Chapter 131

CHAPTER 131

• Predicted the transfer?
• He's crazy good right from the start.
• Wasn't that guy supposed to get weaker when he doesn't have a sword?
• Wasn't the sword his main body?
• What nonsense are you all talking about? LOL

The moment Spawn's skill was interrupted by the hit, Seo Jun leaned back and spread his hand.

A basic attack.

When fighting, if the damage from Dojun's absorption tower accumulated, it could have an impact that wasn't easy to ignore.

Seo Jun quietly observed Spawn as he took the basic attack.

'Looks like he's checking something.'

Spawn's skill had been interrupted immediately after being struck by the chain, but he could still have landed a basic attack.

Yet he didn't.

It wasn't because he had panicked and made a mistake.

No matter how absurd a situation occurred, a Challenger couldn't maintain their rank if they couldn't stay calm.

Instead of immediately landing a basic attack on Seo Jun, Spawn had focused on analyzing the Chain skill and checking exactly where Seo Jun's chain had originated from.

Spawn stood still, raised his gun, and spoke.

"The chains attacked from both the left and right sides. I got caught beautifully from the right."

His gun glowed as a projectile formed, condensed with mana.

Bang!

Spawn pulled the trigger.

The bullet flew in a straight line toward Seo Jun.

Yet Seo Jun didn't even blink.

The bullet dispersed right in front of his nose and vanished.

'He's already figured out the basic attack range of the move.'

At the moment, Seo Jun and Spawn were both gathering information on each other.

That was the foundation of all combat, and truly skilled players never ignored the fundamentals.

"Wouldn't it be better than a 50% gamble where we both just throw things and hope one lands?"

"Wow. I think you're the only person who'd call that a 50% gamble."

The positions Spawn could move to were nearly limitless.

Out of countless choices, he had simply chosen one path that approached Seo Jun diagonally.

Yet a chain had flown toward that exact location as if it had been waiting for him.

And you're saying it was just left or right?

• Had to choose left or right, so 50% LOL. So simple.
• That's perfect for a fool!
• Looking at this, Derrick seems insanely good too.
• He's still near the bottom among the pros though.

Spawn's vigilance rose another level.

Meanwhile, Seo Jun calmly summoned another magic circle behind him.

The brief trade that had been explosive for Seo Jun and somewhat humiliating for Spawn came to an end.

The two once again began adjusting their spacing while searching for opportunities to attack.

A magic circle could be summoned within a two-meter radius of the caster.

Since the chain also had a limited range, summoning it behind himself meant sacrificing up to four meters of effective distance.

Yet every time Seo Jun used Chains of Destruction, he continued summoning it behind himself.

In reality, the chain's range was long enough that he could have summoned it beside himself and still reached his target.

'What's his intention?'

Spawn carefully observed and analyzed every single movement Seo Jun made.

A chain shot out in a straight line from the magic circle floating in midair toward a minion.

Spawn also aimed his gun at a minion whose health was nearly depleted.

Bang! Bang!

Even while doing that, he never neglected positioning and distance control.

'Is this the timing?'

Whoosh!

The barrel that had been aimed at the minion lifted.

Bang! Bang!

The shots came with a slight delay, about a second apart.

But as Seo Jun took a single step backward, the mana bullets once again dispersed right in front of his eyes.

Not landing.

"You're really good at spacing. Do you happen to run away a lot in real life too?"

"That's not something a ranged damage dealer should be saying."

Seo Jun smiled and tossed out a taunt.

• Fact: both of them are technically ranged damage dealers.
• They're both roasting themselves LOL.
• Even the trash talk is intense.
• Derrick running away? LOL.
• If you met him in real life, he'd probably say, 'Good thing I caught you,' and rob you.
• LOL. More like legally rob you.
• That's called a settlement payment!

A chain shot out from the magic circle that had been floating for three seconds.

Spawn never stopped moving.

On top of that, he was concentrating on every action Seo Jun took.

Simply sidestepping and dodging the skill wasn't particularly difficult.

The chain targeted a ranged minion behind him.

"You shouldn't keep hitting the minions."

There were three melee minions and three ranged minions.

"Why not?"

"Well, obviously because... never mind."

Spawn stopped himself.

Could even that reaction have been intentional?

The minions from each side marched down the lane from their Nexus.

When they met, they formed a battle line and began fighting.

The three melee minions acted as tanks in the front line.

The three ranged minions stood behind them, providing support from afar.

Both sides' minions had identical stats.

Because of that, player intervention determined where the clash between the two minion waves occurred.

Closer to a turret.

Farther from a turret.

Or perfectly in the middle, like at the start of the game.

The principle was simple.

If you attacked the minions less than your opponent did, your own minions would die faster.

Then, after eliminating the enemy wave, the surviving enemy minions would advance and meet the next allied wave farther down the lane.

That position would end up closer to your own turret.

This was called freezing the lane.

If you attacked the minions more than your opponent did, your minions would advance instead.

That was called pushing the lane.

Manipulating the lane advantageously depending on the situation was known as wave management.

The core of wave management was controlling the minion wave.

Yet right now, Seo Jun was practically ignoring Spawn and hitting minions whenever his basic attack was available.

He was pushing the lane recklessly.

But Spawn wasn't fooled.

'There's definitely a reason for this.'

The reason he had intentionally targeted the chain earlier.

The way Seo Jun had acted flustered and pretended not to know the skill in order to make his opponent lower their guard.

Because of that, even Seo Jun's current reckless, newbie-like behavior had to conceal some deeper intention.

'Pushing the lane is usually advantageous in most situations.'

By clearing minions quickly, you could initiate trades while the enemy was occupied last-hitting.

And if a fight broke out nearby, you could rotate first.

But if it were always advantageous, everyone would push the lane all the time.

The current situation favored Seo Jun because he maintained spacing and held initiative.

However, Spawn was dodging every skill, leaving Seo Jun without the decisive power needed to secure a kill.

At the same time, Spawn couldn't easily chase Seo Jun down.

But because he had mobility skills, if he ever managed to close the distance and force a direct fight, he had the explosive power to kill one of them instantly.

"Mr. Seo Jun. Doesn't this situation favor you if you keep it going?"

Bang!

A bullet pierced the forehead of a minion.

"Well, considering you haven't hit me even once, I'd say it does."

Seo Jun smiled and continued basic attacking the wave.

The muscles around Spawn's eyes tightened.

But he stayed calm.

This was a newbie who could kite a Challenger-level ranged damage dealer so perfectly that he hadn't been hit once.

Getting provoked by a few words would only hurt him.

"What if I land a hit on you right now?"

"Then I'll land one of my skills on you."

"Ah. Then I should probably pray things keep going the way they are."

For Seo Jun, it was advantageous if this situation continued. Spawn needed to force an engagement.

'But what if he pushes the lane?'

Pushing the lane meant moving farther away from his own turret.

If Spawn used a skill and started a fight while close to his turret, Seo Jun could simply retreat a little and step into turret range.

Afterward, he could continue controlling distance while happily throwing basic attacks and chains.

But what if the lane was pushed away from the turret and a fight broke out then?

That would favor Spawn.

The problem was that he had already realized Seo Jun wasn't the type of person who would deliberately put himself at a disadvantage.

So he wanted to simply maintain the current situation.

'Can't be helped. I'll just have to focus even more.'

Spawn found it difficult to create an opening.

• What's he doing? Getting pushed around by a newbie.
• Lost all lane priority LOL.
• Why play ranged DPS if you're getting kited?
• Is this really a Challenger ADC?

Spawn was a streamer.

Before that, he had been a Challenger player.

'I'll crush him with pure mechanics.'

Spawn waited for the lane to push.

• Derrick, I don't think pushing the lane is a good idea.
• Leave him alone. He probably has a plan.
• Derrick, just keep poking or go even. You have the range advantage anyway.
• No backseating.
• There are plenty of opportunities later.
• Seriously, chat and their backseating...

While last-hitting minions whenever possible and carefully controlling distance, Seo Jun read the chat and tilted his head.

"Oh? Why is pushing the lane bad?"

Some viewers were telling others not to backseat.

But Seo Jun wasn't the type to stop it.

If anything, he welcomed it.

"Hmm."

"Can I explain it?"

"Yes, please do."

The lane finished pushing.

And Spawn, who had been waiting for exactly this moment, activated a skill.

[Dash]

Kicking off the ground, Spawn lunged forward at high speed.

"Because it lets the enemy engage like this."

Closing the gap to the maximum effective range of Quick Shot, Spawn raised his arm and aimed at Seo Jun.

The distance to the turret was long now.

Even if Seo Jun immediately started retreating, Spawn could still force a substantial trade.

Then suddenly, Spawn felt something was wrong.

"So why is approaching like this a bad thing?"

His combo hadn't activated.

There was only one reason that could happen.

His skill had been interrupted by a hit.

Spawn quickly turned around.

A chain was embedded in him.

The chain had emerged from a magic circle hidden behind the minions where it was difficult to notice.

His mind froze.

Predicting his position was one thing.

But if the prediction had failed, the chain would have simply flown toward Seo Jun instead.

"Just what the hell...?"

At the exact moment Spawn realized he had been making a completely wrong assumption, Seo Jun was talking about something entirely different.

"Why though? If the enemy comes to me on their own, isn't that a good thing? Isn't that an advantage?"

There hadn't been any elaborate calculation.

He had simply pushed the lane because he figured the enemy would come fight him.

Seven years ago or now, he was exactly the same.

• LOL
• Was that planned this time too?
• I'm curious what kind of nonsense logic he'll come up with next!

Spawn raised his gun in alarm.

The first shot hit Seo Jun.

However, the second shot was blocked when Seo Jun threw out an orb.

• Kyaa!
• He makes it look so easy.
• If the second bullet doesn't hit, it's basically Muve's win.

"Oh?"

This time Seo Jun didn't increase the distance.

Instead, he approached.

Like a swordsman entering melee combat.

"I think this is better."

Seo Jun grinned.

As he advanced, something entered Spawn's field of vision behind Seo Jun.

[Chains of Destruction]

'A magic circle? When did he...?'

He immediately realized when.

Three seconds ago.

The chain fired.

Fwoooosh!

Seo Jun stood between the magic circle and Spawn.

Meaning that if anything went wrong, he himself would be the only one who could get hit.

Yet the chain narrowly brushed past Seo Jun's side and struck Spawn.

• He hides it well and lands it perfectly.
• Does he have to predict everything three seconds in advance every time he uses the skill? How is Derrick doing this?

Spawn's health dropped to the point where one more skill would kill him.

Seo Jun could practically read the confusion on Spawn's face.

• When did his HP get that low?
• Derrick's skill damage is insanely high.
• Wow. Is this really Challenger-level skill prediction?
• Finish him!

[Chains of Destruction]

'One more hit and I've got him.'

A magic circle appeared two meters in front of Seo Jun and behind Spawn.

Even in the middle of the crisis, Spawn quickly regained his composure and confirmed the location of the newly summoned circle.

"So what are you going to do now?"

Spawn didn't have the luxury of replying.

Instead, he answered with bullets.

He had decided to retreat.

Running away was safer, so he fired suppressing shots while backing off.

Seo Jun merely destroyed them with his orb in midair and didn't take any other action.

A second shot.

Spawn moved behind the magic circle that had appeared behind him.

"You should've just stayed still."

Watching the scene leisurely, Seo Jun spoke slowly.

"Wh-What?"

"It's been three seconds."

A chain shot out from the magic circle.

Not toward the place where Spawn had originally been.

But the opposite direction.

Toward the location where Spawn had retreated.

Fwoooosh!

[First Blood]

[Sword God → This Is So Frustrating]

At that moment, a shocking narration appeared in the void for everyone who hadn't been watching the fight.