Chapter 130: Lazy Soldier (1)
Raina's arrows disappeared once they reached a certain distance because it was made from mana energy. It was made like that in the game to limit the champion’s range.
Unfortunately, Almond couldn't shoot it in the air for his signature performance because the arrow would disappear before it landed on him.
However, there was more than one way to cook an egg.
[Ultimate - Evil Archer]
Almond suddenly summoned Raina.
Kwang!
A red light flashed as Raina was summoned in her ultimate form.
— ???
— What happened?
— Ultimate?
— Is this the performance?
The viewers, alongside Raina, were confused.
[W... what the... why are you summoning me now?]
There was only one reason to use the ultimate right before victory. It was for a performance. Raina didn't like the summoners who summoned her just for a victory pose. As expected, Raina's fanboys started chiming in.
— Our Raina hates things like this...
— Your rapport with her is going to go down...
— 700,000 won donation to reduce the friendship level?!
— Weeb TMI: Raina hates being summoned like a trophy when it's not in battle. She detests the summoner because she has a lot of pride…
The fanboys were unofficially called the Demian Association. Almond was initially surprised to see how many of them were in his stream, but understood when he saw the viewer count.
[Current Viewers: 9k]
There were more viewers now. They were here to watch the rare Raina gameplay and likely came from the Demian Association.
'Raina hates these things.'
Almond didn't know Raina's preferences, but what could he do? He already received a donation and Raina was already summoned.
"Hey, everyone. I got over a million won in donations. I can't just ignore it, right?"
Almond tried to calm his viewers down with his streaming tone.
— It's coming.
— A big one is coming!
— Sure!
— I can't overlook this! No! I can't!
— Argh!!! I can't even!
— Are we kindergartners?
Almond positioned himself for Raina's ultimate ability. Normally, Raina would fire off on her own, but rerouting it with a Link Movement was possible. All he had to do was point with his thumb.
Fwip.
He pointed his thumb at his forehead.
[... What are you intending?] Raina asked him with a confused look.
'... S-She's asking me?'
Raina's AI was impressive. He assumed she would shoot if he commanded, but now he felt sorry.
"This is... hmm..."
Almond didn't know what to say.
"It's like a ritual for the holy people..."
"Holy people?"
— Raina looks pissed!!
— Commanding Raina to shoot at you? Lucky you!!
— Angry Raina? I love it!
— But are you trying to get Raina to kill you? Is that even possible..?
— Am I the only one who finds holy people hilarious?
— How creative.
— ??? The hell is a holy person?
Whatever expression Raina had on her face, whatever excuse Almond used, her bow was drawn.
Bzzzzt…!
The condensed blue mana rested on her finger and turned into an arrow shape.
[Well... fine. So you're saying there's a special reason for this, right?]
Despite her reluctant look, it seemed like she would comply.
— What the? Is she going to do it?
— So AI can detect faces! Case closed!
— Raina! Come back!!
— Raina, since when did you obey the summoner so well?!
The viewers were jealous, but Almond's allies were excited at his celebration.
"... Oh! ADC, are you going to celebrate? We have to see this!"
"Kya, a ceremony? We can't resist it!"
Meanwhile, the enemy team was begging for them to end the game.
"Ah! Just end it already, you bastards!"
"Disgusting."
They shouted and shouted, but who would listen to the losers? No one struck their nexus.
"Yeaaah! Let's go, Lazy Soldier!"
"Rainnaaaaaa!"
"Ah! Top dif?!"
"Jungle dif!!"
They raised their arms and made more fun of them. Just then, Raina released her bow.
Kwagwagwagwang!!!
The path ahead of her shone with a bright white light. It signaled a large mana explosion.
"Bye, Treevy!"
Almond raised his arms in the air and took it head-on.
— ?
— ??
— What... are you doing…?
— Is he stupid?
— Is this a prank?
— ??
— LOL, I knew it wasn't possible.
The chat was filled with question marks.
Swoosh...
After Raina's ultimate was over, Almond stood still with his LazySoldier avatar.
'... It didn’t hit me.'
Almond only played realistic games and forgot one crucial detail. In this game, friendly fire had zero effects.
[Is this all? Summoner?]
Raina was confused.
Meanwhile...
"Wow! Good ceremony! Let's break it now!"
"Why did you raise your arms? Whatever, jungle carry!"
"Top dif!"
The teammates thought he was doing a strange ceremony before hitting the nexus.
Pung…!
Finally, the enemy nexus exploded and lost its golden light.
[Victory]
The victory text appeared before him. The game was over.
'Ah...'
Almond wanted to move, but couldn't right after the game. He stared at the victory screen with his arms in the air as if he was being punished.
[I thought you were using me for something important.]
He could hear Raina's cold voice behind him.
It was a disaster.
— LOOOOOOL
— Hahahaha
— Hell yeah, Raina's upset.
— Ah, this is Almond! Honestly, he was getting too smart in Battle Large, so it was no fun.
— Hey son, if you don't study, you will become Almond! I like that Mom!
Almond was thinking of ways to escape this awkward situation.
'Right, I had this.'
He remembered a virtual button he placed on the bottom right corner of the screen for showmanship. If he glanced at it, the button activated.
Press!
[Stream Over]
The button immediately ended the stream.
— ????
— Huh?!
— Wait, did he pull his internet?
— Teacher!! Was this necessary?!
— Wow
— Damn. He's filthy.
— Was this all a buildup for this?
— Is this... a pro?
— ????
— Are you serious?!
— Hey!!! At least show us your damage!
The viewers who didn't know about the stream button thought Almond had pulled the plug. It was virtually the same thing.
"Phew,"?Almond sighed a breath of relief and exited LIL.
— Hey! Almond! At least show us your damage!
— A twist after twist...
— Total damage! Show us your damage…
After the viewers vented their frustration, the chat disappeared.
[The stream is now over.]
[Do you want to watch this channel?]
A list of recommended channels came up and the viewers couldn't type anymore.
[1. Miho]
[A sneak peek at the new game's outfits]
[2. Bubblegum]
[Struggling in Bronze after Almond's help!]
[3. Takoyaki]
[Training over. I'm moving forward with my forehead.]
***
Chiiik-
The capsule lid opened and Almond walked out more drenched than usual.
"... Phew."
He could already tell inside the capsule, but LIL took a larger physical toll on him than any other game.
Tak.
As always, Ju-Hyeok tossed him a towel. Every time he did so, Sang-Hyeon felt like a boxer. The only difference was that Ju-Hyeok always laughed at him.
"Wow. You sure know how to play the game."
"Shut up."
"No, but for real. It looked like you were having fun."
Ju-Hyeok mocked him, but as a friend, he knew Almond was immersed in this game because of more than just streaming.
Especially during the normal match after the tutorial, Almond was completely into it. Even more than when he first played Battle Large.
"... That's right."
Sang-Hyeon nodded without hesitation. LIL was fun. He felt it was in another class from the games he previously played. No other games gave him the explosive fun that LIL did.
“Pfft,” Ju-Hyeok laughed and realized he was correct.
"Don't get drunk on yourself, Mr. Gamer. It won't be long before we have to play our game,?Lazy Soldier."
"Ah... Is it?"
Ju-Hyeok showed him the schedule on his cellphone.
"The first schedule is tomorrow for our ad shoot."
"Ah…!"
It was tomorrow. Did that mean he couldn't play LIL the next day?
For some reason, Sang-Hyeon was disappointed.
"Yeah, I need to do the ad."
Regardless, he liked the advertisement because it meant money, which was good for Ju-Hyeok and Ji-Ah. Almond headed to the bathroom to shower.
***
Shaaaa...
Ju-Hyeok could hear the shower turn on. He went on the community forums to see their reactions.
'He reached 9000 viewers towards the end.'
The viewership peaked at 9000 today. Considering they started with around 7000 viewers, it was impressive how quickly they recovered. Since Almond started with four viewers, this wasn't much trouble for him.
Judging by the trend, it seemed like time would be their solution. However, seeing what everyone thought about Almond playing LIL?was important. First, he went to KAF and Battle31, where most of Almond's fans were.
He saw a post with the following title:
[This is the power of Kingdom Age archery!]
Despite Almond not having played Kingdom Age in a while, a post with his name was still in the trending section. The community had impressive loyalty.
[Raina surprised after seeing Kingdom Age archery in action.
LILtards are getting shocked at seeing Kingdom Age archery.
OP Valkyrie is getting shot down by Kingdom Age archery.]
The user put the following titles with a gif of those moments.
“Pfft,”?Ju-Hyeok couldn't help but laugh out loud. What about the archery in Kingdom Age? However, the comments agreed with the user.
— Kya! The pride of Kingdom Age!
— Kya! We knew you could do it!
— This is the power of Kingdom Age!
— Wow, Kingdom Age is so different now! There are flying creatures too now?!
— Wow! You know Kingdom Age?!
Most of the comments were like that. The comments that were too serious were mocked.
— That looks like Demian's bow... is that Kingdom Age's archery?
└ Stfu
└ Fu
└ Get out
— Sorry, but that's not Kingdom Age archery. Its name is Demian, Raina's bow. Demian is made from blue mana and...
└ A nerd pretending to be a nerd.
└ Why is someone from the association here…
└ Gtfo
This time, he checked Battle31. This community was much larger than KAF and was Almond's most recent fanbase.
However—
'There aren't many loyal fans.'
Since the community was large and the game was big, there weren't any trending posts about Almond. However, several posts mentioned him.
[Did you see Almond play LIL? He's insane.]
[He killed it as ADC Raina.]
[The fanboys are at it again for just a normal game.]
[Everyone ignored Almond when he was in bronze, but the results speak for themselves.]
[Stop talking about Almond!]
[The fight between Raina and Valkyrie in their ultimates was breathtaking. You have to watch it.]
[Raina is always breathtaking, you idiot.]
There was a clash with the posts. They were trying to turn the public's tide using the posts.
"Hmm..."
Ju-Hyeok thought for a moment and made a post.
[This is the power of Battle Large archery!]
It was the same post as earlier, but with a different name.
— LOL so prideful.
— I am kind of proud of him.
— Battle Large is a good game for sure, but the company is...
— Oh…
Despite constantly criticizing Battle Large, they still loved the game. They felt proud.
'Good...'
After jotting down new data about the community, Ju-Hyeok moved on to LIL Pro. This place was going to be messy.
"Phew..."
This community housed the same violent personality as actual LIL players. Ju-Hyeok nervously clicked on the website.