Master Swordsman’s Stream - Chapter 132

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 132

Six-thirty was quitting time.
The same held true for Lios’s operations team.
But instead of heading home, Lee Young-joo and Kim Joo-hwan made their way to the Meeting Room, their arms full of snacks they’d grabbed from the supply closet.
The Meeting Room.
There was already popcorn and drinks on the desk, which they added to their snack haul.
For the record, they had permission.
“Let’s see who’s right.”
Lee Young-joo was confident.
“Yeah, you’ll see. You’ll see that I’m the one who’s correct.”
“Goodness.”
Lee Young-joo picked up the popcorn box in front of her, held it in her lap, and dug in with her hand.
Crunch-crunch.
Grabbing a handful, she munched away happily and urged him to start.
Kim Joo-hwan pulled up Traval on the large monitor in front of them.
“I always feel like we’re in a movie theater. It’s really nice.”
People at Lios often watched things like this.
The chair was a bit uncomfortable—she’d love to put her feet up on the desk, but if they got caught, she’d hear it: “Is this your living room?”
Lee Young-joo sighed at the thought and sank deeper into her chair.
“The streamers have gathered, haven’t they? How many viewers are there?”
Point.
A famous organization in Traval.
Starting with Yun-ho, who was almost a corporation unto himself, the core members who’d grown alongside him had all become mid-tier streamers.
Their influence was inevitable.
“Seo Jun has 22,000 viewers. Yun-ho has 45,000. Rumi has 17,000. Those three are the biggest right now. If we add up the rest, it’s roughly 150,000 total.”
Lios’s average viewer count is 300,000.
“150,000 is half of that? Point really does have a lot. Though there are four non-Point streamers.”
To be fair, that 300,000 refers to viewers watching through the official account.
Lios had no treaty banning broadcasts during tournaments, so the actual number of users watching Lios was probably closer to a million.
Essentially everyone who came into the League category would watch the tournament.
In any case.
Lee Young-joo continued.
“With this many people watching Seo Jun’s skill, everyone will acknowledge our decision to place him in tier A.”
150,000 was more than enough.
Plus, it was good publicity for the tournament beforehand.
“No, why are you talking like it’s already decided? His opponent is a Challenger, you know. You don’t know Spoon?”
Though he only had 4,000 viewers, Spoon was a streamer well-known for his skill as a Challenger ADC.
Had he possessed only talent for entertainment, he might’ve become a mid-tier streamer through the reputation and viewership he’d accumulated.
“Yes, I know. So if Spoon is that skilled, then even if Seo Jun ends up in the mid-lane, you’ll acknowledge him as tier A if he wins, right?”
“Even a draw, I’d acknowledge.”
“Good.”
Crunch-crunch.
Lee Young-joo stuffed popcorn into her mouth.
This popcorn and this moment weren’t for the scrimmage itself.
They were for witnessing the moment when Kim Joo-hwan proved wrong and she proved right.
The streamers finished their introductions, and the scrimmage began.
Meanwhile, Kim Joo-hwan—who’d grabbed his own popcorn specifically to watch Lee Young-joo’s comeuppance—raised a question.
“Wait? He’s picking Kaela? Did Spoon not hear the briefing?”
When Seo Jun plays Kaela, judgment becomes difficult.
One game wouldn’t matter much, but if the briefing truly hadn’t gotten through?
“Yun-ho must’ve explained it properly. He’s been doing this for years.”
Fortunately, that turned out to be true.
When Seo Jun’s turn came, he didn’t pick Kaela.
Rather.
“Erik?”
“He doesn’t wield a sword. To be honest, I think I could’ve won even if it was Kaela.”
If he pushes that point, it gets a bit annoying. Even if he’s a one-trick Kaela player, a win is a win.
“But Erik, huh. The answer’s clear. B!”
“Ah, come on.”
“B!”
“Why are you being so childish about this!”
“Hahaha! B!”
Erik’s performance was poor to begin with, and it was a hero with entirely different qualities from the playstyle he’d demonstrated so far.
Kim Joo-hwan felt confident, and Lee Young-joo prayed.
Then the confrontation began in the mid-lane.
Seo Jun’s first auto-attack smashed into his opponent.
Kim Joo-hwan began his analysis.
“The range sense seems quite excellent.”
“Scared?”
“That’s ridiculous.”
After some time, Spoon dashed, and a chain was shot at that location.

[Thump!]

“Huh?”
“Huh?”
“Could he be winning?”
“Could he? Obviously.”
And then came the remarkable distance control.
“Wait, what?”
“Isn’t it obvious who’s dominating here? Still B?”
“Just wait, just a moment.”
Spoon’s bullets vanish right before Seo Jun’s nose.
“Still?”
“Mm-hmm.”
And then Spoon engaged.
That’s when it began.
Kim Joo-hwan went speechless.

[Chain of Destruction]

Spoon was hit by the hidden skill.
“Still?”

[Chain of Destruction]

He’s hit by a skill flying from behind Seo Jun.
“Still?”

[Chain of Destruction]

And finally, as he tried to escape, Spoon died at his destination.

[First Blood!]

“Still?”
Kim Joo-hwan couldn’t speak.

* * *

[Wow, First Blood! That’s insane! How is he Kim Tae-woo’s friend?]
[No, really? What did he do? A solo kill!]
[Jungle, you helped him, didn’t you?]
[I did not.]
[Everyone, thank you for the support.]

The moment Seo Jun secured the solo kill without any help from his teammates, cheers erupted.
He’d won the pure one-on-one lane matchup. Against a Challenger.
Many people still didn’t know Seo Jun well.
And the streamers were only human.
It wasn’t strange that they worried about the mid-laner.
What if Yun-ho’s new recruit didn’t perform well here and got flamed? They’d thought.
Even if Yun-ho had introduced him as highly skilled, his opponent was a Challenger after all. But the result proved otherwise.

-Told you? He’s just Challenger-level
-This is the first game, right? He’s utilizing Erik incredibly well
-What’s the Erik usage pattern?
-No clue!
-Reiterating: Erik has the lowest pick rate. Few people have information about it……
-Out of 22,000 viewers, there’s not a single person who knows?

If that was true, it would be quite surprising.
Seo Jun returned to the Altar, the starting point, by calling up the interface and pressing the recall button.
After his body was uninterrupted for 5 seconds, he was teleported to the Altar.
Here, health and skill resources were recovered.
For reference, Erik had no such resource restrictions, so he was relatively free.
Here, he could also spend the Gold earned by killing Minions and securing kills to buy Runes.
Since he hadn’t accumulated enough Gold to buy Runes yet, Seo Jun recovered his slightly damaged health and immediately returned to the lane.
The return time was short, and during that time Seo Jun read the chat.

-Isn’t this guy’s magic not pre-determined? He sets up a Magical Circle and shoots the chain after seeing the enemy
-Oh. There’s that usage too? Erik’s pretty good?
-If that’s the case, then anyone could play Erik like that ㅋㅋㅋ Since you can decide later anyway, what’s 3 seconds for? ㅋㅋㅋ
-Real talk ㅋㅋㅋ
-I’m genuinely confused because no one’s explaining Erik ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

Ah.
The tragedy of an unpopular hero.
Seo Jun had also struggled while parsing Erik the previous day—there simply weren’t many guides.
For the record, Erik isn’t called a braindead champion. After all, if a hero earns that name, there needs to be at least some users who can’t play him.
“I’ll explain for you. Basically, Erik can only deal full damage with one chain at any given timing. If two chains are shot at the same spot and the enemy gets hit, one of them does only one-tenth damage.”
A “timing” refers to 0.5 seconds.
Chains shot at the same location within that window don’t have much effect even if they connect.
“Think of it this way: when Erik ambushes from hiding, all the damage applies.”
It’s a skill with high damage precisely because it’s hard to land, and ambushing is an almost guaranteed form of attack.
If the damage reduction didn’t exist, a single ambush could result in instant death.
“And when the skill hits the user himself, the damage comes in at double.”
The few Erik users that existed hated this enormously.

-Sorry, just hearing about it sounds terrible
-I didn’t know he took damage too ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-After watching the Boss play Erik, any desire I had to play him just vanished

Seo Jun returned to the lane, and his Experience rose.
In AOS, you gain Experience when nearby Minions die, when you secure kills, or when you kill monsters in the Jungle.
In League, you can become stronger by leveling up, and typically every 5 levels, a skill gets significantly enhanced.
At level 6, you learn your Ultimate.
Seo Jun had already reached level 5.
“For the record, Erik can use 3 Magical Circles from level 5 onward.”
Damage increases and numbers multiply.
‘Hmm.’
Seo Jun approached the Minions while glancing to the side.
The enemy Jungle was hiding in the Bush beside the mid-lane, waiting for a chance at Seo Jun.
Thanks to the Ward that Mal-lang, his team’s Jungle, had preemptively placed in the Bush—a Ward that revealed nearby vision when installed—Seo Jun and his teammates could confirm the enemy’s position.

[Enemy Jungle’s coming mid. Seo Jun, I’ll be there soon, so be careful for now.]

Do-gam. A high Diamond streamer.
Someone who would easily merit a B if he appeared in Lios.
If Do-gam weren’t that skilled, Spoon wouldn’t have called him—he’d only be a liability.
But Spoon, having suffered a solo kill, called for Do-gam.

-He’s waiting for ganking
-Seems like he wanted to catch him the moment he arrived
-Yeah, that’s a Ward
-Mal-lang placed the Ward to look out for Seo Jun, and now it’s working this way ㅋㅋㅋ
-Just don’t go out, right?

Since Seo Jun sensed the enemy Jungle’s presence, he just needed to stay away from the Tower.
If the Jungle stays pinned and accomplishes nothing in mid, that’s a massive loss for them.
Alternatively, he could bait them while waiting for Mal-lang to arrive.
That’s the importance of Wards.
Knowing the enemy’s location allows for smoother counterplay.
But Seo Jun moved forward as if he didn’t know.
“Let’s push the lane.”
What Seo Jun meant was:
He’d wait for the enemies to come in on their own.
Spoon also arrived at the lane just in time.
And Do-gam immediately began moving.

* * *

The moment Do-gam reached the lane, he rushed to help Spoon, who’d initiated a fight.
‘Didn’t he say not to give him time to think ahead?’
He accelerates the timing, striking before they can predict and prepare.
Magical Circles began forming in sequence around Seo Jun.
Above, to the side, behind.
Bang, bang!
Seo Jun, who’d deflected Spoon’s second attack, immediately turned to look behind him.
In that instant.
Whoosh.
The Magical Circle hovering above, looking down, shot its chain straight at his location.
‘How? I wasn’t even looking back.’
Thud!
Do-gam, struck in the body, was taken aback, but.
‘No matter how absurd, he told me to just do my job, right?’
Recalling Spoon’s request, he prepared his Skill.
Do-gam’s hero was Sand Binding, the Sand Mummy of the desert.

[Sand Binding]

A soft sound.
He concentrated the sand pouring from his body at Seo Jun’s legs, gathering it into a spear-like form in the empty air before launching it.
At the same time, Spoon attacked.
Thump!
A second chain shot from the Magical Circle that had appeared beside and struck his body.
So far, 2 seconds.
‘When will the third one appear?’
The third Magical Circle had formed behind Spoon, so Do-gam caught his breath.
Seo Jun evaded the sand spear instead of blocking Spoon’s two hits, and as the spear Spoon launched pierced Seo Jun’s foot, it shattered into sand.
But instead of scattering outward, the sand clumped around Seo Jun’s feet and adhered firmly to the ground.
A skill that restricts movement for 3 seconds.
“Got him!”
Do-gam and Spoon began attacking Seo Jun from front and back, and the third Magical Circle behind Spoon activated.

[Chain of Destruction]

The sound of chains dragging across the ground, and Spoon fired bullets at Seo Jun while rolling to the side.
‘Nice!’
Do-gam also gathered sand and launched an attack.
But then.
Whoooosh!
“Huh?”
The third chain passed Spoon and Seo Jun, flying directly at him.
‘It was aimed at me from the start?’
Or just coincidence?
Maybe he could survive by a hair’s breadth?
Thud!
Right then.
Do-gam saw Seo Jun, without even turning to look behind him, angle his hand backward and aim a mana orb at him.
“Damn!”
Bang!

[Sword Spirit has defeated Do-gam!]

* * *

‘Damn.’
As Seo Jun’s Magical Circles increased by one, control itself shouldn’t become more difficult.
But what’s this?
Magical Circles generate in all directions at 1-second intervals, shooting chains.
‘Detecting this is frustratingly hard.’
Could he really be accounting for all of it?
No, of course not, that’s why he’s doing this.
Spoon lowered his head.
As he tried to attack, the next chain was shot precisely at the face level he’d ducked to.
He threw his body sideways, barely dodging.
The chain, with its sharpened tip, lodged threateningly in the ground.
And then.
Whoooosh!
Without respite, the next chain was shot at where he’d evaded.
In normal Erik combat, the Chain of Destruction didn’t work like this.
Usually, Erik users face their opponents and use range to fire in one direction from the front.
You only had to worry about the front.
And when Erik users get access to 3 Magical Circles, they aim in three directions at once, hoping at least one hits—they don’t fire relentlessly at 1-second intervals.
But now Seo Jun was practically hugging him, summoning Magical Circles from every point within a 2-meter radius.
Bang, bang!
Blocking two hits while.
Firing ceaselessly at 1-second intervals.
Spoon scrambled to dodge chains coming from all directions.
Not a single Magical Circle seemed improvised—every one carried prediction.
This was terror.
Just seeing and evading made his head spin, yet here was someone deliberately constructing continuous combat like this?
Predicting his every movement?

[Chain of Destruction]

Whoooosh!
Another chain erupted from nowhere, and Spoon finally felt his limit. He used a Skill for evasion.
Stepping outside the range of Seo Jun’s Magical Circle generation, determined to only watch the front.

[Quick Shot]

Whoooosh!
The chain passes through the empty space where Spoon had been.
He’d dodged.
But the chain wasn’t aimed at him—it struck a Minion.
The Minion, having low health, died.
And from the information floating above Seo Jun’s head, Spoon confirmed that he’d reached level 6.
His Ultimate.

[Release]

A Skill that, for approximately 3 seconds, extends the Magical Circle generation range to 10 meters and multiplies the count to 20.
Behind the now-distant Spoon, Magical Circles form. At maximum range.
Looking ahead, he realized they didn’t form only behind.
20 Magical Circles formed a dome centered on Spoon and Seo Jun, encircling them.
‘I can’t dodge this.’
He had no confidence he could escape.
If any other Erik user deployed their Ultimate like this, he’d just laugh and call them an idiot.
Why not line them up in a row instead? And what waste, using all 20 at once. Only one chain matters no matter how many land.
But now Spoon felt, 3 seconds hence, his death was certain.
He gave up moving. No matter how he moved, he’d be predicted anyway, so he made a fatalistic choice to simply stand still.
‘Haha. He summoned so many around him, so he’ll take at least one hit himself, right?’
Thereafter.
Thud!
3 seconds passed, and twenty chains shot from twenty Magical Circles all at once, scorching the radius.
Precisely avoiding the spot where Seo Jun stood.

* * *

[Double Kill!]

And immediately after.
In an office somewhere in Seoul, a voice more cheerful than any other time rang out.
“Still? Really? Huh?”
And posts exploded across the League community.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————