The Count’s Youngest Son is a Player

Chapter 114



Chapter 114

‘This is outrageous!’

Japanese player Hatofuku Shoichiro stared angrily at the realtime updated ranking list with bloodshot eyes.

‘Is it even logical for me to be ranked below those inferior beings from the peninsula?’

The Koreans had always been a despicable race, known for their cowardly acts behind others’ backs. There was definitely some conspiracy at play.

As a member of a far-right organization in Japan, Shoichiro harbored a deep hatred towards the country of Korea. A nation that repaid countless Japanese favors with enmity and ingratitude.

It was inconceivable that those raised in such a place could engage in proper gameplay. Not only Shoichiro, but other Japanese players nearby also expressed their discontent with muttered words of dissatisfaction.

“My goodness, those Koreans are up to something strange again. This mess will ruin our plans to make Shoichiro the top player!”

“What trick did they use this time? Did they find a way for four or more players to team up?”

“I always felt uncomfortable when Connect had its headquarters in Korea. This must be the operators favoring them!”

Amidst their outbursts of anger, someone suddenly clapped their hands as if they had realized something and spoke up.

“Could it be that they used the same method we were planning to use?”

“No way. Those trash-like individuals couldn’t possibly follow the great Japanese spirit of sacrifice.”

The Japanese players had unanimously agreed to ensure Shoichiro’s success in case of an emergency. The method was simple yet effective.

It involved Japanese players sacrificing their own lives for Shoichiro. If there was no chance of passing, they would rather direct kills towards Shoichiro than die at the hands of players from other countries.

Despite Shoichiro making multiple appearances towards the end of the preliminary rounds, they were making a big fuss over some grand plan. At that moment, Shoichiro spoke with a hardened expression.

“There’s no need to dwell on what’s already happened. I don’t want to be manipulated by the cowardly actions of those Korean scoundrels, but we need to act quickly from now on.”

Regardless of his beliefs, Shoichiro was no fool. If he were, he wouldn’t have been one of the five high-rankers in Japan.

“The situation has escalated due to Dohyun’s continuous kills. We need to increase our kill count quickly too.”

“Huh? Do we really need to hurry…”

“You idiot! Can’t you see the urgency of the situation? Scared players will band together more tightly. Even players from different countries may form alliances. We need to strike a preemptive blow while some are still complacent!”

“I-I understand.”

“What are you waiting for? Are you not going out for reconnaissance?”

“Yes! I’ll leave right away.”

Two players cautiously exited their hideout. Shoichiro flicked his tongue as if in frustration and a sense of unease crept into his mind.

“Would that guy really stop here?”

Logically, it would be best for him not to push his luck, but something about him made Shoichiro doubt that he would act accordingly.

Suddenly, he became concerned about the remaining number of survivors. What if he continued to rampage, causing a sharp decrease in the survivor count? In the end, it might become difficult to find prey.

“Would it really come to that? Ugh.”

Regardless, he hadn’t anticipated the game to become so chaotic. Now that things had turned out this way, he even thought about confronting him sooner rather than later.

He wasn’t sure what trick the guy had up his sleeve, but if he could engage properly, Shoichiro was confident he could easily take him down in no time. No matter what anyone said, he was a specialist in one-on-one combat, a descendant of a “ninja.”

Swish, thud.

“Where are you rushing off to like that?”

Bae Dohyun asked, dropping down in front of the players who were running down the alley at a fast pace.

“Whoah, Bae Dohyun?”

The four players were taken aback and instinctively took a step back. Bae Dohyun was armed with a shield engraved with a golden falcon pattern and a mace.

Thump.

Tapping the shield lightly with the mace, Bae Dohyun created a threatening atmosphere and calmly spoke, “You’re not thinking of running away, right? It’s just me here, and there are four of you over there. How about a fair fight?”

The players’ eyes lit up. They had hesitated when looking at the rankings, but after all, wasn’t Bae Dohyun alone?

“Hmph. Do you think the situation calls for a fair fight? Do we really need to bother having a fair duel with you?”

The white player who seemed to be the party leader asked sharply.

It was a natural assumption that they didn’t have the confidence to fight Bae Dohyun alone and win. Even looking at the rankings and kill count, the momentum Dohyun was emitting was extraordinary.

Shrugging his shoulders, Bae Dohyun raised the corner of his mouth slightly and said, “Oh, of course, I’m not talking about a one-on-one. That wouldn’t be fair. All four of you can come at me together. That’s how it should be fair.”

“What?”

“Who does this arrogant guy think he is…!”

“No matter if he’s the top-ranked player, he’s too arrogant!”

The players frowned and expressed their anger. Although they were caught up in the momentum, they were also participants who had gone through competition and battles.

They seemed to think that being only a few levels apart didn’t warrant being underestimated. But contrary to their words, no one dared to rush at Bae Dohyun.

“Heh. The joke ends here.”

The smile disappeared from Bae Dohyun’s face. He raised his shield and positioned his mace to the rear, adjusting his breathing.

An unknown, intense momentum dominated the battlefield, with players biting into it as they prepared for the battle.

“Maintain formation! Even if they’re ranked 1st, they’re alone. Don’t cower and face them properly, we can win!”

“Of course!”

“Since it’s come to this, let’s crush them!”

They were trying to boost each other’s morale, but the fact that they were doing so showed how psychologically charged they were.

Bae Dohyun calmly observed the formation the players had set up, shielding himself as if in no hurry.

“They seem well-prepared for a hasty party disbandment, don’t they?”

At the front, a well-built warrior player held up a shield for defense, while in the middle, a spear wielder and a sword wielder stood, and at the rearguard, an archer nocked an arrow, aiming at Bae Dohyun, waiting for an opportunity.

It was a well-balanced offense-defense combination. Of course, Bae Dohyun paid no attention to it.

“They’re a decent opponent to start with. It’s a bit disappointing there’s no mage.”

With such thoughts, Bae Dohyun finally began to move.

Thud.

A step with a slightly different weight from when he held only the sword.

When using the shield, balance of the body was important, so he had to lower his posture. Thus, his strides shortened slightly, and more power concentrated in his steps.

Swish.

Bae Dohyun nonchalantly avoided the archer’s arrow by tilting his head slightly and accelerated for a dash towards the formation of players.

First, the spear of the spear wielder aimed at his chest and pierced in.

“Well, not a good choice.”

A straightforward body thrust at an opponent holding a shield.

Bae Dohyun slightly bit his tongue and took a step, deflecting the blade of the spear with his shield in his left hand.

As the blade bypassed with a zinging sound, the longsword came slicing diagonally towards him.

Clang!

Simultaneously raising the Morning Star to strike upwards, Bae Dohyun swung it to directly deflect the longsword’s edge, while rotating his body to deflect the shield bash of the shield-wielder with his back.

Bae Dohyun used the rotational force to strike the shield warrior with his left-hand shield. The shield warrior, in a hurry, tried to block Dohyun’s shield with the hand axe he held in the opposite hand, but it ended up backfiring.

“Creak. Ugh!”

Instead of blocking the shield, the hand axe rebounded and smashed into his face, deforming it.

“If he was in charge of defense, he should have maintained his balance instead of going on the offensive.”

Although it seemed like his skill leaned towards physical enhancement, attempting a shield attack just to show off strength proved to be fatal.

Taking advantage of the shield warrior’s loss of balance, Bae Dohyun could penetrate into their formation. The spearman was struggling to maintain his balance, unable to attack properly, while the swordsman was regaining his thrown sword, preparing to attack again.

The archer fired a second arrow at close range, but Bae Dohyun easily blocked it with his shield, then swiftly launched a body slam towards him. Crash!

“Argh!”

The poorly placed bow was snapped in half, and the archer was sent flying backward with a broken rib.

Swoosh.

As a shattering sound came from behind, Bae Dohyun performed a forward somersault, narrowly avoiding the longsword that grazed past his back.

Thunk.

With a swing of his mace, Bae Dohyun finished off the agonizing archer, then turned to face the players.

The bulky shield warrior had half his face caved in, rendering him unable to fight. The spearman and swordsman were aiming their weapons at him with anger.

With only one dead and one forced into a retreat within minutes, they must be feeling a mix of anger and fear.

“Come to think of it, what was the archer’s skill?”

Either he couldn’t use it in time due to the swift defeat, or he wasn’t originally an archer but had to pick up a bow due to their formation.

The sudden recollection of skills occurred because the two players in front of him were now activating their skills.

“Take this, triple Thrust!”

“Sonic Blade!”

Seeing their moves, it became clear why they delayed using their skills until now. Both of them unleashed their skills in grand gestures. Perhaps the shield warrior was blocking their skill activation before.

“If they know how to tactfully modify and unleash their skills, that’s how they grow stronger…”

If they could do that, they might have made a name for themselves as high-rankers. Thud, thud, thud! Clang!

“This, this can’t be!”

“Blocked two from the front at the same time?”

It was rather apologetic that Bae Dohyun was surprised at something so trivial.

As mentioned earlier, stabbing with a spear against shield bearers was not a great choice.

Unless one was a fool, it was easy for shield bearers to block when the spear was directed towards where the blade was.

“In this case, it’s better to swing or thrash rather than stab.”

By utilizing the long spear, even if blocked by a shield, the remaining spearhead could strike the head or shoulder of the shield bearer.

Even if perfectly blocked, a swing or thrash could deliver a much stronger blow than a stab, making it more efficient.

The swordsman, to be honest, fell short of the mark. It seemed like they relied on skills without even having basic swordsmanship training.

Although they grandly called it Sonic Blade, it was merely a slightly quicker swing in reality.

Bae Dohyun was not lenient enough to be repeatedly subjected to such basic skills.

“I should wrap this up soon.”

Though he deliberately allowed the skill to be directly countered in order to create a good show, there seemed to be no more expectations left.

Bae Dohyun first nullified the skill and then rushed towards the swordsman with his weapon awkwardly held.

“Oh, don’t come closer!”

Disregarding the swordsman’s desperate sword swinging, Bae Dohyun deftly evaded the blade as if on a leisurely stroll and approached.

His mace descended upon the swordsman’s head like a divine punishment.

Thunk, crack!

The swordsman tried to block the mace with his long sword, but the mace not only shattered the sword but also crushed the swordsman’s head.

“Mon, monster.”

The spearmen’s widened eyes retreated, trying to swing the spear in a pitiful manner, but it posed no threat at all.

Bae Dohyun threw away the shield and casually caught the swinging spearhead with his left hand as he approached.

“Wha, what?”

When the bewildered spearman tried to pull out the spear again with force, Bae Dohyun simply eased the tension in his left hand.

Snap.

That was the end of it.

Approaching the player who lost balance and squirmed, Bae Dohyun finished him off lightly with his mace.

“G-groan. Agh.”

Realizing there was still a shield warrior left, staggering away as if about to flee.

“Even gave them time to heal with potions… Well, I guess it’s not yet the time for potions to be common.”

Though potions were essential in all games, they were expensive consumables for players around level 20.

Thud.

The mace stained red once again.

(To be continued…)


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