Chapter 77

This map is a forest, huh.

Seo-jun was summoned inside a wooden cabin.

He looked around while waiting for the game to start.

Through the window, he could see lush forest and clearings.

‘They said it’d get harder to find matches after 4 wins, so is this the beginning?’

The first four matches inevitably matched him with users who had much lower fame than him, but from the fifth match onward, you could only be matched with people of similar skill levels.

Since people who wanted to earn more fame would play additional games regardless of contribution points, if you could still meet users with much lower skill than yourself even after the fifth match, you could literally copy their contribution.

That’s why from the fifth match onward, if there weren’t users of similar levels queuing for matches, you could end up waiting indefinitely.

And this system could be used to sabotage other rankers from building up more contribution through winning streaks.

By simply not queuing for matches.

However, there was a countermeasure for this too.

If they wouldn’t queue matches where you were, you could just go find them directly.

Since you’d be meeting users of similar skill levels, you wouldn’t always win.

Seo-jun was currently on a 6-win streak.

And it had taken over 10 minutes for this match to be found.

This was proof that rankers were either sabotaging or avoiding him to that extent.

He didn’t know which was the truth.

Could he find out by looking into the orthodox and unorthodox faction group chats?

Anyway, the opponent he met after 10 minutes was.

[Heavenly Killing Star]

It was Heavenly Killing Star, the cause and benefactor(?) of this whole event.

“We finally meet.”

He really came.

To think he wouldn’t accept the advice.

How deplorable.

-Finally!!!!

-A showdown between 2nd and 1st place

-All of this started from that guy’s duel challenge

-Will Heavenly Killing Star show us something different!

-Let’s go!

-We patriotic bettors are only counting on Heavenly Killing Star T_T

-Just lose once, kid. 6 wins in a row is enough profit

That’s right, there were also points.

Seo-jun raised his hand to touch the broadcast settings and read through the betting list.

“It really is split fifty-fifty. Are there no odds either way? Like this?”

What caught his eye in the meantime was the username of the user who had bet the most points on the side betting that he could succeed.

Joseon’s Assassin.

As Travel’s greatest point millionaire in history, he had bet the maximum betting limit of 250,000 points on this point prediction.

Actually, this wasn’t just happening today.

Since he had points rotting away, he apparently bet the maximum 250,000 points cheerfully on every prediction.

In other rooms too.

-The traitors who bet against our country are really screwed

-What patriotic betting lol

-Look at this and tell me you still don’t get it. This Heavenly Killing Star guy or whatever will get destroyed too

-Honestly, the streamer is probably more famous than the previous world champion now lol

-If he wins this too, he’ll become the top popularity in For the Murim

-Basically guaranteed world champion even without 1st place

-But streamer, why don’t you use Heavenly Demon Lordship Steps???

While chatting, the game started.

“Heavenly Demon Lordship Steps? Should I try it once?”

Heavenly Demon Lordship Steps was a skill that appeared when users who selected Heavenly Demon Divine Art gathered more internal energy in their feet than when using lightness skills.

Seo-jun immediately concentrated and gathered internal energy in his right foot.

Was it called stepping on the true position?

Internal energy began gathering in Seo-jun’s raised right foot as he lifted his knee.

The longer he waited, the more internal energy he consumed while the power grew larger.

Gradually, he felt his foot becoming heavier.

And the moment that sense of weight stopped increasing, Seo-jun slammed his foot down.

CRASH!

The wooden floor of the cabin cracked with a tremendous roar.

A crowd control skill that could deal damage and stun to any nearby users.

What users called Heavenly Demon Lordship Steps.

The minimum amount of internal energy needed to activate it gathered in the foot somewhat slowly, so dodging wasn’t particularly difficult, but since the range was quite wide, it was an incredibly useful technique if used well.

-No lol you weren’t supposed to use it right now lol

-Used up all his internal energy

-Why attack the innocent cabin lol

As it consumed a lot of internal energy, the range and power increased proportionally.

“Hmm, I accidentally used almost all of it.”

Seo-jun was shameless.

“But I’ve won without internal energy before, so it should be fine.”

-LMAO

-We believe in you

-Is this good news for the patriotic bettors?

-Honestly, if 2nd place can’t beat someone who used up all their internal energy…

-Always creating his own penalties lol. Just consistently the same guy

-At this point, does he like suffering…?

Starting with character assassination again.

But he passed on correcting the misunderstanding for now. They wouldn’t believe him even if he corrected it anyway.

Seo-jun left the cabin with its interior half-destroyed while changing his tone.

“Have you been waiting long?”

Heavenly Killing Star was waiting in the clearing.

“No. But what happened to that cabin?”

Seo-jun looked back at his words.

The exterior was half-destroyed too.

He felt a sense of déjà vu, like it resembled the aftermath of completing an assassination.

“I was testing my power a bit.”

-Testing his power lol

-That is accurate though

-Why isn’t this a comedy stream instead of a skill stream lol

Good reaction.

Seo-jun felt satisfaction as a streamer and turned his gaze forward.

“You didn’t use up all your internal energy or anything, did you?”

“Don’t worry. I can beat you even without that much.”

“Ha. Do you think I’ll go down like that This Isn’t Murim guy?”

Seo-jun gave him a gentle smile instead of an answer.

“I’ll make you regret this.”

“Good. I was going to go easy on you at first, but I’ll specially go full power right from the start for you.”

Seo-jun raised his sword tip to point at Heavenly Killing Star.

* * *

Gulp.

Heavenly Killing Star swallowed saliva at an inexplicable aura.

His body automatically tensed up from toes to head, just from the enemy pointing at him.

‘I got nervous? Why?’

Why was he, who rarely lost in one-on-one duels, nervous?

‘He definitely beat the others well, but I can usually win when I fight too.’

His win rate was 90%.

That was his duel win rate from the previous battlefield.

‘So this should definitely be doable.’

He had quickly finished four matches, then watched the stream of the enemy right in front of him.

And his impression after watching the battles was ‘He’s good, but what if it were me?’

If it were me, I wouldn’t grip the sword like that.

If it were me, I’d dodge to the right at that moment.

If it were me, I’d create enough distance.

If it were me, I could counterattack.

Having these impressions wasn’t particularly unusual or special.

‘It’s always been like this.’

Whenever he watched other people’s battles, these kinds of thoughts automatically popped into his head.

It wasn’t conscious or learned.

He didn’t have fighting experience from a young age either.

‘Just naturally.’

Automatically feeling intuition the moment he saw something.

That’s why it was called talent and genius.

Of course, even geniuses weren’t born perfect and overwhelming from the start.

As experience accumulated, the number of flaws he could see increased.

And he had achieved tremendous growth by defeating countless snipers and taking 1st place in the previous season.

That’s why Heavenly Killing Star naturally accepted that he could see flaws while other rankers were helplessly losing.

He even thought things like ‘Has the skill gap widened even more?’

Thanks to this, Heavenly Killing Star stood before Seo-jun with confidence.

“Going full power right from the start? Then I’m happy to oblige.”

He knew how to use tension appropriately.

If tension was excessive, just reduce it. Like now, by having a light conversation.

In this case, the remaining tension would actually help him perform at his best.

This was also instinctive behavior.

“Understood. Then I’ll yield the first move.”

“Sure.”

Yielding the first move meant seeing the opponent as an inferior.

But he didn’t mind.

It was better to secure victory and take the bigger pride rather than worry about petty ego.

“Then I’m also going full power.”

Heavenly Killing Star spun his sword playfully before finishing his words and properly gripping it to charge forward.

His chosen sect was Mount Hua.

His trait was Twenty-Four Plum Blossom Sword Technique.

The characteristic of Twenty-Four Plum Blossom Sword Technique was that each individual form became a skill, and you could link those forms to use higher-powered techniques.

Also, through settings, you could either receive assistance with movements or move yourself to execute forms.

This applied to all forms, but since Twenty-Four Plum Blossom Sword Technique had twenty-four forms, it felt particularly significant.

If you received assistance, you could use skills easily.

However.

Since more suitable applications existed for the same form depending on the situation.

If you received movement assistance, the power would naturally be halved and weaknesses would easily be exposed.

That’s why people who wanted to become stronger abandoned the assistance.

And studied the forms.

Incidentally, Demonic Cult’s Baek Wigang was most helpful at this time, which is why Mount Hua had particularly more Transcendent users than other sects.

Heavenly Killing Star deployed a form right from the start.

In duels, there was no level concept like in territorial battles. This was a real sword fight happening at maximum level where you could do everything.

This meant that if executed properly, you could immediately link up to the final form of Plum Blossom Sword Technique that decided victory or defeat.

His sword began moving in the form most familiar to his body.

1st Form.

Red energy burst out, covering the front.

The blade flickered wickedly to tear at the enemy’s body, scattering internal energy.

This wasn’t a very good choice.

Because the outcome was predetermined when facing Heavenly Demon Divine Art with internal energy.

[The divine art that stands above all other mental cultivation methods.]

Though he didn’t use it much due to penalties, that one-line description of Heavenly Demon Divine Art couldn’t be easily ignored.

Even so, the reason for deploying forms was because he was confident he would win as long as his sword wasn’t directly interfered with and he could link to higher forms.

Moreover, his opponent had consumed almost all his internal energy.

Even if he took damage by clashing now, it was fine.

As long as he could just link to higher forms, he would win.

As expected, a slow blue-green line was drawn, erasing the red energies and cutting across his body.

He didn’t dodge or block.

His health decreased slightly.

‘As expected, seeing it directly, it’s much slower. And did he use up all his remaining internal energy?’

He thought this duel would end much more easily and began deploying his next form.

Tap.

Before it even started, something caught on his sword.

‘When did he get here?’

Because Seo-jun had somehow approached right in front of him and blocked his sword.