The Troll Awakens

I snapped back to my senses inside the capsule. …Did I fall asleep while gaming? Through the translucent glass wall, I could see the familiar ceiling of my room. As I stared blankly at the darkened lights, memories from before I dozed off came flooding back.

I had pushed my Single Combat rank all the way up to Platinum. The sleep warning had popped up right after, so I logged out immediately. Just like how you never feel hunger in the virtual world, drowsiness never hits you either. But the moment I returned to reality, an overwhelming wave of exhaustion crashed over me, and I ended up passing out right there in the capsule. It was nothing new for me. Falling asleep in a chair while playing PC games had basically been my daily routine for years.

This body had grown far too accustomed to the battlefield. Even though I had once been the precious golden child of a ducal house, I was no stranger to sleeping rough. That came partly from the rough life I’d lived before possessing Lora Iris, and partly from how obsessively I’d thrown myself into dungeon and gate raids after becoming her. The magical energy from those dungeons and gates had also enhanced my physical abilities. Right now, my raw strength surpassed that of most adult men. Which was exactly why I avoided sports.

I could sleep on bare ground without issue. I could even sleep sitting up. I never woke up feeling uncomfortable. On average, I only needed about two to four hours of sleep.

I stepped out of the capsule.

Maybe I should try Gate Attack Mode starting today.

That was the very first thought that crossed my mind after waking up. Since I’d already climbed Single Combat all the way to Platinum, I had a pretty solid grasp of the characters. It was about time I tackled the main content—six-versus-six battles.

That said, I wasn’t completely without worries. One-versus-one was relatively straightforward. It mostly revolved around three strategies: farming, boss tries, and assassination plays. But six-versus-six would involve far more varied tactics, wider maps, and more complex layouts. While I understood individual characters well enough, I still had zero experience with six-versus-six. I wanted to learn a bit about team play first before jumping into Gate Attack Mode.

“…Leon’s not here.”

There were no signs of life in the house. It seemed Leon had gone out. I’d wanted to ask him a few things about gate raiding, but of course he was gone at the worst possible time. I glanced toward the computer out of habit, but the chair was naturally empty. He’d been editing ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠videos there right before I fell asleep. Now only the PC’s power light was blinking steadily.

…Blinking?

“The computer’s still on?”

The monitor had gone into sleep mode and was completely black, though.

…That kid really left without shutting it down. I sat in the chair and woke the machine.

What appeared on screen were a notepad file and an internet browser. The notepad didn’t contain anything particularly strange. It was filled with entries like ‘File 1 – Dark Knight vs Paladin in Single Combat’ and ‘File 62 – Dark Knight vs Assassin in Single Combat.’ He must have opened it to organize my replay footage.

“Then what about this?”

I minimized the notepad that had been covering the browser window. Things that had been hidden came into view.

The inbox. At a glance, it clearly wasn’t mine. Which meant it had to be Leon’s. It looked like he had finished editing the video and sent it to the company. He must have opened his inbox to check for their reply, then tried to shut down the computer before heading out.

“The notepad file wasn’t saved, so the PC wouldn’t turn off.”

It was a pretty common occurrence. Now I understood. From the emails, it seemed Leon’s employment had gone smoothly. Maybe that was why he wasn’t home. He might not be back until quite late.

Still…

A question suddenly occurred to me. Wasn’t this all moving a bit too fast? I could understand Leon finishing the edited video in less than a day. He probably just sent over a short one-to-two-minute clip. But receiving an electronic contract the moment he sent the video? That seemed excessive. As his older cousin, I was starting to worry he might have joined some shady company.

Still, prying any further would be overstepping. I had only seen this because of Leon’s mistake. Snooping through someone else’s inbox wasn’t exactly admirable. He was a grown adult now; he could handle his own affairs. If I was really that curious, I could just ask him directly later. With that in mind, I stopped digging and moved to close the window.

Or I tried to.

“Wait a second…”

A thought suddenly struck me. I typed “Labyrinthos” into Leon’s inbox search.

Live stream notification emails. The repeated 【Labyrinthos】 in the titles stood out immediately.

“Right. Even if Leon isn’t home, I can just learn from a streamer’s broadcast.”

Of course, I was talking about Gate Attack Mode. Leon’s suspicious behavior? That could wait. Games were more important. Are you kidding? Games are life.

Anyway, wasn’t this the age of video content? I’d heard that people these days had lower text literacy but higher video literacy. Something about how everyone studies through videos now. So I opened one of the emails.

Judging by all the live notifications in his inbox, this must be one of Leon’s favorite streamers, right?

The word “Gold” in the subject line suggested the streamer probably wasn’t some incredible pro. Maybe they survived more on personality than skill. Personally, I would have preferred a high-level player’s stream for more useful information, but unfortunately I didn’t know much about streamers. Learning the basics of how six-versus-six worked would be enough. Since I didn’t know any other streamers, I decided to trust Leon’s taste for once.

With that thought, I clicked the hyperlink.

“……”

…Cousin. So this is your type?

The broadcast of VTuber “Nekozuka Leon” was… surprisingly watchable. It was a bit chaotic and dizzying, but it had that special flavor of glorious disorder. If something’s shit, it can still be entertaining precisely because it’s shit. The skill level was, as expected, nothing special. Still, I managed to understand how Gate Attack Mode generally worked.

Since I had gotten all the information I needed, I immediately jumped into Gate Attack Mode. A ban-pick phase that didn’t exist in Single Combat began, and the result was as follows:

Ally Team: Dark Knight (me), Paladin, Twin Blade, Spearman, Archer, Saintess

Enemy Team: Heavy Warrior, Martial Artist, Gunner, Necromancer, Mage, Bard

After the ban-pick ended, the Paladin said that. “Split push” was a unique strategy used in Gate Attack Mode. Out of the six party members, five form the main force while the remaining one breaks away from the main group to play independently. If you compared it to an AOS game, it was like a jungler. The split-pusher’s main job was usually to harass the enemy’s main force. While the split-pusher kept the enemy occupied, the main force would take down the dungeon boss—that was the standard approach I had learned from Nekozuka Leon’s stream.

“Yes, no problem.”

In truth, it was more or less what I had been hoping for. The Dark Knight’s skill set was specialized for messy, drawn-out mud fights. I had thought it would be a decent composition for split-pushing. Besides, since I had only played Single Combat until now, I wasn’t yet used to coordinating with other party members. For the time being, playing as the split-pusher seemed like the better choice.

With that in mind, the ban-pick timer ended and the surrounding scenery changed. Cold air brushed against my cheeks. The ground and every direction were filled with icicles. While Single Combat had only one fixed map, Gate Attack Mode randomized the map every match.

The victory conditions had changed slightly as well. Unlike Single Combat ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠where defeating a single opponent meant victory, this six-versus-six required total annihilation. After checking the differences one by one, I looked around. My teammates were standing there somewhat blankly, probably because loading had just finished.

“Dark Knight-nim, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠we’ll head right. Please go left.”

“Understood.”

I nodded at the Paladin’s words. Then, as I always did, I took off my armor and tossed it aside.

“……Dark Knight-nim?”

“I’ll be going now.”

I immediately parted ways with the party. As the distance grew, I faintly heard a voice from behind.

“…Is this guy a fucking troll?”

“Isn’t this the guy who was posted on the namgil as that smurf account abuser?”

The VTuber ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠playing the Necromancer—Choi Chang-young, whose concept was ‘Commander of the 999th Division’s Direct Special Forces’—said while looking at the chat window.