Chapter 139

Dongfang Shuo looked over at the man with long, white hair and eyes full of killing intent, who was beginning to stand with the help of a spear.

"Someone's trying to mimic my work and claim it for themselves. Our master is the only one worthy of such a thing. I'll go kill the thief."

Dongfang smirked. He could understand Longinus's anger, but he had to do his role as a faithful servant of the Wandering Martial God and dissuade him.

"Longinus, stop."

"Not even you can stop me. Especially when it comes to my work!"

"The master is already interested in him."

"It doesn't matter."

"He has Martial Soul."

"…!" Longinus halted and calmed a bit before opening his mouth. "He's… capable of killing our master?"

"Well, I wouldn't go that far, but the master seems to be very forgiving in his case."

"Is that so…?" Longinus completely withdrew his killing intent when he heard the Wandering Martial God was being forgiving of the human's circumstances.

"Yes. He's only in Gold right now, so there's no need to point your spear at him."

Longinus's eyes widened. "Huh, a Gold?"

How could a Gold player copy his work? Excitement filled his eyes. "So it's not completely impossible."

"Yes, I've also been watching him, but I didn't think he'd be talented enough to wake you up."

"You seem to be at peace, Jiang Shang, but aren't you in the same boat as me?"

"…"

Dongfang silently stroked his beard. "I am now Dongfang Shuo."

"Aah, is that what it was? From Heavenly Demon to Zhang Sanfeng, you've used all sorts of names. Is this the one you've settled on?"

"Dongfang Shuo's my favorite among the new ones… I don't like using Jiang Shang." Dongfang let out a laugh. "Longinus, why do you think I'm in the same situation as you?"

"…"

"I have absolutely no regrets that I'm able to live such a long life. Life is fun. No matter how long you've lived, there's always more enjoyment to be had."

"Ahh. You're the complete opposite of me…" Longinus embraced his spear. "I wasn't born that way. Even now, I wish I could disappear. If it weren't for the Wandering Martial God… I would have fulfilled my duty…"

"Tsk tsk…" Dongfang shook his head. If Longinus had fulfilled his duty, he would have died 2,000 years earlier. Why did he want to die that badly?

"Get a smartphone. You'll enjoy life much more if you do."

"What's that…?"

"You don't know what a smartphone is?"

"The last time I woke up was 150 years ago."

"Ouch." It looked like he'd have to teach him the joys of the world. "Let's go down to Earth." Dongfang smiled. He felt relieved that another servant of the Wandering Martial God was awake. It was hard to handle everything by himself, after all.

'Now, I won't be the only one around here.' Dongfang decided to never let Longinus sleep again. If he wanted to accomplish that, he had to show him the new wonders of the world.

* * *

The game against Russia was 2:0, and South Korea had won twice on South Gate, the map people originally believed they would have the most difficulty with.

- Sung JiHan! Sung JiHan! Sung JiHan! Sung JiHan!

- Is he seriously sweeping the enemy team away by himself?

- Aah… I haven't been this excited since the Sword King…

- Did you hear what Vladimir said? LOL! Whining about instant death? Whiny mode is fun.

- LOL! He thought he'd mow down Korea's team and ended up being the one to eat grass instead.

- The team's performance skyrocketed after they cut the losers from the starting lineup! Yeeaahh!!

Dong-woo frowned when JiHan's Iron Blood Cross turned Russia's Warriors to dust.

He lived in a top-tier mansion and only had to open the front door to see internationally recognized celebrities and businessmen. The mansion was located in an ultra-luxurious residential area where houses started at 10 million dollars.

- WOAAHH!

- We won! We won!!

- Sung JiHan, take my body!!

Cheers erupted around him every time JiHan defeated the Russians, and the shouts reminded Dong-woo of the cheering he'd heard during the 2002 FIFA World Cup.

"WOAH!!"

"Sung JiHan!! Sung JiHan!!!"

"How can he do that??"

"That's crazy…"

The four women he'd brought along were all busy watching JiHan's plays on TV.

Their excitement at seeing JiHan dominate a team-oriented game was understandable, especially after he single-handedly carried the game and defeated Vladimir, the world's 6th-ranked Warrior, with a very odd cross skill.

The hype was similar to when the Sword King played for Korea.

'Damn it…!' Truthfully, he was just as excited at the unbelievable feats he was witnessing, but at the same time, he couldn't help but feel that if he'd been there instead of the guys from the backup team who hardly even put up any resistance, he would've received at least half of the public's cheers.

How had things ended up with him just sipping alcohol as a spectator?

"Just one more win, and it's over."

"Dong-woo, what are you going to do now?"

"Shut up! Fuck… I'm ruined. Just drink."

"YunGi's too enthusiastic about making me drink!"

True to his ways, YunGu was still trying to get the girls as drunk as he could. Dong-woo had nothing left to say.

= Alright~ The next match will be on the 'Train' map! It's a map our South Korean team is very confident about!

= The Train map! Basically, two trains run side by side, and the players on each side have to eliminate the opposing team!

= The South Korean Archers shine a lot on this map!

= That's right! After all, our country's Archers are the strongest!

South Korea's national team was considered to be the weakest in the East Asian League, but if there was a ray of hope for them, it was their Archers.

Led by Ha YeonJu, who was the 3rd-ranked Archer in the world, the team's Archers were all above level 240.

= South Korea! We're finally approaching our first victory…!

The caster looked like he was about to cry.

"Why's that old man ruining the mood when I'm trying to drink?" YunGi said in annoyance, but Dong-woo took another sip as if he were trying to quench a fire burning in his veins.

'Why aren't I there right now? If only that accident hadn't happened!'

The match was even more one-sided than people expected it to be.

= Ah, there's almost nothing for Warriors to do on this map. There's a lot of distance between the two trains, so most people who aren't Archers or Mages can't do anything to attack!

= Right. All the Warriors can do is enjoy the ride and kill the neutral monsters and zombies! Even the secondary Warriors would find such a thing to be a cakewalk!

= Yes. That's right. With JiHan's help, there's certainly no need for them to worry, but…!

Whoosh—!

JiHan stood at the forefront to block the zombies and tossed his Phoenix Flag into the sky. No matter how high he threw the spear, he wouldn't be able to reach the Russian team with it.

Everyone was startled by the sudden, inexplicable action until the spear pierced through the clouds and…

Nameless Divine Arts Heavenly Lightning Technique: Heavenly God's Judgment.

A circular, radiant hole formed in the clouds above the Russian team's train.

= Huh… What's that?!

WHOOM—!

A huge spear of light directly struck the Russian train. Their Supports tried to use strong protective magic to prepare for the strike, but they were unable to fully block the technique.

BZZT-!

"Wh-what?! What's up with this damage…?!"

"H-Heal! Use Heal on me!"

"Warriors, what are you doing?! Protect the Archers! Block it even if it takes your lives!"

The Russians fell into chaos and died off one by one.

= Huh… JiHan made seven kills in an instant!

= Is… is it possible to attack from such a long distance?

= Of course it is! It's possible because it's Sung JiHan!

He killed seven in total. Though it was a result other Warriors could only dream of, JiHan seemed a bit disappointed.

'I expected as much. They're members of a national team, so the technique wasn't able to completely wipe them out.'

That's why he preferred the 'instant death' of the Iron Blood Cross.

JiHan swallowed his regret and turned around. "Aren't you going to keep shooting?" he asked.

"Ah…"

YeonJu had been watching the brilliant spear fall from the sky with a dazed look on her face, but she snapped back to reality at his words.

"E-everybody, get ready to attack!" She yelled in a trembling voice as she kept giving JiHan surprised glances.

'I thought it was nonsense when my sister praised him as a more amazing player than the Sword King…'

She'd brushed her sister's comments aside and told her she only said such things because she hadn't seen the Sword King in person. It was hard to imagine a bigger monster than him, even though she'd been on the same team.

'Whenever we got this map, the Sword King flew on a sword and landed on the enemy train by himself.'

At the time, the Sword King had been a Diamond, certainly not a Gold like JiHan was. In that case, what would happen when JiHan caught up to the Sword King in level?

"I'll support you," JiHan said as he caught his returning spear and shot lightning at the enemy team's train.

YeonJu looked on in disbelief as the lightning strikes annihilated Russian players one by one. It was far above the level of simply 'supporting'.

'He's going to get MVP in this match as well.'

Of course, her guess was spot-on.

= JiHan is also the MVP of the 3rd match!

= He took MVP in all three matches!

= If that's the case, today's Player of the Game will be…

= It's definitely going to be him!

Though there'd been all sorts of criticism directed at the national team, JiHan proved his worth in his debut game.

= Finally, South Korea… has won a game!!

= A score of 3:0… It really happened, just as JiHan said!!

= Has there ever been a more brilliant debut game? He took MVP in each match and overall Player of the Game!

= You're witnessing the birth of a new legend!

The commentators seemed to be competing over who could praise JiHan more.

As for the Korean viewers, they all shared a similar sentiment in that they thought it was unbelievable that the mega rookie who'd broken the country's losing streak was a Gold. They couldn't help but look forward to how much stronger he'd get.

Also…

"What's up with that player?"

"He's a Gold? How impressive."

"It seems we'll have to revise our strategy against Korea."

The other countries in the East Asian League went on alert.

* * *

[You've cleared the normal achievement 'National Team Debut'.]

[You've earned 10,000 achievement points.]

[You've cleared the special achievement 'League MVP'.]

[You've earned 10,000 achievement points.]

[You've cleared the special achievement 'Player of the Game'.]

[You've earned 50,000 achievement points.]

'I've made quite a bit.' JiHan was happy to see so many achievement points coming in after he'd recently spent a lot.

While he was reviewing the messages, he continued with his 'Player of the Game' interview.

The announcer was just wrapping things up. "Player JiHan! One more question! How would you rate your brilliant performance today?"

"70 points."

"J-just 70?"

"Yes. There were some things I didn't like."

"In which match?"

"The final one. Maybe it's because of my level, but I got fewer kills than expected. I should have completely wiped out the enemy team."

"Ah… I see…" The announcer awkwardly nodded. It was hard for her to believe that he didn't think getting MVP in all three matches was enough, and she wasn't sure how to react.

"That's why I'm going to go and level up."

"Even after playing a national game?"

"Yes. My level went up by four during the games, so it'd be great if I could go up one more level."

"Ah… Do levels increase in the national games?"

"Apparently so."

With the interview done, JiHan left.

Though not much time had passed, the video of the interview was already full of comments.

- He leveled up four times? Seriously?

- Of course he'd level up after defeating Diamond players, who are each above level 200.

- The game's just feeding him experience to place him in the correct category, hahaha.

- He's certainly destroying the balance.

- Look at how much effort Mr. Sung's putting in… He's even going to play a game after being named Player of the Game.

- He's fundamentally different from those automatic door guys.

Korean public opinion toward JiHan ended up being almost reverent in nature after that game, and his popularity was comparable to the Sword King's before he left for Japan.

'I can't even find negative comments any more.' Sae-ah smiled and was about to approach JiHan after he finished his interview, but someone else beat her to it.

"JiHan…"

It was Ha YeonJu, the leader of the Archer team.