Chapter 39 - Chapter 39

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Translator: 8uhl

Chapter: 39

Chapter Title: Noob Shredder's Lesson

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Baekho whistled as he headed toward the central stronghold, the only one still occupied by the enemy.

"There they are."

He spotted the two players inside the stronghold.

To launch a surprise attack, Baekho crouched low and circled around.

Thud.

Once he'd found his position, he pushed off with his feet.

Whoosh!

The ambush was a success.

Or so he thought.

The sword he swung was effortlessly dodged by Cheonma 14 with a short burst of lightness skill, who then counterattacked.

"This guy's one of my kind?"

A noob bully.

Cheonma 14's blade grazed perilously close to Baekho's throat.

Baekho used his own lightness skill to leap back and adjust the distance, preparing a counter, but the enemy's sword cut in deeper than expected.

"Did he measure the distance?"

Or just luck?

No way to tell.

"I'll handle this guy, Swordsman. You take out those soldiers over there. Let's wrap this up quick."

"Got it."

It was a relief that Cheonma's ally—the self-proclaimed World's Greatest Swordsman, who'd been getting on his nerves—had peeled off from the battlefield on his own.

But this time, the content of their conversation rubbed him the wrong way.

Wrap this up quick?

Did they think they could beat him easily?

"What are you? A ranker who got banned and started over?"

Separate from the blow to his pride, Baekho was curious about Cheonma's identity.

But the response was ridiculous enough to leave him speechless.

"This one is the Heavenly Demon."

It felt like the guy was mocking him.

No, he definitely was.

Ha.

A scoff escaped Baekho's lips.

"Yeah, nothing beats putting concept players in their place."

Time to force that mouth open.

A red aura began to flicker along Baekho's sword.

The sole active skill in the beginner zone's basic setup, the Three Disasters Swordsmanship: Sword Qi.

"Oh? What's that?"

The enemy reacted.

Most matches in the beginner zone never reached the point of leveling up Sword Qi.

So if the opponent was a returning ranker, he might've forgotten about it—or never known.

"If you don't know, time to die."

With those words, Baekho swung his sword wreathed in red energy.

Cheonma dodged backward, but the Sword Qi stretched out.

Baekho had precisely controlled its length.

"And that's the end..."

It wasn't.

Cheonma, having retreated, spotted the change in the Sword Qi and kicked off again.

Baekho steadied his momentarily startled heart.

"Recovered his balance nicely."

That skill marked him as a ranker from some game, no doubt.

With Sword Qi on cooldown, Baekho mixed a feint into his regular attack this time.

But Cheonma showed no sign of parrying the feint.

What the—?

Then Cheonma glanced up at the air and spoke.

"Oh, if the enemy attacks hard, I have to hit back hard to avoid stagger? And there's parrying too? Way easier than Assassin's Dawn."

What the hell is he doing?

And he doesn't even know that basic stuff?

"Parry exists, so he's done for. Thanks for the 10k donation. Hmm, shall I give it a shot?"

A streamer?

"What the hell are you doing?"

"Can't you tell by watching?"

He had a pretty good idea.

That.

Baekho was at a loss for words.

Instead, he stepped forward with a dumbfounded expression.

"Just end this, you clown."

Thanks to the level gap, his swift attack overwhelmed the enemy.

But then.

"Urk."

He staggered.

Slash!

The enemy sliced right through his staggered body.

Cheonma and Baekho's eyes met.

Cheonma, who had been scanning the battlefield expressionlessly, noticed and flashed a bright smile.

"Whoa, it's been forever since I got parried. You hit hard, huh? Alright, now I'll get serious."

As if making up his mind, Baekho gripped the back of his neck and charged again.

And then.

Their swords clashed, and Baekho groaned under the pressure that halted his body.

"Argh!"

It was an attack that even rankers mixing in feints struggled against, yet the enemy parried again.

Baekho's eyes widened in shock, and as his gaze landed, Cheonma's mouth opened.

"Man, this noob shredder sucks for real. Thanks for the 10k donation."

And an utterly infuriating voice followed.

"Wasting the Noob Shredder title. Thanks for the other 10k too."

What the fuck is this guy saying?

Cheonma, looking down at him, conveyed it wordlessly with his eyes.

You straight-up suck.

"Wasting the Noob Shredder title. Thanks for the other 10k too."

Seo-jun read the donation aloud.

In truth, there were no donations.

Not from the start.

But however he phrased it, wasn't it his prerogative?

Soon enough, someone who caught on to Seo-jun's intent actually sent a real donation.

"Yes! Thanks for the 10k from YouSuckDude. That's what he says?"

Seo-jun grinned as he looked at Baekho.

"Urk."

Baekho charged in a rage, but staggered again.

"You bastard!"

Seo-jun's sword sliced Baekho's throat, chipping away at his health.

"Hmm, the parrying here's a bit different."

It just causes stagger, nothing more.

In Assassin's Dawn, you'd get knocked down and all sorts of chaos ensued.

And if your power was lacking, the parrier would stagger instead.

More precisely, there was a heavy attack system.

Large motions with heavy power naturally consumed stamina for higher damage.

Parrying a heavy attack induced stagger, and if your power was insufficient when countering one, you staggered.

"Sword Qi looks intriguing too. Once I escape the beginner zone and learn martial arts, this could get fun."

There was a reason the head of Movie Soft, Eve Faimo, had recommended it.

Seo-jun thought that as he drained the last of the remaining enemy's health.

"Cheonma, just you wait. You're dead for real."

He checked the remaining enemy fortress health.

The World's Greatest Swordsman had diligently cleared out the soldiers.

"The central stronghold really is key."

Soon, the enemy fortress would crumble too.

"Back to square one?"

"I see."

Still, no sign of the enemies.

Not Baekho—he meant the original trio he'd killed first.

"They're probably waiting to group up."

Thanks to the World's Greatest Swordsman's rampage, the enemy fortress health ticked down steadily.

In the end, the enemy fortress fell before they could return.

"Cheonma-nim, all clear! Urgh!"

The World's Greatest Swordsman waved from afar, only to get ambushed.

Baekho had respawned.

He'd chosen to take out Seo-jun's ally first instead.

And meanwhile, Baekho's three teammates marked Seo-jun.

"Bad call."

Seo-jun didn't approach him directly; instead, he dashed toward the enemies at the stronghold entrance.

"Would've lost anyway."

Seo-jun closed in on the foes, and Manyang swung his sword with a voice of resignation.

"Why come at me first?"

Manyang's blade flashed.

The system-assisted sword stance looked decent enough.

Instead of parrying, Seo-jun opted for evasion.

Manyang followed up with a flurry of swings.

The other enemies started piling on one by one.

"If it were me, I wouldn't group like this."

No, anyone with a bit of game sense would've waited for Baekho before engaging.

And if he were Baekho, he'd have told his team not to fight Seo-jun until he arrived.

"Dunno if they couldn't communicate or if that guy's too hyped to think straight."

His rampage gauge began to fill.

Slash!

Seo-jun's sword cut into an enemy.

The foes from behind lunged at him.

Clang!

Seo-jun slipped out of the chaos in an instant, and their swords clashed harmlessly.

Whoosh.

Seo-jun whittled their health down just enough—not lethal, but one good hit away from death.

The enemies hadn't caught on yet.

Soon, the World's Greatest Swordsman fell, and Baekho climbed atop the stronghold.

"Damn, my team's low on health but you kited them good."

Not kiting.

Seo-jun realized it then.

This guy just got too hyped and forgot about rampage mode.

"Tsk tsk tsk. This one is the Heavenly Demon."

Magic words.

At that phrase, Baekho's face twisted, and he charged Seo-jun.

"Shut up, you fuck! It'll be different this time."

Red Sword Qi flared on Baekho's blade as he rushed in. Fast.

But.

Seo-jun extended his arm even faster to the side.

An enemy was at the blade's tip.

"Oh right, rampage mode."

Manyang's voice rang out, and Seo-jun activated lightness skill in rampage state.

Speed was insane, control tricky, but by stabbing his sword into the ground like before to steady himself, Seo-jun picked off the low-health enemies first.

Low HP meant one slice to kill—convenient.

Baekho charged, then froze upon realizing rampage mode too late.

"You sneaky bastard!"

And behind him appeared Seo-jun, sword at the ready.

"You're the sneakiest of all."

Slash!

Baekho tried to swing back, but his blade halted at his waist, blocked by overwhelming pressure.

Unable to budge, Baekho took another slash.

Slash!

"Fuck, because of my teammates. I'm speechless. Hey, queue up the next game quick."

Baekho still had half health left, but he sensed defeat.

"Wait, what's your streamer tag?"

Typical noob-bullying beginner-zoner.

"Gonna snipe me, huh."

Sniping meant checking streams to match with a target.

"Yeah, won't tell you, but I can find out. Queue up."

Seo-jun backed off slightly.

Even then, Baekho swung desperately, but Seo-jun parried lightly and spoke.

As if just remembering.

"Oh, guys, I forgot to mention one thing. This stream's a sponsored one today."

Baekho, mid-charge, halted.

"And there's even a rep watching right now."

Seo-jun thought of Kim Yoon-chan, who handled Travel's official account.

"No way the devs let a toxic player like this slide, right?"

"You little shit?"

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