Master Swordsman’s Stream - Chapter 54

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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 54

Raid.
That was what players called it—the official name was Death Match (NPC).
The reason it was called a Death Match was simple: the moment either the enemy commander NPC or the player died, the game ended.
That said, it wasn’t a straightforward one-on-one duel either.
Since the battlefield served as the setting, you had to hunt down the enemy commander, and ordinary NPCs clashed in various locations throughout.
“The most important thing in a raid is speed.”
Finding the enemy commander quickly and killing them quickly.
That was the method for earning more Prestige Points and Contribution Points.

-It’s Time Attack Mode
-Let’s wait a bit and go once information drops
-Top rankers all do that lol
-Don’t start immediately
-Now that’s real consulting

Seo Jun understood what they were saying immediately.
“That’s fine. Let’s go right now.”
His viewers were suggesting he wait for information to become public and then play based on gathered data to achieve an even faster record.
But Seo Jun had decided to just go for it.
The first attempt wouldn’t earn him any Prestige Points anyway.
It was a practice round designated by the game company.
And Seo Jun thought there was barely any difference between gathering information through watching others play and gathering it himself during the first attempt.
‘Top rankers supposedly figure out routes and character builds in just that short window and use the first run as a kind of rehearsal.’
Seo Jun couldn’t do that because he lacked game knowledge.
“Ah, and they say you need to use resources efficiently in raids too.”
In Death Matches, there were no bases or other recovery means.
You had to rely on naturally regenerating resources.
“Right, so the Absorption Grand Technique only applies to the enemy commander? Thanks for the tip.”
After hearing detailed advice, it turned out his characteristic wasn’t particularly advantageous in this environment. It might even be a hindrance.
“Let’s go with the orthodox faction for now. We won’t run into that guy from the other day anyway.”
Today was defense again.

* * *

Seo Jun selected the same region as the previous day.
The game started, and Seo Jun opened his eyes inside a building.
After checking his surroundings, he tried to open the door, but he couldn’t go outside.
Text appeared before his eyes.

[Death Match starts in 30 seconds]

-Which school’s NPC faction will we face?
-The building looks like Giru, but it doesn’t seem like an open area. The open faction wouldn’t have money to come to Giru

Right.
Seo Jun waited while reading the chat, nodding to himself.
That made sense.

[Death Match starts in 10 seconds]

But aren’t there any allied soldiers?
Seo Jun felt puzzled, being left alone in the room.
‘If this were just me fighting alone, they would’ve named it Assassination, not Death Match.’
And before he could think further, the ten seconds passed, and an enemy wielding a sword burst through the door.
“Enemy commander of the Demonic Cult! Die!”
Neat clothing. Neither a martial robe nor beggar’s rags. So then.

-It’s the Namgoong Clan lol
-Does anyone know which Namgoong Clan NPC showed up?
-How would we know, the game just started a minute ago lol

The identity of the orthodox faction was revealed to be the Namgoong Clan.
The enemy NPCs rushed at Seo Jun the moment they spotted him.
‘The location is a tall, spacious building. The enemy is the Namgoong Clan. The objective is the enemy commander.’
Seo Jun checked the martial artists’ health bars.
They weren’t as high as the soldiers that appeared in territory wars, but definitely lower than players.
Seo Jun gripped his sword in reverse grip and drew the Dagger hanging from his waist with his left hand.
Thanks to the Grand Patriarch, he had many weapons for free, and the Dagger was one of them.
Carrying multiple weapons slowed your movement, but a Dagger had negligible penalties.
However.
‘Since I haven’t invested in Dagger-related traits, it’ll be inefficient.’
In any case, this was the first attempt, so he needed to gather as much information as possible.
‘The Absorption Grand Technique won’t activate.’
That was definitely a setback.
It meant he couldn’t leverage his trait until he found the enemy commander.
‘So the damage would be…….’
The enemy’s sword grew steadily larger in his field of vision as it approached.
Seo Jun sidestepped and slashed the enemy with his sword.
Half the common soldier’s health bar depleted.
“Two hits with the sword, then.”
He quickly threw the Dagger at a different enemy behind him.
One-third of that enemy’s health remained.
Seo Jun finished off the enemies with his sword and sheathed the Dagger again.
“The Dagger won’t cut it.”
He needed to explore and find the fastest, most efficient route possible.
That was the key to today’s game.

-If it were the other clan, blade-type damage traits are so abundant it’d probably be one hit
-This is bad—if the Absorption Grand Technique doesn’t activate, he’s fighting with no traits the whole time
-Want to switch skills? You’ve got 3 hours left lol And it’s still the first run

Seo Jun moved through the door the enemies had burst through and entered the corridor.
The building’s corridor was fairly large, and when he glanced to the side, he saw Demonic Cult martial artists clashing with Namgoong martial artists.
He passed them and searched for stairs to get a sense of the building’s layout.
The enemies who spotted him abandoned their fight and charged at him, but.
Swoosh-crash!
They were finished in just two strikes.
They were just ordinary NPCs after all—no matter how many there were, they only served to buy time, nothing more.
“Let’s head down. I need to see the building from outside to gauge its size.”
Seo Jun descended the stairs while clashing with martial artists, and soon realized he’d started on the third floor.
On the first floor of Giru, many more martial artists were clashing.
The moment Seo Jun came down the stairs and entered their line of sight, every NPC’s head turned toward him at once.
And a roar erupted.
“Seize the enemy commander!”
“Protect the Heavenly Demon 14!”
With that shout, the formations of the martial artists began to shift.
The Demonic Cult moved toward Seo Jun while taking up a defensive position, while the Namgoong did the opposite.

-lol Heavenly Demon 14
-Change your nickname, it’s ruining the mood
-Seo Jun would be better
-Seo Jun’s already taken

“Raaah!”
The NPCs clashed again.
Seo Jun wove through the ranks of Demonic Cult followers surrounding him, dispatching enemies as needed, and headed for the main entrance.
“I don’t know if we can get out here.”
He’d wondered if it might be blocked like at the start, but fortunately there was an outside.
After stepping outside, Seo Jun turned around and checked the building’s height.
It was tall.
Very tall.
“Ugh, if the enemy commander’s at the very top, this is gonna be annoying.”
It looked like about thirteen stories.
Since the enemy commander wasn’t on the first or third floors, he’d have to search floor by floor from here on out.

-Don’t worry, once another player finds the commander’s location, we’ll tell you
-Now that’s what I call a real viewer
-lol Can’t wait to mess with him

Seo Jun explored the exterior garden in case the commander was on the first floor, then went back inside the building.
“There’s the enemy commander! Seize him!”
Since he hadn’t finished off all of them before, the same situation repeated, and Seo Jun dealt with them without using Internal Energy before returning to the stairs.
“Definitely without the Absorption Grand Technique, I can’t use much Internal Energy, so even simple tasks take longer.”
Seo Jun methodically continued exploring with that intention in mind.

-The fight with the enemy commander is what takes the most time anyway
-Even if he’s slow reaching the commander, his damage is so high that if he defeats the commander quickly it’ll more than make up for it
-What if his reaching time was fast too?
-That’s only possible for assassins with mobility skills like Shadowstep

Seo Jun started combing through Giru floor by floor.
It didn’t take long.
Even without the Absorption Grand Technique, Seo Jun’s base attacks dealt decent damage thanks to him investing only in attack-power-related traits.
And honestly, just handing him a sword was enough.
As he searched floor after floor, when he reached the eleventh floor, he sensed a change in the atmosphere.
From the stairwell entrance, cold corpses of Demonic Cult martial artists lay like obstacles.
The walls bore scorch marks and sword gashes.
Most of all, the surroundings were silent.
There was no sound of weapons clashing, no shouts or screams—just faint noise drifting up from below.
“Looks like he’s probably here.”
He was laying it on pretty thick, but considering it was essentially a Time Attack format, it seemed fine.
Finding and defeating the enemy commander wasn’t the problem—speed was what mattered in this game.
Seo Jun entered the corridor to check the eleventh floor.
He didn’t move cautiously or slow his pace, but he didn’t let his guard down either.
‘NPCs use similar martial arts to players, I’ve heard.’
The Namgoong Clan had two types of martial arts according to the lore.
The Heavenly Thunder Divine Sword, which channeled the power of thunder for lightning-fast attacks.
And another—the sword form expressing the majesty of an emperor.
The Imperial Sword Form.
‘Depending on which martial art the commander has learned…….’
The fight would differ.
Snap.
He heard a faint sound as he turned the corner.
Seo Jun looked over.
“Here you are.”
Before his words had even finished, a figure came flying at him.

* * *

The wall collapsed, and shallow arcs of electricity scattered across the floor like static discharge.
Dust settled, revealing scorches and debris from the crumbled wall.
“Got him.”
Seo Jun spoke matter-of-factly, looking down.
There lay the enemy commander, face-down with Seo Jun’s sword embedded in his back.
The NPC’s name was Namgoong Cheon.
Apparently one of the elders of the Namgoong Clan.
Not that it mattered.

-Seems way easier than the boss
-Can’t compare to the boss lol, that was designed so you couldn’t catch it but this one’s designed to be caught quickly
-He’s catching it fast though

Seo Jun read the chat while surveying the surroundings, the combat now over.
“If I can’t beat him fast, I die. That’s the real meaning of Time Attack.”
Others might just get lower Contribution Points if they’re slow, but Seo Jun loses immediately if he can’t defeat the commander quickly after meeting him.

-lol The real meaning of Time Attack—basically playing a death game alone lol
-Still, the time to actually defeat him is decent so the record should come out okay

Seo Jun then checked the twelfth and thirteenth floors as well.
There was nothing there.
After that, he poured Internal Energy into his strike and slashed at the wall.
He was checking if he could do what Namgoong Cheon had done, seeing his sword energy shatter the walls.
Crash-bang!
He could.
Chat messages appeared telling him not to destroy property. Seo Jun casually ignored them and experimented with various other things.
“Fortunately they give me time to experiment. If they booted me right after ending the game, I couldn’t try any of this.”
After finishing his experiments, Seo Jun brushed off his pants and opened the game menu, selecting the option to exit the game.
Once he was back in the real world, Seo Jun didn’t immediately start playing again.

-So what are you gonna do?
-The time came out to 17 minutes. Meaningless since it’s the first run, but still
-Veterans usually aim for sub-5-minute clears

Seo Jun looked at the chat.
He couldn’t think of a clear plan.
“Five minutes, huh?”

-Yeah
-Super fast
-Optimal route, optimal traits, optimal weapons, optimal strategy
-But those guys spend 2 hours just strategizing and don’t start until 9 or 9:30
-Us regular players just casually fight NPCs we feel like facing lol

It seemed casual players who didn’t strategize like that typically took about fifteen minutes.
Those lacking skill couldn’t clear it at all.
Seo Jun calculated the time it would take to rush from the third floor to the eleventh.
And the time to defeat Namgoong Cheon.
‘I think it’d come out to around six minutes or so.’
The actual time to defeat the commander was fast, but the time to reach him had lag.
He had to defeat the enemies blocking his path along the way.
Enemies that fell in just two sword strikes.
But there were many of them, and the stairs were broken at the fifth and eighth floors.
‘Five minutes versus six.’
Just a one-minute difference seemed like a lot when he thought of competitors spending two hours strategizing to shave off seconds.
‘Maybe I should watch what others do.’
His current viewers didn’t seem like they’d think of anything particularly clever, but they could still come up with things he’d never consider.
‘Things I’d never think of.’
Seo Jun analyzed his advantages first.
Attack power. Internal Energy recovery speed. Control skill.
And.
‘Hmm?’
A fun idea suddenly occurred to Seo Jun, and he smiled mischievously before acting on it as he usually did.
Unaware that quite a few people were watching him closely, what with yesterday’s issue and the fact that he’d started the Death Match right from the beginning.
“I think four minutes should be enough, though?”

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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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