The Veteran Swordmaster’s Stream (Novel) - Chapter 32

Chapter 32

There was a limit on his movement.

The enemies knew his position, but he did not know theirs.

It was a truly disadvantageous situation.

There were few ways to overcome this.

‘Hide.’

Or draw the enemies in.

Seo-jun stepped into a quiet alleyway with a slow gait.

And at that moment, the shadow beneath his feet transformed into the shape of a hand and suddenly popped out, grabbing Seo-jun’s ankle.

If he hadn’t stopped his body immediately, he would have fallen just like that.

Seo-jun spoke with a flustered expression.

“Uh, how many seconds is this binding time?”

It was a skill used by players in Dawn of the Assassins.

Naturally, since Seo-jun had never used it, he did not know the details.

“Unnamed, bear in mind. Excessive order blocks individual growth.”

A voice echoed from behind.

Even before chat messages trying to send him information could scroll up, a threatening axe blade rushed horizontally toward Seo-jun’s head.

Seo-jun ducked his head sharply to dodge.

Because his ankle was caught, he couldn’t turn his body.

An assassin wielding an axe of all things.

It was not like he was a barbarian warrior.

Whoosh!

The axe, which split the empty air where Seo-jun’s head had just been, crashed into the wall, shattering and gouging the red bricks.

“My ankle is freed.”

Seo-jun immediately spun his body, grabbed the assassin’s head with his hand, and slammed it into the wall in the exact same manner.

A stun judgment was applied.

“Where do you think you’re going.”

Originally, getting stunned only meant cowering for a few seconds, but perhaps because this was during a quest, once he stunned them, the NPCs did not wake up again.

‘They should at least give me this much.’

Seo-jun entered deeper into the alleyway.

-Where is the streamer going?

-Isn’t a narrow place actually disadvantageous?

-How can swallows or sparrows possibly know the mind of a wild goose or swan, tsk tsk tsk.

-You don’t know either, shut up.

-LOL.

Seo-jun peered upward as he went deeper.

On the rooftop behind Seo-jun, an assassin wearing a pulled-down hood that showed only his nose and mouth was aiming a bowstring at him.

“I knew it would be like that.”

And as he looked ahead, another assassin was leaping down at him.

The hidden blade protruding from the back of the hand and the fluttering sleeves looked just like an eagle.

“For now.”

Parrying the falling blade.

How?

If only he timed it right and clashed precisely against the very tip of the sword.

Rustle.

Once again, the shadow turned into a hand climbed up like a vine and grabbed his ankle.

Seo-jun paid no mind and focused on the tip of the sword he was holding.

‘Ensure the direction of force is perpendicular.’

Holding the sword with both hands, he raised it behind his head and swung it.

Clang!

It connected precisely.

He matched it exactly against a needle-like thickness.

-Oh

-No, how can he be so good at that.

-The man born for parrying.

Creak, creak.

He heard the minute, creaking sound of a bowstring being drawn.

Since this was virtual reality, it was safe to say there was practically no difference in individual senses from person to person.

Because the set signals were transmitted directly to the brain, not to each individual’s sensory organs.

Because of that, perhaps Seo-jun, who had a low assimilation rate, might hear even worse than others.

Yet, Seo-jun captured faint sounds better than others.

The reason was simple.

Because he knew which sound to focus on among the incoming information.

Swoosh!

The arrow shot in an instant, and Seo-jun moved his head to the side to dodge.

The arrowhead grazed Seo-jun’s cheek slightly and embedded in the ground.

Rustle.

The shadow holding his ankle disappeared.

Seo-jun moved again.

“There is no end.”

It was nothing to Seo-jun, who had experienced much worse, but to the viewers, it looked like an immense crisis.

-For real.

-Terrifying, terrifying.

-If it were me, I have confidence I’d die at the very first ambush.

-Hurry up and kill the assassins to fail the quest, streamer!

A stench pricked his nose.

The streets grew narrower and narrower.

Ambushes became frequent.

Seo-jun threw a dagger farmed from an assassin toward the rooftop, but they dodged it swiftly.

Striking an NPC who was fully on guard was a difficult task.

‘It isn’t as if I can increase the speed of the dagger.’

He couldn’t climb up either.

Because parkour was blocked due to the penalty of his injured leg.

“I’m blocked.”

Seo-jun stared at the wall blocking his path.

Eventually, he reached a dead end.

He couldn’t move any further.

As if the enemies knew this too, they began to reveal themselves slowly and with an imposing aura.

“Give up, Unnamed.”

From the shadows of the floor and walls, from atop the wall behind him, from the second floor.

On the rooftop, three assassins were targeting Seo-jun with bows.

They stood before him, fully prepared to attack Seo-jun, waiting for the order of the assassin who attempted to speak.

-It’s checkmate…

-Keh!

-This is what an assassin is!!!!! Streamer, who is the dog of the Cabal and beguiled Christina with your looks, die quickly!

-Assassin! Assemble!

-Did the assassin guys corral him?

Seo-jun chuckled while reading the chat.

Corralled, my foot.

“I came here on purpose, everyone.”

A crowd of roughly dozens surrounded Seo-jun.

Among these, the most troublesome were the snipers on the rooftop.

An assassin who appeared to be the leader took a step closer to Seo-jun.

“Chaos is the confusion and fear that bloom within our ignorance. People do not want to take responsibility and fear going outside. Chaos is the unknown. That is why people seek order. They wish to be controlled by an existence that will protect them. However.”

Click.

The hidden blade popped out from his sleeve.

“That method will make people careless. They will sink into a comfortable life and lose their potential. They will live a life no different from livestock fed fodder. Therefore.”

I see.

Worthy of a game character, he was extreme.

The moment the dialogue ended, the assassin gave the signal, and arrows were shot.

“Die!”

Seo-jun moved forward.

Thud, thud, thud.

Three arrows embedded in the spot where he had just stood.

Seo-jun rushed to the nearest assassin, parried, snatched the smoke bomb hanging from their pants, and used it immediately.

Poof!

A thick mist covered Seo-jun’s body.

A brief lull ensued.

Rather, only the assassins mistakenly thought it was a lull.

“Argh!”

“Urgh.”

“Where are you!”

The alley was narrow, but it was wide enough for several people to walk in a single file.

In other words, it meant Seo-jun could move freely.

When the snipers on the rooftop were also at a loss and only moved their bowstrings this way and that, something flew out from within the mist.

Whoosh!

Before using the smoke bomb, Seo-jun, who had assessed their positions in advance, had thrown three flying daggers toward the snipers’ shoulders to subdue them.

‘It worked.’

The screams of a total of three people were heard.

‘Since I’ve dealt with the most troublesome bastards.’

Now it was his time.

In the mist, only the heads and shoulders of those in close proximity were partially visible.

And for Seo-jun, that much was plenty.

He began to knock the enemies unconscious.

Thud!

Even if another assassin discovered him, Seo-jun hid somewhere again.

Thud!

Yet another assassin’s head hit the wall, and they fainted.

-Seo-jun hyung… I’m dizzy…

-Something is in front, then falls, and falls again, what is this.

-Isn’t it that only the streamer has no smoke?

-No, the silhouettes are clearly visible, though it’s hard to tell since the screen moves so rapidly.

By the time the effect of the smoke bomb vanished, more than a third of the assassins were in a fainted state.

And Seo-jun smiled and waved his hand.

“I have one more.”

-Finally we see!

-But what is that?

-Look at his light-fingered habits LOL.

-Ah LOL is this real?

In his hand was another smoke bomb.

Poof!

Once again, the thick mist filled the alley, and screams echoed.

-Is this a comedy? LOL.

-Assassin Order <— The bubble group of the century.

-Those bastards getting their whole branch cleaned out by just one person LOL.

-Seo-jun hyung-nim is truly an outlier no matter how I think about it.

-The caliber of those guys who were putting on all sorts of cool poses to gang up on him dozens-to-one just a moment ago LOL.

-How can an assassin lose in stealth LOL.

-The streamer is indeed an assassin!

Seo-jun cleared out all the assassins in an instant.

The alley was filled with sprawled-out assassins.

Suddenly, this thought occurred to him.

“This is precisely chaos.”

Is chaos really anything grand?

-For real, LOL.

-It is chaos itself.

-I was deeply impressed seeing the Assassin Order themselves becoming the chaos.

-Match of words and deeds, shaking.

[You have satisfied the conditions for the hidden quest 'Hunt'.]

[Return to the abandoned factory and meet Arthur]

[You have satisfied the conditions for the Affection quest 'Mercy'.]

[Meet and speak with Christina]

Notifications floated up.

“Oh, it looks like I caught all the assassins. As expected, drawing the enemies in is the most certain and comfortable way. Yes? Of course it was intended.”

It certainly felt like the number of assassins he just caught was large, but to think the quest was completed.

It was fortunate that things went as planned.

If there were about one assassin left and that assassin happened to be a sniper, it would have been quite a headache.

Now that the quest was completed.

“Everyone, if I turn off the game now, will the quest progress be saved?”

Seo-jun intended to end the stream.

The timing was just right.

-????

-Of all times, now?

-Are you in your right mind?

-No no no no no absolutely not.

-If you turn it off during a quest, you seriously have to start over.

-If you do that again, honestly it's a pain, so let's just go to the abandoned factory and put in a bit more time.

-Christina's quest also has only one chance. If you turn it off here, it will be gone.

I can see right through you all.

In the first place, Christina's quest came out for the first time just now, how would you know such information.

“Is that so? Let's just do it one more time next time, it's not even hard.”

-Seo-jun hyung-nim… do you really want to die?

-LOL.

-Everyone's gone crazy!

-Are you really doing this? Seriously?

-Hyung, I'm holding my breath again. If I die, it's only your loss?

The chat scrolled down at an incredible speed.

However, Seo-jun paid it no mind and shouted.

“Travel bye!”

***

There was only one obvious place for the homeless viewers to go.

[What happens when you collect all the Fragments of Order]

[Christina's affection quest appeared!!!]

[Ah LOL if Seo-jun had only shown the reward for Christina's quest, I would have collected the Fragments of Order, but since he didn't show it, I don't think I'll collect them]

-Can't, not won't.

[Ending the stream right there, he's a demon]

[Who wants to go beat up the bastard who kissed the back of Christina's hand with me (1/999)]

[Jin Seo-jun, you bad guy. If you are handsome and popular, go play in reality. Please leave the game for us to enjoy.]

-For real, LOL.

-This guy seems a bit real LOL.

└Real!

└It's a joke, you guys (Post author).

[Those assassin bastards LOL they can't even get their bearings, right?]

-The academic consensus is that the hidden quest wasn't intended to make users feel what it's like to be assassinated, but to give them a chance to beat up the Assassin Order too.

[The reason the Assassin Order always loses to the Cabal: they are a small-to-medium enterprise that fails to assassinate even a single person]

-Small-to-medium enterprise LOL.

└Aren't you sorry to small-to-medium enterprises? Over there is just a thug organization.

└Info) They couldn't win properly against the Cabal bastards either.

└But the Cabal kids lost fair and square one-on-one.

[Breaking) Lord Unnamed' ITube video is up]

-Ah LOL I was so bored waiting until tomorrow, I'm going to rewatch it right away.

-Anyone who hasn't watched the edited video must watch it, I haven't watched it yet either but it's going to be awesome.

└For real, LOL.

[This man, how will he be in online games?]