Master Swordsman’s Stream - Chapter 91

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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 91

If they lost this fight, the game was effectively over.
Even if they mounted a guerrilla campaign or came up with some clever tactic, it was clear they couldn’t bridge that gap.
It was despair-inducing that the game itself was 4 versus 4, not a true 3 versus 1 with only Seo Jun on the other side.

-You guys can win this time, right? ㅎㅇㅌ

One of their teammates who wasn’t a ranker typed that, and Han Pun Man thought to himself.
They’re being decent about it, at least.
If it were him, he’d have cursed them out for losing.
‘Why couldn’t you even beat them?’
But once you fight them, you understand.
The moment a disadvantageous situation seems to arise because of his speed, he cuts off their momentum with Sword Energy at the most frustrating timing.
Most attacks get blocked if they’re within a certain range.
And then Cheon Sal Seong extends his sword and shouts.
“Land a hit already!”
Normal attacks never connect.
Ah.
Han Pun Man regretted that he’d ever entered this game.
‘I’d kill for a passing-grade test against a master.’
A sword test against a true expert.
That’s what they needed.
Clang!
An exchange where every attack went to waste.
They wished he’d take a hit, but the enemy seemed determined not to attack and barely opened their mouth despite the trash talking, just dodging.
“Pun Man, how much Rampage Mode do you have left?”
“Probably…”
Experience built up over normal play returns as an uncanny instinct.
Like when a skilled gamer suddenly thinks, ‘Wait, I feel like the enemy’s hiding over there?’ and scans their radar instinctively.
“Soon.”
“I see.”
The game was lost.
“Want to play another round?”
At Han Pun Man’s question, Namgung Se Ga Jeom So I approached from the front without changing expression and took in the movements of Cheon Ma 14 swinging their sword.
The decision came fast.
“No, let’s tell the others to block instead.”

* * *

The viewers watching Seo Jun’s stream could hear the Orthodox Sect rankers’ conversation clearly.
Whether they whispered quietly or chatted through the system.

[Eou Jeong]

-Huh… suddenly feel like fighting the Unorthodox Sect today?

So one ranker said just that.
That he’d suddenly gotten that feeling.
No one asked why.
Just that people with similar thoughts started pouring in.

-Me too
-ㅋㅋㅋ Beating Demon Sect today. We’ll swat all their throwing blades away
-Honestly, I ran into Greenwood Bandits yesterday while climbing and it pissed me off
-You too?
-Me too!
-Honestly Demon Sect’s been stomped enough ㅎㅎ

Seeing this, Bang Ju burst out laughing.
“Yeah, yeah. We did beat them down pretty hard.”
If he checked the current viewing channel of whoever was typing those messages, one streamer would definitely pop up.
“Oh. Rampage Mode kicking in soon?”
Seo Jun’s movements visible through the broadcast grew sharper, and his sword began to accelerate.
The second reason why 3 versus 1 wasn’t so advantageous.
Rampage Mode.
Since the system was designed from the start to overturn disadvantageous 3 versus 1 fights, the outcome was all but decided.
“Nothing more to see. That’s today’s battlefield.”
Of course, the caveat was that “not so advantageous” only applied when you were far more skilled than your opponents.
“Nobody should be in the dark about this, right?”

[Wi Jeong Cheok Sa Pa]

-I think I could do it? If we hold out we win, seems easy
-ㅇㅋ If that looks easy, you take on Demon Sect and the Heavenly Demon from now on
-Ah. This battlefield’s when we vowed to give Orthodox Sect a proper lesson, so we can’t help it. Too bad

Bang Ju burst out laughing again.
“Anyway, they’re all the same.”
He wasn’t a ranker himself, but he’d been invited to Eou Jeong and Wi Jeong Cheok Sa Pa, and Eou Ma (formerly At Least Second Place).
It was how users had accommodated him so he could parse the situation more easily.
When a game gets stale, knowing each other vaguely like this is useful.
And it was also a result of his not betraying their trust.
“Anyway, he’s really good.”
A streamer with no flaws—physical ability, control skill, trash talking, nothing missing.
The war had properly begun and Bang Ju had to be busier than anyone else right now, parsing and recording the movements of every faction.
But for this moment alone, with all rankers’ attention fixed on one point, he had plenty of breathing room.
“Wow.”
He opened the war map and was startled to see not a single red marker.
Thirty minutes had passed since the start, and the one or two rankers or those playing solo should be stirring by now, but no one was moving in the game.
The reason was obvious—they were watching someone.
Suddenly he was curious.
“How many viewers are there?”
The 18,000 viewers they’d pulled during yesterday’s collaboration were definitely thanks to Bang Ju’s help.
He drew massive aggro and funneled so many viewers toward Seo Jun’s broadcast that the wave flowing that way was equally massive.
But conversely, the fact that 140,000 viewers still chose Bang Ju said something.
The reason was that viewers prefer what they’re already watching.
Not just viewers—people in general naturally prefer the familiar and don’t easily accept the new.
That’s why growing your viewer tier isn’t easy.
If you want to climb, you have to keep building recognition, showing your face, and getting exposure to others.
So then.
How many viewers did Seo Jun have when Bang Ju wasn’t there?
“Did we break 10,000?”
Ten thousand—mid-tier.
The mid-tier range was broad.
But if you broke 10,000 viewers, you could confidently claim some influence on the platform and earn the mid-tier streamer title.
There wasn’t an official title, but.
“Oh?”
Checking the viewer count, Bang Ju was delighted as if it were his own achievement.

[Viewer Count – 13,000]

“Easily breaking past 10,000.”
Because of the war? A temporary spike?
Because of yesterday’s collaboration?
Maybe that’s true.
But.
Bang Ju entered the Demon Sect chat room and skimmed their strategy while scratching his cheek.
This thing here.
“By the time the war ends…”
Isn’t he going to hit 20,000 viewers?

* * *

[Victory]

Seo Jun stared at the message that appeared before his eyes, then turned to the side.
The 3 versus 1 game against the rankers had ended in overwhelming victory.
He was curious what kind of ripples this result would cause.

-Awesome victory!
-Strategy if needed, force if needed, nothing lacking
-Why’d he have to go to Demon Sect ㅠㅠ

Seo Jun let out a small laugh and exited the map. His vision flipped and the original background appeared.
If it had been a public channel, who knows what viewers waiting there would’ve done.
It’s not like they’d have to live with it if they did something—they could just switch channels. Maybe because they’re moving their body directly, villains aren’t as common.
But there are always those who were born without even a shred of shame.

-Orthodox Sect totally got stomped, right? Orthodox Sect totally got stomped, right? Orthodox Sect totally got stomped, right? Orthodox Sect totally got stomped, right?
-Three people charging in and losing ㅋㅋㅋ Three people charging in and losing ㅋㅋㅋ
-Cheon Sal Seong’s special trait) point vending machine

There were a lot of spam messages, probably from the excitement.
Seo Jun opened the map to grab the final game.
“Alright. Let’s see who comes this time.”
The viewer count was 13,000.
‘There should be quite a few rankers watching right now.’
He was curious how they’d cope after witnessing that defeat.
As Seo Jun started the game, a marker lit up again in the region they’d been hitting all along.

-Try stopping him ㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-Tactical Heavenly Demon deployment!
-Demon Sect guys getting all excited, it’s disgusting to watch
-ㄹㅇ Demon Sect bastards
-Demon Sect? It’s Top Sect
-This time it’s really different, ah if you’re pissed try stopping him ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

Demon Sect and Orthodox Sect were fighting in the chat. And Orthodox Sect was losing firepower.
Because losers naturally go quiet.

[‘Orthodox Sect Spokesperson’ sent a donation of 10,000 won!]
[This round will be different.]

But a donation came in.
“Thanks for the donation. Though honestly, who knows how it’ll turn out.”
Seo Jun said with a smile.
“Shouldn’t we start by winning the game first?”
Since only a single nickname was showing on the map.

[Cheon Ma 14]

-Ah
-No one’s coming!
-No one
-No one’s coming! ㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-Are you guys seriously scared? ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-Ladies and gentlemen, entering the player. What? The player fled?

* * *

[Eou Jeong]

-Anyone going to go?

It was a sentence that hurt the pride.
And Han Pun Man, who’d typed it, awkwardly looked around.
Everyone seemed to have nothing particular to say.
Thank goodness—no one was blaming him for bringing that up.
Anyway, ultimately they’d need to commit 14 additional rankers to rebalance the scales that Seo Jun’s victory had tipped.
Not that it was even guaranteed all 14 would win, but regardless.
The war was a team game.

-Looks like Demon Sect will be key going forward

‘Right.’
What was Seo Jun’s intention in moving the way he did?
What was he looking at?
The streamer’s final game was locked in.
There were no rankers.
And at the same moment, red markers bloomed across the map simultaneously.
‘The real beginning.’
Han Pun Man watched the war map intently and shared information as much as possible.

-Unorthodox Sect and Demon Sect attacking each other. Different area
-Let’s hit one Demon Sect position lightly too

Orthodox Sect’s strategy was always the same.
Moderation.
Waiting for the enemy to move first, then responding.
As the strongest of the three factions, it was the most efficient approach Orthodox Sect could choose.

-Several Demon Sect attacking same area as Heavenly Demon
-Defend?

Han Pun Man watched the situation and typed.

-Concede and take resources elsewhere instead
-Unorthodox Sect’s hitting us too
-Defend that one

‘Nothing particularly unusual.’
Just probing here and there, giving up what needed to be given up.
After feeling each other out like that, day 12 of the war concluded.
The results would come tomorrow.
‘Damn developers and their terrible design.’
If results came immediately, they could prepare for tomorrow in advance, which would make the game boring. So they just released the standings when the next day started instead.
To see improvisation.
And that way, more mistakes get made.
Actually, there were quite a few cases where people lost the war embarrassingly, so in terms of fun it was worth it.
The next day.
Han Pun Man waited for seven o’clock.
While watching Seo Jun’s stream that had started at six-thirty.

[Demon Sect Will Obviously Win]

It was Seo Jun’s stream title.
‘Win? How so?’
Laughing at the title, Han Pun Man entered the private chat room he’d been invited to.
Users gathered.
“You here?”
“Yeah.”
“Did you see the hotfix?”
A hotfix meant an emergency patch.
Normally patches ran weekly on a regular schedule, but if bugs or other errors appeared, they had no choice but to patch outside that schedule to fix them.
That was a hotfix.
“Yeah.”
“They touched up the matching system based on Prestige Points. Looks like they’re targeting the Heavenly Demon, right?”
“Seems like it.”
The problem was they didn’t provide detailed explanations.
“Will it be 4 versus 1? So we can stop him somehow?”
Han Pun Man shook his head at his colleague’s words.
Most people were saying what that colleague just said, but Han Pun Man’s thinking was different.
3 versus 1 in a Territorial Conquest Game never made sense in terms of balance from the start.
Many people are confused because of Seo Jun’s victory.
In a Territorial Conquest Game, not a duel, a 3 versus 1 scenario from a game perspective clearly favors the 3.
Yesterday they made mistakes and the enemy just handled things well.
‘There’s no way developers don’t know this.’
So if the matching system had changed in a way favorable to the Heavenly Demon…
“Hmm.”
A headache was coming on.

[Heading straight there today too. Where, you ask? Orthodox Sect, obviously. I was Orthodox Sect in my past life, after all.]

The sound from the stream rang in Han Pun Man’s ears and he grabbed the back of his neck.
‘What’s it to me anyway?’
Still.

[I’m going straight. Try stopping me, Orthodox Sect.]

Han Pun Man had a strong premonition that how they dealt with the Heavenly Demon would be the decisive factor determining the course of this war, and his brow furrowed.
The real war was beginning.

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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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