The Veteran Swordmaster’s Stream (Novel) - Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Standing in front of Drake, the opponent’s face was reflected in Seo-jun’s eyes.

His impression was like that of a handsome middle-aged man, with a black beard, deep-set eyes, and firmly closed lips.

“Hmm. What is your name?”

Drake stroked his beard repeatedly.

-Drake seems a bit surprised lolololol

-He doesn’t usually ask for names, so he must be really flustered lololol

“Unnamed.”

“A good name. Unnamed. It is only natural for the strong to be respected.”

-Kyah

-You are very flustered that he came after parrying all of those, aren’t you? So are we haha

-No, some people died because they couldn’t even dodge the first blade lolol does this make sense?

“Therefore, I shall give it my all.”

As far as Seo-jun knew, Drake gave his all even to those who managed to dodge the blades somehow using equipment or skills.

Clatterrrr!

From behind Drake, two chains with sharp blades embedded in their tips floated and began to aim at Seo-jun.

And he drew the twin swords hanging from his waist.

Unlike Ettore in the tutorial, there were no restrictions on conditions when fighting Drake.

Equipment and skills could be used, and it was also possible to challenge him after raising one’s basic stats.

But why was it that people had not been able to defeat him until now?

The reason lay precisely in that unique flying weapon.

For the two chains that moved freely through the air, there were no angles from which they could not attack.

Because of this, it was possible to corner the player by linking them seamlessly with Drake’s twin swords.

The chains swimming freely through the air came into Seo-jun’s view.

“It is an assassin game, but they are very serious about fighting.”

-Actually, maybe the developer was encouraging unrivaled gameplay? lolol

-But if they simply increase the health bar just to stop unrivaled gameplay, people would swear at them, so they can’t. And I think this kind of combat diversification is good too.

-In the first place, combat is an important element in Dawn of the Assassins.

Seo-jun glanced at the chat window, laughed, and took a stance while thinking of the pipe as a sword.

“Khehehe. I shall go first!”

A hoarse voice was heard.

Clang!!

Drake’s twin swords and Seo-jun’s pipe clashed.

And immediately after, the chains from behind Drake’s back shot toward him.

Clang! Clang!

Seo-jun retreated and parried them by swinging his pipe repeatedly, but right after, Drake rushed in again and swung his twin swords.

Drake took the initiative, and Seo-jun began to be pushed back helplessly.

-Seems like even Mr. Unnamed is no match for Drake.

-In the first place, how do you beat that combo? I think it’s impossible.

-The pipe was also damn arrogant.

At least, it looked that way to the viewers.

‘It is harder than when I fought thirteen people, though.’

But.

Seo-jun’s eyes grew deeper, and his thoughts began to accelerate.

What came to mind was the memory of his past life.

Even then, it was when he was isolated alone in enemy territory.

‘Back then, it wasn’t just four, but dozens of blades flying at me.’

Even in such an atrocious situation, he had been able to survive.

In fact, he did so while attacking and moving forward.

Seo-jun instantly lowered his stance and dug into Drake’s embrace.

Crunch!

The blade of the chain flying from behind Drake lodged into the spot where he had been standing just a moment ago.

Seo-jun deflected the sword striking down toward him as he approached.

Parry.

While it led to a groggy state that allowed for instant death for common mobs, against a boss like Drake, it only bought enough time for a single attack, causing the boss to stumble back for a moment.

Even that was protected by Drake’s chains.

But.

Not now.

The memory of striking down with a sword tens of thousands of times helped him unfold an incredibly familiar movement even with his eyes closed.

He stepped forward and transferred power from his solid lower body.

‘High Guard Stance.’

Kaboom!

Head.

“Kuaaaack!”

At that moment, the contents rising in the chat window flipped like a hand turning over.

-?? Why is Drake so easy?

-It seriously looks easy.

-Fact) If someone makes it look damn easy, there’s a high probability they are a super expert.

It was fun.

This single moment of holding a sword, clashing, striking down, swinging, and slashing was the only proof of his past life.

The combo started again, and Seo-jun parried.

The chains immediately flew in.

Seo-jun smoothly deflected the two, grasped the sword with both hands, and took the High Guard Stance.

The series of processes was as smooth as that of a martial artist unfolding the most familiar martial form repeated for decades, but the action just now was an improvisation Seo-jun had made to adapt to the situation.

After that, it was once again the basic vertical slash of a martial artist.

In other words.

Head.

Kaboom!

One might think that because his body had changed, and because it was virtual reality, there could be a large margin of error, but the reality was actually the opposite.

He was not bound by forms and formulas.

Even in a single swing.

It meant that the stepping, the posture of the legs, the twisting of the upper body, and the movement of the arms could all be adjusted to the optimal stance at every moment.

Even with a different body.

Kaboom!

As he repeatedly broke through the chains and struck down on Drake’s head without a pause,

Kaboom!

Kaboom!

Before he knew it, Drake’s HP was completely depleted.

[Drake, the boss of the Dissemblers, has died]

[You have acquired the Fragment of Order (1/4)]

As the notification window popped up and Drake collapsed, his emotions, which had been highly elevated by the battle, calmed down.

Next, he looked at the chat window.

-Unnamed is a god! Unnamed is a god! Unnamed is a god! Unnamed is a god!

-Mom, I saw another first clear! Mom, I saw another first clear! Mom, I saw another first clear!

-No, it really looks so damn easy. Not getting hit even once. Drake, get ready for today lolol

[‘Joseon’s Assassin’ has sponsored 100,000 won!]

[This is the hope of unrivaled gameplay!]

“Joseon’s Assassin, thank you for the 100,000 won donation. Ah, but was this also a first clear?”

-Yep

-Yes

-You verify your skills like this? Insane.

-He is literally playing a different game by himself lolol

[‘Spoon Killer’ has sponsored 10,000 won!]

[More than that, it gives me goosebumps that he stubbornly caught it with a pipe lolol What would you have done if you didn’t have the damage increase buff?]

-Pipe Killer, holy shit lolololol

-What do you mean what would he do? He would have caught it anyway lol. That’s even more goosebump-inducing lolol

“Spoon Killer, thank you for the 10,000 won donation.”

Seo-jun smiled and checked the number of viewers.

[447 Viewers]

Confirming that the viewers had increased before he knew it, Seo-jun’s eyes widened.

It was a slightly larger number of people than his follower count.

Although they said it was better not to dwell on viewers while streaming, he felt good about the increased viewer count compared to the beginning.

Since it meant more people had entered than left.

“By the way, the guards aren’t coming, right?”

-Yep

-The guards in this world are on the level of police in K-webtoons lolol they never show up during missions

-But they show up when you pickpocket.

-K-webtoon lolololol

“I see. Then I should leave the theater now.”

Seo-jun walked past the half-destroyed stage, the stairs piled with corpses, and the entrance littered with broken glass fragments.

As he came out of the theater like that, a person wearing a hood was waiting for Seo-jun.

At first, he wondered if they were an enemy, but seeing the blonde hair swaying beneath it, he could quickly deduce their identity.

The person looked at Seo-jun and took off the hood.

As expected, it was Christina.

“Unnamed. Did you handle Drake? Good work.”

Christina said.

“Thanks to you, we are one step closer to escaping oppression. Thank you.”

[You have acquired money.]

[Your reputation rises.]

As he received the pouch handed over by Christina, a notification popped up.

“I didn’t take the mission before catching him, but they still gave me a reward. Even though I have no place to spend money.”

-Yep, they give you the reward even if you don’t accept the request.

-Well, pipes are overflowing on the streets, so why would you need money lol

-Seriously, even Drake must be so dumbfounded

Seo-jun thought it was fine either way.

And standing on the street, he faced the half-ruined theater.

“So now, is the assassination a success?”

Even though the theater looked like a place where a gang fight had occurred, Seo-jun said it without a single change in his expression.

-???

-?????

-We never agreed to call this an assassination.

-lolololol his expression doesn’t change at all

-This kind of shamelessness is his charm.

[‘Joseon’s Assassin’ has sponsored 1,000 won!]

[Since there are no witnesses, it’s an assassination. Yep.]

“I agree too. I only did what I was told in an assassin game.”

In the chat window, question marks (?) and “lol” rose in half-and-half proportions.

-Hmm! Because that is assassination!

-Fun-Cool-Sexy-jwa lolololol

And Seo-jun felt that now was the optimal timing.

“Well, then I’ll end the stream. I did everything I had to do today.”

-Ah, wait a sec…

-Let’s play a bit more

-Why did it end so easily T_T

-I thought you would play for at least 10 hours today…

-Stop the instant stream end!

“T-bye!”

***

“Whew.”

Feeling a slight dizziness, Seo-jun took off the headgear.

Then, while sitting, he clenched and unclenched his hands, stretched his legs out wide to stretch, loosened up his body, and stood up.

‘What’s up with him?’

As he stepped out of the capsule, his eyes met his friend’s, who was lying on the bed looking at his phone.

“Hey, what are you doing in my room?”

“Oh, I took a day off today, so I was watching your stream. It was fun.”

Tae-woo turned his phone and waved it at Seo-jun.

“I’m looking at the community now.”

“Is there any reaction?”

For Seo-jun, who had realized the power of the community, he could not help but be somewhat concerned.

“Well, considering only 440 people watched, the activity is pretty hot.”

Catch.

Seo-jun caught the phone Tae-woo threw and checked what was written.

[Summary of Drake’s Location Info and New Route]

The scene where Seo-jun left only one syndicate member behind and repeatedly questioned him was posted in the form of a clip (a feature that cuts a portion of a streamer’s broadcast screen to make a highlight).

-Oh. That method seems way more convenient.

└ Parrying is quite difficult.

-He is a real devil lololol

-Who is that person?

└It’s Mr. Unnamed from yesterday.

[Guys, but what is the Fragment of Order? I don’t think I’ve ever seen it while playing.]

-I also played the beta, and saw the ending after the official launch, but I’ve never seen that before.

└??? What the.

-Doesn’t it drop when you kill Drake?

└ No no, you don’t get that just by catching Drake. I guess you only get it if you kill him with unrivaled gameplay? I’m so fucking curious what that is…

Information posts like these were uploaded with high priority.

[Just got back from watching Mr. Unnamed’s stream.]

===

One-line summary: The era of unrivaled gameplay has opened!

===

-The era of unrivaled gameplay has opened! (Got beaten up by Ettore yesterday.)

└ + Scheduled to get hit by Drake today.

└ Did both of you hack my capsule? Crazy lolol (Post Author)

-From now on, any bastard who doubts Mr. Unnamed is my enemy.

-I was told to verify my Ettore first clear skills, so I did a first clear on Drake too, any problem?

└Sounds like a light novel title lolol

There were also users chatting about the stream’s content.

And there was also a post that accurately (?) summarized Seo-jun’s stream content.

[Recent Noir Script Plot: A syndicate member messed with a hidden master who was just a commoner pickpocket, and the syndicate got annihilated with a pipe.]

-It’s a fact.

-The writer’s standard lolol

-Younghwa Soft should self-reflect.

One by one, posts related to Seo-jun began to receive recommendations and rise.

“Wow, so this was how the community was turning.”

[Stop talking about streams, you stream pests!]

[Upvote if it feels nerdy when they excitedly babble about something only they know.]

As the content about Seo-jun exceeded 30 upvotes and many people began to see it, posts cursing them began to appear on the free board, just like yesterday.

“Yeah, when fans are born, haters are born too. It was good when you were only getting attention, wasn’t it?”

“What should I do in times like this?”

“What do you mean what? Your viewer count was only 400. But the people looking at the community exceed ten thousand.”

In other words, it was a suggestion to become famous.

To the extent that most people would have heard of him at least once.

The problem was ‘how.’

Just then, a post caught his eye.

[Alpaca, who is shivering because Drake was caught, please raise your hoof lololol]

Seo-jun’s eyes sparkled as he entered the post.

There was a clip containing the remarks of a mid-sized streamer confidently boasting while doing a ‘clear-in-one-go’ challenge.

Seo-jun clicked the clip link and entered the streamer’s broadcast. It was a live stream.

As he watched the broadcast quietly, the corners of Seo-jun’s mouth curved into an arc.

Perhaps.

He got the feeling that he could exploit this situation.

“Hey, do you know a streamer named Alpaca?”

“Alpaca-hyung? Yeah, we’ve done a few collab streams, and we’re friends, but why?”

Even dog dung has its uses, they said.

Seo-jun stared with fresh eyes at Tae-woo, who was munching on snacks while spilling crumbs on his bed.

“Then, let me ask you for a favor.”