The Company Commander Was Disappointed

The company commander was disappointed.

Gate Attack mode featured a different map every round. On top of that, each map came with its own unique gimmicks, demanding far more precise play than the usual single combat duels.

"Found the torch."

I grabbed the torch hanging on the cave wall with my left hand. The Dark Knight's monster-hunting speed was painfully slow, after all. That made it difficult to clear the 'Chill' debuff just by hunting neutral mobs. So I had to locate a torch no matter what, and luckily I'd found one early.

The real problem starts now.

My role as the infiltrator was to disrupt the enemy's main force. To do that, I first had to find them. The problem was that the Dark Knight had no detection abilities whatsoever. If I could ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠just meet up with their main party, I could chase them to the ends of the earth, but figuring out where they even were was the first hurdle.

That's how it always goes with these free starter characters.

The Dark Knight's close-quarters brawling ability was undeniably top-tier, but the rest of his kit had some serious flaws. It couldn't be helped. In games of this genre, a perfectly balanced character could never exist—and shouldn't.

Without any detection skills, I had no choice but to run around the map searching for the enemy main force. I broke into a sprint.

Don't act out of line. That was the ironclad rule Choi Chang-young had set for himself as a VTuber.

When the concept of VTubers first emerged, male VTubers weren't exactly welcomed with open arms. It was only natural. The main audience for VTubers was the so-called "degenerate otaku" crowd.

Consider this: a single anime episode runs about twenty-four minutes. You'd need to watch three different series just to scrape together one hour of content per week. That's why those fans were always thirsty. Anime alone left them parched and desperate, so many turned to VTubers. It was like watching a beautiful anime-style girl host her own broadcast. The voice was pleasant, the character concept was fun, and best of all, it was free. There was even that slight anime flavor to it. And each stream lasted around an hour. If she streamed three times a week? That was more than nine times the content of a typical anime season.

So the degenerates flocked to VTubers. But they didn't want male ones. Whenever a man's voice came through the stream, they'd sneer, "His ears are full of cum." And if a female VTuber ever collabed with a male one, the chat would erupt with, "She's not a virgin anymore."

The birth of male VTubers had begun under heavy suppression.

Of course, it's not that bad anymore.

Over time, more people began to think, "Male VTubers can be fun too." There were even male ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠VTubers with over a million subscribers now. The degenerate crowd had, somehow, come to accept their existence. Sure, there were still people who hated them, but the outright hostility had largely faded.

Even so, Choi Chang-young knew he had to be extremely careful with his words and actions. He couldn't strut around like he owned the place. He'd seen more than a few female VTubers get completely canceled over a single careless remark. If that was the standard for women, it was ten times stricter for men. He had to stay vigilant. Especially as a male VTuber.

"Attention, all company members for a moment."

As soon as the chat became chaotic, Choi Chang-young spoke up.

"I understand how you all feel, but we haven't confirmed the facts yet, have we? It doesn't seem like the right time to act rashly."

Watching the chat messages flood in, Choi Chang-young smiled inwardly. Their concept was supposed to be an army company commander, yet they kept responding in Marine style. Still, their unity was truly impressive.

"Both the smurf abuse and the alt account suspicions are still just rumors, right? What was that word again? Propaganda?"

"Ah, that's right. It could just be a troll post, so let's not respond too aggressively for now. Understood?"

As soon as Choi Chang-young said that, a flood of "Ack!" messages poured in. No matter what, getting caught up in controversy was never a good thing. He hadn't expected to match against the recently infamous smurf abuser, but that was exactly why he needed to stay even more composed. They say that staying silent gets you halfway to victory. It was far better to stay quiet and well-behaved than to step forward and say something stupid that could come back to bite him.

Still, an opportunity was an opportunity. This was the alt account abuser who had supposedly never lost a single single combat match. From what he'd heard, the person regularly hit rank one in all sorts of PC games. Yet no one really knew their true identity. Apparently they even turned down offers from pro teams despite their skill. Just who were they?

Of course, there are also rumors that it's an impersonator.

Real or fake, if he could reveal even a little about this smurf abuser's identity, it would be good for his channel. His subscriber ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠count might even go up. And if he actually managed to defeat them? That would be even better.

That's what Choi Chang-young thought.

After running for a while, I finally spotted an undead.

Did the Necromancer create this?

I paused for a moment. I'd encountered the Necromancer a few times in single combat. Simply put, the Necromancer was a "late-game carry" type of character. Late-game carry. Weak in the early stages, but overwhelmingly powerful in the late game—a growth-type character.

The way these late-game carry characters grew varied slightly from one to another. Some grew through farming, while others simply became stronger after a certain amount of time had passed. In ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠that sense, the Necromancer was a very unique kind of late-game carry. For one thing, the Necromancer themselves didn't get stronger.

It's a character that overwhelms with numbers.

The Necromancer's passive skill was extremely simple. Every time a neutral mob died nearby, the Necromancer created an undead. The more neutral mobs they hunted, the more undead they accumulated. Eventually they could field dozens… and if the game dragged on long enough, they could build an undead legion of over a hundred.

"But there's only one?"

I couldn't see any other undead around. There didn't seem to be a Necromancer nearby either. That meant this one was a scout. The Necromancer had probably created a bunch of undead and scattered them across the map to locate our main party.

After thinking for a moment, I carefully moved behind the undead. Then I immediately brought my sword down.

-Slash!

"Gwoooaaar…!"

The undead let out a hoarse groan and lunged at me after being cut. But its movements weren't anything special. After a few more slashes, it crumbled apart and returned to dust.

The Necromancer's strength came from their horde. And because of that, each individual undead was quite weak. That's why I could take it down so easily.

"How will they react? They'll probably come this way, right?"

Every time an undead was destroyed, the Necromancer could sense it. So the Necromancer would surely be wondering what happened. They'd want to check why the scout they'd sent out had died. After all, they also needed to find our main party. They couldn't ignore even the smallest clue.

I'll use that against them.

If the Dark Knight had no detection abilities and it was hard to find the enemy main force, then I just had to lure the enemy to where I was. In any case, the bait had been set. Now it was time to fish.

I quickly climbed up the cave wall.

-Clang!

Since it was an ice cave, the surfaces were slippery. I had to stab my blade into the wall repeatedly to make my way up. This was actually my first time climbing the walls of an ice cave. But fortunately, I'd had similar experiences before. Back when I was still the duke's daughter, I'd climbed a snowy mountain. Of course, I'd had proper climbing gear back then. Unfortunately, I didn't have any proper equipment this time. So I could only rely on my parkour skills and physical instincts, but I somehow managed to reach the ceiling.

I won't be able to do it exactly like I did in single combat.

It was an ambush tactic I'd used several times in single combat. I'd even gotten good results with it in my very first single combat match. The problem was that this was an ice cave. The constantly slippery surfaces made it impossible to stay still in one spot. If I stayed like this, I'd probably slip and fall before the Necromancer even arrived. So I needed to do some extra preparation here.

"It should be around here that the undead died…"

Choi Chang-young stepped into the cavern. Of course, in case it was a trap, he'd sent his undead legion in first. After that, he slowly scanned the surroundings. That's when he noticed shattered ice fragments scattered across the ground.

"Ah, looks like an icicle killed the undead."

It wasn't common, but it did happen sometimes when playing on ice dungeon maps. Convinced by that explanation, he looked up toward the ceiling where the icicle must have fallen from—and saw a blood-red blade.

Huh?

-Swoosh!

In an instant, one of his arms was severed. Standing before him was the Dark Knight, not wearing any armor.

"W-wait…! Mmph?!"

Before Choi Chang-young could say anything, something was shoved into his mouth. It was the torch. The gimmick item meant to prevent the 'Chill' debuff had been jammed into his mouth like a weapon by the Dark Knight.

While his mind reeled from the sudden heat, his legs were sliced off so he couldn't escape. As he tumbled across the ground and his vision flipped upside down, the blade plunged into his chest and tore straight through him.