Chapter 98: Skirmish (2)
Slam!
Ju-Hyeok slammed the table and got up.
"How could I miss that!"
The strategy he devised had a fatal flaw because there weren't enough arrows. A normal player would’ve only killed two or three players at most. The hospital farming route had been a mistake.
"How will he win this?"
Almond never ran out of arrows when he chose the Arsenal route. The final opponent also never had a legendary weapon because he prevented that from happening by destroying the basement.
However, the opponent had a legendary weapon and helmet in this round. He was equipped to win and should've won, but Almond wouldn’t settle for second place.
The difference between first and second place was immense. It was the difference between winning and losing as well as being the best or not.
Ju-Hyeok wanted to tell Sang-Hyeon that second place was fine, but the reality in Battle Large?was that the difference in points between first and second place was twice as much.
If Almond failed to win first, he'd have to risk three more matches with even more stream snipers. That felt awful to even imagine.
Their curveball strategy would be less effective as Almond played more and more. His overall status would only worsen. Losing this match had too many downsides.
"He has to win first here," Ju-Hyeok nervously whispered to himself.
He felt extremely nervous for the first time as he watched Almond play.
Almond only had one arrow left in this 1v1 situation. To top it off, the opponent wore legendary gear that could withstand ten arrows.
'Is this possible?'
Sweat trickled down Ju-Hyeok’s forehead because he already calculated how much this one match mattered. For Ju-Hyeok, this game was worth millions of won.
— Wait, isn't that Takoyaki?
A message in the chat suddenly caught Ju-Hyeok's attention. The enemy seemed to be someone famous. Anyone with a name in the scene needed to be checked.
— Tako... what are you doing there?
— Tako! Turn on your stream!
— Ah, is that Tako? LOL
— The avatar is Tako's.
— What the fuck is a Tako?
Ju-Hyeok wanted to ask the same. He quickly searched for Takoyaki on Treevy, who turned out to be a streamer currently offline.
[Training Privately]
An announcement on his page informed everyone that he was training by himself.
Ju-Hyeok opened up Wikipedia and searched for additional information on him. As expected, several resources popped up. Takoyaki had double the amount of Almond's followers and a long list of achievements.
He was a former pro player in LIL. Recently, he grew fond of Battle Large and even reached the top 50 in the past. His skills began to deteriorate after he started his hair transplant.
"?"
Ju-Hyeok had to re-read the information because it baffled him. What he just read was actually real.
It stated that Takoyaki’s skills declined after a hair transplant. During his pro days, Takoyaki experienced severe hair loss and went bald. He peaked during his hair loss and people joked at the time that he traded his hair for his skills. However, he lost all his gameplay skills as soon as he started getting a hair transplant.
"Pfft,"?Ju-Hyeok couldn't help but laugh out loud even in this serious situation. "The hell is this?"
***
Takoyaki, the YouTuber battling Almond, plucked out four arrows from his body.
"Huff... Puff... That guy is a pain in the ass."
He thought victory was in the bag since luck was on his side.
"Sigh, this is perfect for YouTube. God dammit."
He had a habit of talking even though he wasn't streaming. His focus also increased with no viewers watching.
As a result, he was about to win first place in a Diamond promotion match. Technically, he still needed to kill one more player. However, past experience told him he would definitely win.
But...
Takoyaki felt slightly uneasy because he knew the opponent’s identity.
'Almond, right?'
Most Battle Large streamers had heard of that name at least once. He hadn’t seen any of Almond's plays, but heard rumors of his insane skills.
‘Was that guy also doing his promotion matches?’
They coincidentally met. Takoyaki wasn't sure if he was lucky or not.
'Almond or not, I’ve got him in the corner.'
Tako was a slow-paced player who only moved after assessing the situation. His strategy was to corner a player and finish them off with his gun. When he looked at the bigger picture, Almond was about to be finished.
Almond ran out of arrows and was injured. He probably also used up all his medical equipment considering his time in the blue zone. Just earlier, he also used up his smoke grenades and flashbangs.
Tako readied his gun as the smoke cleared.
[HP: 45%]
He still had almost half his HP left. It would take four more shots to kill him, but the opponent would die with one shot.
Almond could pick up more arrows, but Takoyaki wouldn’t let him.
'Let's go.'
Now was the perfect chance. Tako had cornered the opponent and would gun him down to finish the game. He made his decision and slowly came out of hiding.
[The blue zone will shrink in 30 seconds!]
[This will be the final blue zone!]
The blue zone would soon disappear for good.
Takoyaki didn’t have any medical equipment because he chose to start at the Arsenal. He had to run quickly.
Tadadada.
He charged at Almond with a determined look and obliterated the surroundings.
Tudududdududu!
The trees split in half and collapsed. Rocks and boulders exploded. This was the power of a legendary weapon.
'Alright, where are you.'
Almond was running out of places to hide.
Then, Tako heard a strange sound.
Shiiik—?
'On the left?'
This surprised him. Almond should've been straight ahead, but an arrow flew from a different direction.
That didn't matter. He wouldn't die even if it hit him.
Thwack!
Tako felt an impact on the lower part of his vest, but his HP only went down by 10%.
'Now I've won.'
Tako's avatar smiled and his white teeth showed.
However…
Beeeeeep—?
He could only hear his eardrums ringing as the screen turned black.
[2nd Place]
The following text appeared on his screen.
***
Slam!
Takoyaki opened the capsule lid and came out. He stumbled and tried to regain his balance.
"Fuck! What was that!?!"
The game immediately shut down because he angrily stormed out.
"What the fuck? Did the game bug out!? What happened..."
Tako dumbfoundedly repeated to himself. After venting, he finally realized that he should watch the replay. He started watching from when the four arrows struck him.
'It's still crazy even as I watch it again.'
He was in awe of Almond's play as he watched it from a third-person perspective. Now he understood how Almond grew so popular in such a short time. He didn’t even feel jealous. He simply watched in awe.
'Sigh...'
Especially that final arrow… Takoyaki forgot about his anger and watched it in awe.
"Wait, it curved and came to me?"
The player hadn’t moved, but the arrow did as if it had a will of its own.
"This crazy guy."
Thwack.
Out of habit, Tako whacked his forehead when he felt impressed.
"No wonder. I knew he was straight ahead of me, but the arrow came from the left."
Again, out of habit, he continued talking to himself as if he was streaming.
"Alright, it's here."
He paused the video when the arrow came flying from the left. Despite being hit by the arrow, Tako advanced because he knew he wouldn't die.
"It was weird starting from... huh?"
Tako's eyes widened. He could see something black pinned on the arrow tip.
"What is this..."
A grenade was wrapped around it with bandages.
"What a game. You really can do anything."
Tako finally accepted his defeat.
“Ahhh!” he shouted because he had been so close. Then he returned to the capsule to make up for his loss. He felt that the new hair from his transplant wouldn't last long.
"Fucker."
He complimented Almond one last time.
***
[1st]
The viewers couldn't believe the result.
— ???
— Wait, that really worked?
— Fucking insane!
— Damn!
— Crazy!
— Wow!
— What the, how!?
— Battle Large is the best game. You can get so creative!
Question marks filled the chat and the facecam on the bottom right of the screen remained still. Almond was covered in sweat as the results sank in.
'It worked?'
He didn’t know if such a tactic would work or not. Wrapping the grenade onto the arrow tip. It would be impossible in reality because the grenade was too heavy and would decrease the arrow’s precision and reach. Regardless, Almond bet on this tactic for one reason.
'I tried it because I couldn't feel the grenade’s weight...'
In Battle Large, the grenade had no weight. The physics were similar to real life when thrown, but the game didn’t factor in weight. Weapons and equipment would be too difficult for players to use if their weights were accurate to reality.
Almond hadn’t known about this, but devised the strategy solely based on intuition.
'It worked!'
The spontaneous idea led to his victory.
[1st]
The small text perfectly encapsulated his achievement.
"Ha... haha..."
His lips formed into a smile as sweat trickled down. For the first time on his stream, he showed the viewers a big glowing smile.
His face was drenched in sweat, but his smile shone even brighter. He hadn’t been promoted yet, but that didn't matter.
'This is fun.'
He genuinely enjoyed doing this as a job. The fact that he could face off against experts and win. The fact that 10,000-20,000 viewers were watching him.
— Son, you have to be Almond when you grow up! Son, you have to be Almond when you grow up!
— Mom! I want to be a Walnut! Mom! I want to be a Walnut!
— Stop being so good Almond! Stop being so good Almond!
— Almond! Almond! Almond! Almond!
— You're crazy! You're crazy! You're crazy!
— Take me! Take me! Take me!
— Almond, you may marry my daughter! Almond, you may marry my daughter!
Everyone celebrated, cheered, and shouted only one name. They all praised Almond and this sensation couldn’t be compared to anything else.
He had been preparing for this promotion match for so long. The feeling of succeeding tasted so sweet.
“Ahahahaha,”?he couldn't help but laugh.
It was hard to tell why he felt so happy. Sang-Hyeon just naturally laughed. Maybe he would truly grasp how he felt after the moment passed.
The sweat gathering at his eyes suddenly fell.
He wiped himself with his shirt and got back into the queue.
"Time for the last game."
Diamond lay right in front of him, but winning consecutively would be difficult.