Chapter 35

Chapter 35: [Knight Soul] Uh… So, This Was a Boss? (1)

[Pro-Gamer donated ‘100,000 won’.]

*{ An emote of a fox slightly poking its head out, clenching both paws, and saying ‘I’m cheering for you!’ }

Black Moon, a former pro-gamer of [Eternal Saga]. 

Confusion arose due to their appearance, and Ju Seo-yoon, who stood beside him, made a fuss.

= Black Moon……! A, are you really Black Moon? Amaaa-zing! H, how did this happen?!

Ju Seo-yoon hurriedly said, ‘Ah, wait. Still, everyone, reacting too excessively is───’ and managed the chat window.

She was flustered after seeing Black Moon, one of the living legends of [Eternal Saga], visit the stream, but in her own way, she adjusted the atmosphere so it would not overheat.

Tap-tap-tap-.

Ju Seo-yoon quickly touched the streaming window and spoke rapidly through Player Chat.

As if telling him not to just stand there and to do something.

= Brother, you say something too, hurry! It’s Black Moon, from [Eternal Saga]!

= ?

However-.

‘No. Even if you say that, I don’t even really know what [Eternal Saga] is…… So, what am I supposed to do?’

From Ju Seo-jin’s perspective, this was only a situation that made him wonder, ‘So, what am I supposed to do?’

In the first place, aside from [Knight Soul] and [Limitless War], he had never played other games or even taken any interest in them.

Because of that, what he could say was already decided.

Ju Seo-jin blinked, nodded, and spoke calmly.

= Ah. Yes, Black Moon. Thank you for the donation. I’ll do my best….

-What kind of sales line is that, fuck?

-???: Yes~ I did it for you~

-His confused reaction is legendary;

-Wait; judging from his voice alone, he really doesn’t sound like he’ll do his best...?;;

Of course, to viewers who did not know that, his answer was close to eccentric behavior, but there was no particular problem.

Because───

[Pro-Gamer donated ‘100,000 won’.]

*{ An emote of a brightly smiling fox winking and saying ‘Good, I’ll be watching!’ }

Ding-.

Black Moon sent another donation with an emote, as if they liked that.

[Pro-Gamer donated ‘100,000 won’.]

*{ An emote of a fox sitting in a chair with a pleased face and putting on sunglasses }

-?

-What is this;

-That Black Moon... is using emotes that nicely...?

-This is the first time I’ve known the toxic fox emotes had something like that. What is this?

Rather, they gave off the feeling that they liked it and had now settled down comfortably to watch.

-Hmm.. I don’t know what this is, but it looks like Teacher Seo-jin caught their fancy...?

…Somehow, an enormous big shot had ended up sitting down in the stream.

***

It did not take long for the stream to proceed normally again.

Clop, clop───.

Riding the horses they had obtained from the raiders, they crossed the rough grassland and finally reached the entrance of the Old Castle that Halkenburg had spoken of.

For some unknown reason, it was a castle in the shape of a giant spire, with an eerie aura lingering around it.

The moment they reached the outer edge and dismounted from their horses, the FLAP- of bird wings rang out.

A flock of crows flew up over the giant spire and cawed ominously.

Caw, caw───….

“This is the ‘Death-Spirit Tower’… the place where the fallen necromancer Lord Halkenburg spoke of is located.”

Grandis dismounted and explained. 

Her voice carried a tension different from before.

“You must be careful. A powerful necromantic curse has been placed on this entire tower. Merely touching the walls will cause a bone-cutting chill to erode you.”

She took a small glass bottle from inside her clothes and showed it to them. 

Inside was Moonlight Holy Water that emitted a brilliant glow.

“If you use this holy water, you can obtain resistance against the curse, if only for a short while. However, its effect does not last very long, so the moment you allow even one attack, you may reach a near-death state or become unable to fight.”

-Fact) all true.

-The fact that it isn’t a scare line and is actually real is seriously nasty.

-Originally, the standard way to clear the Death-Spirit Tower Lord is to grind holy water once first.

-If you don’t have attribute resistance, the Death-Spirit Tower Lord isn’t exactly something you can underestimate lol.

One hit.

It meant that if they were hit exactly once, no more and no less, it would be game over.

Ju Seo-yoon swallowed dryly and showed signs of nervousness, but Ju Seo-jin was calm.

“Hmm. Then wouldn’t it be fine if I just don’t get hit……? Do I really need it?”

“?”

“I don’t need it.”

“……….”

Not only Grandis, but even Ju Seo-yoon, who had been standing beside him slightly tense, went blank.

Despite that reaction, Ju Seo-jin calmly asked back, as though saying, ‘Isn’t that obvious?’

“I’m going to fight without getting hit even once anyway, so why would I need something like attribute resistance?”

“…Brother. Are you seriously saying that? You’re not, right? That’s, like, a joke, right? Right?”

“No? Not at all. It wasn’t a joke. I meant it seriously. Isn’t that the truth?”

“……….”

At those words, the chat in the streaming window stopped for an instant, then began pouring out explosive reactions.

-? Lololololololololololololololol

-This crazy talent bastard is starting again lololololololol

-He brags about his talent so consistently that I’m honestly starting to get used to the humblebragging.

-???: What? If I get hit once, I die? Then I just don’t get hit. What’s the problem? (Serious)

-↳ The fact is, that’s the fact, yeah;

Ding-.

[<That’sRightThat’sRight> donated ‘50,000 won’.]

━Mm-hmm, right, right. You just need to not get hit, dodge every attack, never make a single mistake, land only effective hits, and manage your stamina distribution and item consumption too. Right, right.

It was a donation with plenty of sarcastic intent. Under normal circumstances, it would have been a retort that landed like a clean hit─── but unfortunately, the matchup luck(?) was bad.

= That’s right. If I just do that, then there’s no particular need for attribute resistance or anything like that, is there?

-?

-Is this bullshit?

-I’m getting dizzy as hell, fuck;

-Fuck lololololololololololololol

Ju Seo-jin, failing to grasp that intent at all, instead spoke proudly with a satisfied face.

= See? Look, even a viewer understands now.

= ……….

-Uh?

-This is driving me crazy lololololol

-This is fucking hilarious lololololololololololol

-Wait, he counters it like this? What even...?

-Anyone can see that they weren’t understanding you, Teacher Seo-jin...

-↳ Ahem, to Teacher Seo-jin, this counts as ‘understanding,’ yeah.

At the story that went beyond absurd and into baffling, Ju Seo-yoon gave him a strange look and raised a question.

= No. I mean, no matter how I look at it, that wasn’t what they meant. That was…?

= They wrote only facts, so if that wasn’t what they meant, what was it? I don’t think there’s another meaning.

= ……….

= No?

For a moment, Ju Seo-yoon’s eyes filled with helplessness, and her head nodded on its own.

= Uh-huh. Yeah, let’s say that’s what it was. Yeah, it’ll probably be better to think of it that way…….

= ?

-‘If you object, you’re right..’

-↳ Fuck lololololololololololololol

-↳ Wait, why are you treating Teacher Seo-jin like this? Fuck lololololol

Ju Seo-jin blinked in puzzlement, but only for a moment.

“Siiigh-. Well, anyway, I get it, so follow me this way. We can’t go this way.”

Ju Seo-yoon said that and slightly raised her hand, beckoning as if calling a cat.

She was saying that to enter the Death-Spirit Tower, they should not go through the front gate.

At that, Ju Seo-jin frowned and voiced his question.

“Why? Even at a glance, this looks like the entrance into the castle. Aren’t we supposed to go this way?”

“Hehe. No, no. As expected, even if you have talent for using force, you’re weak at using your head.”

“What?”

“Follow me. Then you’ll find out. I’ll show you why a strategist is needed, and the power of the brain!”

“………?”

-Strategist (not true) Brain (not true)

-↳ There isn’t a single true statement there lol.

-What brain? What brain is she talking about?;

-Don’t go getting a game over alone for no reason, and stick next to Teacher Seo-jin.

-Fr.. Since when did a magnet pet have independent action rights????????

The viewers in the streaming window also acted as if they found it hard to believe, but the result was unexpected.

Swish-.

“Here. Behind the Death-Spirit Tower, if you go a little sideways from the entrance side…… here, there’s something strange like this, right?”

The moment she crept sideways along the outer wall of the Death-Spirit Tower, the enormous old tower, and pressed one red brick with a push-.

RUMBLE───.

A noise rose from inside as if something had activated, and the outer wall opened, revealing something like a narrow side path.

“Ta-da. Then, a hidden path appears like this! How is it? Isn’t it very surprising?”

“!”

-!?

-Wait... an achievement out of nowhere?

-Wow, holy shit; something like this existed??

-What is this? Lolololololololol

Ju Seo-yoon quickly entered the narrow side path that appeared in front of them and shrugged with both hands on her waist.

“Hehe. How about it? I can do things properly when I need to, right?”

“Oho.”

Ju Seo-jin was also impressed, but soon he stroked his chin and muttered as if something was strange.

“Hmm. But how did you find this out? Can someone know something like this right away……?”

“……….”

-Huh?

-Now that you mention it..? How did she actually find this out??

-Deduction time ON lolololololololol

-This.. smells like cheating, yeah?

-Hmmteresting..............

It was obvious.

She had discovered that something like this existed while playing [Knight Soul], even though she had not investigated it separately.

In other words, it meant that she had already learned about [Knight Soul] once before, outside of in-game play.

Only belatedly did Ju Seo-yoon break into a cold sweat, glance to the side, and awkwardly make an excuse.

“A P, Pathfinder’s intuitive intuition… should I say? That’s what it is, yeah! You could call it innate talent.”

-She did all the prior studying, and now she’s saying intuitive intuition, innate talent, what kind of bullshit is that?;

-Path lol finder lololololololololol

-Myangbangwool... You aren’t a Pathfinder, you’re a mage..

-This is slowly going beyond shameless and getting ugly... hmm?

-↳ Then are you saying she wasn’t ugly before?????????

-↳ Gasp.

The viewers saw that and retorted in disbelief, but Ju Seo-yoon shamelessly fired back.

She made a knife-hand and moved it around her neck with a swipe, swipe-, showing a chilling air.

= Haaah-. Everyone, should I open a Blood Festival for you today? Are you insisting that what I said was a lie right now?

-Gasp..

-Sorry.. I was wrong.. Spare me..!

-Everyone take your hands off the keyboard..................!!

-I have never mocked anything Myangbangwool said please spare me.

In the heartwarming(?) sight of the chat window becoming obedient with a single sentence, Grandis, who had been quietly following behind, suddenly nodded and muttered.

“I see… I thought the two of you were far too different for Ones Who Reclaim the Light, but there was such a difference between you. Certainly, if it is something like this, I understand the reason for traveling together.”

“……….”

-Interpretation) She thought Myangbangwool was free-riding on the bus driver, but thankfully, she at least has enough ability to pay the fare, haha.

-But... strictly speaking, wasn’t that not something Myangbangwool did... but thanks to prior studying..? Yeah?;

-↳ Gasp.

-↳ Ahem, young man, stay quiet~ ^^

-↳ This is why I hate sharp kids.

While Ju Seo-yoon was subtly being ignored at a completely unexpected timing, Ju Seo-jin entered the dark side path and moved his lips.

“So, we just need to go to the end of this path, right? Then is this better than going through the front gate?”

“Yeah. If we enter through here, we can go straight up from the basement of the Death-Spirit Tower. From there, we sneak around carefully, and when we meet the Death-Spirit Tower Lord……”

“Then we can fight the Death-Spirit Tower Lord right away without needing to bother wandering all over the place?”

“That’s it!”

“Hmm.”

At the same time as Ju Seo-yoon nodded, Ju Seo-jin tilted his head crookedly in puzzlement.

“No. Wait, isn’t there no reason to do that?”

“Huh?”

“Because that means the number of enemies we can kill will decrease. Then that means there’ll be a loss in the experience needed to level up.”

“……….”

“Even aside from that, there are other reasons too.”

And. 

With perfect timing, an old wooden door placed beyond the narrow side path came into view.

At the same time, Ju Seo-yoon flinched and quickly opened her mouth. 

No matter how she looked at it, she felt a sense of déjà vu.

A very ominous sense of déjà vu, at that.

“W, wait. Brother, from here on, there are, um… enemies. So we need to discuss things for a second before go-”

“It’s fine.”

However-.

“I’ll handle it myself.”

“What?”

The next moment.

BAAANG───!

Just like that, Ju Seo-jin kicked the rotten wooden door as if bursting it open and charged forward.

CRUMBLE-.

The rotten wooden door burst apart, and pieces of wood flew into the air along with some unknown musty dust─── and enemies came into view.

Grrrroooaaagh───!

‘Ghoul.’

A living corpse lifted its head sharply while holding an old sword and rushed in at a speed close to an automatic reflex.

If one thought of it as a normal case, it was movement far too fast for an early-stage stage.

However, what was here was not a ‘normal case,’ but an ‘exceptional case.’ 

Therefore, the result was not normal either.

CRUNCH───!

With a single sword strike, the heads and bodies of three ghouls separated while they were still in the posture of running forward.

SPLAT-.

Unable to overcome their own kinetic energy, they collapsed helplessly forward in the very posture in which they had been charging, driven by inertia.

SWISH-

Ju Seo-jin shook the black blood from the tip of his blade, continued moving without stopping, and spoke.

“This is a speedrun, isn’t it?”

A decisive tone. 

A calm voice containing inevitability closer to obviousness than confidence.

“Then I should go quickly. I should choose the shortest route without wasting time.”

His tone made it sound as if, when thinking rationally, the correct answer had already been decided without any room for further debate.

“So───”

In other words.

“From here on, I’m killing everything as I go. Because that should be the shortest route at the current point.”

-Kyaa

-I’m seriously shaking...

-In. Sane. Judgment.

-Fuck, the dopamine is legendary lololololololololololol

-Kyaa, this is it, this is it, yeah lolololololololol

The speedrun was beginning in earnest, and now, it was about to reach its end.