Impatient as Ever

The phenomenon where the body freezes under extreme stress is called tonic immobility.

It is the state of a herbivore suddenly facing a predator.

A phenomenon commonly seen in water deer or stags caught in headlights.

Unfortunately, humans are no exception to this tonic immobility.

It happens when one is exposed to violent crime, or when the mind shatters under the horrors of war.

Some even view stage fright as a form of tonic immobility.

In other words, tonic immobility can happen to anyone.

When something completely unexpected pops out from an entirely unexpected place, a person's body and mind can paralyze from sheer shock.

Eunha Gaming's geomancer, Quake, probably didn't want to learn this fact the hard way.

A random Berserker had burst out of the pile of dirt he had just gathered.

Thump, thump. With the face of a child pretending to be innocent after playing a prank, the white figure leaped high into the air—and brought down a terrifyingly massive battleaxe in a vertical strike.

“Hyaaaah...!”

“Aaaaaaaagh!”

A scream born of pure, desperate survival instinct, completely discarding any sense of dignity!

A Berserker's Frenzied Shout could never compete with a shriek born of raw survival instinct.

The horrific sound instantly drew the attention of every Eunha Gaming ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠player.

And collectively, they doubted their own eyes.

Fortunately, the battlefield didn't erupt into a chorus of screams, but they couldn't help their jaws dropping slightly.

To make matters worse, the broadcast camera caught the entire sequence, broadcasting his humiliation live to the world.

What the? How is she here?

Did she seriously ride our Mass Teleport? Is she out of her mind?

But can we even stop her with who we have here? All our tanks are holding the front line.

We're screwed.

No matter how they racked their brains, they all reached the same conclusion.

Paradoxically, the player who had the most visceral, instinctive reaction was closest to the truth.

Of course, knowing the correct answer didn't make the game go any better for them.

Crunch. Crack, craaaack!

A splitting sound echoed from the edge of the axe.

Since that massive blade wouldn't have chipped, it meant the opponent's skull was in serious trouble.

One of the drawbacks of large weapons is the restriction on vision.

They are great for disrupting opponents, but if handled poorly, they become obstacles that block your own line of sight.

My axe was so massive that it was especially hard to see exactly where it landed.

But well, sight isn't the only human sense.

The tactile feedback of cleanly splitting a skull, the angle of the axe, and the opponent's resistance.

When you hit a vital spot like the head, you always get clear feedback.

Now. I have to ride this momentum and push the game to the end.

Mages have fragile bodies.

But the opponent was still a player character.

Even for me, it was impossible to one-shot an enemy at full health.

Even the most vulnerable close-combat classes usually had some basic safety measures.

Even assassins, who specialized in these situations, relied on chain attacks to finish off their targets.

In other words, since they don't die in one hit, you just have to swing multiple times.

It wasn't like my absolute advantage was going anywhere, and the enemy mages still needed casting time to use any decent spells.

The support? If they have any skills left to throw at me, they're welcome to try.

But if they had the means to stop me, wouldn't they have used them on Indure earlier to end the game?

Ripping the weapon out to tear the wound further was a nice ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠little detail.

It dealt extra damage, and a jagged wound slowed down healing.

Since a Bard's healing included several 'regeneration' type skills, this was quite significant.

Actually, now that I thought about it, reducing healing might not matter much.

After all, you can't heal if you're dead, right?

No matter how short the cast time, I could interrupt it at this distance.

I canceled their cast by punching them in the face, then shoved them hard with my shoulder to create the perfect distance to swing my axe.

And a few more strikes, and it would really be over.

The geomancer, who would have been the most annoying to leave alive, was the first to go.

Burying myself in that dark pile of dirt had truly paid off.

Honestly, when I burst out, I didn't even know who would be in front of me.

I had simply assumed the person closest to the dirt pile would be the geomancer.

Fortunately, my guess was right, yielding the best possible outcome.

And the next ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠target was, of course, the necromancer.

Even now, the ghouls he had buried were probably littered across the battlefield like landmines.

If we didn't kill the necromancer, it would be difficult for my teammates to group up.

The remaining mage and support weren't fools, so they wouldn't just stand by and watch...

But even if you don't stand by, what exactly can you do?

In the first set, I had managed to kill two mages even with my body beaten to a pulp.

And back then, the enemy tank was still alive and well right in front of me.

Although I didn't have the support of a wide-area confusion spell this time, I was in peak condition.

On top of that, Eunha Gaming's two tanks had pushed forward to pressure my allies.

To fall back, they would have to take one-sided fire from our ranged damage dealers right to the back of their heads.

Not to mention, my kill feed had just popped up for everyone to see.

There was no way my team would let them go easily.

In the end, the enemy had to stop me here at all costs.

The debuff messages popped up like a desperate struggle.

But attacks that don't kill me only make me stronger... well, not really, but they didn't mean much anyway.

A bit of a shame.

It would have been nice if they did make me stronger.

Regardless, the destructive power of a bruiser who successfully dives the backline alone is beyond imagination.

That was the difference between a bruiser and an assassin. For assassins, even if getting in is easy, they ultimately have to get back out.

But for me, even if I just stay here and cause absolute chaos until I die, it's a massive win for my team.

The Berserker class in particular is built to fight ferociously until the very brink of death.

You could say the longer the fight drags on, the higher their performance ceiling rises.

This time, I could do even more than in the first set.

Especially with a class like the necromancer, who is notoriously weak in close quarters.

Bruisers naturally excel at bullying the weak, making them exceptionally good at suppressing fragile, helpless enemies.

Though, come to think of it, I might be the only actual fragile girl here.

...Huh?

A sudden question drifted through my mind.

My thoughts had briefly wandered in a silly direction, but I needed to focus on the battle for now.

The necromancer's resistance was fiercer than expected.

He erected walls of flesh made of corpses and scurried away between them.

Surprisingly, his proficiency with the necromancer class didn't seem low at all.

I didn't think he had any official tournament records with it.

He must have played it back in his amateur days.

Since it was hard to dig that deep, it probably hadn't shown up in our analysis data.

But not everyone could escape safely.

If the two mages were running away for dear life, I just had to target the Bard supporting them.

I lunged at the Bard, pinning them down and refusing to let go until they were dead.

Like typical mages, they kept throwing spells at me.

But if they used area-of-effect spells, they would hit the Bard too, and simple poking skills could never kill me.

Just as the second kill went through, Eunha Gaming's tanks finally arrived.

With a whole tail of players trailing behind them.

Hearing gunshots nearby, it seemed our gunslinger had closed the distance to tighten the noose.

Indure hurriedly shouted something, but the sounds overlapped and I couldn't hear him clearly.

“Yu Nabi, ■ line! We're going to crash in with ■ ■■ ■■!”

“O-Okay!”

Sorry. Honestly, I didn't even catch half of that.

But how did the word "crash in" come through so clearly?

Since the scales of victory had already tipped heavily in our favor anyway, I charged forward without looking back.

Indure, who had chased after me, cried out in horror.

I could also hear our ranged dealer's voice, meaning they were much closer than I thought.

“No, you crazy girl, hold the second line! The second line! You couldn't even wait that long before charging in?!”

“Our team already engaged. But the situation looks pretty good?”

“Ah, screw it!”

Now this is a team.

With perfect teamwork, we seized victory in the second game as well.