42. Stream-Ending Threats
42. Stream-Ending Threats
***
The ballista had already been swiftly dismantled and returned to crossbow form the moment the opponent launched themselves from their spot.
Using Leap, Serin shot into the air and immediately spun her body, preparing a skill.
Swish.
The red fabric of Serin's outfit fluttered with a strange rustle as she spun rapidly through the air.
With her greatsword wreathed in red energy and her red outfit streaming around her, Serin traced multiple red arcs through the air.
Then, in the next instant, one sleek leg shot out.
—Wind Kick.
Bang!
From the point where her leg extended, a fierce gust of wind burst forth, launching Serin's body forward.
Whoosh!
She twisted her shoulder aside to avoid the first arrow.
Whoosh!
Clang!
Serin rotated her grip and brought the greatsword up to shield her body from the next arrow.
The moment she had blocked all of the opponent's attacks.
Serin had already reached them.
Serin swept the greatsword up from behind her in a fast, powerful motion, activating a skill at the same time.
—Cut in Two with One Stroke.
The greatsword, engulfed in a mass of red light, carved a chilling arc as it surged toward the opponent. The greatsword, raised high moments before, came down fast, as if dropping vertically.
SWISH!
The motion was so violent that Serin's silver hair whipped wildly in every direction, and just as Serin was about to follow up by slashing her greatsword upward again—
She felt no impact at all.
Realizing that, Serin murmured dazedly.
"I messed up..."
The mass of light now before her eyes.
It meant the opponent had vanished from the Colosseum.
—Victory!
Serin stared blankly at the holographic "Victory" message.
Just one hit.
I ended it with just one slash.
Using a skill in a fit of irritation had been the mistake.
Blankly sweeping her hair back out of her vision, Serin muttered plaintively.
"This is so unfair..."
The opponent must've attacked at least a hundred times.
At the end, hadn't they even fired the Archer's Awakening Skill, the ballista, at her over and over?
She had dodged, parried, or blocked all of it, and at the end she had meant to finish the opponent head-on. But she hadn't meant to end it with just one skill like this.
This time, I wanted to toy with the opponent too.
Imagining how cheaply that Archer must've played against other Melee Class users, I'd wanted them to get a taste of the same treatment.
But in the end, I'd finished it with a single skill.
I felt strangely cheated. The opponent had gotten to have all the fun until now.
For me, it felt like everything had ended with a single hit. I even felt like I'd lost.
Ding-a-ling!!
『Kazura donated 55,000 won!』
<Hnngh...!>
At the sound of the donation, Serin gave a small nod and spoke in a gloomy voice.
"Kazura... thank you for the donation. And what's with the 'hnngh' now?"
As the match concluded, she flopped down onto the rocks of the Colosseum that had been restored.
It wasn't so much fatigue—it was that she was streaming right now, so after each match she took a few minutes of rest to check the chat and interact with viewers.
Once the duel ended, the chat window she'd set to reopen automatically began cluttering Serin's vision.
[lolololololololololololololol]
[hnngh...]
[no why are you making that face lololol]
[so damn funny for real lololololololol]
[Rin, you're killing me!!]
[won but lost!]
[is the Dancer always this pretty?]
[greatsword Dancer is truly legendary...]
[this is why I hate Archers, fuck lolololol]
[but couldn't you have ended it earlier if you used that Leap thing?]
Comments about her appearance like "Rin, you're killing me" no longer stirred any particular thoughts.
Her current avatar looked exactly like she did in real life, but the viewers knew it was still a game character. Even so, comments about her looks never stopped.
'Is this some kind of bit?'
She wondered if there was something she didn't know, but it was also funny.
A few people did cross the line with sexual harassment, but amusingly, other viewers would dogpile them in chat so hard that the community mostly policed itself.
Even while thinking about that, Serin manipulated the hologram to check her Tier.
————
[Gold Tier 3 —> Gold Tier 1]
—2760 LP —> 2970 LP
—Additional bonus LP has been awarded for the ongoing win streak.
————
Before she knew it, her Tier was Gold 1. And she was only 30 points away from the next Tier. Judging by the points gained, she had won 7 matches today alone.
One more win here would give her a chance at the Platinum Promotion Series.
Up through Gold, your Tier rose automatically as your points increased, but from Platinum onward, filling the point requirement no longer promoted you immediately.
A separate "Promotion Series" was given afterward—she had to win 3 out of 5 matches to be promoted to the next Tier.
So Serin figured she just needed 4 more matches to reach Platinum.
"I'll climb to Platinum today and then end the stream."
At Serin's sudden announcement that she'd end the stream, chat sped up again.
[...it hasn't even been 2 hours since the stream started?]
[no lololololol]
[????]
[you're gonna do 4 arena matches and turn off the stream?]
[can't you see there are over 20,000 viewers right now?]
[ending streams early is a really bad habit for a streamer]
[fr]
[Rin, that's abandoning 20,000 viewers;]
Since she had made the LP increase hologram public to viewers, they could see in real time how many points she had and what Tier she was in.
The viewers kept saying that ending early was a bad habit, or that she'd be abandoning 20,000 people if she stopped now.
The chat was so absurd that Serin let out a reflexive laugh.
"And after that, I'm going to eat dinner and watch Plea's stream."
Since she had over 20,000 viewers, she also wanted to do something called "hosting" for Sua, who had helped her with yesterday's stream. Honestly, if they wanted to get closer, one-sided favors weren't great. She wanted to help out too.
[then do a dinner mukbang go go go go]
[lolololololololol no why are you so cool about it?]
[this feels beyond cool]
[watching Plea's stream at 7 is valid lol]
[fr lol]
[then just do a dinner mukbang and host Plea?]
[no she doesn't do cam streams, how's she gonna do a mukbang lolololololol]
[ah so clueless lololol they're trying to make her do a cam stream]
A mukbang was out of the question. She figured she'd just chat while eating dinner.
Honestly, with 20,000 viewers, there was no pressure about conversation topics—whatever she said, the chat would run with it on its own.
"So after that... I'll switch to Just Chatting, talk for a bit, then host Plea. That works for you guys, right?"
Serin spoke confidently, as if she were doing the viewers a favor.
[lolololololololol]
[no what's with threatening to end the stream?]
[ah, if you don't like it she'll skip the chatting and end the stream lolololol]
[if it's Rin, even this is valid]
[small-time streamers watching Rin are gonna feel so inadequate lolololol]
[if you don't like it, just play as well as Rin lolololol]
[no reaction even when you donate, ready to end the stream if you don't like it—is this even a streamer?]
[can I ask a question then?]
[Rin, what brand of underwear do you wear?]
***
Drip.
As coffee poured into the cup, the aroma of premium beans gently spread through the room.
Clink.
A woman with a refined impression slowly set the coffee pot back in its place.
Whirrrr.
As the hair dryer whirred, the refined-looking woman hummed softly while drying her hair.
As she added waves to her hair to make herself look different from usual, the woman glanced to the side while getting ready for her stream.
On the massive monitor, a streamer's broadcast was playing.
A silver-haired woman holding a greatsword. Seeing it, the woman let out a small laugh.
"She really uses a greatsword."
While preparing for her own scheduled stream, Sua had Serin's stream on and was watching.
After yesterday's first stream, today was effectively her first time streaming alone, and the flow from light talk into Another World looked quite natural even to Sua.
To anyone watching, she looked as composed as a streamer who had been at it for at least a few months.
Watching Serin stream so well, Sua felt proud for no particular reason.
Even Sua found it hard to believe that a rookie streamer only on her second day could be this successful.
And she herself felt like she had helped to some degree.
"...Hmm."
After finishing her hair, Sua carefully sipped the coffee on the table as she watched the stream. Before long, she let out an impressed murmur.
From what she had said yesterday, Sua had figured Serin knew how to use a greatsword, but what she was seeing on screen now exceeded her expectations.
"Seriously... she's good with a greatsword too."
She handled the greatsword so naturally that anyone would mistake it for her main weapon.
With a greatsword, mediocre technique looked bad right from the basic stance.
Even in Diamond Tier, which was considered fairly high, greatsword users like that were a dime a dozen.
But one glance at Serin holding the greatsword upright on screen was enough to see the difference.
The way she tightened her grip and moved with complete confidence as she swung the greatsword and activated skills made that obvious.
Serin carried the same distinctive presence Sua felt when facing a high-ranked greatsword user.
After that, Sua had been watching Serin's stream with considerable enjoyment.
And she felt a deep sense of regret at Serin's announcement that she would soon end the stream.
"No... the stream time feels way too short."
Muttering quietly, she looked at the chat, and sure enough, the viewers were angry too.
[...it hasn't even been 2 hours since the stream started?]
[no lololololol]
[????]
The chat was uniformly furious that she was trying to end the stream so early.
Sure, streamers all kept different schedules, but most still averaged a steady 5-6 hours.
Ending the stream after barely 2 hours felt, even to Sua, like crossing a serious line.
So even she, as if swayed by those chats, logged in with a different account and typed in chat.
[Rin, that's abandoning 20,000 viewers;]
Because she wanted Serin to stream a little longer.
She figured she'd send Serin a whisper about her streaming hours later tonight or tomorrow, when she had time.
That a 2-hour stream was crossing the line.
Then, the next moment.
"And after that, I'm going to eat dinner and watch Plea's stream."
At Serin's next words, Sua doubted her own ears for a second.