The Veteran Swordmaster’s Stream (Novel) - Chapter 87
Chapter 87
As soon as the surroundings changed, Seo-jun checked his teammates through the interface.
As expected.
“I had a feeling this would happen.”
None of his teammates had nicknames that looked familiar.
Although he had anticipated it, unfortunately, the worst of his predictions had come true.
– ??
– What?
– 3v1?????
– Is this game difficulty for real? Telling him to beat 3 rankers, lol.
– Really, what is this?
– I think this will be difficult.
“It seems to be because of the difference in reputation score.”
After briefly explaining, Seo-jun looked at his teammates.
What level of skill would they have?
Average?
Or in the upper tier where a somewhat large number of players resided?
They were not rankers.
As was custom, they checked the composition and greeted him.
“Hello.”
“Yes.”
“Nice to meet you. But the opponents’ nicknames look familiar, what is this?”
Seeing that he had already checked the opponents’ nicknames in that short time, one of them seemed quick to grasp the situation.
“Hello.”
Seo-jun replied and then checked his teammates’ traits.
Tanker.
Dealer.
Dealer.
The tanker had the Great Art of Absorbing Stars.
Not the time-limited Great Art of Absorbing Stars that Seo-jun had chosen, but the standard one that sustained the user by draining the opponent’s health.
One of the dealers had chosen palm technique traits.
The last one was a melee dealer who had chosen the Shura Fist technique traits.
“How should we plan the strategy? Just a light 1-3?”
“Everyone, it seems our opponents are 3 rankers. And Heavenly Demon-nim? Are you the number one in contribution, Heavenly Demon-nim?”
He figured it out quickly.
“Yes, that’s correct.”
The one who had quickly notified the situation was the user playing the tanker.
A strategy.
“Heol. What do we do?”
“I have no idea how the opponents will move.”
“If we just go with the standard meta…”
Seo-jun checked the chat window while lost in thought.
– He really needs to bring his teammates along for this match, lol.
– Thankfully he chose the Heavenly Demon Divine Art. Looking at the opponents, it’s a hard counter to the Great Art of Absorbing Stars.
– What is the counter to the Heavenly Demon Divine Art?
– None. The art itself is a counter. It’s hot garbage, lol.
The Heavenly Demon Divine Art indeed had a bad reputation.
He was referring to the actual martial art, not the in-game trait.
Anyway.
Seo-jun raised his head and spoke.
He finished organizing his thoughts quickly.
“I will go to the center alone. The rest of you please go to both sides.”
As a streamer, he should not avoid such a fight.
– Are you pushing too hard?
– Don’t you need your teammates’ help?
– Let’s go!
No.
In fact, far from helping, they might even get in the way.
***
His teammates scattered to the side capture points following Seo-jun’s words, and he headed to the center along with the warrior NPCs.
“How will the opponents move?”
– Don’t know.
– Considering their composition, they will probably stick together?
– They need to level up too, so the center is a must.
– Do you think they’ll expect the streamer to come alone?
The standard meta was to place three in the center and one on the side, capturing one side point first but focusing on the center.
If they chose the standard meta and four opponents came to the center, they just needed to hold out until the user who went to the side returned.
Since users who chose high movement speed traits usually went to the side, they could even capture the opposite point.
Considering the experience points gained and the damage that could be dealt to the enemy fortress from the moment they occupied two points, it was a profit as long as the three in the center did not die.
Of course, all of these were meaningless strategies to Seo-jun.
“It’s fine as long as I win.”
– Streamer’s strategy: Win the fight. Capture the point. Indeed!
– Tactical Heavenly Demon.
– Honestly, I would normally tell you to stop talking nonsense, but after seeing that insane performance yesterday, sigh…
– I seriously think he might win a 3v1. It makes no sense.
Even if they had learned the sword through a game, the users’ skill levels were quite high.
Or was it because they learned it through a game?
As mentioned before, virtual reality was the best environment to experience actual combat.
It didn’t hurt, and you didn’t die.
‘Children swing their swords hundreds, thousands, and tens of thousands of times in identical motions to avoid dying in real combat.’
That was why they survived more.
Conversely, surviving in real combat allowed one to skip those tens of thousands of swings.
‘Well. Swinging a sword tens of thousands of times isn’t solely to survive in real combat, though.’
Regardless.
Seo-jun’s eyes met the three rankers in front of him.
It seemed one of them went elsewhere because they were a regular user.
A 3v1.
“It is a bit burdensome. What is burdensome? The attention you guys will shower on me after I win this.”
– Argh, lol, he is seriously a madman, lol.
– He’s talking smack again, lol.
– I think they heard him? lol. Their expressions look rotten.
It was slightly sad to collect so many LOLs today as well.
He had been sincere.
“Say that after you win.”
Was it because everyone now knew how Seo-jun spoke?
The opponents did not waver and immediately rushed at him with weapons raised.
Or it might be because they acknowledged that he was a highly skilled expert.
For people coming in a 3v1, their shoulders were quite tense.
“It will be difficult this time.”
The user who rushed in first belonged to the Beggars’ Sect, JustOnePenny.
It seemed his intention was to tie him down in advance since he was a tanker, but he did not venture in deep.
He was guarding against a critical hit from sword qi.
Although in occupation battles most martial arts traits required leveling up to use, one of the characteristics of the Heavenly Demon Divine Art was that it was constantly active, just like the Green Forest traits.
The two who followed behind began to move to encircle Seo-jun.
The fact that the Heavenly Demon Divine Art’s effect was constantly active meant the debuff was as well.
They seemed to judge that if his slow self was attacked while surrounded, he would neither be able to dodge nor demonstrate his heavy sword.
NamgungFamilyWaiter.
The ranker he fought the previous day.
The chosen martial arts trait was the Emperor’s Sword Form.
A trait whose power doubled the further ahead one got through fast leveling.
Its characteristic was a pressure debuff applied when the martial art was executed.
In short, they were trying to make his slow self even slower.
None of the three possessed active martial arts right now, but that did not change the fact that two swords and a club were flying toward him.
Lest he should land a parry, they absolutely did not mix in heavy attacks.
That was also effective.
A sword passed over his slightly bowed head.
At the same time, another sword from the side was drawing a line from top to bottom toward Seo-jun.
He twisted his body.
Then, a club approached from the opposite side.
Their cooperation was natural, as if they had fought together more than once or twice.
*Slash.*
Without losing balance or wavering, he calmly dodged.
Even so, he had no choice but to permit attacks due to his slow speed.
Heavenly Killing Star yelled after shallowly cutting Seo-jun’s arm with his sword.
“Nice!”
Seo-jun watched Heavenly Killing Star with an absurd look while dodging the ceaselessly flying attacks.
– Look at him celebrating.
– He couldn’t land a single proper strike yesterday, so of course he would.
– As an Orthodox Faction player, this gang attack is embarrassing…
– The final boss is meant to be ganged up on, lol. It’s natural, so there’s no need to feel embarrassed.
Seo-jun’s eyes moved at high speed, scanning his surroundings.
Because he constantly backed away while parrying and dodging swords, he was not surrounded yet, but it was coming soon.
“I’ll act as the shield, so push in!”
The moment he blocked the sword aiming for his neck from the left, JustOnePenny in front swung his club widely.
A movement made while accepting the risk of getting hit.
Seo-jun’s sword gleamed.
Although the opponent’s eyes trembled as he infused sword qi, there was not a single trace of hesitation in his movement.
On the contrary, he was even infusing internal energy into his club.
His intention was plain to see.
“Fine, I’ll take it.”
Seo-jun’s sword filled with sword qi collided with JustOnePenny’s club.
“What kind of nonsense is that?”
Although it was just a collision between identical sword qi, thanks to the traits of the Heavenly Demon Divine Art, JustOnePenny’s health decreased by about a fifth.
Subsequently, there was no follow-up attack from the flank.
‘As expected. Instead of attacking, they must have secured my rear.’
– He got surrounded in the end.
– Honestly, I thought he’d win because a 3v1 isn’t that disadvantageous, but it does look tough.
– Why isn’t it disadvantageous?
Saying that it was not that disadvantageous was correct.
For example, when combat power was quantified, what would the result be if a person with 3 combat power fought three people with 1 combat power?
Because the sum of combat power was the same and the opponents were many, one might think the group of 1s would win, but.
‘Surprisingly, the person with 3 is not at a major disadvantage.’
Because three people with 1 combat power gathering did not make their combined combat power 3.
If there was a joint attack formation and such, it could be 5 instead of 3, but.
“Regrettably, For Chivalry doesn’t have such a thing.”
In reality, only Seo-jun thought that way; a 3v1 was absolutely advantageous for the 3.
However, due to the display Seo-jun showed the previous day, the people’s expectations had risen so much.
If so, he had to show them.
“Regrettably? What does that mean?”
“Don’t get sucked in. He was probably speaking to his viewers.”
Attacks flew from all directions toward the completely surrounded Seo-jun.
And unlike when attacks came sequentially from the front and flanks, being surrounded allowed the enemy more space to use, resulting in simultaneous attacks.
Seo-jun spoke, looking at Heavenly Killing Star positioned on his right.
“Has it not occurred to you that I got surrounded on purpose?”
Seo-jun’s health, who had been dodging while performing all kinds of physical feats, gradually began to decrease.
Because unavoidable attacks were mixed in given his speed.
“Acting tough while getting hit like this.”
*Slash.*
His flank was grazed by a sword thrust from behind.
Indeed.
They were not veterans/oldbies for nothing, and since they had also experienced multi-player battles, their coordination was quite decent.
– T.T what do we do
– It seems he’ll lose if he gets hit just one or two more times.
– No matter how much multi-player battles aren’t that disadvantageous, there’s nothing to be done if their coordination is good, T.T
– Is the streamer finally getting schooled? lololol.
– This bastard is loving it, lol.
However, there was no lack of loopholes.
“You guys got hit too, didn’t you?”
Seo-jun pointed to their health bars, gesturing with his sword.
While his health was a sliver, the three opponents had about half or a third remaining.
NamgungFamilyWaiter bit his lips as he looked at Seo-jun with an expression of disgust.
Because Seo-jun’s skill in slipping in counterattacks at every opportunity was utterly incomprehensible.
“It is indeed amazing. If your speed were just a bit faster, or if you had resolved to just dodge from the start, would you have not been hit even once?”
“Perhaps.”
“Don’t try to force attacks starting next time! Or change your traits!”
*Clang!*
Seo-jun’s sword clashed with the waiter’s on the right, and soon JustOnePenny rushed in.
‘Heavenly Killing Star behind me is…’
The coordination was slow!
Seo-jun, his eyes shining, pushed away NamgungFamilyWaiter’s sword and kicked JustOnePenny approaching from the left at the same time.
And pivoting on his right foot, he rotated his body 180 degrees and swung his arm following the rotation.
Since his head turned first, he was able to check the rear, and Seo-jun smirked upon seeing Heavenly Killing Star.
Heavenly Killing Star was preparing an attack, and it was clearly a heavy attack.
“I’ve been waiting.”
His head arrived first, and then his upper body and left foot turned in sequence.
Lastly.
His arm slowly extended as it was.
*Clank!*
Sword and sword clashed vertically, exposing the weakness of the heavy attack.
Heavenly Killing Star gaped in panic.
‘He probably hadn’t used it because of this weakness, but since his attacks from behind succeeded, he must have gained confidence.’
A window opened.
As Seo-jun raised his foot, someone from behind shouted.
“Dodge!”
Heavenly Demon Descent Steps.
‘Just a passive effect called that.’
The rankers probably had rarely faced that effect, but they still seemed to possess an awareness of the danger.
Heavenly Killing Star tilted his body to move far away from Seo-jun the moment his stiffness dissolved, but.
‘Too late.’
*Thud!*
As Seo-jun stomped, the ground cracked and a dark blue wave of energy spread in all directions.
‘The effect is decent.’
Although Heavenly Killing Star’s health didn’t decrease much because internal energy wasn’t gathered that much.
A stiffness incomparable to when parried was applied.
– Crazy, lol.
– He’s looking for a reversal angle even in this situation?
– How on earth did he know they used a heavy attack from behind, lol.
– Seriously, is he using hacks!
– Whacking down their health in advance must have been targeting this, fuck, lol.
Subsequently, sword qi formed on Seo-jun’s raised sword without a trace of hesitation.
“Now… it will be a 1v2.”