Master Swordsman’s Stream - Chapter 279

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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 279

Seo Jun returned to Atura by teleport and was told by the commanding officer there that he would be deployed to the battlefield shortly.
Just wait a moment, they said.
If he was going to proceed with a quest, he had to follow rules of this caliber.
He could go right away, but even if he pushed the front line all the way to the enemy capital, the quest wouldn’t count as successful.
Better to wait. Another participant had arrived.
With only two people participating, they were bound to be allies.
“Hello.”
She greeted him first.
He’d seen her before.
Christina, from America.
A jungler and participant of Lain, an Astheros-aligned hero who wielded a holy relic that could stretch, contract, and bend freely at will.
Lain was a male hero, but that hardly mattered. Everything adjusted itself automatically.
“Hello.”
Seo Jun remembered her. From their first meeting, Christina had looked at him like prey.
More precisely, like a veteran hunter sizing up quarry worth staking one’s life on.
The mix of confidence in herself and wariness toward a worthy opponent shone clearly in her gaze—it had left an impression.
Was he right to be cautious?
“So if there are only two participants, you and I will be fighting two Darahn heroes, won’t we?”
“I suppose. There aren’t many people who’d turn down an Atura quest.”
Few, but not none.
Darahn’s family quests sometimes yield decent rewards too, they say.
Seo Jun and Christina immediately discussed the mission.
“How do you plan to handle this, Seo Jun? Will you operate separately?”
The way to push the front line in Atura was simple.
Go to various battlegrounds and eliminate as many enemy soldiers as possible.
Then the front line naturally pushed forward bit by bit.
The battlefield was vast enough that you might not encounter your opponents.
But in a 2v2, you’d eventually meet them regardless.
“Wouldn’t it be better if we split up?”
Seo Jun answered.
“So you’ll avoid engagement as much as possible?”
That way they could push the front line faster more efficiently.
The downside was that meeting opponents without numerical advantage meant avoiding combat.
But Seo Jun had one additional advantage.
He wouldn’t be betrayed.
Truth be told, looking into someone’s eyes usually told him everything he needed to know.
“Never mind?”
“Ah, right. There’s no reason to avoid a fight. Regardless of numbers.”
They understood each other.
Seo Jun nodded and told her:
“Let’s get a Communication Device.”
A Communication Device was a gadget you could buy for 1 Achievement Point.
Participants could use it like the system itself—essentially a phone that let you connect with opponents to send and receive messages.
“Yes. But where’s Dennis? I think his other name was Lain?”
Christina looked around.
They couldn’t confirm systemically who had died.
Seo Jun laughed.
“He repented and went home.”
From the start something felt off, so he’d gone with him. And since he was a heretic, Seo Jun killed him.
That was all.
“I’m sorry?”
“That’s right.”
Seo Jun stared at Christina.
With a gentle smile.
……
Looking at his eyes, he didn’t seem intent on betraying her.
She’d need to watch him a little longer, but if she sensed danger, she could strike him down then.
Besides, by character design, Kael never speaks falsehoods.
Seo Jun is Kael.
Therefore, what Seo Jun says is no lie.
Perfect logic established, he could wield both justification in one hand and the Judgment Sword in the other.
Seo Jun and Christina went to the supply depot in the Atura camp.
They bought a Communication Device and a Map as well.
Both cost 1 point. They didn’t have points yesterday, so they couldn’t buy them then.
The Map was a magical artifact showing only the front line.
By the way, in games, the word “magical” can be substituted for “all-powerful.”
After buying her items, Christina spoke to Seo Jun:
“Do you know about the consumables being added next season?”
“Yes.”
Game directors and famous developers often leave preview posts about the next season.
And you could find more details in the History Book.
Consumables.
That’s why Seo Jun had saved 200 points.
“Seo Jun, have you found any clues about where you might obtain them?”
“No. How about you?”
“I found something.”
“Oh? You’ll tell me?”
“I wouldn’t have brought it up otherwise.”
Seo Jun watched Christina as she smiled.
Why would she share information so readily?
Could she be one of those lunatics he’d seen in past lives who share secrets only to justify murder later?
Holding that question, Seo Jun waited for Christina to speak.
“I went to Train on the first day during my mission. Right away.”
Train, the city of magic and science.
This city in a mountain range of near-sovereign power possessed tremendous wealth thanks to underground tunnels and the countless magical-engineering trains that transported materials through them.
Many factions covet this city even now, but the wealth and power built on technology, and the heroes born from it, are sufficient to protect and govern a near-sovereign nation.
Since Train is a neutral city at the heart of Pangea, you’d encounter participants from various factions.
People who thought like Christina from day one would have flocked there.
“And I saw that Train’s participants definitely have to pool Achievement Points together for something related to new items.”
If the new item wasn’t a holy relic or similar, but a consumable, then having it appear in Train was quite reasonable.
“Why tell me this?”
Because you’re also Astheros-aligned?
“Just. I realized after seeing that outside participants and unaffiliated participants could also do that mission.”
“What did you realize?”
“Ah. This History Book must be about cooperation.”
Seo Jun had been thinking the same thing.
“But we’re fighting like this? Against Darahn?”
Christina let out a small laugh.
“It’s Atura, isn’t it?”
A fair point.
“Well then, Seo Jun? Let’s go.”
Shortly after, word came from the commanding officer that fighting had resumed.
Seo Jun took the left, Christina took the right.
Just before departure.
“By the way, Seo Jun, how many Achievement Points have you accumulated? If you’re first in contribution there, you’d probably get into the shop first. Of course, Kael might have a special story, but maybe something like a prophecy?”
Sharp observation.
Seo Jun answered honestly before leaving.
“Two hundred.”
Christina’s expression darkened in an instant.

* * *

Dealing with soldiers was essentially no different from processing minions with different appearances.
The ruling was identical to fighting ordinary heroes rather than minions, but it wasn’t difficult.
What was hard was eliminating them faster than your opponent.
Christina processed soldiers while mulling over Seo Jun’s words.
‘This is ridiculous. Seriously.’
She spoke honestly to herself.
She hadn’t told him everything, but since she expected cooperation to be the main theme, she’d given information freely to Kael, who seemed like he’d be a major asset.
Surely Kael wouldn’t become a public enemy, right?
By his heroic nature, he simply couldn’t.
‘Unless he pretended to be crazy and trolled everyone to fight him.’
Systemically, Kael was just a good-aligned role.
He couldn’t turn evil.
Corruption?
It might be possible.
If the developers and AI coded it that way.
But if this History Book’s theme was Kael’s fall, participants wouldn’t have been selected this way.
‘They’d have been pulled heavily from Astheros and Darahn, and from related heroes.’
Even if a participant was evil, doing that wouldn’t make them a public enemy within the History Book.
It would just make them an enemy of the world.
Would a streamer who values public opinion really do that?
It’d spawn tons of anti-fans even among Koreans.
‘If he really accumulated 200, maybe…….’
Whether it was a prophecy or some special holy relic suddenly showing unusual activity, wasn’t 200 a figure you could sufficiently achieve?
Of course, if that holy relic was something decisive, the required Achievement Points might exceed 400 or 500.
‘Either way, he couldn’t have gotten 200.’
There’s no way such a mission would be given.
‘Even if he got the first kill……. Wait. Dennis? First kill?’
Christina’s slightly hollow expression turned to shaking her head.
‘Right, day one was before I told him about cooperation.’
The second reason she’d given information to Seo Jun.
Don’t kill the opponent if you can help it.
The more heroes who survived, the better prepared you’d be for whatever came next.
Whether you meet Darahn heroes, unaffiliated heroes, or traitors—she hoped none would be eliminated.
‘He understood that much, right?’
Restraint in combat was genuinely disappointing for her, but she still had to move for successful content over personal desires.
That was the weight they carried as representatives of each hero.
As she thought this and swiftly dispatched a group of soldiers.
A rift was opening in the airspace where Seo Jun had headed.
‘Ugh.’
Christina’s expression darkened again.
There was such a thing as tactical weapons that didn’t cooperate with your plans.

* * *

Contrary to what Christina had assumed, Seo Jun hadn’t actually fought Darahn’s hero.
The Judgment Sword had a cooldown of around 30 seconds.
Given that their current specs were based on max level in-game.
The Atura front line pushed forward naturally the faster you eliminated soldiers.
So was that why Seo Jun had used the Judgment Sword from the start?
“Ha.”
Surprisingly, that wasn’t it either.
The Judgment Sword had definitely struck not some other hero.
Just an ordinary soldier from Darahn positioned closest to the right of the starting point.
So why say Seo Jun hadn’t used the Judgment Sword to quickly eliminate enemies?
“What the hell? What are you taking me for? That seriously crossed the line.”
Because of Darahn’s aristocratic hero speaking now.
Shin.
His full name was long, but since it wasn’t displayed in-game, nobody bothered remembering Darahn’s hero’s name.
And he was.

[There really do seem to be two opponents. Actually.]
[Tch, this is pretty annoying.]
[Did the AI malfunction or something? Show me once?]
[No……. Still, let’s hold back. We just need to win the mission, and we’re much better positioned.]
[But what was that Judgment Sword just now? Are they fighting?]

The third participant in the mission, quietly listening to the conversation of the two who’d been targeting Atura from day one.
He stayed quiet.
It wasn’t that he was surprised there were two opponents.
“You used Judgment Sword on a regular soldier? Even though you clearly saw me?”
His voice was barely audible at that distance.
But Seo Jun’s laughter, having just unleashed the Judgment Sword, rang out crystal clear to Shin.
Then Seo Jun spoke:
“An ultimate seemed like overkill.”
“Do you know me? Korean streamer?”
Shin’s participant wasn’t top-tier, but he was a pro.
A rookie in his second year.
That’s why he’d planned to follow what Darahn’s two seniors warned him about.
But if this was because he was a rookie and being underestimated.
If that’s why the Judgment Sword was wasted on a soldier.
“Yeah.”
“You know my name?”
“Heretic. You’re just a heretic.”
The distance between them shrank.
……
“An ultimate is wasted on a heretic. You’re nothing without one.”
Shin finally offered a hollow smile at Kael’s bullshit.
Wasn’t this disrespect taken way too far?

[Descent]

“Come on then!”
He charged forward activating his self-buff ultimate and shouted at Seo Jun, who chuckled.
“Now it’s 2v2, heretic. Thanks to you, victory is ours.”

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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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