Even So, You Still Love Her, Don't You?

After rolling a Berserker a few times, I had started to get the feel for it. First, the weapon that defined the class: the massive greatsword. It wasn’t really made to be used. Among all the weapons in Labyrinthos, it was the heaviest and the largest. Even with the Berserker’s setting of possessing monstrous strength from experiments, the sword was so ridiculously heavy that swinging it even once wasn’t easy. Consecutive swings were even harder. That was why attack speed-related traits were practically mandatory, but I had no desire to use the greatsword if it required that much compromise.

Its size was actually a bigger problem than its weight. It shared the same weaknesses as the greatswords used by paladins. The attack motions inevitably became huge. That meant opponents could read the attacks easily. On top of that, it was terribly inconvenient in indoor fights. Try to swing downward and it would catch on the ceiling. Try an upward swing and it would scrape the floor. Swing sideways and it would hit the wall. So discarding the greatsword right from the start had become the standard build.

After ditching the heavy greatsword and running hard, the metallic scent of blood reached my nose. It was the Berserker’s passive skill, Blood Scent. Surprisingly, Berserkers actually had a detection skill. Of course, its performance wasn’t nearly as good as the Magic Engineer’s Unboxing, but for someone who had only played Dark Knight until now, it was more than welcome.

I sprinted hard in the direction the blood scent was coming from. After running for a while, I saw a group of neutral mobs lying dead on the ground. And standing on their corpses were the hoofprints of a horse.

“Cavalry,” I muttered.

The cavalryman who had just finished hunting the last neutral mob turned sharply in my direction and adjusted his shield and lance. The feel of a cavalryman in Single Combat mode was slightly different from Gate Attack Mode. In Gate Attack, they felt more like initiators. They were tank-type characters who used crowd control skills before charging into the middle of the enemy lines to cause chaos.

In Single Combat, what stood out more was their specialization in kiting. A fast-moving horse paired with a surprisingly long-reach lance. Using superior mobility and range to toy with the opponent one-sidedly—that was the cavalryman’s identity.

‘Here he comes.’

Thud. Thud. Thud-thud.

The sound of hooves echoed loudly. The sight of a horse charging straight at you was purely terrifying. It was an animal as big as a person, carrying another person on its back. Any creature would instinctively feel fear when something larger than itself approached. That psychological pressure was one of the cavalryman’s strengths, but fortunately I was used to it. Facing cavalry wasn’t exactly new to me.

—Swish!

The cavalryman thrust his lance forward. I simply slipped sideways. That alone was enough to create a massive loss of balance. The cavalryman’s superior speed and range had an unexpected limitation. Like most four-legged beasts, they couldn’t change direction instantly. After I dodged, the cavalryman shot past me like a gust of wind.

The moment he passed, I bit down hard on my own arm. Then I tore it open.

Riiip!

The chat exploded with intense reactions, but there was nothing I could do about it. The Berserker’s first skill had a prerequisite of self-harm. Blood flowed from the torn skin. I swung my arm, and the droplets changed shape.

The blood droplets transformed into arrows and shot forward. The cavalryman had his back turned. It would take time for the horse to turn around again. Therefore, the blood arrow was flying in from the cavalryman’s blind spot—an unavoidable strike.

—Thud!

With a dull impact, the blood arrow buried itself in the horse’s flank. But it didn’t end there. The blood arrow changed shape again, becoming a long spike. Berserkers were high-risk, high-reward characters. Not only were their skills difficult to land, they consumed HP every time they were used. In exchange, a successful hit brought massive returns.

The blood spike extended like the Monkey King’s staff and pierced straight through the horse’s body. The horse screamed in agony, its legs trembling. Once the horse went out of control, the cavalryman on its back could do nothing. Cavalrymen required perfect “tightrope walking” between mobility and control; the risk when they allowed an attack was enormous.

I charged forward and jumped. The cavalryman tried to swing his lance to block my approach, but it wasn’t a precise strike. I dodged easily, grabbed him by the collar, and slammed him to the ground.

Boom!

“Guhak!”

The cavalryman crashed onto his back. I kicked away his lance so he couldn’t do anything stupid, then drove my fist straight into his face.

There was something I had realized over the past few days. Beating someone to death with bare fists took way too long. Especially when the opponent was a cavalryman. In Gate Attack Mode they often served as tanks, and since he had farmed quite a few neutral mobs, killing him with punches would take considerable time.

‘Of course, since this is Single Combat, that wouldn’t matter.’

But in Gate Attack Mode, it would. In that mode, you often had to quickly eliminate stragglers and regroup with the main force. Therefore, how fast you could kill an opponent was a very important factor.

And the reason I was practicing Berserker in Single Combat was to prepare for Gate Attack Mode. Practicing like it was real combat, I shoved my fist into the cavalryman’s mouth.

“Mmph! Mmmph!!!”

Blood flowed from the torn flesh on my arm. It ran down my forearm and poured into the cavalryman’s mouth. No matter how much of a musclehead who worked out ten hours a day at the gym, there were parts of the human body that simply could not be trained. For example, the eyes. For example, the eardrums. The inside of the mouth was the same.

The soft texture of the tongue. The sticky roof of the mouth and throat against my fingertips. Naturally, there was no known way to train the roof of one’s mouth. And even if there were, who in the world would actually do it?

“Blood Shaping.”

—Squish!

From inside the mouth, blood spikes erupted, piercing through flesh and bursting out. They destroyed the skull and sprouted from the top of his head like new buds. When I pulled my fist out, the cavalryman had already gone limp.

Becoming a VTuber didn’t dramatically change my life. It seemed I had become something of a celebrity in the VTuber gallery and the Labyrinth gallery, but if I didn’t browse the boards myself, I barely felt it. In the first place, while I played a lot of games, I surprisingly rarely visited community sites. If I had free time, I used it to play games. When I wasn’t gaming, I spent my time reading web novels or webtoons instead.

Even when I did visit communities, it was usually not to check reactions to my own stream, but to see how other VTubers’ broadcasts were being received. Mostly Anna’s streams, for example.

In any case, the only real difference was that viewer chat had been added to my otherwise identical daily routine. I suppose that was the best way to put it.

“I told you, didn’t I? A greatsword really isn’t necessary for a Berserker.”

Having viewers who always played along and bantered with me made things a little more enjoyable. Since my original nature was that of a villainess, being praised by people felt pleasant. Sharing the fun of games with others wasn’t bad either.

‘Still, I don’t feel any particular excitement yet.’

And that made sense. Take Anna for example—she did ASMR, singing streams, and all sorts of other content. In comparison, the only thing I had done in the week since debut was play Labyrinthos. Everything else had been a character deletion battle against those trying to slander me. And even that had earned me a severe scolding from Rion after the stream ended. She had threatened that if I did anything like that again, she wouldn’t do my hair. The terrifying threat had permanently sealed character deletion battles as content.

In effect, I was a Labyrinthos one-trick VTuber. Other than turning on the stream, there hadn’t been any major changes in my life.

Well, that was fine. A life without change wasn’t necessarily a bad thing.

[Um… I don’t think it’s good to only play Labyrinthos….]

That was what I had been thinking when Inagika said exactly that. While there hadn’t been any major changes in my life, there had been small ones. My personal relationships had grown a little wider than before.

Even before my official debut, I had been in contact with Inagika, and we had continued talking even after my debut stream.

“Really?”

[Yes…. Because if you only do the same thing, some viewers will get tired of it…….]

Inagika spoke in her usual slightly trembling voice. I shrugged as I listened to her. Lately I hadn’t been visiting the 6th generation voice channel much. Since I spent most of the day gaming (=streaming), I couldn’t join the voice channel. Maybe that was why Inagika had started calling me instead.

Considering how extremely timid Inagika was, I could tell she had been working up a lot of courage lately.

‘…But calling me the moment the stream ends is honestly a little scary.’

She would call on Discord the instant the broadcast ended, and the moment I woke up and went online in the morning, she would call again. Basically, aside from the time I was actually streaming, I was almost always on a call with Inagika like this.

[I, I think it’s good that you made Labyrinthos your main content, Lora…. You’re really good at games, after all. But I also want to see other sides of you…. I’m a little curious about you doing ASMR or singing…. Of course I won’t force you since those are difficult…! But maybe trying other types ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠of games would be okay…? Viewers will want to see many different sides of you, Lora….]

“I see.”

My conversations with Inagika always felt like this. It seemed like she wanted to get closer to me, but there was also a sense that she simply had no one else to talk to and was clinging to me. On top of that, Inagika usually lacked self-confidence. Talking with me seemed to recharge her self-esteem.

‘Teaching others unexpectedly brings its own pleasure.’

When otakus explain their area of expertise, they tend to talk a lot. Part of it is the desire to share even one more thing, but fundamentally, showing off one’s knowledge is an act that brings a sense of superiority. This field is where I am the expert. In this field, I know more than you. In this field, you should rely on me. Something like that.

Inagika probably wasn’t much different.

“That’s a reasonable point. However, I haven’t thought about other content at all.”

[Then maybe sandbox-type games first….]

Inagika thought for a moment before answering.

“Sandbox?”

[Yes…. Corporate VTubers can’t avoid sandbox games anyway….]

“Why is that?”

[It’s a bit of a complicated story…. Your subscriber count is already over 100,000, right, Lora…?]

That was true. It would probably reach 150,000 soon.

‘Now that I think about it, the others have surprisingly few subscribers.’

It wasn’t that I was looking down on Inagika or Sora. But their numbers were lower than I had expected. Not a single one of them had passed 20,000 yet. Rion had explained it like this before: if there was a VTuber with 300,000 subscribers, their peers would have around 100,000 to 200,000. So shouldn’t Inagika and Sora have similar numbers? Especially since corporate VTubers started with an existing fandom. For all that, the 6th generation’s subscriber counts were quite low.

[Your subscribers, Lora… some of them probably already liked VTubers, and some probably already liked EYEAI…. But I think there are also many who only like you, Lora…. Especially since a lot of your subscribers seem to have come from the Labyrinth gallery……?]

In other words, my viewer base wasn’t typical.

[Yes…. I think it’s probably quite different from us or the other EYEAI seniors…. But from EYEAI’s perspective, these are new incoming viewers, right…? So EYEAI won’t want to let this new layer be enjoyed only by you, Lora….]

The best solution for that was collaborations. So far, the “Labyrinth gallery incoming viewer layer” had only been watching Aurora’s streams. But if, for example, they saw me interacting with Inagika on stream, some of them would inevitably think, ‘Oh, she’s pretty fun too.’ Then some of those “Labyrinth gallery viewers who only watched Aurora” would subscribe to Inagika. And when I wasn’t streaming, they might watch Inagika’s streams instead.

[And this works both ways….]

“So if you and I collaborate, the ‘viewers who only watch Inagika’ will also subscribe to me?”

[Yes, exactly….]

In other words, the current 6th generation subscriber bases were still separate. We hadn’t done any collaborations since debut. That meant the 6th gen’s viewer bases weren’t fully integrated into the “EYEAI fandom” yet.

[So I think there will be a genmate collaboration soon…. That way, subscriber sharing among us 6th gen members will happen and a “6th gen fandom” will be born….]

After that, there would be subscriber sharing with the seniors. We 6th gen members would inherit the seniors’ “existing fandom,” while the seniors would receive our “6th gen fandom” as a new incoming layer through “subscriber sharing.”

[That’s why sandbox games like Fan World, DARK: Survival, or CTA are essential for corporate VTubers….]

Because sandbox games made it easy to interact with senior VTubers. That was ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠what Inagika said.

“Sister, there’s a 6th generation offline meeting this Sunday.”

Just as Inagika had predicted, the moment Rion came home from the company she said exactly that.

“An offline meeting?”

“Yes. It’s a pretty important meeting.”

Rion nodded.

“It’s a meeting for channel monetization.”