Season 4: Chapter 217. Hellsteel vs. Relic (3)
Even more than LIL Pro, Streamer Garden was a community that had always shown overwhelming interest in joint streamer content and largely focused on Treevy streamers. In every sense, it was the true home base of Cheese Craft content. At some point, the issue posts stopped updating.
[1) Stream-ending Dragon appearing LIVE!]
[2) WTF is that dragon’s name??]
[3) My Lord appears!]
[4) The Ancient City was Treevy...]
The discussion stalled at the topic of the Ancient City Treevy. The reason became clear if one looked at the general posts trickling in instead of the issue threads.
[Holy shit, did this place crash?]
[Errors popping nonstop]
[Dragon of Streaming Destruction already hit here LOL]
[Damn, this really is the metaverse with the community included LOL]
[When Dragon of Streaming Destruction cried, Streamer Garden died...]
The renewed Cheese Village civil war had driven traffic through the roof. The servers grew unstable and eventually collapsed. As a result, new posts slowed to a crawl. People began talking about Treevy and the Dragon of Streaming Destruction instead.
[You guys remember this?]
==== ====
Treevy is shutting down for good soon.
Only three days left.
==== ====
Everyone recalled Treevy’s long-forgotten server shutdown date.
— :O
— Damn...
— Wow
— that’s crazy...
— It ends a day earlier than Cheese Craft
— Oh no...
— Ugh, lag;
In three days, Treevy would stop simultaneous broadcasting and head toward a complete server shutdown. Since Streamer Garden itself was built on Treevy, a wave of regret and nostalgia followed.
[All the clips on Treevy are gonna disappear...]
[Cheese Craft being about Treevy makes this hit way harder]
[Looks like Cheese is trying to properly inherit Treevy’s legacy]
...
As this happened, the servers slowly began stabilizing again. Cutting through the stuttering traffic, one post finally rose to the issue board.
[7) But why is Cheese President Zelo running that way at a time like this? LOL]
==== ====
(Video)
Why is this guy running backward?
Isn’t he a Cheese streamer?
==== ====
This Cheese streamer resembled Paprika more than anyone else. Zelo, no, Zelu was charging straight toward Almond.
— LOLLL
— LMAO FR
— Honorary Paprika bastard LOL
— I don’t know either...
— That’s the charm of human life
— LOL it is absurd
— Sorry but it’s Zelu, not Zelo
— He’s Zelo’s son, who cares? Should he follow his dad’s platform too?
***
“Miners are greaaaaat!!” Zelu ran straight across the battlefield.
The main force had been fighting Radish Servant, Potato Servant, and Lemon Servant. Their morale surged again.
“Waaaaaaaahhh!!”
“The leader has stepped in!”
Without hesitation, they also charged toward Almond.
“D-Damn it, stop them!”
“Ugh!”
Only three knights couldn’t stop them all. They could fight back, but had no way to block the horde if the enemies simply ignored the knights and ran past.
‘They’re coming.’
Almond saw it too. Zelu was running toward him along with countless former knights. Almond stood there with a bow of overwhelming destructive power, but it was useless.
Rumble, rumble...!
Even as the army of hell surged forward, he didn’t draw his bow at all.
‘I’ll stall for time.’
That seemed like the best option. Given enough time, the other four knights could handle everything.
‘Maid Black Tea will come.’
The war would end if Maid Black Tea defeated ForeverAlone and came to kill Zelu. To make that happen, Almond had to act as bait and buy time, so he stood still.
“My lord! Why aren’t you shooting?!” one of the Cheese residents behind him asked innocently.
“H-Hey... The Lord is a Guardian...... He can’t shoot Cheese Village residents.”
“W-What?!”
— Oh no
— No...
— Guardian...!
— The weight of the crown
— Kya!
Many of the villagers hadn’t known that the Lord couldn’t kill a single person from Cheese Village.
“Then what about all that stuff about making people fertile?! Was that all a lie?!” someone shouted in anger.
“Yeah! If he’s a Guardian, how did he make Cheese Village people fertile?!”
“He can’t even kill traitors! How would he kill residents?!”
“The Lord has only ever made our land and those damned Paprika bastards fertile!”
Of course, Bubblegum, his close aide, and the Nonghyup Union, once his enemy, knew the truth.
‘The timeline is different, guys...’
‘The Lord still found a way to burn them to death back then...’
They spoke only through the mic channels that their own viewers could hear instead of saying it out loud.
— LOL So it turns out like this
— No way LOL it got twisted this badly?
— Kya!
— This too must be the Lord’s grace...?
It was better to keep the flow like this. Donuts and Bubblegum met each other’s eyes. They nodded ever so slightly.
“That’s right! The Lord has never once touched Cheese Village!”
“It was those damned Paprika agitators!”
The two journalists shouted. The Cheese villagers couldn’t help but be moved.
“W-We can stop them! We’ve got nothing to lose, right?! We just have to die!”
The Cheese villagers charged forward.
“Y-Yeah, let’s stop them!”
“The Lord has done everything for us! We just need to buy time for the knights!”
“H-Hey, sis?!”
Miho ran out first. At the same time, villagers rushed forward past Almond and straight toward the incoming enemies.
‘Huh?’
Even Almond felt startled.
“Waaaaaaaahhh!!”
The Alliance charging in with Zelu felt even more shocked because the ones still alive were, in fact, all from Cheese Village.
“W-Wait...?”
“Are those lunatics serious?!”
They couldn’t help but hesitate. Only Blood Demon Zelu, whose love for Cheese Village had long since burned away, continued charging.
“What are you hesitating for! Burn them all!”
[Hellfire]
Fwoooooosh...!
His black flames surged forward once more.
“G-Gyaaah!”
“Damn it!”
Several Cheese villagers instantly burned to death.
“We can’t even stall for time?!” Miho cried out in disbelief as she rolled and dodged the hellfire.
Crash!
At that moment, Bubblegum rushed over and pulled her up. “No! Dying is what matters!”
“W-What?!”
“Die! You have to die! You have to die to live!”
— That’s brutal LOL
— Telling them to die?!
— Die! LOL what the hell
KWAHHHHH!
Black flames engulfed Bubblegum. He turned to ashes and vanished.
“O-Oppa?!”
— Damn...
— Oh no...
— What the!?
— That’s terrifying...
“F-Fertile Soil... A-rank...” Miho hated herself for checking the Fertile Soil’s rank even in that moment.
— THAT’S CRAZY
— It’s a habit
— You can’t help looking at it LOL
Fwoosh!
The hellfire lunged again to swallow Miho this time.
“Now... I’ll become fertile too.”
“Forbidden Wooden Jutsu,” someone murmured.
KWAANG!
The ground surged up and blocked the hellfire.
— ?
— What?
— Huh?
[BigFarm]
Big Farm, a village NPC, had cast the skill.
Tap.
“You are not permitted to be here.” He stepped in front of Miho to block Zelu and the crimson army of hell.
“Y-You... you bastard! You sold that plot of sand to—no, to my father... and now you dare interfere again?!”
“Hoh. Your heart is still steeped in demons, I see. May the blessings be with you.” Big Farm pressed his palms together toward Zelu, and his eyes snapped open. “Hah!”
With a sharp shout, he chopped forward with the edge of his hand. The earth surged up and flew straight at Zelu.
Kwarararar...!
“Y-You crazy!?”
Boom!
The rising mass of earth struck Zelu head-on. It hit the soldiers behind him just the same.
“We’re going too!”
The other NPCs also rushed out and joined the assault.
Thud! Bang!
“W-What the hell, NPCs?!”
“What is this?!”
“They were this strong?!”
The NPCs finally unsealed the power they had been hiding.
“Kill the intruders!”
“Kill them!”
The reason was simple.
[Red Player detected.]
[Unauthorized presence within the village.]
For the first time, Red Players had appeared as the Cheese villagers rushed in and died. Just as Bubblegum had said, dying was the way to live.
— Oh my!
— The villagers’ sacrifice actually worked?
— Wow LOL
— This is exactly like guards becoming the strongest after you get flagged
— So that’s how it works?!
— No way LOL
The NPCs noticeably reduced the Alliance’s numbers, but still couldn’t stop those clad in Hellsteel.
“N-No!!”
“H-Hellsteel... It’s too strong.”
The soldiers presumed to be dead rose again and beat the NPCs down.
Thud! Thump!
Their Hellsteel armor took no damage at all. Only relics could defeat them.
“Damn it, don’t let them through!”
“Yaaah!”
Despite being exhausted, the Servant Duo and Lemon Servant charged in from behind to buy time.
“R-Radish Servant... I’m done...”
“Potato Servant!”
Potato Servant had hit his absolute limit. At best, he could only slow the Alliance’s advance.
Meanwhile, Zelu remained utterly unmarked. He had sacrificed his soldiers and completely freed himself.
“So, it comes to this in the end.” Zelu walked slowly toward Almond.
Almond stepped forward as well. No one left stood between them. Only the barren and ruined land, filled with sand, lay before them.
Whooooo...
A dry winter wind swept through.
“My lord, we finally meet.” Zelu crookedly smiled and drew his hammer forged from blood-red Hellsteel. “I’m truly sick of this. It wasn’t like this when we first met, was it? Wasn’t it nice back then?”
“That was your father. You and I were never on good terms.”
Zelu could only remain silent.
They first met during the Working Holiday, and it hadn’t been a good meeting.
— LOL
— LMAO
— Build-up failed
— LOL
— He tried to drop a cool line for the highlight reel and mixed it up
“It’s what I heard from my dad! That you two were close back then. Hah... It brings back memories... I got beaten up selling iron ore, you know.”
— The guy who beat you is literally in your Alliance, Zelu LOL
— Onion again LOL
— Why is Onion in every backstory??
“Even if you say that, I’m not going to let you live.”
Shing.
Almond drew his sword and resolved himself.
— Backstory cut LOL
— LMAO
— As expected of my lord
— Nice
“Uh... uhehehehe?” Zelu laughed like a madman. “I know you can’t kill me. It’s over now, my lord.”
“No. It’s over for you when Maid Black Tea arrives. Until then, try to kill me.”
— Damn
— Nice
— Telling him to kill you! The taunt!
— That’s my lord
— Send him off, Zelu
KWAANG!
Zelu charged. Dark crimson hellfire enveloped his hammer as he swung at Almond.
[White Tiger Stance]
Almond’s figure scattered and reappeared behind him. At the same time, a blade flashed across Zelu’s neck.
Shraaaak!
No damage had been dealt.
“If I weren’t a Guardian, you would’ve died once already.”
Whick.
Almond adjusted his grip on his sword.
— Nice
— Damn
— For real
— If only he weren’t a Guardian...
— That’s cold
“Huh?” Zelu felt dumbfounded. “So that’s how you’re playing it? Mental warfare?”
Zelu locked onto Almond and began firing off skill after skill.
Whoosh!
Whip!
Almond dodged everything and slit Zelu’s throat again.
“You died again.”
The same result repeated no matter how many times.
Slash!
“You died again.”
Thud!
Zelu died again.
“You suck.”
Again and again, Zelu died.
“Zel~lu sucks!”
— LOOOOOOL
— Straight-up teabagging
— The final strategy is teabagging LOL
— But it’s actually working, isn’t it?
‘No way....’
Zelu realized that Almond wasn’t just playing mind games. His gaze shifted to his current viewership.
‘This...?’
Shockingly, Zelu’s chakra was steadily declining.
— He really can’t land a single hit?
— Man, this is frustrating
— Aim is trash LOL
— What’s the point of a legendary class?
— “I’m not cutting you. I’m cutting your viewers.”
Almond intended to exhaust Zelu until Maid Black Tea arrived.
***
Meanwhile, Maid Black Tea and Servant ForeverAlone concluded their fight.
“Haa... ha...”
Thud.
Someone’s knees finally hit the ground.
“That annoying bastard...”