Chapter 21

I changed the room title to something I recently used.

[Challenger Seed’s Diamond Massacre Show]

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Didn’t you say you were a newbie before?

Even a second-hand rookie is still a rookie, y’know.

Let’s all turn a blind eye to a woman’s past.

—

“It’s true that this is my first time playing <Eternal World>.”

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Then why are you called a Challenger seed?

Because your skills are Challenger level, duh.

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Ignoring the viewers’ speculations, I queued up for solo rank.

The queue popped quickly.

My current tier is Diamond 1.

Master is just around the corner.

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If you had just streamed diligently, you would’ve hit Master long ago lol.

For real, does it make sense to still be Diamond with this win rate?

—

As usual, I picked Thierry.

Main Carry (5th pick): Ah.

Main Carry (5th pick): No Thierry.

Looks like my pick triggered the Main Carry’s trauma. There was intense opposition.

I calmly tried to persuade them.

City Core (1st pick): I’m good with Thierry.

Main Carry (5th pick): Where in the world does the concept of being good with Thierry exist?

Main Carry (5th pick): Pick something else.

City Core (1st pick): I’m really good. Look up Han Yoorim.

This usually works, but not this time.

Main Carry (5th pick): *random gibberish*

Main Carry (5th pick): Someone dodge.

The Main Carry suddenly picked something weird and stopped chatting. Clearly signaling they went to the bathroom.

The whole team immediately flamed them, but of course, no response.

Realizing they couldn’t reason with the Main Carry, the team turned to me.

Support (4th pick): Core, please dodge.

I refused.

In these situations, the one who gets scared loses.

I calmly picked Thierry and cracked open a highball.

Real madness doesn’t openly troll pick like that. They don’t even chat.

Clearly, the Main Carry was just scared and wanted someone to dodge.

The team was the same. From their tone, it was obvious they wanted a dodge.

The countdown began.

5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 0.

And the game started.

Savage.

Maybe it’s because it’s Diamond 1. I’m starting to meet the “real” players.

Team games are mostly like this. At the point where the wall of talent starts to appear, monsters begin to dwell.

“We can still win.”

The Main Carry at least had a conscience and didn’t pick a support character. They usually play Outer Solo, so they’re still a damage dealer.

Once the game started, they actually played. You’d think they’d just pick properly, but I’m not a psychology major to analyze the complexities of human emotions.

If we farm up, we can win.

I just needed to focus on my own game.

Diamond 1 is a high-tier rank. It’s one step below Master, which is the starting point of true talent, but at this tier, you can still smell the scent of a Challenger.

Maybe that’s why the enemy City Core was farming while being moderately pushed.

Unlike the lower-tier City Cores who recklessly dove and got their necks snapped, this was a completely different movement.

…Actually, it didn’t make sense. Holding back early skirmishes against Thierry? Sure, their character is weak early, but still. Who lets Thierry scale comfortably?

A sniper, maybe?

To ignore the character matchup like this, they must know who they’re up against.

It seemed highly likely to be a sniper.

Already getting sniped? My heart warmed up.

The fact that they like me so much means they bought my game. In other words, they’re my customer.

It seemed like I needed to provide some fan service.

As soon as I hit level 6, I rushed to the enemy’s City Core area. Well, it’s not really an enemy area since the City Core is so small—your land is my land, and my land is your land.

“Found you!”

I shouted as if I had found a childhood friend playing hide and seek.

The enemy City Core was smartly farming, but to be honest, they were just behind.

Limited movement in a small City Core?

Predictable movements followed.

Reading them was incredibly easy.

The enemy City Core was one level below me, probably because they gave up a few objectives.

City Core is usually weak early, and with a level difference? It was a done deal.

I instantly beheaded the enemy and monopolized the nearby objectives.

After feasting on resources, I went back to base to buy items. Returning quickly to the City Core, I narrowed my eyes.

The enemy had changed their movements.

“Cheap move, bringing a Guardian.”

Guardians are the position that protects the base.

In a way, they’re even more solo than Outer Solos.

Outer Solos at least fight other Outer Solos. Guardians don’t even have that.

They just play tycoon inside the base.

Truly, they’re in a genre of their own.

That’s what a Guardian is.

Bringing a Guardian to the City Core is one strategy.

But it’s not very efficient.

Guardians need the base to grow. There are Guardian-specific farming elements there.

Of course, to be a good Guardian, you can’t just stay in the base—you have to help your team during farming cooldowns. But if you stick around too much, it leads to leaks.

So if you use this strategy, you absolutely need to have the upper hand in City Core fights.

Going half-and-half on farming like this is a guaranteed loss.

Plus, I wasn’t just sitting still. Every time the Guardian tried to return to base, I went after the enemy City Core and harassed them.

About 8 minutes passed.

I frowned as I joined the 3rd objective team fight.

Something was off with my team.

Who? The Main Carry? No, the Main Carry who trolled actually grew decently.

It was somewhere else.

I checked the Scout’s KDA.

[0/3/0]

With such a clean KDA, I checked the enemy Main Carry’s KDA.

Got it.

[4/0/1]

Kill participation: 5. This meant that the enemy Main Carry not only took out our Scout but also hunted down our Carry duo and killed them.

This is a destructive play that usually doesn’t happen. At least a 2-tier difference is needed for such a play to occur.

If the Main Carry already has coverage, the game can’t proceed.

The Main Carry is a position that grows cautiously, avoiding enemy Scouts.

And that position got so many kills?

It meant they had already become a Heavenly Demon that no one fears.

Normally, you’d avoid such a truck and aim for the late game. I would’ve done the same.

The problem was, the situation wasn’t favorable for that.

Our Main Carry had chosen a strong early-to-mid game Outer Solo character. Trying to go late game would only put us at a bigger disadvantage.

We had to make a move now.

I turned on voice chat and spoke up.

“Let’s team fight.”

As if agreeing with my call, our Main Carry stepped up to the front line. It was a good positioning, considering they had chosen an Outer Solo character.

A tense standoff ensued.

Meaningless pokes were exchanged.

And then.

Without anyone making the first move, both sides closed the distance.

A chaotic brawl broke out.

A lightning sphere fell from the sky, plants sprouted from the ground, and shockwaves split the air.

In the chaos, I closed in on the enemy Main Carry.

The enemy Main Carry was ‘Metatron.’

A character that stacks in various ways and ascends after reaching a certain number of stacks.

They had already ascended to the second stage, which was 10 minutes faster than usual.

A sword of light formed in Metatron’s hand.

Their first basic skill, [Sword of Contract].

[Sword of Contract] is a skill that increases damage based on stacks and gains additional effects with each ascension.

At the second ascension, [Sword of Contract] burns the enemy’s mana. Plus, it deals extra damage, making it an incredibly annoying skill.

I closed the distance, bringing Metatron within range.

Whoosh. A condensed flame flowed along the sword, and I swiftly swung my blade.

The flame tore through the air, engulfing Metatron. Immediately after.

Clang—. A suit of light armor appeared, deflecting the flames.

Seizing the opportunity, Metatron swung their sword of light.

I calmly dodged.

It was a light skill exchange, but it was enough to gauge the opponent’s skill.

I was slightly surprised.

It was the first time I’d encountered someone this skilled in <Eternal World>.

Even the trajectory of their basic attacks was unusual. It was a sword swing that took into account all of the opponent’s movements.

My neurons fired up in this rare intense battle.

Entering a state of extreme focus, I cleared my mind.

Our team’s fight setup, the enemy’s condition, current positions, upcoming objectives—all irrelevant information was discarded.

Only the enemy Main Carry’s movements remained.

Wings sprouted from Metatron’s back. Their ultimate. They were ready to go all out from the start.

I, too, summoned lightning into my hand.

And so, the battle between two gamers, with their souls on the line, was about to begin.

Or so it seemed.

CarryInTheBus (Main Carry): Ah.

DeleteFromCensus (Support): Why are you playing a character you’ve never used before, dammit?

The Main Carry, who died in one second due to a ridiculous mistake, let out a sigh.

The Support cursed, but it was already over. I died to the freed-up Support, Scout, and City Core combo.

A surrender vote came up. I immediately voted against it, but it seemed my team had lost hope in this game.

[Defeat]

The base crumbled, and the game ended.

Back in the lobby, I stared blankly ahead, filled with regret.

It felt like spilling cup noodles right before eating them.

So, what was the name of my cup noodles? Curious, I checked the enemy Main Carry’s nickname.

<Pape (Main Carry)>

…Pape?

Just in case, I checked the chat.

―――

It’s Pape lololol

Wow, I can’t believe we ran into Pape here

―――

Sure enough, the enemy Main Carry was the head of the VR gallery, Pape, a big-time Broadcaster on V-TV.

I heard they’re always at the top of Challenger, so why are they in Diamond?

―――

They must’ve been inactive for a while and got demoted lol

―――

That made sense. If you don’t play the game at Master or above, your rank drops.

Not just your rank, but your MMR too, so most people avoid inactivity. But they coolly took the demotion, which shows they’re confident in their skills.

And they were indeed skilled. It was a shame we didn’t get to fight properly.

By the way.

A small sense of discomfort made me tilt my head.

I’ve always felt something off whenever I saw the nickname ‘Pape.’

What’s the reason? It’s a nickname I’ve never heard before.

Pape. Pape. Main Carry. Pape.

Metatron, Angel, Challenger.

…Angel, Challenger?

Suddenly, a nickname flashed through my mind.

‘PapeTheProtagonistPapeTheComforter’

I muttered to myself.

“Is this Pape person perhaps my friend?”

―――

How the hell would we know, you lunatic

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