Season 5: Chapter 49: The Enemy Within (2) |
The Demian Club was named after Demian, Raina’s main weapon. Most people didn’t even know why the association was named after Raina’s weapon in the first place. If they visited the Demian Club community, they would find the answer almost immediately.
[It’s because Demian is Raina’s one and only love~]
[We were all Demian once…]
[Demian is basically Raina’s guardian]
Demian became the name of the association for a simple reason. It wasn’t just Raina’s weapon. He was her first love. The order mattered. Raina named the weapon after her first love.
In Raina’s story mode, players could even become Demian and play through the story. They all once sacrificed their lives as Demian to save Raina. As a fan club name for Raina, nothing was more legitimate than the Demian Club.
Ding!
[“Almond” is a prohibited word.]
“Huh?”
Ding!
[“Aalmond” is a prohibited word.]
[“Almondoyle” is a prohibited word.]
[“Yu Sang-Hyeon” is a prohibited word.]
[“A1mond” is a prohibited word.]
“These crazy bastards…”
Any mention of Almond had been completely blocked. And the funniest part?
Ding!
[“3 star clear” is a prohibited word.]
Searching for the three-star clear was also banned. Were these really Raina fans? Zelo gave up on writing a post.
“So basically, there’s no guide for clearing 3 stars except Almond’s?”
Unless one watched Almond’s stream, no other 3-star guide existed.
— LOL seriously
— Banned words are insane lol
— Demian Club is something else
— 3 star being banned is actually scary…
Ba-bam!
[Stranger has donated 10,000 won.]
[Then what are they even doing if they can’t talk about Raina’s 3 star clear!? LOL]
“People misunderstand. These guys don’t even play Raina.”
— LOL true
— For real??
— Then what do they do? Lol
— That’s legendary
“Well…” Zelo went on to explain his time back when he was active in the Demian Club.
— Damn
— Legend of legends… life is legend…
— That’s the abyss
— A scary story indeed!
— Why is the Shadow of the Abyss here?
As Zelo’s viewers learned more about the Demian Club, they clicked their tongues.
Ba-bam!
[Curious donated 10,000 won]
[If you post a picture of Raina’s kiss scene there, do you get assassinated?]
— LOL
— LMAO
— Probably wouldn’t kill you?
— That image is auto-banned lol
Zelo waved, clearly wanting to avoid going any deeper. “Ahem! Anyway, let’s forget about 3-star clear. Raina is a skill-based champion, right? What kind of man plays games for the story? Who watches cutscenes!?”
He decided to jump straight into ranked Raina play.
“I’ll just faceplant and learn.”
— That’s it
— Right! Who watches for the plot anyways~
— Let’s go~~
It was a brave decision, but every act of bravery came with consequences. Zelo’s Raina challenge was a challenge in the truest sense.
“You’re supposed to shoot the target. Are you colorblind?”
“What was that roll just now?”
“Uh… th-that’s not…”
— LOL
— She’s flaming him lol
— Automated backseat gaming
That was just the beginning.
“Contractor, you’d look better as an arrow target than an archer. Think again.”
“Can you even see? I recommend contracting with a blind monk. For your sake.”
“How about a bard? Your bow would work better as a harp.”
Raina’s trash talk escalated quickly. No matter how hard Zelo tried, it didn’t change.
“Wow… th-this is… I guess this is the charm of Raina? Haha… ha…”
The awkward smile on Zelo’s face looked exactly like an intern's.
— LOOOL
— This hurts to watch
— It is her charm hehe
— Pretty spicy lol
— Spicy but good, still enjoyable
— LMAO
— Delinquent girl is actually kinda nice
— In our industry this is a reward
— What even is this…
— More! More!
Zelo wasn’t bad at LIL, but he hadn’t expected a wall this high. Raina had fallen out of favor for a reason.
Ding.
[TruthBomb has donated 5,000 won.]
[Instead of a kiss, she’d probably just spit on you.]
— LOL
— Yeah lol
— That’d be faster honestly
— He’s about to get it
— Zelo’s clearly building up on purpose, read the room
“Hey! Shut up for a second! I’m concentrating!”
Maybe some of his old skills were still there. As he focused seriously, Zelo finally heard something different.
“Thought you were a microorganism. Guess you’re more like a bug.”
The evaluation was slowly going up.
“D-did you hear that!? Everyone!? A bug! I’ve reached bug level!”
— Bug level LMAO
— When did bug become a compliment
— Bullied nerd Zelo getting toyed with by delinquent girl…
— LOL
— Isn’t a bug usually rock bottom?
— How far does honor inflation go…
As if she’d heard him, Raina muttered, “Ugh. I hate this. Seriously.”
— ?
— ??
— Wow
— That is an actual line though
— Is she alive?
— There’s definitely someone behind the screen
— LMAO
“No, guys. That’s an actual line.” Zelo didn’t want to ruin his good mood.
Riding the momentum, he wanted to play even better. However, he didn’t know.
“Alright, enemies spotted over there! Let’s gooo!”
Zelo had no idea who he was charging toward. He couldn’t even imagine.
“Zelo’s delinquent Raina is unstoppable!”
— LOOOL
— LMAO
— For real lol
— You can’t stop that attitude
— Delinquent Raina LMAO
***
Raina’s third arrow pierced through.
Bang!
[Mana Detonation]
“A, agh! Move! I’m dying!”
Whoooosh!
Blue flames from the Mana Detonation erupted, and BornToB screamed. Once an assassin started taking hits first, there was no saving him. Someone had to take the damage for him.
“Arrows are coming from over there!”
Bubblegum didn’t hear BornToB’s scream. He only followed the direction of the arrows.
‘Raina?’
Almond’s eyes widened. For a split second, his calls stopped. The fastest to react was LetMeTank, the Master-tier player.
“She’s contracted already! Looks like Raina is already taken. I’ll just contract first…”
LetMeTank was about to forcefully take the tank role they all wanted her to be, but Almond raised a hand.
“No, guard the rune box.”
“What?”
‘Guard it for what? Why not just contract?’ The only one completely baffled was LetMeTank.
“Y-Yes sir!”
Despite the absurd order, Choco Shroom and Bubblegum fell in line.
‘What is this insane discipline?’
They retreated and formed up around the rune box. Only BornToB, shoved to the front by Bubblegum’s shield, couldn’t pull back.
Boom!
Another Mana Detonation exploded on BornToB, nearly wiping his health bar.
“H-Heal… I need a heal…”
Choco Shroom waved her hands, desperately searching for the spell. “Why can’t I find it when I need it!?”
— LOL
— Because you can’t use it…
— Staff is hard to use…
— That’s because the target isn’t a monster^^
From the side, Almond shouted while drawing his bow, “Don’t heal! Attack!”
“Huh?”
Ding.
Choco Shroom finally found out how to use Fireball.
“Okaaay~!” She fired it straight into the clustered enemies.
— Explosion!!!
— Boom time~
— Eyes lighting up when you say blow them up LOL
— Choco-bombing~!
Kwaaang!
The blast caught almost four enemies.
“Push in! It’s a bluff!”
Instead of backing off, the enemy surged forward and focused on BornToB. They thought they had the advantage.
“Hit him! He’s dead!”
“Waaah!”
A gun user on the enemy team fired the finishing shot.
Bang!
[An ally has fallen!]
[AgainAgain → BornToB]
“N-No, why…?” LetMeTank couldn’t understand it.
If this were a normal game with regular teammates, she would’ve started swearing.
— LOL
— What was that?
— Huh…?
— Damn
— Terrible call
— Ladies and gentlemen, the Smart Young Man.
LetMeTank wasn’t the quiet type when gaming. If anything, she could be fiercer than most. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have reached Master rank.
‘Damn it… they’re big-time streamers. I can’t say anything!’
She was a streamer before she was a gamer. Cursing out people at this level was basically like a rookie yelling at executives. LetMeTank swallowed her curses and followed the orders, even if they seemed idiotic.
— That call was trash
— And she’s just taking it…?
— This is rough…
— They’re just dying on purpose
— So this is why they call him Almondoyle~
— She’s gonna explode soon LOL
Their team was slowly walking into their own graves.
“Ugh, aaagh!?”
Boom!
Bubblegum’s shield shattered. LetMeTank tried to cover him, swinging her mace to push back the enemy tanks.
[Smash!]
[You swing widely, knocking enemies back.]
Crash!
The enemies briefly staggered back.
“Almond!?” she called out as respectfully as she could, “Th-This is where I should contract, right? I mean…”
No answer came.
‘Where the hell is he?’
Bang!
[An ally has fallen!]
[Zelo → Bubblegum]
Two of their teammates had died. Civil Empire’s Bubblegum and the real Bubblegum fell side by side.
“AAAAH! Screw this!”
LetMeTank rushed the rune box and reached for it.
‘Huh?’
It was empty.
‘What?’
KRAAASH!
A beam of light shot down somewhere nearby. Behind Almond, the silhouette of a white-haired man holding a dagger briefly appeared and vanished.
‘A contract?’
Almond had taken it for himself.
— OMG
— No way
— He contracted himself LMAO
— Not a tank first?
— What?!
— Then why wait so long?
He had meant to contract with Raina, but she was on the enemy team. Who did he contract with, and why a blade instead of a bow?
LetMeTank muttered without realizing it, “Flashy Blade…”
Crackle…
Almond vanished. Had he gone for the enemy?
She despaired. “No! Flashy Blade doesn’t even get good until level six!”
That wasn’t an exaggeration. Flashy Blade was genuinely useless before level six. Almond was currently only level four. What was he thinking?
[An enemy has been slain!]
[LazySoldier → AgainAgain]
Slash!
An enemy instantly died, mocking her doubts.
— DAMN
— What?!
— How did he assassinate with Flashy Blade?
— No way
— What??
— Wow…
‘Whatever it is… it’s enough.’
LetMeTank shouted, “I’m going in too! Choco, revive him!”
“W-What!? Just me!?”
“Is there anyone else here!?”
LetMeTank swung her mace at the enemy tanks.
Thoom!
A shield warped.
“Guh!”
Whoosh!
Shield and spear users rushed her. She danced through them, her mace striking cleanly.
Ting!
— Oooh
— Nice
— This is it!
[BornToB has revived!]
Choco Shroom brought BornToB back.
“Th-Thank you, Choco. I, I’ll finally…” BornToBe froze, confused as his hands flailed at empty air.
‘Huh?’
He couldn’t fight.
LetMeTank yelled, “What are you doing!? Get back in here!”
“I, I don’t have a weapon! My… my Fast Dagger Rush!?”
His weapon had disappeared.
“No way…”
It finally clicked. That man fighting Raina over there, the reason he had contracted Flashy Blade while holding a bow…
“Did he make us wait just to steal it!?”
— Huh?!
— DAMN
— No way…
— That’s insane
— Is he really a human?!
***
[Beginner’s Tip]
[A contractor who wrote legends for many years once said, “A friend is simply the closest enemy.”]