Wanna Duo?

“Chicken for breakfast tomorrow, then.”

At least the menu for the next morning was decided. Feeling oddly satisfied with that, I booted up the PC.

Oh, right. Kits had asked to play together.

Honestly, I wanted to sleep, but turning down a newbie’s request felt a little mean. I decided to just launch the game first and figure things out after.

“Hmm~ hmm~”

Humming along to the game’s OST, I checked the friends list.

“Oh, what’s this?”

Both Sukmin and Kits showed as online and in-game.

“Hmm…”

Who should I join? Trolling Sukmin was always fun, but… sometimes it was nice to try something new instead of the same old flavor.

Making up my mind, I whispered to Kits.

I figured she’d be busy streaming and fighting bosses, so a quick reply was unlikely. To my surprise, she answered almost immediately.

Our relationship, which had started as nothing more than streamer and viewer, was starting to feel uncomfortably deep. If this kept up, the viewers definitely wouldn’t stay quiet.

“…Not my problem, though.”

Whatever. She could deal with her own issues. I switched accounts.

“Hell yeah. This is it.”

Unlike the flashy swordsman look, my character was a swordsman wearing crude, heavy gear. Most swordsmen switched between various weapons, but the greatsword had the lowest pick rate. Why did I use it anyway?

…Hard to put into words. Other weapons made fights end too quickly and felt boring. The greatsword’s heavy, chunky effects just felt right. Anyway, I was especially fond of it. Of course, any slow weapon worked for me.

“Haaam…”

While waiting for Kits to finish her raid, I let out a long, sleepy yawn.

“Oh, friend request came in.”

How long had I waited? Even though the boss she was fighting should’ve been easy, it took thirty minutes longer than I expected.

I’d almost fallen asleep in the middle, but at least I hadn’t actually dozed off. I picked a boss that matched Kits’ gear level. It was probably the next one after the one she’d just cleared. Since using my real gear would make the run too easy and boring, I swapped to equipment similar to hers.

Opening the inventory, I saw all sorts of flashy weapons and, further down, the beginner gear I’d used briefly in the early days. I’d also stored equipment from leveling other classes on my alts here. Made it easier to find.

Once I equipped decent armor and a greatsword, the game quickly found a match.

I moved to the waiting room, selected a blessing first, and waited for Kits and the remaining teammate.

Another sniper, huh.

“Heh. This run’s gonna be fun.”

Trusting my gut that this would be a dopamine-filled party, I even matched my blessing to a low-level one.

“Now I really look like a newbie.”

Weird thing to say after doing it myself, but whatever. The waiting time ended and the boss cutscene began playing. I’d seen this boss plenty of times and it wasn’t as cool as the later ones, so I hit skip. One person didn’t skip, though. Checking Kits’ stream, I saw her watching the cutscene with pure awe.

“Oh… She actually has taste.”

Just like Kits said, the cutscenes really started getting better from this boss onward. Praising her eye for it, I watched the rest of the scene with her.

This boss was the Death Knight. Sitting on a faded throne in the middle of what was once a glorious royal palace, the Death Knight slowly rose. The sword that once protected his king, family, friends, and lover was now pointed at them. Turning to the players who had come to stop him, he raised his blade and spoke.

The fallen knight raised his sword and charged at the players.

“Wooow…”

“Ahaha, what the hell!”

“Oh! It’s starting!”

The game began. The greatsword-wielding swordsman dashed forward immediately. Wondering what kind of crazy play I’d pull off this time, I moved into position.

“Huu…”

“I’m gonna try to not get hit by the boss even once this run!”

With an experienced player and her own viewers in the party, Kits wanted to show off. She posted a mission.

The mission went live instantly and a ridiculous amount of money piled up.

“Eek… It’s not a safe asset!!”

“Seriously, I’m gonna clear this and take all that money!”

She immediately moved to a safe spot and started using skills. The damage wasn’t huge, but she steadily chipped away at the boss while dodging patterns.

“Uwah! Kyaa!”

Sword beams flew around the boss as skeleton soldiers with swords and shields rushed in. Most of the attacks were being handled by that Menhera guy going wild in front of the boss, but a few still slipped through. She took down the escaped skeletons, dodged the beams, and went back to ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠attacking the boss. While repeating that cycle, the team’s tank suddenly started running toward her—dragging the remaining skeleton soldiers along.

“Huh? Hey! What the heck is this?!”

Since the mission was active and getting hit wouldn’t instantly end the run, everyone treated it as a fun prank. She played along, dodging every skeleton attack and taking them all down.

“Hehe, this much is basic—kyaa!!”

Flustered by the praise, she almost got hit. Rolling out of the way just in time, she refocused on the boss.

While dodging the boss’s attacks, she kept an eye on the tank. He was deliberately letting a few skeletons through and charging at her again. She dodged everything and wiped them all out.

“Oho? Your skill’s improved more than I thought.”

Impressed, I figured I could ease up a bit and pressed my ultimate. A faint light wrapped around the greatsword’s blade. Swinging it, the effect split the boss’s upper and lower body along with the surrounding space, chunking a huge portion of its health.

After dodging the follow-up attack, I used another skill.

I struck all the marks that appeared on the boss. When the skill ended—

True to its reputation as the first boss with a second phase, the royal hall transformed into a demonic castle. Not only skeleton soldiers but demonic dragons started spawning.

“Ooh.”

As soon as phase two began, I charged straight at the demonic dragon. If it started flying around and breathing fire, things would get messy fast. Better to take it down first—

“Huh?”

Suddenly the tank pulled aggro on all the adds and came running straight at me.

…Why me?

Confused but focused on survival, I ran toward the direction he was coming from and started cleaving through the mobs. Bones shattered into flying fragments. Undead flesh and blood splattered everywhere.

With a full-power swing, the greatsword swept away ten mobs at once. I parried incoming arrows and blades, dodged the demonic dragon’s breath, and activated the skill again.

I hit a few add weak points and smashed every mark on the demonic dragon. When the skill ended, all the adds were dead and the dragon was on the verge of death.

Understanding, Kits ran toward the dragon while I sprinted straight for the boss. Its patterns were now just repeats of phase one. No more ultimates left, so I just started wailing on it.

“Haven’t had this much fun in a while.”

After finishing the boss with my ultimate, I typed in chat.

I didn’t need any of the loot, so I just picked crafting materials and left the game.

“Haa… So sleepy…”

Ever since the body change, my stamina seemed lower. Just a few runs and I was already exhausted.

“Waaah! We did it! Did you guys see that?! Mission success!!”

After the game ended, Soyun beamed proudly, showing off her achievement. Of course, Menhera had done almost all the work. Still, not getting hit even once made her feel genuinely proud, and she couldn’t stop smiling.

“Hehehe… That’s it for today’s stream! See you tomorrow!”

“Hey, I did a long after-chat before we even started gaming today!”

“I’ll do after-chat after the game tomorrow, so wait for me!”

“Okay, I’m really going now. Bye!”