Who Pulled the Ethernet Cable?
Who the hell threatens someone with a knife not to gain weight class? Human malice and creativity have no limits. I felt that truth deep in my bones.
Honestly, I figured they'd blast some reveille horn like in the army to ruin my sleep. But the world didn't play out like I expected.
"...I underestimated you guys."
"As if I slept? Just when I'm drifting off in that half-awake haze, bam—assassination angle incoming."
The viewer spotting those angles packaged a video loaded with lewd moans and sent it over for a whopping 10,000 won. Sponsorship videos scale in length with the donation amount. A 10k one? If you're tired, you might let it slide, and then minutes of moaning leak into the stream. And this guy did it four times. A rich asshole, through and through. Horrifying.
What pissed me off even more was that the guy spotting the angles never quite crossed the line. Just sending videos with moans every 10 minutes—that was it. Annoying as hell, but banning him felt iffy. In this sexually open society, a little moaning won't get your stream shut down. The risk was basically zero.
"Anyway, did I sleep...? Whatever, sleep stream's over. Back to Raider."
Thanks to actually trying to close my eyes and sleep, my brain and eyes weren't screaming for death like before. Pace myself, and I can probably hold out till stream end... right?
# Luckily, a good stopping point for Raider came quick. The star of the show to cap off CBT play had finally appeared.
"Boss... huh."
Name? Boss. For real. Just [BOSS] written there, no frills.
Hadn't named it yet, or maybe they didn't want to spoil its identity in CBT? Probably the latter. No way a game this polished makes a slip-up like that.
[BOSS] popped up in the top-left corner, with a massive health bar next to it. Like this thing was special compared to all the mobs so far. And below [BOSS], the recommended party level.
"...Level's way too high?"
At least till CBT ends, even if I died and respawned nonstop, I couldn't reach it.
Limited map size, mob numbers, and trash mobs that cap at a certain level—all brakes on efficient character growth.
Only option left: grind time. But CBT's just a week long. Server shuts after. Meaning this boss couldn't be beaten with standard RPG play—grinding mobs for levels and specs to tackle stronger foes.
So why'd Raider's devs drop this overbalanced boss now? Level design screw-up?
Then a thought flashed: What if this was their pitch?
"Play it like an RPG, sure—but if you want, go full soulslike." A bold appeal to fans of both genres, placing the boss here so you'd try both. Bet its real spot's elsewhere.
...Or not!
"You guys are hoping I fail the boss and naturally turn into a 'stream king,' right? I see through you."
Saying that, I creep toward the gorgeous graphically rendered boss. Close enough to inspect without aggroing it.
Head like a snarling tiger, body sleek as a wolf, tail long and thick—whipping that'd be a weapon itself. But the spiky bones on its back worry me most. Gotta have a sweep pattern.
"...Time to taste-test if it's shit or miso."
Dash key. Closing distance fast, boss notices me. No sneak attack.
No hesitation then. Swap to Ivaro. Boss charges. Spot its right foreleg moving. Roll right toward it. Leg slams ground—boom shakes my ears.
Left foreleg next. But unlike right, no charge with it. Probably weaker. Parry.
Shield clashes with left foreleg. But doesn't bounce it back like usual—just deflects. "...Huh?"
Parry gauge barely fills.
...Does parry work on some enemies but not others? No vulnerability states then. No parry burst windows.
...Wondered why make a ranged char with parry. Now I get it—for big monsters parry ignores. Better to kite and steady DPS than dodge everything up close. DPS-wise, ranged wins.
Lucky I pulled 5-star archer Yuri. Could cheese easy.
...But viewers wouldn't buy it. Already said no more bow main—backtrack now? Even if I beat it, no cheers.
Detour time. Swap to Natasha, roll like a dung beetle.
But mine's got bite. Boss pauses attack—stamina not depleted yet. Great. Greatsword swing. Clean slice sound. HP ticks down a bit.
Confirm, nod. Intel gathered.
"...This is shit."
My specs can't take it down. More precisely, my focus won't last. First clear means unseen patterns needing retries—time explodes.
Solution? Shorten boss fight time. Kill faster, more DPS. Grind levels... or—
"Huh. Game crashed. Optimization not done yet?"
"Why embarrassed? What'd I even do? More like, is that guy innocent? Heavyweight bullying fly and featherweights! He started it!"
I plead my innocence hard, but the world judges me harshly.
About to clap back at the flood—then perfect timing, a sponsor cuts in.
◈ "What does it feel like when you're winning but the opponent quits for a draw?"
What do I even say? Tried dodging the shit field, ended up strapping hay bales to my back and jumping into the fire pit myself...
Just my imagination, right?