166 - The Shepherd Girl <Streamer Gallery>

Former ACK first-team coach ‘Hwanggu’, now a first-division league pro gamer (and current NEET) ‘LG Chaos’, was participating as a coach, watching the match.

“Missed the assassin in their vision! Everyone, watch your backs!”

“Kariri, stick to my side! They’re definitely diving me, the mage, no question!”

“NoName and I are 2v3 over here too!”

Dalttori: “Dalttori-nim, bring your lane to my side completely. Once Yongcheol-nim joins, they’ll force a teamfight.”

No quests, not a conquest map, no objectives. And they were numerically disadvantaged to boot.

“Even if we lose the teamfight, fight first.”

At NoName’s confident voice, a 4v6 teamfight erupted.

The first damage came to Kariri.

“Prepare to swap lines. Kariri dives inside, Brownie-nim covers her spot. Simsimman-nim, rush here right after taking the point. Yongcheol-nim, stick tight to Dalttori-nim and mark the assassins circling behind. Don’t scatter, absolutely.”

It was NoName’s command, now familiar to the point of muscle memory.

Kariri instantly swapped positions with Brownie, who wielded a zweihander, maintaining perfect HP management. Her class wasn’t suited for defense, so she quickly knelt and sent a knockout message. But protecting the mage was always priority one. Next up, naturally, the healer.

Clang-!

NoName’s sword rang out sharply.

The man swinging his greatsword down didn’t panic. It was a scene repeated countless times over the past week. Maybe one-on-one without mana? His throat was slit, dead. Then 3v1? Heart pierced clean through, dead. She was on another level from the start.

Given enough time, NoName could stubbornly handle any number. But she wasn’t invincible. The standard against The Blory team was to isolate the healer and strangle the rest.

And to counter that standard—or sow chaos in the enemy’s strategy—they’d drilled it relentlessly in scrims over the past week.

Suddenly, NoName deliberately took an enemy hit. Then, dropping below 15% HP triggered Twilight Clone, fooling the foes as she rejoined the main group in a flash. She tossed timely heals to Kariri, barely hanging on, and the assassin-turned-berserker handled 1v2 with ease.

Thanks to NoName’s special ranked grind, Kariri’s movements had grown even sharper. She casually blocked a backstab with her nails. Her red eyes turned to the knight.

“This’ll sting!”

Five sword blades rent the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠earth.

“Why not take the detour here? Even if you can’t block, you gotta check for Plan B.”

Coach Hwanggu pointed out the enemy assassin bypassing far to kill mage Dalttori.

“Even if we spot them first, no guarantee we win.” Name backed her up.

“Playing that safe, you’ll never win.”

“Enemy assassin was Diamond. Scout and lose, no comeback possible.”

“Just check first—you won’t lose. Team game!”

“Argh, that’s why. Listen up, kids. Just cuz experience led to bad results doesn’t make it a bad choice. Gotta know when to pick the right one too.”

Hwanggu’s ideal ops: Picking the highest expected winrate path at every branch point.

“Like, say I’m pushing grandma’s cart up a hill from behind and the wheel breaks. Can’t go ‘Helping screwed it! Never again!’”

“Or say I swing at someone cuz I’m pissed, turns out they’re a pickpocket! Gonna keep GTA-punching? Jail time! Bronze life.”

“Anyway, Simsimman-nim joins in 18 secs, so with Yongcheol-nim holding, two can block. Paladin was beefy too.”

“Assassins aren’t just for kills. Disrupt the backline, you and Kariri crumble.”

“Heal-sassin can do 2v5. Tested it.”

“Ha!”

Hwanggu smacked his forehead.

“Chaos, got that footage I marked before?”

“Yes, Coach. But this is kinda...”

A clip edited to only show NoName and Kariri popped up. Auto-extract app for pro feedback, permitted for scrims.

Sure enough, Kariri hovered at 20% HP, getting heals from NoName, bizarrely.

Scene 1. Against the ultimate 4-man comp: 1 shield knight, 2 knights, 1 mage. Solid frontline, swords from flanks, fireballs from back—Kariri crossed arms, crouched. Back-to-back with NoName stacking parries. Then NoName hopped off Kariri’s back over the shield knight. Chiguk Pyeongcheonha + Mirage Strike stacked—not weak. Especially on a mage.

Scene 2. Backdooring enemy Yggdrasil. Not back-to-back, but shoulders tight, swords and claws forward. Took basic arrows/magic, parried big skills.

Scene 3. “No need to watch more, stop.”

“Fine, I admit it. Not my theory wrong—you’re the outlier, NoName. Shouldn’t work... you forced it! Makes theory meaningless?”

“Best judgment.”

“Too extreme. I want everyone doing 0.9 portions for 70% winrate. But look—you and Kariri gotta do 1.5 together for barely 60%. Both optimal, but different vibes, get it?”

“I get it. But to match tier value, better that way.”

“Kariri, your thoughts? Okay?”

“...”

Kariri had been silent to the coach’s question.

“Kariri? Ms. Kariri? Wake up.”

“Hweh? Y-Yes...?”

But to the coach’s questions, Kariri kept biting her lip, rolling her eyes, fidgeting restlessly.

“Coach! Kariri! Doorbell outside—gotta check quick!”

“Oh? Yeah, go.”

“Back soon!”

“Whoa whoa, no fighting folks. Same chatroom—can’t have beef.”

Streamers calming their viewers, meanwhile Name sat by a tree stump, waiting for Kariri.

And amid The Blory team, a donation popped up.

The stiff mechanical TTS of an unconfigured dono read it out.

“Kyaaaaaaaah!”

From Kariri’s puppet-like avatar came Seol Yunseul’s faint scream.

“Kariri? Kariri!”

“What? What’s that noise?”

Not VR-connected voice, but from the capsule’s external mic.

Everyone jumped up, rushed to Kariri, checked her—no life in her eyes. Shaking her rigid VR body did nothing. Only option: yell into her ear.

“Kariri-nim? Something wrong? Kariri-nim?”

“Hey, don’t joke... Keep this up it’s getting scary... Joke, right?”

Dalttori trembled, terrified.

No matter how long they waited in silence, no joking brush-off from Kariri.

Name’s VR disconnect came right after.