The Veteran Swordmaster’s Stream (Novel) - Chapter 59
Chapter 59
I looked around the surroundings.
It was a forest full of vegetation, or rather, a clearing in the mountains. In the corner of the clearing, there were NPCs.
They were escort warriors.
The background of the game mode, ‘Escort,’ was mostly like this.
“You must be the ones who came from the Demonic Sect.”
The escort leader, an NPC who appeared to be the boss, approached and bowed his head in greeting.
“This way.”
He led them to the place where the carriage and the NPCs were gathered.
Seo-jun and his teammates followed him.
“This is the item that you must protect.”
Inside the carriage, various goods were contained in boxes.
The escort leader pointed to one of them.
Then, letters floated only above that item, just like nicknames above people’s heads.
[Celadon]
What they had to protect was a blue-tinted porcelain.
‘It looks easily breakable.’
The escort leader closed the box.
And leaving them be, he hurried the preparations to depart.
“The enemies won’t know what we have to protect. The name of the item floating up there is only visible to our eyes.”
A viewer said, and Seo-jun replied.
“I know.”
“Huh? Really?”
“Yes.”
“That’s strange. There’s no way it’s like this?”
There was sincerity in his tone as he spoke while tilting his head.
-Hahaha
-What do you mean there’s no way, he’s doing his advance study well lately.
-It’s not advance study, it’s preparation, you punk.
-Are you a fake fan by any chance?
“Ah, indeed, you came prepared so that you wouldn’t have to do that, right? Hehehe.”
That.
It referred to Seo-jun’s penalty.
The female teammate who was listening from the side spoke while brushing her hand against the carriage.
“Excuse me, what is ‘that’?”
“That?”
“Yes. That.”
“Heh. If you’re curious, search for Jin Seo-jun on ITube.”
“Why won’t you tell me now?”
“Because it’s too embarrassing to say.”
The viewer gave a sly smile and suddenly picked up a nearby stick, then began to spin in place with his hands gathered above him as if doing ballet.
Then, after stopping, he used the branch as a cane and struck various poses.
Without saying a word, that was.
It was like a silent performance art, but the intention was clear.
Mimicking a magical girl.
-Hahaha
-I think he’s crazier than the streamer?
-This madness is insane, hahaha
-Look at him opening his mouth and rolling his eyes
-So freaking scary, hahaha
-Isn’t he a villain at that point?
The viewers who saw this laughed, and perhaps because she suddenly saw something bizarre, the female teammate rubbed her arms.
“What the…”
I fully empathized with that feeling.
Seo-jun smiled and shook his head.
It was funny, but it was a bit too much.
“We’re departing!”
The escort leader in front shouted.
Simultaneously, the game began.
[Safely escort the escort goods to the destination.]
The escort warriors began to move, and the players also began to move in step with them.
“Seo-jun, so do you really know what to do?”
Seo-jun nodded.
“Yes, really.”
Escort was a simple mode.
All you had to do was protect the escort goods from enemy attacks while they were moving.
3 vs 3. Although the seizing side obtained higher points if they seized the escort goods, they would win even by just damaging them.
Therefore, on the escorting side, escort warriors were attached as teammates.
Although there was the disadvantage that players respawned at the starting point while the escort warriors could not respawn, it was still reassuring.
Knowing that the enemy had not appeared yet, the viewer tried to start another conversation with Seo-jun.
“No, but how is the streamer so good at fighting?”
“Didn’t I tell you?”
If they were his viewer, they might know.
For he had been giving a consistent answer all along.
“Ah, that you remember your past life?”
“That’s right.”
Seo-jun nodded with an expression that said he guessed correctly.
“Oh, was that real?”
“Of course. Would I lie?”
Nobody believed him, but had he finally met someone who did!
-Neither of them is normal, hahaha
-The face of the woman next to him is gradually rotting
-Just looking at the conversation, it really shatters the illusion, hahaha
Just like the chat said, the face of the woman walking along the carriage next to him was like that of someone looking at men who talked nonsense and joked all day long.
She opened her mouth.
“Excuse me.”
“Yes?”
“Are you really that good at games? Earlier, they called you the Shin Ha-yeon Slayer or something.”
It was hard for anyone interested in virtual reality not to know Shin Ha-yeon.
Furthermore, the people who matched this time were those with a relatively high reputation score.
In other words, they were skilled players.
It was even harder for such skilled players not to know Shin Ha-yeon.
Seo-jun glared at the viewer instead of her.
“First, let’s correct one thing.”
“What is it?”
“I’m not a slayer.”
Slayer meant killer.
If one carelessly used such a word, they could be stuffed and mocked on the internet for the rest of their life.
-Is the streamer scared???
-What’s wrong with saying slayer!
-Why can’t you say you beat Shin Ha-yeon!
-Winning isn’t the problem, you guys, hahaha
What was the thing a streamer had to be most careful about?
It was controversy.
One always had to watch their mouth.
“Then what is it?”
“I didn’t beat the real Shin Ha-yeon, I beat her clone.”
She looked at him with an ‘I knew it’ look.
She probably did not know the fact that extremely few people had defeated that clone so far.
“Sigh, Shin Ha-yeon, my foot.”
“Huh? You don’t believe me?”
Seo-jun did not think much of it, but it seemed his viewer did.
“What do you want me to believe?”
“The fact that the streamer will carry this match!”
“Yeah, yeah. As if that will happen.”
Ever since the viewer mimicked the magical girl earlier, she had been keeping her distance from his viewer.
“By the way, it’s about time they showed up.”
The woman replied.
“Indeed. Let’s be careful now.”
“Yep. I’ll stick right next to the carriage. Besides, the enemy happens to be the Unorthodox Faction, so we have to be especially careful of ambushes.”
Players from the Assassination Guild, who had stealth skills and fast movement speed, were particularly threatening in this mode.
And the Tang Clan was similarly threatening because they could damage the escort goods from a distance using daggers.
Ironically, the least threatening faction was the Green Forest.
Bandits, that was.
“Well, I’m not really worried. Seo-jun catches assassins amazingly well.”
“What is he relying on to say that.”
The woman clicked her tongue.
“Because…”
It was at that moment.
Capturing a fine vibration of the bushes beside the road the carriage was passing by, Seo-jun swiftly swung his arm down.
Whoosh!
The sword cut through the bushes, making a faint sound of tearing through the air.
Although they said they were preparing, the two, who knew it was not yet time for the enemy to arrive, were startled by Seo-jun’s sudden action.
“Argh! What the!”
And from inside the bushes, an enemy with a covered face shrieked and leaped out.
Judging by the red nickname, it was an assassin from the Assassination Guild, an enemy.
‘Since their movement speed is fast, they must have come ahead and been waiting.’
Hit by Seo-jun’s sword and with their health reduced to some extent, the enemy lamented.
“Damn it, his eyes must be dirty good. I don’t usually get caught, what bad luck.”
The Assassination Guild’s passive was stealth.
It was a trait where one was camouflaged if they stayed still or moved very slowly, but that did not mean it hid the fact that terrain features were affected by that movement.
For instance, things like footprints or the vibration of grass fell into that category.
Thus, if one only knew the location where the assassin was, catching that change was quite easy.
However, capturing it in a state of not knowing where they were was extremely difficult.
Unless one focused all their nerves on the surroundings or had naturally good observation skills, it was an impossible task.
-As expected, he catches assassins well
-The Assassination Guild was a small-to-medium enterprise just like the Assassin Order, hahaha, getting caught so quickly
-Are your eyes seriously bird-like?
The assassin backed away.
“I’m leaving for now.”
The teammates did not go to catch him.
This was because if someone chased him alone now and the enemies joined up to fight many-against-one, it would be disadvantageous; and yet, if they pursued together, the carriage and the escort goods, left defenseless, could become endangered by enemies who detoured.
The viewer waved his hand at him.
“Yeah. See you again soon.”
“In a few tens of seconds?”
“Keke, that’s right.”
The woman laughed.
And she spoke, turning her head toward Seo-jun who was next to her.
“But your eyesight must really be good… Wait a minute, where is he going?”
Seo-jun, who was next to her, had followed the assassin.
“Oh, right.”
“What is it?”
“Great Art of Absorbing Stars.”
“Yes? No, what the…”
Listening to the voice that gradually grew fainter, Seo-jun smiled.
“You shouldn’t run away as you please. Isn’t that right, everyone?”
He unfolded lightfoot technique.
Although the enemy’s speed was faster due to their faction’s characteristics, the distance narrowed because the enemy began to just walk before long.
-Who said you could leave?
-Ah, lol, once you fight, you have to kill the enemy.
-This is truly a characteristic worthy of a psychopath.
-I think it suits the streamer.
Seo-jun approached rapidly, and the enemy, reading his presence, looked back.
“What are you? You followed this? No, wait a minute!”
As Seo-jun rushed in, he leveled his sword at the enemy’s neck.
The flustered enemy thought they barely managed to block Seo-jun’s attack by raising their sword.
But that was an illusion.
The sword they had raised to stop the attack did not even clash at all.
This was because Seo-jun, after withdrawing his sword right before clashing as he flew in, landed to the side.
He gave a fake so that they could not bothersomely block with their sword when he landed.
To put it in terms suitable for this game, it was a feint.
“You’re wide open.”
Slaaash!
Seo-jun slashed the flank of the enemy, who wore a bewildered expression, just like that.
Perhaps because it was a blow filled with internal energy, their health drained a lot.
“Hey. Are you in your right mind? You chased me down for this?”
“Why, is that not allowed?”
“Of course it’s… Ha. If I just hold out for a bit, my teammates will come now, so what are you gonna do?”
What do you mean what is he gonna do.
Just then, a chat message that matched his thoughts popped up.
-Gotta kill them all, lol
***
Clatter.
Clank.
Creak.
Making all kinds of noises, the carriage slowly ran along an unpaved road from approximately 700 years ago.
The escort warriors stood a strict guard.
“To think I’d see this right before my eyes! Ah, maybe not right before my eyes.”
The viewer stroked his nose.
“What is?”
“That is indeed the scene of a bus.”
“A bus?”
“Yes.”
“Bus my foot, we’ll be lucky if he doesn’t return as a corpse.”
“Just shut up and get on.”
What is he even saying.
“No, and why did that person not take the trait where the Great Art of Absorbing Stars deactivates when combat is released? It seems like it’ll be a bit hard for just the two of us to block from the start. Still, we are close to the starting point, so if we just hold out a little…”
While naturally thinking about the direction of the game hereafter, a kill log popped up.
[Heavenly Demon 14 –> Dongdong]
She spoke calmly.
“Fortunately, he seems to have skills. If it’s 2 vs 2, it’s doable.”
Now, even if Heavenly Demon died, since their starting point was closer, he would be able to rejoin faster than the enemy assassin.
Even if that were not the case, she was confident they could win if it was a 2 vs 2.
“Uh-uh. I told you that’s not it.”
“What is!”
“It’s not 2 vs 2, but 1 vs 3.”
“Why? Are you going to fling the carriage aside and go too?”
He, who was Seo-jun’s viewer, shook his head.
“No. You’ll know just by watching. By the way, it was worth stream sniping. I was already regretting switching to the Demonic Sect after watching the broadcast.”
“Wow. You came to the Demonic Sect following the streamer?”
“Yes.”
“Ugh. What a nuisance.”
“If I were a real nuisance, wouldn’t I probably quit the game? If the winning streak breaks, the magical girl… Wait, why didn’t I think of that?”
“Huh? Magical girl? What is that?”
“Hehehe.”
An unsettling laughter was heard.
“With the streamer’s skills, he should be able to win this much even without someone like me, right? I believe in you!”
What is this crazy guy even saying.
“Still, if I just leave, I might get banned.”
His ID was the same as his Travel ID.
He could get audited.
Because even if he left right away and changed his Travel ID, he could still be banned through his previous records.
What a pity. Otherwise, he would have just left.
“Excuse me? Hello? Explain this to me.”
The viewer ignored her words and went into the team chat.
[Streamer. How about 200,000 won if you win this game without me?]
[Sure.]
[Instead, if you fail, show us the Christina affinity quest!]
[…]
[Sounds good.]
“What are you two doing?”
“It’s a self-imposed mission. Well then, bye.”
“What?”
His figure suddenly disappeared while he was smiling.
She could only grasp what had happened after seeing the chat that popped up afterward.
[Hmm, there’s no need to exit the game, is there?]
Just as those words said, when she looked at the teammate list, one slot was empty.
“It’s a total mess. Seriously.”
The sudden desire to change factions was definitely not her fault.
“I’m definitely filing a report when this is over.”
Both of them, that was.