Rush (3)
01.
"……."
Handing a death to the number one ranker must have been such a shock—the chat window showed no signs of calming down anytime soon.
The explosive energy rivaled the very start of the stream. It was scrolling so fast she could barely catch each one.
"……."
Of course, not every reaction was praise or awe. Alice had a massive fanbase as the top ranker, so it was only natural some would resent her getting taken down.
Though Sion had no idea why Alice's fans were crawling into her stream of all places.
"Phew…."
She picked up her rapier again.
Well, that donation wasn't wrong. She'd only scored one death on Alice—it wasn't a game win.
There'd be plenty of time later to sit back and savor the thrill. Right now, it was time to keep moving.
"Bear Jelly."
"Uh, yeah?"
"Keep pushing like this."
"Got it!"
Still, it was a meaningful kill all the same.
It'd stalled Alice's growth, and she'd timed the clay soldiers perfectly, letting them smash the enemy's first defensive turret.
Turret gold and XP meant Bear Jelly—whose early game had tanked—could finally claw his way back.
The plains were a little less worrisome now. At least she could afford to glance elsewhere for a bit.
"Galaxy Express…."
If the enemy plains had personal rank one Alice, their coast had personal rank four—the strongest musketeer alive, Galaxy Express Metia.
No matter how skilled roooobot was as a hacker, with their team's ranged DPS just a run-of-the-mill Grandmaster archer, gaining the upper hand against Galaxy Express would be tough.
"Here we go…."
Sion started heading toward the coast.
Time to hand a death to Galaxy Express.
02.
Alicia In Wonderland has been killed by SION!
"Whoa…."
This game had turned wildly unpredictable, thought Metia—personal rank four musketeer, nickname Galaxy Express.
"What a riot."
Metia scratched his white hair with an awkward grin. His own stream chat, tucked in the corner of his vision, had been pure chaos for a while now.
"Haha…."
Metia let out an utterly ambiguous laugh as he read the chat. He felt much the same as his viewers.
'Alice got killed? Even with a kill lead? That Alice?'
She hadn't fallen behind in growth at all. She'd dominated the enemy plains from the start, seizing control.
With her stealth berserker build, good scaling would've let her handle a 2v1—or at least retreat safely. So how'd she get taken out?
What the hell had gone down in the plains?
"SION…."
Metia murmured the name of the enemy jungler who'd done it—nickname SION.
The mysterious girl running the bizarre Speed Swordsman build, dumping every stat into agility.
Also, the hottest player right now, having just started streaming after years away.
"Ha, beating even Alice…."
The public trashed SION and her Speed Swordsman build, but anyone matched with her a few times wouldn't dare.
Metia had teamed with her often, seen her carry one-woman shows. He knew she had real skill—but taking down the unbeatable Alice? In her home turf of the plains, no less?
It was a 2v1, sure, but with the enemy plains lagging in growth, it was basically a 1v1 duel.
"Situation's gotten messy…."
Games matched with Alice usually revolved around her.
She'd trash the plains fast, rotate to coast, force a teamfight for a stomp, then snowball total control.
But with their ace slipping up first, everything was off the rails.
That put even more pressure on the coast—on Metia himself. But was the current setup in his favor? Not really.
"Aaaargh you fucking bitch!!"
"……."
Their rank 32 enemy support, nickname 'roooobot,' had basically deleted their team's thief support.
"Haa…."
Metia sighed.
Thief wasn't a great support pick. Mediocre attack, defense—nothing stood out.
People picked it for one reason: the 'Pickpocket' skill.
Steal gold from enemy ranged DPS periodically, stunt their growth, and savor their rage-quits.
But without Pickpocket? Thief was just a liability.
Like right now.
roooobot was a hacker who could freeze a target's skill. Her constantly icing Pickpocket left Metia fighting a 2v1 solo, no support.
'Jungler's coming soon too….'
SION's KDA was now 3/0/0 after killing Alice, rocketing her growth into monster territory.
They were already getting pushed; if she rotated in, losing map control was inevitable.
'…Gotta kill her no matter what.'
Just as SION had gritted her teeth to stop Alice's rampage, now Metia had to do the same to hers.
The low tide timing when she'd hit the coast.
That was his one window.
03.
Low tide on the coast.
"……."
And so low tide hit the coast. Sure enough, SION appeared first, like a ghost.
'Our jungler….'
Unlike SION's perfect rotation, their own jungler was nowhere in sight—not even a shadow. Metia sighed deeply.
After two early spawn kills, he'd never recovered. If anything, his growth was worse than the enemy plains.
The standoff dragged on awkwardly until SION strode in confidently, rapier drawn—like she was there to end the war.
"Shit!!"
The moment he spotted her, the thief—who'd been leaning way too far forward—turned tail first.
But who was hunting him? A player who'd dumped everything into agility—the one they called Gale Wind.
For a jack-of-all-trades-mediocre thief, he'd never make it safely under turret before her rapier pierced his throat.
In other words, he was already dead.
'Then….'
Galaxy Express Metia, lurking by the turret, snapped his sniper rifle up.
He couldn't save the thief—but he could make his death count.
'She'll aim for the neck.'
Gale Wind always targeted the neck for one-shots. She'd do it again.
Her swing would slow her vaunted speed just a hair. Time it right, and Metia could land a headshot of his own.
"Gahk!"
22222222 has been killed by SION!
As predicted, the thief's throat got skewered, instant death. Metia didn't miss the split-second slowdown—aimed dead center at her forehead and pulled the trigger.
"Gotcha…!!"
He'd fired thousands, tens of thousands of shots.
The instant his finger squeezed, instinct told him if it'd hit. And this one would—SION's headshot, instant death.
Sure enough, the sharp silver bullet struck her forehead, snapping her head back from the impact.
Her full HP bar plummeted.
"Yes!"
Metia whooped. Soon she'd dissolve into light particles like the thief, and the kill alert would ring across the battlefield.
Finally, a breather.
"Huh…?"
But two seconds passed, and no feminine alert chime—the one he'd been waiting for.
"Wha…?"
SION still stood there, head flung back, defiant. Her HP had halted at a single digit.
"Ah."
And then he spotted it: a red aura cloaking her entire body.
"Hermes' Prank."
It meant one thing.
SION had activated the Speed Swordsman ultimate, Hermes' Prank, at the perfect moment.
"Damn…."
Hermes' Prank.
5 seconds of invincibility even against lethal damage—no instant death—plus 15% speed boost.
The ultimate survival tool in Legend Frontier. One extra life.
"When did she…."
How long had it been active?
Not on bullet travel time—too late.
Had she predicted he'd snipe during the thief kill and popped it preemptively?
Kreeeak.
Meanwhile, SION—at 1 HP, invincible—slowly raised her head like a horror movie animatronic. She met Metia's eyes and flashed a meaningful smile.
"Ah…."
Seeing it, Metia knew instinctively.
He was the one getting killed.
He was just another piece on her chessboard.