The Veteran Swordmaster’s Stream (Novel) - Chapter 96

Chapter 96

“This really works.”

Third Elder spoke in a daze.

He hadn’t expected to truly corner the Orthodox Faction into a defensive position like this.

Actually, cornering them into defense was something they could simply do. They just had to throw everything away and engage in an all-out war with the Orthodox Faction.

However, the key was speed.

Finishing it as quickly as possible was crucial, and they had managed to achieve almost all of their objectives by successfully drawing in the Unorthodox Faction.

“Didn’t I tell you! It would work!”

Dang So spoke from the side.

“It’s not thanks to you.”

“What are you saying? It’s all because I joined that the Demonic Sect succeeded.”

“Right.”

Third Elder nodded as if acknowledging.

The troll who was in the Unorthodox Faction had come all the way here and was causing a fuss.

At first, he had liked the addition of another ranker, but thinking about it now, perhaps they could do without someone like Dang So?

“By the way, it’s brutal. What a scary guy.”

Third Elder was currently watching the two people fighting in the duel arena along with Bandit King and Dang So.

Bandit King spoke.

“Still. Hyung Seo-jun beats him up well… No, he does teach well.”

The people fighting in the duel arena were Seo-jun and World’s No. 1 Swordsman.

Without even turning on the stream, Seo-jun was beating up the Swordsman under the guise of training.

Third Elder asked reluctantly.

“He teaches well? That?”

“Uh…”

Isn’t that just a punching bag for releasing stress and emotions?

Third Elder glanced to the side.

Bandit King’s eyes were slightly teary.

“That is subtly effective……”

How do you know that?

For some reason, his eyes suggested he didn’t want to know either.

Although Third Elder didn’t know the full story, he shivered at the somehow chilling sensation.

Meanwhile, Bandit King, or Lee Dong-soo, thought to himself.

‘Didn’t he say he was training him for streaming content?’

Yet, right now, the stream wasn’t even turned on.

Thinking about it, the gym was also…

It was truly a nasty personality.

However.

‘His skills are improving……’

Lee Dong-soo looked up at the sky in despair for a moment.

‘Same goes for me.’

Within the professional team, there were several programs that tested various physical conditions and skills on their own.

Naturally, since it was one of the best professional teams in the massive virtual reality market.

And those test results had been continuously improving bit by bit lately, though slightly.

-Is the body still growing?

-The reaction speed is also improving.

The head coach and coaches attempted to analyze the cause.

When asked by the head coach if he had any guesses about the reason, he spoke about Seo-jun.

-There is a hyung I spar with, and since he is quite decent, I occasionally match up against him.

-That streamer?

-Yes.

-Your skills improve just by fighting him?

-You watched him play the game too, Coach.

-Is that so? But you’re playing the same game now, right?

-Yes.

-Good! It’s free time!

Was it because he showed clear results?

If his skills improved, as a coach, there was no reason to block his interaction with Seo-jun.

Although the free time was merely a pittance and he had to fulfill all essential schedules, thanks to that, he was participating in the Battleground like this.

As a side note, Lee Dong-soo didn’t say that he was always on the receiving end of the beatings due to his pride.

“Hmm. So that has a good effect?”

“It’s good, but… uh… yeah. It’s good. Very good.”

Usually, the lower the starting point, the greater the margin of improvement.

They were witnessing in real-time that World’s No. 1 Swordsman’s skill was increasing at a rapid pace day by day.

“Then, shall I also ask him for a favor?”

Lee Dong-soo turned his face.

Third Elder flinched at the look in his eyes that suggested there was a lot he wanted to say.

“That… is not bad, but…”

Lee Dong-soo, the reason he kept getting beaten up was due to his professional spirit.

Although his brain seemed to have declared a strike, failing to perceive that he was learning anything no matter how much he got beaten by Seo-jun,

his body was praiseworthily absorbing the lessons on its own as he got hit, leaving him with no choice but to go get beaten.

‘If it weren’t even effective, I would avoid it.’

Above all, Seo-jun was good at hitting.

Painfully, yet not lethally.

“Do you remember what hyung Seo-jun did to that person last time?”

Lee Dong-soo decided to remind him of the price first.

“Mhm. He told him to try parrying and beat him half to death with heavy attacks, right?”

For the record, the Swordsman never succeeded in parrying even once, and ended up just getting beaten half to death.

“Then what about now?”

“Uh.”

Third Elder’s gaze fell straight ahead.

This time,

inversely, he told him to attack with heavy attacks and parried them himself.

‘Wow.’

In that instant, Third Elder was filled with admiration.

Is he seriously shameless.

After parrying, he attacked the Swordsman relentlessly.

It was as if he was giving immediate feedback like, ‘You failed, so you get hit,’ but seriously, how is an ordinary player supposed to succeed against someone who fights one-on-three against rankers!

Even Satan wouldn’t do that.

It was amazing that his skills improved despite that.

“As expected.”

“Right?”

Lee Dong-soo and Third Elder exchanged looks.

They were definitely thinking the same thing.

They were probably imagining themselves in the Swordsman’s position right now.

“Haha, would he train me even if I asked? He’s busy. So I shouldn’t even ask.”

“……”

Lee Dong-soo could answer that for sure.

That he was not the type of person to dislike having more punching bags.

Of course, he had no intention of interfering with Third Elder’s rationalization.

“Ha. Better to learn from me instead.”

Dang So spoke, having overheard the conversation from the side.

The two naturally ignored him.

“By the way, we might not be able to push back the Orthodox Faction within today, right?”

Lee Dong-soo spoke to Third Elder.

“Because they are the Unorthodox Faction.”

Yesterday, Seo-jun became able to attack the Orthodox Faction’s headquarters, but did not engage in a full-scale battle.

This was because they had lost Shaanxi, leaving the connection still severed, and the Unorthodox Faction also had one region left before reaching the headquarters.

So they intended to see the situation first before making a decision, but the Orthodox Faction did not attack Shanxi and simply defended.

Since even Shanxi was taken away, they couldn’t pull any other tricks anyway, so it was as good as saying, ‘Let’s just fight without dragging it out.’

Thus, today, the Orthodox Faction’s headquarters would face the Demonic Sect, which connected again by reclaiming Shaanxi, and the Unorthodox Faction, which pushed in.

Nevertheless, the Orthodox Faction actually showed a more relaxed attitude than when they were being dragged around.

Because:

“The Orthodox Faction must be trusting the Unorthodox Faction.”

“Correct.”

Why would the Orthodox Faction trust the Unorthodox Faction?

Naturally, because it was obvious that the Unorthodox Faction wouldn’t attack.

“As expected, the Unorthodox Faction is evil. They are untrustworthy scoundrels.”

Upon hearing that, Third Elder stared at Lee Dong-soo with an absurd look. His gaze shifted to above Lee Dong-soo’s head to check the ID again.

[Bandit King]

If someone who was playing the role of a bandit in the Green Forest right before the Battleground started was going to say that, they should have at least changed their nickname.

“Yes…… Well, they are unorthodox.”

“Compared to that, how fair and honorable we are.”

That was also a bit…

Third Elder shook his head.

***

One minute before 7 o’clock.

A massive audience gathered in Seo-jun’s stream chatroom.

‘He might even hit 20,000?’

It seemed to be because he had established himself as a symbolic figure pushing into the Orthodox Faction.

-Are we really sending the Orthodox Faction away

-I was too excited to sleep.

-Don’t come! I said don’t come!

-The Orthodox Faction is screwed lolol

[‘OO’ donated 10,000 won!]

[No, it’s not fun this way. If you guys abandon winning and play just to ruin a faction, will the Battleground even run properly? I’m a bit disappointed this time.]

“Thank you for the donation.”

It was something one could feel aggrieved or disappointed about.

If one faction played with malice toward another, the Battleground content would quickly become boring.

So although it hadn’t caused much drama yet, if the Orthodox Faction really got knocked out of the Battleground, angry Orthodox players could stir up controversy.

The Demonic Sect that led this would get cursed at, and the same went for Seo-jun.

The way to avoid this:

“No, who on earth said we abandoned winning? Haven’t you seen the stream title?”

State the facts.

Because they really didn’t harbor any malice.

[Anyway Demonic Wins]

-ikr lol

-The streamer has a plan for everything!

-It’s been that title for days

“And what do you mean two of us are beating up one person?”

Seo-jun spoke with a face that genuinely questioned the claim.

Eventually, it reached 7 o’clock.

-drumroll

-Advance!

-I shall witness the end

As everyone expected, the Demonic Sect and the Unorthodox Faction arrived right in front of the Orthodox Faction’s headquarters.

It could indeed be described as a precarious situation like a candle in the wind, but strangely, no battle indicator popped up at the Orthodox Faction’s headquarters.

Instead, the Unorthodox Faction rankers began to queue for games at the borders of the Demonic Sect and the Unorthodox Faction.

Those who expected an all-out war of factions charging in from the start spammed question marks.

-Huh? What are those Unorthodox guys doing

-wtf

-As expected lol

-Betraying at this point? Why?

-I knew it.

Reactions split.

Seo-jun was on the side that knew it would happen.

Those with plenty of Battleground experience had likely anticipated the betrayal.

“The Unorthodox Faction will want to keep suppressing the Orthodox Faction through us. Because if this standoff continues, the one who benefits most is the Unorthodox Faction.”

In other words, the Unorthodox Faction wants the Orthodox Faction to succeed in defense.

Because:

“They probably realized what we are going to do. Since they will become the next target after we eliminate the Orthodox Faction. Because the Demonic Sect’s strategy is to wipe out all of the enemies’ headquarters.”

Seo-jun stated the Demonic Sect’s strategy.

There was no point in hiding it now.

-Was it really that? lololol

-I had my doubts, but he announces it openly like this lolol

-Everyone had predicted it to some extent, but the fact that they really planned to push it through is legendary lolol

-Then why did the Unorthodox Faction help you and come all the way to the Orthodox Faction’s entrance?

-Please explain for the newbies

“We cooperated for this very reason in the first place. We drew them in knowing they would act like this too.”

To summarize the situation, it was as follows:

The Demonic Sect formulated a strategy to wipe out the headquarters.

However, when they captured Shaanxi, it seemed time would be delayed due to the Orthodox Faction’s schemes.

Even if it took longer, they could still blow away the Orthodox Faction’s headquarters.

However, the longer it took to eliminate the Orthodox Faction, the less time they would have to blow away the Unorthodox Faction’s headquarters.

So Seo-jun decided to draw in the Unorthodox Faction.

At the time, the Unorthodox Faction had captured many regions, but it didn’t hold much meaning.

Since once the second and third place began keeping the first place in check, another first place would emerge, and they would have to keep the new first place in check along with the other third place.

Unless the Battleground had only one day left, the tide could turn at any time as long as it wasn’t an overwhelming advantage.

Then, at that moment, the Demonic Sect proposed to target the Orthodox Faction together.

At that point, the Unorthodox Faction must have realized to some extent what the Demonic Sect was aiming for.

Eliminate the Orthodox Faction, and next, eliminate the Unorthodox Faction.

The reason they cooperated despite that:

“That way, they can definitely eliminate a competitor like the Orthodox Faction. Furthermore, from now on, with the stage set like this, if the cornered Orthodox Faction holds out,”

the Demonic Sect will also be left behind together.

“the Unorthodox Faction will win.”

The Orthodox Faction realized it too late, and since they couldn’t turn the tables anyway, they were bracing themselves, challenging them to try and push through.

That was the current situation of the Battleground.

-Oh lololololol

-The Battleground is more complex than I thought

-So the Demonic Sect and the Unorthodox Faction read each other’s intentions and used each other.

-Kya

-Fun lol this is For Chivalry! This is the Battleground!

-So what shall we do, Master?

Just as he finished the explanation, a playful chat message caught his eye.

What shall we do, huh.

Isn’t what we should do going forward clear?

Yet, asking this meant they wanted to hear it directly.

He believed it was a streamer’s duty to say what the audience wanted to hear.

“What are we going to do? It’s simple. Today, we crush the Orthodox Faction.”

So Seo-jun spoke in front of the viewers, who had somehow grown to 20,000,

“And starting tomorrow, we strike the Unorthodox Faction. That’s all. So, as I say once again,”

he said with a grin.

“Anyway, the champion is the Demonic Sect.”

The moment those words ended,

as if waiting, a red indicator popped up in Hebei, the region where the Orthodox Faction’s headquarters was located.