Master Swordsman’s Stream - Chapter 252

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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 252

The battle against Paine, a humanoid skeleton standing roughly seven and a half feet tall, was far from easy.
“Ah, got me! Sorry about that!”
Avoiding attacks was proving difficult.
Even simply dodging swings and thrusts came with a steep difficulty curve.
It wasn’t because of his massive frame moving with deceptive speed, nor because of the Greatsword’s length alone.
Boom!
The Death Knight had merely swung his Greatsword left to right, yet energy erupted forward for five meters with a thunderous explosion.
‘Range is the problem.’
The boss wasn’t difficult because he struck with some mystical finesse or cunning technique.
It was simply that the creator had set different baseline ranges—that alone made it hard.
Crash!
When the boss drove his sword into the ground, a second later the area around him erupted in concentric rings of energy radiating from the blade.
Anyone caught in that blast would have lost at least seventy percent of their health.
For Seo Jun and Ppoppi, fighting at close range meant inevitable DPS losses whenever such attacks forced them to back away, even briefly.
Yet ranged wasn’t a clear advantage either.
“Now!”
Geomsin119, playing support, had a bit more leeway and called out the moment each Magic Circle spawned.
Once every ten seconds.
They quickly checked the Floor Tile’s position.
The Floor Tiles usually didn’t appear near the boss, so the ranged players had to watch carefully.
And then.
This time, Paine raised his sword and gathered power for two seconds before unleashing a crescent-shaped Sword Energy.
The range was vast. The targets were the ranged players standing far away.
In short, the Raid was equally punishing for everyone.
“Damn! Apologies!”
Dang So got hit.
His health dropped below forty percent, but that wasn’t the real problem.

-This is it
-That’s the third hit, right?
-Seriously this difficulty is absolutely brutal lmao
-This is ridiculous

Seo Jun spoke up.
“Should we Retry?”
“Let’s keep going for now. We’ve already gotten ten percent down.”
From two hours and thirty minutes of attempts, they had learned plenty.
First.
They couldn’t let the boss land three successful hits outside of the Floor Tiles.
The reason was simple and crucial.
A massive sword erupted from the ground.
The one they’d fought in Phase One had been held by the Four Kings, so this was a new one.
The shape of this newly risen blade was identical to the last.
Soon it locked onto a target from midair and shot toward them.
It wasn’t moving at incredible speed.
Plenty of time to dodge. The trajectory was straightforward, locked in midair before approaching in a straight line—almost easy, really.
Whoooosh!
Unless they were busy fighting the boss right now.
Crash!
The massive frame moved fluidly as it swung, and Sword Energy scattered outward.
Seo Jun dodged easily.
The pattern was simple: one attack followed by Sword Energy projectiles in four directions.
But not everyone could manage it.
“Oh no, I got hit again.”
“That’s two! And now—”
Geomsin119 delivered two briefings at once.
The first was the number of hits remaining before another sword spawned.
A new sword was summoned every third hit. They hadn’t confirmed it themselves, but they’d already observed up to the fifth sword’s appearance.
The second was the Floor Tile callout.
Seo Jun quickly checked the Floor Tile’s location through his Observer, positioned himself, and activated Double Strike.
His blade swept left to right, then right to left in sync with the skill, carving into the skeleton’s body and draining its health.
When the skeleton’s next attack came, it passed precisely where Seo Jun had been standing.
Then the Floor Tile detonated.
Of course, Seo Jun’s position was safe.

-Wow, the captain is genuinely a Hardcore Skilled Party player
-Seemed like it from the start lmao
-That’s not really fair to say
-But zero hits taken, right?
-Still zero hits taken? That’s absolutely insane lololololololol
-hahahaha anyone who hasn’t watched the captain’s stream would never believe this. Zero hits on this Raid?

As health decreased, the Gimmick began.
The eighty-percent Gimmick required six members to stand at 1 o’clock, 3 o’clock, 5 o’clock, 7 o’clock, 9 o’clock, and 11 o’clock respectively, dodge falling Black Crystal icicles from the ceiling, and Counter the attacks from new Clones appearing at each position.
If even one person failed the Counter, it meant a total wipe.
And getting hit by falling Black Crystals triggered a three-second Stun.
The armored Death Knight gathered power in the center, gripping his sword with both hands and raising it overhead.
They were inside the vast inner chamber of an Airship.
The party members observed the color of the Aura wrapping around boss Paine.

“It’s black!”
If black, the Clones would attack starting from 1 o’clock, moving clockwise.
If red, they’d start from 11 o’clock, moving counterclockwise.
If this weren’t fixed and was random, the Raid would be genuinely unbeatable.
Seo Jun, standing at 1 o’clock, nimbly stepped in front of the Paine Clone that appeared at the map’s outer edge and Countered its attack.
Single Slash.
Ring!
Now the Black Crystals were beginning to reach the ground.
The 1 o’clock and 11 o’clock positions could execute their Counters with almost no worry about the Black Crystals, and the reason Seo Jun took this easiest spot was deliberately to help his teammates improve.

-Let’s go!
-This falling rock pattern is also perfectly punishing lmao
-But since one sword already spawned, I think we’re done this run too
-This is hopeless……

The chat was right.
Tae-woo at 3 o’clock dodged the shower of falling rocks while executing his Counters.
But Ppoppi at 5 o’clock, trying to avoid the flying sword, got hit by falling debris and failed his Counter.
And the result?
The Paine Clone slammed its Greatsword onto the map where they stood, and the terrain shook violently.
And then.
Following that tremor, the consequence of failing the pattern cast a shadow over their heads.
A massive Black Crystal blanketed the entire map as it fell.
Boom!
The screen went dark with an ear-splitting sound.
Two hours and thirty minutes of repeated Raid failure.
“I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve said this, but it’s really tough. Ha. No worries, though.”
Seo Jun shrugged. He’d anticipated this outcome, so there was no agitation.
His teammates felt the same.
Tae-woo spoke with a rueful grin.
“So how many times did you get hit because it’s so hard?”
“Hmm……”
“You still haven’t taken a single hit, have you? Wow, seriously. Yeah, I believe in you—one week after you promote, you’ll come back and clear this for us! Man, this is brutally difficult. And here’s this guy who doesn’t take a single hit through it all.”
“Exactly.”
The teammates chuckled together.
Despite the repeated failures, they suffered no significant setback.
Why?
“So everyone else is still on Phase One?”
“Oh. A party that cleared it just showed up.”
“They’re gonna suffer just like we are. Phew.”
Because of the current situation.
No matter how much they’d been shown the patterns in advance, mastering them was another matter entirely.
Solving Gimmicks?
They’d only managed the first Gimmick so far.
“Ha.”
It was precisely the moment when prioritizing pattern perfection and putting Gimmicks on the back burner proved to be the perfect strategy.

-The fact that we haven’t even researched the second gimmick yet is such a huge advantage, so please laugh for our lucky captain lmao
-Can’t ignore getting the advantage lololol
-Nice! Late arrivals are catching up! Be careful!
-For real
-The second party isn’t to be underestimated. They’re doing pretty well. No Leaking Information and almost perfect execution on the mechanics

And then it happened.
The moment news reached Seo Jun’s ears.

-????
-Hold on
-That’s a bit cocky, isn’t it?
-Hmm lmao
-I’m staying out of this one

What were they all looking at?
“Everyone, what’s wrong?”
“What is it, Seo Jun?”
“Is something the matter?”
“I’m not sure yet either. One moment.”
Seo Jun waited for the chat to catch up.
There were no secrets between them anyway.
And soon enough, he learned the truth.

-Says they’ll go straight at it without any distortion lmaooo
-Captain, you gonna let them through?
-Let’s go!
-Captain you dying? Declaration incoming!
-Anyone distorting things, please leave lololol
-Anyway, a pretty strong Provocation came in

To summarize: a streamer party had cleared second and mentioned them.
‘Intentional, then.’
Seo Jun currently had 100,000 viewers.
The number wouldn’t stay at 100,000 until the Raid clear—this was the absolute peak—but it was definitely corporate-tier viewership nonetheless.
If they mentioned him deliberately to draw attention, then later proved themselves with a First Clear…
‘That’d work out well for them.’
He didn’t know what kind of person the streamer Tteuper was, but aside from a few words that came on strong, it was something he could just let slide. No anger rose in him.
Actually, he found it amusing.
Seo Jun had grown through drawing Aggro as well.
“Ah, I see. Looks like someone mentioned our party.”
Tae-woo, who’d caught on after reading the chat like Seo Jun, relayed the situation to the raid group.
“Is this a proper Race, then?”
“Siksik Corner. They said they’d beat us.”
“Heh heh. Hehehehe.”
“Um, when you laugh like that it’s kind of scary, Dad.”
Tae-woo swept his arm up and down theatrically while looking at Seo Jun.
The raid members did the same.
They waited to see how he’d react.
Seo Jun simply smiled softly and spoke.
“Let’s not mind it and just focus on what we’re doing. It’s not like we can have a Guild War anyway.”
It fell short of their expectations.
“Got it!”
“I’m 119, following the captain all the way.”
“Is it just me, or is he scarier like this?”

-Tae-woo we feel you lmao
-Why’s he laughing

* * *

After the second party cleared Phase One at 10:30 PM, dozens of more parties cleared it over the next hour and a half.
For average gamers, Phase Two was still out of reach, but those confident enough to enter the Race had crossed over without exception.
They shared one distinctive trait.
Non-streamer parties made verification posts.
Streamer parties sent video messages.
They all gave shout-outs to or provoked Seo Jun’s raid group.
They were the strongest competitors, having cleared two and a half hours earlier.
And since the second-place streamer’s provocation had drawn no particular response, they did it for fun—and genuine competitive spirit too.
And by midnight, Seo Jun’s party succeeded on the second Gimmick as well, pushing through to forty percent health.

[40%! Almost there! Insane!]
==
Record-breaking difficulty for sure, but these guys are something else.
==

-Info) The captain still hasn’t leaked Information. Probably waiting until he’s figured out every Gimmick before breaking the seal.
└For real lmao
└That’s the smart play

[Other parties’ status]
==
Just still dying left and right lololololololololololololololololololololol
==

-Still, now that the second gimmick’s solution is out there, everyone should be able to get through easier
-Once you get the hang of it, it clicks real quick
└But it’s so hard you can’t get the hang of it!

[The Geomsin Story]
==
Still!
Still!
Still hasn’t taken a hit!!!!
Not even one!!!!
==

-This guy’s insane this guy’s insane this guy’s insane
-They’re definitely getting First Clear
└We don’t know that yet?
└Honestly the raid members seem slightly weaker than other groups lmao
└There’s still Information to leak
└And they’re still in the lead right now anyway

[First Clear coming at dawn? I’m not sleeping lmao everyone’s done for]
[Tteuper <–this bastard's party also hit 40%!]
==
Only one person behind and barely made it, but they're catching up! Run faster, Geomsin.
==

-Overall skill level still has a pretty wide gap
└But they did catch up anyway, right?
-Geomsin might lose lmao
-We'll make it happen.

Everyone celebrated Seo Jun's raid reaching the third Gimmick, delighted in the intensifying competition, and eagerly anticipated the First Clear.
It was then that Seo Jun spoke.
"Alright. We're heading to bed now."

-What? Out of nowhere?
-Throw away First Clear? Throw it away? Throw it away?
-Pull an all-nighter to study and it's still not enough, but you're gonna sleep early???

"So listen up. I'm telling this to every party attempting First Clear. We're going to sleep and coming back at 8 AM. If you haven't cleared by then?"
Seo Jun issued this declaration to all parties racing for First Clear.
"Then we're definitely getting First Clear tomorrow. See you."
Their current strongest rivals would vanish for eight whole hours.
"Jun, what's this about? Normally when a Raid looked like it'd be a long haul, you said you'd sleep at 3 AM anyway."
After ending the stream, Tae-woo spoke, and Seo Jun replied with a grin.
"If I sleep at 3, everyone else will follow and sleep too. But if I sleep now?"
"Oh! Wow. So you really were bothered by that provocation they threw at you?"
Tae-woo caught on immediately.
He was the friend who knew Seo Jun's nature best.
Seo Jun had determined that other parties couldn't clear even if they pulled all-nighters. So he was going to sleep.
But based on the current pace, it wasn't certain enough to guarantee to others yet.
Tae-woo murmured.
"If we'd said we were sleeping at 3, by that time even if some of them were pulling all-nighters and saw it was hopeless, they'd just go to bed too. But now that we're saying we're sleeping at midnight?"
And Ppoppi picked up the thread.
"They'll see it as a golden opportunity. Even if by 3 or 4 AM they realize they can't clear, the anxiety of us coming back at 8 to get First Clear will keep them from easily giving up."
The second-place party especially would feel it more keenly.
Being closest to the clear, they couldn't rest easy.
So that was what Seo Jun was telling the other parties.
"Let's get some proper rest before coming back. Good work today, everyone."
"Good work."
"Let's rest well and come back."
"Jun. You sleeping at midnight instead of 3 AM is definitely because of that provocation, right?"
"Not really?"
Manage your stamina.
Pull all-nighters.
You won't clear it anyway.
And then if you end up sleeping and we come back…
"You devil."

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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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