One Man Army

Chapter 143 [Episode 73] Various differences with the previous life. 2

‘This is similar to unlimited mode.’

His abilities were completely different, but his senses were still alive, so he was able to adapt quickly.

Sang Hyuk, who swung his two-handed sword a few times and quickly adjusting to his environment, slowly looked everywhere.

Though the snowflakes weren’t very large, it was snowing quite a lot and the snow fields of pure white spread out in all directions devoid of anything that looked like an obstacle.

‘Isn’t it time for you to show up, right?’

The battleground for 1:1 of both unlimited or limited wasn’t that big.

So, if the opponent had moved as soon as the game started, he or she should have been in front of Sang Hyuk by now.

‘If no one has appeared yet, then it means one of two possibilities.’

Sang Hyuk carefully rested his two-handed sword on his shoulder and opened his senses as widely as he could.

‘A Stealth user or Ranged combat dealer.’

These two were the most likely.

Sang Hyuk had already used all three of his Ancient Knowledge ‘buffer’ soul skills as soon as he entered the game.

Sang Hyuk himself had chosen three buff skills: ‘Soaring power’, ‘The Agility of the Monkey’, and ‘The Eyes of the Hawk’.

Soaring Power increased damage by increasing strength.  The Agility of Monkey was a buff that simultaneously increased agility and evasion.

And finally, The Eyes of the Hawk greatly enhanced vision and gave a weak concealment detection effect.

Sang Hyuk chose these three buffs because they were the most versatile.

Anyway, the winner in limited mode was the player who was most effective with the limited number of skills available to each user. Choosing skills that had the widest application, and using those skills with clever tactics and maximizing the effectiveness of each skill no matter the environment was the key to victory.

Thanks to The Eyes of the Hawk, Sang Hyuk had the ability to detect concealment. And not only that, if he focused, he could extend his visual range.

Sang Hyuk frowned a bit, focused and looked at his surroundings thoroughly.

How much would he be able to observe?

Momentarily, an almost imperceptible flicker caught Sang Hyuk’s eyes.

It was so far away and vague that it would never have been discovered had he been a normal user.

‘A mound made from a bit of snow….. Momentary glitter….. Camouflaged sniper rifle…..A Sniper Nest.’

The snow was falling, and the sunlight on the pure white environment created visual artifacts and optical distortions. Even under these bad conditions, Sang Hyuk knew exactly where his opponent was through the miniscule traces that was discovered by his remarkable concentration.

‘Are you waiting for me to walk into your killing zone?’

The distance from where the sniper sits to where Sang Hyuk stands is approximately 2 km away.

At this level, it was difficult to succeed in sniping. Even if the sniping was successful, he could not finish his opponent with one shot. A sniper would be forced to fight an unfavorable battle if they could not bring down their opponent in a single hit.

So, they always fought in a way where they waited for the other party to come into their desired kill zone after concealment. In fact, the sniper was not a good choice for a 1 on 1 showdown.

Unless they won with the first shot, the sniper would have to fight much harder, because he will have lost his biggest advantage, surprise.

‘You know it is obviously harder, so it is very likely that you normally play a sniper in EL on the regular server, because you’ve chosen a sniper in the limited mode where you can choose everything, right? You have got to be amazing at it….. therefore I can’t take you lightly at all.’

Experience was an important variable that should never be ignored.

That’s why Sang Hyuk slowly walked forward, keeping his focus.

There were a number of tips for dealing with snipers, and Sang Hyuk’s choice was the most certain, but also the most dangerous.

‘I just have to break his timing.’

Sniping was a task that required a high degree of concentration. As a result, the first shot could not hit if the timing was a little off.

Sang Hyuk had a rough idea of the location of the sniper’s nest while recalling the sniper-related Ancient Knowledge he saw when he picked his Ancient Knowledges before joining the game.

Sang Hyuk didn’t remember every detail of all the 74 ancient knowledges and 116 equipment he saw in the waiting room, but he was so experienced that he already knew all the powers and their effectiveness.

So predicting the sniper’s kill zone wasn’t that difficult.

‘Interrupt the timing and narrow the distance as quickly as possible. Then it would definitely be my victory.’

Sang Hyuk walked forward slowly and leisurely, not fast and not in a rush. Then he continued to watch where the sniper was hiding. The sniper didn’t know that Sang Hyuk had dramatically expanded his vision through The Eyes of The Hawk, so he couldn’t have even dreamed that his position had been exposed.

Was that so? He made three consecutive mistakes, and ended up exposing the shiny muzzle of his rifle. This made it easier for Sang Hyuk to predict his timing.

‘Four steps forward…. This is dangerous.’

Sang Hyuk had estimated the risk as accurately as possible based on his predicted location. The point at which the estimated kill zone began was four steps ahead.

That meant that he had to break the opponent’s timing from the fourth step ahead.

‘One…. Two….. Three…. Four! Now!’

Sang Hyuk chose Shadow Flash Sword, the Shadow Knight’s signature soul skill, as soon as he entered the kill zone he had predicted.

Sang Hyuk had filled five of his eight soul skills with Shadow Knight’s soul skills, and Shadow Flash Sword was the first skill he had chosen.

Flash! Phaphaphaphaphaphat!

Sang Hyuk became the shadow of his sword and raced forward unbelievably fast.

Naturally, his opponent who was preparing to take his shot had no choice but to panic. The opponent, who was so close to the optimum location for the decisive shot, suddenly moved towards him at tremendous speed. Moreover towards exactly where he was hiding!

At that moment, the sniper noticed that his position had been exposed. The sniper was also consistently ranked within the Gladiator Hall 1000th on the main server.

Therefore, he was quick to judge the situation.

He knew that he would be crushed if he tried to fumblingly avoid this situation, so he used his ’emergency fire’ skill and pulled the trigger on his sniper rifle.

Baaang!

The skill he prepared for these dangerous moments was ‘Emergency Fire’.

Emergency Fire was a soul skill that raised accuracy by 40% for 4 seconds and enabled the shot to hit through forced correction by the system, even if the aim wasn’t steady.

Sniper users used this skill in Gladiator Hall to overcome many crises. Emergency Fire made it almost impossible to get a one-shot kill, but if it can hit anywhere, he could buy some time to get himself out.

But if there is the law of the skies, then there must be the law of the skies above the skies. (TL note: above the top person, there is always somebody better.)

Sang Hyuk has already predicted the sniper’s Emergency Fire skill.

He protected his entire body by hiding his body behind the wide blade of the two-handed sword. Of course, the sword alone could not protect the whole body. However, this alone was enough for Sang Hyuk to defend himself because the sniper was unable to shoot properly with Emergency Fire active anyway.

Shadow Knight Basic Skill Iron Wall Sword Face!

In fact, when the average user chooses a soul skill, they chose an advanced skill or a non-soul skill. But Sang Hyuk didn’t.

He chose basic skills if he thought he needed them. In particular, his understanding of Ancient Knowledge of the Shadow Knight was so deep that no one could follow Sang Hyuk.

Iron Wall Sword Face was a versatile skill, so he chose it as one of his eight soul skills.

Clank!

The 7.62 x 51 mm bullet shot from the sniper rifle bounced off from the flat of the two-handed sword that Sang Hyuk held.  *

It would have been incomprehensible if it were real, but at least in the world of Eternal Life, it was impossible for a sniper rifle to pierce a two-handed sword with the Iron Wall Sword Face Skill.

The Iron Wall Sword Face skill even absorbed the impact of the rifle bullet, so Sang Hyuk wasn’t even knocked back.

Even without the corresponding soul skills, Sang Hyuk can imitate many skills and use them arbitrarily so that’s why Sang Hyuk chose the Iron Wall Sword Face skill as one of the eight soul skills.

The sniping failed and the Emergency Fire was blocked. In addition, even the sniper’s location was fully exposed.

And the distance has been almost covered, and now the sniper and Sang Hyuk are only 100 meters apart.

The whole situation was the worst for the sniper.

“Ok….”

The sniper was forced to reload his rifle and try to use a second Emergency Fire. However, the reload itself was delayed because the sniper rifle was a typical ranged weapon with a long cooldown.

Sang Hyuk’s charge was much faster than before the reload.

Sang Hyuk sprinted forward and swung his two-handed sword. He could certainly use his skills to attack, but he didn’t.

‘This guy is a minimum 1000th rank user.

Sang hyuk saw how his opponent responded in a moment of crisis and predicted the level of his opponent.

Hwiing, clank clank!

As expected, the sniper user wasn’t hit. He used his sniper rifle to block Sang Hyuk’s two-handed sword.

His soul skill this time was ‘Bayonet Skill’. Bayonet Skill was a soul skill that was the last bastion of the sniper.

However, this time Sang Hyuk also accurately predicted his actions.

Sang Hyuk thought he was very likely to use the Bayonet Skill and swung his two-handed sword like a jab.

Sang Hyuk used a light jab to make sure his opponent was using Bayonet Skill, and immediately activated one of the Shadow Knight’s advanced skills, ‘Blade Step’.

Bayonet Skill was definitely a pretty good skill in its own. Bayonet Skill, however, had one fatal weakness, which was that a rifle couldn’t replace a sword.

In other words, if you used your rifle to deflect strikes and thrusts, Bayonet Skill alone could do a lot, but if your opponent used sword techniques and took advantage of the unwieldiness of the rifle compared to a sword, Bayonet Skill’s weakness is inevitable.

Just like now!

Tadadadang, chwaaak!

While using Blade Step, Sang Hyuk alternate strikes to the left, right, up, and down using the two-handed sword that has been injected by one of the Shadow Knight’s abilities, ‘Shadow Force’, then he eventually created a gap, and of course Sang Hyuk didn’t miss that gap.

The shadow force that is injected to the two-handed sword deeply scraped the sniper’s rifle and deflected it out of position, and that was the beginning.

Bayonet Skill alone could never stop Sang Hyuk.

From the moment the location was exposed in the first place, the sniper user’s future was decided.

As soon as Sang Hyuk had a chance, he swung the two-handed sword in his hand brilliantly, fast, and without mercy.

As a result, dozens of serious stab wounds were created on the sniper user’s body and the result of the game was decided.

Krrrrrk, flop.

The game ended in an instant. Sang Hyuk showed his skill and ability even in limited mode, where everything was given fairly.

Chapter 143 [Episode 73] Various differences with the previous life. 2 – End

Editor’s Notes: The author originally used 7.62 x 25mm in this sentence.  I’ve changed it, because that’s just silly.  7.62 x 25mm is a pistol cartridge, about the same as .32 cal. ACP.  So I’ve replaced this with the standard full .308 cal. NATO round, used in sniper rifles the world over.