Chapter 61 : Special Abilities
Chapter 61: Special Abilities
It wasn’t for nothing that Kim Hana had said the wolf monsters knew how to coordinate their attacks.
They were clearly different from the insect-type entities that just charged in recklessly.
After watching their comrades die rushing in all at once, they learned that approach wouldn’t work and immediately applied that lesson to coordinate their attacks.
“······.”
Of course, even with that said, if you were to ask whether their attacks were effective against Baek Woohyun, that wasn’t the case either.
The evaluation improved only because the comparison group was the insect-type entities; the wolf monsters’ coordinated attacks themselves were still just at a primitive level.
They attacked in succession with slight time differences? That sounds nice, but doesn’t it just mean they approached sequentially, allowing them to be picked off one by one?
Unless they pressed forward with truly relentless attacks that gave no moment to breathe, there was no way Baek Woohyun would miss the gaps between attacks.
Syeogek!
-Keoheoheng!
With a diagonal upward slash from bottom to top, the wolf monster that had rushed in a step ahead was split diagonally.
Then, from between the spilling entrails and blood, the wolf monster behind leaped up. It was determined not to waste the opportunity created by its comrade’s death.
At first glance, its intention seemed about to succeed. After all, Baek Woohyun’s torso was wide open after killing the one in front with an upward slash.
That is, if the trajectory he had just drawn hadn’t suddenly bent at a near right angle.
Syeogek!
The blade of Soul Eater fell like a guillotine, precisely splitting the wolf monster in half. From head to tail, perfectly.
It was a result created by Baek Woohyun’s superhuman strength combined with the wolf monster eagerly leaping into the downward slashing blade with its own momentum.
If the wolf monster had approached just a bit more cautiously, it wouldn’t have been split clean in half.
However, it was difficult to simply call this the wolf monster’s poor judgment.
Because no one would have thought a greatsword as massive as Soul Eater could change trajectories so easily.
Even those watching from the studio were amazed at the two slashes that flowed like water.
“It turns that way from there.”
“If the greatsword’s weight were much lighter than it looks—no, that wouldn’t be the case.”
-A 2-meter greatsword being light…
-How strong do you have to be to swing it like that?
-ㄴㄴ No matter how strong, you can’t do that; you have to consider action-reaction laws
-But Hackphysical does it;;
Originally, greatswords weighing over tens of kilograms couldn’t be swung around easily like they appear in fiction.
Even if, like Baek Woohyun’s [Perfect Being], physical abilities were enhanced to display superhuman strength. This wasn’t about how strong one was, but a matter of physical laws.
If a person weighing tens of kilograms tried to swing a greatsword of similarly tens of kilograms with all their might, the action-reaction principle meant they would be swung just as much.
Yet Baek Woohyun showed no sign of being swung when wielding Soul Eater.
He swung it exactly as much as he wanted to split the wolf monsters, and even twisted the trajectory right at the end of a slash to deliver another strike.
His appearance, as if he’d thrown away physical laws and action-reaction principles, naturally caused Cha Seongcheol, Jeong Nayeon, and the viewers to exclaim in astonishment.
“Whether you can call that swordsmanship, um—I’m not sure. It seems like swordsmanship, but it’s so exceptional I find it hard to comment.”
“That’s okay. Probably everyone else here doesn’t know either?”
-ㄹㅇㅋㅋ
-I don’t know either
-Watching Hackphysical makes common sense seem strange
-Physical laws? What’s that?
It wasn’t simply brute force pushing through with exceptional physicality. Cha Seongcheol, Jeong Nayeon, and the viewers clearly felt that point watching Baek Woohyun.
They instinctively realized that the two consecutive slashes were divine techniques possible only through very long, professional training and refinement.
Though they didn’t know what kind of swordsmanship one would have to train in to transcend even the physical law of action-reaction and swing a greatsword over 2 meters like that.
“Actually, this isn’t the first time I’ve wondered why what Hackphysical does works when watching him handle weapons.”
“Ah, I immediately guessed what you’re going to mention. The chain scythe. Right?”
“Correct. The chain scythe is, haha. There’s nothing more to say about it.”
-Using the chain scythe is ㄹㅇ incredibly mysterious
-How exactly does it move like that after throwing it??
-A bit of technique? and know-how?
-Come to think of it, it’s even more mysterious than the Hackphysical ㅇㅇ almost at the level of miraculous skills
In fact, Baek Woohyun had shown similar things several times before.
Watching him throw the chain scythe and then control it freely made remarks like “How does that work?” naturally slip out.
The ‘a bit of technique and know-how’ he mentioned during his broadcast with Kang Soyul had become something of a meme symbolizing Hackphysical in the community.
“Back then and now, every time Hackphysical uses a weapon, I become curious—just where, from whom, and what martial arts did he learn?”
-I’m genuinely curious ㅋㅋ
-Is there a place that teaches daggers, twin swords, greatswords, and chain scythes?
-I saw before that his unarmed combat is no joke either
-Didn’t he say with his own mouth it’s self-taught?
“Self-taught? That’s probably just what he said because he couldn’t tell Kim Hana, an in-game NPC, where he learned it in reality.”
The doubt Cha Seongcheol expressed was something everyone watching Baek Woohyun commonly thought about.
While elements that could be lumped together as physicality could be attributed to innate talent, weapon techniques using various weapons weren’t like that.
So someone—or perhaps, most likely several people—must have taught Baek Woohyun weapon techniques and overall martial arts.
The problem was that even Cha Seongcheol, who was well-versed in this field, couldn’t even guess who or what organization it might be.
With the publicity that they raised such a skilled practitioner as Baek Woohyun, it would greatly help in recruiting disciples, yet it remained so quiet that it was puzzling.
The moment even a little information leaked out, pros would be lining up to register.
“Nayeon, do you know anything?”
“Uh—”
Jeong Nayeon was slightly flustered by Cha Seongcheol’s question.
Because she truly didn’t know anything either.
The Baek Woohyun she knew had been an ordinary college student until recently, and she’d never even seen him exercising normally.
He had only started showing his monstrous skills a few days ago.
So there was only one thing she could bring up.
“As far as I know, Hackphysical didn’t learn anything separately anywhere?”
“Heo…”
“Of course, since we met in college, he might have learned something before that, but during the college period, I never saw him exercising.”
“You mean you never saw him the entire time in college?”
“Yes, yes. The entire college period. He said he only started going to the gym recently after starting his broadcast.”
-This is shocking in its own way
-Could have learned it in middle or high school
-Even if he learned it then, if he didn’t exercise all through college, he’d forget it all
-That’s not the skill of someone who took a few years off ㄹㅇ
“If there’s one place I can guess—”
“Oh, where?!”
“Colosseum.”
To Cha Seongcheol, who asked with a brightened expression, Jeong Nayeon answered quietly.
“Until Woohyun started Reverse Planet, he occasionally played Colosseum. I think that’s probably the most likely place.”
-King God Colosseum
-What kind of place is Colosseum anyway
-Hackphysical said before he reached ranker status, so it’s quite possible
-ㅋㅋ I’m going to play Colosseum right now ㅋㅋ
‘ColoseumLove’ donated ‘1000 won’!
[Colosseum training method? Can’t resist this]
If Colosseum were just an ordinary game, Jeong Nayeon’s speculation wouldn’t have much persuasive power.
However, Colosseum was an insane game where simply reaching ranker status would get you pro offers, and among those who became pros that way was Battler, famous as World Class.
Therefore, her speculation that Baek Woohyun trained his weapon techniques through Colosseum caused quite a stir. Enough that some viewers immediately said they were going to play Colosseum.
Of course, most would just talk about it and not actually go, but anyway, it meant they had planted the thought of ‘Maybe if it’s Colosseum?’ in people’s heads.
“······Huuu.”
While they busily investigated the origin of Baek Woohyun’s weapon techniques in the studio, the battle continued, and he sliced and killed over a dozen more wolf monsters.
Standing among the blood pooled on the ground and the scattered wolf monster corpses, he lightly shook off the blood on Soul Eater.
Despite having already sliced dozens, Soul Eater’s blade was still sharp. No, it felt even sharper than before.
Surely because of the effect that cutting power improved according to the number of souls consumed.
Auuuuu—
Would they belatedly realize that pouring sheer numbers at Baek Woohyun was useless?
The surviving wolf monsters, while surrounding the area, let out long howls. As if requesting help from allies after encountering an opponent they couldn’t handle.
Even though it was blatantly calling for reinforcements, Baek Woohyun didn’t stop them. Because he had no reason to.
Whatever came, he was confident he could slice it to death, so he figured it was more beneficial to call everything here and deal with it all at once rather than search for them one by one.
-Keureu-reureung
How long had the howling continued under Baek Woohyun’s tacit permission? Three extraordinary-looking wolf monsters emerged through the bushes.
They appeared about twice the size of the wolf monsters he’d faced until now, giving off an aura that suggested they could easily bite to death even the so-called great tigers.
What’s more, sharp horns protruded from their foreheads, and as if to prove they weren’t mere decorations, electricity crackled along the horns.
“The ones that appeared this time seem to be entities with special abilities, so be careful!”
“Understood.”
Hearing Kim Hana’s warning from behind, Baek Woohyun narrowed his eyes.
Entities sent from the other world for dimensional invasion looked at first glance like ordinary creatures that existed on Earth, but looking closely, they often weren’t.
Even the insect-type invasion entities from the Reverse World they’d just cleared resembled Earth insects but had bizarrely twisted and distorted forms.
Naturally, these differences weren’t just in appearance.
Invasion entities sometimes had special abilities that Earth creatures didn’t have. Like awakeners’ supernatural abilities.
The three elite wolf monster entities that appeared now were just such a case. Judging by the crackling electricity on their horns, they surely possessed lightning-attribute special abilities.
‘Lightning.’
-Keureureu…!
Perhaps feeling anger at seeing their slain comrades’ corpses, the elite wolf monsters growled fiercely.
The electricity sparking from the horns on their heads also intensified. Meaning they were clearly about to start attacking at any moment.
Baek Woohyun held Soul Eater at an angle, taking a stance to slash the attacking monsters.
‘I wonder how it will be.’