The Veteran Swordmaster’s Stream (Novel) - Chapter 9
Chapter 9
“Agh, I think I’m going to get caught again.”
Alpaca.
He was a streamer who had an average of 10,000 viewers, reached a peak of 30,000 viewers on the first day of Dawn of the Assassins’ launch, and still maintained 20,000 even now, a week later.
And he was one of the streamers people sought out first whenever a new release of Dawn of the Assassins came out.
This was because, since the past, he had uploaded videos summarizing the story of the series, review videos, and recommendation videos of works that were good for beginners to get started.
This Alpaca was in the middle of continuing a challenge to assassinate bare-handed since the opening day.
[So the rat was there! Kuhaha!]
“Ah, damn, I got caught…”
Swoooosh!
A dagger flew to the space between his eyebrows in an instant, and his screen, which had been clinging to the ceiling, went black.
After respawning, Alpaca trudged to the guild and spoke.
“Phew, once I catch Drake, Sector 4 will be finished, but it’s not easy. There are too many gang members, and it would be nice if I knew for sure where Drake is within the base.”
Rulers.
They were the coalition managing the four sectors of Alteon, namely the main villains of the game, consisting of one person per sector: the Queen, the Magic Tower Master, the head of the Royalist faction, and ‘Drake,’ the boss of the Dissemblers.
Their characteristic was that, while their assassination difficulties were similar to one another, they were mid-boss level existences on a completely different level from even the key targets of the Royal Palace sector, which had the highest difficulty compared to the other sectors.
Among them, Drake, the boss of the Dissemblers, had a total of ten strongholds in Sector 4 and randomly appeared in one of them.
At this point, he had been detected four times already.
The reputation he had accumulated was precarious; from the next time on, he might not be able to buy location information from the guild.
Alpaca purchased Drake’s location information from the guild.
“Hmm, the theater troupe. Sigh, where in the theater troupe is he hiding this time? I have to succeed this time.”
Alpaca, gradually feeling fatigue pile up, let out a deep sigh.
And he let out another sigh because of the donation that followed.
[If it’s the theater troupe, just go Musou. There are people who do Musou plays bare-handed, so why are you struggling so much?]
“Thank you for the 10,000 won donation. What kind of Musou nonsense is that? As if there is such a person…”
– So true lol
– Talk sense.
[It’s true, they’ll probably beat it soon?]
“In the first place, Drake is absolutely impossible to catch. Maybe other NPCs are fine, but the Rulers were made with serious effort by the developers, so it’s impossible.”
Alpaca was a user who enjoyed assassination gameplay.
Not that he disliked Musou, though. Combat was also a part of Dawn of the Assassins, after all.
It was just that his skills were slightly lacking in this latest title.
[Haven’t you looked at the community?]
“Ah. Is someone doing that in the community? If they succeed, I will take them as my master, receive their teachings, and run a marathon stream until I beat Drake with Musou!”
Marathon streaming was content where one did not turn off the broadcast until a certain goal was achieved.
If one’s skills were good, it would end in a few hours, but if not?
[Lololol that statement.]
“Yes~ They can absolutely never do it. Thank you for the donation. Easy money.”
Although a few people in the chat window seemed to be sincerely mocking him, Alpaca brushed it off as nothing.
“Ah, of course, if the person who cleared it is a pro, I won’t do the marathon stream.”
Although he knew that busy pros did not have the time to play other games, he added one more word out of a needless sense of anxiety.
– Chicken???
– Lolol
– Pathetic Alpaca!
– Just go drop dead, bro.
***
Thirty minutes before Alpaca made his careless marathon stream remark.
In order to find out Drake’s whereabouts, Seo-jun was entering an alley where gang members were present.
“Now, now, come over here so we can have a sincere chat.”
“Let’s follow them for now, then.”
This was because he had seen a chat message saying that fighting in the open would cause the guards to mobilize, which would be annoying.
Squish, squish.
As he entered the alley, an unidentified musty odor and the smell of stagnant water that had not evaporated assaulted his nose.
“I like that you’re so obedient.”
“Indeed. Hey! Hand over everything you’ve got first. Including the wallet you stole earlier, that is.”
As Seo-jun followed them deeper, two more gang members appeared, surrounding him from the front and back in the narrow alley.
– He even did a 1-versus-13, this much is a piece of cake.
– So true lol
– But doesn’t Anonymous have no weapons? How is he planning to fight there.
– In the first place, how is he going to get information on Drake? lol He has no reputation, so he can’t use the information guild, and to find the traitor of the organization, he has to complete all the related sub-quests and actions.
“Hmm?”
Seo-jun paused the game for a moment as if he had found something strange while scrolling through the chat.
“Guys, is it hard to take down this gang? Does it take a long time?”
– Hey, it’s taking down a Ruler, would it be easy then????
– So true lol
“What’s a Ruler?”
– Kya!!!!
– This is our streamer, newbies, are you watching?
– It reminds me of ‘What’s parrying’….
The chats of Great Yellowtail, Patient Riding a White Horse, and Brick Extortion King appeared in order.
[‘Ani’ donated 1,000 won!]
[You said you’d catch him without even knowing what a Ruler is?]
“Please explain.”
In truth, Seo-jun knew about Drake. He had already familiarized himself with basic information, including Drake, by looking through the community.
This was because he recognized the necessity of knowing a certain amount in order to lead the broadcast.
Even though meeting the Dissembler gang members in the market had been a coincidence.
There were two methods to defeat Drake that he had identified yesterday.
The first was to perform multiple assassination missions to raise his reputation to the point of inspiring confidence that he could kill Drake, and then buy information from an organization or guild like Alteon’s Beggars’ Sect.
The second was to perform sub-quests that created a secure trading environment where they could not identify each other’s identities, and then buy Drake’s location from a Dissembler gang member.
The crucial element here was that, in both methods, one could only obtain information by taking into account the information provider’s fear of retaliation.
If so, could there be another method?
The community users had thought so.
Since it was a game with that high a degree of freedom.
Seo-jun had thought the same while reading the information posts, though his direction was different.
‘Wouldn’t it work if I just beat up the gang members to the point where they couldn’t even worry about retaliation?’
If it did not work, he could just follow the guide.
Since once he knew the location, taking him down would be no trouble at all.
“Hmm, so you’re saying I have to get the information first, which is hard. And catching him is also hard.”
– Yes
– You’re not going to push it off until tomorrow, right?
– Looking at the guide is banned.
“*Sip*. I don’t go back on my word.”
The chat window was flooded with ‘lol’. He felt this every time, but viewers were indeed the most entertained when the streamer was in a pickle.
With those thoughts, Seo-jun resumed the paused game.
“Hey, hey, the kid’s scared because of your faces.”
“Yeah, why did you do business without our permission? Hmm?”
The Dissembler gang members chuckled, exchanging trivial jokes with one another.
Seo-jun asked them.
“Do you guys know where Drake is?”
“The boss? We know. So what? Why would we meekly…”
And once he got the desired answer, he cut the gang member off.
“Then that’s enough.”
“?”
“First, get beaten. Everyone talks after they get beaten.”
“What are you talking about! Guys, kill him!”
The gang members drew daggers from their coats. And they rushed straight at Seo-jun.
Seo-jun first kicked off the wall, leaping over the gang members in front of him.
Being ambushed from both front and back in a narrow space was more troublesome than one would think.
Then, dodging the rushing gang member’s dagger, he grabbed his arm and slammed him to the ground.
*Keo-heok.*
[Dissembler Gang Member’s Basic Dagger]
The gang member dropped his weapon, and Seo-jun snatched the dagger mid-air.
– Wait, how did he even catch that?
– Crazy reaction speed
Having acquired a weapon, Seo-jun quickly began clearing out the minor enemies.
*Claaang!*
“Keo-heok!”
*Claaang!*
“*Keup.*”
*Claaang!*
In an instant, everyone had died except for the gang member who claimed to know the boss’s location.
“As expected, parrying is convenient.”
– Kya
– He was indeed a master!
– Musou play looks fun
– For those thinking ‘Should I try it too?’, wake up lol
The remaining gang member also rushed at Seo-jun, but.
*Claaang!*
He collapsed next to his comrades’ corpses, falling into a groggy state.
Seo-jun slowly approached the terrified, collapsed gang member and asked.
“Where is Drake?”
At his bizarre behavior, the viewers began to laugh.
– As if that would work lolol
– So true lol
The gang member said nothing and simply trembled.
Seo-jun waited until he recovered.
“Do you think I would tell you that!”
And as he got back up.
*Claaang!*
The gang member collapsed in the exact same spot.
“Where is Drake?”
– ??? Is this a new type of interrogation?
– Give up on your dreams lolol
“Do you think I would tell you that!”
The gang member regained his senses again and shouted.
*Claaang!*
So Seo-jun parried him once more.
“Where is Drake?”
– lolololololol
– True madness lololol
Although the viewers did not understand his actions, Seo-jun noticed that the gang member’s reactions slowed down slightly each time after falling into the groggy state.
“Oh, he’s gradually getting weakened.”
– Where are you going with this, exactly?
– What are you seeing, teacher?
– No matter how much copium you inhale, he won’t spit out the information. Hurry up and go read the guide.
After neutralizing him once more and waiting for him to stand up, the gang member’s reaction changed so drastically that even the viewers could notice it.
So Seo-jun asked him.
“Where is Drake?”
“T… That is!”
Avoiding the answer, the gang member began to flee, and Seo-jun quickly closed the distance.
At that, the gang member recklessly swung his dagger, and when Seo-jun neutralized him once more,
the enemy in the groggy state finally opened his mouth.
– ???
– Is this even possible?
– Younghwa Soft, those crazy bastards lolol they said they discourage Musou play but they made a route like this.
– I came to learn the game from a newbie’s stream, but is this normal?
“The largest theater troupe on 13th Street. He’s there… so please, stop…”
“Oh, this really works. But where is Drake?”
However, the gang member did not respond.
“No other special reaction, I guess. Like having a fit or something?”
– He’s a devil lolol
– Doesn’t the streamer have a great gaming brain too? Finding a new route like this, damn.
[‘ToStopAGuyLikeThis’ donated 1,000 won!]
[Ettore, you fought so hard just to stop a guy like this.]
– Ettore is being re-evaluated lolololol
– It turns out he died in the line of duty…
Leaving the chatting viewers to themselves, Seo-jun opened the map.
“Hmm. By the way, the dagger is too short and uncomfortable. Is there anything better?”
In Dawn of the Assassins, there was no such thing as an unusable weapon.
A fruit knife from a fruit shop in the market, darts and glass bottles in a pub, and even pins in a bowling alley could all become weapons.
– Let’s make some money and buy some weapons already.
– Buying a wire is super fun. You can play Spy X Man.
– Pickpocketing?
“Hmm, as for me… Oh. This will do nicely.”
Seo-jun looked around, spotted something good, and swung it back and forth.
[Rusted Pipe]
“This length is just perfect. Now that I’ve secured a weapon, I’ll head over to 13th Street.”
13th Street was a cultural street.
And the largest theater troupe on that cultural street was the White Lotus Theater Troupe, located about three blocks away from the market.
This implied that, in fact, even the largest theater troupe was under the influence of the gang known as the Dissemblers.
Seo-jun arrived at the White Lotus Theater Troupe shortly.
People lingering around, whose level of armament was far too heavy to be considered mere guards, entered his view.
‘There is no way to know where Drake is, though.’
He thought they had certainly packed the gang members in tight.
Well, it did not matter.
Because he had no intention of assassinating anyone anyway.
And the viewers had not come to watch an assassination, either.
“I’m sorry, but the performance is over…”
*Crash!*
Without any warning, Seo-jun walked up to the main entrance and struck it with his pipe, shattering the glass door.
As a gang member drew a machete, Seo-jun quickly swung his pipe, striking him.
Not even one-tenth of the enemy’s HP was depleted.
‘Not even close.’
Having no choice, he waited until the enemy swung his machete.
*Claaang!*
He read the trajectory and parried.
– Kya!
– It’s amazing every time I watch, how on earth does he never fail? lolol
*Thud-thud-thud!*
Hearing the commotion, other gang members began to join in.
But.
Every time Seo-jun swung his pipe, a clear ringing sound echoed.
Taking down the gang members one by one, Seo-jun headed toward the entrance stairs.
This was because that spot was the most convenient for dealing with the gang members coming down.
Eventually.
Countless gang members piled up on the stairs.
Occasionally, an external patrol unit ambushed him from behind, but because Seo-jun detected their approach through sound, he easily dealt with them as well.
The number of enemies accumulated in that manner reached thirty.
“With thirty people in a theater this size, wow, the developers are too much. How are you even supposed to assassinate?”
Clicking his tongue at the difficulty level the developers had presumably intended, Seo-jun leisurely entered the theater.
– ????
– Are you the one to talk?
– Wow, what did I just see? It’s so absurd I can only laugh.
– This guy is the real deal…!
As Seo-jun stepped inside the theater, wild laughter echoed from the stage.
The opponent was waiting for Seo-jun in the dead center of the stage.
– When I watched this scene in other streamers’ channels after they got caught trying to assassinate, it was fucking scary, but why is it just hilarious now? lolol
– Ah lol, but can Drake take on a 1-versus-30? Can he beat Ettore? lol
The boss of the Dissemblers, Drake.
Befitting a despicable gang boss, he threw a knife as soon as Seo-jun drew near.
“Die!”
A small, thin throwing knife flew in an instant.
*Clink!*
Seo-jun immediately swung his pipe and deflected the flying dagger.
– He parries that instead of dodging it again???
– How did he do that?
– Insane reaction speed
“Rather than reacting to the flying object itself, it’s quite easy if you predict it by watching the enemy’s fingertips.”
The closer Seo-jun drew, the more knives came flying.
The rate of fire gradually increased, and by the time he reached the midway point, the boss began throwing with both hands simultaneously.
Yet, Seo-jun deflected all of them.
With a pipe, that was.
– He deflects flying objects so well too lololol what on earth can he not deflect?
– The viewers
– Ah, true. He can’t deflect the viewers lololol
In that manner, Seo-jun reached in front of Drake in an instant.