Chapter 140: Minion (1)
The light disappeared and what appeared was a plain as white as the light itself. It was a snowy field. The light reflecting off the white snow relentlessly penetrated the gaps between the snowflakes.
"Urk."
Almond couldn't help but shut his eyes. He tried to look around and withstand the light, but...
Swooooosh—?
All he could see was the howling wind carrying snow. Suddenly, he felt someone kicking him in the shin.
Thud.
It felt like a heavy boot.
"You guys can clean up the rest of the corpses."
Almond stood still, confused.
"Yes."
The children around him answered instead.
That was right. There were children.
They moved relentlessly as commanded by the soldier from earlier, dragging the blood-stained frozen corpses to the cremation site. Even those corpses didn't seem all that big, somehow resembling children.
"Hey, you."
A young voice called for Almond. Almond looked back and was shocked.
'Raina?'
A child was standing there and looked exactly like Raina.
— Raina noona...? No, not anymore.
— Hey, Raina is now protected by the law. Careful what you say~
— Raina!!!
— Damn... this is my first time seeing this. What happened?
— Is this Raina when she was young?
She looked sixteen years old at most.
The young Raina wore nothing but thin garments on the snowy road while dragging a corpse and asked Almond, "It's my first time seeing your face. Are you a captive of Taran? What's your name?"
It was time to choose his nickname.
— Thank god it's not Lazy Soldier
— It'd be hilarious if it were Lazy Soldier, LOL
— Thank goodness she asked
Not only did the chat come into Almond's view, but so did Raina's youthful eyes. It was a lively blue color that could only be seen in children. Her blue eyes seemed like it was frozen from the blizzard. He couldn't bring himself to say his name was Lazy Soldier.
"Almond."
It was his first time telling Raina his real name.
"Almond? What a strange name," Raina said in a dry tone and tightened her thin garment once more. She gave Almond a light shove and walked past him. "If you stand still like that, you could be next."
Upon hearing those words, Almond glanced back at Raina dragging the bodies. His gaze extended up to the snow-covered hill. On top of the hill, something sharp and pointy could be seen.
'A turret?'
It was the turret from siege mode. The turret mercilessly attacked any champions or minions approaching with its magic attacks. Near the turret was a mountain of corpses.
Almond asked his viewers privately, "Is that mountain all corpses?"
— I think so...
— Oh, this is realistic siege mode
— LIL is a terrifying game, everybody!
— That's creepy.
— Fact: LIL users are scarier.
— If we kill the soldier minions, they're the ones who clean them up? Oh no...
— No spoilers.
— Everybody, don't spoil.
Judging from the chat, this map was the real-life version of the siege mode. Almond was cleaning up the mess after a match.
But who were all these children? Who were they fighting?
‘And who am I playing as? What's going on?’
He had never seen the LIL?story mode in a stream, so everything was new. Bubblegum, who he mostly watched, mainly played Battle Large and Mana Sword.
'I guess it's better that I don't know.'
There was no fun in playing the story mode if he knew everything. That was why other viewers insisted others keep spoilers to a minimum. They wanted to see Almond look surprised and cry when the moment came, so he could further immerse himself in the game.
A donation came at the perfect time.
Bling.
[RubySword has donated 10,000 won.]
[Almond! Change your stream category to LIL story mode! Unlike the lame game Kingdom Age, there's an option that can automatically filter spoilers!]
Games with an official contract with Treevy had certain special features.
"Ah, RubySword, thank you for the valuable information."
During games like this, it was a useful feature.
[LIL Siege Mode -> LIL Story Mode]
As soon as he changed the game category, the game asked him a question.
[There is a narrative in this game. Do you want to enable spoiler filters?]
[Yes]
Now, he could play without worrying about spoilers and fully enjoy the story.
— LOL! You just turned it on?
— The most interesting newbie.
— A streamer who's only played a month...
— It's only been a month, but it feels like he's been doing it for five years.
"Alright, I'm going to resume the game. I don't know what's happening, but I should do as they say for now.
— Yeah
— Just go with the flow.
— Story mode is more fun without knowing anything.
Almond nodded and looked at the mountain with the turret on top.
'Do I have to go there?'
The children around him climbed the mountain, glancing at Almond, and signaling him to do the same. It seemed like Almond had to do the work for now. Otherwise, as Raina said, he'd become one of the corpses.
'Let's go.'
He climbed the hills to survive.
Stomp. Stomp.
As he struggled to lift his frozen legs, they sank deep into the snow with each laborious step. A chilling sensation crept up to his knees.
Since it wasn't real, he couldn't feel the pain of the coldness freezing his skin or the dampness caused by the wet environment. He could feel his body trembling though.
The pain wasn't recreated, but the uncomfortable sensation of the cold was. Because the uncomfortable sensation felt so real, he thought he was truly cold during this moment.
"Argh..."
Almond shook his body once more and headed towards the hill's peak.
Stomp. Stomp.
As he pushed forward through the snow...
"Phew. We're here."
He arrived at the top of the hill.
As he took a deep breath, he could see his breath scatter through the wind. And then he saw the mountain of corpses.
As he predicted, the pile he saw earlier was a mountain of corpses. It was censored to create a disconnection from reality, but he still felt uncomfortable. A human corpse was...
"Urgh..."
Almond instinctively looked away. He met eyes with Raina down the hill. She stopped dragging the corpse and stared at Almond as well. She stared at him for a while as if she had a gripe with him and continued to drag the corpse. He wasn't sure why she acted like that, but he ignored her for now. Almond's main priority was moving this corpse. He selected the smallest corpse and pulled on it.
"Huh…?"
But it wasn't that easy.
"This is kind of hard."
Almond wasn't too strong in this mode. A well-built man would have difficulty pulling a dead body, let alone the strength of a child.
— %*@*@
— There's no point complaining to us.
— LOL, the same as me
— &&$*#
The chat was filled with strange characters. It was the method to censor the spoilers. Almond wouldn't be able to get help from his viewers.
'How do the others carry it?'
Almond looked around at the other children. Everyone could drag a corpse because they were using a rope.
"... I don't have a rope."
Almond was the only one without a rope. Even he was surprised by his lack of awareness. How could he figure it out so late?
The chat was filled with mockery of him.
***
Almond had to walk back down to grab a rope. Then climb back up to drag the corpses. When he thought this was the worst kind of labor, he dragged the final corpse.
"Arrghh.... ahhh!"
Thud.?
With a shout, he threw the final corpse into the incinerator. He sighed deeply and sat in one corner of the incinerator. Almond moved the corpses for now, but he couldn't understand the objective of this story mode.
"What am I supposed to do now? I started without any knowledge, so..."
Suddenly…
Bling.
[Clear Criteria]
★: Survive
★★: Annihilate the enemy
★★★: Raina's reason
A window popped up as if the game heard Almond's question. To get one star, all he had to do was survive. Starting from two stars, it was more difficult. Especially the third one, he had no idea what it meant.
'Raina's reason?'
It seemed like it had something to do with why Raina got angry. However, it was too vague to be sure.
"This third one... it's natural to not know it, right?"
— Yeah, it's always vague.
— Three stars are always hard to clear
— If you get three stars, you get a special reward. But no one can beat Raina's.
— Getting three stars is like a dream. Just give it up.
— That can only be done by pure luck. Just focus on getting two stars.
— Raina three stars is possible? I've never seen it happen.
— There are only rumors of people completing it.
It was normal not to know? Nobody had ever beaten it? It seemed like out of streamers, no one could clear it.
[DemianClub has registered a mission.]
[500,000 won if you get all three stars!]
"?"
Almond was surprised because it was a viewer who had never spent much money.
"Will you be okay?"
[DemianClub has donated 1000 won.]
[This is how I feel toward Raina-chan. You won't be able to do it anyways, uwu. You don't have what it takes to win her! ><]
The way he talked was unpleasant, but Almond understood that he'd have no regrets about the mission.
"Thank you for the 500,000 won."
— Look how confident he is.
— Hey! You can't beat that!
— Are you saying you can do it?
— Raina, three stars?!
— That has nothing to do with skills!
Whether skills mattered or not, Almond wanted to beat it. Achieving the highest rank always made him excited.
Just then…
Creak.
The storage door beside the incinerator opened, and a large soldier entered.
"Hey, you. Come to the arsenal if you're done."
The storage was an arsenal.
"... Yes!"
Almond was now obedient like the children around him.
— Hey, did you forget you're the Lazy Soldier?
— So into it. Just like a newbie.
— It's like watching myself in high school! FML.
— An obedient Almond...? Yahtzee!
As he entered, he saw the other children warming up by the fire.
'Everyone was resting here?'
Despite not feeling actual coldness, Almond felt a sense of betrayal and quickly hurried to sit beside them.
"Another battle will start soon."
He could hear the children become startled. They didn't say anything, but were noticeably shaking. Not from the cold though.
"Here are the weapons the minions ahead used."
‘Minions?’
Almond checked who he was. He was a minion.
The same minions who kept forming in LIL siege mode. The soldiers who blindly ran to the towers were called minions.
They were the weakest entities in the game, caught and killed by summoners to produce gold and EXP. Now, he was one of those minions.
"Pick a weapon you can use well. It'll be the sole weapon to defend your life."
Thud.
The soldier carelessly dropped the weapons. All the used weapons had traces of blood and rust. None of them were taken care of.
But then…
"!"
Shuffle!
All the children ran for it like a herd, trying to get the best one. Almond ran without hesitation as well. Of course, the weapon he chose was the bow. He chose the best one out of the pile.
However, another white hand reached out for the same bow.
Tak.
"...!"
"?"
He turned around and met Raina's blue eyes.
She looked at him sharply and asked, "Do you... know how to use a bow?"
***
[Beginner’s Tip: Minions are the lowest tier and only listen to the commands of their higher-ups. They mostly do the dirty work and, in siege mode, are the first to charge for the turrets.]