Chapter 39

White Tiger whistled as he headed toward the central base the enemy firmly occupied.

'There they are.'

He spotted two players inside the base.

Lowering his body for an ambush, White Tiger circled around and approached quietly.

After taking position, he pushed off the ground.

Swoooosh.

The ambush succeeded.

Or so he thought.

The Heavenly Demon effortlessly dodged the sword strike using movement techniques and counterattacked.

'This bastard… no way?'

White Tiger suddenly thought they might be the same kind of person.

The Heavenly Demon's sword barely grazed White Tiger's neck.

White Tiger also adjusted the distance with movement techniques and prepared a counterattack, but the enemy sword came in slightly deeper than he had expected.

'Did he measure the distance?'

Or was it luck?

He couldn't tell.

"I'll handle this guy, so Swordsman-nim, please deal with the others over there. Let's finish quickly."

"Got it."

It was actually good news that the Heavenly Demon's ally, the Heavenly Number One Swordsman, was leaving on his own instead of getting in the way.

But this time, the content of the conversation irritated him.

Let's finish quickly?

Did they really think they could beat him that easily?

"Hey, who are you? Some streamer restarting after getting their account reset?"

Putting aside the wound to his pride, White Tiger became curious about the Heavenly Demon's identity.

But the answer he received was more than enough to leave him speechless.

"This exalted one is the Heavenly Demon."

It genuinely sounded like he was mocking him.

No—

He was mocking him.

Hah.

A dry laugh escaped White Tiger's mouth.

'Right. The fun part about Heavenly Demon roleplayers is correcting them.'

He'd make him shut that mouth by force.

A red aura gathered around White Tiger's blade.

The only active skill from the beginner-zone default setup, the Three Talents Sword Technique.

Sword aura.

"Oh? What's that?"

The enemy reacted.

Most beginner-zone matches ended before players even reached the level needed to unlock sword aura.

So if the opponent was truly a restarting streamer, he might've forgotten about sword aura entirely—or never known about it at all.

"If you don't know, then die."

White Tiger swung his sword infused with red energy.

The Heavenly Demon retreated backward, but the sword aura suddenly extended farther.

White Tiger had finely adjusted its range through precise control.

'This ends it—'

It didn't.

While retreating, the Heavenly Demon noticed the sword aura's change and kicked off the ground once more.

White Tiger suppressed his surprise.

'He balanced himself well.'

At that level, he was definitely experienced in some other game.

Since sword aura had a cooldown, White Tiger mixed a feint into his next normal attack.

But the Heavenly Demon showed no signs of trying to parry at all, making the feint meaningless.

What the hell?

Then the Heavenly Demon looked toward the air and spoke.

"Oh, so if the enemy attacks strongly, I also need to attack strongly to avoid getting staggered? And there's parrying too? It's way easier than Dawn of the Assassins."

What was this guy doing?

And he seriously didn't know something that basic?

"If he has parrying, then this guy's dead. Thank you for the donation. Should I try it once?"

A streamer?

"…What are you doing?"

"Can't you tell?"

He could tell, but…

White Tiger momentarily lost his words.

Instead, he clicked his tongue in disbelief.

"Let's just end this already."

Thanks to the level difference, his fast attack descended on the enemy.

And yet—

He got staggered.

Craaack!

His stiffened body was slashed by the enemy sword.

The Heavenly Demon and White Tiger locked eyes.

The Heavenly Demon, who had been calmly observing the battle, noticed his expression and smiled brightly.

"Damn, it's been forever since I landed a parry. You're pretty decent? From now on, I'll take this seriously."

White Tiger gritted his teeth and charged again while pressing down on the back of his neck.

Then—

Their swords collided, and White Tiger cried out in frustration as a force stopped his body again.

"Gah!"

Even streamers mixed feints into attacks like that and still failed to parry them properly.

Yet the enemy had parried him again.

White Tiger's eyes filled with shock, and the Heavenly Demon opened his mouth.

"Wow, this smurf really sucks. Thank you for the donation."

Then another unbearably irritating voice followed.

"The title 'Newbie Reaper' feels wasted on you. Thank you for the donation as well."

What the hell was this bastard saying?

The Heavenly Demon looked down at him with silent eyes that clearly conveyed one thing.

You're just bad.

"The title 'Newbie Reaper' feels wasted on you. Thank you for the donation as well."

Seojun read the donation aloud.

-When did that donation even happen??? 7777

-I'm not the only one who didn't see it, right? lololol

-Streamer, can you see hallucinations by any chance?

-Truly incredible BM

In reality, there had been no donation.

From the very beginning.

But however he wanted to say it, wasn't that his freedom?

Then, as if having read Seojun's intentions, someone actually sent a real donation.

['You'reJustBad' donated 10,000 won!]

[If I do this, you'll say the message to that smurf for me, right?]

Hahahahahahahaha they actually donated in the end

-I've never seen donations used like this before lol

-Streamer's literally inventing new ways to milk money and people are falling for it!

"Yes. Thank you for the donation, You'reJustBad-nim. Apparently that's what they're saying?"

Seojun grinned mischievously as he looked at White Tiger.

Enraged, White Tiger charged forward again—

Only to get staggered once more.

"Hey, you bastard!"

Seojun's sword slashed White Tiger's neck, reducing his HP.

-The smurf dude is furious hahahahahaha

-How could he not lose his mind?

-This is seriously evil, absolutely evil

-Is venting all our frustrations in online games really the right thing to do?

"Hmm, the parrying here feels a little different."

Simple staggering was all it did.

In Dawn of the Assassins, people got knocked over and chaos broke out.

And if your stance wasn't stable enough, the person who blocked could get staggered instead.

To explain in more detail, there was a system called heavy attacks.

If your swing was large and committed deeply, you naturally consumed stamina to perform a stronger attack with higher damage.

Parrying a heavy attack could stagger the opponent.

But if your stance was insufficient while trying to block a heavy attack, you would be the one staggered.

"And sword aura seems interesting too. Once you leave the beginner zone and learn martial arts, this game actually seems pretty fun."

There was a reason Eve Paimo, the president of Movie Soft, had recommended it.

Thinking that, Seojun depleted the HP of the final remaining enemy.

"Heavenly Demon, just you wait. I'm seriously pissed off now."

[White Tiger Defeated]

[Enemy Fortress HP -20]

Namon checked the enemy fortress's HP.

[Blue: 0] vs [Red: 70]

It was thanks to The World's Greatest Swordsman diligently taking care of the assassins.

"Junaam Base really is important."

Now it was over. The enemy fortress would break soon too.

"Is it basically over already?"

—Originally there were four against two anyway.

—Once the enemy fortress gets destroyed, the damage increases over time. Though they probably won't even get hit anyway.

—That's true.

"I see."

Still, the enemies weren't coming.

White Tiger was talking about the trio he had killed first after arriving at Manirock.

'Looks like they're trying to come together.'

Little by little, thanks to The World's Greatest Swordsman's performance, the enemy fortress collapsed.

[Enemy Fortress HP -5]

[Enemy Fortress HP -5]

[Enemy Fortress HP -5]

In the end, before the enemies could return, the enemy fortress was destroyed.

[Blue: 0] vs [Red: 0]

[The enemy fortress has been destroyed]

[From now on, players on the defeated side cannot resurrect]

"We got rid of the Heavenly Demon! Ugh!"

The World's Greatest Swordsman waved from afar before suddenly getting ambushed.

It was the revived White Tiger.

Instead of going for Seo Jun, he had chosen to deal with his teammate first.

And in the meantime, White Tiger's three teammates ended up surrounding Seo Jun.

'You made the wrong choice.'

Without even approaching him, Seo Jun identified the enemies standing at the base entrance and charged first.

'Even without that, I would've won.'

Seo Jun closed in right before the enemies, and Mannyang swung his sword with a resigned voice.

"Why are you coming for me first?"

Mannyang's blade flashed.

His stance, reinforced by Sisbel's support, looked fairly decent.

Instead of parrying, Seo Jun chose to evade.

Mannyang immediately started swinging continuously,

and the enemies joined in one by one.

'If it were me, I wouldn't have joined in.'

If they had even a little game experience, they probably would've waited as long as possible for White Tiger to arrive before starting the fight.

And if he had been White Tiger, he would've told his teammates:

not to fight Seo Jun until he joined.

'Not sure if they just couldn't communicate, or if they got too emotional to think straight.'

The Berserk Gauge started filling up.

At the very last moment.

Seo Jun's sword cut into an enemy.

At the same time, enemies from both sides thrust their swords toward him.

Seo Jun slipped away from his spot instantly using chaotic footwork, clashing blades repeatedly.

Whoosh—

Seo Jun lowered the enemies' HP only enough so they wouldn't die.

Just enough so one more hit would kill them.

The enemies still didn't seem to realize his intention.

—He's dragging this out lolololol he's literally playing with them.

—Maybe because damage charges faster the more people there are? Looks like he's preparing something?

—The enemy damage increases over time? Then White Tiger's basically dead meat!

—Are the people betting on Red out of their minds?

At that moment, The World's Greatest Swordsman died, and White Tiger climbed onto the base.

"Wow, our teammates don't have much HP left, but you tied them down well?"

He hadn't tied them down.

Seo Jun realized it.

They had just gone berserk emotionally and stopped thinking.

"Tsk tsk. This one is the Heavenly Demon."

It was the magic phrase.

The moment those words left his mouth, White Tiger's face twisted, and he charged straight at Seo Jun.

"Die, you bastard. This time we all kill you together."

A red sword aura wrapped around White Tiger's blade as he lunged forward. He was fast.

But.

Seo Jun moved even faster, stretching his arm sideways.

At the end of his sword was an enemy.

[Bobjwo Defeated]

"R-right. Berserk State."

Mannyang's voice rang out, and Seo Jun activated Qinggong while in Berserk State.

[Mannyang Defeated]

His speed was so fast it was hard to follow, but just like before, Seo Jun rotated his body while driving his sword into the floor, taking out the enemies with low HP first.

Since their HP was low, even one slash killed them, which made things easy.

[Cheonnnyang Defeated]

White Tiger charged in, only to belatedly realize the Berserk State and freeze for a moment.

"Y-you cheap bastard!"

Then Seo Jun appeared behind White Tiger with his sword raised.

"Calling someone cheap when you're the cheapest one here."

Slash!

White Tiger tried to swing his sword backward,

but before the blade could even fully move, it got stopped right near his waist.

The pressure once again dominated his entire body, locking him in place, and Seo Jun cut him down.

'Damn it, because of my teammates watching. Why do I have no pride? Hey, you better queue up for the next game quickly.'

White Tiger still had half his HP left, but he already seemed to sense defeat.

"No but seriously, what's your streamer nickname?"

Slash!

A newbie-zone scrub trying to pull a 1v100.

'This guy's actually trying to stream snipe me.'

Stream sniping referred to checking a streamer's status through the broadcast to match into the same game.

"Mm. Even if I don't tell you, you'll find out eventually. Hurry up and queue."

—So pathetic.

—He's really trying to delay until next round too.

—Hot take: those cheap bastards who ganged up on him first are way more pathetic. (Even as a Red supporter)

—The way he keeps saying "cheap" sounds personal lol.

—I swear I'll never bet points on Red again. —T

Seo Jun stepped back slightly.

Even then, White Tiger tried to seize the opportunity and swung his sword, but Seo Jun lightly parried it and spoke.

As if he had just realized something.

"Ah, everyone. There's actually something I forgot to mention. Today's stream is a sponsored broadcast."

White Tiger, who had been charging again, suddenly paused.

"As it happens, among the viewers watching right now, there's also someone from Bobnalja-nim."

Seo Jun recalled Kim Woonchan, who was in charge of Travel's official account.

"You didn't think the developers would just ignore users with this kind of toxic behavior, right?"

"What the hell, you bastard?!"

—LMAOOO is the discipline arc starting?

—Please, Mubee Soft!

—The way White Tiger's acting is hilarious lolol.

—Wait, didn't he say earlier this was a sponsored stream? LOL this might actually be real.

—Let's gooo ban him!