Chapter 49
I Regressed But The World Didn’T Fall Apart 49
Back to the Beginning, the World Isn’t Doomed -49-
049.
─Crack!
A powerful roundhouse kick following a strong pivot.
The soldier’s heel and the soldier’s jaw met, accompanied by the sound of something breaking.
Of course, it was not entirely the same as in Ultimate Fighter.
No matter how skilled Lee Dohyuk was, it was impossible for flames to emit from his legs.
Kwang!
‘But there are other things I can mimic.’
For instance, the next move after Hongyeomgak.
Literally ‘stepping’ into the air and executing a roundhouse kick, like the Hoken’s appearance.
Of course, one cannot actually step into the air.
No matter how one flies and crawls, he is not a superhuman at the moment.
Ultimate Fighter and Rise of Valhalla are games that utilize sophisticated physics engines.
From Noble mtl dot com
Perfectly implementing Ulfah’s techniques within Valhalla is an impossible task for anyone.
‘Although something similar is possible.’
But even if it’s not possible now, for someone who was once a superhuman, even beyond that, it was natural to know how to do something almost identical.
Thud.
As his extended foot retracted, he stepped on the bent knee of the soldier.
A short leap through that.
Lee Dohyuk aimed to follow the soldiers running at the forefront as well as those behind.
The soldier who witnessed what happened to his comrade threw the torch he was holding and urgently thrust the spear.
In midair, Lee Dohyuk tilted his body.
Swish!
As the spear blade passed in front of his eyes,
“Cough!”
The soldier’s waist bent like the letter ‘ㄱ’.
Ido-hyuk’s outstretched leg accurately struck the soldier’s chest.
The impact was so significant that the soldier in armor was momentarily lifted off the ground.
Swoosh-
It was at that moment.
“..Huh?”
He hadn’t calculated this far.
Could it be that the gods of fate were on his side?
As the soldier charged towards him, the torch he threw happened to land near his foot.
Thud.
As if the torch were a ball placed in front of him, Ido-hyuk skillfully scraped the torch’s stick with his toe and flicked it up.
Swoosh- The spinning torch was broadcasted on the screen.
And at that moment.
Ido-hyuk’s body spun once more.
This time, his step was not into thin air.
Thud!
Leaning against the castle wall,
Whoosh─!!
Another rotation.
The torch’s stick snapped, and flames scattered.
It was reminiscent of something from Ultimate Fighter.
Thud!
The second soldier’s body toppled to the side.
“Hmm…”
“Could he be dead?”
The sensation lingering at his toe was significant.
Even if both soldiers hadn’t perished, they were at least combat ineffective.
With a newfound leisure, Ido-hyuk glanced at the chat window.
-?
-WTF
-What..?
-Wow
-Omg
-Lmao
-??What’s happening?
The chat window was bustling.
Curses, expressions of amazement, onomatopoeias, and more.
Among all the reactions flooding the chat window, the most prevalent was, as always, the question mark.
In the blink of an eye, Ido-hyuk had taken down two soldiers.
However, the reason the chat window was buzzing was not because of that.
– No ㅋㅋㅋㅋ Seriously surreal
– Just now, wasn’t that Hongyeomgak and Seonpunggak?
– How did you do that, damn it;;
– Is this person a physics engine bug?
– Were you Hoken in your past life?
Questions like, “What did you do, is it a cheat mode, wasn’t that Hoken’s technique just now,” were flooding in.
From the viewers’ perspective, it seemed like Ido-hyuk was playing Ultimate Fighter, alternating between Hongyeomgak and Seonpunggak.
“······”
Thud!
Instead of answering the questions in the chat, Ido-hyuk leaped forward.
Isn’t it too early to answer right now?
“Hey there!”
Soldiers suddenly close by.
There are still many soldiers left to catch.
And···
‘There’s still a lot to show.’
There were roughly twenty soldiers around him.
First, it was time to reduce their numbers a bit.
It wouldn’t do to just use the strike weapon against soldiers armored in armor.
Whoosh!
Ido-hyuk’s body sank down.
In the midst of his charge, a movement as if he was suddenly making an abrupt stop, bending his upper body downwards.
A blade narrowly grazed past his head.
And at that moment.
Thud!
Ido-hyuk surged back up from below.
Grabbing the arm of the soldier who was at the front in an instant,
Snap!
He twisted it sharply.
Ouch!
The sound of joints snapping, accompanied by a scream.
Ido-hyuk pulled the soldier’s arm in close, rotating his body at the same time.
– Whoa
– Holy crap, the grab
– ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ Why the grab here?
A familiar move, as if seen somewhere before.
One of Hoken’s various grabbing techniques.
Even the viewers were momentarily astonished by it.
Woosh! Clang!
A mace and an axe blade struck towards the soldiers’ chests, aimed at Ido Hyeok.
“Uh, uh?”
“What is this…”
The soldiers were taken aback by accidentally killing their comrades with their own hands.
Even those charging from behind hesitated.
Ido Hyeok threw the dead soldier’s body aside and leaped again.
Though he had taken down a few, there were still around twenty soldiers left.
Among them,
“Get him!”
“Step back!”
To the viewers witnessing the scene, it was like a rural play unfolding before them.
Certainly, Ido Hyeok had throwing axes at his waist, a round shield on his back, but oddly, there was nothing in his hands.
Well, precisely…
– hahahaha lol
– When did he prepare that again?
– He seemed fumbling with something a while ago
White bandages wrapped around his fists, obtained from somewhere.
So, apart from the fact that Ido Hyeok’s fists were wrapped with bandages similar to those of the character Hoken from the [Wandering Martial Artist, Hoken] skin he received as a reward for a previous login check, there was nothing in his hands.
“Two fists and two legs. These are my weapons.”
He even mimicked Hoken’s line from the chosen skin.
– hahahaha lol
– So, this was all a prepared performance, right? hahahaha
Chatrooms went wild at Ido Hyeok’s appearance.
– Is this the third-day streamer?
– hahahaha, seriously hilarious
– Wait, so how did he use the Hongyeomgak? hahahaha
– Insane skills, wow
Of course, from the perspective of the soldier NPCs running on AI, it didn’t matter what Ido Hyeok was saying or doing.
“Die!”
“Attack!”
Blades, maces, and axes raining down towards him.
1 vs. 20, facing off against soldiers armed with various weapons and the authority of the enemy.
It was only right for the twenty to win.
But what unfolded before the viewers’ eyes was different.
Swish!
Ido Hyeok’s body moved swiftly.
And each time he did,
Crack!
The sound of impact reverberates.
With each move, a soldier is seized, twisted, broken, crushed.
Of course, it wasn’t just targeting joints.
Dodging the pouring blades and swords aimed at him in between, seizing the opportunity, were Ido-hyuk’s fists and legs reaching out.
To an onlooker, it might seem like a meticulously choreographed action sequence, unfolding with precision.
His intricate movements, barely shifting enough to evade the soldiers’ attacks even before they were launched, as if knowing their path in advance.
Thud! Thwack!
And there were Ido-hyuk’s fists and legs reaching out whenever an opportunity arose.
A one-sided slaughter, as if meticulously planned and executed.
-Whoa…
-He’s insane, seriously.
-He hasn’t been hit once.
-From Elfa to Valhalla, is there a streamer obsessed with ‘that victory’?
And how much time had passed?
It was when only a few soldiers remained.
‘Indeed, it must be the end…’
At that very moment of resolution.
Thwack!
Ido-hyuk’s leg stretching out once more.
From Sunfeng stance to Hongyeom stance.
Breaking clavicles, and then…
-Bam!
Finally, the Jilpung stance.
With that, Ido-hyuk looked around.
“Hmm…”
A muttered ‘hmm’ finally escaped.
It was a sort of declaration of the end of battle.
Now, apart from him, there was no one left standing with both legs intact.
“So, where were we? What was the question, how did it go?”
Ido-hyuk opened his mouth, looking towards where the camera was shining.
“That thing earlier? Or just now?”
He asked back towards the viewers.
-Just all of it;;;
-Oh, nothing to say, just…
-Is this CGI?
-Hold on, is this Ido-hyuk? Or is Ido-hyuk actually Hokken?
-??? : No, Hokken turns out to be a Viking, right?
The one who saw it, Ido Hyeok, shrugged his shoulders.
“Well then-“
Of course, it was too early to fully enjoy that cheer.
“I have to give it up, right?”
– Eekkkkk
– The declaration of war is here
– Jianchu’s legacy… Wow
– Why kill someone who’s alive, you crazy person eekkkkk
Ring-
Ring-
Ring-
**
“······”
A virtual reality room immersed in silence.
[“Now I will go to assassinate the viscount inside the stronghold.”]
[- Eekkkkk
– Assassination is awesome
– Oh hahahahaha, if you kill them all, it counts as an assassination]
In the meantime, a streamer’s broadcast is being aired.
On the screen, Ido Hyeok, with a joyful expression after finishing the declaration of war(?) and heading into the stronghold.
“···He’s truly a monster.”
Someone who saw it muttered.
A man wiping his face with both hands raised.
It was Anatole.
Click- Click-
Anatole manipulating the settings to change the environment of the virtual reality room.
He generated a combat mannequin in the room and changed the mode.
The mode he set was initially the same as the Ultimate Fighter game mode.
Whoosh- Understood!
Smack! Thud!
From Seonpung-gak to Hongyeom-gak, from breaking the collarbone to the whirlwind strike, and beyond.
Beyong created it, but a different meaning of the famous combo was perfectly displayed through Anatole.
With the on-off of correction and non-correction, Anatole struck the mannequin without any delay through skill canceling.
Initially, when he tried to mimic it, he failed immediately, but after a few practices, he mastered it perfectly.
‘This time…’
Thud- Understood!
Smack! Thud!
And Anatole unleashes the same combo once again.
But there is a difference from the previous one.
A slight delay is felt in between, very subtle but noticeable.
His skills did not deteriorate in the slightest during that brief moment.
He simply tried a different approach this time.
Unlike his usual reliance on motion correction for some moves and not for others, this time, he unfolded his actions purely based on his movements alone.
In other words, it was the usual way that Idohyuk approached things.
“I felt like I could catch up to some extent.”
There was a slight delay, but it was very brief.
In the world of pros, that moment could determine victory or defeat, but he believed that with a little more practice, he would soon be able to execute it perfectly.
Moreover, it was only in the part involving combos where delays occurred; Anatole had become able to execute without relying on correction, just like Idohyuk did when using skills.
Of course, this was limited to Hoken.
Anyway –
“Is this possible?”
It was clearly a thought he had never had before in his life.
It seems like he’s had it several times in the past few days.
Not only could he perform such actions without relying on correction only in Ultimate Fighter, but also in the game’s Reality Mode.
Plop, plop –
Anatole once again changed the environment of the room.
This time it was the Reality Mode.
Objectively speaking, Anatole’s body was quite well-trained.
Naturally, without the nerves and physical abilities required for exercise in reality, whether it was Full Dive or Reality Mode, it was difficult to do well.
In fact, Anatole’s physical abilities were top-notch in certain aspects compared to most athletes.
He was even a long-time martial arts practitioner.
Thud! Pow! Thwack… Thump!
However, it was only natural that Anatole couldn’t even properly imitate half of the recent combo.
It was only natural that he couldn’t muster the courage to follow along.
Even in Game Mode, performing a combo without any correction, relying solely on one’s body, was a daunting task.
In fact, even within the Game Mode, if one could execute the recent combo without any correction, it would be quite an accomplishment.
Right now, among ordinary gamers, there are many who can’t even perform a simple kick properly without relying on correction.
Then, what is this human-like monster who can do it with just his own body?
“······.”
Anatole couldn’t find the answer.
He just had that one thought.
“Did I post the notice for no reason?”
Anatole revisited the notice he had posted on his Tworke account an hour ago.
[(Notice) Golden Road..? 25-hour difference, ranking 1st for an Alpha gamer..?]
I’m going to end it here.
(Anatole sitting in a chair)
Today’s broadcast at 8 p.m. ON
From Noble mtl dot com
-Kya
-Dgdg
-Is that Daesanghyuk or Anatole?
Anatol (Eom Geun-jin)
– Is it big?
– Confidence boost
– Shout out loud Anatol!
– That’s right!
– Hm…
He hadn’t posted the notice with the sincere belief that he would win unconditionally.
It was simply a notice posted somewhat as an event, given the current great interest in the once beloved Ultimate Fighter and some aggro.
Of course, there was also a reason to think that even if he lost in the end, he wouldn’t lose as helplessly as before at this moment.
Perhaps he had thought he might win after a close battle.
But now, looking at it…
[“Assas.si.na.tion. Com.ple.ted.”]
[-hahahaha, this is seriously killing them all
-Did you mispronounce massacre?
-Just arrived and why is this person cosplaying as Hoken?]
The sight of Ido-hyuk, who defeated five knights barehanded and even succeeded in “assassinating” the lord viscount, made Anatol mutter quietly.
“You’ve grown up…”