Season 2: Chapter 210: The First Participation (2)
SnowWhiteAndSevenDwarfs had been watching Almond’s stream for quite a long time, so he knew Almond well. He knew how Almond handled different situations as well as his strengths and weaknesses. He hardly missed watching Almond’s stream every day.
Why? Because he was a fan? Nope, not at all. It was quite the opposite.
‘Honestly, I'm not sure if he's that good. It's not a game you can win with physical skills alone.’
It was closer to jealousy.
‘In terms of understanding the game as a skill, aren't I better?’
He was also a streamer and had around one hundred viewers. He had been streaming much longer than Almond and began watching Almond's streams when Almond started doing well.
What was so good about him that everyone watched?
‘Would they watch me if I was better than him?’
Then, an opportunity came. He had merely typed malicious messages like usual and Almond pointedly called him out. It was a stroke of luck.
He had always dreamed of a situation like this. Targeting Almond, defeating him, and having viewers realize Almond's abilities were overrated. They would come to watch his stream instead because he was the real talent.
It was a dream come true. With such inflated expectations, he stood in the abyss duel arena.
***
Around two minutes into the game, his body was frozen solid.
"Chikicha!" Almond casually shouted from beside him.
‘Oh.’
He looked at his turret as if he was looking at his lost homeland.
‘Was, was it that far?’
Was it really that far to get there? No, he could still quickly return. Why was it different from his calculations?
‘It's not to the level of dying yet.’
He wouldn't die from this damage exchange. There was still hope after this.
Bang!
[Freezing Unlocked]
As soon as he was unfrozen, he desperately ran toward the turret.
‘I need to get out of here for now!’
He ran as he shot little stars behind him.
[Meteor Shower]
He activated Meteor Shower, which he had kept hidden. Surviving this exchange was crucial, but it was useless.
‘Did everything miss?’
Not even one little star landed.
Moreover, Almond dodged all his attacks and continued running beside him.
— Lol, running together is hilarious, hahaha.
— Lol, so wicked.
— Nuts... how terrible!
Almond asked while proudly laughing, "Wow. What's that skill?"
He pointed to where the Meteor Shower had fallen.
"Is that some kind of secret weapon?"
‘Shit.’
He had used Meteor Shower in vain, letting the enemy know of its existence.
‘I need to survive right now. It's not completely over yet.’
Zen kept running and finally entered his turret's range.
Almond had to stop following.
‘Did I survive this?’
If Zen entered the turret’s range, Almond had to stop following.
"What, why are you still following me!?"
Almond continued forward and risked getting hit by the turret.
Bang!
The turret began to attack Almond.
‘This is actually an opportunity for me!’
The moment SnowWhite thought so and launched a counterattack—
Clatter!
Arrows reappeared in Almond's quiver.
Then, Zen felt the sensation of being hit by arrows simultaneously.
Thud!
‘What...?’
He couldn't see what was happening with his eyes. His vision turned white momentarily as the second and third arrows landed.
Thud!
At least, that was how it felt as the person being hit.
‘What, what kind of speed is this…?’
He had never realized how fast Almond shot when watching his streams and how unbelievably evasive he was. No one could truly know until they felt it. It was incomprehensible.
‘Everything missed again.’
Zen had quickly launched his little stars, hoping to land a hit while the turret also attacked, but he missed again.
On the other hand, Almond’s arrows never missed.
There was in LIL about JeonJaPa.
[Put strategy and everything else aside. In this game, you win if you can dodge everything and hit everything.]
This statement completely disregarded the complex operations of the MOBA genre, yet it was also the essence of it.
‘FUCK!’
There was actually someone who could do that.
"Chikicha!"
SnowWhite couldn't properly read his attacks until the last arrow. He wouldn't have known if he hadn't heard Almond shout chikicha.
[Wind Arrow]
Boom!
With a tearing roar, his whole body burst open.
‘Ah…’
As he was burning white, he thought to himself. Almond would die anyway getting hit by the turret like that. He would die too.
Zen believed that Almond’s health had already dropped below thirty percent. The turret struck him at least twice and he was still too close to the turret, so he would die.
If Almond also died, it would be a tie. Then, they would have to duel again. However─
[Level Up!]
[LazySoldier Lv.2]
Almond gained enough experience after killing him to reach level two.
[Rope Movement]
He shot his rope far beyond the turret’s range.
Clang!
Shish!
The rope wound up and his silhouette instantly vanished from the turret’s range.
‘...’
SnowWhite watched this scene as a soul.
‘A wall...’
It felt like hitting a hard wall and a phrase appeared in the middle of his vision.
[Defeat]
True to the abyss duel mode, there was no revival without even a sanctuary here.
— He got utterly crushed, lol.
— Schooled!
— Did school start today!? What a lesson!
— If you couldn't last even 3 minutes, why did you even try?
— Marksman Academy's discipline is strict, lol.
— Hey! In the Nuts Punk universe, school starts in December!? Hey! In the Nuts Punk universe, school starts in December!? Hey! In the Nuts Punk universe, school starts in December!?
— Lmao, he got killed at level 1.
— Why did it end so quickly? SnowWhite!
— It ended quicker than my cup noodles, lol.
***
"Let’s settle down now~"
The chat continued mocking SnowWhiteAndSevenDwarves. Almond thought he had to calm them down for a moment.
"Everyone, please calm down a little. They are still our viewers, after all. If you say something too harsh..."
[RubySword has donated 100,000 won!]
[Wow! True education! Lol, but what exactly is the counter strategy? I really don't know...]
"Thank you RubySword! The counter is..."
— Are you saying thank you for the harsh words? Lol.
— Thank you for the harsh words, lol
— This is capitalism!
— Ruby Princess can't resist harsh words~
Almond was about to answer Ruby's question.
'Counter? Hmm?'
Come to think of it, he didn't know. What exactly was the counter?
"Uh... I don't know what the counter was.
— lmao he died without showing anything.
— LMAO.
— But really, what was the counter? Lol.
Since he had already won, knowing the count wasn't necessary. Still, Almond wanted to answer the question after receiving a 100,000 won donation.
He thought about asking the person directly.
"Should we interview Zen?"
There was no chance this interview would happen. SnowWhite had already disappeared from the stream.
"Ah. He left?"
Almond tilted his head at the message from Ju-Hyeok.
— Ran off to save his ass, lol.
— Did you feel the wall?
— Really? Lol.
Usually, a viewer would either just take it in stride or insist on a few more rounds.
'What's this? Did I go too far?'
Almond felt sorry for no reason and scratched his head.
"Maybe I shouldn't have said chikicha..."
— Went too far playing around lol.
— Chikicha~
— The mental damage was significant!
— I would leave too if I were him, haha.
Because Almond had played around too much or for whatever reason, SnowWhite left and they still didn't know what the counter strategy was.
"RubySword, I’ll look into why it was a counter pick and let you know later."
Almond couldn't provide an answer despite the 100,000 won donation.
Ding.
Just then, a message came from Ju-Hyeok.
[Ju-Hyeok: What do we do about these people?]
He was referring to the viewers who had sent malicious messages.
In the meantime, the list had been updated. These individuals had been spared the storm because SnowWhite took it for them, but they weren't much different.
A smile spread across Almond's lips. He found it regretful that SnowWhite left so quickly, but these guys were still here.
“Oh, by the way, there are still viewers I need to deal with."
— ???
— Ah...
— lolol
Almond displayed Ju-Hyeok's message so the viewers could see it.
— Is this a Death Note? HAHA.
— Execution list!!
— Kill list…
Viewers made ruthless comparisons to Death Note after looking at the list. Of course, this was natural considering Almond's performance against SnowWhite. Anyone daring to challenge him would become a lifelong spectacle.
"Now, those on this list, please tell me your nicknames."
Not a single message appeared in the viewers' window listed on the kill list that was being separately displayed.
— Who would do that? lol.
— ??? Next!
— LMAO~
— Next to be executed? None?
The atmosphere was distinctly different from when they boldly chatted a few minutes ago.
"Hmm, shall I ban all of you?"
Finally, Almond declared that he would ban them if they didn't say their nicknames.
Then, an unexpected event occurred.
Bababam!
[BigAssRoot has donated 100,000 won!]
[Bro, I'm sorry. Sori is the strongest in the universe. I didn't realize it was all for the country.]
Someone raised the white flag first.
— National project, lol.
— So suddenly? lol.
— LMAO.
— Wow, 100,000 won? Holy moly.
A generous donation of 100,000 won came in. Almond glanced at the messages this individual had sent.
[BigAssRoot]
— It does smell like rigging.
— Honestly, it's advertising, right?
— I know how Sori works because I played her before, duh~
— Honestly, if Almond does it again, he can't be compared to the goat ever again.
"Mr. BigAssRoot, I can feel the sincerity in your apology. Alright."
BigAssRoot was removed from the kill list.
— Bail money, lol.
— I would understand anything for 100,000 won!
— Come on! Line up! If you want to pay 100,000 won, line up!
More donations came one after another.
Bababam!
Babam!
"Um... This wasn't my intention."
— Keep that smile down when you speak, please.
— Fact: This was his true intention
— What a bully. Tsk tsk.
— ??? Almond, please don't hit me! I'll pay the friendship fee!
Not all the donations were 100,000 won. Most were around 20,000 to 30,000 won. The lowest was 5,000 won.
[AverageHighSchoolStudent has donated 5,000 won.]
[Bro.. Please look away just once. I'll chat nicely from now on. I'm really a high school student and have no money...]
"Ah. You're a minor. Let’s take a look at your messages first.”
Looking at the messages, he seemed like a young person in a not-so-good way.
'This is a bit...'
The level of maliciousness was a bit too high to let it slide.
— What kind of middle school student is this? lol
— Look at the way he talks lol.
— Sounds like he's been picked on in some community, ugh tsk tsk.
— Should we teach you a lesson, bro?
— I want to smack him with the corner of a tray.
"What grade are you in high school?"
He replied that he was in tenth grade. He was just about to enter high school as a freshman.
— Is this kid trying to seem younger by saying he's a freshman?
— So he's actually in 9th grade, huh? lol
— He’s NOT a (real) high school student lol
"Ah. A freshman."
Almond clicked his ID and set the number of months.
[36 months]
— ???
— Is this a car lease?
— Lmao 36??
"Since you're a high school freshman, I'll ban you until the college entrance exam so you can study."
— Noooooo, pleasee…
That was his last message.
(Unknown)
His ID had now been dealt with.
— King Unknown lol Wow.
— Learned social studies for free.
— Wow!
— If you don't have money! Be careful in the chat, damn!
— With a feeling of relief~
Almond successfully dealt with all the malicious viewers.
Clap!
He clapped his hands.
"Okay, everyone."
He pointed to where the stream title would be.
[LIL: There are no bad champions]
"See? There are no bad champions or bad messages in the chat."
— Loyalty! ^^
— Agreed!
— Is it because all the bad ones were killed?
— You killed them all lol.
Almond perfectly resolved the controversy over Sori, but—
'The rumors will continue anyway.'
Almond already knew that because Sori wasn't really a strong champion who performed leaps and bounds beyond the other champions.
The nagging would continue. At least, he put out the urgent fire while the initial sales peaked. Perhaps?