Chapter 78

“You know about it?”

“Know about what?”

“That when the higher forms of Plum Blossom Sword Technique are deployed, even Heavenly Demon Divine Art can’t do anything about them. That’s why you blocked it, isn’t it?”

Heavenly Killing Star frowned.

“Is that so?”

“Yes.”

“I’ll be more careful going forward.”

He’s playing dumb.

Whatever.

From now on, things will be different.

Just now, he hadn’t anticipated it, so he couldn’t gain any advantage and his combo was broken, but from now on, if he tries to break his combos, he’ll make sure to exact a proper price.

His goal isn’t perfecting forms—it’s victory.

He backed away slightly to properly build up his forms again from the beginning.

And as he raised his sword to deploy the 2nd Form—

Clang!

Seo-jun’s sword, somehow standing before him again, blocked his sword path once more.

His sword couldn’t advance past around waist level.

“Your reactions are quick.”

Heavenly Killing Star waited for this moment and relaxed the strength in his arms, breaking the balance with Seo-jun’s sword that had been blocking him and freely withdrawing his blade.

If you tried to block his forms, you’d have to pay a price.

His sword, no longer obstructed, immediately tried to deploy a different form.

His arm movement was clearly faster than his opponent’s, and his sword path was efficiently shorter.

This can’t be blocked.

Just as a smile naturally began to form on his lips—

Clang!

He was blocked again.

Seo-jun was smiling.

While casually extending his arm to lightly block him.

“……”

It was bewildering.

Even when he created distance, he’d close in instantly, so this time Heavenly Killing Star swung his sword with the intent of making him fall back on his own.

No, he tried to swing.

It wasn’t deploying a form or using fixed movements, so he thought it would be hard to block.

Clang!

Huh?

Heavenly Killing Star’s eyes trembled as he saw Seo-jun’s sword placed perfectly against his blade.

Why is this blocked again?

He couldn’t even extend past waist level again.

His speed was definitely much faster and he had no hesitation whatsoever.

How?

‘Is it because I was fixated on forms from the beginning?’

It was bewildering, but more than anything, his pride was hurt.

Being blocked by clearly slower movements meant his thoughts were being read.

He decided to abandon any attachment to forms entirely from now on and focus all his energy on each moment of engagement.

His pride couldn’t tolerate being blocked anymore.

The moment he made that resolution, Heavenly Killing Star witnessed it.

Seo-jun leisurely swinging his sword with a relaxed expression.

“Let’s see you block this properly.”

Now he’s not blocking anymore but attacking?

And judging by his sword movement, it was a strong attack.

‘I’ll lightly deflect that attack too!’

First he’ll block this attack, then seize the timing for his next move.

No matter how slow it was, the reality wasn’t quite that leisurely.

If he lost focus for even one second, he’d get hit just the same.

But dodging and deflecting lightning-fast swords, what’s one second?

Don’t be ridiculous.

He’ll definitely deflect this next attack and launch a counterattack.

Clang!

Unfortunately, he couldn’t manage a parry.

Even though he read the trajectory perfectly, he lacked just 0.1 seconds, and attempting a parry might have gotten him hit.

Better to just block and prepare for what’s next.

Whooom!

Huh?

Seo-jun retrieved his deflected sword and stepped one pace deeper.

Step.

Simultaneously targeting his neck from the opposite direction than before.

‘Was the connection speed between attacks this fast? For a strong attack?’

Had he been seeing the speed too slowly all along?

He quickly made his decision.

Block rather than deflect.

He definitely managed to block this one easily too.

But once again, he lacked just a bit of time to manage a parry…

Step.

Whooom!

Approaching one step closer again, Seo-jun brought his sword down.

‘What the hell……’

There was no time to wonder before the next attack came.

The attacks themselves weren’t much.

The sword’s trajectory showed no pattern and the rhythm was haphazard, but he could read everything purely due to the speed.

Seo-jun simply approached while freely swinging his sword lightly or heavily in random fashion, while he retreated one step at a time, somewhat regretfully blocking each attack.

That was all.

But an inexplicable anxiety began consuming his body.

His instincts seemed to be warning him.

That he shouldn’t let himself be led around like this.

Heavenly Killing Star didn’t ignore the feeling that he was gradually becoming more desperate.

So to break out of this situation, he tried to quickly retreat backward all at once.

That’s when!

Suddenly his feet wouldn’t move.

It felt like his ankles were bound by someone, and he nearly lost his balance completely.

Was it because Seo-jun had approached right up close with another controlled step and was bringing his sword down?

He seemed to have been too hasty. He’d made a mistake.

Whooom!

He couldn’t take his eyes off the enemy’s sword.

Momentarily his perception expanded and time seemed to slow down.

The sword was coming down more slowly than before.

He knew he had to block it. It was too late to dodge. So he made a quick decision. He knew what he had to do.

But he still felt like something was holding his body back.

Only when the sword came within striking distance could he barely manage to block it.

Huff.

His breathing became labored after barely blocking it.

He’d lost his pace, missed his timing, and made a mistake.

From where?

He didn’t know.

Step.

The sound of feet digging into the dirt ground pierced his ears clearly.

And next—

Whooom!

Without a moment to catch his breath, the next sword path targeting his neck was drawn in the world.

‘Why is it so fast!’

His opponent’s attacks were both fast and slow.

It really was like that.

In this paradoxical situation, all he could do was block.

Clang!

Clang clang!

Seo-jun approached leisurely, swinging his sword once per step.

While he desperately blocked, retreating backward step by step.

But the important fact was that his opponent still hadn’t succeeded in landing an attack either.

‘Do I look like I’m going to lose like this?’

He somehow squeezed out his mental strength and thought of a sword path that would deflect Seo-jun’s sword while simultaneously counterattacking.

He found an opening.

0.1 seconds of time.

An opening that wouldn’t have appeared if Seo-jun’s sword speed hadn’t been slow.

Heavenly Killing Star gritted his teeth and thrust his sword at the opening.

‘Now!’

Swoosh!

But.

Even though he’d extended his arm fully, his thrust stopped just short of Seo-jun’s face.

“……”

“……”

It wasn’t that he’d held back or anything.

The distance was insufficient.

If his foot had been just one step closer.

If he’d gripped the sword even slightly longer.

He definitely would have reached his enemy.

In that brief moment, he felt frustrated as he met Seo-jun’s eyes and experienced fear.

Clang.

His opponent smiled the same as at the beginning and deflected the sword that had come right up to his face while stepping one pace closer.

Step.

And as if nothing had happened, he continued his arm movement and brought his sword down.

A sword whose starting point, speed, trajectory, and where it would land was all clearly visible.

But he instinctively realized.

‘I can’t dodge this. Fuck.’

Slash!

A sword that cut from shoulder across his torso.

His health decreased.

While he couldn’t understand how this had happened,

“Why aren’t you attacking? Come on, try attacking.”

Seo-jun retreated one step as if giving him a moment to rest before speaking.

An attitude of offering opportunity.

Heavenly Killing Star, who couldn’t accurately grasp what had just occurred, swallowed his saliva.

Gulp.

Pull yourself together. The fight isn’t over yet.

What just happened must have been the result of getting caught up in his pace.

‘I buttoned the first button wrong.’

If he started over from the beginning!

* * *

He’d definitely regained the flow again.

Yet his sword was blocked.

That controlled movement—no, calling it controlled was too generous.

That movement like he found it bothersome blocked all his attacks from the very beginning.

Deflecting from the start of forms to break sword paths, blocking attacks and counterattacking.

He felt like a mouse in a maze.

A lab mouse moved around by the experimenter’s barriers from above, searching for an exit.

Finding escape routes, but just when the exit seemed within arm’s reach in a straight line, barriers would fall from above to toy with the mouse.

After wandering the maze like that, once again he found himself unable to do anything but stare at the enemy’s sword.

A slight opening.

A slight twist.

A slight amount of time.

Every factor involved in combat seemed to work against him unfavorably, as if today wasn’t his day.

‘What the hell kind of bullshit situation is this!’

His health had decreased to almost nothing.

‘At this rate, I’ll lose without accomplishing anything.’

Like everyone else.

‘That can’t happen.’

Heavenly Killing Star ultimately decided to accept defeat in the first round.

But since his health would be completely depleted anyway, he’d at least land one hit before it ended!

A do-or-die resolve.

Not even a form. No need to infuse sword energy either.

Just one hit!

But that desperate wish—

Tap.

“That’s unfortunate.”

Heavenly Killing Star’s gaze turned downward.

Once again his sword was lightly blocked by Seo-jun’s casually extended blade.

“Well then, farewell.”

“Haha.”

Fuck.

* * *

-Casual 7-win streak cut!

-Seo-jun is the cult leader! Seo-jun is the cult leader! Seo-jun is the cult leader! Seo-jun is the cult leader!

-Please take responsibility for the Demonic Cult! Take responsibility for the cult! Please take responsibility for the Demonic Cult!

-Stop trying to dump that on him, you crazy cult bastards LMAO

-No one’s achieved 7 consecutive wins by openly telling people to come at him without sniping or tricks, this is insane

-Still one more round left

-But it’s obvious who’ll win, right?

* * *

“Huh……”

Navigator couldn’t believe his eyes.

Spectator mode.

A game mode that showed the screen about 30 seconds slower than actual game time.

Since spectating was possible from computers too, Navigator had casually commentated the 7th match from the opponent’s perspective instead of Seo-jun’s screen.

It was possible to float the viewpoint in the air to watch, but due to This Isn’t Murim’s request to watch from the opponent’s perspective, Heavenly Killing Star’s viewpoint was displayed on screen.

“……Was Seo-jun-nim’s sword originally that fast?”

-How would we know if you ask us lol

-Lol for real It was seriously fucking fast

-For a moment I thought he didn’t take Heavenly Demon Divine Art

-No seriously, that was ridiculous

-Everything got blocked lmao

-Please stop approaching

-More than that, didn’t this prove that 2nd place is also total foam? That kind of thing was the previous world champion?

-How can you say that after seeing that lol

“No……”

Now he understood why This Isn’t Murim had told them to watch from the opponent’s perspective.

Watching from the opponent’s perspective made him realize that he’d been completely mistaken.

Of course, he learned that the rankers’ skills weren’t foam, but he’d really had to doubt it—experiencing one battle from the opponent’s perspective completely erased those doubts.

“One thing’s for sure: Seo-jun-nim is disgustingly good.”

If it were him, how would he have dodged those attacks? Such thoughts completely vanished.

Anyone who stood in that situation would have been helplessly beaten.

-This seems right

-At this level, he’s really the world champion, isn’t he?

-Really good

-From the opponent’s perspective, there was no answer lol

-No lol. Do commentary lmao

Commentary, huh.

“Wait a moment, everyone.”

Navigator fell into thought, trying to draw on past experiences and knowledge to explain this situation well.

Hmm.

It reminded him of childhood.

Playing baseball with friends.

When he was pitching, the ball he threw didn’t feel particularly fast.

The distance from the mound to the catcher even looked farther.

But when he stood at the plate, that ball felt like it was flying faster than a bullet.

That distance felt incredibly short too.

In other words, the speed you perceive can differ depending on what situation you’re in.

But that’s not enough to explain this.

“I don’t know. Maybe it’s just that Seo-jun-nim is incredibly skilled so he can block everything? Since he knows all his opponent’s movements, he blocks everything. And the reason those attacks looked fast is probably because we were watching from the receiving end?”

-It was kind of scary

-He moved really casually but it was genuinely fast

-One step at a time approaching was fucking terrifying lmao

Everyone seemed to feel similarly.

He’d also felt a gradually overwhelming sense of dread while watching from the opponent’s perspective.

“Right? I felt similar too.”

As Navigator was empathizing, the savior commentator appeared again.

[‘This Isn’t Murim’ donated 200,000 won!]

[A sword that forces choices. That’s what a dull sword is. Read the post I put up on No-Honor and you’ll understand.]