.

“Shall I pretend to look for him once?”

Seo-jun walked toward the opposite side from where the dagger came and began his act.

“Oh. My. The. Dag. Ger. Came. From. Here?”

Speaking each syllable clearly. With a loud voice.

-Who would fall for that lmao

-If you did indirect advertising like that, people would catch on immediately LOL

-This.food.is.really.delicious!

By this point, noticing something strange would be normal.

“What’s going on?”

Unorthodox Faction’s Dignity emerged from a gap between distant rocks and spoke.

“How did you do it? Why aren’t you dying? The time should have definitely passed.”

Well.

“It’s because of my Heavenly Demon energy.”

Since he’d truly been reborn as a genuine Heavenly Demon who uses the Heavenly Demon Divine Art, this was roughly accurate.

“You’re really a bug user?”

“That’s right.”

“Ha. So it was real. You’re finished now.”

Seo-jun maintained a serious expression while desperately holding back laughter.

-LMAO

-Why did he lose his mind?

-Was this his original image?

-He used to be a somewhat smart and hardworking kid, but he’s become an idiot

“Hurry up and let’s finish this. I have many rankers to face.”

“Fine then.”

Why did he look relieved?

The look in his eyes was dismissive, as if he’d expected this all along.

There was no further conversation.

Seo-jun waited for the enemy to come in first this time too, and Unorthodox Faction’s Dignity fought less desperately than before, though he still wasn’t fighting half-heartedly.

Seo-jun defended while whittling down his health whenever opportunities arose, and eventually Unorthodox Faction’s Dignity exhausted all his health and collapsed.

[You have won the duel.]

The best-of-three one-on-one duel was over.

-Ranking 5th easily defeated!

-Though he did seem mentally broken

-It wasn’t just a lucky catch either. He was losing in the early stages.

-This is the streamer, this is the Heavenly Demon!

-Heavenly Killing Star is different. Heavenly Killing Star is different. Heavenly Killing Star is different. Heavenly Killing Star is different.

-Lmao what kind of self-hypnosis is that??? Did you bet points somewhere?

After exiting, Seo-jun immediately started the next game.

“Next!”

* * *

About a minute later, the third duel match was found.

This time too, it was a ranker with a high ranking.

Was this the result of Unorthodox Faction’s Dignity opening the floodgates, or was this how it was supposed to be originally?

Navigator had definitely said he could handle four consecutive wins without any burden.

This map was a plain with nothing but grass.

“Greetings.”

Hmm.

Just from hearing his greeting, he could tell the opponent wasn’t normal.

The previous opponent was a bit lacking in intelligence stats but fight with no role playing, while this one was different.

‘Am I the one to talk? No wait, I’m doing this for the entertainment value of the broadcast.’

His role-playing came from professional ethics, not fun or satisfaction, so it was different in nature.

At least that’s what he thought.

Seo-jun nodded to himself several times inwardly before looking straight ahead.

“Good to meet you.”

His opponent’s nickname was,

[This Isn’t Murim]

He had a memory of seeing this name somewhere too.

“Was it 6th place?”

“Correct. I’m honored you remember.”

What honor.

“Ah, and I saw you posted on the community too.”

“You saw that?”

Seo-jun grinned.

“Yeah. You said Mount Hua’s mountain is a dormant volcano, right?”

“……”

“Though it might actually be an active volcano. Ah, but then they couldn’t establish a sect there? This definitely seems like it has to be a dormant volcano.”

“……”

This Isn’t Murim, who had been speechless for a moment, raised his head with shining eyes.

“Prepare yourself.”

“Yeah, come at me. I’ll face you with my Demonic Cult’s supreme art, the Hundred Steps Divine Fist.”

“This…!”

“Or maybe with the Heavenly Demon’s exclusive secret technique, the Twenty-Four Plum Blossom Sword……”

“Gaaaaaah!”

-Lol

-What a truly evil bastard lmao

-Mount Hua is dormant volcano noted…

-Stop bullying the murim old-timer lol

-Naturally, murim means selling hamburgers at inns!

Somehow he felt fond of him.

“Prepare yourself!”

The opponent had chosen Green Forest as his sect. His weapon was a massive greatsword.

It looked like the largest he’d seen in For the Murim.

At that size, he wondered if his attack speed would be similar to his own debuffed speed.

Step, step.

The enemy began moving first.

The enemy, who had been slowly approaching across the sunset-lit plain, gradually began picking up speed.

His momentum was like an angry rhinoceros.

Seo-jun slowly raised his sword to the front.

Red light glowed from the blade of his sword, perfectly suited to his taste, which he’d plundered from the Demonic Cult.

“I’ll show you what true martial arts and chivalry are. Come at me.”

A cool breeze blew.

Nice map.

“Very well. Show me!”

Hup.

The bandit who had approached right in front used his momentum to plant his feet as he braked.

He exhaled deeply while lifting his heavy greatsword high to look down at his target, Seo-jun.

‘Bandits always make their avatars big.’

Seo-jun clicked his tongue and ducked his body.

Taking attacks from Green Forest with their external strength traits was a losing proposition.

Whooom!

The sound of cutting through air was particularly loud.

Maybe because it passed right over his head.

Seo-jun looked up at his seemingly taller enemy while keeping his head down.

For a moment, This Isn’t Murim, who was preparing his next attack, felt a chilling sensation as if he’d discovered a predator just before being hunted.

“Now it’s my turn?”

Seo-jun concentrated and infused internal energy into his sword.

Deep blue-green internal energy that created the illusion of flowing like the deep sea overlaid his sword.

Sword energy.

However, the internal energy of the Heavenly Demon Divine Art, said in the lore to rival strong energy, began flowing through the sword.

‘Pretty.’

He liked it, though he didn’t appreciate how beautifully they’d expressed the Demonic Cult’s martial arts.

The Demonic Cult should have something a bit off about everything to be proper lore.

Anyway, he was in combat now.

“Try dodging this.”

Swoosh!

Seo-jun raised his sword from bottom to top.

The blue-green energy shot up to the sky.

‘The performance is definitely good.’

It far exceeded the distance normal sword energy could travel.

It seemed usable for long-range applications too.

Since internal energy wasn’t unlimited, maybe as an occasional way to create variables.

“Heheh. That was dangerous!”

Hmm.

This Isn’t Murim shouted loudly.

Drawing strong energy doesn’t make you faster.

That speed was the price of strong energy.

Therefore, This Isn’t Murim was able to dodge by leaning his head back.

‘Not disappointing though.’

They’d each tested the other once.

“Then it’s my turn! Hahaha!”

He’s excited, that guy.

Crash!

The greatsword that came down in a straight line from top to bottom struck the ground next to Seo-jun.

The trembling of the ground spread through his feet to his whole body.

Seo-jun, who had twisted his body slightly to avoid the greatsword, immediately swept his sword upward at the greatsword embedded in the ground right next to him and took his stance.

He gripped the sword with both hands and raised it high.

“Huh. I’ll go the same way too.”

But he seemed excited too.

Emotions are contagious.

Seo-jun bared his teeth in a grin.

Flicker!

Blue-green sword energy erupted like catching fire.

He drew a straight vertical line from top to bottom.

Crash!

The ground caved in deeply, and demonic energy shot out, sweeping across the grassland behind the battlefield.

Like wildfire spreading through a barley field.

“My turn again!”

Crash!

“Now it’s mine.”

Crash!

The earth shook.

Seo-jun’s attack speed was slightly slower, but both were fundamentally marked as very slow attack speed.

Crash!

So the attacks didn’t connect.

Crash!

No matter how amazing or unconventional a technique you used, if the speed was slow, you could dodge while watching.

Unless even the movement speed classified as mobility was slow, the bandit’s attack speed was slow because of his weapon.

Crash!

Seo-jun just had skills that absolutely wouldn’t get hit by most attacks.

A sword drawn diagonally.

Since This Isn’t Murim’s opponent wouldn’t counterattack, he just drove his large greatsword straight into the ground.

Stopping midway would be more difficult, so that seemed to be his approach.

Like a simple-minded bandit.

“Hehe. Fighting like this, don’t you feel like you’re understanding true martial arts?”

Is that so?

Dirt and weeds flew into the air before falling to the ground, obscuring vision.

Thud thud thud.

Seo-jun prepared his next attack and asked.

“So, do you think you can keep dodging forever?”

“I could do it all day!”

I see.

Seo-jun heard the answer and nodded in understanding as he lowered his arm.

Crash!

-Why do they wait for each other to attack lol

-Slow idiots lol

-So romantic lol

-When did this game become turn-based combat?

-Is this the murim you wanted to talk about…… I’m moved, you bastard (wiping nose)

-Don’t get moved by this kind of combat lol