Chapter 86

CHAPTER 86

Chapter 86

When you win in the game, you accumulate points and reputation in that region according to your role.

If the attacking points are higher, the territory is captured.

If the defending points are higher, the territory remains unchanged.

A simple system.

In the end, the true essence of the war was territorial conquest—seeing which faction possessed more land by the conclusion.

For the next ten days, both sides would fiercely watch each other while taking and losing territory.

And amid that situation, Seojun’s role was disruption.

Attacking the moment the war opened at 7 PM?

What exactly was the Demonic Cult leadership thinking?

Or was this his personal decision?

And the reactions pouring in were:

—Look at this guy instantly queueing into games

—No backing down at all

—This was discussed beforehand, right?

—Realistically, would anyone approve of immediately throwing away a major combat asset like that?

—Or maybe he’s just running off on his own. Honestly, with that streamer, it’s possible.

“Haha. At this point I don’t really need bonuses from successful defenses anymore. I’m just gonna do whatever I want.”

—And the result of that is all of us getting dragged down, teacher

—You promised you’d make us win!

—Orthodox faction bros, please capture lots of territory! That’s how we win!

Just from the reactions alone, it was impossible to tell which faction they supported.

Suppressing a laugh, Seojun spoke.

“The game matched.”

His vision darkened.

Four players were summoned into the fortress waiting room.

‘Are they all stream snipers?’

There were no users in For the Chivalry with reputation scores close to Seojun’s.

Originally there had only been a handful even remotely near his level, so matchmaking usually paired him with players slightly above average overall.

But now his reputation was over ten times higher than theirs.

He was curious what kind of players he’d get matched with.

‘Probably not stream snipers though.’

Queue time had taken two minutes.

Two minutes was fairly long, but even before this it had been around that much.

‘Even after climbing this absurdly high, it’s still the same. Makes sense.’

There was probably just a hard limit.

Smiling, Seojun looked around.

His teammates immediately began calmly organizing the situation.

“Hello.”

“Hi.”

“Let’s settle positions first.”

“Let’s check enemy compositions and decide what to do—wait. Heavenly Demon Divine Art? Ah, damn. We’re screwed.”

Right.

The perception of Heavenly Demon Divine Art was terrible.

Wasn’t it basically a Korean-only build nobody ever used?

“What an idiot. Is he a troll?”

“What kind of trash even takes that build? Wait, he even maxed perception delay in the detailed traits.”

“They really come in all varieties.”

Everyone added comments while staring at Seojun.

He could understand why group bullying was considered painful.

“Ah, I had a feeling this would happen today. Looks like people copied it after watching yesterday.”

“Copied what?”

“You didn’t watch yesterday’s martial records challenge?”

“Nope.”

“Wow. You really didn’t watch it?”

— he really didn’t watch it.

—That’s basically losing out in life

—But how do you even know he watched it?

—From the Demonic Cult perspective, the game itself was the entertainment hilarious.

—Today’s gonna be filled with Heavenly Demon Divine Art trolls copying the streamer

“So seriously, you didn’t watch it? I even watched the replay.”

One person didn’t know while two did.

‘Guess there aren’t any snipers here.’

Then it made sense they didn’t recognize him.

Unless someone was a hardcore viewer, who memorized a streamer’s exact game ID?

And remembering a face from one glance wasn’t easy either.

The viewers seemed to think similarly.

—You’d need some insanely distinct feature to recognize him

—Like weird customization or unforgettable movement patterns?

—True.

—Snipers, aren’t you gonna protect our streamer’s pride? Hurry up and snipe him so you can flex being teammates

Seojun thought back to the stream snipers he’d met so far.

Maybe it was actually better if people didn’t recognize him.

He should just play the game.

Stretching once, he stood in front of the entrance.

“Look at this troll bastard confidently standing there.”

“He definitely heard our whole conversation.”

“I seriously want to ask what kind of thought process led him to bring Heavenly Demon Divine Art.”

—What kind of thought process?

—Is this the flavor of a true equipment elitist?

—Please insult him more. Ignore him more.

Sigh.

—I am the Heavenly Demon.

The viewers laughed while the teammates had already given up.

“Ah, guess this game’s over.”

“You think we can win?”

“Nope.”

“Let’s just enjoy ourselves.”

“He’s not even listening.”

“Maybe he can at least pull his own weight?”

“Look at him refusing to answer till the end.”

Eventually, the player who had mentioned the martial records grabbed Seojun by the shoulder.

“Ha, you idiot. You can’t just copy builds like that. Wait… why are you this handsome? Don’t tell me… are you the Heavenly Demon himself?”

—Wait he recognized him by his face?!

—An overwhelming feature = handsome face.

—Holy shit suddenly it makes perfect sense.

—If you’re handsome, people just remember you automatically

“…The ID does seem right too.”

“Seriously? Wow, hello. It’s an honor.”

“Hello.”

Seojun nodded in greeting.

“Have fun.”

“What does that even mean, you weebs?!”

“Please carry us.”

“Shut up!”

Anyway, now that they recognized him, he might as well play normally.

“Then I’ll head to Junam alone.”

“Wait, why are you going to Junam by yourself—”

“How dare you question him.”

“Do not oppose him!”

Afterward, the game—

Considering matchmaking balance, the four enemies were individually stronger overall than Seojun’s other three teammates.

Yet despite that, Seojun effortlessly captured Junam by himself and won the match.

Cheonsalseong looked around.

The Namgung Clan’s hall.

More specifically, the Four Spirits Tower, where numerous Orthodox faction players had gathered.

Though honestly, it wasn’t just the Four Spirits Tower anymore.

Everyone was already communicating through the large group chat.

[Orthodox Faction]

—What do we do?

—I can’t figure out what their objective is.

—Why are they causing chaos immediately less than ten minutes after the war started?

—Every time that guy wins it’s worth fourteen streamers.

—Don’t we need to stop him?

—So targeting us is the Demonic Cult’s strategy?

—Then what’s the Unorthodox faction doing?

Everyone was quietly chatting, but it practically sounded like their brains were overheating.

Normally, Seojun would’ve moved independently for first place, and the Orthodox faction players would’ve ignored him.

But this season was different.

For reference, even Namgung Segajomso was simply spectating nearby.

And not just them.

Once the race for first place became meaningless, top-ranked players naturally shifted their attention toward faction victory instead.

And since the Demonic Cult’s balance had been adjusted too, everyone expected this war to become fiercer than ever before.

—For now the Demonic Cult just seems focused on moving the Heavenly Demon around.

—From watching the stream, it honestly looks like he’s literally doing whatever he wants.

—No way he’s probably just saying random stuff.

They’re seriously overclocking their brains over there!

—Unorthodox faction guys are queueing to protect the Demonic Cult.

—Did they seriously think the Demonic Cult’s goal was targeting the Orthodox faction?

—We should go hit other Demonic Cult territories too.

—Is defending that even possible?

Han Ponman replied.

—It’s difficult. All the streamers basically have similar individual skill levels anyway. Even if fourteen of us enter to balance the contribution value, there’s no guarantee we actually win.

—Then what if we beat the Heavenly Demon?

—Possible?

—What if several people gang up on him?

—If we try that, the Demonic Cult guys might queue together too. Then matchmaking could pair it as two streamers versus two streamers. And if we lose that, we’d probably hand over the territory immediately.

Hm, true.

The Demonic Cult really could be aiming for that.

Cheonsalseong was thinking the same thing when suddenly a question occurred to him.

Wait.

Why were they assuming it would become a 2v2 match?

—Hey.

—Shut up.

—Just don’t speak.

Wow.

The treatment was awful, but he still needed to say this.

—Uh… brothers.

—I told you to shut up.

—Bark when ordered. Kneel when told.

—This is the Orthodox faction

—No! Brothers! Just hear me out once. Why are you all assuming that if the Demonic Cult queues together too, it’ll become a 2v2? The Heavenly Demon’s reputation score is absurdly high. If matchmaking works properly, shouldn’t the Heavenly Demon alone count as two streamers?

A brief silence followed.

Then Han Ponman muttered:

“Oh?”

And chat instantly exploded.

—…Oh? That’s possible.

—Oh?

—Wait, true.

—Big brain?

They grasped the situation instantly.

Since this had never happened before, nobody had realized it!

—After the second game ends, instant snipe.

—You had a brain like this hidden away?

—How many people should we send?

—Honestly, even sending four streamers is profitable. If four streamers beat the Heavenly Demon, that’s equivalent to defeating fourteen people. We absolutely have to try this. The expected value is insane.

Even sending four people was worth it.

In a 4v1, no matter how good someone was, winning wouldn’t be easy.

But the reward was simply too massive.

—But if we lose that region, only three territories remain until our main base. It’s the shortest path. Maybe we should just safely defend for today.

Current time: 7:10 PM.

Without fully understanding the enemy’s intentions, the streamer had already finished two games and was pressuring them into making a decision.

As if the slow sword wasn’t enough, now even in this game he was forcing people into difficult choices.

A true master of gaslighting.

—“Main base”

—Just block him immediately.

—So how many people?

—Should we try with two first? We don’t know how it’ll turn out.

—Three would be safer—

—But my pride can’t take that.

—Not even 2v1 but 3v1

—Whatever. Let’s go.

Perhaps all the reputation Seojun had gathered would become meaningless.

Seojun exited back to the original position and immediately queued again.

—Orthodox faction, you’re really gonna leave this alone?

—How does a game even end in just a few minutes?

“You’re asking if I’m taking breaks? Queueing is the break. Better to handle things quickly.”

—Meanwhile innocent normal players are just dying in front of fortresses.

—Heavenly Demon Divine Art can’t recover health like Absorption Art, so you can’t fight at fortress gates? Then just don’t get hit! Simple!

As Seojun estimated how long the queue might take this time—

Ding.

A game message appeared alongside a notification.

—Huh? Something flashed.

Seojun immediately looked toward the map before him.

The war map consisted of several divided provinces created by the developers.

Each faction had twelve regions—not an overwhelming amount, but enough to make things slightly complicated.

“The south belongs to the Unorthodox faction. The west from Chambok is the Demonic Cult. The east belongs to the Orthodox faction.”

The map showed where users were queueing.

Whenever a high-ranked streamer queued in a region, a special marker appeared there. Clicking it displayed the streamer’s nickname.

Once an hour passed, the whole map would probably fill with red markers and become chaos.

For now, it was sparse.

In the northern region where Seojun queued—

A flashing marker appeared in Orthodox faction territory directly bordering the Demonic Cult.

What appeared was:

His ID, Cheonma14.

And newly appearing Orthodox faction users.

“Three people? They really came in force. Trying to stop me.”

[Cheonsalseong]

[Namgung Clan’s Jomsoi]

[Han Ponman]

—Legendary.

—The blockade squad.

—They’re seriously going all-in.

—How are all the famous names gathering at once this is insane.

If that was the case, this side couldn’t stay still either.

Less than ten seconds later, Demonic Cult players who had coordinated beforehand joined too.

—This side’s fast too.

—Reinforcements arrived.

—Orthodox faction bastards, taste sixteen people’s worth of pressure!

—Now this is a faction war!

[So]

[Bandit Hall]

[Cheonma14]

3 versus 3.

The viewers were excited by the emergence of a new battlefield structure.

But Seojun himself was skeptical.

Because he doubted the matchmaking system considered him equal to merely one other streamer.

Both the Demonic Cult side and Seojun knew that.

Still—

The match connected.

“Let’s go.”

Even if the worst-case scenario happened and the streamers weren’t matched as teammates, turning this into a 3v1—

Seojun smiled as he moved his body.

“Well now.”

“Let’s try winning a 3v1 for once.”

—By the way, why are the Demonic Cult reinforcements’ nicknames like that?

—Definitely not Orthodox faction behavior.

—“Heir of the Wilderness” and “Bandit Hall”

—When exactly did the Unorthodox faction and Demonic Cult join forces?

Seriously.