Master Swordsman’s Stream - Chapter 318

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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 318

The moment the final Boss’s Invulnerability mechanic activated, the Champions raiding the encounter stopped pressing the offensive and fell back, spreading out.
They had already drilled this pattern during Phase 1 until it was muscle memory—the kind of precision a hardcore skilled party operates with.
This pattern was simple: concentrate on nothing but survival.
There was nothing else to do.
What, you’re wondering—isn’t the Boss invulnerable, so of course we can’t hurt it?
No.
The point was to disregard whatever came after the Invulnerability ended, and to stop planning for future strategy windows.
It meant: focus only on living through right now.
Even the AI had done the same.
So what about the version Seo Jun was executing?
“Four of you—stay close!”
Concentrating on survival didn’t simply mean running away.
In the earlier pattern, two Champions had locked in to obstruct the opponent as thoroughly as possible.
They hadn’t damaged it into submission—why would they, when it was invulnerable?
Instead, they deliberately provoked its attacks and blocked them, turning each second into survival, stretching the clock tick by tick.
Now, four were engaged. All Bruisers or Tanks.
They absorbed hits. They managed the Boss’s Aggro. They poured everything into withstanding what came.
Seo Jun didn’t seem to care. He started attacking them.
He’d judged that there was no difference whether he swung at those four or the ones hanging back farther.
This was the enemy’s short window of counterattack.
Though it could have stretched longer.
With light, fluid footwork, Seo Jun wielded his blade freely.
“Endure.”
His target was Yon.
That flat pronouncement made four masters standing near Seo Jun break into cold sweat and brace themselves.
Screech!
The sword moved. Her health began dropping. In less than a second.
And kept dropping.
She blocked. She held. And still her health bled away, so Yon gave up defending and retreated backward, breaking from the fight.
A Buff came in. The ones beside her moved to cover the gap, blocking her attacker’s path.
Come at us instead.
But Yon’s retreat came too late.
They’d unconsciously measured him against the AI they’d faced.
And even if he was higher than that, they’d never truly collided with the genuine skill that lived inside a real game.
A vivid mark appeared above Yon’s head.

[Heresy]

“You said you weren’t going to kill us!”
Yon did understand—she wasn’t going to die right now.
Not as long as Seo Jun didn’t charge in and keep slashing at her throat while unleashing the Judgment Sword.
And he wouldn’t do it. The moment he did, he’d miss showing off all nine Judgment Swords.
Seo Jun was someone who always followed through on what he said.
So the fight bore down harder.
This was the first Heresy mark to appear.
But the Heresy mark only lasted thirty seconds, and accomplishing all nine within that window was impossible—that calculation ran through her mind.
Naturally, Seo Jun would idle for a moment, then the second he found the timing, he’d attempt the nine marks again. Which meant in the next cycle, she’d be his very last target.
Because getting cut six more times while a Heresy mark was active wouldn’t refresh the thirty-second timer.
Though maybe she was wrong. But she had to focus.
A comeback was possible.
“Khaha! Even if you’re striking me now, what difference does it make!”
Shin-geom called out gleefully. And he kept calling, even as he took a slash across his torso and met Seo Jun’s ice-cold gaze.
“Impossible!”
Skills poured out in rapid succession, as if targeting the exact moment the Blessing of Radiance would end.
Six melee Champions rushed in from different angles. All at once.
The timing was no accident. They were saying: use your Invulnerability again.
A perfect fifteen seconds of it.
From their perspective, now that Seo Jun had hung the Heresy mark on Yon, it was better he burn his Invulnerability to waste the next cycle.
The ranged Heroes were far, far back.
And there were only four in close.
Nine Judgment Swords.
Was that even possible?
“He used Invulnerability! Alright!”
Shin-geom was thrilled just at the thought Seo Jun might break his word—until Yon realized something and threw out a warning.
“Danger!”
“What is?”
Too late. Seo Jun was already in focus mode.
He’d been spiraling through calculations ever since.
‘I never said nine in one go.’
Which meant…

* * *

“Kael has kept every word he’s spoken until now!”
The official casters and analysts from North America launched into their best commentary as viewer counts approached the historic ten-million threshold.
“So what he’s obviously aiming for with that fifteen-second Invulnerability is crystal clear!”
The Heresy marks.
“I’m not sure if it’s possible—but being this spread out, it’s tight! And that’s before accounting for the two seconds wasted getting the second mark up after Yon’s!”
The marks kept appearing.
The second Heresy mark was on Shin-geom.
“The offense is absolutely spectacular!”
Only possible because of Invulnerability—
But who else could pull this off with the same buff?
Stripping every defense parried by sword, overwhelming with pure physical dominance—proof written in marks of mastery.
Against professionals.
Against the world’s best players.
Even if he loses, this skill level will be dissected for years—he’ll gain even greater renown from it.
‘There’ll be plenty of talk if he loses, at least for a while.’
The third target: Bernard.
He raised his weapon ready to intercept, as if he’d expected this—
But Bernard’s vital point was split in one exchange, his stance opening wide.
Seo Jun flowed into the next motion, cutting through that open frame.
“Fantastic!”
How did he even do that? The movement was visible, but who could replicate it?
This Kael would definitely become a legend among overseas gamers.
Or was he already?
“But. The time is already…. What? Judgment Sword?”

-???
-Wasn’t it three a moment ago?
-There’s no way six appeared that fast?

[Judgment Sword]

Crack-crack-crack.
The sound effect, which should have been barely audible, came through clearly on broadcast. The sky was splitting open.
The camera shifted upward, framing the heavens. The Participants looked up at the same moment.
Three cracks appeared.
Strange.
Far too strange.

-What
-Is he trying to buy time or something? Nah, that’s not it right? To do better next time?
-Couldn’t show them all at once…?
-Ahahaha serious?

The sword readied itself to plunge down, pushing its head into this world.
A crystallized force born of blessing.
“They’re falling! Three swords!”
Three brilliant white blades consumed the screen as they embedded into the earth.
Boom-boom-boom!
A screen flooded with pillars of light.
The caster’s wide eyes trying to make sense of it all—
And the viewers’ disappointment—
All of it turned.
Whoosh!
When the screen cleared to visibility again.
“What? What! What!”
Into wild cheers.
Crack-crack-crack!
Three more cracks opened in the sky.
Once more.

[Crazy! Everyone watch out!]
[What! Why again?]
[Back off! Back off! He’s still attacking!]
[I can’t block it! And wait—one more Judgment Sword and I’m dead!]

The Participants—the Heroes—mixed panic with desperation.
Boom!
Three pillars struck down.
“Two! Two hero tags just vanished! Which means—could it be—could it?”
And as the light faded.

-No way?
-Not what I’m thinking?
-That’s exactly it! Hahahahaha! He’s insane!
-Hahahaha! How does a mind even think like this!
-Actually pulling it off makes it even crazier
-Absolutely insane

[One more.]

A playful voice rang out.
Crack-crack-crack.
Three Judgment Swords accompanied the sound that split the heavens apart.

* * *

Boom-boom-boom!
“Three more! One more round! Continuously! Absolutely continuously!”
Bang Ju saw it clearly.
From Seo Jun’s perspective, he could see exactly what was unfolding.
“Kael said he’d show nine Judgment Swords! And he just—showed them all!”

-This maniac lol this madman this madman
-Other broadcast angles were so focused on the Judgment Sword they just looked like they kept generating haha
-Judgment Sword again? And again?
-Hahahaha
-They get duplicated!
-Even three Judgment Swords was mind-blowing but like…
-Just need three Heresy marks when they fall! The execution part is a bit damage-hungry too

Boom!
The ninth and final Judgment Sword drove into the earth.
And the ones who survived were.

* * *

“Smart. Nine in one shot would’ve been annoying.”
Since most of them wouldn’t die anyway.
Unless they clustered up and took splash damage. Which they didn’t.
“So you thought—keep dropping Judgment Swords until they’re dead, right?”
“Yeah.”
“You crazy bastard…. Do you have any idea what it’s like, thinking you survived, then having another Judgment Sword fall?”
It was utter chaos.
The moment he dropped the first three swords was chaotic enough.
The six who’d been in close.
Every one of them had gotten a Heresy mark, and anyone marked twice was dead without question.
Of all that carnage, two survived.
And one of them, he finished off completely.
Absolutely brutal.
And the survivor was.
“How would I know how you felt?”
“Me and…. This Shin-geom—you meant to keep us alive, right? Even in that insane situation?”
Shin-geom.
Yon.
“I told you.”
“What?”
“I’d keep you alive until the end. Debts always get repaid fairly.”
Seo Jun looked up at the sky.
A heaven pierced by nine holes.
“…”
Yon swallowed down some harsh words.
“Five left, right? But Shin-geom, why aren’t you saying anything?”
“…”
“I kept you alive specifically to hear you talk.”
That was true. Seo Jun had no debt toward Shin-geom.
Or did he?
“…”
“Come on, there’s still five of them. And I don’t have Potions left, okay?”
“…”
“Get up quick so I can finish this. I think you can do it. You’ve come this far fighting hard.”
“…”
“You even got Sniped on the broadcast—sure, you jumped in without asking, but Bernard ended up dropping out anyway because of me and fighting as a different Hero instead. And wait, didn’t I raid your storage once inside? Shouldn’t you be getting revenge?”
The ranged Heroes muttered from a distance away.
“Damn…. This is a bit much.”
“If the Black Mask is going to do stuff like this, I honestly might not hold out….”
“…. Maybe the biggest reason the AI was easier to fight is simply because it doesn’t open its mouth.”
Finally, Shin-geom answered.
“Come at me, you bastard!”

* * *

The final battle.
The raid Heroes desperately resisted the Boss, but the final Phase’s difficulty was merciless.
Who designed this to be beatable?
That thought flickered through the mind of every gamer watching.
They were gamers at heart.
If they’d been in that situation, thinking the same thing was inevitable.
Slowly, steadily, Participants fell one by one, until only Yon remained.
The stream being watched by tens of millions cut to a single feed.
Step. Step. Step.
Fixed on Yon’s perspective.
It made viscerally clear how brutal Kael looked advancing with blade in hand, and what it was like for the Participant facing him.
A Korean streamer had mercilessly crushed the pride of gamers from every nation.
Now he approached and swung his sword at Yon.
The screen went black as vision cut out, and all the streams went dark.
In that instant, the servers of every league-related community crashed simultaneously from the surge of concurrent connections.
The Black Mask had won.

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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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