I Want to Kill Them All, Nya
The basic performance of a Dragon Knight is ridiculously low. This is partly due to the high value of their ultimate, but it's also because of the peculiar nature of their second skill.
The Dragon Knight's second skill was called Reignition. Its effect was rather unique.
Reignition
1. The Dragon Knight can burn part of their body to create and place a bonfire.
2. If a bonfire already exists on the map, the Dragon Knight can reuse the skill to set their entire body ablaze, dealing flame damage to nearby enemies.
3. After igniting their whole body through skill reuse, the Dragon Knight teleports to the pre-placed bonfire.
4. Upon arriving at the bonfire, the Dragon Knight fully restores their HP and completely recovers their body.
It was both an emergency escape skill and a resurrection skill. Of course, it wasn't without weaknesses. It could be interrupted by crowd control, and if the enemy found and destroyed the bonfire in advance, the Dragon Knight would effectively be left with only one skill.
That was why Son Narim had waited for the Cavalier's crowd control to be on cooldown. Only after confirming the Cavalier had no crowd control left did she activate this skill. If the Cavalier still had it available, she wouldn't have used it.
Allied Dragon Knight has defeated the enemy Dual Wielder.
Son Narim vanished in a burst of flames, and the Dual Wielder collapsed as a charred corpse. She must have resurrected at the bonfire somewhere on the map. And after some time, the Dragon Knight would come looking again.
A character capable of infinite tries in theory. That was why their base performance had to be this low.
Anyway. A kill had occurred.
Ding. Skill cooldown reset.
"Damn it…!"
By the time Vincent noticed, Aurora had already disappeared from his sight. The moment the skill cooldown reset, Lora used Ghost Step. With her movement speed greatly increased, she instantly closed the distance to the Dual Wielder's corpse, snatched up the sword he had dropped, and charged straight at the Cavalier.
Whoosh!
The Cavalier swung his lance as if telling her not to come any closer. It was an unavoidable response for him. After all, the Cavalier wasn't a character that could change direction easily. So other than swinging widely to block the Phantom Thief's approach, he had no other options.
But a lance was a weapon specialized for thrusting, not swinging. It was far too long and could only be wielded with one hand, so it fundamentally couldn't be swung quickly. That was why Lora could easily read the timing.
Tap.
She jumped at the perfect moment. And Lora landed on that thin lance.
"…Whoa, damn."
She's insanely good. The Cavalier was dumbfounded. But that feeling lasted only a moment. The sudden added weight made the Cavalier lose his balance instantly.
On the other hand, Lora had predicted even that. Before they could both fall, she kicked off hard and grabbed the staggering Cavalier's neck.
Crash!!
Dragged down by Lora's grip, the Cavalier tumbled across the ground. A sword was already buried in his abdomen.
Ding. Skill cooldown reset.
Lora, who had rolled across the ground with the Cavalier's corpse, immediately stood up. In front of her, a Giant Wolf waited with its mouth wide open.
"Oh my."
Without a hint of panic, Lora simply used Ghost Step again now that its cooldown had reset. Using her enhanced movement speed, she dodged the Giant Wolf's fangs and drove her sword into its neck.
The Dual Wielder was dead. The Cavalier was dead. The Mage was incapacitated. And for some reason, even the Giant Wolf was falling to Lora.
Vincent let out a sigh and thrust his spear toward Lora's back. It was a do-or-die moment. Lora was busy dealing with the Giant Wolf, so she wouldn't be able to respond immediately. If this strike landed, they could take down the Phantom Thief. Then the game wouldn't end. That was why this was a blow Vincent absolutely had to land.
Thud!
But a sudden impact made Vincent's head snap to the side. What he saw in the corner of his vision was Sina's head rolling across the ground.
"Haa… haa… I'm not late!"
Son Narim shouted in a bright voice. Having resurrected at the bonfire, she had arrived at some point and hurled Sina's severed head.
"You crazy women…"
As Vincent muttered that, Aurora's sword came flying toward him.
Ding. Skill cooldown reset.
"I'm finally back in Korea…"
After an endlessly long business trip, Rion had finally arrived back in Korea. This was her first time spending such a long period in Japan. This business trip had been quite unusual. It took time to meet with various companies, but the on-site investigations and data research took even longer. Still, it felt a bit like traveling, so it wasn't entirely unenjoyable.
Coincidentally, a gaming event had been held in Japan during the trip, and she was glad she could attend. 'I wonder if Sister Lora is okay.'
The first thing she worried about upon returning was the homeowner. This wasn't the first time Rion had gone abroad. She quite enjoyed traveling and had been on several overseas trips before. Whenever she left the house for an extended period, that is.
The house would be an absolute disaster. That damn Duchess apparently didn't do any chores. So whenever she returned from a trip, there would be piles of trash everywhere and a huge backlog of housework. It was quite the headache.
It was true that Lora couldn't do housework, but more than that, she simply refused to. If she could push it onto someone else, she would. That was Lora's style.
…Sister Lora could never live in poverty. She was the kind of woman who needed at least one housekeeper to function.
Still, there was something reassuring this time. There were a few people who could handle the housework in her place.
'I told Sister Sora to come over.'
As soon as she got back, she had sent a message saying something like "Come visit like last Chuseok~". Sora had replied that she would. Even if she didn't come, it wouldn't have mattered much. For some unknown reason, Chell had practically moved in.
Chell was decent at cleaning. She just couldn't cook.
'Hmm… Would it be fun to gather a bunch of people who can't cook and have them try anyway?'
Riding the bus home, Rion suddenly had that thought. It must have been a habit left over from her VTuber days—always thinking of content that seemed entertaining.
She didn't know if this idea could actually be used, but if she brought it to Sister Lora later, maybe she would make use of it. With that in mind, she turned on her phone, jotted down the idea in her notes, and checked on Lora's streaming status while she was at it.
"…She's already surpassed 250 hours of streaming."
It had become a hot topic in the community due to the absurdly long broadcast. There had never been a VTuber who streamed for this long before. On top of that, it seemed like the karaoke cheering squad had stuck around until Lora finished her rank climb. And it looked like Lora had just reached Master.
"She got Master."
Of course, she had only achieved Master in Gate Attack Mode. Single Combat Mode was still left. But at this rate, she would probably reach Master in that too. If she kept performing this well, she might even get drafted.
VTubers with high topicality had a greater chance of being drafted. Especially since this broadcast had made such a huge impact. Maybe challenge streams would start pouring in. Like a 50-hour karaoke challenge.
"Not bad."
The more popular Sister Lora gets, the better. Yep.
Lost in thought, Rion realized the bus had reached her stop at some point. Before she knew it, she was home. The moment she opened the door, what hit her was—an intense smell of alcohol.
"Even a three-year affair should be forgiven with a smile♪ It's that shameless attitude I can't stand~♬"
The person singing with a slightly slurred voice was a tall woman. No matter how she thought about it, there was only one person in EYEAI who was that tall. It was Aina-tsu.
Empty soju bottles were rolling around at her feet, and in the corner of the room, mountains of chicken boxes and pizza boxes were stacked sky-high. Looking at them, Rion thought they resembled graves. The chicken boxes full of bones were practically tombs for chickens. Why didn't these people order boneless? To save money? Or was it for the fun of tearing off the drumsticks? If it was the latter, she felt like killing them a little.
"Zzz…"
The one sleeping openly on the bed was Chell. Dark circles hung heavily under her eyes. Her face was bright red as she lay in Rion's bed, covered with a blanket. Had this one been drinking too? What the hell. Then where was she supposed to sleep? Just with Chell? Was she supposed to hug Chell while sleeping? Like a body pillow? She'd heard dakimakura were expensive— was this what they called a lucky bikini or whatever? Maybe this was the moment she would coin a new slang term. Lucky dakimakura? Lucky daki? Bullshit. It would be the darkest one. The darkest hell in the world, and the darkest grave.
"R-Rion-senpai…"
It didn't seem like lucky vicky was a thing, but the incarnation of lucky nagika—Inagika—called Rion's name in a slightly frightened voice. Looking closer, Rinko and Anna were both passed out drunk on the floor. Even Sora was dozing off while slumped in a chair. The only one who seemed mentally functional was Inagika, who was famous for having a completely reversed sleep schedule.
The tall drunkard was singing a song from 1982. The vibe of hell these days was pretty old-school. Isn't there anything savory, Mr. Chef? I want to savor something.
"W-would you like to sing…?"
Perhaps sensing Rion's rising blood pressure, Inagika made that suggestion. Rion quietly nodded.
"I-I'll make a reservation for you… Um, what song do you like…?"
"Revolution from Below."
"Eh…?"
"Revolution from Below."
Rion said with a cold expression.
I want to kill them all, nya.