Streamer Crazy About Slaughter - Chapter 20
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The duel is about to begin.
As I turned my gaze to the hologram settled in a corner of my field of vision, I saw a user begging, going beyond mere pleading.
And no matter how I looked at it, something about that grotesque character seemed oddly unsettling.
‘…There can’t be any normal person among those kinds.’
Customizing a character is certainly a reflection of the creator’s heart.
Honestly, no matter how bizarre the customization was, whether it was wearing nothing but underwear or a male character contaminated with pink, it was all personal freedom.
Thinking back, weren’t those the kinds of characters that might be found in a fighting game, mocking and tormenting newbies?
Serin suddenly became lost in such thoughts.
—3. 2. 1.
As the countdown finished, the strange sensation that had captivated Serin vanished, and the duel began.
Vwoom!
Slowly rotating her Crescent Moon Blade, as she considered what to do about that irritating user, she found herself momentarily dumbfounded, stopping her blade and speaking out.
“Aren’t you going to draw your weapon?”
“I know I can’t win.”
‘What do you mean by that?’
With a frown of disgust, she glared at her opponent.
“So?”
“Just, please let me win just this once. I’m just trying to reach Bronze for the first time, so if I can win just this once… if I lose, I’ll have to win twice again.”
Squeak.
At those words, her Crescent Moon Blade instinctively cut through the air.
Without following the typical arc of a crescent blade, it shot straight like a beam of light, extending from her outstretched right arm.
Feeling the sound of the golden cord tied to her arm whipping along, she remained standing in place, coldly glaring at her opponent.
“…Ugh!?”
As her blade shot forward quickly, her opponent stumbled back in surprise.
Seeing that, Serin stretched her arm a bit more and moved it.
From that backward position, it was clear her opponent wouldn’t d*e.
Serin watched intently as her opponent retreated, her cold gaze not leaving them even for a moment.
At that moment, she didn’t want to see that user at all.
The character had skin like a pink hue, and the way the character’s facial features were twisted in extremes made her feel sick just looking at it.
Thus, her Crescent Moon Blade, aimed directly at that character’s heart, ultimately failed to reach its goal, leaving only a light scratch around the chest area. It stopped mid-air and slowly descended to the ground.
And just before her blade touched the ground, she forcefully pulled her right hand, manipulating the golden cord to control the blade.
Whoosh!
At the same time, her Crescent Moon Blade returned swiftly to her right hand.
“You, it’s not that this is your first time going to Bronze… you’re just not going to Bronze, right?”
Serin, with a cold voice, slowly rotated her Crescent Moon Blade, stepping closer.
Serin had gained a sudden sense of certainty in that moment.
‘That’s not a newbie.’
What she felt from matchmaking seven times was this: newbies at this rank couldn’t even react to her blade’s movements.
They couldn’t even tell where her blade came from,
Or how to defend against it.
In other words, they couldn’t even think about dodging when they saw it—newbies in this rank couldn’t even imagine that.
But that strange character had reacted to her blade, albeit late.
At least there was a sign they were trying to dodge.
‘…Trash.’
Even if it wasn’t her full power, given she extended the blade to a point where newbies wouldn’t be able to respond, it just didn’t make sense.
And standing in place without moving forward or jumping while extending her blade was a deliberate choice, knowing her reach wouldn’t connect.
Simply put.
She had tested it.
To see if that user was a newbie or not.
‘Bronze tier?’
Judging from that user, it was likely a tier they could easily attain.
For a user in matchmaking at this rank to have belatedly reacted to her blade, it was just absurd that they couldn’t reach Bronze.
“…Ha.”
Hearing her, the user smirked and suddenly drew their weapon.
A huge black pillar.
It seemed questionable to even call that a weapon; it was a black pillar of considerable thickness.
Unable to hold it with one hand, they hugged it with both arms, resting it on their shoulder. The whole sequence combined with their character’s grotesque appearance gave an intimidating impression to onlookers.
At the same time, the earlier startled and flustered demeanor seemed to vanish like a ghost.
Watching that, Serin couldn’t help but chuckle.
“…You’re still laughing at this?”
“Yeah, your appearance is just amusing.”
The other user frowned, seeming displeased with her laughter.
That grotesque character and that imposing weapon created an image that was genuinely repulsive just to look at.
Then she had a thought.
Ah, right. That’s how they were mocking newbies.
That’s what it was.
The more she thought about it, the more revolting it became, making her chuckle uncontrollably.
Vwoom.
The Crescent Moon Blade skimmed through the air and wound back around to her hand.
“Didn’t I act well enough?”
By now, the user’s tone had changed too.
Smirking with that bizarre character appearance, they spoke, and it genuinely disgusted her.
‘Vomit-inducing trash.’
In upper-tier ranks, there were users who felt the barrier and deliberately created alternative characters to drop their scores or to remain in lower tiers.
Users who shouldn’t have the skill to stay in lower tiers but chose to do so to toy with others.
Commonly referred to as ‘alternate character farming’.
It was a shorthand for those malicious users who enjoyed slaughtering the innocent with their alternate characters.
Without being able to win against true experts, they preyed on users who were worse than them.
For example, mocking and toying with newbies who had just started playing the game, and were likely to gather in the rank she was currently placed for placement matches.
They were truly the embodiment of the worst in the game.
“If it weren’t for that dirty character, I might have been fooled.”
“I made it look this way just to make you feel uncomfortable; hiding the character would make it pointless, wouldn’t it?”
They spoke cheekily, and Serin, now only three meters away from the user, slowly approached.
And at that moment, Serin suddenly stopped walking.
“Hey. Attack me.”
Her tone had switched to an informal one.
With a cold smile, Serin saw the expression on her opponent’s face twist into a grin.
“…I’ll warn you in advance; I’m Diamond Tier 2.”
Although she didn’t yet fully understand the tier classification of this game, Diamond generally meant a high rank in nearly all games.
Thinking about that made her even more disgusted.
If they were going to level up, they should do it quickly without causing inconvenience to newbies.
Was a Diamond Tier user really just messing around here?
“Right. So diamond tier is supposed to be high, I guess?”
“Pretty high, but it’s still a bit disappointing; I feel like I could win if I ambushed you when you’re off guard.”
As they spoke slowly, tightening their grip, it seemed they were preparing something.
Soon, from the user’s hands gripping that huge pillar, a dark green glow began to emerge. It seemed like they were getting ready to use a character’s skill.
Still.
Serin didn’t move even a single step, only watching her opponent.
As if telling them to try whatever they could.
Slowly waving her Crescent Moon Blade wrapped around her right hand, she simply stood there watching.
“How did you feel the wall at such a high tier that you’re only playing at this low level? It just makes me sad. Hey.”
She muttered coldly, almost mockingly.
It was as if she wanted the user to hear her words loud and clear.
And whether her words had an effect or not, the green glow in the user’s hands intensified, clearly visible to her eyes.
“So relaxed… it’s hilarious how you’re so smug just because you got some lucky video.”
“I really hope you are smug… because then your little tricks would be fun to watch, right?”
Their continued taunts had an effect, showing a clearly angered expression on their face.
At the same time, the green glow in the user’s hands burst forth, leaping towards her at a considerable speed.
With that grotesque character.
And that imposing weapon shaped like a huge pillar.
The sight of them attempting to slam that massive column down on her looked convincingly fearsome even to her.
……
If only judging by the outward appearance, anyone would surely feel that Serin was in a dire situation.
However, amidst all that, Serin continued to smile coldly.
As if she had the upper hand.
The huge pillar seemed poised to slam down on Serin.
Then suddenly,
She took a step forward unexpectedly.
With her long silver hair swaying slightly, it momentarily seemed to obscure her view.
“Will you be able to be that slow?”
As Serin coldly spat those words, she leisurely swung her right arm.
Swoosh!
Simultaneously, with the sound of the tether brushing against the air, the Crescent Moon Blade shot out rapidly.