Chapter 43

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Translator: penny

Chapter: 43

Chapter Title: Underwater Maze (4)

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"What are these guys?"

"...Those are the enemies."

"Enemies?"

Yuwol swept his gaze over the players, then immediately drew his longsword at Cheisi's words.

"...For now, let's kill the ones we can fight!"

The players' attacks poured toward Yuwol in an instant.

After their attacks landed, the players could only grimace.

"His defense is weird..."

"Why isn't his health going down?!"

Cheisi watched Yuwol take hits from the players and marveled.

'Wow, the Crown of Mist is performing great.'

Compared to Cheisi, Yuwol had invested relatively more in health and defense. On top of that, the Crown of Mist's defense buff and health recovery effect on taking damage made his health drain noticeably slower even under attack.

Moreover, Yuwol had rushed to level up quickly to add friends. He was now keeping pace with Cheisi, who was the farthest ahead in Ariant World.

So Yuwol's attacks were quite powerful, if not quite on Cheisi's level. The players were visibly burdened by them.

"...Damn. Where are my potions?!"

Cheisi saw a player Yuwol was fighting frantically pull a potion from his inventory.

He was a player with high-end gear.

If he got to drink that potion, things would get annoying.

'A weapon...'

Cheisi's eyes turned to the cross Yorong was holding.

"Lend me that cross for a sec."

"Eh? S-sure, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠take it."

Yorong hurriedly handed the cross to Cheisi.

An item she'd seen once in Azelchen's weapon shop.

Its attack power was pitiful on its own, but in this situation, beggars couldn't be choosers.

"Ambush."

In an instant, Cheisi's body teleported behind the player Yuwol was fighting.

Cheisi slammed the cross down on the player's head.

"Argh!"

The player, who had been about to chug his potion, lost all his health in a flash and dissolved into particles of light.

"T-that health bar... gone in one hit...?"

"Isn't that a cross...?"

The other players panicked at the sight.

They had already judged from the stream that Cheisi's stats weren't overwhelmingly superior for level 15.

On top of that, the weapon she was wielding now was just the Siurug's Guardian Cross. They all knew its attack power was a measly 10 from Azelchen's shop.

Even with ambush damage bonuses, one-shotting him didn't make sense.

But the players had overlooked something.

Megaranapit's 1000-coin dish. The Living Wraith effect was still active on Cheisi.

It amplified ambush damage by 250% for the next two battles, but she hadn't fought since the Kaliune Knight, so the buff hadn't been consumed.

The cross's weak attack power and her non-overwhelming level 15 stats. Even with ambush bonuses, it still wouldn't one-shot a player.

But with 250% amplification? That changed everything.

"What the..."

"...She's stronger than we thought."

"If she can one-shot that guy's health, she can one-shot us too..."

Seeing the high-end geared player vaporize from massive damage, the others were utterly demoralized as they stared at Cheisi.

They could barely break through Yuwol tanking up front, and now this cat could delete them in one hit while quietly waiting out her skill cooldown.

No way they could keep fighting.

"Four left."

Cheisi murmured leisurely, watching them. She even demonstratively pulled out a potion and topped off her health.

"Damn..."

The players grimaced and sighed.

They exchanged glances, then bolted.

They'd completely lost the will to fight.

The skirmish was over.

Cheisi watched the players flee but decided against pursuit after a moment's thought.

The buff ended with the battle. She figured fighting with just the cross would be too risky, so she let them go.

Cheisi checked the chat window.

-How dare they mess with our streamer???

-These guys are insane for real

-Logging in now.

-They need to taste PK themselves

The chat was ablaze with furious viewers.

"Okay, calm down everyone."

Seeing the viewer count, Cheisi hurried to soothe the chat.

80,000 viewers. If all these people swarmed Azelchen to hunt those players down, it'd be chaos.

It probably wouldn't be that extreme, but she wanted to avoid any commotion if possible.

"H-hic... S-so scary..."

Yorong sniffled beside her, looking dazed.

"Getting PK'd in an online game is totally different... It's really scary... Hic. I felt what it's like to be murdered..."

He didn't look okay. Cheisi recalled the yokuryong from Abyss was quite the coward. And that it sniveled like a child when truly scared.

"You alright? Maybe log out for a bit..."

"...No. I'm fine."

Yorong clung tightly to Cheisi's clothes.

"...Gotta see the new area."

His voice held a resolve to push through despite the fear.

"Got it."

What could she do when he put it like that?

Cheisi headed toward the passage the players had found in the underwater maze.

Using the Lotus Vine Key on the submerged door opened it.

The scenery beyond was utterly different from the rest of the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠underwater maze so far.

Anyone could tell it was a new area.

"...Whoa. I-it really is a new area."

"You go first. I'm not interested in quests."

Yuwol said indifferently.

"R-right. Cheisi goes first."

Cheisi nodded at their words and stepped forward.

The familiar title acquisition chime rang in Cheisi's ears.

Ariant World's communities were in an uproar.

Most players knew PK was possible and that a few users were starting to do it.

But targeting a streamer with it?

A mega Abyss streamer, no less? No one had imagined it.

Every community buzzed with the topic of the idiots who'd PK'd a streamer—and failed spectacularly. Meanwhile, ten players gathered in Azelchen.

"Hey, you're One Walnut, right?"

"This is the meetup for 'Cheisi Stories' users, yeah?"

"Looks like it. Let's go hunt those bastards."

And among them, one community burned with even more rage than the chat viewers who'd witnessed the attack firsthand.

[Why doesn't our streamer have a forum or any way to chat?]

[She only does streams...]

[Donation messages are default too, feels kinda empty.]

A board made by dissatisfied viewers of Cheisi, who only streamed on Abyss.

Some users grumbled about the lame name, but until Cheisi made an official viewer board, they'd use this as a temp spot.

Despite only recently starting streams, about a thousand people had gathered on the temp board.

The moment PK players approached her on stream, the board exploded.

Cheisi hadn't died or anything, but the fury on Cheisi Stories showed no signs of fading.

Opinions split.

Hunt the PK'ers right now, or...

It'd burden Cheisi and cause a ruckus.

Then one post shifted the tide instantly.

The "small elite squad" idea gained massive support and became the mainstream.

Excluding those with mismatched login times or no capsules who only watched streams, about a hundred users gathered.

Lv7

Lv8

Lv4...

No one at 10 yet?

Almost no one's been to Megaranapit...

I'm 10

God tier;;;

Check detailed stats too.

They filtered for highest levels, then highest stats among those, leaving ten players.

These ten elites.

'How dare they touch Godcat?'

Led by the sole level 10, One Walnut, the ten set out to hunt the PK offenders.