Chapter 35

- He's changing the subscriber count condition...??

- Not 1st place?

"I'm going to keep the 1st place condition."

The opponent was willing to bet three million to check his status window, so it was probably the Neo Self-Defense Force, but he had no concrete evidence.

Retaliating against an anonymous enemy was difficult.

'Endlessly raising my status window's reveal condition is the best way for me to retaliate.'

Ideally, he could abolish the subscriber condition completely or the 1st-place condition and not show it until the end.

'That would decrease people's interest in my stream.'

Despite being a Bronze League channel, JiHan's channel was gaining popularity day by day. 

There were many factors behind that remarkable growth, but the most significant factor was curiosity around JiHan's status window and the anticipation of when it would be revealed.

If he abolished the promise, he would lose his viewers' attention.

'Neo Self-Defense Force… you must become my stream's catalyst.'

He still wasn't sure if it was the Neo Self-Defense Force that wanted to see his status window so badly, but he had to make people believe that it was them.

'That's the best way for me to get more attention.'

The Sword King had recently abandoned Korea, so even implying the Neo Self-Defense Force was targeting him would be enough to draw significant attention.

'My subscriber count was already approaching 200k, so I needed an excuse to modify it. This is perfect.'

JiHan made a smug expression after he turned Takeda's trick to his advantage.

"If you want to see my status window that much... try to stop me from finishing 1st, or get my subscriber count to a million."

Slide-

The three Black Eagle guildies began floating in the air as he extended his hand.

"Inventory."

JiHan took an item from his inventory, an F-rank item called 'Rope of Restraint'.

Whir-

The Rope of Restraint extended from Sung JiHan's hand like a snake and instantly bound the three guildies.

- Why's he carrying a rope around? Hahaha.

- Did he prepare ahead of time, just in case?

- His rope-throwing skills are great! Lol, was he a cowboy in a previous life? 

The three guildies were tightly bound, unable to move.

After confirming they were securely tied, JiHan released his Force and said, "Let's go."

Drag-

He gripped the rope and dragged the three of them along.

- That's so embarrassing~ Hahaha.

- This is going to remain forever, lol.

-  Are they part of the Black Eagle Guild? What a joke.

The Warrior gritted his teeth in humiliation. He'd been treated as a promising talent wherever he went, and now he was being dragged around in front of everyone.

"J-JiHan...! How dare you treat us like this! Are you underestimating the Black Eagle Guild?!" He tried to threaten him by mentioning his guild, but…

Smirk-

It wasn't only JiHan who laughed at him.

- A Bronze is threatening someone by using his guild's name?

- This shows his true nature.

- Why's he monologuing like a third-rate villain?

All he got was mockery from the viewers.

'Ugh...'

JiHan continued to laugh as he dragged them, and the Warrior began thinking, 'In the previous stream... the Mage died after he cursed his niece...'

The Mage, Kim Gyu-hyuk, had cursed JiHan's niece, so JiHan ended up beating him up.

When the Warrior saw that stream, he'd wondered how anyone could be as trashy as Gyu-hyuk.

'Even if I become trash, I must die.'

His whole body was bound, and all he could do was talk.

He was willing to provoke JiHan if it would lead to his death.

"You're nie— Ugh...!"

As soon as he uttered, 'Nie', his mouth was forcibly shut with Force.

"Let's go quietly."

After JiHan used Acupuncture, the Warrior was even unable to speak.

'Now I'll be able to pick up the speed.'

Having paralyzed all three through Acupuncture, JiHan took the Warrior's weapon and began advancing.

Whoosh!

[Do not disturb his r—]

BOOM!

A shield flew and destroyed the monster's head before it could finish talking. In JiHan's hands, rather than a tool used for defense, the shield was an excellent weapon.

Swoosh!

Traps triggered all around, and arrows flew at JiHan, but…

Clang! Clang!

He deflected all of the arrows flying at him with the shield.

"You must be careful."

He also used Force to deflect the arrows flying at his party members.

"Heal."

On top of that, he provided healing for them as well, since their HP was going down from being dragged around.

JiHan was showing how a perfect Support should behave.

- See how he takes care of his party members~?

- I thought the Mage was about to die, but nope, there's no chance of that happening.

- They'll get a million if they die. What a shame, hahaha.

JiHan was also moving faster than when he had teamed up with them before and soon reached the last room of the 6th floor underground.

Swoosh-

[Stop the intruders.]

[Don't let a single one live.]

As soon as he entered the last room of the dungeon, NPC guards were summoned from all sides instead of just being summoned in front of him.

They appeared from every direction at once and encircled him.

He had reached the greatest obstacle in that dungeon.

Breaking through the encirclement without losing a single member was the actual final mission of the 'Conqueror's Tomb'.

- Can JiHan protect his party members in this room as well? More than 100 guards are going to be summoned.

- This is the hardest part, indeed.

- My delivery chicken has arrived!!!

Even the viewers who'd seen JiHan's strength weren't confident.

After all, over a hundred strong guards would be shooting arrows simultaneously, and a single shot could kill someone.

That's why it was usually suggested that all party members stick together and break through the passage leading to the 7th underground floor, but JiHan obviously had no intention of doing such a thing.

[Limited Quest]

- Annihilate the guards.

- Reward: 1,000 achievement points

After all, a limited quest had appeared after they reached the 6th underground floor.

A smile appeared on JiHan's face.

'Yes. It was about time I got another quest.'

He hadn't gotten a limited quest since he killed the flesh golem in the defense map and had been disappointed when one didn't appear upon entering the dungeon map.

A thousand achievement points was a decent reward. 

"Shield."

Sung JiHan gathered his party members in the center and used 'Shield', a basic Support skill, on them.

The viewers were stunned by the huge barrier that appeared. After all, it was too thick to be a basic spell.

- What? Why is his Shield so thick?

- Aah... so this is JiHan's 'Shield'?

- Is there something he can't do?!

It's thickness was thanks to his Force stat, which was a fusion of Magic and Divine Power.

'It's still a basic skill, so it won't last for long.

Even if the Shield was extremely thick thanks to Force, it would break if the guards kept focusing their attacks on it.

He had to overwhelm his opponents with the brief time he'd gained.

Paf-

JiHan's silhouette disappeared and appeared before the guards.

[Death to those who disturb his rest!]

The guards at the forefront raised their shields to stop him, but…

"Move."

BOOM!

All of the guards' hands burst at once after a slight gesture from JiHan, instantly neutralizing them.

His Absolute Domain had increased after his Force reached 20, and the possibilities of what he could do within that zone were endless.

Bang!

He destroyed the hands of those holding weapons, easily dodged their slowed attacks, and cut through his enemies.

[Death...]

Slash!

The guards' speech was even slowed, so their heads rolled on the ground before they could finish speaking.

'Force's potential is unlimited.'

To think Baron used such a remarkable ability as just a 'more powerful Magic Power.'

JiHan danced through the slowed guards, cutting down enemies left and right, and single-handedly dismantled the encirclement.

A few moments later.

[My... emperor...]

The last guard was cut down.

[You've cleared the limited quest.]

[You've earned 1,000 achievement points.]

"Okay. Shall we get moving again?"

After completing the quest, Sung JiHan dismissed the Shield and started to drag the party members again.

He spoke calmly, almost as if he were just walking a dog around the neighborhood.

- The guards exploded as if they were made of glass. Aren't they supposed to be quite durable?

- Not even Skynet can stop him.

- Don't talk nonsense.

What was with his crazy ability?

Both the general viewers and the scouts were extremely curious about JiHan's status window.

- Didn't the subscriber condition become too high?

- Thanks to Takeda's trolling, the reveal got delayed.

- A million... Haha, we were almost at 200k.

- He should have used the three million to make people subscribe to his channel. Why's he messing things up?

- Isn't that hard to do in Battle Net?

Battle Net was made using alien technology. Although you could create alternate accounts, it was razor-sharp when it came to earning GP.

You couldn't do things like manipulate subscribers or views. A view was counted only if an actual viewer was on the other side, so using accounts to do things like that was almost impossible.

- I'm sure he'll lose his streak at some point and not get 1st place.

- Honestly, a million is too much... After all, there aren't many Koreans on Battle Tube with over a million subscribers...

- Shouldn't he be at least Diamond for such a thing?

Just like when he first said 200K, almost every viewer thought the status window would be revealed by his inability to finish 1st rather than him reaching the subscriber condition.

That's how absurd a number a million was.

- What are you saying? There's no way Mr. Sung's 1st-place streak will break. A million subscribers will come first!

- It's Streamer Golden Light!

Only Golden Light, who'd told JiHan about the million-dollar quest, confidently typed that the million subscribers would come first. 

- Things won't be easy once they reach the conqueror's statue.

- Yeah. You need cooperation with your party members to get past that.

- He dragged them around like dogs, so I'm positive that they won't cooperate. If he releases them, they'll probably commit suicide.

Others were hoping for JiHan to be unable to finish 1st as they waited for him to reach the last part of the dungeon.