Master Swordsman’s Stream - Chapter 314

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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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Episode 314

“Hey, Hidden Mastermind?”
“Yes, brother?”
“Why are you keeping me alive?”
Five were dead. The sole survivor was a Bruiser Champion with a brief Immortality State Skill.
Seo Jun had threatened that any movement would result in death.
Since he’d already been defeated, dying was acceptable to him.
But still, he was curious about the reason for being spared.
That Kael, of all people.
If by some chance he survived, he wanted to deliver information to his allies.
“Well, I lacked a conversation partner?”
“Ah. But you’re not trying to lure the others here, are you?”
“Are you curious?”
“Right. To prevent other Champion parties from clustering together, I want them targeting me instead.”
“Think what you like.”
“I suppose I should be dead then.”
“Shall I kill you now?”
…….
He abandoned any attempt to extract information through threats of death.
He seemed to have nothing to regret.
Still, if he could communicate something about this wicked being before dying, it would be a tremendous gain.
“I’ll stay docile—how about you don’t kill me until I meet someone else? You said you needed a conversation partner, after all. Hidden Mastermind.”
“Hmm. That’s a proposal I quite like.”
“Meeting someone means I’ll at least see faces and hear voices. Will that work?”
“Why wouldn’t it? If you remain docile, there’s no reason it shouldn’t.”
“Good. So I’m curious about something, Hidden Mastermind.”
“The reason for keeping me alive surfaces. Excellent.”
Madman.
This was the first time he’d experienced Seo Jun.
And now he understood why everyone he met said something was fundamentally wrong with them.
Yet despite that, they said he was intelligent, that everything was calculated—so he needed to stay sharp.
The saving grace was that he generally kept his promises.
“What was that acceleration in speed? Some special Item?”
“Ah, that?”
“Yeah.”
It was, in fact, one of the primary reasons they’d been so helpless.
“I was just moving slightly slower than my normal speed, then I revealed my true speed?”
……. It was much more than slight.
“Exactly.”
Rhythm.
Every battle has a rhythm—something shared between all the people fighting in it.
But what if you could change that rhythm microscopically, at will?
If the speed difference were large, they’d catch on immediately. But the reverse is different.
Of course, actually changing the rhythm is far harder than adapting to it.
In other words, it’s a useless technique.
For bullying newbies.
A skill that barely works when fighting people several levels below you.
Hmm…….
He could force his expression to remain impassive, but the admiration welling up inside could not be suppressed.
The God of the Sword.
‘The name truly isn’t wasted on him.’
And then.
“Ah, the next party’s arriving soon. Farewell.”
“Ah……?”
That admiration vanished in an instant.
Sensing killing intent, he immediately deployed his Skill.

[Will to Refuse]

An Ultimate Skill that prevents Health from dropping below 1 for a set duration.
Slash!
The killing intent was precise. The blade carved through his torso.
And the Ultimate Skill, activated to endure while waiting for the approaching party, saved his life.
He didn’t consider counterattacking. Instead, thinking only of meeting his allies as quickly as possible and relaying information, he sprinted toward the direction where the Teleport Magic Circle lay.
And as he dodged Crowd Control attacks or took damage without dying, Seo Jun began slashing at maximum speed.
A Heresy Mark appeared after 3 seconds, but he only continued forward.
4 seconds.
5 seconds.
6 seconds.
7 seconds.
When will they show up?
I need to tell them.
The Ultimate Skill’s duration was 13 seconds. Thanks to runes, it lasted this long.
Seo Jun began walking slowly. He kept running. The distance widened.
The Ultimate effect ended.
And.
‘They appeared!’
He could see them in the distance.
Their expressions shocked.
Why shocked?
No health?
Ah.
A sword is falling from the sky.
‘Behind my back.’
No time. No time to communicate anything.
The optimal choice was.
“Just run……!”
Boom!
His final cry at least came through clearly.
His allies’ panicked voices reached him.
And he thought.
‘What, is he some kind of demon?’
Forcing him to fulfill a promise like this.
Soon, beyond the dust, a figure of perfect posture appeared, walking slowly—a judge offering a greeting.
To the Heroes who’d just arrived, the scene was a half-ruined city.
A panicked ally rushing toward them, shouting to flee.
A heavenly blade piercing through that ally, killing them.
And a sacred yet ominous judge stepping forth behind it.
In other words.
Terror.
“What, what is that.”line>
“Are we late.”line>
“Were they fighting?”

Seo Jun was enveloped in white light. By anyone’s account, it was the effect of using the Blessing of Radiance.
He’d shown them depleting his Ultimate and Skills from the start, inducing carelessness.
Seo Jun’s goal was to reduce the number of participants arriving at the final party as much as possible.
And so far, it had gone smoothly.

* * *

Yon continued clearing Hounds.
There were no signs the 2nd Stage Passage would be cleared.
In the 2nd Stage Passage, they had to kill a Commander Entity among the Hounds and destroy the Passage through energy of a different dimension.
And when this Commander Entity would reveal itself remained unknown.

[Four more! No, three more joining!]

Meanwhile, Brion’s situation took a sharp turn.
The Party kept being filled.
“This isn’t good.”

[Why? Do you think this really might end as is? Should we head out now too?]
[Clear the Passage first.]

The first Party sent to support Brion consisted of four members.
And the two subsequent Parties that quickly joined numbered three and two members respectively.
One member of the first Party died almost instantly, so currently 8 out of 9 were at Brion.
Six people made it harder than five. Seven harder than six. The more people joined, the more the Hidden Mastermind’s fight tilted against him.
But what could be done about it?
The opponent is Seo Jun. You’d feel secure with twenty.
Unfortunately, that had become impossible.
“Hurry and close the Passage—let’s link up with the Party at Treas.”

[Yeah, got it.]
[So thirteen members remain…….]

Three 2nd Stage Passages remained.
Three Parties including Yon were currently tied down to them, totaling thirteen members.
‘This is…….’
If another Party finishes destroying their Passage and heads to Brion, it’s over.
Ideally, all three Parties would go to Brion together right now.
‘But it seems they’re planning to destroy their Passages before moving.’
They couldn’t abandon clearing their Passages now, scatter around, gather the two Parties, and head to Brion.
The window for decision was tight.
Look.
Eight members had dropped to seven in an instant.
Now six.
‘Damn.’
While he was out clearing the other two locations, the fight at Brion would already be over.
And if Seo Jun stalls after that?
Clearing the Passages and moving was the right call.
Time passed. Two members remained at Brion.
‘As expected.’
It was surprising they’d lasted this long.
But they lost in the end.
Seo Jun likely hadn’t taken significant damage.
That’s why it took this long.

[Oh. The Treas Passage is about to break too?]
[Ha. Wait, ours too. We’re last.]

Now he could only trust the remaining participants.
If those two Parties head to Brion.
‘One person.’
They’d have to abandon everything and rush there too.
And while monitoring the map.

[Huh? Found it! The Commander Hound! I’ll take it!]

“Phew.”
He thought they might be able to join, albeit a bit late.
And a participant was added to their area.
“Nice work, Rachel!”
And Bernard.
A Party that knows Seo Jun well.
They weren’t blinded by the greed to capture Seo Jun.
“Good to see you! Haven’t found the Commander yet?”
“Found it. Let’s head to Brion soon. For the final fight. The last Party…….”
Rachel, who’d climbed onto the Plateau where they were, greeted them.
Soon another name was added to the roster.
“Geomsin. As expected.”
This one wasn’t consumed by rage.
Composed.
Gert was here too, so he’d been worried, but it was a relief.
Yon, meeting Geomsin’s eyes, shook hands like true comrades.
“Let’s catch that bastard.”
Geomsin’s eyes blazed. The PTSD of being underestimated by Yon seemed gone.
“Yeah, let’s catch him.”
“Stop with ‘him’—curse him out. What’s the point now?”
“Him.”
“Fine…….”
Thirteen people. There was a chance.
The final band of allies had assembled.
This would be their last opportunity to catch Seo Jun with his resources depleted.

[Destruction complete. Let’s gather.]

And.
“Good. Then shall we discuss as we go?”
“Discuss what?”
“Everything about him.”
Two Heroes who knew Seo Jun well began putting their heads together.

* * *

Bodies piled high in Brion.
‘Phew. Exhausting.’
The fight was exactly as taxing as Seo Jun had anticipated.
And his expected difficulty level was very high.
This was the hardest he’d worked in this Historical Record.
‘The second fight being harder likely came down to the Supporter—whether they had one or not.’
Supporters.
Heroes in the healing and utility buff positions exponentially became more effective when a Party had an adequate number.
And the increased numbers didn’t hurt either.
In one-versus-many scenarios, difficulty doesn’t scale linearly with each additional person.
And the next opponent.
“Thirteen people. That’s become troublesome, hasn’t it?”
He’d killed fifteen without resource loss, yet now he’d face over ten at once.
‘Do they like it?’

-That became troublesome. A single more Party would’ve been nice
-Things don’t always go as planned right?
-ㅋㅋㅋㅋ The boss took a while to catch even just before ㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-Surprisingly plenty of time though
-Utility Supporters are the problem
-Still think the boss is gonna win lol
-ㅋㅋㅋㅋ The way he’s matching all the details about Yon and Geomsin’s situations while fighting is hilariousㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-Getting the runes right, figuring out how he fought, and even catching that he was deliberately minimizing resource use to extend combat ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-Those two respect him more than anyone elseㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-Overseas reactions be like ‘it’s over!’ but they’re still not sure ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-The boss has grown so much…

He didn’t quite know.
Were they burning up? Or cursing?
Did they expect him to win or lose?
Fifty-fifty?
It’d be confusing.
But one thing was certain.
In the end, they’d cheer for the victor.
And for that, Seo Jun had to overcome this.
He’d already expended significant mental energy.
Tired. Honestly, he could fight for several more weeks this way, but machines can’t.
He could gauge it roughly.
‘So I need to rest beforehand.’
If he logged out mid-fight, he’d suffer losses.
So he’d take command first, then enter.
Seo Jun stretched and laughed.
“To say it again—this has become troublesome. So, everyone?”

-???
-Am I the only one nervous?
-This is real ㅋㅋ

“I’ll be running Auto-Hunting for a bit.”
Asking straightforwardly isn’t fun.
“Tell Yon and Geomsin to survive my AI first.”
Then Seo Jun, no—Kael—suddenly knelt down in the middle of the city and began to pray.

-?
-???
-????

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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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