Chapter 91
CHAPTER 91
Losing this fight would practically guarantee losing the game.
Even if they resorted to guerrilla tactics or came up with some other ingenious strategy, the gap was simply too large to overcome.
If the enemy team truly consisted of only Seo Jun, making it a genuine 3-versus-1, that would be one thing. But the game itself was still a 4-versus-4, which made the situation even more despairing.
—Guys, we can win this one, right? ♥
Losing this fight would practically guarantee losing the game.
Even if they resorted to guerrilla tactics or came up with some other ingenious strategy, the gap was simply too large to overcome.
If the enemy team truly consisted of only Seo Jun, making it a genuine 3-versus-1, that would be one thing. But the game itself was still a 4-versus-4, which made the situation even more despairing.
One of their teammates, who wasn't a ranked player, typed in chat, and Hanpunman found himself thinking:
At least he's nice.
If it were him, he probably would've been cursing them out and asking why they were losing.
"You can't even beat that?"
But once you actually fought him, you understood.
Whenever it looked like his speed would put him in a disadvantageous position—
He would interrupt the momentum at the perfect timing with sword energy.
Most attacks were blocked as long as they entered a certain range.
Cheonsalseong thrust his sword forward and shouted,
"Just get hit already!"
Ordinary attacks never landed.
Ah.
Hanpunman regretted ever queuing for this game.
I wish I had some kind of Absolute Master's Sword Formation.
Something like a sword formation used against supreme experts.
He desperately needed it.
Clang!
An exchange where every attack amounted to nothing.
He wished the guy would just take a hit, but the enemy seemed determined not to. He barely attacked, barely trash-talked anymore, and simply kept dodging.
"Punman, how much longer until Berserk Mode?"
"Probably..."
The experience he'd accumulated over time returned as uncanny intuition.
Like when a skilled gamer suddenly thinks,
"Huh? Feels like an enemy might be hiding there."
As if his mind were acting like a radar.
"Soon."
"I see."
The game was lost.
"You playing the next match?"
At Hanpunman's question, Namgungsega Jeomsoi watched Cheonma14 approach from the front, his expression unchanged as he swung his sword.
The decision came quickly.
"No. Tell the others to hold him back."
The viewers watching Seo Jun's stream heard the Orthodox Faction rankers' conversation loud and clear.
They weren't whispering quietly.
Nor were they typing in chat.
[Awoojeong]
—I agree.
—Ah... suddenly I kind of want to fight the Unorthodox Faction today.
One ranker said exactly that.
Just that his mood suddenly felt that way.
Nobody asked why.
People simply kept finding themselves having similar thoughts.
—I agree.
—Ah... suddenly I kind of want to fight the Unorthodox Faction today.
One ranker said exactly that.
Just that his mood suddenly felt that way.
Nobody asked why.
People simply kept finding themselves having similar thoughts.
—Damn it, all those Tang Clan bastards are dead today. I'll knock away every hidden weapon they throw.
—I ran into some Green Forest guys while hiking yesterday. Put me in a bad mood.
—Hey, you too?
—Me too!
—Honestly, we've beaten up the Demonic Cult way too much. Hahaha.
Watching this, Bangju chuckled.
"Mm-hmm. We really did beat them up a lot."
If you checked what channel the people posting those messages were currently watching, there was only one streamer it could be.
"Oh. Looks like Berserk Mode is finally kicking in."
Seo Jun's movements on the broadcast became sharper, and his sword began moving faster.
The second reason why a 3-versus-1 wasn't actually that advantageous.
Berserk Mode.
Since it had been designed from the start as a system that allowed players to reverse overwhelming odds, the outcome was practically predetermined.
"Nothing more to watch. Today's battlefield is settled."
Of course, that only applied when the player was vastly more skilled than his opponents.
People shouldn't forget that.
"Everyone knows that, right?"
[Wijeongcheoksa Faction]
—I could do that too. Just survive long enough and you win. Easy.
—If that looks easy to you, then from now on you can handle the Demonic Cult and Heavenly Demon.
—Ah, too bad. I already swore I'd teach those Orthodox Faction guys a lesson on this battlefield today.
This was one of the nice things about an old, mature game.
Everyone roughly knew each other.
Bangju burst out laughing again.
"They're all the same."
He wasn't a ranker himself, but he'd been invited into Awoojeong, Wijeongcheoksa, and even Awooma's group chats.
The players had done it so he could understand situations more easily.
It was also the result of him never betraying their trust.
"Still, he's really good."
A streamer with top-tier mechanics, control, and trash-talking skills.
The battlefield had begun in earnest, and Bangju should have been busier than anyone else, tracking and recording the movements of every faction.
Yet at this moment, all the rankers' attention was focused on one place, leaving him surprisingly relaxed.
"Wow."
He opened the battlefield map and was shocked to see that there wasn't a single red dot.
Thirty minutes had passed since the match started.
Normally, one or two people—or at least a few wandering rankers—would have started moving by now.
But nobody was playing.
Obviously because they were all watching someone.
A sudden thought occurred to him.
"How many viewers does he have?"
The 18,000 viewers from yesterday's collaboration stream had certainly been thanks to Bangju.
He'd stirred up a huge amount of attention and funneled a massive audience toward Seo Jun's stream.
But if you looked at it another way, it meant 140,000 viewers had still chosen Bangju.
People preferred watching what they were already watching.
Not just viewers—humans naturally preferred familiar things and were reluctant to embrace new ones.
That's why increasing your audience wasn't easy.
If you wanted to grow, you had to constantly build recognition, show your face, and expose yourself to new audiences.
So right now—
How many viewers did Seo Jun have without him?
"Did he pass ten thousand?"
Ten thousand viewers.
The range of mid-sized streamers was broad, but surpassing ten thousand viewers was enough to earn recognition as an influential streamer on Travel.
Not an official title, of course.
"Oh?"
After checking the viewer count, Bangju was delighted as if it were his own achievement.
[Viewers — 13,000]
"He passed ten thousand easily."
Was it temporary because of the battlefield?
Because of yesterday's collaboration?
Sure, probably.
But still.
Bangju scratched his cheek while examining the Demonic Cult strategy chat.
This...
"By the time the battlefield ends..."
Won't he hit twenty thousand?
Seo Jun glanced at the notification floating before him and pushed it aside.
The 3-versus-1 against rankers had ended in overwhelming fashion.
He wondered what kind of reaction this result would cause.
[Victory]
Seo Jun looked at the message before turning his gaze away.
The 3-versus-1 against rankers had ended in overwhelming fashion.
He wondered what kind of reaction it would create.
[Victory]
—Damn, what a victory.
—Whether it's strategy or combat power, he's got everything.
—Why did he have to join the Demonic Cult?
Seo Jun let out a small laugh and exited the battlefield. His vision flipped, and the normal scenery returned.
If this had been a public channel, there was no telling what the waiting viewers would've done.
If they caused trouble, people could simply switch channels. And since they had to physically move their characters around, there weren't that many troublemakers.
Still, there were always people who seemed to have been born without any sense of embarrassment.
—The Orthodox Faction got wrecked, right? The Orthodox Faction got wrecked, right? The Orthodox Faction got wrecked, right?
—Three people jumped him and still lost lol. Three people jumped him and still lost lol.
—Cheonsalseong's specialty: being a score vending machine.
Maybe because they were so excited, the chat was full of spam.
Seo Jun opened the map, looking for his next game.
"Alright. Let's see who's coming this time."
Viewer count: 13,000.
There are probably a lot of rankers watching right now, aren't there?
As Seo Jun started queueing again, the marker appeared once more over the region he had been targeting all along.
—What do you mean "Bottom-Tier Cult"? It's the Top-Tier Cult.
—This time is really different. If you're upset, then try stopping us.
—Go ahead and stop us lol.
—Tactical Heavenly Demon deployment!
—The Demonic Cult guys being this excited is seriously annoying.
—Those Bottom-Tier Cult bastards lol.
—What do you mean "Bottom-Tier Cult"? It's the Top-Tier Cult.
—This time is really different. If you're upset, then try stopping us.
—Go ahead and stop us lol.
—Tactical Heavenly Demon deployment!
—The Demonic Cult guys being this excited is seriously annoying.
—Those Bottom-Tier Cult bastards lol.
The Demonic Cult and the Orthodox Faction were fighting in chat.
And the Orthodox Faction was losing badly in terms of firepower.
After all, losers tend to have less to say.
['OrthodoxFactionSpokesman' donated 10,000 won!]
[This round will be different.]
A donation alert went off.
"Thank you for the donation. Well, nobody really knows what'll happen."
Seo Jun said with a smile.
"Shouldn't we find a match first?"
Only a single nickname continued to appear on the map.
—Ah.
—Nobody's coming!
—Nobody.
—Nobody's coming! Hahahaha!
—Did they seriously get scared? LOL.
—Now introducing the players! What? The player ran away?
[Cheonma14]
—Ah.
—Nobody's coming!
—Nobody.
—Nobody's coming! Hahahaha!
—Did they seriously get scared? LOL.
—Now introducing the players! What? The player ran away?
[Cheonma14]
[Awoojeong]
08576260
—Anyone willing to go?
Thankfully, nobody was saying things like "How could you lose that?"
In any case, it would take fourteen additional rankers to offset the imbalance caused by Seo Jun's victory and restore the scales.
Of course, that assumed all fourteen of them won.
That was a problem in itself.
Still—
The battlefield was a team game.
It was a sentence that wounded their pride.
After typing that message, Hanpunman awkwardly glanced around.
Nobody seemed to have anything to say.
Thankfully, nobody was saying things like "How could you lose that?"
In any case, it would take fourteen additional rankers to offset the imbalance caused by Seo Jun's victory and restore the scales.
Of course, that assumed all fourteen of them won.
That was a problem in itself.
Still—
The battlefield was a team game.
It was a sentence that wounded their pride.
After typing that message, Hanpunman awkwardly glanced around.
Nobody seemed to have anything to say.
—The Demonic Cult is going to be important from now on.
Exactly.
What exactly was Seo Jun trying to accomplish?
What was he aiming for?
Then the streamer finally found his last match.
There were no rankers.
At the same time, red markers began appearing all across the map.
It's really starting now.
Hanpunman watched the battlefield closely and exchanged opinions as much as possible.
—The Unorthodox Faction and the Demonic Cult are attacking each other. Other regions—
—Let's lightly poke one of the Demonic Cult territories too.
The Orthodox Faction's strategy was always the same.
The orthodox path.
Wait for the enemy to make the first move, then respond.
As the strongest of the three factions, it was the most efficient strategy available to them.
—The Unorthodox Faction is hitting us too.
—Defend there.
—Several Demonic Cult players are attacking the same region as the Heavenly Demon.
—Do we defend?
After observing the situation, Hanpunman typed:
—Forget it. Use those resources to take another area instead.
—The Unorthodox Faction is hitting us too.
—Defend there.
—Several Demonic Cult players are attacking the same region as the Heavenly Demon.
—Do we defend?
After observing the situation, Hanpunman typed:
—Forget it. Use those resources to take another area instead.
No major movements.
Everyone was probing here and there, giving up some areas and taking others.
After cautiously testing each other like that, Day 12 of the battlefield came to an end.
The results would be announced tomorrow.
Movie Soft, you bunch of sadists.
If the results came out immediately, players could prepare in advance for the next day.
That could make the game boring.
So the developers revealed the results only when the following day began.
They wanted to test players' adaptability.
And doing it that way created more mistakes.
There had been plenty of cases where people lost battlefields in ridiculous ways.
As far as entertainment went, it was definitely a success.
The next day.
Hanpunman waited for 7 PM.
While watching Seo Jun's stream, which had started at 6:30.
[The Demonic Cult Is Winning Anyway]
That was Seo Jun's stream title.
Winning, my ass.
Chuckling at the title, Hanpunman entered the private channel he had been invited to.
Players gathered.
"You here?"
"Did you see today's hotfix?"
A hotfix meant an emergency patch.
Normally, updates came once a week.
But when bugs or major issues appeared, the developers had no choice but to patch the game outside the normal schedule.
That was a hotfix.
"They said they adjusted the reputation-based matchmaking system. Feels like they're targeting the Heavenly Demon."
"Sounds about right."
The problem was that they never explained the details.
"Maybe it'll become a 4-versus-1. Something they can actually stop."
Hanpunman shook his head at his teammate's comment.
Most people thought that way.
Hanpunman didn't.
A 3-versus-1 in an occupation battle was never balanced in the first place.
People were being misled by Seo Jun's victory.
From the perspective of the game itself, in an occupation battle—not a duel—the side with three players was obviously favored.
Yesterday, they had simply made mistakes.
And the enemy had responded perfectly.
There's no way Movie Soft doesn't know that.
So if the matchmaking system had actually been changed in the Heavenly Demon's favor—
"Hmm."
The sound from the stream echoed in his ears, and Hanpunman grabbed the back of his neck.
What does that even have to do with anything?
Still...
This was becoming a headache.
[I'm going straight ahead. Try stopping me, Orthodox Faction.]
[I'm heading out immediately today too. Where am I going? The Orthodox Faction, of course. I was Orthodox in my previous life, after all.]
The stream's audio continued to ring in his ears, and Hanpunman rubbed the back of his neck.
Seriously, what does that even mean?
Still...
This was becoming a headache.
[I'm going straight ahead. Try stopping me, Orthodox Faction.]
[I'm heading out immediately today too. Where am I going? The Orthodox Faction, of course. I was Orthodox in my previous life, after all.]
Hanpunman narrowed his eyes.
He had a strong feeling that the key factor determining the outcome of this battlefield would be one thing:
How they stopped the Heavenly Demon.
The real battle was beginning.