Chapter 56

Seo-jun crossed over the railing.

Then he walked toward the stairs leading downward.

Enjoying a slight moment of leisure.

“Kya. The sunset view is killer.”

The scenery of the old martial arts city seen from the top floor of the pleasure house implemented by Movie Soft had quite a bit of charm.

It almost made him want to drink baijiu again for the first time in a while.

-So relaxed

-He’s got way too much time lolololol

-There aren’t any enemies on the 12th floor, so he can just go straight down

Click.

Click.

Seo-jun descended the empty staircase without enemies. Then he slung the sword he already had over his shoulder.

“My internal energy recovery really is way too slow.”

Compared to when Absorption Demonic Art activated, it hadn’t even recovered one twentieth.

No wonder people said that minimizing resource consumption and reaching the enemy commander was the important strategy.

Of course, everything had already been calculated.

Click.

Seo-jun arrived on the 11th floor.

A sense of déjà vu washed over him.

The sprawled-out demonic cultists.

The scarred walls and sword marks.

The faint noises.

‘And once I pass this corner.’

Crackle.

‘It’s coming.’

Instead of swinging his sword, Seo-jun instantly retreated backward.

Right as Seo-jun pulled back before rounding the corner, an NPC appeared, lightning energy flashing as he thrust forward an extremely fast sword strike.

KWAANG!

The released lightning scorched the path it passed through, and the sword embedded itself into the wall where Seo-jun had been standing.

“Namgung Cheon showed up.”

His eyes met the old giant looking down at him, dressed in blue robes.

The old man briefly scanned Seo-jun from top to bottom, confirming his identity, then immediately pulled the sword from the wall and swung it.

“If I kill you, this war will be our victory as well! Hahahaha!”

Since it was only a basic attack without internal energy infused into it, Seo-jun met it head-on.

And at that moment, Absorption Demonic Art activated, and Seo-jun’s internal energy began recovering.

-Yeah, even if you kill the guild master, the Demonic Cult still loses

-What are you talking about, don’t you know about the Five Great Clans?

-The orthodox faction wins anyway?

-But if the guild master dies, we get to see something good!

-King Law Magical Girl!

Swaaaak!

Namgung Cheon’s sword was thin and long.

And because his build itself was larger, his arms were also longer than Seo-jun’s.

That didn’t mean he was slow either. The lightning energy characteristic of their martial arts further amplified his speed.

Inside a corridor where dodging sideways was impossible, Namgung Cheon advanced while swinging his sword at Seo-jun.

Seo-jun evaded the sword while retreating backward.

But he wasn’t merely dodging.

‘Even attacks I can avoid, I have to take while attacking back.’

Why?

Because he had a time limit.

And—

The sword grazed Seo-jun’s left arm, shaving away his health.

But immediately afterward, Seo-jun sliced Namgung Cheon’s shoulder and stepped back once.

The health he lost recovered.

‘Even getting hit is fine.’

His trait actually made trading blows with the enemy far more advantageous.

“Luckily, since he’s an NPC, he keeps charging mindlessly.”

Clang!

The instant Seo-jun finished speaking, their swords collided, and just as he was pushed backward—

Lightning energy condensed onto Namgung Cheon’s sword.

-The lightning condensation speed is insane

-His setup is fast

-Isn’t that because of the sword he got from that old faction quest?

-Thunder God Sword?

-ㅇㅇ

The speed at which Namgung Cheon unleashed the Heavenly Thunder Divine Sword was far faster than ordinary players. There was practically no preparation time.

The reason was because several years ago, Namgung Clan players succeeded in a quest involving retrieving a treasure for Namgung Cheon during a faction-related storyline.

Naturally, For the Sake of Chivalry didn’t only contain battlefields; there were many other types of content, and those contents were interconnected with the battlefield.

Not just simple quests, but faction relationships changing through story progression and NPCs growing stronger all intertwined, allowing them to display greater strength on the battlefield.

The Thunder God Sword Namgung Cheon possessed not only accepted lightning energy extremely well, but also contained it inherently, making the condensation speed completely different in level.

‘The game company probably balanced the factions themselves anyway.’

Right now, he focused only on winning.

An extremely fast thrust aimed at Seo-jun’s heart shot forward.

‘My internal energy.’

He had recovered enough to infuse into the sword a few times.

Seo-jun slightly twisted his body and avoided the vital point.

Puuuuuk!

The sword embedded into his chest, heavily draining his health, but it was still manageable.

Smiling, Seo-jun likewise drove forward a sword infused with sword energy.

Toward the enemy’s vital point.

“Hah, my health’s recovering.”

If he had possessed a martial art like this in his previous life, it would’ve been fun.

-This is terrifying lololololol

-Is he smiling with a sword stuck in him?

-It’d be perfect if blood dripped from his lips here, but game limitations

-Absorption Demonic Art is broken

-This is basically Berserker…

“Now I’m really out of time.”

It was tight.

Rather than retreat any further, Seo-jun instead stepped forward.

For a chaotic melee where they would cut and be cut.

Because of his lack of internal energy, it was a decision made without any other choice.

Since he had started the fight with his internal energy already depleted, he couldn’t use many high-damage sword energy attacks.

So he had to cram in more basic attacks within a short amount of time.

Swaaaak.

When the enemy cut him—

Swaaaak.

He cut the enemy too.

Once more.

A clash impossible in reality continued.

And once more.

Seo-jun’s health dropped by more than half in an instant, then recovered again.

It was like a deadly tightrope walk. One mistake, and he would fall immediately.

“Kuhahaha! So you struggle desperately now!”

Namgung Cheon shouted as he raised his sword high overhead.

The NPC’s excitement could be felt.

Seo-jun also began growing excited along with him.

Was it because he had never experienced a battle like this before, or simply because it was so thrillingly dangerous?

-This madness is insane

-And in the middle of all this, he’s still avoiding all the vital points?

-The guild master’s HP is still going down though

Crackle.

Lightning gathered onto Namgung Cheon’s sword.

In an instant, it would descend like an afterimage.

“Not at point-blank range.”

Tang!

Seo-jun immediately infused sword energy into his blade, spun it around, and hurled the sword. The condensation broke apart.

Since sword energy could only be countered with sword energy, and none of the traits Seo-jun picked included a special martial art for launching sword energy, he improvised on the spot.

Namgung Cheon’s disrupted sword swung down without sword energy infused into it.

Seo-jun took the hit directly. His health dropped to a razor-thin line.

If things went wrong, he could genuinely die.

But even the time needed to dodge or deflect was too precious.

He moved his body and swung his arm first.

The sword he had just thrown struck the ceiling and was falling back down.

Seo-jun grabbed the sword as it fell into his path and completed his attack.

Swaaaak!

-??

-What the hell was that lolololol

-Wow lolololol

-What did I just watch?

-No seriously, wtf lolololololol

Seo-jun’s feet dug even farther inward.

This extreme close-quarters battle led to even faster attacks.

He succeeded once again with an attack infused with sword energy.

The enemy’s health visibly dropped.

And as the damage increased, Seo-jun’s recovery amount increased as well.

After repeating this process several times—

“Kuugh.”

Namgung Cheon collapsed, and as vitality flowed into Seo-jun, the Absorption Demonic Art that had gradually been crushing his throat simultaneously released.

“It doesn’t hurt.”

-Kyaaaa!

-That’s insane!

- I believed in you!

-4 minutes? What a joke. 4 minutes? What a joke. 4 minutes? What a joke. 4 minutes? What a joke.

-The guild master was humble! The guild master was humble! The guild master was humble!

-Rankers, stop trying to copy his route!

Seo-jun smiled as he looked down at his palm.

Blood had pooled in his hand.

And wounds covered his entire body.

Even though it was virtual reality, he couldn’t remember the last time he had fought while getting cut apart like this.

After several seconds passed, the red blood evaporated as if disappearing into thin air, and all of Seo-jun’s wounds healed completely.

Seo-jun soon adjusted the settings and turned the camera toward himself.

Making eye contact as if staring directly at someone, Seo-jun opened his mouth.

“So then, I guess you’ll have to come to the Demonic Cult now, right?”

It was obvious who he was talking about.

His record was 3 minutes and 1 second.

Far faster than even the four-minute mark.

-You gotta come now, right?

-The Cult Leader personally proselytizing lololololololol

-Why’d Tang So make that bet lol

-This battlefield’s already doomed lololol, he was talking so much trash too

A little earlier.

Tang So sat down where Seo-jun had disappeared.

Then he opened several internet windows.

One was Seo-jun’s stream, while the others were sites where he could gather information, such as the Old Chivalry forums and group chatrooms.

“I’ll obviously win the bet no matter what, but I suppose I should at least watch. Huhuhu.”

By “watch,” he didn’t mean considering Seo-jun’s circumstances and canceling the wager.

He literally meant watching the stream.

Of course, even aside from the bet, Seo-jun’s stream was one of the broadcasts many rankers were closely monitoring.

He had become a hot topic after obtaining the title of Grandmaster the previous day, and he had entered the game immediately at 7 o’clock when the battlefield opened, so there was no way people wouldn’t watch.

“What the hell were you thinking? What if you lose after making a bet like that?”

Tang So turned his head toward the source of the voice coming from the side.

“That man is a fraud, so there’s no way I’d lose.”

After confirming who it was, Tang So replied confidently.

The speaker was another fellow ranker from the Unorthodox Faction.

“I don’t think that guy’s a fraud.”

“And why’s that?”

“What kind of fraud could he even have committed in the first place?”

“Hidden quest?”

“If you really thought it was a hidden quest, then earlier you should’ve just asked him to open the quest record window live on stream, you idiot.”

“Oh. I should’ve checked that.”

“If you lose the bet and go to the Demonic Cult, it’ll become a total disaster. Do you know how valuable rankers like you are?”

Tang So’s companion let out a sigh.

If you continued a winning streak on the battlefield, the bonus rewards allowed you to gather an enormous amount of reputation points.

Those rankers who accumulated large amounts of reputation points eventually became part of their faction’s military strength.

Because the higher the reputation points, the more offense and defense points they could accumulate.

Usually, once the game passed the mid-stage, the offense and defense points of these rankers became significant.

Right now, not much reputation had been accumulated yet, so each person was merely a single ordinary player.

But once they started piling up massive reputation through winning streaks, each ranker became an important strategic resource.

Among them, Tang So, who stood near the very top ranks, looked surprisingly dumb at times, but his judgment was quick, and his skill was at least within the top four of the Unorthodox Faction.

So even if he was unpopular, he absolutely had to win the bet.

“You were watching the stream too?”

“Yeah. Most of the Demonic Cult and Unorthodox Faction players fighting the Orthodox Faction were probably watching his stream. They probably all saw you making that stupid bet too.”

“Hah. Don’t worry.”

Tang So snorted.

“How could a build like that possibly clear it in under four minutes?”

“Why not? He could succeed.”

Tang So answered firmly.

“I never underestimated his skill. But impossible things are impossible.”

“Seriously…”

His companion stopped arguing and sat across from him while turning on the stream.

‘Still, if that Tang Clan bastard wins the bet, a ranker-level player is coming to the Unorthodox Faction.’

Not only that, but someone incredibly skilled and desperately needed on the battlefield.

He knew.

He knew exactly what Seo-jun had staked on this battlefield.

The problem was—

‘Why do I feel this anxious?’

While carrying that unease, the one-minute waiting period passed, and Seo-jun’s game began.

“Ohh, he’s immediately breaking the wall and heading outside? What’s he trying to do? Exploration again for the second round?”

Tang So spoke.

“There’s no way.”

His companion also replied.

On the screen, Seo-jun broke through the wall and went outside.

Then he looked upward.

Anxiety came crashing down.

Even the corners of Tang So’s mouth, which had been smiling the entire time, lowered slightly.

And then, in a single leap, Seo-jun arrived at the top.

“…18 seconds?”

“……”

“We’re screwed.”

“Haha. You can’t say he’s succeeded yet. He’s used up all his internal energy, so isn’t it possible he won’t be able to kill the NPC…”

“Hey.”

“…You should start packing your bags.”