The Heavenly Demon Will Promote Me (5)
The sound of the queue popping made Enry open her eyes. Just as Ara had advised, she slid the chat window down and turned donations off. Her opponent was a Berserker.
A character that charged in regardless of incoming damage and split your skull open with an axe. The Berserker’s trait increased their physical abilities the lower their health dropped. In exchange, their performance was abysmal at full health, forcing Berserker players into a constant high-wire act of dancing on the edge of death. It was an artisan class that only certain madmen played—an insane concept where you were stronger than anyone at low health, but a single mistake sent you straight to the graveyard.
The matchup between Dragon Hunter and Berserker was almost exactly 50-50. The Dragon Hunter held the initiative at the start, but as health was chipped away, the Berserker gradually took over. It was the kind of balanced matchup where either side could realistically win.
The map was the notoriously boring Temple, and the opponent was a Diamond-tier native Berserker. There were no variables. Whether Enry could climb into Diamond depended entirely on her own skill.
Enry took a deep breath.
I can do this. Ara said my skills have improved. She said I should believe in myself.
She gripped her spear with both hands and took her stance. The opponent’s face was equally serious. There was no sign he would go easy on her. He, too, was pursuing victory with everything he had.
The system announced the start, but neither side moved first. They were both reading each other. Enry waited to react to her opponent’s movement. The Berserker was looking for an angle to trade damage and initiate.
The first to move out of impatience was the Berserker. Time favored the Dragon Hunter more than him, so he had no choice but to feel anxious. As he took a step forward and swung his axe in a wide arc, Enry retreated just far enough to dodge. The spear’s reach was now fully established, but she couldn’t let herself relax. Both weapons—spear and axe—had similar range. Enry held the advantage in speed, but her opponent welcomed taking damage. One mistake from her could easily flip the advantage.
Enry tightened her grip on the spear and glared at him. What she needed to think about wasn’t what should I do, but what will he do next. Would he move his legs? His arms?
The Berserker moved his feet first. The instant Enry saw it, she thrust the tip of her spear into his thigh. With the damage came a brief stagger, and Enry immediately created distance again. The Berserker’s eyes narrowed as he realized she was blatantly trying to stall for time.
The strategy Enry was using was the textbook approach against a Berserker—deal the minimum amount of damage possible, drag out the fight, and win through the health gap. It was the safe route: instead of reducing his health and inviting variables, she aimed for a guaranteed victory.
Berserker players knew this strategy well. After all, no one had suffered from it more than they had. But knowing about it didn’t change anything. The reason it was called the standard tactic was precisely because it was hard to counter even when you knew it was coming.
The Berserker, who had been hesitating instead of charging recklessly, suddenly slung his axe onto his back and prepared to rush her with bare fists. He must have judged that the slow axe wouldn’t let him reverse the situation and was now looking for a variable. It was exactly what Enry had done earlier—breaking the standard tactic with an unexpected move, aiming to break through while the opponent was flustered.
It wasn’t a bad judgment. Unfortunately for him, his opponent was the wrong person to try it on. Enry was more familiar with dealing with fists than anyone else.
The exchange continued, but the only one accumulating wounds was the Berserker. Even after he tried to create a variable, she handled it effortlessly. He retreated once more and picked up his axe again.
The Berserker changed strategies once more. This time he charged in brutally, as if daring her to stab him with her spear. Enry tried to maintain distance somehow, but the situation wasn’t easy. To check him, she had to deal damage—and the more damage she dealt, the stronger he became.
As the Berserker’s stats rose, the distance between them gradually closed. Enry’s mind grew complicated.
If this continues, I’ll get caught in his pace and lose. It would be best if I could accumulate damage and seize a single decisive opportunity to suppress him, but I don’t have that kind of technique. That’s not something I can do while relying on the system’s corrections. Then what should I do? How do I break this Berserker?
One minute remained. If she kept playing by the book, she would hand him an opening. In that case, wouldn’t it be better to just endure for the remaining minute?
Her hesitation was brief. Ara had told her to believe in herself. To sometimes trust her own judgment and go for it. So far, her words had never been wrong. So this time would be the same.
Enry threw her spear away. She watched as the Berserker swung his axe. His motion was huge. He was going for a big play to close the already massive health gap. The stronger the attack, the more openings it left for the opponent.
Enry, now lighter without her spear, rolled sideways. BOOM! The axe split the ground where she had been standing in half.
Her strategy was clear: dodge the big attacks, accept the small ones. She would take the punches. Headbutts? She could tank those with her body. But she would never allow the axe blade. She did nothing else and simply dragged out time. For a guaranteed victory.
As Enry’s health slowly decreased, so did the remaining time. The Berserker, realizing her intention, bit his lip. If only her health had dropped just a little more, he could have overwhelmed her with raw stats—but it wasn’t there yet. Big attacks were too slow, and repeating small attacks didn’t deal enough damage to overcome the health difference. It was a stalemate.
The Berserker realized there was no way to win, yet he fought with everything he had until the very end. He moved desperately, trying to create any chance for a comeback.
3. He reached out with a savage hand to grab her head—Enry ducked and avoided it.
2. The Berserker swung his axe with one hand; she tapped the shaft, twisting its trajectory.
1. The moment the Berserker’s final, desperate headbutt came, Enry met it with a headbutt of her own.
The match was over.
Enry, who had been knocked to the floor by the headbutt, sat there with dazed eyes as she checked both their health bars. Although she had dodged most of the attacks, she had still taken some unavoidable hits. Because of that, the health gap between them wasn’t that large. At a glance, it looked almost even.
Don’t tell me it’s because of that last headbutt? If I lose because of that, it’s going to be a disaster. I might have to turn off the stream immediately!
Enry waited anxiously for the system’s verdict.
“Kyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!”
The moment she saw the word she had been hoping for, she let out a scream that was closer to a shriek.
“Promotion! I got promoted!”
She instinctively tried to check the chat reactions, then remembered she had lowered the chat window. With trembling hands, she raised it again and turned donations back on. A flood of cheers congratulating her poured in like a tidal wave.
With a record of 3 wins and 2 losses across 5 games, Enry has successfully promoted to Diamond.
Enry, Diamond suits you perfectly!
“Huu…”
The language of magic is so unnecessarily complicated.
I had been studying magic since yesterday to recreate with my own hands what Harkia had unfolded. But the language of magic was pointlessly complex. Since it was designed with the premise of using the system’s corrections, building it from the ground up was extremely difficult. I never expected it would be harder than when I studied Korean.
To handle this properly, it would take at least several months. One might ask why I don’t just use the system’s corrections, and I did try that. However, while I could use magic that way, I couldn’t unfold the martial arts, so I gave up.
Sigh. Is there really no way to compromise?
“Ara.”
While I was frowning at the smartphone screen, a familiar voice called out. I looked up. Enry was staring at me.
“Don’t you have anything to say?”
She asked directly. It wasn’t that I didn’t feel guilty, but I remained confident. After all, the fact that she had promoted thanks to me was undeniable. If I hadn’t helped her, she wouldn’t have risen up. I figured the sin I had committed was sufficiently offset by that.
That was what I thought, but unfortunately, it seemed Enry’s thoughts were quite different.
“You remember promising to go out and play with me before, right?”