Blehh
"Ah, so close. I could've hit that."
The axe he threw with all his might vanished into the far distance.
If he had managed to draw even a single drop of blood to start, the game would have been much easier.
Streamer Hanul clicked his tongue in genuine disappointment.
Is it because I haven't played Berserker in a while? Am I rusty?
No. Even thinking about it again, that attack shouldn't have missed so completely.
If the answer couldn't be found in himself, it had to be found in his opponent.
Come to think of it, the enemy Berserker's character did look a bit small.
It was at a height that would have hit any other character in the head, but it seemed to have missed purely because they were so short.
Well, if that was the case, he'd just have to do better next time.
Hanul chuckled.
"You guys might not know this, but this is how you're actually supposed to play Berserker."
"What does the 'Ber' in 'Berserker' stand for? It means crazy! Have you ever seen a crazy person show manners? I'm telling you, this is the right way to play."
Just like the boiling chat window, the opponent's atmosphere was far from ordinary.
The shy girl's face had long since filled with a sense of betrayal.
A thirst for revenge could be glimpsed in the hands gripping an unfittingly massive battleaxe.
But Hanul wasn't someone who was easily shaken.
If you've decided to backstab someone, you have to know how to be completely shameless about it.
Because... that was show business.
After streaming for several years, one inevitably developed an eccentric streak.
In the end, he was a person for whom entertainment value was far more important than keeping faith with a stranger.
So what if he broke the Berserker's promise?
What are you going to do about it? What can you possibly do besides staring at me so cutely?
If you have a problem, come at me right now and prove it with your skills.
"Wow, but her character really is cute. Surely that's not her real face? She must have spent a fortune customizing it."
Seeing her get mad with that face makes me feel a bit guilty.
No, I can't get soft now.
Either way, the die—or rather, the axe—had been cast.
Since there was no turning back, Hanul decided to fully embrace the villain role.
If the enemy Berserker, 'DoNotTalkToMe', glared at him, he would just glare right back.
In fact, acting like an absolute jerk and then losing was exactly what made the viewers feel satisfied.
And if he won, he could just keep playing the villain for the rest of the day.
Just as he was about to lock eyes with the furious Berserker...
The girl looked away first.
"...?"
What? Why is she looking away?
You're supposed to hold my gaze here.
Thinking the timing was off, he tried again, but failed once more.
This time, she wore an expression that practically screamed, Thank goodness we didn't make eye contact...
In the process, even her thirst for revenge seemed to dilute, and her grip on her weapon loosened slightly.
Now, Hanul had no idea what was going on.
However, he knew that if he didn't initiate the fight right now, things would get even messier.
Hanul decided to trust his instincts.
Active: Frenzied Shout
Roar loudly to increase your action speed by 8.4% for 15 seconds.
Soon, axe clashed against axe.
I used a single large battleaxe, while my opponent wielded a dual-wielded pair of axes.
The force behind a single weapon was much stronger on my end.
However, the opponent could attempt much more versatile attacks, and crucially, he was far larger than me.
Even though I held a massive weapon, I couldn't gain the upper hand in terms of reach.
And that wasn't all.
My enemy always attacked from a higher position than me.
While I had to overcome the weight of my weapon when attacking, my opponent benefited from gravity.
It felt a bit unfair, but there was nothing I could do about it.
My dream was to become a pro gamer.
The current esports league regulations required an avatar synchronization rate of 95% or higher.
If I wanted to debut as a pro someday, I had to use a character that almost perfectly matched my real-world physical conditions.
And it's not like this is entirely disadvantageous, either.
If this were reality, this unfairness would have just ended as unfairness, but this was strictly a game.
To compensate for the disadvantage in height, the system granted a few extra stat points.
And I invested all of those points into Strength.
After all, the game's calculations were determined by system numbers, not physical appearance.
It was impossible for me to ever have the advantage in reach.
In that case, let's invest everything into raw power and settle it that way!
This was the conclusion I had reached after months of grueling research.
My battleaxe and the enemy's dual axes.
As the three weapons clashed, the opponent was knocked backward.
As expected, the first clash of strength was my victory.
DoNotTalkToMe has obtained the effect 'Frenzy: Last Stand'.
Base attack power increases by 8%. The effect increases as defense decreases.
One of the hidden advantages of this build was that it was difficult for the opponent to gauge my strength.
Yu Nabi's appearance did not suit a blood-splattered melee brawl at all.
And I hadn't changed anything about my avatar except for the eye and hair color.
From the slender limbs to the fragile impression, everything remained exactly as it was.
The opponent knew I was a Berserker.
Naturally, he would also know that I must have gained something in exchange for giving up heavy armor.
But looking at this appearance, a sense of complacency naturally crept in.
Because of that, more than a few heads had been split open by my axe.
A crimson aura enveloped the heavy axe.
Active: Full-Force Strike
The power of the next attack increases by 30%. Grants Frontal Guard during the attack.
The axe tore through the air like a swinging baseball bat.
The opponent responded precisely to my skill activation.
A crimson aura enveloped his weapons as well, but the raw power contained within them was fundamentally different from the start.
If the exact same skills clashed, I had the advantage.
Boom! With a sound like a thunderclap, the enemy's posture collapsed completely.
Without stopping, I swung the axe in a wide arc for another strike.
Next, I delivered a quick jab to break his balance, then leaped high, aiming straight for the crown of his head.
Every blow was blocked, but it didn't matter.
There was no such thing as an eternal defense in this game.
With the sound of a barrier shattering, the enemy was momentarily left completely defenseless.
Was there any reason for me to miss such a perfect opportunity?
The massive axe blade tore deeply into the enemy's shoulder.
This was one of the reasons I loved this game.
If you keep hammering at a guard, it will break. There are attacks that cannot even be parried.
Evasion becomes useless in the face of crowd control and wide-area attacks.
Whether it was offense or defense, there was always at least one systematic counter.
I hadn't been playing this game for very long.
So, I didn't possess any flashy techniques.
But I possessed several abilities that were second to none.
A vast pool of information. An understanding of the system and its mechanics.
And finally, an innate sense of rhythm.
There's probably no one in this world who has watched more pro matches than me.
After all, I had watched every single match that had a recorded archive.
For someone like me who couldn't go to school and had no job, time was the one thing I had in abundance.
Keeping up with overseas leagues was a given, and I had even devoured all the matches from the prequel.
Even my current Berserker build was inspired by a professional player from the prequel.
And if I was going to watch the matches anyway, I wanted to understand them on a deeper level.
They say that abundant knowledge increases the resolution of one's life.
It means that the more you know, the wider your perspective on the world becomes.
I had studied the game because I wanted to know more about the world of pros.
It was fun. Truly.
I heard that many gamers find it too bothersome to even read skill tooltips.
But I was someone who found happiness just by reading those descriptions.
So, I already knew.
How the damage of my attacks was calculated.
How much the opponent's guard could withstand.
And even exactly which card I needed to play right now to avoid being countered.
I had imagined it thousands of times on my cramped bed.
And among my imaginations, there was also this.
When the enemy, having recovered his stance, burned with fighting spirit once more.
I slammed my weapon down onto the floor with all my might.
Because the durability of this floor should be almost depleted.
Sure enough.
A sharp cracking sound echoed like thunder.
With the floor shattered, it took only an instant for me to plunge into the sea.
Cold seawater enveloped my entire body.
Since it was a game, I didn't suffocate, but I felt a strange sense of buoyancy as if I were truly underwater.
I giggled as I watched a shark swim past me.
Sharks are excited by the scent of blood.
And the enemy Berserker was bleeding from my axe.
Soon, sharks swarming from all directions took care of the enemy in my stead.
Hanul has been slain by the neutral monster 'North Sea Shark'.
A fitting end for a cowardly loser.
A certain pro gamer I knew would have flipped the middle finger in a moment like this, but unfortunately, I didn't have that kind of guts.
Swearing is a bit too much.
An aspiring pro gamer shouldn't go around swearing in games.
Still, I wanted to tease him...
After pondering what would be appropriate, I came to a plausible conclusion.
The opponent had probably already received the death screen and left the game.
So, this provocation would only end as my own self-satisfaction.
Thinking that I was all alone here made me feel a bit more at ease.
"Blehh."
After sticking my tongue out, I quickly scrambled back up onto the ship.