Chapter 15: Streamer Han Se-Ah 5
Han Se-ah seemed excited about using magic.
Her steps toward the tower were light.
It was nice to see her enthusiasm.
Thankfully, it didn't seem like she would give up, even after learning about the harsh realities of conquering the tower.
"Roland, do you plan to return to the tower?"
"Of course."
If you don't go, I'll have to beg you to come with me.
Suppressing my pitiful thoughts, I said what she and her viewers would want to hear.
"Well, it would be great if I could be on the front line while you show off your skills as a mage."
"Really!?""It's hard to find excellent mages in the higher floors. Most of them end up in the Magic Tower for research."
To be precise, mages also retreat to the rear because they dislike living rough like me.
Even with my top-tier physique, I've had enough of the homeless lifestyle.
There's no way that mages with fragile bodies would endure sleeping in a poisonous swamp for over six months.
That's why top adventurers staying on the highest floor of the tower struggle not only with supplies but also desperately search for skilled mages.
If Han Se-ah keeps leveling up, she might receive offers from every party.
Her talent is so great that even non-players who sleep in the tower would seriously consider kidnapping her.
"Admittedly, living rough does seem difficult."
"But we have to do it if we want to climb the tower. I've had enough rest."
By subtly hinting at the possibility of forming a party together, not just as a guide or senior adventurer, I caused quite a stir for Han Se-ah and the chat window she secretly peeked at.
Gamers were naturally excited when the world's only 6★ NPC subtly dropped hints.
We entered the tower while I gently baited her with my words.
Han Se-ah confidently stepped into the dark entrance without any hesitation, having been here once before.
As always, the refreshing, wide-open plains greeted us.
"Today, let's climb the tower a bit."
"How far are we going?"
"Let's just get familiar with the first five floors and then head back. It's better to go further with party members.
Even though only weak goblins appear on these floors, the danger increases the farther we go."
After saying that, I took out a small lantern instead of the adventurer's badge.
One was my worn-out lantern, and the other was a new one I secretly picked up at the guild counter when I asked for a party member.
Of course, the new lantern was for Han Se-ah.
While she stretched her arms wide and enjoyed the scent of grass, I quickly looked away from her ample chest, which her leather armor couldn't fully cover, and handed her the lantern.
It was a small brass lantern, smaller than the palm of a hand.
"What's this for?"
"It shows the location of the passage to the next floor. It's usually carried by the party's guide, but there's no harm in having one."
The golden lantern held a floating magic stone shard instead of an oil-soaked wick.
The elongated, pointed magic stone shard hovered in midair like a compass needle placed on a floating leaf.
If the magic stone in the adventurer's badge was pressed to create a hologram, this one pointed in one direction like a compass needle.
The adventurer's badge showed the way out, while the magical golden lantern indicated the way up the tower.
My lantern had a magic stone shard floating towards a certain direction, but Han Se-ah's stone had sunk.
She tapped the lantern like fixing a broken machine and looked at me.
"Um, mine isn't moving."
"The lantern only recognizes the stairs you've reached once. According to the Magic Tower's explanation, it tracks the magical pathways composing the tower, but I couldn't understand the details."
"So, what about familiarizing ourselves today?"
"It'll be convenient when we gather a party if we register it with the lantern. Otherwise, we'd have to rely on an unfamiliar ranger and search the entire plain without knowing anything."
She seemed pleased with the information and quickly attached the tapped lantern to her waist.
I wondered if she had grown accustomed to the leather armor since last night, trying various things, or if another streamer had already passed the first floor and climbed higher.
After that, walking through the plain with the lantern was a breeze.
"Using magic on monsters weaker than goblins is a waste. You can defeat them by kicking or, if you're worried about their horns damaging your boots or leggings, you can just whack them with your staff."
Stomp on slimes to kill them, and hunt the occasional horned rabbits and horned foxes by striking them with the staff.
Although being stabbed by a horn would cause blood like being pricked by an awl, and being bitten would leave tooth marks, that's only the case for those without armor.
Even the leather-armored adventurers barely added a scratch to their used leather armor.
If rabbit incisors could pierce armor that can block a few sword strikes, I'd have probably never gone past the fifth floor of the tower and lived in the outside world instead.
"A goblin! Should I try using magic?"
"Try a different spell this time instead of Magic Missile."
A goblin we encountered earlier died instantly after being hit by a Magic Missile.
It would be ridiculous for a creature that could be killed by a staff to withstand magic several times stronger. The Magic Missile, living up to its name, killed the goblin with a single strike to the bridge of its nose.
So this time, she would try another spell.
"Another spell... Spark!"
Han Se-ah stepped forward, swung her staff, and chanted the spell. As the staff extended like a spear, a small flame appeared in midair with a crackling sound.
It seemed to aim right below the goblin's ugly nose.
"Kyaaak?!"
Startled by the unexpected spark hitting its face, the goblin, which had been charging at Han Se-ah, stopped hopping and began flapping its hands in the air.
Judging by its intense reaction, the spark must have hit just as it was inhaling.
Shaking his head, the goblin tried to brush off the sharp pain, distracting himself.
Han Se-ah watched the goblin, then raised her staff above her head and swung it down.
If her previous swing resembled a baseball bat, this one was more like a downward slash with a sword using a staff.
"Your magic is accurate, and the staff's trajectory is clean. Did you learn swordsmanship somewhere?"
"Hehe, I practiced a bit of Kendo when I was young."
"Kendo?"
"Ah, I mean, I learned a bit of swordsmanship."
Had she attended a Kendo dojo instead of a Taekwondo one when she was young?
The tip of her staff accurately hit the goblin's head, displaying her excellent motor skills. Well, that's probably why she became famous for her athletic broadcasts as well.
The following battles were one-sided. Han Se-ah used various methods like obstructing the incoming goblin's vision with the Light spell, moving to the side and stabbing it, or stopping another goblin by spraying Water magic at its eyes.
She made no mistakes.
'...She's really good at this game.'
It was hard to believe this was Han Se-ah's second battle.
Her versatile fighting style involved not only using her staff to hunt, but also mixing in kicks, staff techniques, and magic.
It was quite impressive.
Honestly, she was much better than I was in my first year as an adventurer.
Back then, I relied solely on my armor and charged in like a primary school kid throwing punches.
After catching the goblin and picking up the magic stones, we continued walking through the plains.
We should have encountered other adventurers by now, but today was unusually quiet.
No matter how vast the plains were, adventurers had to gather to move to the upper floors.
Just as I thought about it, I heard noisy voices.
"Are those other adventurer parties?"
"We're heading toward the passage, so it's about time we met them."
I couldn't understand what they were saying, but it certainly wasn't the cackling of a goblin.
As we followed the lantern-lit path, the dots in the distance started looking like people.
Of course, only someone with extraordinary physical abilities like me could see them like that. Han Se-ah's camera still showed them as dots.
The party consisted of two male front-liners, one female front-liner, and one female ranger.
It was a fairly common beginner adventurer composition with three front-liners and one ranger.
Front-liners were numerous since even those without formal swordsmanship training could wield a sword and shield and be considered a front-liner.
"Is this my fault?!"
"Then it's my fault?!"
As Han Se-ah could finally see the four novice adventurers, their voices became clearer.
Judging by the well-maintained armor worn by the front-liners, this wasn't a bottom-tier party struggling below the 5th floor.
So, without fear of a goblin ambush, they were arguing loudly.
The two women in the group, the female warrior and female ranger, were shouting and red-faced, while an older man and a younger man stepped back, not even trying to intervene.
From their lack of intervention, it seemed the party leader was one of the women.
"...I wonder what's going on?"
There's nothing quite as entertaining as watching a fight.
Han Se-ah couldn't take her eyes off the two people, who were so close together it seemed like they might even resort to grappling.
At the same time, the camera drone hastily flew around.
Han Se-ah's reaction to the fight seemed rather intense.
The camera had flown far away, and Han Se-ah was focused on the broadcast, so she wasn't paying attention to me.
Unable to resist my curiosity, I pretended to watch the fight and opened the chat window.
-2★3★ A petty fight indeed
-Still, a 3★ should be recruited early on
-They should fight to the death
-Don't know what's going on, but can't we take the ranger?
-Have the winner form a party with Roland-sensei
Wait, there's a 3★ character?
***
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