Who Says Anyone's Losing to Me?

Who says anyone's losing to anybody here?

Dark clouds hung low over the scorched earth. A horned monstrosity crowned with a massive rust-red pair of horns loomed over a lone woman, glaring down at her. Its hide was thick and leathery like a lizard's, and its grotesque claws—sharp enough to wound with a single glance—looked ready to carve her apart at any moment. The woman before it, dozens of times smaller than the beast, was hardly built for combat. All she carried were two spears that, to the monster, might as well have been toothpicks.

By any measure, it was a situation that promised the beast an overwhelming victory.

"Haah… maybe I shouldn't have bothered."

And yet she felt not a shred of tension. The two spears spun lazily through her fingers, as if she'd merely stepped out for an afternoon stroll. The monster snorted and raised a foreleg at the sight.

The gap between them was absolute. The massive foot descended right in front of her face—but she was still off somewhere in her own head.

"What should I eat after this?"

At last, the spears that had been circling found their resting position, and a pair of golden eyes locked onto a single target.

Dual Spear Arts—

Gale Spear.

"GrUUuoh?!"

Two spears became dozens of golden lances in the blink of an eye. No—the spears hadn't multiplied. They were simply striking so fast that the eye could barely keep up.

The flurry of lances tore through the monster's limbs in a single breath, and in less than ten seconds the creature collapsed on the spot, its body riddled with holes.

KWAAAAAANG-!!!

Its sheer size kicked up a cloud of dust like a rolling thunderhead as it fell. The woman's golden hair whipped in the wind, and smoke stung her nose and eyes.

"Ugh, seriously—cough! Cough, cough!"

Ugh… this is why I hate hunting.

Muttering complaints for no reason, she was rummaging through the monster's corpse when she caught the sound of approaching footsteps, spun one spear around, and hurled it behind her without so much as a glance. Tak. The spear was caught far too easily.

"If you said you'd do it, then obviously you have to. Choco."

"Nobody said I wouldn't do it. That's why I'm doing it."

And my name isn't Choco, it's Chotochokachukachip.

A ranker within the top 100, current Rank Match Challenger at 1270 LP, officially ranked 6th. Chotochokachukachip, a core member of pro team CO, slung her remaining spear over her shoulder with a wry smile.

"Your name's a real mouthful, you know. Can't you just change it?"

"Nope. It's my trademark. The team's literally named Choco too."

"Right. Which is why there are places I can't even mention the team name."

"Ugh."

A purple-haired man pushed his way through the lingering smoke with a sigh. He was a fellow member of CO, serving as Chotochokachukachip's supporter and generally looking after her. The two were cousins, and the team had been built around her from the day of its founding—so they'd been together ever since.

"What, can't you tell Auntie? I go around telling everyone, loud and proud."

"…Forget it. That's not why I came out here anyway."

"Then what?"

"You know Lily, right? The one who blew up over that fortress thing."

"Lily?"

Ah, I've heard of her. An unbelievably gorgeous avatar and voice. And a rookie who, despite being a self-proclaimed newbie, displayed such insane skill and bizarre feats that people were whispering she might be a hardcore veteran on an alt. Anyone with even a passing interest in ranked play or PVP probably knew the name Lily—ninety-nine percent of them, at least.

"Of course I know her. Why?"

"There's a rumor going around that she ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠might show up in the Mock Siege Battle you're in."

"Hah? No way that's happening."

This was the woman who'd turned down Raphael of the Angel Guild's ten-million-won donation, and who'd rejected every guild invitation and pro-scene offer thrown her way. Her, joining a siege?

CO, Chotochokachukachip's own team, had sent her an offer too.

Needless to say, they'd been flatly ignored.

"Doesn't she not team up with anyone except Yena?"

"And Yena's in the Mock Siege Battle, isn't she?"

"…Huh. I guess. Still, that feels like a stretch."

Whoosh! The spear came spinning back. Catching it, she finished collecting the loot from the monster's corpse.

"I thought so too, but apparently Yena got the location and intel for the God's Dungeon from Black Moon this time. And Black Moon's guildmaster is Vlack."

"So they're pulling strings to get Lily involved?"

"Basically, yeah."

"Hmm…"

Well, Vlack is hosting the Mock Siege Battle, so… I guess it tracks. It wasn't like the Black Moon Guild and the -Ye- Guild had any history of bad blood between them—if anything, they had none at all.

"So what, if Lily joins, I'm supposed to sweet-talk her over?"

"That'd be nice. If she enters this siege, you and Lily will probably be the only big-name spear users in the whole thing."

Huh?

The woman, still busily gathering loot, glanced back at the corpse. Her cousin was still droning on with whatever he'd come to say.

"…Don't tell me you're trying to set me up with some kind of rival narrative right now. That's not what this is, right?"

"Just be careful if you run into her. The other teams have been climbing fast lately as it is."

"Excuse me? Comparing who to whom, exactly?"

Absurd. She was a core member of one of the so-called Big Three currently dominating the top of the ladder. Lily was just a super-rookie fresh on the scene. No matter how good people claimed her skills were, Chotochokachukachip would never lose. Honestly, wasn't Lily's overwhelming popularity less about skill and more about that gorgeous avatar?

Her cousin shook his head.

"Obviously you're the better player. But the image war's gotten brutal lately, so just be careful—"

"Yeah, yeah. Worry about useless stuff on your own time and go prep for the regular season."

"Hey—hey! Where are you going!"

"Home!"

Who says anyone's losing to anybody here?

I never lose.

The ship was half-wrecked and its sails shredded—there was no sailing it anywhere. For a moment it looked like they'd be left drifting helplessly on the open sea, but…

-Help. I will.

Thanks to Nerindia, the ship reached its destination without further incident.

"Safe travels."

Nerindia and the spirits hiding behind her gazed at us for a long moment, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠then vanished beyond the horizon.

So this was today's destination, at last. Unlike the massive imperial ports on the main continent, a considerably smaller harbor greeted us. Here, the Outlaw title didn't apply, so neither the sailors nor the locals showed me any hostility.

"Let's get the ship repaired first, then we'll figure it out~"

Yena checked the chat and pulled out a new hat to replace the straw one that had been swept away by the wind. She was originally supposed to head for the dungeon that Vlack, guildmaster of Black Moon, had told her about—though of course, that came with a request to ask Lily whether she'd participate in the Mock Siege Battle.

It's just a favor, nothing more. Knowing Lily's personality, the odds of refusal were high, and even if she did join, Yena was participating in the Mock Siege Battle herself—so there was nothing to worry about either way. That was the plan, anyway, until the port event suddenly triggered, Lily became an Outlaw, and a Dynamic Dungeon spawned, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠leaving them deadlocked with a High Spirit and burning through time.

The repairs were entrusted to the shipyard inside the harbor. The continent itself was so small that this was its only shipyard, but it still had the skill to fix an imperial-built vessel. The price: 150 gold.

Roughly 3 million won.

The damage was less than expected, but it was still a considerable expense. Then again, they'd gained far more than they'd spent—hardly a loss.

Yena glanced at the chat, then checked the time.

To hedge against running late, she'd started an hour earlier than her usual content schedule, going live at six. It was now 11:30—five and a half hours in. Fine for warm-up content, but a little risky for the main event. No matter how many people played in the early morning hours, hardly anyone was watching a stream at that hour.

You could watch Deoen broadcasts through the game to some extent, sure, but almost nobody burned an expensive access device purely as a viewing terminal. Everyone watched on their phones or computers.

Mind made up, Yena turned to the camera.

"After a short break, I'll be back with a ranked broadcast~"

Exactly the reactions she'd expected. Yena shook her head firmly.

"Lily became an Outlaw and fought her way all the way here with me. She's already done ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠plenty by showing up at all, so let's not pile too much on her…"

"No. I'll do the ranked matches too."

Watching Yena and Nerindia's fight from the sidelines had honestly gotten a little boring. Time to stretch my body for the first time in a while.