Chapter 17: Competition between streamers – 1

Twitch, the global internet broadcasting site.

In this neighborhood where dozens of game category rankings fluctuate daily…

The undisputed number 1 game that hadn’t changed since its release.

Kairos Continent.

As befitting the most popular game…

The viewership for ‘Kairos Continent’ reached a staggering 576,000 people.

– Everyone’s just waiting for the raid open time lol

Despite being the most popular god-tier game on Twitch with the largest audience…

Everyone’s broadcast screen was frozen on the same image, as if broken.

– What is this, why is everyone waiting?
– Oh, welcome latecomer.
– lolol High School Girl-chan caused a huge incident, so an event popped up.
– ????

Viewers who joined the broadcast late listened bewilderedly to the explanations of existing viewers.

And the new viewers who heard the story couldn’t hide their astonishment.

While Edelin’s fame naturally grew…

New viewers, hearing the rumors, continuously flowed into the ownerless, ended broadcast.

– Is this that genius mage’s stream?
– Yup. If you came to see our High School Girl streamer, you’re in the right place.
– But where did the streamer go?
– Don’t ask… we don’t know either….
– TTTT

While each streamer’s broadcast was in chaos…

The start time for the Contest Mode slowly ticked by.

Two hours after Edelin single-handedly True-Liberated the 1st Gate…

Everyone’s frozen broadcast screens finally began to move.

====================================

[<System> Shadow Nightmare King [ Contest ] Mode has opened!]
[※ Difficulty is fixed for this activity. Test your strength!]
[※ You will revive immediately upon death in this activity.]
[※ This activity is only open for one day after starting.]
[※ Only the first clear team will receive special rewards! Do your best!]
[※ After the first clear, Gate 1 will be purified for all users.]

====================================

Competitive content with rewards that would make any Kairos Continent user drool!

The raid had finally begun.

“It’s still just the 1st Gate. There’s no way I can’t clear it, right?”

– Uh oh? That statement?
– lololol You haven’t seen High School Girl-chan’s skills.
– Shh! Everyone be quiet! We have to watch our streamer suffer!
– lolololol Even if you tell him, he’ll probably suffer anyway.

Although raid clear races weren’t unprecedented, the game-supported ‘Contest Mode’ was a first since launch.

Not only did public interest and excitement reach their peak…

But the number of viewers for all streamers participating in the raid was several times higher than usual.

Just as one must row when the tide comes in…

Black Sea, a streamer leading the class rankings as a 3rd Class Swordsman…

Did not miss this opportunity either.

– lolol Of course, you wouldn’t.
– Is that why someone like you formed a party just to get past Gate 1?
– A man whose words and actions differ. His name is Black Sea.

Having played consistently since the early days of the game…

Black Sea possessed innate physical abilities that didn’t fall behind other streamers in terms of skill.

Filled with pride regarding Kairos Continent, he…

Looked down on the Contest Mode and was about to enter the raid when…

“Huh, what? The maximum raid entry limit is 3 people?”

His steps were halted by a system message blocking him.

The effort of bringing his elite members who had barely broken through the gate became meaningless.

– Plan to push through with numbers has failed, right?
– Ah lolol Right? lol Serves you right lol
– Beep! Cheesing it is impossible in this raid.

Forced to split into multiple teams and enter separately, Black Sea…

His party consisted of an archer for ranged support…

And a mage from the Tower of Light, forming the basic Tank-DPS-Heal composition.

[ Foolish and inferior beings. Where do you think you are stepping foot? ]

“This is Gate 1?”

Upon entering the gate, along with the chilling voice of the King of Shadow Nightmares…

The pitch darkness where one couldn’t see an inch ahead was gone, replaced by a landscape resembling early evening where one could at least see somewhat.

Lightning flashed in the darkened sky, brightly illuminating the view.

“What, isn’t this super easy then? No need for torches?”

Less than a minute after saying that…

He wished he could take back his words if only he could.

Just a few steps after putting a torch in his inventory, he saw groups of shadow nightmares.

Black Sea, acting as the frontline tanker and DPS, charged forward confidently.

And then.

Thwack.

[ You have died ]

Like a fly buzzing around a person getting swatted by a flyswatter…

Black Sea died after being hit just once by a nightmare’s hand, swung as if uninterested.

– lololololol Congrats on the first raid death.
– Got the clip angle? lolololol
– ??? : To commemorate being the first to clear Gate 6, I will be the first to die in the raid.
– As expected of the first, even dying first lololololol
– You said it was super easy?
– Where’s the easy part? Let me have some of that easy stuff too.
– lololololol

Naturally, the DPS line couldn’t hold after the frontline collapsed.

The party was ruthlessly wiped out by the mob-level shadow nightmares.

“Guys, I was just holding back. Can’t go all out against mobs like these, right?”

Despite his words…

The attack power of the shadow nightmare he had taken a proper hit from was far from mob-level.

Attack power on par with elite monsters rarely seen even on the floors he frequented!

This was the true terror of the Contest Mode.

“Wait, hold on! Ack! Isn’t this a bug? Why is the damage like this? Wait! Ack!”

He challenged the shadow nightmare group again, but only death messages returned.

“Alright. Let’s see who wins.”

Charge in, charge in again, charge in until you can’t anymore.

Thinking that the pattern would eventually become clear and he could break through someday.

Just as he always had.

However, it didn’t take long to realize this was a grave miscalculation.

“This doesn’t work either? Then change of plans.”

The shadow nightmares moved in groups of 3-4.

If it was hard to withstand multiple enemies, wouldn’t facing them one by one be somewhat easier?

“This is it! This is called brain play, you rookies!”

The archer party member accurately controlled aggro from afar, luring them one by one near the entrance.

One is easier than many.

Black Sea opted for the method of meticulously using all skills to take down one enemy at a time.

– lololololol So cheap.
– But that might actually be the strategy lolol
– Other parties aren’t doing it like this.
– Shush, be quiet, our streamer needs to suffer more lolol

Although it took over 10 minutes to kill one…

Black Sea, finding meaning in the fact that they could be killed, finally succeeded in eliminating one group of shadow nightmares after 30 minutes.

“This is it!”

“Uh… Guild Master?”

“What?”

“Maybe look ahead…?”

In front of Black Sea, who was shouting in triumph, caught up in the accomplishment of killing the mobs…

At least 2-3 groups of shadow nightmares were writhing.

“Seriously, how did that streamer, High School Girl-chan, clear something like this?”

With those last words, his head was smashed by multiple groups of nightmares, and he died.

Black Sea had already retried over 10 times right at the entrance.

Just as his mind was going numb from the dizzying difficulty…

[< Hintjoolkkamalkka donated 1000 Won! >]
[Did you know? This streamer here is the only one still stuck on the first named mob lolol]

– lolololol Hey, why’d you say that?
– Ah, he needed to suffer more, too bad.
– It’s not too late yet lolol Everyone shh!

The viewers, wanting him to suffer more, all tried to keep it quiet, but…

The strategy was revealed by the archer who returned from a break.

“I went to the restroom and watched other streams… they said you just need to light a torch here…?”

“A torch?”

“If you don’t light a torch, the shadow nightmares’ stats increase by 300%…”

“Then why didn’t light magic work…?”

“They said magic doesn’t work.”

It was indeed a simple strategy.

Unlike the previous Gate 1 where you couldn’t distinguish anything ahead, now that the view was somewhat visible…

It was a method they hadn’t even considered.

“Kraaahk! We’re late, gotta run faster!”

Even knowing the strategy, it was still tough.

They died more easily than before, but that didn’t mean the shadow nightmares were weak.

And as Black Sea, who had simultaneously performed the roles of tank and DPS, now had to hold a torch…

He could only fulfill the tanker role, resulting in a significant DPS loss.

The speed at which they killed mobs inevitably slowed down.

“A faster way to kill them…”

Burning with competitive spirit, Black Sea held the torch in his mouth and drew his sword.

– lolololol Three-Sword Style lololol
– Should we call this Three-Sword Style?
– His teeth must hurt lololol
– Looks like Zoro lololololol

It looked strange, but the effect was outstanding.

The speed of killing shadow nightmares doubled.

– lololol If it were our High School Girl-chan, these mobs would be cleared instantly with a click.
– Isn’t she really amazing?
– What is?
– Our High School Girl-chan.
– Why ask something so obvious?

The broadcast of the very person who caused this raid mode to appear.

Edelin’s viewers had multiple streams of famous Korean streamers open in different windows, reaching the point of collectively watching to see who would clear it first.

– So you’re saying all the streamers suffering now have High School Girl-chan’s specs?
– Right? The monsters also have the same specs as back then.
– So they’re suffering this much with the same specs?
– Yup. That’s why our streamer is so freaking awesome.
– Plus, you have to remember our streamer was alone, while the streamers are in groups of three lolol

The streamers suffered, finding no easy part from the entrance all the way through Gate 1.

Watching them, Edelin’s viewers once again realized…

What a truly great player she was.