Master Swordsman’s Stream - Chapter 92

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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 92

Day 13, 7 p.m.
The results from the Day 12 battlefield had come in.
“One region occupied by the Demon Sect. One region occupied by us. The Unorthodox Sect also traded one for one.”
The Demon Sect and the Unorthodox Sect had both succeeded in occupying one region each.
“An unremarkable outcome.”
All three factions had shown a focus on defense overall.
You take that region? Then I’ll take one too. Hand this over.
Only minor exchanges had taken place in this fashion.
However, looking at the detailed results, the value of the land exchanged between the Demon Sect and the Orthodox Sect was not equal.
The land the Demon Sect took was at the northern edge—a direct line toward the Orthodox Sect’s headquarters—but its value was low.
Conversely, the land seized from the Demon Sect was in the middle, bordering both the Unorthodox Sect and the Demon Sect simultaneously.
Such land held great value.
Moreover, lands where the three factions faced each other directly had the disadvantage of being lost easily if two factions allied.
However, even if an alliance succeeded in occupation, the faction with the higher contribution would claim it, so alliances rarely materialized in practice—a characteristic that meant the disadvantage wasn’t as pronounced as it might seem.
In other words, it was terrain that defended itself reasonably well.
Having taken one such region, the Orthodox Sect had made a favorable trade.

[Ouou Pavilion]

-Just look at how they’re running the game
-No morals whatsoever
-This is why those Demon Sect bastards are the worst, ugh! Tsk!

Han Pun Man checked the chat and examined the red markers on the map.
Unlike yesterday, several red indicators had appeared, but there was only one place to focus on.
‘They weren’t satisfied with what they took yesterday, then.’
They’re really attacking this one.
Are they aiming for the headquarters?
Hard to tell.
It doesn’t seem like they coordinated with the other Demon Sect people.
“We have to hold the line, at least.”
As he muttered, his colleague beside him heard and tapped his shoulder.
“Right. Let’s defend for now. If Celestial Demon comes in and takes another region, there’s only one zone left between us and the headquarters.”
That much buffer might seem comfortable, but the pattern is always the same—give ground one piece at a time until you lose everything.
Look at Britain before the Second World War, yielding to Germany piece by piece.
That famous ‘peace for our time’ could happen all over again.

-So who’s going?

A day had passed, and with adequate preparation, many volunteers stepped forward.
The most frequent discussion at the Guild the day before was exactly how to beat Celestial Demon three-to-one in territorial combat.
Watching that, Han Pun Man could only be more certain that the hot fix had been applied favorably to Celestial Demon—but for now, it was worth testing.
Let’s see.

-I’ll go and scope out the strategy

That chat message wasn’t from him.
Han Pun Man simply didn’t like fighting and battling Celestial Demon anymore.

-Let’s go
-Send four people, and if we get a three-to-one matching, we’ll play it by ear
-OK

Brave souls.
Fight on.
Han Pun Man shifted his gaze from the chat window to the map with a melancholic air.
A list of regions marked in red was being added.
The Demon Sect had four members.
The nicknames had already appeared, as if they’d reacted in no time.
‘They seem to be thinking along similar lines. With three coming as reinforcement and all.’
Of course, Seo Jun alone probably didn’t equal one Ranker.

[Celestial Demon 14]
[Bandit King]
[Dang So]
[I Like Solid Colors]

The Orthodox Sect also had four.

[The Devil Wears Prada]
[No Go Su]
[Cheon Sal Seong]
[Backseat Commentary Expert]

That Cheon Sal Seong—does she just keep trying infinitely?
Losing twelve times in a row and still coming back is impressive.
The thought of that streak sparked heat in his chest, but Han Pun Man quickly shook his head to cool off.
‘How the game plays out will determine everything.’
He thought through his next moves.
This battlefield’s objective could be summed up in one sentence.
Stop Celestial Demon.
It was his instinct alone, but his instinct sometimes worked very well.

[Got you. Let’s go catch the Orthodox Sect.]

An irritating voice echoed out.

* * *

[I won because of me.]
[Don’t talk bullshit, Dang So.]
[Ha. I don’t know what would’ve happened without my support.]

Han Pun Man let out a hollow laugh at their exchange.
That Dang So never changes.
To cut to the chase, the matching turned out to be three-to-two, not three-to-one.
Why it wasn’t four-to-three, only the video software would know for certain, but he could guess roughly.
The balance was quite appropriate.
It was the kind of balance where killing Seo Jun even once would make the game winnable—appropriately designed.
‘Though I’m not sure if that’s actually possible.’

[Of course we won.]
[Why are you saying it so calmly? With me here, the Demon Sect now has a real shot at the championship.]
[Dang So.]
[What is it?]
[Shut up and exit the game now.]

He really was consistent.
Anyway.
If every matching from here on turns out three-to-two, blocking Celestial Demon through gameplay alone would be genuinely difficult.
Should he just leave it to his teammates?

-If we held the strongpoint when it’s three-to-two…
-No, instead of that, maybe we should…

Han Pun Man trusted the other Rankers in their passionate discussion.
But even so, he wasn’t the type to sit back and wait for others to work things out.
Somehow, some way, he’d think and find a solution…
“Ah.”
Han Pun Man’s eyes narrowed and widened repeatedly in an instant.

* * *

Seo Jun stretched his neck. True to form for virtual reality aiming for the most realistic possible conditions, a crisp pop sounded and a refreshing sensation spread through his entire body from his neck.
After stretching his hands in turn, Seo Jun logged out of the game.
“Why does the Orthodox Sect only test the waters once?”
Day 13 had ended.
It wasn’t that the mode closed at ten. It just meant there was nothing more he could do today.

-Are they giving it up?
-If this keeps up, it’ll be the headquarters lol
-I’m sure they have a plan

Seo Jun nodded and looked around, then sat in a nearby chair with his back against the wall.
It was his private channel, so it was quiet.
He rolled his eyes, scanning game messages, the group chat, and the community to assess the situation, then spoke softly.
“I should end the stream now.”
He harvested the likes in the comments.

-?
-Why?
-??
-Don’t go
-Did he just do another tactical stream-kill…!

They were right that ending quickly was the call.
Normally, he would’ve watched videos brought by viewers, laughed, interacted, and argued.
“I have a promise with a friend.”
But today there was a reason.

-lol
-Acting like you had no friends before, what?
-Suspicious. I smell something fishy. Could it be a girlfriend?
-This has potential
-Choose between the girlfriend and me

True to form for masters of insinuation, they went overboard from the start.
“That’s not it.”
Seo Jun firmly cut them off and clicked to end the stream.
Keeping the stream going longer would be good for retaining twelve thousand viewers, but there was something more important.

-See you ㅠㅠ
-See you later

After exiting the Capsule, Seo Jun quickly showered and sat at his computer.
The claim about meeting a friend was a lie.
Where would he find such a friend.
‘That’s a bit sad, honestly.’
Seo Jun reflected on his life up to now and searched for the official website of For the Guild.
He opened the site, pulling up the battlefield map on the left and the chat room on the right.

[Ouou Demon]

He wanted to accurately grasp exactly how users were moving within the battlefield.
Checking during the stream would require quite tedious work and he couldn’t focus entirely.
There was the option of watching after everything ended.
But observing in real time and directly experiencing the psychological motivations behind such judgments on the scene was undeniably the most effective approach.
The Demon Sect’s primary objective was to destroy the Orthodox Sect’s headquarters.
Thus all current movements and their intentions were focused on not revealing the objective.

-Looks like Unorthodox Sect is attacking, so we should counterattack appropriately
-Orthodox Sect seems to want to poke at multiple points today
-But aren’t they defending Seomseo?

Seomseo referred to the region Seo Jun had attempted to occupy today.
It wasn’t that the region was officially named that in the system or actually located at precise coordinates in Seomseo.
The regions were simply divided near Seomseo, so for convenience they called it that.
The Gansuk he’d occupied yesterday was to the west of Seomseo, and moving eastward…
Today’s attack on Seomseo.
To its east, Shanxi.
And finally the Hebei region where the Orthodox Sect’s headquarters lay—that’s how the regions were divided.

-They don’t seem to be defending
-Maybe they’ll deploy in the late game
-This is weird though. Are they baiting us—making us confirm whether we’re going for Seomseo?
-We shouldn’t deploy more and attack first

As the Orthodox Sect appeared to be holding back, numerous interpretations circulated.
Since Seo Jun’s purpose was to create some confusion by operating somewhat independently, then slowly advancing without openly attacking Seomseo, he couldn’t go all-in on it.
“Interesting.”

-No Go Su spotted on Unorthodox Sect side
-And Nameless just appeared south of Hunan

Territorial conquest as a group. Psychological warfare. Or something else.
He thought he understood why they’d stagnated.
“You said For the Guild had sufficient new user intake, right?”
Even so, the reason they were called stagnant was probably because after one such battlefield, new users rarely found themselves unfamiliar with each other anymore.
‘Yeah, this is fun.’
The corners of Seo Jun’s mouth rose with satisfaction.
Ding.
A personal message arrived from Sam Jang Ro.

[Sam Jang Ro: Celestial Demon, thank you for your hard work today!]
[Celestial Demon 14: Thanks. But isn’t it still ongoing?]
[Sam Jang Ro: True, but the Orthodox Sect is being really lukewarm about it.]

Lukewarm—was that what he meant?

[Celestial Demon 14: Think the Seomseo occupation will fail today?]
[Sam Jang Ro: The Orthodox Sect is preserving their forces now, and so are we. If they commit everyone to defending Seomseo, we’ll show our true hand today.]

So he was willing to risk exposing the strategy as long as they took Seomseo today.

[Celestial Demon 14: I see.]
[Sam Jang Ro: By the way, Celestial Demon. The number of users following your lead seems quite substantial.]
[Celestial Demon 14: What do you mean?]
[Sam Jang Ro: You know, those more casual players among the regular users who play fairly seriously.]
[Sam Jang Ro: A fair number of them seem to be following Seo Jun’s movements.]

Players who engaged with the game more deeply generally checked broadcasts and communities as a baseline.
And a considerable number of Demon Sect users had shown this response.

[In this battlefield, Celestial Demon buddies should follow Celestial Demon only lol I know right? Send thumbs up]
[Celestial Demon said he’ll wipe out the Orthodox Sect. I simply follow.]
[I do not doubt.]
[If I can be of any small help to the movement of the Greatest of Ancient and Modern, I am satisfied…]

Seo Jun saw these posts and laughed them off, but Sam Jang Ro apparently thought differently.
According to Sam Jang Ro, they’d lost a region to the Unorthodox Sect the day before that calculation said they shouldn’t have.
The reason had to be the absence of casual players—nothing else made sense—and while such cases weren’t rare, this time felt unusually loose.
The absence of casual players stemmed from people concentrating on Seo Jun, Sam Jang Ro suggested.
For them, fine distribution and coordination weren’t necessary, so it could actually be good news.
‘Is it going this smoothly today, then?’
There was no way the Orthodox Sect would just hand over Seomseo—a region so close to their headquarters—without any response.

-They only respond to pressure points with defense and aren’t attacking anywhere
-They must be short on stamina

-Huge numbers. Looks like they’re committing all their reserves
-So that’s why they were waiting!]
-Connection lost

Not Seomseo, but its western neighbor—
Gansuk.
The region the Demon Sect had occupied the day before.
Instead of defending Seomseo, the Orthodox Sect’s gambit was to occupy Gansuk in reverse, isolating the Demon Sect’s newly taken Seomseo the following day.

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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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