The Heavenly Demon Steps In (3)

There was still a mountain of things to teach. I needed to show her that there were moments when pressing the advantage was essential, train her to distinguish between situations that demanded aggression and those that didn’t, and cover the fundamentals of combat logic while I was at it. …Hmm. With so many glaring deficiencies, how had she even reached the threshold of Diamond? Did it mean the level below it was truly that far beneath her? Platinum was supposed to be where players who considered themselves fairly competent gathered. Well, judging by what Enri was doing right now, she still looked years away from being ready for Diamond. There were far more flaws than strengths in her gameplay. How could anyone climb with skills like these? Even if she somehow ascended, she would only end up feeding points to her opponents. In that case, it was far better to build real skill and rise through her own power instead of relying on luck.

Enri was flailing desperately even in an unfavorable position, but it didn’t look like she would seize the initiative. Watching any longer would only raise my blood pressure, so I decided to look into magic instead. I minimized Enri’s stream and opened MyTube to search for lectures. The top result belonged to a man named Ryudan.

The exaggerated tone and gestures didn’t exactly inspire confidence, but someone without skill wouldn’t sit at the top of the rankings, so I decided to watch a little longer.

Ryudan explained magic in easy-to-understand terms, exactly as expected from the man sitting at the top of MyTube. Magic was a kind of language. According to preset rules, if you wrote a sentence such as “I will fire a flame sphere of this size from that location at this speed” using mana, the magic would activate.

I understood the concept. I understood it, but language had always been my weakest field. I was only now barely becoming proficient in Korean, yet I had to learn an entirely new language to use magic? My motivation evaporated instantly. This was more exhausting than I had expected. I never imagined magic would be like this.

It made me realize anew just how remarkable Harkia had been. She had cast magic as naturally as breathing. That meant she had been writing language with her mana every single time. The title of Great Mage hadn’t been given lightly. If I wanted to cast magic the way she did, it would clearly take an enormous amount of time.

The moment I let out a sigh, a scream erupted from the screen I had set aside.

“I lost again! Again! One more loss and it’s over. It’s all over!”

So she had finally lost. The girl had held on longer than I expected.

“This is all because of Hwaryeong! If that person hadn’t been there, I would’ve had one more chance!”

Hmm? The direction of her complaint was veering off in a strange direction. I quietly turned the stream back up and saw Enri sprawled on the floor, flailing her arms and legs like a child throwing a tantrum. The sight of her calling my name as if demanding a toy left me momentarily stunned.

I snapped back to my senses and realized my fingers had moved on their own. Enri’s behavior had been so pathetic that even I had lost control of my body for a second. Of course, that was a lie. I simply couldn’t stay silent after watching her throw away every last shred of dignity.

Unfortunately, Enri was too busy throwing her tantrum to notice my chat, and the flood of messages surging ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠upward buried my comment completely.

“I’m finished! I’m going to be stuck in Platinum for the rest of my life!”

Originally I hadn’t planned to help Enri. If she had the skill to climb, she would have done so on her own. Right now she was simply too lacking. I had intended to fill those gaps later, so for now I wanted her to experience failure, reflect on it, and strengthen her resolve.

But after seeing that utterly pathetic display, I couldn’t help but feel pity. Just how badly must she have wanted to reach Diamond to act like this? More worrying was the possibility that if she fell, the arrows of blame might turn toward me. Although I had grown used to Korean, that familiarity was limited to language. Life at the language institute would still be difficult without Enri’s help. On top of that, it wasn’t just about language anymore. Enri was the one who always helped whenever I ran into broadcasting troubles. If her feelings were hurt, it would cause problems in many ways.

I closed the computer and lay back inside the capsule. Using the friend window, I moved to where Enri was. Our eyes met while she was still in the middle of her tantrum. When I looked down at her with narrowed eyes, Enri cleared her throat and slowly climbed to her feet.

“…When did you get here?”

“Just now. I saw your little tantrum on the stream.”

“You heard everything?”

“I did.”

When I answered indifferently, Enri buried her face in both hands. The fact that even her ears had turned bright red suggested she was aware of how disgraceful she had looked. Even after some time passed and she lifted her head, Enri couldn’t meet my eyes, like a puppy who knew she had done something wrong.

Well. When people become desperate, they can become rather unsightly. “Didn’t I cause you to lose that match? So I’ll help you win the next one.”

“Really?”

“The question is how. It wouldn’t be right for me to fight in your place, would it?”

“Don’t even joke about that! People in Apis are extremely sensitive about substitutes!”

Enri looked genuinely horrified at my words. Was it really such a huge issue?

“It was a joke. Don’t take it so seriously.”

“Just give me some advice. Any advice from you would be incredibly meaningful.”

“Very well. But the advice I give will only apply to the next match.”

The final victory should be won by her own strength if she wanted to claim she had reached Diamond through her own power. I had only come to return the opportunity I had taken from her.

“That’s more than enough.”

I left Enri smiling with dreams of a hopeful future and pondered what advice to give her. Even if I taught her something complicated now, she wouldn’t be able to apply it in real combat immediately. The idea that a single word could turn a beginner into an expert was nothing but fantasy. Realization was a tool that allowed someone ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠who had accumulated much over long years yet failed to notice the critical piece to cross a wall. It could not turn a person with nothing into an expert.

Enri’s skill was still a blank sheet of paper, pure and untainted. Raising it in a single moment was impossible. In my heart I wanted to drag her along right now and temper her until she possessed the strength to climb on her own, but that would only earn resentment from many people. I would save that plan for later, when Enri came crying and seeking me out.

“Start queuing for a match. I’ll decide what to tell you while you do.”

“You don’t have any advice right now?”

“If I start explaining everything one by one, we’ll be here all night. Do you truly want that?”

I was willing if she asked. Enri gave no reply and quietly pressed the queue button.

The third promotion match’s miserable defeat was entirely Enri’s fault. She knew it herself. She had no choice but to know. The moment she made her first mistake, the chat window had exploded with flames; there was no way she could have missed it. Because of that, the impatient Enri had made one terrible decision after another. She chased after an enemy she was already too late to catch. She never once considered the possibility of being ambushed while doing so. Only after she was stabbed by the Sword-and-Shield Knight did she realize her situation had reached its worst possible state. Only then did she regain her senses and try to win somehow, but she no longer had the power to reverse a match that had already tilted so heavily.

After the defeat, the viewers threw a fit.

No matter what excuses she offered, the criticism in chat refused to die down. Enri had endured it for a long time, but even she had limits. When she thought about it, meeting Ara had been the start of the problem. No matter how you looked at it, out of all those people, why had she been the one to match against her? Someone else could have been sacrificed instead—why did it have to be me!

And after that, the mistake she made against the Sword-and-Shield Knight had also been the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠viewers’ fault. If they hadn’t caused such a commotion, wouldn’t she have been able to make calmer judgments? The more she thought about it, the more unfair and resentful she felt. So she had screamed. She never imagined Ara was actually watching. She had simply vented her anger however she could.

Then she felt a presence behind her and came to her senses. Ara was looking at her.

Huh?

She hurriedly stood up, eyes trembling as she studied Ara’s expression. No matter how long Enri had been streaming and no matter how many shameful moments she had shown others, she still understood embarrassment. To let the person she had to greet at the language institute tomorrow see her throwing a childish tantrum!

But why had Ara come here? Could it be that she had heard all the shouting earlier?! With ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠a heart full of dread, Enri spoke, and Ara calmly confirmed it. She had heard the entire rant about blaming others?!

Enri quickly covered her flushed face with both hands. This had to be a dream. It had to be. Ah, she wanted to end the stream. The thought that this disgraceful sight was being seen by thousands of people! Knowing that turning the stream off now would set every community on fire, Enri barely managed to compose herself and lift her head.

Fortunately, Ara didn’t look particularly upset. The fact that she was standing quietly with her hands behind her back instead of taking out her pipe—the habit she had whenever something displeased her—suggested she had accepted Enri’s earlier tantrum as part of the broadcast. That was a relief. At least that much.

Ara said that since she had gifted her one defeat, she had come this time to gift her a victory. When the topic of substitution came up Enri had been horrified, but when she thought about it, Ara’s offer wasn’t bad at all. Ara’s advice had already been proven effective before. She was the one who had perfectly predicted an opponent’s movements and delivered victory. If she gave sincere advice, she might truly be able to bring victory.

The viewers would probably call it a fake promotion since Ara helped, but that wasn’t Enri’s concern. What remained in the end was the result. Enri wanted to reach Diamond by any means necessary. After accepting Ara’s help and queuing again, the game found a match quickly.

This time the opponent was a Spirit Archer. A long-range character with countless tools to harass approaching enemies—the worst possible matchup for a dragon hunter. On top of that, the map was the wide-open Colosseum. If she failed to close the distance at the start, she would simply be beaten from afar until she lost. Was she really going to fall here in the promotion match?

“Enri.”

“Yes.”

She had been staring at the Spirit Archer with dead eyes when Ara’s voice made her answer weakly.

“What are you worrying about?”

“Huh?”

“Didn’t I say I would make you win?”