Chapter 9 Samurai Hearts – Tutorial (9)

“······.”

Seung-yeon’s death.

Dohyun, who was watching it from behind,’s eyes sank coldly.

It’s a VR game.

Of course, even this death is fake.

Seung-yeon is perfectly fine, and by now, she’s probably chatting away with the viewers.

Dohyun knew that very well.

‘In his head,’ that is.

‘He knew it, but······.’

In movies, dramas, documentaries.

In any media, the sight of a person dying makes the viewer feel unpleasant.

If it were a close acquaintance or family member, few people would be able to bear it.

Unless they were familiar with VR games.

It was Dohyun’s first time.

Both the game.

And seeing an acquaintance die.

‘It’s quite… unpleasant.’

So he was angry.

Even though he knew it was fake in his head, it was an anger he couldn’t help but feel in his heart.

It was natural and justified anger.

His family had died.

Right in front of his eyes.

Who wouldn’t be angry in this situation?

It was an event that occurred in virtual reality, but paradoxically, that’s why he was even more furious.

Because the death of his family, his sister, was so realistic.

Even if the death was a lie, the seething anger that bloomed from it was undeniably real.

“······.”

Dohyun silently raised his sword.

Narrowing his eyes, he looked at the Sword Saint.

Dohyun’s aura, as he pointed his sword, sank sharply and heavily.

A blank face that showed no emotion.

Seung-yeon, who was watching, flinched at the expression he only showed when he was truly angry.

‘Come to think of it, this is Dohyun’s first game. So this must be quite unpleasant for him.’

-Your brother’s atmosphere seems a bit dangerous

-If it’s his first game, isn’t this his first time experiencing something like this?

-I can see why he’s angry, I got really pissed off when I played a game with my friend for the first time

The viewers also stirred, seeing Dohyun’s unusual demeanor.

Most of them were familiar with VR games, so they could easily guess what emotions Dohyun was feeling.

Wasn’t it common for people to cry when an NPC they had empathized with died in virtual reality?

They clearly had memories of crying, laughing, and getting angry in the first virtual reality they encountered.

Therefore, they thought Dohyun’s anger was justified, and they also anticipated it.

To what extent would an angry Dohyun be able to perform?

“Come, warrior.”

Ignoring Sword Saint Kato’s arrogant words, Dohyun moved forward without hesitation.

The distance between Dohyun, who was striding forward, and Sword Saint Kato quickly closed.

Dohyun stopped where there was a precarious distance left between him and the Sword Saint.

The area where their swords could reach.

But to reach the sword, one had to take a step forward for the attack first.

It wasn’t like Dohyun stopped there because he thought about it.

Just a feeling.

It was a distance calculation achieved by the thought, ‘This should be close enough.’

This, too, would be his talent.

“······.”

“······.”

A heavy silence flowed between Dohyun and Sword Saint Kato.

Dohyun stared at Sword Saint Kato with coldly sunken eyes.

The way he stood, the hand holding the sword, the angle of his feet, the height of his shoulders, even the breaths he exhaled and inhaled······.

All of it was simply ‘visible’ clearly.

Like until now.

No, even more than until now.

So Dohyun took half a step and stretched out the hand holding his sword.

Whoosh-

As if hitting a dot.

Dohyun’s sword shot out like lightning.

It was a single strike that pierced through Sword Saint Kato’s breathing.

“Hmm!”

In response to Dohyun’s first strike, Sword Saint Kato’s reaction was quick and accurate.

The sword, swung in a clear trajectory, ruthlessly struck the tip of Dohyun’s approaching sword.

It was a calm and skillful response, as if he didn’t believe his breathing had been cut.

Clang-

Sparks flew between the two.

An exchange of one sword strike.

Of course, Dohyun didn’t drop his sword in a single exchange like Seung-yeon.

Bright red sparks flew in all directions, and Sword Saint Kato and Dohyun were pushed back exactly half a step each.

Sword Saint Kato’s eyebrows twitched.

“Not bad.”

‘Wow! Just one sword swing and he gets a “not bad” score? He’s really my brother, but his talent is insane! How can he do that?’

-Yeah. Someone died with just one sword swing

-That’s why they call him Overachiever

-I think someone tried 50 times to hear that before

“······.”

Dohyun didn’t answer.

He silently continued his offensive.

In the soft moonlight, a single sword blade flashed and danced.

It was a line, a dot, and a plane.

The swordsmanship that Dohyun could think of himself was revealed through his sword.

“I will not back down!”

Sword Saint Kato didn’t avoid it and faced it head-on.

He stood in place and swung his sword directly against Dohyun’s sword.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

Bright red sparks, signaling a great success, burst out incessantly between them.

They were so intense that their surroundings seemed to be redder than the burning Atsuragi Castle.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

Heavy metallic sounds rang out in succession.

There were times when sparks flew as many as three sword strikes collided in one breath.

Even when sharp blades brushed past their eyes, Dohyun and Sword Saint Kato didn’t even blink.

It was a fierce battle in which neither side took a single step back.

And in the midst of it, another talent that Dohyun had not yet realized awakened.

‘······I can do it.’

As mentioned earlier, Dohyun had never learned swordsmanship.

Far from learning swordsmanship, he had never even held a proper sword in his life.

Naturally, he should have been hopelessly pushed back against Sword Saint Kato, a master of swordsmanship.

Even if he managed to achieve a great success, it would be the same.

The fact that Sword Saint Kato was the best swordsman in the country was not just a boss setting.

He was equipped with a swordsmanship skill that matched the setting, even to the point of being unrealistic.

How many gamers had been frustrated by that swordsmanship that couldn’t be distinguished by simple patterns?

Nevertheless, Dohyun was facing Sword Saint Kato without backing down.

How?

The answer was simple.

If you don’t know, learn it.

Fortunately, Dohyun had an enemy with the best swordsmanship skills in the world in front of him.

‘Now, extend, half breath, left, about 40 degrees, up, step forward, stab. Counter, two steps, continuous, next.’

Dohyun’s eyes shook amidst the metallic sounds that rang in his ears, the bursting sparks, and the continuous exchange of swords.

Out of fear? No.

Out of excitement? That wasn’t it either.

It wasn’t a tremor caused by any emotion.

He was just constantly observing.

Everything that the enemy in front of him, Sword Saint Kato, was showing.

The shape of the hand holding the sword, the angle of the foot stepping forward, how the arm was moving, how much the shoulder was opening.

Even how much he inhaled when swinging and how much he exhaled when retracting the sword.

And he immediately applied all the information he had observed to himself, changing his sword strikes.

As time passed, his swordsmanship resembled Sword Saint Kato’s, but it became his own swordsmanship, slightly different.

‘Isn’t something······ strange, everyone? It might sound crazy, but I think my brother is getting stronger and stronger. Is it just me who sees it that way?-I see it that way too

-Me too

-Wow··· So that’s what it’s like to get stronger as you fight

-It’s like a cartoon

-Overachiever gets stronger when they fight······ memo······

In fact, it was an impossible act.

Learning swordsmanship from the opponent while fighting on the spot?

It’s easy to say, but is it possible in a battle where your life is at stake?

If that were possible for anyone, swordsmanship dojos would not exist.

It meant it was absolutely impossible.

Nevertheless, Dohyun was able to do it.

Moreover, he not only learned it, but even absorbed the opponent’s swordsmanship and changed it to his liking.

In fact, this was just learning, but it wasn’t even that.

To put it bluntly, it was theft.

It was a monstrous act of stealing the entire answer sheet called Sword Saint Kato and modifying the answers according to his will.

It was something that went beyond the impossible, and even beyond that.

Why was this possible?

Seung-yeon had already said the answer to that several times.

‘Talent.’

It was just talent.

A truly violent talent that was not enough to be simply described as overwhelming.

“Truly wonderful, warrior!”

Sword Saint Kato, who jumped back and retreated, said in a voice filled with admiration.

Because of that, the viewer chat room was in an uproar once again─because Sword Saint’s words were praise that the person who had lasted the longest had heard so far─, Dohyun didn’t know.

Even if he knew, he wouldn’t have cared.

All of his nerves were focused only on Sword Saint Kato.

“I never thought I would have to use my full power against a warrior whose name is not well known. You can be proud of yourself.”

Saying that, Sword Saint Kato drew the sword from his waist with his left hand.

One in his right hand, one in his left hand.

Sword Saint Kato, who swung two swords as if to show off, looked at Dohyun with a fierce smile.

“I am Kato of Atsuragi, the current successor of the Two Heavens Style. Now I will truly cut you down.”

A self-introduction like a ritual.

Inside it, there was something so wonderful and heart-warming that it was too much to dismiss as mere data.

Was that what stimulated Dohyun?

Dohyun, who had been silent until now, narrowed his eyes.

Opening his mouth slowly, he uttered only one word.

“I’ll kill you.”

Because the unresolved anger was still seething in his heart.

Leaving behind the words he had uttered like a declaration, Dohyun rushed towards Sword Saint Kato.

It was a fierce and violent movement, slightly different from what it had been until now.

“Haha, good!”

Having two swords to swing is like a disaster for someone who is unskilled in swordsmanship.

If someone is not very good at swordsmanship, they will often get tangled up and collide with each other while swinging their swords.

They might even accidentally cut themselves.

But Sword Saint Kato was different.

As if he had not gained the title of Star of the Sword for nothing, and as if his claim to be Two Heavens Style was not a lie, he wielded two swords freely.

The trajectories drawn by the two swords perfectly crossed and complemented each other.

A continuous chain.

Like a snake drawing infinity, two swords attacked Dohyun one after another.

It was like rain in a storm.

It meant that it poured down like raindrops driven by a strong wind.

“Heeuup!”

Clang!

Even in the dizzying onslaught presented by the two swords, Dohyun did not back down.

He endured the wave-like attacks with only minimal movements.

He held the sword with both hands and focused only on deflecting Sword Saint Kato’s sword.

Sparks flew without even a moment to breathe.

If Sword Saint Kato was fierce, Dohyun was simply perfect.

Dozens of sword strikes were exchanged in a split second, but Dohyun’s body was never touched even once.

‘Did the Sword Saint originally use dual swords? I’ve never seen such a video before?-Me neither

-Me too

-In terms of settings, it’s true that he uses dual swords. No one has ever seen it.

-Production team official) You can’t see it when the Sword Saint is weakened.

-The unweakened Sword Saint is only in the tutorial. How can you catch him?

-Then is this the first public release?

‘Oh, is that so? This is the first public release of the Two Heavens Style mode Sword Saint?’