NOVEL NEXT Chapter 75
Chapter 75
*Swooosh!*
The enemy’s health sharply declined with a successful hit.
Since sword ki wasn’t used, it didn’t decrease much, but still, an advantage was gained.
Sojun prepared to move to capitalize on his momentum.
But at that moment, the opponent suddenly leapt backward.
His concentration was disrupted.
He couldn’t believe the enemy was retreating amidst an exciting battle.
Was he flustered from the attack?
No way.
“Hm?”
Sojun lowered his sword, feeling uncertain.
He hoped it wasn’t true, but somehow he felt his suspicion was correct.
The opponent widened the distance and then suddenly vanished.
At a glance, it seemed that his body naturally merged into the shadow of a large rock nearby.
Considering the rocky and somewhat concave terrain of the canyon map, there were plenty of hiding spots, making it tricky to find him quickly.
That move was quite something.
In front of over 100,000 people.
“Sigh.”
Sojun sighed.
“No, seriously, what is a ranker doing not even checking the interface?”
When a round starts, you can check what key traits the opponent has picked.
His interest plummeted.
-Hahaha
-Tea-bagging time
-If the Streamer-nim had absorption skills, I might’ve excused this strategy, but this is just a joke hahaha
-Disgracing the Unorthodox Faction
-The Streamer-nim doesn’t have health recovery!
He hadn’t expected it at all.
Was this the issue that had been bothering him since earlier? Preparing to run made his attacks strange.
“Sigh.”
Sojun sighed deeply.
Even if he couldn’t check the trait, he should have noticed several signs while fighting that the traits had changed.
“Let’s just rest a bit. Might as well play along.”
This was the consequence of breaking the fun.
-But why couldn’t he dodge that attack earlier?
-I think he just lost his composure
-He was pressing well, though
-Really lol
Had around two minutes passed?
*Swoosh!*
Suddenly, a sound sliced through the air.
Sojun, gauging the direction, turned his body and moved his arm consciously.
Reacting after spotting it would’ve meant getting hit.
A dagger was flying towards him.
*Thud.*
He managed to block it, though just barely.
No follow-up attack came.
Sojun suppressed a laugh.
“He must be quite flustered now, right?”
-Hahaha
-???: Why did he give up searching for me?
-Why hasn’t he checked the interface yet?
-Dumbest of the Unorthodox Faction crowned!
-The Unorthodox Faction, “I’m the early bird!”
The recent attack was likely made with the hope that the battle judgment had been reset.
“Shall I pretend to look for him?”
Sojun walked towards the opposite rock where the dagger had been thrown, starting a performance.
“Oh. Where? Did. The. Dag. ger. Come. From. Here?”
Clearly and loudly.
-No, seriously, who would fall for this?
-If product placements were like this, everyone would notice immediately lol
-This. really. tastes. great!
By now, the enemy should have noticed something strange.
“What’s going on?”
Unrighteous Dignity emerged from a crevice between distant rocks.
“How did you do it? Why aren’t you dying? Surely, time has already passed.”
That’s because.
“I use the Heavenly Demon Ki.”
Having become a true Heavenly Demon through mastering the Heavenly Demon Divine Art, that was close enough to the truth.
“Are you seriously a bug abuser?”
“Yes.”
“Hah. Unbelievable. Well, it’s over for you now.”
Sojun maintained a serious expression, desperately holding back a smile.
-Hahahahaha
-Is he out of his mind?
– He was a somewhat smart and hardworking kid, but now he was acting like a fool.
“Hurry up and finish this. I have a lot of rankers to face.”
“Do as you please.”
Why did he seem relieved?
Perhaps it was the look in his eyes that seemed to underestimate him, as if he expected this.
There was no further conversation.
Sojun waited yet again for the enemy to make the first move, and though Unrighteous Dignity was less desperate than before, he didn’t fight half-heartedly.
Sojun defended himself while occasionally chipping away at his opponent’s stamina, until Unrighteous Dignity finally exhausted all energy and collapsed.
『You have won the duel.』
The best of three one-on-one duel was over.
– Ranked 5th cut through easily!
– But he did look a bit mentally exhausted.
– It wasn’t a complete victory. He was losing at first.
– This is the Streamer-nim, and this is the Heavenly Demon!
– Heaven-Slayer Star is different. He’s different. He’s different.
– Damn, are you trying to hypnotize yourself? Did you place a bet somewhere?
After stepping outside, Sojun immediately started up the game again.
“Next!”
* * *
After about a minute, the third duel match was found.
It was also a high-ranking ranker.
Was this because Unrighteous Dignity opened the gates, or was it always like this?
Then Ark had clearly said four consecutive wins were achievable without difficulty.
This map was a plain field with nothing but grass.
“Hello there.”
‘Hmm.’
Just hearing the greeting told him that the opponent wasn’t normal.
The previous opponent might have been lacking in intelligence stats, but at least he had no quirky persona.
‘Not that I’m one to talk. But no, I do it for the fun of my stream.’
His act was born from professional commitment rather than from personal satisfaction or enjoyment.
At least, that’s what Sojun believed.
He nodded to himself multiple times before looking at the opponent directly.
“Nice to meet you.”
The opponent’s nickname was:『This Isn’t the Martial World』
That name was oddly familiar.
“Were you ranked 6th?”
“That’s correct. It’s an honor that you remember.”
Why should it be an honor?
“Oh, and I saw you posted something on the community board.”
“You saw that?”
Sojun smirked.
“Yeah. You said the volcano of the Mount Hua faction was an inactive volcano, right?”
“……”
“Couldn’t it potentially be an active volcano? Ah, if it were, they couldn’t have formed a martial sect there? Seems like it’s indeed an inactive volcano.”
“……”
Momentarily speechless, “This Isn’t the Martial World” brightened eyes and raised his head.
“Prepare yourself.”
“Sure, come at me. I’ll counter with my Demonic Cult’s deadly Bai-bo Shin Kwon.”
“You!”
“Or perhaps I’ll use the Heavenly Demon’s secret art, the Twenty-Four Plum Blossom Sword Technique to… ”
“Raaah!”
– Lololololol
– What a bad guy, seriously. Hahaha!
– Note: Mount Hua is an inactive volcano…
– Stop beating on the old Martial Techniques traditionalist. Lolol
– Martial arts schools sell burgers at inns, after all!
For some reason, he found this charming.
“Prepare yourself!”
The opponent’s chosen faction was the Green Forest. His weapon was a huge greatsword.
It seemed like the largest weapon seen in For Justice.
With that size, he wondered if their debuffing made them attack at the same speed as he did.
With heavy steps.
The opponent began moving first.
Under the red hue of twilight, the enemy slowly approached, then gradually gained speed.
They came with the might of a rampaging rhinoceros.
Sojun calmly raised his sword in front of him.
Crimson light gleamed on the sword blade plundered from the Demonic Cult that suited his tastes.
“I’ll show you what true Martial Techniques and righteousness are. Come on.”
A gentle breeze swept through.
The map was pleasing.
“Alright. Show me what you’ve got!”
*Haaaaah.*
The bandit, who had approached so closely, braked and placed a foot down, following the inertia.
As he exhaled deeply, he raised the heavy greatsword high to look down upon his target, Sojun.
‘It’s said bandit characters always create large avatars.’
Sojun clicked his tongue and ducked.
Accepting an attack from the Green Forest’s external art trait users equaled a loss.
*Whooooosh!*
The sound of something slicing through the air felt unusually loud.
Perhaps it felt that way because it passed just over the top of his head.
Sojun, with his head lowered, looked up at the enemy who appeared taller.
For a moment, as Sojun prepared for the next attack, “This Isn’t the Martial World,” felt a chilling sensation, as if they had discovered a wild beast just before a hunt.
“Isn’t it my turn this time?”
Sojun focused his mind and infused his sword with inner ki.
A deep bluish energy cloaked Sojun’s sword, giving the illusion of the deep sea flowing through it.
Sword ki.
However, the energy of the Heavenly Demon Divine Art, said to rival that of Aura, began to flow through the blade.
‘It’s beautiful.’
He liked it, yet felt uneasy about representing the martial technique of the Demonic Cult so beautifully.
According to the lore, every aspect of the Demonic Cult should appear somewhat unhinged.
But now he was in the middle of a battle.
“Try dodging this.”
*Swoooosh!*
Sojun swung his sword upward from below.
The deep blue energy soared into the sky.
‘It really performs well.’
It far exceeded the distance that normal sword ki could cover.
It seemed possible to utilize it for long-range attacks.
However, since the amount of inner ki wasn’t infinite, it was best used occasionally to create unforeseen variables.
“Phew. That was dangerous!”
‘Hmm.’
“This Isn’t the Martial World” shouted loudly.
Using Aura didn’t necessarily increase speed.
The trade-off for mastering Aura was its inherent speed.
Thus, “This Isn’t the Martial World” could dodge it by tilting his head back.
‘Not disappointing.’
They merely gauged each other once.
“Then it’s my turn now! Hahaha!”
He seemed excited.
*Thud!*
A greatsword cleaved down in a straight line from above, striking the ground next to Sojun.
The vibration of the earth spread through his body from his feet.
Sojun slightly twisted his body to dodge the greatsword, then swiftly readied his stance, using his sword to sweep up the ground next to him where the blade was lodged.
Gripping the sword with both hands, he raised it high.
“Hah. I’ll go just the same.”
But he seemed excited too.
Emotions transferred.
Sojun grinned, baring his teeth.
*Whoooosh!*
The deep blue sword ki erupted like fire.
He cleaved a straight line from above vertically.
*Thud!*
The ground caved in, and demon energy surged, sweeping the rear meadow of the Battlefield.
Like wildfire spreading across a barley field.
“Again with me!”
*Thud!*
“Now it’s my turn.”
*Thud!*
The ground shook.
Although Sojun’s attack speed was a bit slower, the fact remained that both were characterized by very slow attack speeds.
*Thud!*
Therefore, the attacks didn’t land.
*Thud!*
No matter how brilliant a trick was, if its speed was slow, it was possible to see and dodge it.
If their movement, classified as moving speed, were slower, the Bandit’s attack speed was slow due to his weapon.
*Thud!*
Sojun simply had the skill to never get hit by ordinary attacks.
With a diagonal slash of his sword.
Since “This Isn’t the Martial World” wasn’t being countered, they just drove the massive greatsword into the ground.
Stopping midway seemed more difficult, thus logical.
How brutish of the bandit.
“Haha. Fighting like this, doesn’t it feel like we’ve discovered the true Martial Techniques?”
Does it?
Dirt and weeds scattered into the air, then fell back to the ground, blocking the view.
*Tap-tap-tap.*
Sojun asked as he prepared for the next attack.
“So, do you still think you can keep dodging?”
“I could do this all day!”
“Very well.”
Sojun listened to the answer, accepted it, and lowered his arm.
*Thud!*
-Why do they wait for each other to attack? LOL
-They’re such slow idiots LOL
-This is so romantic LOL
-When did this game turn to turn-based combat?
-Was this the martial world you wanted? Gosh, that’s touching (wiping nose)
-Please, don’t get moved watching such a battle LOL
TL’s Corner:
For those who are confused, Sojun is mocking his opponent by mixing Heavenly Demon’s Secret Art with 24 Plum Blossom Swordsmanship