Chapter 171

**[Streamer Gallery]**

[No Name: Why isn’t she streaming again?]

It’s not like she doesn’t participate in scrims! Why isn’t she turning on her stream?!

It’s so frustrating to not watch the scrim from No Name’s perspective; I feel like I’m going to go insane, lol.

[Comments]

– She says she’s really busy right now; she’ll stream after the game.

└ Can’t she at least turn it on while they’re scrimming? Is that too hard?

└ I don’t know either!

– If she turns on the stream, she has to greet each viewer and accept donations.

└ Isn’t she a streamer to earn donations? Is she streaming to win tournaments?

└ Sounds like No Name, lol.

└ Don’t try to understand the heart of a child; just accept it.

– I heard she’s busy with schoolwork; isn’t it exam season?

└ Isn’t there still a month until finals?

└ The academy tends to have a high level of academic zeal.

– No Name’s Vtube has something insane uploaded right now; you should check it out.

└ Really?

└ I don’t really understand; just go see it. How long does it take?

[Kariri, are you going to Diamond today?]

She’s bizarrely ranking up with the suicide assassin meta that No Name taught her, even with 10 deaths every game, which is so funny, lol.

[Comments]

– The win rate in the scrims is also going up; it’s seriously a joke.

└ It was even in the 30% range at the beginning.

– She’s just desperately trying to keep Kariri alive, doing ridiculous things, lol.

└ Her content, where she tries to get help from the viewers, is just genius.

└ Digging for pearls in the mud, lol.

– I don’t think she has time to reach Diamond, but Platinum 1 isn’t bad.

[Kariri’s day of scrim strangling – real fact]

This is a video uploaded by overseas Vtubers where she’s playing with her main avatar in Desireland, legend lol.

[Comments]

– Is that No Name and Adella next to her?

– Good! You gotta play hard when you play!

– She’s cute, lol.

– Seriously, why is Kariri caring about what others think? lol.

└ (Author): I agree; in Korea, apologizing usually just gets you more hate, lol.

– Is there a tournament or something? It’s totally a child’s mindset to abandon her teammates and go play.

– Comment deleted.

– Comment deleted.

– Comment deleted.

– Comment deleted.

└ (Author): Wls

└ So scary.

└ Is she crazy?

└ Why did she hit the panic button, lol.

* * *

ACK’s former first team director, ‘Hwang Gu,’ and current first-division pro gamer (and now unemployed) ‘LG Chaos’ were watching the game as coaches.

“Lost sight of the assassin! Everyone be careful from behind!”

“It looks like Kariri needs to stick with me! They’ll definitely come after me, the wizard!”

“We’re 2 against 3 with No Name here!”

“Daltori, go in with your line. If Yongcheol joins, we can force a team fight.”

There were no quests, no capture points, and no objectives in sight.

Moreover, they were at a numerical disadvantage.

“Even if we lose the team fight, just fight for now.”

With No Name’s confident voice, a 4 to 6 team fight began.

The first to get hit was Kariri.

“Get ready to switch positions. Kariri will enter inside, and Brownie, take her place. Shimsimman, after your capture, jump over here, and Yongcheol, stay close to Daltori and mark the assassins coming from behind. Don’t spread out!”

It was a command from No Name that had become familiar by now.

Kariri quickly maintained appropriate health management by switching places with Brownie, who was using a Zweihander.

Being unsuitable for defense, she quickly knelt and indicated she was incapacitated.

But protecting the wizard was always the top priority.

Next was, of course, the healer.

Clank!

No Name’s sword rang loudly.

The man who brought down his great sword wasn’t startled.

It was a scene that had unfolded countless times over the past week.

Without mana, maybe one-on-one was manageable? She died with a severed neck.

Then how about three against one? She was also pierced through the heart and died.

She was of a different caliber from the beginning.

If No Name was given enough time, she could deal with any number of enemies tenaciously.

However, it wasn’t without countermeasures.

A widely known strategy against the ‘The Blori’ team was to take out the healer and wipe out the rest.

They trained extensively over the past week of scrims to counter this strategy or to confuse the opponent’s plans.

Suddenly, No Name deliberately took an enemy attack.

And when her health dropped below 15%, she deceived the enemy with ‘Twilight Clone’ and quickly joined the main group.

Providing suitable healing to Kariri, who was barely alive,

she transformed from an assassin into a berserker in an instant, easily handling 1 against 2.

Thanks to No Name’s special ranked game training, Kariri’s movements became even more refined.

She lightly blocked a backstab with her nails.

Her red eyes were fixed on the knight.

“It’s gonna sting!”

Five blades sliced through the ground.

* * *

“Why didn’t you take the detour here? Even if we can’t block it, we should at least check it as Plan B.”

Director Hwang Gu pointed out the opposing assassin taking a long detour to eliminate the wizard Daltori.

“Even if we find them first, there’s no guarantee we’ll win.”

Name chimed in to defend.

“If you play the game so safely, you’ll never win.”

“The opposing assassin was Diamond-level. If we happen to lose while scouting, we don’t even have a platform for a comeback.”

“Just checking first guarantees we won’t lose! This is a team game!”

[‘BuljiPigi’ donated 10,000 won!]

– Hwang Gu, but there was a similar situation in the last scrim, and we lost, lol.

“Ah, this is it. Listen carefully, guys. Just because an experience led to a bad outcome doesn’t mean it was a bad choice. Sometimes you have to be able to pick the right choice.”

Hwang Gu’s ideal operation was to extract only the places with the highest expected win rates at each juncture.

“For example, say I was helping an old lady push her cart up a hill, and the wheel broke. Then I wouldn’t say ‘Ah, it was bad for me to help! I shouldn’t do that again!’ That wouldn’t make sense.”

– What did the old lady do wrong, Hwang Gu? lol

– Oh no, our grandson can’t give her allowance…

– Should we give her a shout-out?

“Uh? Conversely, if I swung my fist at someone out of anger, and it turns out they were a pickpocket! Am I supposed to keep swinging my fists like in GTA? That’ll land me in jail! My life will be Bronze.”

[‘luckysukebe’ donated 5,000 won!]

– Nonsense, ON! lol

“Anyway, since Shimsimman can join in 18 seconds, if Yongcheol stays, we’ll be more than enough to hold it off based on that.”

“An assassin’s role isn’t just about getting kills. If the rear is disrupted, both you and Kariri will collapse.”

“Heal assassins can even manage 2 against 5. I’ve tested it.”

“Ha!”

Director Hwang Gu put his palm on his forehead.

– lol

– That healing assassin, lol.

– We can’t win, but we can’t be pushed back either, lol.

– I’ve never seen Hwang Gu get shut down before, lol.

– Everyone knows it’s nonsensical, but it still makes sense.

– The healer assassin meta is coming…!

– An unkillable hedgehog, lol.

“Chaos, do you have the footage you recorded before?”

“Ah, yes, Director. But this is…”

A video was edited to show only No Name and Kariri.

The automatic extraction application used for professional game feedback had been approved for export.

Indeed, it was bizarrely demonstrating Kariri receiving healing from No Name while her health stayed around 20%.

Scene 1.

A combination labeled the strongest in a 4-person combo: 1 tank knight, 2 knights, and 1 wizard.

With a solid frontline, sharp swords rained from both sides, supplementing the attack with a barrage of powerful fireballs; Kariri crossed her arms and huddled her body.

No Name, with his back against Kariri’s, continued accumulating parry stacks.

At that moment, No Name vaulted over the tank knight by jumping off of Kariri’s back.

The combined attack of ‘Political Harmony’ and ‘Linger’ was significant, especially when the target was a wizard.

Scene 2.

Now, they were in a situation using a backdoor strategy aiming for the destruction of the opposing Wigrasil.

Not swinging their backs against each other but pressing their shoulders together, they extended their swords and claws forward, ready.

They deflected regular arrows or spells from afar and casually parried larger skills.

Scene 3.

“You don’t need to see more; just stop it.”

– This is just a mad movie, lol.

– The incredible mad movie of a current middle school kid, lol.

– How can you parry everything when you’d die from one hit?

– Kariri also has insane reflexes; can she see the arrows?

└ No Name and she practiced that all day.

└ Oh, wow.

“I get it; I admit. But this isn’t a flaw in my theory; it’s because you’re outside the norm, No Name. It generally shouldn’t work, yet you just force… made it work! If so, the theory would have no meaning.”

“It’s the best decision.”

“The best decision is way too extreme. What I’m aiming for is a game where everyone does 0.9 worth of contribution and has a 70% win probability. But look, you’re alone doing 1.5 worth with Kariri, just barely hitting a 60% win rate. You’re both doing your best, but do you understand how different the essence is?”

“I understand. But to make tier value, I’d rather have it that way.”

“What about Kariri? Is that okay?”

“…”

At the director’s question, Kariri had been unresponsive.

“Kariri? Kariri? Yo, yo.”

[‘Howmustreet’ donated 20,000 won!]

– You wasted 30 minutes on feedback? lol, Kariri just spaced out and was incapacitated!

“Eh? Yes…?”

– Pyapapapapa

– Wow, the sound, lol.

– Were you spacing out?

– So cute.

– Honestly, there were many moments Kariri could’ve done better, but she didn’t fail at all recently.

However, despite the director’s question, Kariri continued to chew her lips or roll her eyes, displaying signs of anxiety.

“Director, Kariri! I think someone’s ringing the doorbell outside; I need to go check!”

“Oh really? Then go.”

“I’ll be back soon!”

– She’s dashingly leaving again!

– At this point, doesn’t she have a boyfriend? lol

– Nah, she’s not that kind of person; she has 100 community power, 100 anti-social power, and 0 sociability.

└ Ugh, the smell of broth…

– She just seems reluctant to do the scrim.

– Scrims are a form of group play, so it looks bad for her to keep leaving.

– Indeed, how long will she keep making the doorbell joke?

– But at least it’s not an abrupt logout like last time; I think she’ll come back quickly.

└ The Honeybee kids all seem to be losing their minds, lol. They’re really protecting her.

└ Then as a fan, of course, I would protect her. Should I be throwing shade instead?

└ That’s why they always create controversies while doing group play.

“Whoa, whoa, don’t fight, everyone. We’re all using the same chat room, so don’t fight.”

While each streamer calmed their viewers, Name continued to sit under a tree, waiting only for Kariri.

– Doesn’t our leader ever say anything?

– I’m proud of the No Name mark in front of my nickname!

– No Name’s a kid… who loves stirring things up the most in the world…

– Was that Pororo? lol

– Pororo likes playing, not causing trouble! Don’t twist it, lol.

– For us, stirring things up is playing!

And then there was a donation that popped up in the middle of the Blori team members.

The stiff robotic TTS read out the content without any particular setup.

[‘zxcvbnm’ donated 1,000 won!]

– That is room 13xx, right?

– ?

– ?

– ?

– What’s this?

– Address?

– ???

“Gyaaah!”

From the stiff avatar that had turned into a wooden puppet, a scream from Yoonseul echoed faintly.

“Kariri? Kariri!”

“What’s going on?”

The voice didn’t come from inside the VR connection but from a microphone set outside the capsule.

Everyone jumped up from their seats and approached Kariri to check on her, but her eyes had lost all life.

No matter how much they shook her solidified body in virtual reality, she didn’t return.

The only method left was to scream directly into her ear.

“Hey, Kariri! Is something wrong? Kariri!”

“Ugh, stop it with the pranks… If you keep this up, it’s getting scary… It’s a joke, right?”

Daltori trembled with a frightened expression.

In the silence, no matter how long they waited, Kariri’s figure, who they expected to say it was just a joke, didn’t appear again.

[Kariri – Offline]

Name’s VR connection was cut right after that.

[No Name – Offline]