Chapter 4: The Unbelievable Parry: A Glitch in the Battle

Eternal Battle is one of the most popular games globally,

and naturally, it has become an essential presence in esports and internet broadcasts.

Especially with the battle royale format, where both the player’s pure skill and situational factors must align for a win,

the constantly changing dynamics make each match engaging and never boring.

As a result, despite the overwhelming number of streamers in the game, new faces continue to emerge.

Amidst this red ocean, there was one streamer who managed to stay at the top.

His name was Handjud.

Although not at the divine level, he consistently maintained his spot at the top of the human world, in the Diamond tier.

His skills were excellent, and while he was a polarizing figure,

his witty commentary had steadily built his reputation since the early days of the game.

Today, Handjud was focusing on his stream as usual.

However, there was one difference today he was playing in normal matches, not ranked.

• “Hurry up and play ranked!”
• “Is Handjud bullying newbies in normal matches?”
• “Kummuwiki Handjud/Controversy”

As usual, the chat was flooded with teasing comments.

Generally, once the chat atmosphere sets, it tends to remain unchanged.

It has its advantages, being close and sincere,

but it also has its downsides, with some users crossing the line with their comments.

“No, guys. It’s not like that. I’ve been suffering in ranked, so I just wanted to heal a bit. “

“What’s wrong with playing normal matches? “

“I’m not playing on an alt account or boosting someone else’s rank, I’m just playing normal matches.”

In the first place, there weren’t many people playing normal matches on the Korean server.

It was mainly seen as a transition stage for light users who weren’t overly concerned with ranks ,

or newbies who hadn’t reached the level for ranked matches.

In this environment, it was inevitable that a Diamond-tier user like Handjud would disrupt the balance.

While it wasn’t guaranteed that he would win by defeating 65 other players in a battle royale,

it was undeniable that he could enjoy the game with a significant advantage.

The game time had already passed the 20-minute mark.

At this point, it was considered mid-to-late game when most players had finished their farming.

And Handjud had already reached the max level for his main weapon.

Such an impressive pace was unheard of in the Diamond tier.

Normally, a notification would pop up whenever a player leveled up,

and other users would try to interfere.

“Wow! Look at that shine!”

He admired his AK-47 with a satisfied expression.

Not only was the weapon powerful by design, but with its max level, a win was almost assured.

While viewers would grumble about it, most didn’t mind watching such overwhelming domination.

• “Wow.”
• “Max level in 20 minutes, is this real?”
• “My heart is pounding.”

“With this, I can just go ‘dododododo’ and take them all out. Anyone near me who wants to get shot?”

Kekekekekeke

• “Looking for someone to take a bullet for me”
• “Would you even survive a shot?”

It was clear that victory was a given.

In Eternal Battle, physical skill mattered? Yes, that was true.

But that was only in the early stages when the growth disparity wasn’t as significant.

In the later stages, it was all about stats and growth once you reached that point,

there was little an opponent could do.

He even had two set effects activated.

Right now, he was so confident that, honestly,

he felt he could defeat even a professional player.

“Alright, let’s go. Let’s go!”

With his usual confidence, he roamed without hesitation.

Still, he needed to be cautious of ambushes and backstabs.

His weapon was insanely powerful, but his armor was only somewhat decent.

He kept searching for enemies, not letting his guard down completely.

The ruined buildings in the map provided many places to take cover,

meaning sudden ambushes were especially common.

As such, close-range weapons were highly valued in this map.

That didn’t mean ranged weapons were ineffective, though.

The AK, in particular, had solid base stats,

so it was considered a reliable weapon no matter the map.

Of course, this made it a weapon that opponents loathed to face.

Handjud felt relieved when he encountered an enemy in an open field with no cover.

The opponent was wielding a melee weapon, and it was clear they were at a much higher level.

If they had ambushed him while hidden behind cover, it might have been dangerous.

“The heavens are on my side. Poor guy, meeting me here of all places. Tsk, tsk.”

• “Bastard” 
• “The opponent must be crying right now.”
• “What a coincidence, running into each other in an open field.”

The enemy was too far away, and there was no place to hide.

At that moment, the opponent’s fate was practically sealed.

What could they do?

They had spent all their time leveling up a melee weapon,

which left them at a severe disadvantage.

“Hey, melee guy. You crying? Are you crying?”

Kekekekekeke

• “Ah… melee guy….”
• “Maybe you’ll be born as a ranged weapon user next time.”

In the battle royale genre, players are always facing countless variables.

Given that, melee weapons were inherently at a disadvantage.

The difference in range was one characteristic that couldn’t be bridged no matter what.

Of course, the game developers had made countless patches to balance the melee and ranged weapons.

Some of the patches included weapon skills, armor set effects, and so on.

Still, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that many of the unrealistic systems that existed were created solely to balance melee weapons.

In other words, Eternal Battle chose to pursue fantasy over realistic combat,

unlike other battle royales.

As a result, weapons like swords, spears, and even knuckles could be used strategically,

but the game’s inherent limitations meant ranged weapons were still favored in the end.

So, what’s the conclusion of this lengthy explanation?

In this situation, it was clear to anyone that something was wrong.

“…What’s this? A bug?”

• “?”
• “What was that?”

Handjud and his viewers were both shocked.

He had clearly aimed and fired at his enemy, but the opponent took no damage.

Nonchalantly, the enemy kept walking toward him with ease.

But, perhaps it was because he was a Diamond rank player after all,

he quickly regained his composure and responded.

He switched to the aiming mode and took aim at the approaching enemy’s head.

Bam! Bam! Bam!

Three bullets flew, and thanks to the distance being closer than before, Handjud finally realized something.

He understood why the opponent was perfectly unharmed.

It was one of the balance patches to buff melee weapons.

Parrying.

If timed correctly, the opponent could deflect regular bullets with their melee weapon.

Many melee users had celebrated this patch when it was first announced,

but after it was actually applied to the main server, it became the target of ridicule.

In theory, it was possible, but the difficulty level was so absurdly high that it seemed nearly impossible to execute in practice.

Moreover, Eternal Battle was a crazy game where each weapon had different bullet speeds and trajectories.

In other words, it was “theoretically possible” but practically “impossible.”

The approaching opponent was wearing a strange mask.

The Bastard Sword-wielding opponent in a creepy,

intimidating mask made Handjud instinctively take a step back.

He couldn’t let this go on. His instincts were screaming at him.

He had come to the regular mode after crushing a solo-ranked game,

and mentally breaking his opponent only to face a situation where his max-level AK was being parried by a melee enthusiast?

It would undoubtedly become the black mark of his life.

It’s still fine.

If he took down the opponent here, this strange event would just be a funny incident.

It seemed like this was just someone who had practiced a bit of parrying and was trying to show off.

There was a way to deal with that.

He quickly switched to rapid-fire mode and started spraying bullets.

Normally, such behavior would be a huge waste of ammunition,

and bullets wouldn’t even hit unless it was extremely close-range, making it a highly discouraged tactic.

But against someone relying solely on parrying, this was the best countermeasure.

Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam!!

It was a literal shower of bullets.

Countless bullets fired in just two seconds.

The opponent was sure to become a pincushion in no time.

Or at least, that was the expectation.

But what was that unbelievable sound?

Ding ding ding ding!

With the cheerful sound of successful parries,

the mask-wearing opponent was still standing unharmed.

They had only lost half their health.

Handjud was at a loss for words.

The opponent casually swung their sword, as if they didn’t care about him at all.

And then, just before being struck by the sword,

the opponent’s figure completely vanished, leaving only an empty backpack behind.

There was no body, just the backpack.

This could only be the result of a server crash or a random server issue.

Standing dumbfounded in the open field, Handjud muttered in disbelief.

“What the hell just happened?”

This strange incident spread quickly, gaining attention due to Handjud’s name.

“Ha, what a piece of junk PC. It’s starting again.”

Eternal Battle had excellent optimization, allowing it to run smoothly on relatively low-end systems.

However, because of the nature of battle royales, basic performance still needed to be supported.

In other words, trying to play Eternal Battle on Suane’s house computer,

which had poor specs, was impossible even on the lowest settings.

It wasn’t just lag or stuttering frequent crashes made it nearly impossible to focus on the game.

“Sis! Come downstairs and eat lunch!”

“Okay.”

Even though it was just a casual game with no intention of winning, it was hard not to feel disappointed.

“If only it weren’t for the lag, I could have parried everything perfectly.”

It was no use. Hanging onto regret would only hurt him.

He decided to forget it and go downstairs to enjoy some delicious seafood noodles.

On the table was a steaming bowl of noodles with bright red broth.

The aroma of seafood filled the air, and the shiny noodles were enticing.

He couldn’t hold back and dove in, savoring every bite.

It was definitely worth the wait.

As he slurped the noodles, he made a serious suggestion.

“Suane, we should make seafood noodles the main dish from now on.”

“Sure, whatever.”