Chapter 74
CHAPTER 74
Chapter 74
In the martial arts tournament, once a round ended, players were given a short amount of time to change their traits.
Since matchmaking was random, starting the first match at a disadvantage was unavoidable.
That was why they were given a chance to turn things around.
This brief waiting period was an important element that made the tournament more than just a simple physical battle by allowing room for strategy.
-That suppression just now was seriously impressive.
-This is what real skill looks like!
-But seriously, shouldn’t this guy already be a pro?
-I’m too exhausted to even be surprised anymore lol.
-Son just casually crushing veteran streamers.
-Are you sure he really copied Jun’s build?
The enemy’s body lying collapsed in front of him shattered apart, and Seo Jun was likewise summoned back to the starting point.
The next round would begin in two minutes.
“Are you sure he copied Jun’s build?”
Giving a vague response for now, Seo Jun opened the trait window.
-Why’s he opening it?
-Wants us to watch?
-Honestly, if I were him, I’d be nervous too.
Naturally, the viewers assumed Seo Jun wouldn’t be changing his traits.
Even during raid content, he had barely ever changed them, so it wasn’t easy to imagine that he’d suddenly opened the trait window to swap builds.
“Mm, I’m thinking of trying a different trait setup for once. Why change it all of a sudden?”
Seo Jun recalled the Rank 7 player Miyu.
No matter what—
During the waiting time, you had to predict your opponent’s next move.
The rankers knew nearly every famous build and their corresponding counters, so no matter what build you brought, if there were too many overpowered sects that held an advantageous matchup against it, the fight basically became rock-paper-scissors.
Even if the matchup was bad, some people still chose to push through using the build they were most skilled with.
But what if someone who always threw rock suddenly threw scissors?
“They’ll probably assume I won’t change anything, right? So wouldn’t changing it once in a while be effective in situations like this?”
Miyu’s newly introduced strategy wasn’t anything special.
“People will stop trying to counterpick so casually too. Hoho.”
He hoped people wouldn’t misunderstand and think he was changing things out of pure spite. He was doing it because it gave him an advantage.
-That’s disgusting lololololol.
-This is strategy.
-The intellect of a Korean university student!
-Not power, INT lololol.
-Did you finally put points into INT?!
-The rankers are already preparing to run away with huge smiles on their faces!
Seo Jun first selected the detailed traits.
These were things you could choose even without taking a core trait.
For example, options like increasing basic attack power.
These had only a minor influence on gameplay and were purely a matter of personal preference.
-The old man’s picking a build again.
-Wonder what cursed masterpiece build he’s bringing this time.
-If you’re wondering where the term “build” came from—
-Hold up! Let him cook!
“Ah. Everyone, I’m going with something orthodox this time.”
Seo Jun’s fingertip moved toward the core trait at the very end of the branch.
[Incomplete Heavenly Demon Divine Art.]
“I want to experiment with this a little.”
The Heavenly Demon Divine Art was a martial art mainly used by the Heavenly Demon, an unparalleled divine technique.
Naturally, since the Demonic Cult existed in the game’s lore, the developers had included it too, but it generally wasn’t chosen by players.
Its in-game effect was that every action involving internal energy became strengthened to the highest level.
When sword energies collided, it devoured the enemy’s sword aura, and if you gathered internal energy into your feet while using movement arts and stomped down, you could even deal area damage.
There were many elements that truly fit the setting of an unrivaled divine technique.
But there was a problem.
Specifically, the modifier attached in front of Heavenly Demon Divine Art.
-I was wondering why he hadn’t used the Heavenly Demon build until now.
-So he’s finally bringing out the Heavenly Demon Divine Art...
: I swore I’d never use this.
-My condolences…
-I’m curious what penalty he’s gonna pick lololol.
Incomplete.
Because of the setting that the cultivation method had not been properly passed down, choosing Heavenly Demon Divine Art forced you to also select a penalty.
“Well, that’s just how Demonic Cult stuff usually is.”
Seo Jun thought the balancing was pretty clever.
People absolutely hated these penalties.
“So then, what should I pick?”
There was a term called a glass cannon.
A combination of “glass” and “cannon,” referring to something with the destructive power of a cannon but the fragility of glass—high damage, terrible durability.
If you selected the Heavenly Demon’s first penalty, you could experience exactly what that felt like.
[Division of the Body.]
Apparently it was related to an unstable physique or something.
If you chose this trait, a single hit could send you into a near-death state.
Since even recovery techniques like Absorption Arts couldn’t properly heal you, Demonic Cult rankers almost never picked this unless the skill gap was overwhelming.
“The second one… I still haven’t tried it personally, so I’m debating.”
The second trait was even more absurd.
[Slowing of Cognition.]
A side effect of incomplete demonic arts.
Even in his previous life, countless Demonic Cult newbies would read that description, think, ‘Wait, is my brain gonna become stupid?’ and end up causing disasters.
And considering the kind of reputation Demonic Cult players had, that reaction was understandable.
Of course, your cognition didn’t literally slow down.
Instead, it slowed your body.
In other words, selecting this made your body feel heavy and difficult to control freely.
It was easiest to think of it as a permanent Slow debuff.
“But I heard it’s not to the point where you can’t fight at all, right?”
Apparently the description compared it to moving at the maximum speed you could produce while completely drained of strength and swinging a sword.
-Seo Jun, normal people consider that ‘unable to fight.’
-Just take the glass body and avoid getting hit even once.
-With your skill, dodging everything actually seems possible.
-Unless you’re seriously into suffering, don’t pick the second one.
-Even watching that trait is frustrating lololol.
…
“One minute left. Should I think about it a little more?”
Seo Jun lowered his hand and turned fully toward the waiting room.
-One minute isn’t enough time?
-Not thinking about the other detailed traits?
-Again, we’re the only ones dying from frustration.
Seo Jun grinned brightly and said,
“Actually, I already saved it as a preset.”
“A preset,” simply put, was a convenience feature that let you save settings in advance and load them whenever you wanted.
-So that whole thing was bait all along?? lolol
-What kind of debuff did he pick?
-His preparation is insane.
-So even the detailed setup explanation was bait too.
-Watch it turn out he only picked Heavenly Demon Divine Art!
Seo Jun smirked and selected the preset.
How much time was left again?
“The Heavenly Demon Divine Art part is true.”
The saved settings appeared, revealing the debuff Seo Jun had chosen.
[Slowing of Cognition]
“I’ll show you what a true heavy sword is.”
[The game will begin in 10 seconds.]
-What kind of masochistic tendency is this?
-Why does he enjoy suffering lol?
-I’m looking forward to this.
-What’s a heavy sword?
Seo Jun didn’t move a single step from the starting point and slowly swung his arm.
The starting zone wasn’t exactly a safe zone, but before immediately facing the enemy outside, he first needed to adapt to his body under the effects of the trait.
Along with the silent countdown, Seo Jun swung his arm from left to right with as much force as possible.
Fwoooosh.
The tip of the sword reached its endpoint noticeably slower than usual.
“It’s faster than swinging underwater, but a little slower than swinging while exhausted.”
As he adapted to the strange sensation of the air resistance intensifying every time he moved, Seo Jun continued speaking.
-Have you actually swung a sword underwater before?
-What kind of training have you done in real life…?
-Was there even a game where you could swing swords underwater?
-Probably not lol. If the setting was underwater, people would just use spears instead lol.
Fwoosh.
Fwoosh.
There was barely any difference between swinging lightly while exhausted and consciously putting strength into it.
“Hm, it’s much better than I expected.”
Seo Jun stepped out from the rocky starting area.
Step. Step.
Thankfully, movement speed remained unchanged.
“So only attack speed was affected.”
Apparently, using movement arts made him even faster.
Since it involved internal energy, he benefited from the effects of the Heavenly Demon Divine Art.
Passing through a gap between the rocks, he spotted vegetation ahead—and his enemy beyond it.
“Come at me once more.”
Seo Jun clasped one hand behind his back and raised his sword before his eyes.
This time, Banking5, Dignity of the Unorthodox, didn’t recklessly rush in like before and instead chose to approach slowly.
He was being far more cautious now.
The pressure between them had deepened.
Seo Jun quietly waited.
Moving first would be a mistake.
When the distance narrowed enough that an outstretched arm could reach him, Dignity of the Unorthodox suddenly accelerated and swung his sword, and Seo Jun blocked it.
Clang!
The battle between overwhelming attack speed and overwhelming slowness began.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
The enemy moved like a rapier fencer, stabbing and slashing around Seo Jun from left, right, and center at incredible speed.
Meanwhile, Seo Jun defended at a sluggish pace, moving his sword along the simplest and cleanest paths possible to avoid taking damage.
Naturally, his movements became increasingly minimized.
In contrast, the enemy grew more frantic and aggressive, moving faster and faster in obvious contrast to Seo Jun.
Grinding his teeth, pushing his speed to its limits.
-Wow, the speed difference should be huge, but honestly I can barely feel it.
-Still, all he can do is defend.
-Use sword aura!
-Is he forgetting about sword aura? Heavenly Demon Divine Art buffs internal energy!
Kagagak!
The enemy pressed down on Seo Jun’s sword with his own blade braced by both hands.
Skreeeek!
But Seo Jun’s eyes gleamed faintly.
There was a thrill hidden in the slight instability permitted by the system.
It was tingling.
The attack speed felt even slower than expected. Maybe the effect was amplified because the opponent specialized in speed.
“Whatever the reason, this is good.”
While Seo Jun felt delighted every time their swords clashed, the enemy, despite continuously landing attacks, showed no sign of confidence.
If anything, he looked extremely wary.
Because—
“He’s looking for timing.”
But timing for what?
“He’s pressing aggressively, but he’s not stepping deeply inside.”
Seo Jun’s eyes analyzed every detail of the enemy moment by moment.
The instant movements entering his vision, the placement of his feet, the angle of his elbows, the motion of his wrists.
And even while analyzing all of that, he gradually discarded every unnecessary movement possible and adapted to this restrained style of combat.
To this current speed.
To this controlled combat method.
Clang.
The swords collided and separated.
While fully focused on defense, Seo Jun suddenly discovered a hidden opening within the neat gaps between exchanges.
An opening he could slip into and split apart even with an incorrect speed.
Seo Jun was not the type to miss such cracks.
The soft movement born from a solid center ensured he wouldn’t let that opening escape.
Seo Jun’s sword slowly moved.
No—
It looked as though it were moving slowly.
Even though it actually wasn’t that slow.
Speed was relative.
Up until now, Seo Jun had unintentionally distorted everyone’s sense of speed through efficient minimal movements, while his assassin-type opponent possessed the fastest base attack speed possible.
And now the viewers were watching those two swords intertwine.
The moment their eyes became completely focused on Seo Jun’s sword, the viewers felt it.
Slow.
Seo Jun’s sword, now drawing a large arc, looked unbearably slow.
And because of that—
The viewers naturally began to wonder:
“Then why can’t he dodge that sword?”