A Menace Lives in the Demon King Castle (2)

Even before the Rapi-para raid party—the official alliance team between Rapits and Parallel—began their assault, the communities centered around Roofkr and Ronze were already buzzing about the insane design of the fourth-floor banquet hall.

Fuck lololololololol I never dreamed five Roofkrs would come out on the fourth floor lol. “Ah shit, it’s another Roofkr.” “The card draw is so fucking rigged, only the Roofkr player keeps coming out! Ah!” “…What? Roofkr is watching? Fuck, we’re screwed.” It’s just Roofkr being a dumbass lol.

The corn kid curses so naturally that sometimes people mistake it for UFC and it almost turns ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠into a real fight, but if they had brought something like that it would have been total chaos. Was it on purpose or just luck ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠lol.

But the fans of Rapits and Parallel—especially those on the Rapits side—weren’t expecting much. It was suspicious how well Mazia knew other streamers’ memes, but she was still competition. Most fans figured that while she constantly muttered about Rapits potions, it would be difficult for her to know the VTubers from Rapits as well.

I can’t even imagine what’s going to be on the fourth floor. Looked like it was changing modes earlier, so I guess it’s different from what the regular streamers had displayed lol.

This was no different for Iona, who was preparing to enter the Demon King Castle. She assumed Mazia’s mental attacks would probably target Parallel. She had already discussed with her colleagues and juniors the plan to let them tank it while Rapits focused on the strategy.

“Rapits. Everyone ready?”

“Yep! I handed out all the potions. Food’s been distributed too!”

“I’m ready as well, senior.”

“What about Parallel?”

“Parallel, ready?”

“Ready to kill.”

“Rain, you really look like you want to smash Jia’s head in?”

“Probably the first one to get sliced.”

“Shut up, Maru.”

“This is going to be fun~.”

In two minutes the doors to the Demon King Castle would open and the thirty-minute dungeon raid countdown would begin. They hadn’t managed to fill all sixteen slots, but after the parties of Roofkr and Ronze—previously considered the strongest on the server—had been wiped twice, the difficulty had loosened. It wasn’t completely impossible.

The important points were not to waste too much time on the fourth floor and to focus all damage on the Demon King. The longer the fight dragged on, the worse it was for the raid party, so the core of the strategy was to melt the boss with burst damage before it could draw its demon sword. Once the sword was drawn, it would check formations and attack types before destroying the backline first. The moment the formation collapsed and people started falling one by one, clearing it became nearly impossible.

This information had come from Roofkr himself while he prepared for his next attempt.

If they could break its concentration even once, they might steal the timing for potion use and take it down. But because it was an emotionless Demon King—Mazia—it didn’t work at all. Curses, embarrassing lines, plausible lies—none of it landed. It would supposedly get easier once the potions ran out, but it only used about eighty per party. With twelve hundred still remaining, they had no choice but to keep trying. They could only trust in variables that might appear at any moment in any form.

The one advantage the Rapi-para party had was that Momo at least knew Mazia well. Of course, the problem was that even Momo had a high chance of getting completely destroyed by her. Still, they had incorporated it into the standard strategy.

Iona approached Momo and asked, “We’re sticking with the plan as discussed, right?”

“Yes. But it might not work. Please don’t get your hopes up too much.”

“I heard she’s a well-behaved employee…”

“What good is listening well? When she decides to be stubborn, she’s like reinforced steel.”

“Is it that bad…?”

“That’s why our basic goal should be to take it down in one focused burst at the perfect timing. We’re a bit short on numbers, so we really need to concentrate.”

Twenty seconds before entry.

Since it would be hard to talk once the real fight began, Iona carefully spoke up. “This might sound funny coming right now, but thank you for suggesting the alliance first. To be honest, it wasn’t something we could have proposed ourselves.”

“Ah, is that so? Well, I understand. I’m the boss, so I get to do what I want. If I were in your position, Iona, I probably would have been cautious too.”

“…Thank you for understanding.”

Anyway, it was time.

The giant arched double doors made of black iron opened with a long, metallic screech. Iona nodded at Momo.

“Let’s go. Everyone, fighting!!”

“Fighting!!”

“Let’s go!!”

However, the Rapi-para party, who had charged through the first, second, and third floors with great momentum, ended up spending far more time than expected on the fourth floor. All because of that damn banquet hall.

You couldn’t think of it as a simple castle banquet hall. If you climbed the T-shaped staircase at the far end, the audience chamber where the Demon King waited was right there—but the entire wide hall leading up to it was a kind of mirror maze. On top of that, every mirror was a semi-transparent screen, making it virtually impossible to tell open paths from blocked ones. And those screens weren’t static. They played various videos Mazia had prepared.

The entire mirror maze was packed with the members’ dark histories. With the audio echoing and tangling from every direction, it was the ultimate mental attack. The most unexpected part was that, for some reason, Iona’s clips were the most numerous.

The earlier prediction that Rapits would be free from Mazia’s traps was completely off the mark.

“Kyaaaaaaaak!”

She was the big sister and senior of Rapits, with only two weeks left until her second debut anniversary. Even so, she absolutely hated rewatching her debut broadcast.

Just as a rookie author trying to ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠show off the cool world and setting they wanted would accidentally create an enormous wall of text that startled readers, rookie VTubers, over-immersed in their own concepts, would speak in exaggerated and awkward tones. These days she naturally blended her setting while communicating with viewers, but back then Iona had been a broadcasting beginner too.

“Aaaack! Fuck. How do I turn this off! How do I turn it off!!”

No matter how wildly the flustered Iona beat the screen with her staff, the screen was an unbreakable interior fixture and took no damage. The only ones having fun were the viewers watching the scene.

“Youuu. Crazy. You crazy bitch. Stop. Stop talking!!”

The other VTubers suffered from the videos displayed in the fourth-floor banquet hall as well, but none as badly as Iona. There were over ten of her clips alone, and they played the most frequently. Because of this, only Do-hee was flustered.

“What the… Why aren’t there any of my videos…?”

“Huh. You’re right?”

“Jia. This is a kill. I can’t forgive this. How can she play this again? Kill the Jia!”

Probably no one realized this was Mazia’s small act of revenge against Iona for not accepting the support funds she had offered. Still, Do-hee didn’t feel relieved just because her own clips were missing. After all the pranks she had suffered, she had to stay on guard in case some shocking twist suddenly appeared.

Above all, Iona—who was sharing main damage duty with Momo—was already on the verge of sinking, so even Momo had to sharpen her focus. After several minutes of wandering lost in the maze, Iona finally collapsed onto the floor, completely ragged.

“Kh… It’s over……”

The others watching, especially the juniors, seemed too awkward to even offer comfort. Only Do-hee could manage it.

“I’m sorry. Our employee’s pranks were a bit too harsh, weren’t they?”

But instead of getting angry, Iona looked at Momo with respect. After researching Mazia, she had naturally learned that the girl was Momo’s personal vicious sniper. When she thought about how Momo had endured years of torment from such a strange person, she couldn’t help but feel admiration.

“You’re amazing, Momo. How did you hold out against a menace like that…?”

“…Pardon?”

“Anyway… let’s go. We don’t have much time left.”

“Ah. Right. Only three minutes remaining.”

Iona and Momo pushed the door together, one side each. With a long, rusty screech, it opened. A red carpet, torn in places with frayed edges, rippled across the floor. In the dark interior, a single ray of light ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠from the broken stained glass in the ceiling illuminated the Demon King—no, Mazia—sitting crookedly on the throne.

Those seeing Mazia’s battle for the first time in this raid broadcast were busy admiring the sight.

Soon Mazia stood with the heavy clank of armor, then slowly clapped by striking her thick gauntlets together. Clank. Clank. Clank. Clank.

“To think you broke through the fourth floor. Truly impressive.”

Rain couldn’t hold back. “Jia! Do you want to die? Really?”

“Since I’m the Demon King, I acted like one. Shaking the hero party’s mentality is the Demon King’s specialty, right?”

“Ugh.”

“Hold it in, Rain. If you talk to her you’ll get dragged in.”

“Jia, Komari is stopping me from going after you!”

Mazia gave a small snort, then walked steadily across the broken red carpet to a spot roughly ten meters from the party. The tense moment had arrived. As the clock ticked down and Do-hee, commanding the party, timed their attack—

A voice loud enough to resonate throughout the dome-shaped audience chamber rang out.

It was a true classic among classics—the aegyo Momo had used in the early days of her stream when she tried to make soup stock. The first to recognize the voice was Maru. Like Jia, she was a long-time fan who had called Do-hee “boss” for years.

“Wait. This is the boss’s…”

“No! No!!”

As the flustered Do-hee shouted, the wide audience chamber rang out again.

This time even Do-hee couldn’t deny it. Her unique bold tone couldn’t be hidden even when she tried to sound cute. Naturally, Cheon Do-hee drew in a big breath to roar—

“Boss! Watch your back!”

At Maru’s sudden cry everyone turned at once. Maru spoke again.

“Huh? This is me. Ah.”

Thud!

“Kyaaak!”

Maru was suddenly hit by something and sent flying backward. While everyone’s eyes were on her, Maru’s voice rang out once more.

“I told you to watch your back, boss.”

Maru was still rolling across the floor. In other words, that voice wasn’t hers. The menace that imitated human voices was now wearing the mask of the Demon King and toying with the entire raid party.

Do-hee whipped her head around in shock and saw a red demon sword flying straight at her face. The moment the sword struck her head, Mazia imitated Do-hee’s voice once again—using the exact embarrassing old aegyo she hated most.