Chapter 339

The one-handed sword of No Name cut through flames and smoke, slicing the knight’s abdomen.

It was a quick strike that left little time to react in the limited field of vision.

The knight, clutching his stomach, fell backward and shouted up at the woman.

“Cough, kill me!”

He had not given up the game.

If he held on any longer, even the respawn timing with his allies would be thrown off, leaving him unable to participate in the subsequent object fights.

The woman’s dry eyes turned crimson.

‘She knows it too. Killing me now would be a loss…!’

How could a challenger not know something even a gold rank like himself was aware of?

“If you’re not coming, then I’m going!”

With a feeling of despair, the knight reached out his fist toward the woman.

Was there a chance for a lucky punch?

However, that hope quickly faded away.

In a desperate struggle, No Name abruptly twisted his body.

Clang-!

His knuckles met the firm gauntlet with a sharp sound.

“Stay still.”

No Name grabbed the knight’s wrist, kicked his shins to break his center of gravity, and bent his elbow backward to subdue him.

In the blink of an eye, the knight found himself pinned beneath the woman, unable to move a muscle.

Clatter-

The woman dropped both swords to the ground and drew her third weapon.

“Just kill me cleanly! What are we even doing each time?”

“Isn’t it interesting that the dust broom deals damage proportional to lost health?”

“I don’t want to know that kind of thing!”

A new teabagging weapon had appeared in the game World of Aura.

No Name took out the dust broom and began to tickle the knight’s nape gently.

“Gahhh!”

The knight’s waist bent like a bow.

– This dust broom is ridiculously strong, haha.

– 33 kills! Are we going for 33 kills?

– Don’t end the game! Kill more!

– How did you find out about that lost health damage tooltip that wasn’t listed, haha?

– Teabagging is actively encouraged!

– Na-me is the cleaning king! Na-me loves cleaning!

[Wigrasil has been destroyed.]

[Victory]

The once brilliant rainbow-colored dust broom was now stained red with the dirty blood of knights, mages, and priests.

[‘Catnip is the best’ donated 3,300,000 won!]

– You thieving bastard!!!!!

Na-me threw off the frustrating mask and opened her mouth.

“Thank you for the 3.3 million won donation. Let’s end today’s broadcast here.”

– Was today just one game?

– This isn’t right, Na-me!

– Come back to me, my small, poor Na-me!ㅠㅠㅠ

└ Na-me is still small.

– Na-me is worth 200 billion…

– I can only barely watch one game if I pay 3 million won.

Na-me gazed at the viewers expressing their disappointment.

‘What do you mean 200 billion? I only have debt…’

Even in the comments section of the video uploaded on Vtube, all they talked about was “rich,” “conglomerate,” and “200 billion girl,” making it no fun to check the reactions.

At some point, a proper explanation was needed.

[Video share – ‘Adella1Bing’ shared for 10,000!]

“Huh?”

A viewer showed Adella’s broadcast video.

‘She finished right on time?’

In truth, Na-me had turned on the broadcast on a whim while waiting for Adella’s Vtuber stream to end.

On the screen, Adella was collapsed on the ground, clutching the earth, wailing.

[This is ridiculous…]

– Wow, did Adella get demoted?

– Look at that record, it’s so red, hahaha.

– Completed the 10-patty hamburger!

– How desperate must she be for a victory to abandon thief for shield knight, hahaha.

[Please return to me. The vast view that was like a wilderness, the reaction speed that was as fast as a beast. Please return the Challenger badge to me! Argh! Oh heavens!!!!]

“Ugh.”

Na-me took a deep breath.

A madman.

It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that Adella looked like one right now.

Her face was pale as a corpse, and she forced a laugh.

[Everything went by so fast that I can’t even remember the scenery I passed… I’m so drained; there’s nothing left for me…]

Na-me entered the record site to check Adella’s stats.

– Wow, that’s pitiful.

– It’s true that thieves are terrible in the current meta, but that win rate is…

– How is her score dropping like a strategy card’s drop, hahaha.

– I can understand why her mental is breaking, agreed.

Recent record: 2 wins, 26 losses.

After suffering seven consecutive losses, she managed to grab a valuable two victories, only to fall into another 19-loss streak.

With a win rate of 7%, it appeared she had plunged from Challenger to Diamond.

Amidst the mocking of countless viewers, Adella ended her broadcast.

* * *

[1st Floor.]

Even though the sun had set, it wasn’t all that chilly.

Late at night, Adella and I put on our windbreakers with hoods and went out for a walk.

Adella wore a black hat pulled down low, overshadowing half her face.

Today, her expression seemed as dark as the shadows cast over her face.

Let’s talk as we go.

We exited the well-maintained apartment complex and soon entered a sparsely populated walking path.

We slipped between the fences and ascended a few stone steps.

Before long, we came upon an empty lot littered with discarded construction materials, behind which stretched a lush reed field.

Dim streetlights illuminated the reed field, swaying in the spring breeze with a soft yellow glow.

We exercised by walking for an hour or two at this time every day for health, and since this path was rarely used by others, it was a frequently taken route.

“How’s the broadcast going?”

I casually asked at first.

Adella then let out a deep sigh and answered, “It’s going so-so.”

“Well, in life, there are times when things go well and times when they don’t. If everything always went well, what would be the fun in living? Right?”

Feeling a sense of achievement requires overcoming challenges and effort.

No matter how prestigious the competition is, if you win using cheats, wouldn’t you feel emptiness rather than fulfillment?

“Losing is one thing, but… my mental is completely gone. As I keep losing, my tension decreases. The viewers’ chats all feel like they’re scraping at me for some reason. I’m most angry at myself.”

If she still had cat ears and a tail, they would surely be drooping now.

Adella maintained a low-pressure mood that my comforting was insufficient to lift.

I held her hand tightly and gently rubbed her knuckles with my thumb.

“Was the team’s luck not good?”

“I should have killed that fire mage back then… Ha, my team’s luck isn’t good, but my skills aren’t what they used to be.”

“Really? Slump?”

“Yeah. My concentration is lacking, my body isn’t cooperating as well as I thought, and the most critical thing is that my reaction speed has dropped. I keep losing in one-on-one situations…”

“I see.”

I expected there would be some gap in her adapting to a new body.

After all, the virtual reality with a realistic metric limited to 0.9 couldn’t match perfectly with the physical body in reality.

“And why is this body so slow? The last time I tested my reaction speed, I got 120ms?!”

“You had a body in VR, so you’ve been using it without delay all this time. If you think about it, that too is a sort of cheat, right?”

“Well, that’s true…”

“Besides, the average human reaction time is 0.2 seconds. Even that would be considered a blessed talent.”

Given that I based my abilities on the body of a 16-year-old, it was natural.

Thanks to that, my face looked a bit younger, and my chest had grown larger than before, though I wouldn’t dare to admit it.

“So, all those Challengers until now relied on psychological warfare in one-on-one battles? Predicting the moves of their opponent without knowing what would come out?”

“If you want to get back to the top, you must have that level of ability.”

“Sigh… They really were monsters. Ugh, forget it; I just want to go back to school. I’m not a vampire, active only at night…”

Adella kicked the stones scattered along the road to vent her frustration.

“Shall we run once and come back?”

I stopped and adjusted my shoelaces.

When your thoughts get complicated, you need to move your body.

Adella smiled and stretched wide, lifting her heels.

“Sounds good. Big sister, you should stop using Aura so often too. That’s why your muscles aren’t developing.”

“Well, what can I do when you never wait for me?”

“…”

“Adella? Hey, let’s go!”

“A giant catfish monster is chasing us! Dome Huangcha!”

A catfish?

Was she talking about my twin tails?

The one thing that was certain was that Adella was always the one who took off with the bait.

That’s why I keep failing to work out naturally every time.

* * *

“Ugh… Hah… My legs have no strength… Ugh, cramps again!”

“Do you still not know how to use Aura properly? Like this, like this.”

“No, but you have to explain what ‘like this’ means for me to understand!”

“Like this, like this.”

“Ugh! This tiny thing is really!”

“It’s only been less than a week since you learned; it’s normal for it to not work at first.”

Adella was really struggling with handling Aura.

Having inherited some abilities from her past life, she undoubtedly had sufficient talent.

She just lacked a bit of finesse.

And I wasn’t particularly good at teaching things verbally.

Rather, I preferred a Spartan education or the eagle parenting style, where the young are pushed out of the nest.

“Hmm, is it going to rain? The temperature is low, but it’s humid, so the sweat isn’t drying.”

“You go take a shower first. I’ll do it later.”

“Hey, big sister, how about we save some water and do it together? Okay?”

“Please don’t say anything strange.”

As Adella and I playfully squabbled over trivial matters, we were on our way back home.

“I always take it seriously… Huh?”

[Can’t live without love… Really… Can’t live…]

A person staggering along the road walked towards us from the opposite direction, humming a cheerful tune.

It wasn’t wide enough for three people to walk side by side, so Adella and I stuck tightly to the left to let them pass.

However, that person moved in the same direction as us.

As they went right, they repeated the motion to their right and blocked our path.

“Big sister, I think that guy is drunk. Let’s quietly pass by.”

“Okay.”

The pungent smell of alcohol tickled my nose.

“What’s this? Out and about at such a late hour without fear, young ladies?”

A scruffy-looking man suggested, sipping from an empty soju bottle with bleary eyes.

“Would you like me to escort you home? Where do you live? Huh? I’ll kindly escort you.”

As the man reached for Adella’s hand, she flinched and pulled back.

“No thanks, we live around here, so we’ll be going.”

“Why you little brat?”

“Big sister, it’s dangerous; we should go quickly.”

“Don’t make me laugh!”

Crash-!

The soju bottle shattered against the wall, splitting it in two.

“Oops? What? It broke? Haha, it was a mistake, a mistake. Aww, did I scare you, little lady? I’m not that bad of a person. Burp!”

Now that I noticed it, his face was completely flushed.

He seemed to have decided not to let us pass at all, stretching out both arms to completely block the way.

“Please, can we just pass? Yes?”

As Adella stepped forward to push his arms aside, the man shouted and swung the soju bottle wildly.

“AAAH! Is he crazy?!”

“You little brat? Hey! Do you want to die? Do you want to die?!”

It wasn’t a simple threat.

The man intended to bring the sharp soju bottle down on Adella’s head.

I pulled Adella’s wrist to bring her back behind me and wrapped Aura around my entire right arm.

“What are you?!”

“For now, I’m a person.”

“What…!”

Crash-!

The soju bottle smashed into my arm, shattering into pieces.

With the narrow path, our movements were limited.

So, I positioned my legs parallel, shifting my center of gravity quickly from back to front.

I then added a bit of elasticity and delivered a punch straight to the man’s abdomen.

“AAAH!”

Boom-!

The man’s body folded in half and flew far into the darkness, where the streetlight couldn’t reach.

Thud-

With a sound of something crashing, silence settled in.

Adella, brushing herself off, squinted and said.

“I told you… my big sister is dangerous.”

“What?”

“Oh, nothing! We should have just taken the long way instead of going through the shortcut, hehehe…”