Chapter 14
Chapter 14
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 14
Chapter Title: The Veteran's Boss Solo
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The purple monster dashed out alone right near the boss zone.
"Hey! Wait up, you punk!!"
Startled by the sudden sprint, Hanami hurriedly gave chase, but her level 1 character had the bare minimum Stamina.
With such pathetically low Stamina that depleted in seconds, there was no way she could keep up.
"Ah, so it was a troll after all!! You're one of the viewers, aren't you!!"
Meanwhile, the opponent kept charging ahead, repeating bizarre movements without pause.
"What the heck? Does that guy not have Stamina? Why isn't he stopping?"
It took some time to catch up, gasping for Stamina the whole way.
By the time she finally arrived near the boss zone, the monster was already locked in fierce combat with another monster.
"Hey, if you're gonna fight, at least do it together!!"
Hanami's complaint died in her throat.
The purple monster was pummeling a six-legged beast.
With Hanami speechless, the stream audio went dead silent. Pros call this a dead air moment.
For a full-time streamer, it was practically a mistake.
But neither Hanami nor the viewers noticed at all.
Instead, the viewers were too mesmerized, just spectating slack-jawed.
Maybe it was because they'd just watched six straight hours of her heading the ball.
The veteran's play stood out even more dramatically against the newbie, feeling utterly unreal.
Clang!
Clang!
The offbeat bite that had taken her 20 tries to time? Dodged with a backstep.
The surprise headbutt she'd whiffed into the air after another 20 tries? Sidestepped entirely.
The stomping attack with its trash homing that made her curse? Met head-on and repelled.
Clang!
Incredibly, the boss was the one sent flying.
Wait. Had the genre suddenly shifted?
Thud!
Thud!
Finally, the one-two punch that had fed her the most deaths? Thrust back repeatedly, then turned around for a Groggy of its own.
Now the gatekeeper tumbling across the ground with a sword to the throat looked downright pitiful.
"Is that the modern system they added in the new release?"
"But guys, isn't that weapon kinda weird?"
"Is it a cheat item?"
The veteran didn't take a single hit, beating the boss to death with what amounted to a spoon.
It looked suspicious from the start, but it fell so anticlimactically easy.
Hanami, who'd spent six hours just dying, felt utterly robbed.
"Anyway, thanks a ton! Uh, what do I do with chat? Backside? If you're watching, mind jumping in?"
No response.
Was he just a regular player? Or a viewer committed to the bit until the end?
Either way, the veteran had helped her out. Hanami dug through her shortcuts to show some thanks.
"Hmm. No chat option?"
"Wow, even this trash game doesn't have individual chat?"
"G... Oh, tons of these. Ah. 'Sit'—is this what you used earlier?"
As she scrolled for a fitting gesture of thanks, the veteran approached and raised both arms.
Just standing there, the intimidation was no joke.
"Thanks... thanks... Ugh, why are there so many emotes?"
She hurried to emote her gratitude, but she was one step too late.
The veteran turned transparent and vanished.
"Ah! I didn't even get to say thanks!"
The field, once filled with metallic clashes, fell completely silent.
No more of her screams, the field boss's wails of shattered pride, or the violent swishes from the veteran.
All that remained in the wake of the storm was the loot Gleipnir dropped.
Picking it up, it was junk, of course.
"...This game is total trash."
Seeing that snapped her out of her immersion completely.
It was all so ridiculous, she could only let out a hollow laugh.
"Wow... today was wild, right?"
"...What's with those emotes popping up? Like dancing or something?"
"Too bad I couldn't thank him properly. So many gestures."
"Do I have to? Feels like he won't log back in."
"Fine, fine. I'll send the friend request."
With that, she sent the friend invite and closed the game.
She considered switching tags to low chat for a bit, but the momentum felt broken already.
Plus, she'd screamed her throat raw. For throat care, she'd have to shorten tomorrow's stream too.
As she mentally sorted her thoughts, she tossed out topics to buy time to vocalize them.
"So, guys. That thudding sound—was that a Parry?"
"Oh, really?"
"...Offset! And Parry! What's the difference? I'm so curious now?"
"Aha. Perfectly understood."
"Whatever. Not like I'll touch this game again anyway."
"Let's see. Iruka's already quit. No wonder viewers spiked mid-stream."
"Boss is... Huh? Still going?"
"Jeez, my sis... Ahem."
"Anyway! Tried Odin's Daughter today! You all suffered through six hours of the same screen too. Thanks for sticking with me."
"We streamed long today!!"
"Ugh, it was plenty long. Why the meltdown?"
"I was full mic!! Throat hurts now!"
"Tomorrow? I'll check my throat after sleep."
"Juiced? Pfft. That was all for stream."
"Sigh..."
After the ritual WWE exchange, Hanami wrapped up the mood.
Leaving the sobbing viewers behind, she ended the stream.
Stretching sent a crack through her lower back.
"Ah... I'm dying."
Her body went limp. Sinking into her chair, Hanami muttered.
Streamer's life had given her the bad habit of talking to herself. But today, even that felt risky.
Her throat scratched with every swallow—no exaggeration, it needed real care.
She reached out, moved the mouse.
Library... Manage... Remove from drive... Delete permanently?
Yes, no hesitation.
Her stream words weren't empty. She had zero plans to touch this garbage game again.
It wasn't just the difficulty. The boss was tough, but great stream fodder.
New release meant hot topic, prime WhiTube clips.
But.
Shouldn't games be beatable eventually, even if it takes time?
Six hours of deaths was tolerable for a streamer, but with no clear path to victory, morale tanked.
No endgame in sight anyway.
Better to uninstall clean.
Peeking at the Boss's stream showed a thumbnail screaming bloody murder, as expected.
'Even the thumbnail's loud.'
She dropped a ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ barrage in chat, and the response was delicious.
Looking closer, Boss wasn't soloing anymore.
She'd switched to spectators mid-run, now four surrounding the boss for a beatdown.
Whoops. Down to three now.
Her reinforcements seemed lacking compared to Hanami's.
Every gatekeeper backkick sent them flying; now just Boss remained.
Huh... none of my business?
You brought this game, sis.
Hanami closed the stream and dove under the covers.
For some reason, she was grinning ear to ear.