Just Listen to Me (3)

While everyone else was spitting rage and irritation at the Level 6 Warrior, Taeya's eyes flew wide instead.

The god of streaming is looking out for me!

He'd already been trying things from every angle, feeling that his broadcasts had settled into the same old pattern lately—and right on cue, a piece of content had walked up and presented itself.

People love to ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠see good rewarded and evil punished. They love watching the person who makes a nuisance of themselves, the one who stirs up trouble, get what they deserve. The stuff commonly called a proper lesson, or a refreshing beatdown.

In that sense, the Level 6 Warrior was a perfect villain.

Of course, deciding a leader among themselves and informing him he was to hang back was plainly their fault. Contribute nothing, and you might waste the whole run with no experience and no reward to show for it—and in a bad case, you could even eat a penalty.

But a petty little truth like that didn't matter in the slightest.

To the viewers right now, that Level 6 was nothing more than a nuisance ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠character who didn't know his place and wouldn't stop yapping.

Shutting him down on the spot and crushing his spirit would be the move of someone who doesn't understand streaming.

And conveniently, the other side had just come over with an offer tempting enough to bite.

He would command five rooms brilliantly. The Level 6 would somehow, messily, clear five rooms of his own. And then—

I get chosen as leader. After that I twist the knife, nice and subtle, and wind him up. And at the very end I pretend I'm doing him a favor and toss him a few Credits...!

One perfect piece of refreshing, put-him-in-his-place content, complete.

Taeya swallowed, mouth watering, and set about preparing the clear in earnest. The content began, after all, with him leading five rooms flawlessly.

The Underground Prison... honestly, it's a little iffy.

Still, however it went, he was confident he could manage it far better than a Level 6.

"Looks like I got summoned into the Archer position this time. So, swordsman, you filter the monsters up front. I'll intercept from behind with my daggers, and step up to cover the front line when we need it."

"That'll do!"

"Mage, once your cast finishes, give us a signal and we'll clear out so you can drop a wide-area attack right away. Supporter, read the fight and keep the buffs coming."

"Understood!"

"Yeah."

"And Jaeha hyung-nim..."

Taeya's eyes twitched, just slightly.

"Stay by the mage noona's side, and handle any monsters that slip past me and the swordsman!"

"Sure."

Calling it "guarding her side" sounded nice. In practice, it was hardly different from telling him to do nothing and stand still.

But right now, he was the leader.

"Yes. Understood."

Unlike before, Shin Jaeha nodded and accepted the role.

"All right—let's go!"

Every role assigned, every piece of the strategy set, they finally stepped into the first room.

Clunk!

The entrance locked behind them, and the room's monsters took shape.

A dozen or so rats, each half the size of a grown man, flushed their eyes crimson and bared razor incisors.

"Screee!"

The sewer rats came on at a terrifying speed. Just as they'd agreed, the swordsman stepped forward and swung.

"Hraaaap!"

The blade drove in with spirit and split one rat clean in two. Ash-gray fur blotched dark with crimson blood.

"Skree!"

"Squeak!"

The other rats leapt in threat, jaws gaping wide—

Thuk! Thuk!

Daggers flew in from somewhere and punched through their brows in a single strike, killing them outright.

"Keep pulling their attention up front!"

"I was already gonna!"

The swordsman packed his muscle tight.

Incisors meant to tear flesh caught on hardened muscle and stopped cold. They grappled like that for a good long while.

"Ready!"

The mage signaled. The cast was complete. The swordsman hurried clear, and toward the pack of sewer rats surging after him—

"Burn!"

The spell detonated.

Fwoosh!

Red fire climbed in a single breath and burned every last rat. A vile stench of char swept past their noses.

The clear count ticked up.

"Hoo... we did it!"

"Nice! Mage noona! Swordsman, good work too."

"Heh. This much is basic."

After the clear, the team's mood was warm—if you left out the supporter, who barely spoke, and Shin Jaeha.

"You did well too, Jaeha hyung-nim. Thanks to you, the mage noona could cast in comfort."

Praise whose intent was obvious to anyone. Shin Jaeha didn't take the bait.

Or rather—maybe it was that he couldn't.

Cold sweat actually beaded on his forehead.

This is... a bit...

This team's average was far worse than he'd thought.

A lot more of a mess...?

Far more of a rabble than that.

The clear went on.

Through the second room, things flowed as smoothly as the first—no trouble, no crisis. The problem started in the third.

From here the monsters were a higher grade, and there were more of them.

"Ghk... aaagh!"

Too much for the swordsman to hold alone up front. Taeya had no choice but to leave the Archer's position and move to the front line. A fluid tactical shift, making full use of a multi-position's advantages... was a generous way to describe something a little crude.

"Here to help!"

"Oof... you saved my hide."

Fortunately, it worked to some degree. But the problem didn't end there.

"Ngh... nngh...!"

For some reason, the mage's casting had slowed by a long stretch. Their whole strategy was to sweep the room with a single mage strike, so a slower cast accelerated the drain on the entire team's resources.

"Noona! How much longer?!"

"J-just a little more...!"

Before long the supporter switched from a power-boost buff to one that shortened skill activation time. Taeya's order, once he judged they couldn't bleed any more stamina.

"It's done!"

The two pulled out fast on the signal.

Fwoosh!

The prepared spell detonated, and flame tore through the room once more. Sewer rats crackled as they burned.

"Hoo. That one was a little rough."

"Damn Underground Prison... still, we cleared it without casualties, so it's fine."

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

The two warriors let the tension go. At the same time the mage clutched a faintly throbbing head and smiled, thin.

"......"

Shin Jaeha alone stayed on guard.

These idiots. They've completely let their guard down.

And for good reason.

The clear count still hadn't gone up.

"Skree...!"

Something writhed inside the blazing flame.

"Screee!"

Several burning sewer rats leapt high, aiming for the mage. They'd thrown an unbuffed spell at specimens with higher defense and attack than before, and the problem was assuming—as they had before—that one hit would still kill them.

"W-what?!"

"Noona!"

Taeya and the swordsman couldn't react in time. They spun around in a rush. A burning sewer rat flushed its eyes red, venomous with the will to take her along even if it died.

"Kh... kyaaaaa!"

In the instant she was about to be eaten alive—

WHAM!

A bat flying in from the side smashed every one of the rats away. He moved with the ease of someone who had already known where it would come from, and how.

The chat's reaction turned a little strange. The Level 6 they'd expected to contribute nothing had pulled about three-tenths of a player's weight.

"You all right?"

"Huh...? Ah, y-yes... th-thank you..."

"Get up."

Shin Jaeha helped the fallen mage to her feet without another word, and at the same time stole a look at a face gone a shade paler than before. The hand clasped in his was slick with cold sweat.

As I thought.

Shin Jaeha's face tightened, just slightly.

"Whoa... Jaeha hyung-nim, I see you in a new light! You really do come through when it counts!"

Taeya hid his fluster and forced the praise out.

"Ah, yes. Well. This is my role, after all."

Shin Jaeha answered just enough and let it pass. This wasn't the moment to focus on that.

Taeya, meanwhile, wiped cold sweat on the inside.

The rats not dying in one hit—that's a variable.

He'd underestimated a sewer rat's vitality. Next time, he would not repeat a miscalculation like this. Swearing it to himself, he headed for the fourth room.

Clunk!

The sound of the door locking came down heavier than before, somehow.

"Grrrrrr..."

A low cry, drawing slowly closer. Pale corpses bristling with blades, spears, and other arms filled the room—shackles on every ankle, ragged prisoner uniforms hanging off them. Undead.

Monsters that appeared in the Underground Prison, same as the sewer rats.

Tch... of all things!

And among those, they belonged to the fairly troublesome sort. Vowing not to let his guard down for even a moment, Taeya gripped his daggers hard.

"This time I'll go as the main Warrior!"

"W-what?! If you suddenly switch positions...!"

"You can't handle those things at a swordsman's level!"

Taeya's class, Dagger Rogue, was a second-advancement class. Firepower and speed sat on a different plane from a mere first-advancement Normal Sword User.

"Damn it, what even is going on...!"

Stuck as the follow-up whether he liked it or not, the swordsman clicked his tongue and jumped in late. Taeya leapt into the enemy line and danced with both daggers, dropping ghouls one after another.

Mana-laden edges sheared the ghouls' skin off in slabs. If the team's level wasn't enough, he just had to step in himself.

This is more doable than I thought.

An easy smile hooked at the corner of his mouth. But that only applied to Taeya.

"Ghk...! Damn it!"

The swordsman facing the other ghouls was, frankly, dying. With no Archer, there was no one to harass them or lay down suppressing fire, so he had to endure them entirely alone. Calling on every skill he had, stamina and mana drained out of him in real time.

"Hold on just a little longer! I'll finish here and come help right away!"

"Goddamn it... make it quick!"

All he could count on was Taeya's support, or the cast coming to an end. But a ghoul was never an easy opponent. Undead didn't die easily; fail to kill them properly, and you had to face them again and again.

Whoosh! Skrrk!

Their combat power took after the humans they'd been in life, so it was never on the low side.

"Ugh...!"

A spear the ghoul swung nicked Taeya's side. It wasn't a fatal wound, but the fact that he'd let an attack through sent a chill through his gut.

"Th-the magic—how much longer?!"

He snapped his gaze toward the mage in desperation.

"Haa... haaah...!"

The mage was preparing a large spell on trembling legs. It looked like it would still take quite a while before everything was ready.

The supporter...!

If they at least had a skill-acceleration buff, maybe. As it was, the supporter was in no position to spare a thought for the mage.

"Aaagh! You dog of a corpse!"

Healing the swordsman, who was taking ghoul attacks from every side, was the more urgent need.

"Graaaah!"

"Uwooooh..."

Naturally, the ghouls they couldn't fully block turned from the two warriors toward the mage and the supporter.

"H-hiik...!"

As the ghouls closed in they shrank back, concentration broke, and the spell that had been casting guttered out.

"Ah...!"

A true dilemma—no way forward, and no way back. Taeya bit his lip hard.

Should he run over even now and protect those two? But if he abandoned this spot, every other ghoul would pile onto the swordsman, and the man would definitely die. He couldn't abandon the mage and the supporter either. Weighed against each other, those two were far more valuable than the swordsman.

It's only the fourth room!

The problem was drawing ghouls out of bad luck. No—this had been disadvantageous from the start. A team was built on five. Right now they had barely four. A Level 6 was outside the fighting strength to begin with.

Right. If it weren't for that Level 6...!

He never would have been hobbled here. He was venting inwardly for no good reason, on the verge of abandoning the swordsman and sprinting for the mage and the supporter, when—

"Haaa..."

The Level 6 in question walked out in front of the mage and the supporter.

"I wasn't asking for much. I told you to clear exactly five rooms, and you're stuck on four?"

Shin Jaeha scratched his head and stood before the dozens of ghouls charging in. Then—

He spread a violet field.

KUUUUUNG!

Space took form, and the approaching ghouls slowed drastically. One after another, rotten joints shattered, and they slammed into the floor.

"Grk!"

"Krrrk!"

A corpse was still just a corpse. Crush it with enough force, and it couldn't bear the weight of its own body—the rotten flesh was bound to pulp.

Thud...!

After laying every ghoul in the area flat, Shin Jaeha released the skill.

CRACK—CRACK—CRACK!

He swung the bat at high speed and smashed every ghoul's skull. Rotten blood and brain matter sluiced out, thick.

"All of you."

Having cleaned the situation up in an instant, Shin Jaeha spoke with a face full of irritation.

Bets, wagers—none of that mattered. This wasn't a team decent enough to bother worrying about things like that.