Chapter 166

CHAPTER 166

• Manager, hurry up and open betting!
• Why can't the manager open point betting?!
• Why are Pado's fans causing a scene here? LOL
• Then go watch Pado's stream.
• Nah, it's boring and they're gonna get stomped anyway.
• What do you mean? I can already see them winning here, taking Earthworm, and destroying the Nexus. LOL

It was still early, but there were many things to regret.

Maybe it was because of poor positioning.

Maybe there simply hadn't been enough time.

Maybe the teamwork wasn't there yet.

Whatever the problem was, it had to be overcome.

Otherwise, dangerous situations would keep appearing.

For Seojun, capsules were a necessary expense.

Unlike other streamers who could do without them, he was in a different situation.

Which naturally meant proper practice was essential.

'Let's win this first and think about the rest later.'

For now, he needed to win this game.

If they won this teamfight, they could end the match immediately.

After all, they were currently fighting in the jungle near the enemy base.

[But Seojun, wouldn't it be better to wait until they're doing Earthworm?]

A little farther back was the Rift's unwelcome guest.

The Earthworm.

Waiting for that moment would certainly give them a higher chance of victory.

But—

[If we wait until then, we won't be able to finish the game. Let's just win right here and end it.]

[Hahaha. Alright!]

• Decisive as always.
• Thank god Babam Sword survived. If it had been Yoonho...
• Even with Babam Sword, they can't win.
• Forget that. If it had been Yoonho, the streamer wouldn't have chosen to fight in the first place lol.

High risk, high return.

That was the nature of the play.

Seojun didn't charge at the approaching enemies.

He intended to receive them.

Being outnumbered meant it was difficult to secure favorable positioning.

Unless there happened to be a narrow area where he could lure them.

Since there wasn't, recklessly pushing forward was unnecessary.

He needed to stand his ground and focus.

He deflected an incoming arrow and exchanged a glance with Babam Sword.

[Just hold one of them down.]

[That's easy enough.]

Not only could Babam Sword do that, he might even finish his target and come help afterward.

Provided Seojun could handle the other three.

Or more precisely—

Seojun and his clone.

It wasn't a 5v5, but it was still a teamfight.

Three enemies were advancing together.

Separating from the clone and fighting independently wasn't possible.

Arrows and abilities flew toward them.

Pado led the charge.

Behind him, the marksman and jungler provided support.

Naturally, Babam Sword took responsibility for Mental.

Mental was a support, but he possessed crowd-control abilities.

Both players had already silently agreed through eye contact that it would be best for Babam Sword to eliminate him quickly and then assist Seojun.

The abilities approached.

The kama swung.

At that moment—

Seojun converted everything in that space into a mental image and reconstructed it from a third-person perspective.

The trajectories of enemy skills and the positions that needed defending appeared inside his head.

The important part was that within that image, Seojun was one—

Yet not one.

This kind of third-person spatial awareness was normally used when coordinating attacks with allies.

'I guess this counts as an ally too.'

In truth, spatial awareness happened instinctively anyway.

There was no point overthinking it.

Seojun intercepted the first arrow.

As he slightly twisted his body while deflecting it, a grenade-like bomb skimmed past him.

That alone transferred the initiative to Pado.

The arrow had been fired slightly early to synchronize with Pado's attack.

But Seojun wasn't worried.

Clang!

The moment the bomb passed by, the clone—which had already begun moving beforehand—partially covered Seojun's left side and blocked the kama.

• LOLLLLL
• I told you this guy literally has two brains!
• That's my clone! I believed in you!

"By the way, my companion has quite a long lifespan."

"Not that long!"

Passing through the clone, Seojun thrust his sword at Pado.

A straightforward strike aimed at the ribs.

"I think it'll live long enough for this fight."

• Trash talk mode activated lol.
• If he loses after saying that, it'll be legendary.
• Alright, that's enough. This guy's been acting up all stream. Ten-minute timeout. I'll take responsibility.
• JOAM! JOAM! JOAM!
• Is this the dignity of a moderator? Is this the dignity of a moderator?

Pado's weapon separated from the clone's.

An arrow flew in from Pado's right to support him.

Thwack!

At the same time, a small bomb that had bounced away several times finally exploded behind Seojun.

Even with the arrow approaching, Seojun stubbornly maintained his attack.

To block it, Pado shifted his kama and body center slightly.

Just enough.

If Seojun refused to cancel the attack, Pado could block it while allowing the arrow to strike Seojun.

Only then did Seojun abandon the attack and dodge.

It was so close that if he'd reacted even 0.1 seconds later, the arrow would've hit him.

'That's enough.'

That tiny adjustment would make it difficult to stop the clone's attack aimed at his side.

Just as Seojun had intended.

The strike landed.

Pado's expression faltered.

Since it was the ultimate clone, a mark was applied as well.

And then—

'Now.'

The smile vanished from Seojun's face.

He had already been concentrating as hard as possible.

Now he needed even more.

Handling two bodies simultaneously was perhaps something only Seojun could do.

Because it required perceiving the actions of both bodies as a single unified whole.

For example, when swimming, a person kicks their legs, pulls water with their arms, and periodically turns their head to breathe.

That too is multitasking.

And it's easy because it's repetitive.

Once you're accustomed to repetition, your body moves reflexively without conscious thought.

In fact, thinking too much often makes you mess up.

Then how was Seojun doing it?

The answer was simple.

Even though combat wasn't repetitive.

Even though every moment required different movements and decisions.

To Seojun, fighting itself was as natural and unconscious as any repetitive action.

Of course—

Reading the battlefield at a glance.

Making rapid decisions.

Acting almost entirely on instinct.

Maintaining and adjusting all three continuously without a single lapse demanded tremendous concentration even from him.

'Still, I can do it.'

The two shadows moved in perfect harmony and began overwhelming Pado.

It wasn't a simple pattern where one attacked while the other defended.

It was pure offense.

Even while arrows and bombs interfered, Seojun relentlessly attacked from the moment Pado lost control of the flow.

Attack.

Attack.

Attack.

It looked as if two masters were jointly assaulting a single opponent.

Pado couldn't respond properly.

His health rapidly dwindled.

• Holy crap, and he's still dodging or deflecting ranged attacks in the middle of all that LOL.
• Anything he can't dodge, the clone tanks while attacking.
• Is it real that Tali still hasn't landed a hit and has zero stacks?
• He landed one! On the clone LOL.
• Man, things are peaceful now that Joam keeps banning the Pado fans.

When Pado's health fell to roughly one-third—

Seojun smiled again.

"You're not going to be able to act so freely anymore."

Together with his clone, Seojun suddenly turned away from Pado and began heading toward the enemy backline.

Toward the ranged heroes.

[Babam Sword → Mental]

Babam Sword quickly eliminated Mental.

In teamfights, focus fire was everything.

Once someone got caught, everyone concentrated their attacks and removed that player from the fight.

But in this battle, none of that mattered.

Not because they lacked numbers.

'The other three are too busy dealing with Seojun to worry about me.'

That was the real reason.

From the start of the fight, Babam Sword had trusted Seojun completely.

Without even looking in his direction, he'd focused solely on killing Mental as quickly as possible.

The result?

Mental died before buying any meaningful amount of time.

The difference in skill and equipment was simply too great.

And Mental was only a support.

Babam Sword turned around.

Now he just needed to go help.

But then—

"Huh?"

Four people.

No—

Five, including Seojun's clone.

All of them were tangled together at close range.

A brawl?

No.

As the battle became clearer and clearer in his eyes, Babam Sword finally understood what he was seeing.

'What is he doing?'

Seojun was obsessively targeting a single person.

While deflecting, dodging, and blocking attacks coming from the front, side, and rear.

Meanwhile, Pado and 1898 stayed close to Seojun.

They seemed desperate to stop him.

Yet their attacks lacked commitment.

"If we don't kill him now, it's over!"

"Damn it! That stupid clone! We can't even attack the clone!"

Why would it be over?

Watching the fight in a daze, Babam Sword recalled the enemy health bars from just before the 2v4—

No.

The soon-to-be 3v4.

"Ah!"

He finally understood why the enemies were so desperate.

Zen wasn't normally played like this.

Absolutely not.

Zen was supposed to poke with basic attacks and then disengage.

And because of that, in the late game, Zen's mark damage became terrifying.

The mark dealt damage equal to 70% of the damage Zen had already inflicted.

Zen had no direct damage skills.

Instead, by landing many basic attacks through his clones, he could generate enormous bonus damage.

And right now—

The enemy health bars were all below one-third.

Even Bomb Maniac, Seojun's current target, would die instantly the moment the mark detonated if he took just one more hit.

'He's holding their lives hostage.'

Now it made sense.

The enemies looked desperate, yet cautious at the same time.

Pado and 1898 were effectively walking dead.

The moment the clone exploded, they would die too.

And Seojun was exploiting exactly that.

The previous moments of battle replayed vividly in Babam Sword's mind.

"We have to defend the base anyway! Even if we die, just throw everything at him! We have to do something!"

Perhaps because the clone's duration was almost over, the enemy team finally abandoned concern for their own lives.

[Execution Scythe]

[Bomb Maniac's Lunchbox]

[Big Bang]

A fully charged crescent-shaped sword wave, crowd control skills, and Bomb Maniac's ultimate all flew toward Seojun in one final desperate attempt.

The crescent sword wave shot forward far faster than an arrow.

A massive bomb launched skyward before crashing down vertically and exploding.

If both connected, there was a real chance Seojun would die.

But when the flames cleared—

What remained was Seojun, his blade buried in Bomb Maniac.

And a disappearing clone.

Babam Sword could distinguish between Seojun and his clone.

The moment the flames faded, he immediately realized what had happened.

'He swapped positions after the explosion.'

Judging by the amount of health remaining, it seemed he had dodged Execution Scythe.

The sword wave that spread across an area at one of the fastest speeds in the entire game.

He could have simply swapped during Big Bang instead.

The timing would have been much easier.

A nasty—

No.

An incredible display of skill.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

At the same time, three marks detonated.

[Sword God → Pado]

[Sword God → 1898]

[Sword God → Fuse]

[TRIPLE KILL!]

As the announcer's voice rang out, Seojun turned around.

[Finished!]

"Alright, let's push."

"Got it! But can we actually end? There are only two of us."

"The lane's good. Besides, there's three of us."

"We don't have any clones right now."

"My cooldowns are back."

"Ah... right."

• He's still doing this until the very end LOL.
• Damn clone merchant!
• Manager! Unmute the Pado fans right now! Square up!
• Let's just leave at this point LOL.

"So what do we do?"

Rain looked worried.

They were currently watching the match from the viewing room as it neared its conclusion.

"I think we're guaranteed to be in the Group of Death."

They'd been unsure before.

After today's match, they were certain.

Their group was stacked with monsters.

Of course, Rain had been worried before today too.

"Are you nervous?"

The streamer Caterpillar sitting beside him asked.

"Yeah."

"If we triple-ban him, won't that solve the problem somehow?"

Using all three bans to target an A-rank threat wasn't unusual.

Though whether three bans would actually be enough was another matter entirely.

"But then we'd be causing too much trouble for everyone else... especially Hwangso. Even if it was years ago, he still has to face former Challenger Babam Sword."

Rain turned toward streamer Hwangso.

From the early days of streaming, Hwangso had maintained a rugged macho-man persona fitting his nickname.

The important detail was that this persona had originated from his inability to talk comfortably with women.

Like right now.

"...No need to worry. Manageable."

In reality, he'd once frozen up from nervousness during an interview at a small tournament.

People misunderstood that as a macho-man act.

The misunderstanding exploded in popularity and became his streamer image.

Nobody knew the truth.

It was also a secret that every night after streaming, he watched wildlife documentaries and became emotional over the harsh realities of nature.

Thankfully, he didn't get nervous while gaming.

"There he goes with the act again."

It wasn't an act.

"Why? I like it."

Another streamer joined the conversation.

"So you're saying it's manageable? That's our ace! I'll just try my best to survive!"

Instead of answering, Hwangso nodded.

If he spoke too much here, the tension in his throat might make his voice crack.

After clearing his throat, he finally replied.

Briefly.

"If I get fed, it's doable."

There was, however, an unspoken condition.

Besides growing strong himself.

He would also need to pick a champion that naturally countered whatever role Seojun selected.

For example, if Seojun played an assassin, Hwangso would need a bruiser capable of shutting assassins down.

If that happened...

At the very least, holding him back might be possible.

At least, that was Hwangso's personal opinion.

More importantly, he'd said it to reassure his teammates.

• You can actually suppress that monster?
• Even Dokkaebi managed it. Just pick a bruiser or tank and play defensive!
• Hmph. Pado was merely the weakest among us.
• The Four Heavenly Kings meta LOLLLLL.

Hwangso understood better than anyone that there was no benefit in panicking before the match even started.

The problem was that his teammates didn't stop there.

"Then Hwangso! You should declare war during the MVP interview later!"

Caterpillar exclaimed dramatically.

"That..."

Did he really have to?

'I was just trying to make everyone feel better...'

"That's it!"

"Whoa, our team has a villain too?"

"Truly a macho man!"

"Kya!"

Everyone stared at him with eyes full of anticipation.

• He already did a show-and-prove. Your turn, Hwangso!
• Every interview is turning into a battlefield LOL.
• You're not backing out now, right?
• If you do, you might as well quit streaming LOL.

In the end, Hwangso couldn't bring himself to speak.

He merely gave a weak nod.

'Sigh...'

He'd tried to help.

Instead, he'd accidentally been bullied by his own teammates.

• That's our guy!
• Just take it easy. No need for insults LOL.
• Remember he's still a rookie streamer. Don't go too hard.
• ??? For a rookie streamer, he's pretty good at attracting aggro LOL.
• Let's just beat him! Winning solves everything!

"Alright! You've now seen today's three MVPs! But before that—Hwangso! I heard you had something you'd like to say to Seojun. Is that true?"

It wasn't.