The One-Woman Hunt
Kind Lora decided to play Arcade Mode while also checking her teammates' skills. She created a custom room in Arcade Mode and arranged a 3v1 match. In other words, Oh Lora intended to face the other three alone.
"…I feel like we're going to lose." Even before the game started, Sora's spirit was already broken. Today was Sora's first time playing Labyrinthos. Inagika and Chell weren't complete beginners either, but they seemed just as novice as she was. There was no way they could win against her. Thinking that, Sora proceeded with character selection.
Combat has been decided: Underground Labyrinth Map / Annihilation Battle
Hunt all monsters on the map. Victory is achieved by hunting more monsters than the opposing team or by eliminating all opposing team members. A time limit exists.
"Doesn't this mean we can win without even fighting Lora directly?"
"I-In theory, yes…." Inagika nodded beside her. "If we hunt more monsters than Lora, we'll win…. Since Lora's team only has one person, her hunting speed will be slower than ours…."
"I see~." Though she had heard the explanation, Sora couldn't quite grasp the feel of it. It couldn't be helped since this was her first match in Labyrinthos. Still, having watched some Labyrinthos streams before, it wasn't entirely unfamiliar either. Sora picked the Bard.
"Huh, Bard…? Did you actually spend money on this?" Inagika was slightly surprised. Labyrinthos had virtually no pay-to-win elements aside from character skins. However, when first starting the game, only eight characters were unlocked. To play a variety of characters, one had to raise their account level to earn in-game currency and purchase characters one by one with that currency. While it was possible to collect all characters without spending money, like in other PVP games, it took time. Some people paid if they found the process too tedious, but to Inagika, a seasoned gacha spender, it seemed like a waste of money. If she had that kind of cash, she'd rather pour it into gacha games.
"Well, I am a bard, after all. Shouldn't I play the Bard then?"
"…I-I suppose so." If that was what she wanted to do, there was no helping it…. Besides, streamers generally had a lower threshold for spending compared to regular players. After all, their job was to show games to viewers, so they inevitably spent money on them. Thus, Sora locked in the Bard. Inagika picked a mage with plenty of area-of-effect skills. And Chell—
"Isn't that the Gladiator?" Sora asked. Chell nodded.
"That's unexpected. I thought you'd pick a more docile character."
"I'm not very good at it. I've watched a few Gladiator videos, so I wanted to try it."
"Are you talking about Senior Rinko's stream? I've seen Senior Rinko play Gladiator too."
"Yes. Me too." Chell affirmed. Kisaki Rinko's main character was the Gladiator. It was common knowledge among all VTubers affiliated with EYEAI.
I stepped forward. With a squelching sensation, liquid splattered in all directions. The amorphous creature known as a slime met its death the moment its core was destroyed. Glancing at the scattered remains of the slime, I muttered to myself.
"The monsters are weaker than I expected." Quite some time had passed since the custom match began. The only monsters encountered so far were slimes. The kill count displayed in the corner of my vision was steadily rising. In other words, this game could be seen as a contest to see who could hunt more slimes.
'This puts me at a considerable disadvantage.' Facing three opponents alone, being at a disadvantage was inevitable. However, there was a clear skill gap between me and my juniors, so I believed I would win regardless. That said, the combination of the "Annihilation Battle" victory condition and the monsters' weakness had created a situation quite different from regular Labyrinthos. Simply put, the game had become closer to an asymmetric survival game like Dead by Daylight.
Sora and her group would want to avoid me while hunting monsters. Since there were three of them, I had no way to match their hunting speed. Therefore, they could win simply by racking up the kill count. Their most effective strategy was to "use the map widely."
"In that case, the three of them are either acting completely separately or split into two groups." Sticking together would be inefficient since the monsters were too weak. They needed to spread out to maximize hunting speed and make it easier to evade me. Thinking of Dead by Daylight's "survivors" made it easy to understand—scattering across the map allowed them to stall for more time.
If that was the case, my task was quite simple. I just had to find my juniors somewhere on the map and eliminate them one by one. As quickly as possible. I ran.
<Blood Scent>: The scent of blood is detected.
A faint smell of blood reached my nose. My passive skill had activated. The character I was playing this time was the Berserker. Since the Dark Knight wasn't ideal for hunting speed, I figured the Berserker would be better. Following the scent, I soon spotted someone in the distance holding a greatsword. Above their head was the nickname "Chell_Sumeragi_V."
"Oh my, if it isn't Chell."
"……." Chell glanced in my direction. The Berserker's passive <Blood Scent> was a skill that tracked enemies through the smell of blood. Chell had a few minor scratches on her body, likely from hunting slimes. However, they weren't serious injuries. She was practically at full condition. Chell adjusted her grip on the greatsword and assumed a combat stance. As expected, there was no sign of Sora or Inagika.
"You're alone. Will you be all right?"
"……."
"Feel free to call Sora and Inagika over. That way, it might actually be a fair fight."
"I alone am sufficient." Chell charged straight at me. As expected, it didn't work. My juniors seemed to understand the Dead by Daylight dynamic as well. While Chell stalled for time, Inagika and Sora would focus on hunting slimes—that was their plan.
'Speaking of which, the Gladiator, huh.' I hadn't faced it much, but I knew the Gladiator well. Not long ago, Rion had even said this:
"Lora, big sis."
"After the tournament, there'll be a one-on-one event match between you and Senior Rinko."
"No matter what, you have to win that one."
It was something Rion had particularly emphasized. I didn't know why she stressed the match against Rinko so much, but there must have been a reason. Perhaps because of those words from Rion, facing the Gladiator filled me with a strange sense of excitement. I smiled faintly.
—Whoosh! Chell swung her sword. A downward strike from above. The motion was so large that reading the attack wasn't difficult. I immediately stepped back. But Chell's attack didn't end there. Without losing momentum, she drove the greatsword straight into the ground.
—Crack! With the greatsword embedded in the floor, Chell performed a tumbling maneuver and brought her heel down.
—Whoosh! Her foot grazed past me by a hair's breadth. I tilted my body slightly. That alone was enough to evade Chell's kick attack.
Thud! With a sound, Chell landed, and the impact left a dent in the ground beneath her feet.
'The form looks decent enough.' I thought as I glanced at Chell, who was readjusting her grip on the sword. The greatsword's defining traits were its size and weight. While this gave it immense power, it also came with many drawbacks. The movements inevitably became large, and closing the distance made it hard to respond. The Gladiator was a character that stylishly compensated for those weaknesses.
"……." Chell swung the greatsword once more. This time, it wasn't a straightforward downward strike. It seemed she had watched Gladiator gameplay videos, as the attack came at a diagonal angle. Many Gladiator attacks began with downward strikes. That was simply how the character was structured. After I dodged the sword, the greatsword naturally embedded itself in the ground again. And once more, Chell attempted a tumbling maneuver.
—Whoosh! Using only arm strength, she gripped the sword's hilt tightly and flipped into a handstand. The Gladiator had many attacks that used the greatsword as an "axis." This approach had advantages. First, it significantly extended the attack range. The greatsword already had long reach, but combining the downward strike with a tumbling kick effectively doubled the range, allowing attacks to come from surprisingly far away. Moreover, it wasn't just a simple kick. The Gladiator's kick was powerful enough to crush a skull according to the setting, and the rotational force from the tumble added even more impact. Getting hit by it would be fatal. Additionally, the Gladiator combined attacks with "evasive maneuvers." Dagger-wielding assassins like the Rogue specialized in "ultra-close combat." If such characters closed in, greatsword users like the Paladin would be at a severe disadvantage. However, the Gladiator's constant, acrobatic attacks made their position shift frequently, making it difficult to approach and drag them into ultra-close combat. Thus, the Gladiator was a character that maximized the greatsword's "range" advantage while eliminating its "sluggishness" weakness.
'But in exchange, a new weakness was created.' Chell's kick came flying. It was a very linear attack, suggesting she hadn't played the Gladiator much. Thanks to that, I could predict its trajectory. Once predicted, closing the distance was simple. Dodging Chell's attack, I approached—toward the greatsword embedded in the ground.
—Thud! I swung my fist at the greatsword. It was easy to be misled by the flashy movements, but the essence was that "the Gladiator was essentially wielding the greatsword as a martial art." While the Gladiator constantly shifted position through tumbling, the greatsword—their "axis"—remained fixed in the ground. Since it was anchored in place, approaching wasn't difficult. If the axis was broken, the Gladiator's techniques would crumble.
—Thud!! When I followed up with a kick, the greatsword tilted significantly. That alone disrupted the center of gravity of Chell, who was in the middle of tumbling.
"Ugh…!" Chell tumbled across the ground as if sliding. She had failed to land because the greatsword she had been using as an axis had shifted. Now covered in dust, Chell tried to stand up. But before she could, I was already standing in front of her.
"You should be more aware of your range before attacking. You need to know that the opponent can target your greatsword. Also, your movements are too linear. If you had used more stylish attacks, you could have prevented my approach. Do you understand?"
"Yes, I understand." Chell nodded.
"It's difficult, so I won't play the Gladiator anymore from now on."
I see. That might be for the best. "In your next life, try a simpler character." With those words, I grabbed Chell by the neck.
Your team's Gladiator has been defeated by the enemy Berserker.
"…Chell's dead." Sora muttered as she saw the message appear in her vision. It was as expected. She hadn't thought they could win without any sacrifices from the start. Even if one of the three was killed, they had agreed from the beginning to stall for as much time as possible while the remaining two focused on hunting monsters.
"Now there are only two of us left. …Should we split up around now?" Sora asked, looking back. She had been moving with Inagika. While the slimes were weak enough for a Bard to hunt alone, it was inefficient for a support to wander around by herself. So Sora had been hunting slimes together with Inagika. But now that Chell was dead, Lora would obviously be searching for Sora and Inagika. In that case, rather than staying together and dying as a pair, splitting up now might be better. That was what Sora thought.
"Inagika?" But there was no response to her question. Feeling puzzled, Sora retraced her steps. There, she saw the Berserker gripping Inagika by the collar.
"So…ra… Run…."
—Crack. A clean fracture. With her neck broken, Inagika became a corpse.
"No way…. How did you get here so fast……."
"Chell was surprisingly heavy. It took time to carry her over." At the end of Lora's gaze as she spoke was Chell's corpse. Chell's body lay slumped against the wall. …Why was Chell here in the first place? They had parted ways right at the start of the game. Could it be…
'…She carried Chell all the way here without killing her?' Lora had reduced Chell's HP just enough to keep her alive, brought her here, and only then finished her off. To delay the kill log from appearing. She had thought that if the kill log appeared late, Sora and Inagika would let their guard down.
"Your strategy was to split up and stall for time, right? Then it would be reasonable to assume you were on the opposite side from where I met Chell."
"……."
"Thanks to that, we were able to meet so quickly. I'm glad to see you. But your thinking was too simple. Try to be more unpredictable in the future." Lora extended her hand. Seeing that, Sora let out a sigh.
"…Kill me gently."