Chapter 457

3.

Before Seong’s Part 2 stream had even started—more precisely, while Seong was eating his meal properly—

the ranker gathering known as the “Anti–Demon King Alliance” began to move in earnest.

But something slightly unexpected happened.

Part 2 wasn’t them going into a dungeon like expected—it was a vassal match.

Hearing that, Scarlett—who could be called the alliance’s leader—fell into deep thought.

‘What kind of scheme is this?’

Part 2 being a vassal match instead of a dungeon—

if you only looked at that much, there were actually a lot of things you could infer.

First: since Seong was already anticipating Scarlett’s raid, he could coordinate with his vassals, pretend to be exhausted, then launch a counterattack.

Something like that.

But even that didn’t really make sense.

This was basically a guild coalition invading.

A huge number would be mobilized.

‘And it’ll be the first corps of the big guilds and ranker guilds, too.’

There was no way Kim Jinwoo wouldn’t know that.

Even if you tried to hide it, it wasn’t something you could hide.

So they’d even let information leak on purpose—including Kim Jinwoo—trying to escalate it into a bigger war.

But Rapid Guild as a whole still hadn’t moved.

At this scale, they should have shown themselves already if they weren’t going to be late.

Scarlett had ordered everyone to assemble even before the Part 1 stream, but they still hadn’t gathered.

Would they all gather after Part 2 ended?

Of course, calling them in secretly made things slower—but with this many people, that was inevitable.

And yet, Rapid Guild was oddly quiet.

And on top of that—

‘He even casually teased a Part 3 stream.’

He’d given off the nuance of, Is Part 2 really the end?

So Scarlett had been thinking Seong would even clear a dungeon.

That was why nothing about this sat right.

As her thoughts deepened, Scarlett shook her head.

‘We hit the Demon King first, then think.’

Maybe they were treating the Demon King as a throwaway piece, and because they knew the alliance planned to storm Rapid Guild’s base and start a war, they were gathering everyone at the stronghold.

Of course, the Demon King had a special item, so he could potentially flee straight to Rapid Guild—but that was exactly why they were trying to assemble their forces here.

And yet, up to now, Seong wasn’t making any notable moves.

If anything, he was letting the tension go.

It didn’t add up.

‘Either way, it’s obvious we’ll win.’

Scarlett felt a bad premonition flicker—but as soon as she remembered that the Kingdom of Rieskan had agreed to help this time, the anxiety faded.

This time, she would definitely get her revenge.

For the downfall of Rapid Guild.

4.

Whether or not he knew the ranker gathering had its own scheme, the moment Seong opened Part 2, the reaction exploded.

Like how food tastes better if you let it sit—that was exactly what the viewers’ reaction felt like.

-FINALLY!!!

-The gate opened!!!!!!!

-Wait, but is this vibe for real????

-This is f***ing brutal?????????

-The vassals’ vibe especially is no joke, holy shit

-Yeah, seriously;;;

-But there’s only five of them, right???

-Ohhh! Which vassals are those???

As they typed, the viewers quickly scanned which vassals had come out.

Seeing it was five—Barfur, Leonic, Silvanor, Fiora, and Valtar—they couldn’t hide their excitement.

They’d just watched the backup team leader line earlier, so that was one thing—but all five were physical-type vassals.

So they couldn’t help imagining an even more brutal fight.

-Leonic is out!!!!!!

-I told you Fiora would show up!?

-lmaoooo why does Valtar look so pissed?????

-lmaoooo feels like they’re mad as hell because people were disrespecting them

-Kind of sad none of the mage unnis are here :( :( :( :(

-Yeah.

-That part is kinda sad.

Some people were disappointed that Veladrina or Serpina weren’t out—but other than that, everyone was satisfied, watching the vassals.

Meanwhile, the backup team faced the vassals with expressions full of caution and tension.

When Seong stood between the two teams—

Helena was at his side too, smiling like she was having fun.

“Then the lineup is as follows. 1st Legion Commander Barfur, 2nd Legion Commander Leonic, Order Captain Silvanor, pet Fiora, and the demon knight Valtar—five in total. And as you all know, the backup team lineup is five as well: starting with party member ‘Joseon’s Greatest Sword’ Kim Che-geon from Kyou’s party, then Leader Embris, Leader Kyou, Leader Reaper, and lastly Leader Luna.”

At that, people got excited like, Yeah, that’s what I thought.

Watching the viewers, Seong calmed them down.

They had to run the event, after all.

“Since it’s five, it’ll be best-of-five—first to three wins. But even if someone reaches three wins first, we’re still going all the way through five matches.”

At that, both the backup team and the vassals welcomed it.

In other words, even a 5–0 score became possible.

They clearly wanted to show an overwhelming gap and score points in Seong’s eyes.

Anyway, once Seong explained that—the viewers were smiling like they loved it.

But—

-Oh, then who fights who???

-Yeah, I seriously have no idea.

-Do they already have a bracket?

-Who’s match 1? Kim Che-geon? Embris?

-Either one would be fun, lol

-Right lol

Since everyone was typing with eager eyes, Seong spoke quickly, like, Yeah, that’s fair.

“Then I’ll announce the lineup for Match 1.”

When Seong said that,

it felt like time itself slowed down, and the viewers watching were getting antsy.

And then—

“Match 1 is ‘Joseon’s Greatest Sword’ Kim Che-geon versus the 2nd Death Legion Commander, Leonic Evoke.”

As Seong said that, darkness surged out from beneath his feet and dyed the surroundings.

That darkness gradually condensed until it became hard like metal—and a new stage was created, decorating the area that had been wrecked by the earlier fights with darkness and various attributes in a flashy way.

At a glance, the stage was clearly a square, and it looked enormous—at least over a hundred meters in length.

But the two who actually had to fight—Leonic and Kim Che-geon—both frowned slightly when they saw it.

Even as a knight, Leonic’s main fighting style relied on mobility.

And as a mounted warrior, Kim Che-geon was the same.

So with the area restricted like this, it was inevitable they’d feel thrown off.

But who had made this stage?

“Rule is: you don’t leave the stage. If you do, it’ll be counted as a ring-out loss.”

A new rule was added, beyond just surrendering or collapsing from depleted stamina.

But the viewers started reacting like this made it even more exciting.

-No way lmaoooooooo

-World Martial Arts Tournament????

-lmaoooo it’s bigger, but yeah, this is totally the World Martial Arts Tournament lmaooo

-lmaoooo nostalgia is hitting.

-?????? What is that?

-You don’t know Dragon Ball?

-What even is that?????

-There’s this boomer comic;;;;

-Dragon Ball is;;; a masterpiece;;;;

Some viewers even started fighting each other out of nowhere—but yes, Seong had made the stage with that intention.

He’d thought this kind of format would be better.

And then, since Kim Che-geon looked unhappy about the new restriction, frowning—

Leonic started shouting at him.

-“Hmph! To frown instead of rejoicing at the stage our lord has made! You have no sense of duty as a vassal!”

“......? But you don’t look happy either.”

-“What nonsense. I’m a skeleton. I have no expression.”

“......Oh.”

Kim Che-geon was definitely wronged there—

but he couldn’t think of anything to argue back to Leonic’s logic, so he had no choice but to shut his mouth.

Anyway, Kim Che-geon looked genuinely pissed, because right from the start he summoned his mount.

A Transcendent-grade mount Seong had created for him.

Seeing it, Leonic’s eyes narrowed.

And Leonic summoned a mount as well.

Since it had been nothing but close-range battles so far, there hadn’t been a chance to show it—but a ghost horse was summoned, carrying Leonic.

With a deep navy mane the same color as Leonic’s aura, the ghost horse proudly showed off its form.

Leonic’s horse didn’t look ordinary either, but Kim Che-geon didn’t react.

He handled his mount, drew his long blade, and glared at Leonic.

Leonic, too, drew his mounted sword and guided the ghost horse, and the two of them began circling the center of the arena, glaring at each other.

-Wow, I’ve only seen stuff like this in movies...

-The vibe is insane...

-Feels like a western movie, holy shit

-That’s f***ing stylish;;;;;;;;

-That’s really cool.

The sight of them circling each other on horseback was romantic enough to stir something in you, and the viewers swallowed hard as they watched.

They’d never imagined Match 1 would already be this exciting.

And it wasn’t just Kim Che-geon, Leonic, and the viewers who were locked in.

The vassals and the backup team were too.

Because this was the first match.

The team that won here would basically be seizing the initiative.

So of course everyone had to focus.

In that moment when everyone’s focus peaked—

Seong looked around at the viewers and the surroundings and grinned.

‘This is even more exciting than I thought.’

Mounted combat really did have plenty to watch.

No wonder Helena had set it up like this.

Thinking that, Seong raised his hand and shouted,

“Begin.”

The moment Seong declared the start, Leonic’s horse and Kim Che-geon’s horse pawed the ground and kicked off the dark stage Seong had made, charging straight at each other.

NEEEEIGHHHHHHH!

PRRRRRR!

Two horses rushing at each other—and on their backs, Leonic and Kim Che-geon’s swords clashed in that instant.