Chapter 84
Chapter 84
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 84
Chapter Title: Sweeping the National Team
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After the decision was made for Choi Shin-hyeok to spar against the entire national team.
The national team selected the players who would step up for the matches, their faces deadly serious.
"We'll go with a thorough rotation battle."
"No way, you're really taking this so seriously?"
"What if we don't? You wanna half-ass it?"
"Even so, going all-out against one guy like this is gonna get us roasted."
"We're already getting trashed online—what's a little more gonna change? And if we lose, it'll be even worse."
"Ah."
They planned to unleash a wheel tactic against Shin-hyeok.
No matter who Shin-hyeok was, taking on nearly twenty national team members solo was impossible.
At least, that's what they believed as they slotted their weakest players up front.
"Jin Soo-hyuk. Lee Jin-soo. You two are first. Go wear him down."
"Yes, sir. We'll lose and come back~"
They knew full well they weren't a match for Shin-hyeok, so they tossed out a casual reply and loosely assumed their positions.
The classic tank-warrior combo.
This pairing was hailed as the absolute best for two-man parties.
To the extent that people said you might not win, but you'd never lose.
As such, no combo was better for dragging out time and chipping away at an opponent's stamina against someone way out of your league.
Boom!Kwang!
"...Khek!"
"Ugek..."
"...Insane."
But that only held if they lasted even a little.
The national team stared in stunned silence at their juniors, who hadn't leveraged the tank-warrior synergy at all and got retired in exactly two blows.
'Just two hits to take those two out? Possible?'
'They got careless. Totally careless.'
Even as the national team's rookie lineup—the weakest here—they were still national team caliber.
Top players in Korea.
The sight of one such player getting two-shotted by a Platinum ranker was beyond shocking.
"Next."
"...Jin-seok and Jun-su, you're up."
"...Got it."
But Shin-hyeok gave them no time to shake off the shock.
From the moment he called them out, they had to step up, shocked or not.
Everything unfolding here was being broadcast live, so it was the only way to salvage even a shred of dignity.
In the end, two more national teamers shuffled forward like cattle to the slaughter and took their stances.
Unlike the first pair, their footing was perfect.
Dead set on not repeating the prior blunder—
Boom— Kwang!
"Next."
"..."
It was pointless.
Where the demonic spear and holy sword had each swung once, only two bodies lay twitching in the dirt.
The pathetic display was so bad even the broadcast cameras hurriedly panned away.
By now, the national team side caught on to how this was going.
'He's seriously planning to devour us all.'
'Crazy. We've heard the Choi Shin-hyeok rumors, but not like this. Total monster. Shouldn't we call the team leaders?'
Shin-hyeok truly had the confidence to solo the entire national team.
To stop him, they'd need their team leaders—the Twin Kings—to step in, the thought creeping up—
"Next. You coming or not?"
"...Baek Sun-young. Ryu Joo-hwa. Go."
"Ugh..."
"Don't wanna..."
At Shin-hyeok's prodding, the vice-captains—second only to the Twin Kings—had no choice but to shove their juniors into the grinder.
Fortunately, these two were mid-tier in the national team, so they avoided the two-shot fate.
Boom boom— Kwang— Boom!
"Four-shotted 'em."
"Whoa, doubled it, vice-captain!"
"Shut it."
"Yes, sir."
Four hits.
Doubled from before, but the vice-captain's scowl didn't budge an inch.
Doubled? Big deal.
Still two national teamers down in four blows.
With things this dire, the vice-captain called a halt and made a proposal to Shin-hyeok.
"...Shin-hyeok-ah."
"Yes, senior?"
"...Mind if we tweak the rules a bit?"
"How so?"
"Three. No, make it four. Bump up the numbers."
"Hm."
"Vice-captain! That's way too humiliat—"
"Shut your trap before I end you. You even know what real humiliation is?"
"..."
The proposal: up the players facing Shin-hyeok from two to four.
One national teamer snapped that it was embarrassing, only to clam up at the vice-captain's demonic glare.
Shin-hyeok gave a quiet nod.
"Sure. I'm not fully warmed up anyway—might be better this way."
"...Thanks."
Having to swallow his pride and beg a fresh-faced twenty-year-old was mortifying, but he'd gotten his concession, so the vice-captain withdrew satisfied.
From there, proper fights finally broke out.
Numbers bumped to four, and every national teamer stepping up now was mid-tier or better.
Plus, more players meant exponentially more options.
1+1 becoming 4, 2+2 hitting 16, and so on.
Players were enigmatic beings that defied math.
But their opponent was Shin-hyeok.
Ruuuuumble!
"C-Crazy, dodge!"
"It's coooming!"
"Waaaah!"
Shin-hyeok was the mad equation where 1 equaled 100.
Solo, he boasted variety matching everyone else combined.
And that was just the start.
Kugagagagak!
Shin-hyeok knew how to properly distribute and combine his given powers.
When others scraped by with C or B grades, he delivered A or S.
Before the infinite barrage pouring from him, the national team got utterly shredded.
Quantity war? He'd slip in assassin-style strikes on the mages from behind. Frontal assault? He'd drown them in overwhelming numbers. Try to assassinate? He'd counter-assassinate in a frenzy of insanity.
"Haha, no way."
"No human does that."
"Sorry, Mom...!!!"
In the end, the national team got ground to dust.
One team remained.
"...Chang-soo. I'm counting on you."
"Yes."
The final team: the vice-captain and Impartial Sword Lee Chang-soo.
The other two were also comfortably top-tier, veterans always making the final national team cut.
Even they brimmed with caution.
"Come at me."
Shin-hyeok, by contrast, was utterly relaxed.
Of course, he wasn't unscathed.
Scratches riddled his Armor of Absorption. Nicks scarred his demonic spear and holy sword. Sweat poured down his face.
Exhaustion was plain to see.
The cost of quick kills.
To end fights fast, he'd burned extra stamina and energy.
He'd even eaten hits he could've blocked or dodged to put them down.
Damage was heavier than usual.
Yet he'd chosen the blitz for one reason.
'Overwhelm. That's how I stay me.'
Shin-hyeok was a runaway train.
Charging ever forward.
Its end: barrel straight to the finish line, or derail and explode under its own power.
Just two paths.
His choice was set.
He caught his breath and assumed his stance.
'How can a human be like that.'
Impartial Sword Lee Chang-soo marveled at the sight.
Just a month ago, they'd traded blows as equals. Now he'd solo-crushed foes even Chang-soo couldn't dismiss lightly.
No need to fight to know: he'd lose inside a few dozen exchanges.
Since meeting Shin-hyeok in the Colosseum.
As the man said, he'd pushed harder to escape the Sword King's shadow. Stronger than back then—incomparably so.
But Shin-hyeok had grown even more.
A gap beyond comparison.
Still—
'I walk my sword path.'
Chang-soo refused to yield.
Fight an unbeatable foe?
A scripted loss?
It would join his sword path all the same. He calmly raised his blade.
All set, the national team struck first.
Flaaaash!
Priest.
A genuine article, registered in the Pantheon no less.
True to his permanent national team status, Chang-soo felt power bursting from his body under the blessing.
Normally, it'd intoxicate him into immobility, but he'd synced with the team enough to weather countless buffs. He held his reason amid the rush.
His trait, Clear Mirror, helped immensely.
The other two national teamers shook off the buff high through their own methods and experience, charging Shin-hyeok.
Thud boom!
Vice-captain was the tank, the other an assassin.
Chang-soo, the warrior.
Not an ideal combo on paper, but peak individuals.
The best setups were always class bullies.
They trusted their tiers to crush Shin-hyeok.
Just as he'd done to the others.
Shin-hyeok's reply was simple.
"...Dodge—"
Ruuuumble crackle!
Black Heaven Thunder Step.
Chang-soo, who'd tasted it once before, urgently yelled to the others, but Shin-hyeok's form had already vanished.
All that remained where he'd stood: crackling black lightning, proof he'd been there.
Desperately scanning around, they saw one thing.
Pwaaack!
"Kuhk..."
"Buffer and healer first—obvious, right?"
"Kuh, buffs are up—no need for the buffer! Hit him!"
"...Fucking vice-captain..."
The priest, gut-punched by Shin-hyeok's fist and crumpling.
But his role ended once the buffs were cast.
The moment the vice-captain judged as much and lunged—
"...!!!"
Ruuuuuumble!
The vice-captain froze at the shift in air and aura from Shin-hyeok's single word.
No, not just him.
Every player there froze solid.
Like statues.
To them, Shin-hyeok issued judgment.
Kukwagagagagak!!
A single peng bird and a single flying knife—named sentences—crashed down upon their heads.