Chapter 5
Chapter 5
The Timeline Where a Dead Game Became a God-Tier Game
The experiment was a success.
Out of the countless builds I created after glimpsing their potential, Zombie Camilla MK.1 had performed its role perfectly.
It was a build that maximized Camilla’s unique survivability. Her damage had to be lowered somewhat in exchange, but through passive shields and lifesteal, it was designed to let her endure far longer.
From the items onward, it was a build I’d painstakingly crafted after countless hours of thought.
It made me strangely emotional. Back then too, I used to tirelessly refine builds like this and repeatedly test whether they worked in actual matches.
Though that had only been possible during the game’s early days when people still existed. Later on, matchmaking barely worked anymore, making proper testing impossible.
‘But not anymore.’
In this worldline where Abyss, our game, had become a god-tier game, such things no longer existed. I hurriedly erased memories of those days from my mind.
The process of refining builds was fun in itself, but the most thrilling moment was always when the results of your research revealed themselves.
Now then, look. Wasn’t the result of my research right in front of me?
Twitch twitch—
The enemy ADC Miriam lay on the verge of death, merely waiting for the end.
Crying, raging, despairing… perhaps feeling deeply wronged after losing to me, she crawled around like a worm while repeatedly spamming emotes.
Well, of course she felt wronged. The matchup itself originally favored her heavily, and this was probably the first time she’d ever seen a character using such a bizarre build.
She was probably extremely flustered.
And honestly, that too was one of the true joys of crafting builds.
Because an undiscovered build possessed terrifying destructive power, to the point that unless you were ranker-level, dealing with it blindly was almost impossible.
I couldn’t help but admire the result born from my obsessive research and extreme understanding of Camilla.
Miriam. A hero released during the three years I had skipped, currently reigning as an overpowered meta ADC.
Her trademarks were unique mobility, survivability, and firepower capable of shredding diving bruisers. Normally, the old Camilla could never defeat her alone like this.
But what about the current situation?
The one still standing on the battlefield was me.
The one collapsed on the ground was Miriam.
-At this rate, I won’t be able to dance anymore… I need a short rest.
“I’m not exactly in good condition either….”
In truth, I was in a fairly dangerous state too.
Blood streamed from various parts of my body, and my HP had dropped to around twenty percent.
My teammates must’ve thought the situation was dangerous as well, because when I went in, they spammed retreat pings nonstop. And now they were all reacting with widened eyes.
[HomeSecurityGuard1(Nixon): Wait how the hell did you kill her??]
[DongwonSpringWater(Haven): She was dancing around by herself and somehow healing though?]
[TK110(Jerome): Damn, survived by a hair]
By a hair. True enough.
But the important part was that I’d killed her.
Originally, Camilla always had to accept this level of bleeding if she wanted to eliminate key enemy heroes. She was a character fundamentally built around tightrope walking, so scenes like this were everyday life.
Looking only at the result, I’d succeeded in the dangerous balancing act, eliminated my target, and survived.
Good. I was satisfied.
My adaptation to this new body was progressing smoothly too.
There were still awkward moments, like my fingers feeling slightly shorter than usual when pressing the keyboard, but after a few more games, I expected to adapt completely.
Build research and rehabilitation training were both successful.
That was what I thought as I finished off Miriam, who had finally stopped sending emotes.
“I got hit by a truck, okay? A truck.”
[Hmm… looking at the match history, it wasn’t enough to call it a truck though]
[Pathetic, Nikang]
[Where’d all that confidence about crushing everyone below high rank go….]
[Guess this is Nikang’s limit]
[Even when people praised her, she was still just Plat-tier ]
[Did the gifted-player narrative finally shatter?]
Nikang muttered unhappily, but there was no way anyone would let it slide. Starting from all the arrogant things she’d said until now, the karma she’d piled up wasn’t exactly small.
This situation was also partly caused by the comfortable “friend-like streamer” image she deliberately cultivated.
Unlike most female streamers, Nikang’s broadcasts revolved around playful banter and teasing back and forth with viewers.
It was meant to distinguish her from other streamers, but at moments like this, every single viewer clinging onto her mistakes felt unbelievably annoying.
Especially because Nikang herself wasn’t the type to just let teasing slide.
Seeing a message calling her future hardstuck Plat trash, she shouted back.
“You guys would’ve lost to that Camilla too! Do you even know how good that person was?!”
[Hmm… was she really that good?]
[What even is Camilla lol I’ve literally never seen that character in Abyss]
[Wow! You know Camilla? Camilla is the 33rd hero released in Abyss and—]
[You lost to someone dancing around with guns and you still talk this much]
[Fr lol she suddenly started dancing mid-fight]
[If you’d stopped getting scared during the dance and just stat-checked her, you would’ve won honestly]
[To be fair, anyone would panic seeing that the first time lol]
The rank Nikang currently occupied, Platinum, wasn’t actually low at all.
Only viewers who spent all day watching streams looked down on it. Even the lowest rank, Platinum 4, was within the top twenty-five percent.
Like most ranking systems, the lower tiers naturally contained far more players. Most likely, over half the people backseating in chat were actually lower rank than Nikang herself.
“If you’re gonna backseat, at least type your rank beside it. You’re all Bronze, Silver, or Gold anyway.”
[D4) If you lose a 1v1 to Camilla as an ADC you should quit the role]
[P2) My dog Poppy plays Abyss better than Nikang]
[M1) When Camilla used W to enter, if you sidestepped and then used E during her Q for the enhanced auto, you would’ve won]
[Everyone’s somehow higher rank than Nikang lol]
[This room is suspiciously lacking Bronze/Silver/Gold players…]
“Ugh.”
Nikang was just about to get petty revenge on her viewers by turning off the webcam out of frustration—
When a donation suddenly arrived, drawing both her and the viewers’ attention.
<NikangMyGang donated 1,000 won!>
-The Camilla player you just faced was Challenger until Season 5 You were doomed from the start
“Challenger? They were Challenger?”
Nikang couldn’t hide her surprise.
Challenger.
Why was someone who belonged at the absolute peak of the game down here?
Unable to suppress her curiosity, Nikang searched the nickname of the player she’d just encountered on a match-history site.
“Oh, they really were Challenger… but why are they unranked now?”
The player’s history was rather strange.
Starting from Season 1, shortly after the game launched, and continuing all the way to Season 5 three years ago, they had been Challenger the entire time.
But after that, there were no records whatsoever of them playing.
As if they’d only recently returned, new match records had started appearing again just a few days ago.
The viewers were equally fascinated by the mysterious expert, and chat started scrolling rapidly.
[Maybe they just came back from military service?]
[Who does military service for three years]
[That was around the time people kept saying the game was dying, so maybe they quit entirely]
[Holy shit this person’s an ancient fossil player]
[Okay fair enough she lost to a hardcore Challenger;;]
[Honestly the impressive part is that she kept up that well]
[A hidden master who vanished for 3 years ]
[Challenger with Camilla as most-playedThis is Kayak]
[Kayak was alive?]
[So you were still protecting your romance all this time, Kayak…]
[Even though the age of romance ended, this bastard still stayed romantic…]
[You disgusting one-trick bastard please die]
“Kayak? Who’s Kayak? This person is Kayak?”
A name occasionally appearing throughout the chat, clearly referring to someone.
Just as Nikang was asking about it—
“Ah.”
With a heavy thud, the queue popped, drawing everyone’s attention back to the game.
“Can I go ADC?”
As Nikang carefully checked the team composition and selected Miriam’s portrait again like last game—
The chat exploded.
[Isn’t that person the Camilla from last game?]
[It’s Camilla]
[Kayak appears]
[Why the hell is a Challenger hanging around Plat]
[Looks like they’re still doing placements]
“Oh.”
Nikang couldn’t stop the small gasp escaping her lips.
The moment the pretty female character struck a dancing pose above the allied portrait before instantly locking in, she recognized her immediately.
The familiar face and nickname.
And the instant lock-in.
That alone spoke of confidence in their skill.
“Hmm… then maybe I’ll quietly enjoy getting carried this game….”
Nikang was both a streamer who knew how to create entertaining content and a gamer with ambition for higher ranks.
Thinking this game would be an easy ride, the corners of her lips rose slightly.
[There she goes getting carried again]
[Challenger bus tastes sweet~]
[Nikang/Controversy/Ranked Game Bus]
“Come on, you still have to contribute your part to ride the bus. You know that.”
While casually chatting with viewers, the game began.
Perhaps because a Challenger-level expert had joined her team—
Nikang loosened her focus slightly more than usual this match.
“...Huh?”
Contrary to her expectations, they lost spectacularly.
[CamillaIsWeak(Camilla): Ah, close close. I kinda played badly, sorry ;]
Together with a strangely weakened Camilla, completely unlike the terrifying monster from the previous game.