The Veteran Swordmaster’s Stream (Novel) - Chapter 6
Chapter 6
‘I Am Joseon’s Assassin’ was a diehard fan of Dawn of the Assassins, which had continued since the PC era.
He was so sincere about Dawn of the Assassins that he had played thousands of hours of even the previous titles, which were evaluated as failing to bring out the fun of virtual reality as the series transitioned to virtual reality.
Furthermore, virtual reality also suited his aptitude quite well. Simply put, he had a certain degree of talent.
Naturally, he could not fly around like the professionals, but strictly within Dawn of the Assassins, there were not many people better than him.
He was a well-known figure in the Dawn of the Assassins community who uploaded numerous veteran gameplay videos, as well as a beta tester for this title, Shadows in the City.
[We intend to focus on original stealth and assassination. Musou? Try it if you can.]
The developers had announced this development principle before releasing the work.
When he heard this, he cheered.
This was because he was so serious about Musou play that he liked the phrase, ‘If there are no witnesses, it is an assassination!’
But they were raising that difficulty?
To him, who was highly skilled, it was a new challenge. He also liked that it would be a style of play that not just anyone could easily do.
And that expectation was shattered to pieces during the beta test.
The reason was the difficulty.
It was because it had risen far too much.
Although various close-quarters combat skills had been carried over identically from the previous work, the enemies’ HP and numbers had increased far too much.
To overcome this, one had to utilize the system introduced in this work where damage was inflated upon parrying, but the parrying difficulty had also become too high.
Even for someone as experienced and possessing semi-professional skills as he was, he would fail once in a while. This single failure was painful within the gameplay.
On top of that, while they claimed to focus on assassination, the combat difficulty of the bosses, which seemed insanely polished, frustrated him.
Ultimately, he had to enjoy the game focusing on assassination play instead of Musou play during the beta test period.
Still, he was satisfied in his own way.
In the first place, it was a masterpiece praised for opening a new horizon in assassination games by showing an insane level of freedom in assassination methods, so much so that it was called the ‘Breath of the City.’
However, when the beta test period ended and the game officially opened, Joseon’s Assassin felt a certain emptiness.
Because to him, true assassination was Musou.
So he started watching streams. He had played the game enough for now anyway, and he would keep playing it in the future.
But.
[Guys, you can even assassinate by collapsing a building. Crazy.]
Even looking here.
[The target really sits on the bench and reads the newspaper every morning. Now if only that box explodes, the assassination is a success. What a crazy masterpiece.]
Even looking there.
[It’s been 3 hours since I hid in the shadow. I’m still being stepped on by people on the street. When on earth is he coming!]
-Lol why are you doing this, collect information. Bro, please.
-Because that is assassination. Mm!
-Why on earth have I been watching this for 3 hours????
No matter where he searched.
He could not see any Musou play.
Therefore, he could not enjoy it.
At a time when all the fans of Dawn of the Assassins were laughing, chatting, flocking together, and drawing attention!
Around the time he lost his motivation and was about to turn off Travel, a recommended broadcast popped up.
He thought it would be just another common, small-time stream, but the title caught his eye.
[A newbie whose first stream and first virtual reality game is SitC. Anyone want to backseat?]
A newbie making his virtual reality debut with Dawn of the Assassins? Sanctioned backseating?
He couldn’t resist this.
When he clicked on the screen and entered like that, what he saw immediately was the sight of a veteran perfectly deflecting the sword of a tutorial guard.
‘Was it a coincidence?’
Even though he knew better than anyone that a parry could not be done by chance, he still thought so.
However, the streamer proceeded to dispatch the guard and went on to dispatch four of the five soldiers with parries.
“Yes, this is what assassination is!”
Joseon’s Assassin cheered and began to school the other viewers who had been ignoring him.
Of course, he was quickly blocked.
And after a while, a voice came from the broadcast.
[Guys, I’ll show you 13 consecutive parries.]
“Thirteen consecutive parries? It would be amazing just to survive there in the first place…”
Gulping in anticipation, Joseon’s Assassin stared at the screen.
Transitioning to this work, one-versus-many combat had become particularly difficult.
The reason was their coordination.
Whether the developers really had set their minds to forcing assassination play, in this title, if the grunts were grouped together, they moved efficiently.
To the point that once they took their positions, not a single opening could be found in their movements.
Yet, the streamer gave them time to take their positions. It was reasonable to view this as the arrogance of a beginner.
But why did it feel like he would win?
He changed and locked his perspective from first-person to third-person.
In order to see his play, which seemed poised to show something, in greater detail.
[Kill the intruder!]
[There is only one enemy! Do not be afraid!]
Clank!
Clank!
The sounds of iron gear shifting rang out, and the soldiers surrounding the streamer in a circle pounced on him one after another.
Only then did the streamer begin to move his feet.
And the staff drew a semicircle.
Clang!
Clang!
Joseon’s Assassin’s eyes widened.
‘How on earth did he parry from that angle? Looking at the account creation date, he isn’t even a beta tester.’
It made no sense.
He had simply swung the staff in a wide arc, yet he deflected the sword pouncing from behind and the sword flying from the side almost simultaneously.
It seemed as though he had figured out in that brief moment that once a parry judgment was triggered, there was no reaction force, allowing for smooth movement, and acted on it!
After easily knocking the two down, the streamer tilted his upper body back, ducked his head, and dodged the consecutive attacks like walking a tightrope as the swords narrowly brushed past him.
And once again.
Clang!
Clang!
He swung it wide, knocking down two people at once.
‘How on earth does he see the attacks coming from behind? Is it a hack?’
Thirteen-versus-one instantly became nine-versus-one. Nine-versus-one became eight-versus-one, and eight-versus-one became six-versus-one.
-Wow, does he seriously have eyes in the back of his head?
-Was the streamer a professional by any chance?
-I don’t think even a professional could do that.
-In the first place, if you delete your account, you have to wait four years to recreate it, so who could endure that? Anyone who has tried virtual reality can never quit, lol. He is definitely a newbie.
Even a thirty-thousand-piece puzzle will eventually be completed if you assemble it one by one, starting from the edges.
The streamer also reduced the number of enemies step by step like that, dodging what could be dodged and deflecting what could be deflected.
‘Easier said than done.’
Joseon’s Assassin thought that if there was anyone who could survive in there for even more than a minute, they could choose this as their main occupation.
But the streamer went a step further, approaching the groggy enemies and taking their lives.
Even while dodging the enemies’ coordinated attacks, the streamer would suddenly find himself next to a fallen enemy.
Smoothly, as if unintentional. However, it was definitely an intentional play.
-Just how far ahead are you looking! O GOAT of the Assassin Order!!!!!!
He typed in the chat, full of excitement.
***
Seo-jun looked at the chat window after killing the last fallen soldier.
-The hope of Musou! The hope of Musou! The hope of Musou! The hope of Musou! The hope of Musou!
-Wow
-Woooow
-Is it really okay for my humble corneas to witness something like this?
-Is the streamer using hacks?
“Why are you surprised by something like this?”
-????
-Then what on earth are we supposed to be surprised by?
-Are you even surprised yourself?
“You just have to dodge what needs to be dodged and deflect what needs to be deflected.”
-No, lol, do you think lol we don’t know that? lol
-This is assassination! This is assassination! This is assassination! This is assassination!
-The flexing in this room is a bit much.
“Flexing is a bit much? So you’re not going to watch?”
-No.
-Lololol
-I already pressed follow too.
Oh.
Seo-jun was surprised when he checked the follower list. All six people currently watching had followed him.
One might say it was only six people, but calculating the ratio, it was 100%.
It was a number possible only because the sample size was small, but it was by no means a bad sign.
“Shall we go catch Ettore now?”
-Somehow… I feel like he’ll actually catch him.
-Real, lol.
Seo-jun walked to where Ettore was.
Fitting for a grand mansion, a chandelier and various luxurious pieces of furniture caught his eye.
And when he went up to the second floor and opened the bedroom door in the center, something silver was visible through the gap.
His pupils dilated for a moment, and he immediately threw his body to the side.
Boom!
A fully prepared Ettore had waited for the moment Seo-jun opened the door and swung his mace downward.
The iron ball attached to the end of the mace half-destroyed the bedroom door and the floor.
-He dodges that, lol.
-I felt it when he was banning earlier too, but his reaction speed is insane.
-Other people died here at least once.
However, Seo-jun immediately rushed forward and slashed Ettore’s neck with his staff.
His HP was barely reduced.
“Guys, can you parry a mace too?”
-No, no, you’re trying to take down the boss in one shot.
-Where’s your conscience at?
-If that were possible, someone would have cleared the tutorial somehow at least once.
-The developers have common sense too. How can you deflect a mace with a staff? Lolol
“Kwahaha! You dodge well like a rat! I will show you the taste of my flail!”
A flail was a weapon in which a round mace head with spikes was connected to a handle by a cord or chain.
For convenience’s sake, it had become known as a mace in Korea.
Whoosh!
Ettore began to swing his mace recklessly.
Crack!
Crack!
Seo-jun stepped back, and the mace smashed the innocent railings and walls.
-O GOAT, if you don’t kill Ettore within 5 minutes of facing him, the Cabal’s reinforcements will arrive and it will immediately be treated as a failure.
Seo-jun read the chat and thought about the damage he had dealt earlier. He soon concluded that defeating him within five minutes was impossible.
However, he did not give up.
After all, as long as it wasn’t made to be unclearable, there had to be a way.
He was thinking of drawing the sword inside the staff and targeting vital points like the enemy’s eyes, when…
Chat messages came up one after another.
-If you hit the same spot again, the damage increases, and the community opinion is that this might make it possible, O GOAT!
What on earth did GOAT mean?
“First of all, thank you for the information, I Am Joseon’s Assassin.”
Damage increase rate?
I might as well check it out.
The solution to the opponent’s weapon actually lay in narrowing the distance.
If the opponent was capable of exploiting their HP advantage in battle, closing the distance might be akin to walking into the jaws of death on one’s own feet, but surprisingly, this game did not incorporate such unrealistic combat movements.
This meant that instead of the soldiers adopting a tactic of exchanging blows one-for-one with the player because they knew they had high HP, they moved as if they believed they would die if they got hit once.
As expected.
Ettore seemed flustered.
Although he surely would not die even if his eye were stabbed with the staff, he was unable to recognize and exploit such a fact.
If he were a human, he would have utilized it.
Seo-jun slashed the neck of Ettore, who was trying to retrieve his mace stuck in the floor.
Then, he grabbed the handle of the mace along with Ettore and slashed Ettore’s neck once more.
A struggle of strength began.
The dangerous part of the mace was its head studded with sharp spikes.
However, if one grabbed the handle together, force would not be transmitted to the head, thereby neutralizing it.
-He grabs that?
-It’s really in the blink of an eye.
But where it mattered, his strength had to at least be in equilibrium with Ettore’s.
Seo-jun felt that his set strength was weaker than Ettore’s.
Therefore, he immediately slashed Ettore’s neck once more.
This was because he felt Ettore’s strength drain every time he winced.
“Get your hands off my weapon! You Assassin Order bastard!”
He felt Ettore trying to kick him to push him away.
Even before the leg could lift up, Seo-jun blocked it by striking the shin with his staff.
This time, Ettore threw a punch with the hand opposite the one holding the mace, and Seo-jun lightly tilted his head to avoid it.
Slash.
Once again, the staff slashed Ettore’s neck.
The HP bar was shaved down to the extent that a clear difference could be noticed.
“I just need to keep doing it like this.”
-Wow, lol.
-Ettore, we are sorry, T_T.
-Is that even something a human can do?
***
Meanwhile, Joseon’s Assassin, who was enjoying the stream from a third-person perspective like never before, could only let out continuous exclamations of admiration.
“Disrupting Ettore’s force, dodging and neutralizing all attempts to push him away, not taking a single blow himself, and slashing his neck dozens of times… This technique is truly insane! As expected of the GOAT!”
What was even more goosebump-inducing was the fact that he had not even drawn the sword inside the staff.
Other streamers had challenged and failed even while utilizing the sword built into the sword cane, the hidden blade on the gauntlet, and wires, but this streamer was facing Ettore with only a staff.
Although there was a blade on the staff as well, the damage was half of the built-in sword and one-third of the hidden blade.
[It’s over.]
Although Ettore’s HP still had one-fifth remaining, a declaring voice flowed out of the speaker.
Since the damage was increasing exponentially, the streamer might have calculated that the boss would die in the next blow.
With that level of skill, calculating damage would be a piece of cake…
[Ah, never mind. I have to hit him one more time.]
Or maybe not, as a slight goofiness could be felt from him.
[Ahem.]
Lastly, the HP was reduced cleanly, and a cutscene played.
[You hypocritical hound of the Assassin Order! I will not go down alone like this!]
[Tutorial Quest – Assassination Mission]
[Success]
-Isn’t this the first clear??
-No way, lol. To think I’d see the first clear in a small-time stream I entered by chance, lolololol.
-We are witnessing history right now.
At the first clear that had actually been achieved, Joseon’s Assassin briefly joined the chat, which was just as bewildered as he was, and then opened an internet browser.
His destination was the Dawn of the Assassins community.
Then, he began to write a post along with the recorded stream video.
First, the title was.
[Video of a newbie, doing both broadcasting and gaming for the first time, parrying 13-to-1 to clear grunts in the tutorial and defeating Ettore first in the universe (seriously not fake)]