Chapter 6
"I Am Joseon's Assassin" had been a hardcore fan of Dawn of the Assassins since the PC era.
Even the previous VR installments—criticized for failing to fully capture the appeal of virtual reality—he had still poured thousands of hours into them. That was how serious he was about Dawn of the Assassins.
And on top of that, VR suited him pretty well.
In simple terms, he had talent.
Of course, he couldn't fly around like the professionals, but within Dawn of the Assassins specifically, there weren't many people better than him.
He was a well-known figure in the Dawn of the Assassins community for uploading countless veteran gameplay videos, and he had also been a beta tester for this latest entry, Shadows Within the City.
[We wish to focus on infiltration and assassination in their purest form. Musou? If you can do it, then try.]
The developers had announced this design philosophy before the game's release.
When he heard that, he had cheered.
Because he was the type who genuinely loved Musou Play so much that he adored the phrase:
"If there are no witnesses, it's still an assassination!"
And now they were increasing the difficulty?
For someone skilled like him, it sounded like a new challenge. He also liked the fact that it would become a playstyle not just anyone could pull off.
But during the beta test, those expectations were utterly shattered.
The reason: difficulty.
It had become absurdly difficult.
The various melee combat mechanics carried over from previous games, but enemy HP and enemy numbers had increased far too much.
To overcome that, players needed to use the new parry damage amplification system introduced in this installment—but the parry difficulty itself had also skyrocketed.
Even for someone like him, highly experienced and nearly pro-level, he would still fail occasionally.
And in actual gameplay, that single failure was devastating.
On top of that, despite claiming they were focusing on stealth assassinations, the developers had clearly gone insane designing the bosses' combat difficulty.
He had ultimately been forced to spend the beta test period focusing on stealth assassinations rather than Musou Play.
Still, he had been mostly satisfied.
After all, the game had been praised as a masterpiece that opened a new horizon for assassination games thanks to its insane freedom in assassination methods—so much so that people nicknamed it Breath of the City.
But when the beta ended and the official release launched, Joseon's Assassin felt something missing.
Because to him, true assassination was Musou.
So he started watching streams.
He had already played enough himself, and would continue playing anyway.
But—
[Guys, apparently you can assassinate targets by collapsing buildings on them too. This is insane.]
He looked here.
[The target really does sit on that bench reading the newspaper every morning. Now all I need is for that box to explode and the assassination succeeds. This god-tier game is insane.]
He looked there.
[I've been hiding in the shadows for three hours now. People on the street are still stepping on me. When is this guy coming already?!]
-lololololol please gather information, hyung. Please.
-Because that is assassination. Mm!
-Why the hell have I been watching this for three hours????
No matter where he looked—
There was no Musou Play.
And because of that, he couldn't enjoy it.
At a time when every Dawn of the Assassins fan was laughing, screaming, and having fun together!
Just as he lost motivation and was about to close Travel, a recommended stream popped up.
At first he assumed it was just another generic tiny stream, but the title caught his attention.
[First time streaming and first VR game too. Any pros willing to coach a newbie?]
A newbie entering VR through Dawn of the Assassins?
Legally approved backseating?
Impossible to resist.
So he clicked into the stream.
And the very first thing he saw was the "newbie" perfectly parrying the tutorial guard's sword like a veteran.
'Was that luck?'
Even though he knew better than anyone that parries couldn't happen by accident, he still thought that.
But then the streamer proceeded to kill the guard and parry four out of five soldiers.
"That's it! That's what assassination is!"
Joseon's Assassin cheered and immediately started educating the viewers who had mocked him earlier.
Though he got shut down pretty quickly.
And after some time, a single sentence came from the stream.
[Guys, I'll show you a thirteen-hit parry streak.]
"Thirteen-hit parry streak? Surviving there alone would already be insane…"
Joseon's Assassin swallowed nervously as he stared at the screen.
This installment had made one-versus-many combat especially difficult.
The reason was coordination.
Whether the developers had truly intended to force stealth gameplay or not, in this game, once mobs grouped together, they moved efficiently.
Once they settled into formation, it became nearly impossible to find openings in their movements.
But the streamer had given them enough time to form up.
The reasonable interpretation was simple arrogance from a beginner.
So why did it still feel like he was going to win?
Joseon's Assassin switched the camera from first-person to third-person and locked it there.
He wanted a better view of the gameplay that felt like it was about to reveal something extraordinary.
[Kill the intruder!]
[There's only one enemy! Do not fear!]
Clank!
Clank!
The sound of metal armor and weapons rang out as the surrounding soldiers attacked the streamer one after another.
Only then did the streamer finally begin moving his feet.
And the cane drew a semicircle.
Kaaaang!
Kaaaang!
Joseon's Assassin's eyes widened.
'How the hell did he parry from that angle? Judging by the account creation date, he's not even a beta tester.'
Impossible.
He had merely swung the cane widely, yet he simultaneously deflected the sword attacking from behind and the blade flying in from the side.
It looked like he had already realized, within that tiny span of time, that successful parries removed recoil from the impact, allowing for smooth chained movements!
After casually knocking down two enemies, the streamer leaned his upper body backward, tilted his head, narrowly avoided blades brushing past him, and slipped through their combo attacks like a tightrope walker.
And then once more—
Kaaaang!
Kaaaang!
One wide swing knocked down two more enemies simultaneously.
'How is he even seeing attacks coming from behind? Is he hacking?'
Thirteen versus one instantly became nine versus one.
Nine versus one became eight versus one.
And eight versus one became six versus one.
-Damn… does he literally have eyes in the back of his head?
-Was the streamer secretly a pro?
-I don't think even pros can do this.
-Besides, if you delete your account you have to wait four years to make another one. Nobody who's experienced VR would quit for that long lol. He really is a newbie.
Even a thirty-thousand-piece puzzle could eventually be completed if you started by fitting the border pieces together one by one.
The streamer fought the same way.
Step by step, dodging what he could dodge, parrying what he could parry, gradually reducing the number of enemies.
'Easy to say.'
Joseon's Assassin thought that anyone capable of surviving even one minute inside that situation should seriously consider making this their profession.
But the streamer went even further.
He would approach groggy enemies and finish them off.
Even while evading coordinated attacks, somehow he would suddenly already be standing beside a fallen enemy.
Smoothly.
Naturally.
As if accidental.
But it was unmistakably intentional play.
-How far ahead are you even seeing?! Greatest assassin in Dawn history!!!!!!
Excited, he typed into chat.
204
After killing the final fallen soldier, Seo-jun looked at the chat window.
-Hope of Musou! Hope of Musou! Hope of Musou! Hope of Musou! Hope of Musou!
-Insane.
-Wow holy crap.
-Am I really allowed to witness something like this with my filthy eyeballs?
-Streamer using hacks?
"Why are you all so surprised over something like this?"
-Then what exactly are we supposed to be surprised by?
-Does anything even surprise you?
"You just dodge what needs dodging and parry what needs parrying."
-No lolololol as if we don't already know that.
-THIS is assassination! THIS is assassination! THIS is assassination! THIS is assassination!
-This stream's gaslighting is getting a little severe.
"Gaslighting? So are you all gonna stop watching then?"
-Nope.
-I already followed.
Oh.
Seo-jun looked at the follower list and was genuinely surprised.
All six current viewers had followed him.
Sure, six people might not sound like much.
But percentage-wise, that was 100%.
It was only possible because the numbers were still small, but it definitely wasn't a bad sign.
"Then… should we go kill Ettore now?"
-"Something about this… feels like he's actually gonna pull it off."
-lololol
Seo-jun walked toward where Ettore was waiting.
As expected of a grand mansion, chandeliers and luxurious furniture stood out everywhere.
Then, as he climbed to the second floor and opened the bedroom door at the center of the mansion, he caught sight of something silver through the gap.
His pupils instantly widened, and he immediately threw his body sideways.
KWAANG!
Ettore, fully prepared, had been waiting for the moment Seo-jun opened the door before bringing down his flail.
The iron ball attached to the end of the weapon smashed apart the door and the floor.
-He dodged that lololol.
-I noticed it when he banned that guy earlier too, but his reaction speed is insane.
-Everyone else dies here at least once.
But Seo-jun immediately rushed forward and slashed at Ettore's throat with his cane.
Only a tiny bit of HP decreased.
"Guys, can you parry flails too?"
-lol he's already trying to one-shot the boss.
-Have some conscience.
-If it worked, somebody would've cleared the tutorial already.
-The devs still have common sense. How do you parry a flail with a cane lolololol
"Kuhahaha! You dodge like a rat! Let me show you the taste of my flail!"
A flail was a weapon where a spiked iron ball was attached to the handle by a chain or rope.
For convenience, people in Korea usually just called it a flail-type mace.
Whoooosh!
Ettore began wildly swinging the flail.
Crash!
Crash!
Seo-jun retreated while the flail demolished innocent railings and walls.
-goat, if you don't kill Ettore within five minutes, reinforcements from the Society arrive and it's an automatic failure.
Seo-jun read the chat and recalled the damage he had dealt earlier.
He quickly concluded that killing Ettore within five minutes was impossible.
But he didn't give up.
After all, unless the developers had created something literally impossible to clear, there had to be a method.
He considered drawing the hidden blade inside the cane and aiming for weak points like the eyes.
Then more messages flooded in.
-Community theory is that hitting the same spot repeatedly increases damage. goat!!
What does "goat" even mean?
"First of all, thanks for the info, I Am Joseon's Assassin."
Increasing damage multipliers?
Well, might as well test it.
Against this type of weapon, the answer was actually to close the distance.
Normally, if an opponent deliberately exploited their HP advantage in combat, getting close would practically be walking into your own grave.
But surprisingly, this game didn't include unrealistic combat behavior like that.
Meaning the soldiers didn't act like, "I have more HP, so I can afford to trade blows with the player."
They moved as though a single hit would kill them.
Just as he thought.
Ettore looked flustered.
Obviously, even if his eye got stabbed with the cane, he wouldn't actually die.
But he didn't understand that fact well enough to exploit it.
A real person would have.
Seo-jun slashed at Ettore's throat while Ettore tried to retrieve his flail from the floor.
Then he grabbed the flail's handle together with Ettore and slashed his throat once more.
A contest of strength began.
The dangerous part of a flail was the spiked iron ball at the end.
But if you grabbed the handle together, force could no longer properly transfer to the head, effectively neutralizing the weapon.
-He grabbed it?
-That happened so fast.
Of course, this only worked if his strength was at least roughly equal to Ettore's.
Seo-jun could feel that his character's preset strength stat was weaker than Ettore's.
So he immediately slashed Ettore's throat again.
Because every time Ettore flinched, his grip weakened slightly.
"Take your hands off my weapon, you assassin dog!"
Ettore tried to kick Seo-jun away.
Before the leg even fully came up, Seo-jun struck Ettore's shin with the cane to interrupt it.
This time, Ettore threw a punch with his free hand.
Seo-jun casually tilted his head aside and dodged.
Slash.
Once more, the cane sliced across Ettore's throat.
The HP bar visibly dropped by a noticeable amount.
"If I just keep doing this, it should work."
-Wow lol.
-Ettore, we're sorry TTTT
-Is that even humanly possible?
Meanwhile, Joseon's Assassin—still watching the stream in third-person view like it was the greatest show of all time—could only continue gasping in admiration.
"He's destabilizing Ettore's strength, dodging every attempt to break free, taking zero hits himself, and slashing the neck dozens of times. This is actually insane! Truly the GOAT!"
What made it even more horrifying was the fact that Seo-jun hadn't even drawn the blade hidden inside the cane.
Other streamers had used everything available—the hidden sword inside the sword stick, the assassination blade in the gauntlet, even the wire—and still failed.
But this streamer was fighting Ettore using only the cane itself.
The cane did have blades embedded in it, but its damage was only half that of the hidden sword and one-third that of the assassination blade.
[It's over.]
Even though Ettore still had one-fifth of his HP remaining, the confident declaration echoed through the speakers.
Since the damage was increasing almost exponentially, maybe the streamer had already calculated that the next strike would kill him.
With skill like that, damage calculation would probably be easy—
[Nope. Guess I need one more hit.]
…Apparently not.
There was something unexpectedly airheaded about him.
[Ahem.]
Finally, Ettore's HP cleanly emptied, and a cutscene began.
[Hypocritical hound of the Assassins! I will not go alone!]
[Tutorial Quest - Assassination Mission]
[Success]
-Isn't this the world's first clear??
-No lolololol I randomly clicked into a tiny stream and ended up witnessing the world-first clear lolololol
-We are witnessing history right now.
After briefly joining the stunned chat in reacting to the genuine first clear, Joseon's Assassin opened an internet window.
Destination:
The Dawn of the Assassins community forum.
Then, together with the recorded stream footage, he began writing a post.
First, the title:
[Video of a newbie whose first stream and first game ever is Dosum clearing the tutorial by parrying 13 vs 1 mobs and becoming the first person in the universe to kill Ettore (Not fake, seriously)]