The caster calmly explained the situation. "Oh. Paprika is showing solid basics as expected. They’re occupying both Red Turtles simultaneously... and aiming for a revival. They even went in perfectly two-by-two."
Paprika had taken a big hit, but could still recover. They naturally split into two groups of ten for leveling. Everyone had reached level three and could aim for the Red Turtles.
"But now... the Amuse team doesn't have a single level three player. They’re all very low."
Amuse had wasted time cooperating with the Brunch team, which had already been eliminated.
"If the Nonghyup interferes with the northwest Red Turtle... there's a high chance they won’t take it properly!"
The stable level to take down a Turtle was at level three. With everyone level two or below, Amuse would effectively have to give up the moment any enemy showed intent to interfere.
"Oh, is that so?"
"Yes. The shadow's position also doesn't help."
[The Abyss Shadow will descend shortly!]
Darkness was beginning to swallow part of the map where the northwest Red Turtle was.
"Even if all ten Paprika players go, the Nonghyup interfering there makes it genuinely awkward!?"
With the Amuse team's low level, they wouldn't be able to properly eat the Turtle while the shadow chased them.
"And monsters in the shadow are massively powered up, right!? One wrong move and it's a total wipeout!"
"S-still! Still! They're trying! Paprika! The Nonghyup has six players, after all!"
As the caster said, Paprika attacked the northwest Turtle first.
"This is impossible," the analyst said flatly.
That was how impossible it seemed. The moment the Nonghyup drove in, they scattered in a panic.
"And from below!? Hambugeez is coming up now! They’re abandoning their own Turtle to come!?"
"Oh... this is genuinely 'We will kill you!’ The intent is too palpable!?"
— What the
— “We will kill you” lmaooo
— Wow lmaooo
— Ruthless
— This side is done~
The northwest commotion was wrapped up too easily. Amuse completely retreated.
"Ohhhh! Amuse again! Wasted their time!"
"Now what really matters is the northeast! Where is the Knight Order marking!?"
Paprika could reach two Red Turtles in the northwest and northeast. Now, the northeast was their only hope.
"This is where it matters!?"
Both sides were still circling each other. Then, Paprika's ten players went in first.
"Paprika! Two teams are cooperating to go in first!"
"Ohh... has Cheese's side fallen behind here!?"
The Knight Order was waiting nearby, but Magical Girls was still too far.
"Magical Girls' position is a bit far! The Knight Order still has seven people, though!? Can't they do something?"
The Knight Order wasn't a single team, but a coalition. Seven people, by the numbers alone, seemed workable.
"But two of the seven are level one! The other side is all level three! The situation is different! And their forces are split too!" Orange King assessed coldly.
For the Knight Order to contest or take the Red Turtle alone was impossible.
"The early strategy was certainly unorthodox... but it gets awkward at this point. This is why the standard approach is scary!"
Cheese's strategy was too unconventional, so they'd fallen slightly behind in basic growth. Paprika didn't miss that opening and slowly pushed forward. Here, the one variable was combat ability.
"But! Because Sweet Potato has Iron Ball, it's still unknown if he drives in and stirs things up!"
Among them, Sweet Potato’s champion seemed important. However, he seemed to have no intention of using Iron Ball.
"He's not going!?"
[Red Turtle]
[HP: 49%]
When the Turtle's HP fell below half, Zelo suddenly burst out.
"Zelo!?"
— Zelo?
It wasn't just Zelo.
Hm hm hm?
ForeverAlone too!?"
ForeverAlone also burst out.
"No, aren't they both level one!?"
"They're practically charging into enemy territory like they're fleeing!?"
"What's going on!?"
It was far too obvious since they were slaves.
— lmaooooooooooo
— Could it be...
— This is too much LOL
— What??
— Insane. Actual slaves lmaooo
— Wow lmaooo
— Slave throw
"That's how it is, Gi-Chan."
Click.
Sweet Radish's spear pointed at ForeverAlone's chin.
"What?"
"You need to go in first and buy some time. The royal decree has been issued."
Almond had ordered ForeverAlone to be sent in.
— lmaooooooooo
— lmaooooo
— Too much LOL
"Oh, no, but I'm level one..."
"We have no vision right now either. Go plant some wards too."
Sweet Radish had no intention of retracting the order. This was what slaves were for to be used like this at critical moments.
"It's for Cheese and for the Lord."
"F-for the Lord..."
"Only you can do this."
ForeverAlone bit his lip. "O-only me..."
— Will this work?
— lmaooo is this going to work?
— You're really doing this?
ForeverAlone looked at the viewer chat and muttered internally.
'Shut up. I have no choice anyway!'
Appealing with at least some loyalty was the best he could do. If he didn't go, he'd die anyway.
Sweet Potato openly said, "Hey, ForeverAlone, don’t think about anything funny. I'll kill you and level up real quick, okay~.
Ahahaha!
— lmaooooooooooo
— These lunatics lol
— Was he a packed lunch all along?!
— No wonder they weren't giving him any experience
— What's a level 1 supposed to do lmaooo
"Run!"
"Oh,
ahhhhhhhh!
" ForeverAlone ran out.
Far ahead, a companion in sunglasses was also running.
'Hm? You too...?'
'M-me too.'
The two exchanged wordless feelings.
Zelo called out, "Offer your heart! ForeverAlone!!"
Zelo, with a shield, charged in recklessly.
ForeverAlone roared too. "I will kill! ALL of Paprika!!"
Paprika was flustered.
'What is with these guys?'
'What is with that resolve?'
'Are they the survey corps!?'
In their eyes, these two were charging at full speed with absolute conviction. Was something going on? Such thoughts couldn't help but arise.
"Wh-what!?"
"DPS, stop! DPS stop!"
Since the Red Turtle's HP was below half, stopping DPS was unavoidable. They didn't know Cheese's hiding positions well either. Being on guard was natural.
In the bushes, Almond's lip corners rose.
'We delayed them.'
It was small, but this was a fatal delay. Why?
'With minimum resources invested.'
The delay had been caused by two level one players from another team.
"Stay calm! It's only two of them!"
"Just shoot them dead! Don't use important skills!"
Bang!
Tap tap!
Gunshots rang out. First, it seemed the ranged carries were trying to deal with them because using magic would be wasteful, and the melee bruisers needed to keep fighting the Red Turtle.
"You keep attacking the Turtle!"
"We'll kill them!"
Paprika chose bruisers and mages to hunt the Turtle. Only the ranged carries fought the enemies. This was a very good decision, but maybe the enemies' resolve was too exceptional?
ForeverAlone nimbly dodged the ranged attacks, and Zelo blocked as much as he could with his shield.
"What? These guys actually have some movement!?"
These two had nothing to lose. If they didn't do something here, they would die meaninglessly.
"Hey! Just retreat, you level one idiots, what do you think you're doing!?"
Paprika was getting annoyed. Those two were too weak to kill outright, but couldn't be completely ignored either. It felt very irritating, but the enemies wouldn't retreat.
"Rather than kill the Turtle! Kill me instead!" Zelo roared and charged forward.
Paprika was flustered.
— What the
— What kind of spirit is that
— Is this a suicide bombing?
Pop!
Eventually, Zelo became a rune spirit.
[Zelo: I LOVE YOU!!]
Even as a rune spirit, Zelo clung to them.
— Insane
— What the
— Spirit
— ??? Advance!!
— Commander Zelo!
— lmaooooooooo
— Commander Zelo...
— Insane even as a rune spirit lmaooo
— Today too, Can't Can't Can't came one step closer to the truth of humanity...
"Are they insane!?"
"What is this?"
It was very unsettling. Killing rune spirits actually took a surprising amount of time, but leaving them meant the enemies could see the Turtle’s crucial HP due to the biological ward.
AHHHHH!
K-kill me too! Kill me!!"
ForeverAlone was only level one, but agile. He drove in quite deep.
— lmaooooo
— What are these lunatics
— Wow Cheese is a scary place;
"Just kill them!"
"Damn!"
The Turtle hunt grew slower because of two level one players, which frustrated Paprika.
Clang!
ForeverAlone parried attacks with his sword and resisted fiercely, but the limits of being level one were clear.
[ForeverAlone]
[HP: 12%]
He was quickly pushed to near-death.
"Die already!"
ForeverAlone kept screaming.
"AHHHHHHHH!"
Death's shadow fell over him.
CRASHHHHH!
Suddenly, something massive came and pushed the enemies away with tremendous speed.
[SweetPotato]
It was Sweet Potato's Iron Ball.
"We mi-missed it completely."
When Iron Ball approached, it made a distinctive sound. They completely missed that sound.
'Could it be...?'
All of Paprika's eyes wavered because they understood why they didn't hear it.
"It's over for you."
Lying down, ForeverAlone's lip corners spread into a smile. Zelo and ForeverAlone had a reason for charging in and making so much noise.
Swoosh!
An arrow directly pierced someone's forehead.
Thwack!
Simultaneously, the Knight Order burst out from all around.
"YEAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"
"KILL ALL PAPRIKA!!"
Paprika was flustered.
"The, the Turtle DPS... do we stop? What do we do!?"
[Red Turtle]
[HP: 23%]
It felt awkward to kill it, but also awkward to keep fighting.
"Just fight! Stop the DPS and fight!"
Still, the enemy couldn’t just steal it with 23% HP left. Paprika switched to offense. They also had ten people, each quite skilled.
Crash!
The head-on confrontation turned into a chaotic brawl.
[An Ally Has Fallen!]
[GangnamFry Double Kill!]
[GangnamFry → ForeverAlone]
ForeverAlone died quickly and turned into a rune spirit.
"ForeverAlone!" Sweet Radish drove in and swept with his spear.
Clang!
Sword and spear met and ricocheted.
"This one is alone too! Alone!"
The enemies counterattacked. Countless weapons thrust toward Sweet Radish, who subtly twisted his body. He weaved through all the weapons like a spider web.
Clang!
"Wow damn!"
"A Ch-Challenger indeed...!"
The enemies' weapons struck each other, but there was nothing to be pleased about.
'One wrong move and I’ll die instantly.'
Just one swing of their weapons would deal enormous damage. Sweet Radish's eyes flashed. The enemies had no idea where his eyes were looking.
His spear aimed at the Red Turtle.
Hm...?
The Red Turtle had plenty of HP remaining. What was he doing?
"That guy is swinging with his eyes closed at the Turtle!
Ahahahaha!
Instead, they dealt with Sweet Radish.
[An Ally Has Fallen!]
[GangnamFry Double Kill!]
[GangnamFry → SweetRadish]
GangnamFry, a player with considerable physicality, achieved a double kill.
[Lv.3 → Lv.4]
He had slightly more experience and leveled up.
'Good. We can stop them.'
At this rate, GangnamFry thought they could survive.
Hm?
[Almond: One, two~ three!]
CRASHHHHH!
A massive amount of damage was dealt to the Red Turtle at once.
"Wh... what!?"
The commentary desk reacted on their behalf.
Bang!
Orange King slammed the desk and screamed, “Magical Girls! And Lemon! Simultaneously attacked!”
Magical Girls had two staff users, Choco Shroom and Miho. With Lemon, they had a total of three mages.
“It looks simple, but they combined three Fireballs for the attack! Could this be a steal!?”
Three staves could produce an enormous burst of instantaneous damage. Sweet Radish had done the calculation.
''When Magical Girls arrives, just fire three Fireballs at once. There’s roughly only 20% of the Turtle’s HP left.''
The remaining 5% needed to be dealt by someone else, so Sweet Radish drove in at the cost of his life and stabbed the Turtle once.
[Red Turtle]
[HP: 2%]
Still, 2% HP remained. Everyone's eyes darted there.
'We're good.'
Sweet Radish trusted that Almond would handle the rest.
Thud!
One arrow precisely pierced the Turtle's eye, proving that his trust was correct.
[An Ally has defeated the Red Turtle!]
[DumbYoungMan → Red Turtle]
"YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!"
A tremendous roar shook the stadium.
“Duuuumb Yoooooung Maaaan! With a precise steal!!”
“Perfect timing! It’s a perfect last hit!”
Everyone cheered, but Sweet Radish was a bit worried.
'This... we lost way more than expected, and the enemy barely died at all...'
The plan had been to kill at least one enemy, but the enemy's countermeasures were too good.
'Losing ForeverAlone especially was big.'
Three lives had been lost to take the Red Turtle. Cheese, even with Magical Girls, only had nine players. The other side still had ten. One wrong move and everyone could die, which would actually be a net loss.
'There are always unexpected variables...'
However, variables existed for the other side too.
“Almond! When did he get there!? He’s already touching the rune box first!”
Almond touched the rune box first.
Whoooosh...!
Three cards appeared before him.

Comments

Loading...