Master Swordsman’s Stream - Chapter 315

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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 315

Thirteen Heroes departed from the capital of Asherus bound for Brion.
They used the Magic Circle. As long as no special quest was underway, this Building wouldn’t be destroyed.
After warming up, they arrived in Brion.
The moment they stepped outside the city, soldiers locked in combat came into view first.
It was a common sight where Stage 2 Portals opened.
“The last remaining portal.”
Day fourteen.
A week had passed in real-world time.
They had to destroy that portal before this time ran out.
And somewhere here was the Monster blocking them from destroying it.
‘It has to be around here somewhere.’
As someone was thinking just that, Yon spoke up.
“Toward where the portal is.”
Geomsin answered next.
“High chance he’s just standing there openly.”
Of the thirteen party members, only three had never directly faced Seo Jun.
Some had banded together after meeting on the Train, and those who hadn’t faced him had already rushed forward and died.
“Would he really just stand there? He could ambush us. We seem pretty defenseless.”
Geomsin laughed shrilly.
That laugh resembled someone.
If you gaze long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you.
It was one of Nietzsche’s famous aphorisms.
Why did it come to mind now?
Yamada, who had been watching Geomsin grow steadily darker, let out a sigh, and Geomsin opened his mouth.
“You know what?”
“What?”
“He doesn’t do ambushes.”
“He doesn’t?”
Geomsin believed in the abyss—in Seo Jun, whom he’d thought deeply about ever since his warehouse was raided.
“He comes at you head-on. Without fail.”
“If that’s the case, then that’s what’ll happen.”
Yon nodded.
“And beyond that, he’ll have something even more prepared.”
“More?”
“Yeah. He might be preparing something we ordinary, naive people could never imagine—in some weird way.”
Thirteen people.
Nine of them were Pros.
They were all far too formidable to be called ordinary or naive, yet Geomsin spoke with certainty.
And as they walked down a straight avenue leading to where the portal was, someone let out a sound filled with confusion.
“Uh? Uh?”
At that, they all began examining the front carefully, and they too let out sounds of confusion.
They couldn’t help it.
“Wait, what is that?”
Even Geomsin was shocked.
At the far end of the street, clearly a player, someone was kneeling down, holding both hands together in the middle of the road, sitting motionless.
That player could only be Seo Jun.
This level of eccentricity wasn’t much.
It wasn’t enough to surprise him. Geomsin had his pride.
Then why was he startled?
“The username above his head is red?”
“Yeah, it does look red.”
“Really? What is that? Really?”
“This doesn’t make sense.”
A red username above one’s head didn’t mean murderer or Hidden Mastermind—it meant something else.

[Away]

Away. Logged out.
Did this make sense? Of all times—not just the Historical Record, but right before the final battle of the last day.
And he’d Logged Out and gone Away?
“Geomsin, I see now what you were thinking…”
They approached slowly toward the praying NPC—Kael.
“Wait… This is even beyond me.”
“……”
“We really are naive compared to him.”
“If you don’t understand this, does that make you normal?”
“Let’s get closer.”
“Hold on, wait.”
Geomsin hid his bewilderment and analyzed the situation in an instant.
If he connected every action to pure malice, he could understand Seo Jun.
That was the conclusion Geomsin had reached.
And the result of interpreting that malice was shocking.
Geomsin shouted.
“Kill him! Kill him right now and send him to hell!”
“What?”
“This bastard clearly just logged out making jokes about how it’s Phase One so this much is enough, or Auto-Hunt, or whatever, then left!”
“Really? Is something wrong?”
“It’s obvious! Think about how he used to boast about losing health on purpose.”
“Definitely… Isn’t he trying to slip in while we’re off guard?”
“Either way, we have to fight now! Before he gets here!”
According to common knowledge, an AI that mimics one person never matches the original, no matter how much data is collected.
Because if that person’s maximum capacity is said to be 100, they can’t pull out 100 in every fight.
That’s natural for any human.
It only comes out in moments of deep immersion at their peak, and such situations aren’t easy to create or execute.
Of course, Pros consistently pull out a 100 in crucial moments.
Which makes them even more disadvantaged.
The AI mimics the person’s actions and measures their level.
So what if an AI mimicking that player displayed movements of 100 every single moment?
All participants would be better off just leaving before the fight even started.
Especially since there’d be zero chance of error.
That’s why AIs typically mimic about 70 percent of a person’s capacity and continuously operate at that level.
The most abundant data collected was at that level anyway.
The conclusion was that AIs couldn’t exhibit the appropriate capacity of 80, 90, or 100 in crucial moments.
Meaning easy prey to kill.
Meaning lower skill level.
Yet leaving it there meant something else.
“Isn’t there really some other reason? If Geomsin is right, then he’s really just belittling us…”
Looking down on them.
Scorning them.
But accepting that the opponent did it at the final moment was hard to take.
“That’s why we send him to hell. His health is already low…”
Geomsin stepped closer. In the Away state, he wouldn’t move until someone touched him anyway.
He’d just perform some specific action somewhere in town.
When Geomsin had gotten just a few steps away—
“Crazy bastard. Even the AI kneels and prays?”
Kael’s eyes opened.
And he grabbed his sword and swung it.
“What? He never attacks originally!”
“The Hidden Mastermind’s AI must be different! Everyone, help!”
Geomsin shouted as he blocked the attack.
But Kael’s blade cut deep into Geomsin’s body, piercing through his defense.
“That’s what he was going for! Come in now, you damned Seo Jun!”
Even Geomsin hadn’t expected the battle to continue like this.
A battle with an AI that had never happened once in the history of the Historical Record had begun.

* * *

[Surely not???]
==
Nah. No way the Room Master would actually run Auto-Hunt, right?
He wouldn’t, right?
==

-Yep the fight started lolololololololol
-For real;;;; crazy guy crazy guy crazy guy crazy guy……
-lololol for real he’s crazy

[Geomsin still has a lot to learn about the Room Master lololololololol]
==
Hurry back lololololololol
Survive Phase One successfully and then call for me you idiot lolololol
==

-I’m a Geomsin fan now
└For real lol
└Just feel bad for him getting hit all the time lololololol

[But wait isn’t this actually serious????]
==
Yeah.
This is seriously overboard. Why’d he leave?
There’s gotta be a reason, right?
==

-He must’ve left to run Auto-Hunt, why else would he leave lol
└But can Auto-Hunt even happen? (poster)
└For real lol seriously
└AIs are seriously trash. Unless it’s some ridiculously overpowered AI, but a player-mimicking AI? And within the Historical Record period too?

[What’s he banking on? Hey Room Master where’s the time to even train the AI?]
==
There was a lot though?
This bastard fought like crazy lololololololol
Even one-versus-many lololololololol
==

-lololololol if that was his plan
└Nah no way
└Now I get why that bastard acted crazy on the Train
└That was just to earn Points, wasn’t it?

[If the AI takes down even one person, I’ll admit it. But I think they’ll die before then]
[Will this even be a fight lol]
[And Room Master can we even hear you??]
[Even if he was here in person he’d be pushed back]
[For real they’d be pushed back]
[If this Auto-Hunt takes down even one person, I’ll admit it. Really, just one.]

“So the battle truly begins like this.”
This Team Leader was watching the battle between Kael and the thirteen participants together with Seo Jun.
In situations where they had to unavoidably exit the Capsule, viewing was permitted only from that participant’s perspective.
This was in the regulations, which is why they’d installed a projector at the Hotel the day before.
Seo Jun asked.
“What’s the public opinion?”
“I can’t tell you that.”
“Haha. And what about the Team Leaders?”
“I’m not sure, but most are just hoping they hold out. The Chinese Team Leader said they’d be doomed at this rate. Director Oh Ji-hye said it might be manageable if we enter about thirty minutes from now.”
“Thirty minutes is a shame…”
“Right. Because he came out early and rested, thirty minutes is possible, but holding out completely will be rough. Already used one Potion.”
An item that restored half of one’s health.
It was a reward from the Train’s quest.
Seo Jun had never used this item once, yet the AI drank one just one minute into the battle.
From Seo Jun’s perspective, conserving Invincibility and using the Potion was a good call.
It didn’t look that way to the Team Leader.
Or to anyone else…
“I meant, it would’ve been nice if it were an hour.”
“Huh? What do you mean… Whoa, whoa, danger!”
She cried out.
They were Pros, after all.
With a clean combo, they pressed the AI back while maintaining safety.
Since the opponent had Invincibility.
“Seo Jun, no matter how much you need to rest, don’t you have to go in right away? Kael’s kill cuts are way too slow and he’s using Potions so recklessly…”
And the moment Seo Jun let out a hollow laugh as if exasperated, Kael in-game smiled likewise.
Gravity Field, Aura, Rampage Mode, Needle.
In the chaotic Battlefield mixed with countless Skills, Seo Jun’s vision showed him one path clearly.
And the AI moved swiftly, following that path exactly.
The moment someone spotted it a step too late and tried to block, Invincibility activated.

[Radiance Blessing]

Then Kael’s blade hung before one Hero’s neck.
A Hero of the Support position.
But those defending didn’t feel particularly threatened.
After all, until now, the attacks had been excellent, but the ability to cut vital spots hadn’t been threatening.
But to Seo Jun’s eye, until now was—
‘Three seconds. Precise.’
Suddenly a stillness, as if the world had stopped, entered Seo Jun’s awareness.
Did everyone sense this feeling?
“Uh, uh?”
Heretical Mark. And Damage. Everything fit perfectly into place.
In just three seconds.

[Huh? What what?]
[Crazy. Did the AI just use a feint?]

Rachel gasped.
Judgment Sword, and the refreshed Skill.

[Radiance Blessing]

One person with particularly fragile health had died.
Kael was demonstrating that this one person was dead by using Radiance Blessing once more over the corpse where the Judgment Sword had been planted.
“That… that is…”
“As expected. Kael was hiding real skill.”
It was somewhat visible.
“No… so why’d you use Radiance Blessing again? There was no reason to.”
The battle had momentarily frozen. It was that significant a shock.
Then as the AI even used Invincibility, a brief lull descended.
Seo Jun answered.
“I’m not sure either?”
Probably.
Wasn’t he mocking them?
No, that couldn’t be.
His personality was really nasty.
The Team Leader, watching Seo Jun tsk with an expression of ignorance, sighed and turned his gaze to his smartphone.

[??? What just happened guys?]
[Three-second Judgment Sword he can use that too??? Or does that mean he was hiding he could use it?]
[Shock and horror lol]
[Remaining Pros: twelve. Remaining Potions: fifteen lololololol seems like the Room Master didn’t buy these Potions for himself from the start…?]
[Phase One looks incredibly brutal from here lololololololololol oh lol that guy who said if the AI takes down even one person he’d admit it, where’d he go?]
[Room Master’s crazy, no wonder he was so stingy with health recovery Potions lololol]

Then Geomsin resumed the fight.

[Don’t be shocked everyone, send him to hell! Send him! Yeah. That AI bastard just like him is being cocky and deceiving us.]
[One Potion remains.]
[With one Potion left, how much more could there be anyway? Let’s put him on death’s door before he arrives.]

The Heroes still had composure. Still.

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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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