Chapter 122 : Just One Attack
Chapter 122: Just One Attack
A chilling sound echoed through Zone 13: Slums.
It was the sound of sharp metal piercing fragile flesh in one breath.
The blade over 2 meters long dug deep into the torso blocking its path, then soon emerged through the back.
“……”
However, the expression of Baek Woohyun, who had pierced his opponent with his sword in one strike, wasn’t very good.
Because he keenly noticed the sensation at his fingertips was strange.
It was a difference he could feel because he was someone who had killed hundreds, thousands of people directly with his own hands.
The moment he realized that fact, he retreated.
After all, the action after deceiving with a fake is obvious.
It’s customary to deliciously strike the back of the opponent’s head while they’re relieved thinking ‘I got them!’—so he moved one step ahead of that.
Pupupuk!
As Baek Woohyun expected, dozens of black feathers embedded themselves in the location where he had been.
Of course, that attack couldn’t reach him as he’d already retreated backward at tremendous speed like when approaching.
They just hopelessly embedded in the ground and melted into the cast shadows. And the same was true for Lee Geonwoo who had been pierced by Soul Eater.
Flutter!
“Hm.”
The spot where the fake Lee Geonwoo melted away.
Lee Geonwoo descended while flapping wings made of shadow, grinning at Baek Woohyun.
“You’re quick to notice?”
—Thought it ended in one hit
—Me too ㅋㅋ
—Eh, but he’s World Class, would he really go down in one hit?
—Didn’t even see when he made the decoy and escaped
“Hackphysical and player Nikki exchanged attacks once each! Each strike is very fierce! If they slip up for a moment, the chances of it ending are high!”
“Just grazing each other would be fatal!”
“Exactly!”
—Cha Seongcheol entered commentator mode
—He does that when the game gets interesting
—Occupational hazard ㅋㅋ
—So who do you think will win, Hackphysical vs Nikki??
“……”
‘He didn’t call out the skill name.’
Instead of answering, Baek Woohyun looked at Lee Geonwoo with narrowed eyes. It was a gaze containing intent to gauge the opponent’s level.
Using a supernatural ability skill without calling out its name meant being somewhat free from Reverse Planet’s correction system.
He was trying to roughly estimate just how free from correction he was.
‘Quite low. About 50 percent? No, maybe even lower than that.’
Below 50 percent correction was the second lowest number Baek Woohyun had encountered in Reverse Planet so far.
The first was the final survivor from Survival who fought him in bare-handed combat somewhat equally, so one could guess how high Lee Geonwoo’s level was.
Well, that’s why he earned the right not to call out skill names. He was indeed worthy of being called a World Class pro player.
But if you asked whether that was an obstacle to Baek Woohyun, it wasn’t.
For him who had fought death matches against enemies that were freer and more fearsome with no correction at all in that side, this much fell on the not-very-difficult side.
Somewhat tricky perhaps, but if he wanted to cut, he could cut as much as he wanted—that level.
‘The attribute is shadow. Seeing him shoot feathers, he must be operating power centered on wings.’
Kkwaak.
A powerful force entered Baek Woohyun’s grip holding Soul Eater.
The body strengthened by giving up supernatural abilities was superhuman from head to toe, and grip strength that could easily tear apart steel squeezed the greatsword over 2 meters long.
Truly a firm binding with confidence that no matter how it was swung, it could never escape that hand.
‘Even considering decoy creation, there’s some resource left. About two more skills. One of them is probably defense or evasion-related. Then—’
“……”
Wuddeuk.
Following that, from the forearm muscles to upper arm muscles, past the deltoids to the trapezius, down to the pectorals, all the muscle fibers of the connected muscles stood on end and roared.
It was fair to say the body responding to its master’s will was squeezing out its abilities to the extreme. Down to the bottom, not leaving a single drop.
What was thus formed was overwhelming and absolute ‘power’ that far surpassed human limits.
Baek Woohyun’s eyes gazing at Lee Geonwoo burned like white flames.
Like a sun shining alone above the jet-black night sky.
‘—Cut everything at once.’
……If Baek Woohyun hadn’t accepted Jeong Nayeon’s request to fight at full power, perhaps the fight might have lasted longer.
He might have faced Lee Geonwoo while slowly raising stages, seeing how far he could follow.
In the process, Lee Geonwoo might have revealed his World Class pro player qualities and delivered some counterattack to Baek Woohyun.
As could be seen from how easily he dodged the first attack, Lee Geonwoo was quite a strong opponent.
But unfortunately for Lee Geonwoo.
What was here now was the Superhuman who didn’t hesitate to exert full power.
Who had fought countless monsters beyond Lee Geonwoo’s level, stood after killing them, and ultimately uniquely stepped into the realm of Transcendence—a real monster.
Kkwadeuk!
“——!”
With one great stride, the floor was trampled and crushed.
The greatsword swung with storm-like momentum carved a vivid trajectory through the air.
A powerful slash that if the word ‘cut’ were molded into human form and swung, would surely look like this!
Sswaeeaeaek—!
A blade seemingly cutting through space itself targeted Lee Geonwoo.
Even in the Slowed World, it held such tremendously intense power that vision appeared distorted following the trajectory drawn.
Therefore, it wasn’t strange at all that Lee Geonwoo’s instincts, being the target, screamed fiercely and rang alarm bells.
‘—?!’
Lee Geonwoo didn’t even have time to spit out curses.
All he could do was attempt to wrap and protect himself with his two wings.
The wings whose physical strength changed at will hardened harder than steel to protect him. Like the many battles where they saved his life.
However.
Kkwajijik—!
This time, one could say Lee Geonwoo’s choice to defend rather than evade was foolish.
Of course, he too must have made calculations and judged it better to block than avoid, but originally the Superhuman stands outside common calculation.
The blade of Soul Eater that Baek Woohyun swung tore through the defense Lee Geonwoo had hardened, wings and all—no, completely.
Not just the wings, but the supernatural ability’s unique energy wrapping them, and even Lee Geonwoo—it cut everything at once.
“Ha…”
Lee Geonwoo let out an empty laugh.
Looking down at his body, his eyes caught the wound leaking blood and shadow.
The supernatural ability skill prepared for a last struggle activated to briefly sustain life, but he guaranteed that the moment the duration ended, he would die.
Just one attack.
Unable to even block that, his defeat was decided.
“Seongcheol-nim. This… it’s over, right?”
“Correct. Since [Shadow’s Wrath] even triggered.”
“Ugh, I thought they’d fight really fiercely, but I didn’t expect it to end in one hit like this.”
“Doesn’t it mean Hackphysical at full power is that terrifyingly strong?”
—ㅁㅊ;;
—They said World Class won’t go down in one hit!!
—Ta-da, there’s no such thing as absolute
—Nikki was careless ㅇㅇ Round 2 will be different ㅇㅇ
It was such an anticlimactic conclusion that even those watching from the studio were momentarily flustered.
Well, who could have predicted that a true World Class pro player would be defeated without withstanding even one strike?
Everyone thought there would be a fierce match before a conclusion, regardless of whose victory they expected. They hadn’t seen Baek Woohyun’s full power until now.
‘Really no joke.’
But in Lee Geonwoo’s heart facing defeat, not even a fingernail’s worth of resistance about this defeat arose.
Because the match was decided in one strike without even proper exchanges, Baek Woohyun’s strength felt all the more bone-piercingly clear.
It wouldn’t be too wrong to say he realized it was a wall he couldn’t overcome no matter how many times he challenged without getting stronger.
That’s why during the remaining final resistance duration, instead of struggling more to attack, he looked at Baek Woohyun with a grin.
“Hackphysical—Woohyun-ssi, was it? By any chance, are you seriously not interested in becoming a Reverse Planet PVP pro player?”
“……”
“It’s not a joke but a sincere invitation. The reason I came here was also because of a team order to observe directly and make a pro offer if suitable.”
“Though half was for my own enjoyment,” Lee Geonwoo added, looking straight at Baek Woohyun.
“What do you think?”
—Gasp, a pro offer ㄷㄷ
—Joining as a pro with a DH Empire offer??
—Ripped ㅋㅋ This is Hackphysical class ㅋㅋㅋㅋ
—The current #1 team directly offering recruitment ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
“Wow, to think this would happen! I really think I did well accepting the panel offer every time!”
“DH Empire coming directly to offer pro player recruitment…”
Naturally, the studio side flipped at hearing Lee Geonwoo’s offer.
They looked at Baek Woohyun with trembling hearts.
Expecting what answer he would give.
‘If it’s Woohyun now, he’ll probably refuse.’
Except for one person, Jeong Nayeon.
She was already guessing the answer.
“…It’s an interesting offer, but.”
Unlike when facing stream snipers before, Baek Woohyun answered in a calm tone.
Though they only crossed blades once, after directly experiencing the skill and hearing what was said, he guessed the opponent was a genuine pro player.
If he treated such a person like a stream sniper, it was obvious things would get noisy for a while with controversies and whatnot.
Baek Woohyun had that much sense.
“I must decline. I have no particular thoughts about it yet.”
“‘Yet’ means no thoughts, right? There’s interest though. Okay, got it.”
—Why though
—Go pro!!
—Debut and make them consecutive World Championship winners ㅜㅜ
—Nikki didn’t give up either?
The moment Lee Geonwoo heard the answer and smiled, shadows explosively burst from his body.
It was because the duration of [Shadow’s Wrath], which had been forcibly sustaining his life that was already essentially cut off, completely ended.
Soon, with the sound of something collapsing in the shadows, a system message appeared.
[First round end]
[Winner: Baek Woohyun]
[Loser: (Anonymous)]
[Current record — Baek Woohyun 1:0 (Anonymous)]
[Proceeding to next round immediately]
“No need to worry about the pro offer! Let’s properly face off in the second round too! It won’t be as easy as before this time!”
“…Understood.”
Though he wasn’t concerned at all, Baek Woohyun nodded. There was no reason not to.
In the following second round, he indeed kept his word. He exerted full power again, pro offer or trumpet or whatever.
Unlike the first round, Lee Geonwoo gritted his teeth and fought fiercely attacking, but couldn’t overcome the single slash Baek Woohyun swung at full power.
“…Good work. As expected, you’re strong.”
“Yes, good work.”
[Final record — Baek Woohyun 2:0 (Anonymous)]
[Final winner: Baek Woohyun]
[Final loser: (Anonymous)]
Thus, the duel with Lee Geonwoo ended in Baek Woohyun’s complete victory.
And that meant.
“76 consecutive wins! Finally Hackphysical has even defeated Nikki player Lee Geonwoo! Successfully standing alongside player Battler’s existing 76 consecutive win record!”
“When he first started PVP, I really doubted he’d reach this record.”
—Hackphysical! Hackphysical! Hackphysical! Hackphysical!
—King God Emperor Jwa! King God Emperor Jwa! King God Emperor Jwa!
—What’s King God Emperor Jwa ㅋㅋ Only Jwa is left ㅋㅋㅋㅋ
—Let’s go straight to record breaking aaaaaa
Baek Woohyun had finally tied Battler’s 76 consecutive wins.
“What’s even more amazing is that Hackphysical didn’t have a single set loss! It was a perfectly achieved 76 consecutive wins!”
“Including other PVP modes is absurd too. He went through Survival, Duel, and Struggle without losing or dying even once.”
“Doesn’t that mean there’s room left to set records in other PVP modes too!”
—Thinking about it that’s right ㅅㅂ ㅋㅋㅋㅋ
—If he sets records in all modes it’ll be insane ㄷㄷ
—Let’s sweep all the overseas records too?
—Then it’ll really blow up ㅋㅋ
‘HackphysicalBeatsEvenHacks’ donated 100,000 won!
[Info) Hackphysical doesn’t say Oh my god when surprised. Since he’s god, he says Oh my me]
—No, that fangirling is crazy ㅋㅋㅋㅋ
—Oh my me ㅇㅈㄹ ㅋㅋㅋㅋ
—”Because god is me”
—At this rate fan cafe fangirling will appear too ㅋㅋㅋㅋ
An excited Cha Seongcheol rattled on endlessly, and Jeong Nayeon chimed in with a flushed face.
The viewers’ reactions needless to say.
The studio itself was filled with excitement, full of all kinds of fangirling and jokes.
What somewhat organized that situation was a donation that suddenly arrived.
‘MaybeKillsPeople’ donated 1000 won!
[Met Nikki at 76 wins, surely won’t meet Battler at 77 wins for record breaking?]
“…Huh?”
“That makes sense!”
—There’s… a possibility!
—ㅁㅊ Then it’s really legendary
—The existing record holder trying to stop the new record ㄷㄷ
—ㄹㅇ Delicious picture? ㅋㅋㅋㅋ
The studio, filled with anticipation, naturally focused all attention on Baek Woohyun matching next.
After a short matching time passed and the system message [PVP Duel mode game matching successful] appeared.
The person who greeted Baek Woohyun who newly moved to the dueling grounds and the personnel in the studio was—
“…Well, meeting player Nikki was actually absurd too.”
“Right. It was already a tremendous coincidence to match exactly at the 76th with so many snipers around.”
“Plus player Battler is quite different from player Nikki. Haha—”
—Boring
—That guy seems like a sniper too
—Ugh stream sniper shit
—Know when to butt out~
—Unfortunately just a common stream sniper as always.
Yet the expectation they had vaguely held thinking ‘maybe?’ completely died out by the time he reached 85 consecutive wins without meeting Battler.
Having easily succeeded in breaking the record and extended it greatly, it was a regretful result for the studio personnel who had been excited.
***
“Hyung! You said you’d snipe Hackphysical too. Why didn’t you? People were expecting you to appear at the 77th duel!”
“……I did.”
“What? Why are you talking quietly?”
“I did it too. But I couldn’t meet him. Geonwoo…”
“Ah.”
“Last time I succeeded…”
Battler, Kim Hyeonjun, let out a deep sigh.
Having once succeeded in sniping Baek Woohyun who enjoyed Survival, he’d been confident, but didn’t expect to fail so miserably.
Even while Baek Woohyun extended the record to 85 consecutive wins, he kept sniping.
“Survival has a hundred people matching at once, so hyung might have succeeded?”
“Be quiet.”
“Yep!”
Kim Hyeonjun, who made Nikki Lee Geonwoo shut up instantly, tilted his head sideways. He seemed to be thinking deeply about something.
Ignoring Lee Geonwoo obviously covering his mouth and being cheeky beside him, he pondered for a moment.
Soon he wore a faint smile.
“Geonwoo. Remember that iTube content offer we both got before?”
“Of course I remember. I begged so much but hyung refused saying you didn’t want to do it.”
“Let’s do it.”
“Suddenly? …Ah. Don’t tell me.”
“With Hackphysical as the first guest. How about it?”
“I’m fine with it, but will Hackphysical do it? He doesn’t seem particularly interested in broadcasting.”
“He will.”
The memory of when he faced off with Baek Woohyun in Survival rose in Kim Hyeonjun’s mind.
Along with the promise the two shared, ‘Let’s properly face off next time.’
With that, Baek Woohyun surely wouldn’t refuse.