I Have a Reason to Hate Streamers

I have some guesses bouncing around in my head.

But I’m not at the stage of being certain yet.

Unclear orders throw chaos into the party.

For now, let’s focus on the enemy in front of me.

This won’t be an opponent I can afford to underestimate.

My foot sank deep within the Protector’s guard.

SWISH The twin blades swung at lightning speed.

One dodged smoothly, while the other caught the angle and met the blade.

Technically, I held the upper hand. Using the guard of my sword as leverage, I twisted it open, forcing their defense to break.

Perhaps due to our earlier skirmish, their upper defense had become sturdier.

Then I just needed to target the lower part.

I lowered my body sharply while aiming for their foot.

As I slipped to the side, I grazed their shin and launched a dagger toward their eyes.

Thankfully, aside from the area covered in armor, their defenses still had a human touch.

[Enemy’s racial trait ignores paralysis poison.]

So poisons don’t work, huh?

Well, it would be odd if it did against such an indestructible being.

A great sword, dancing around the boss, came flying at an angle.

The trajectory had to be that of a Greatsword Warrior’s skill… Just as my calf was about to be pierced because I couldn’t escape in time.

I slipped into the shadows toward the thrown dagger, regaining my rear position.

The spot I had struck earlier was too thickly armored.

But not every part was that sturdy.

I aimed just below the nape.

If it were a human, it would be around the area of the sternocleidomastoid muscle.

A successful hit.

I had initially planned to slash the upper body in an X, but the armor caught midway, preventing much damage.

After dodging the counter from the twin blades, I pushed off the ground again, closing the distance.

[A party member is preparing the high-level spell ‘Conflagrate.’]

[Warning: Please move away from the target area. You may sustain lethal damage.]

[Caster: Elderin]

“Adaptation rate 36.45%”

“High-tier attack magic detected. Deploying forced dispel barrier.”

[The dungeon’s mana source emits a strong pulse.]

[Skills utilizing mana cannot be used.]

[Remaining duration: 9.87 sec]

The magic Elderin wanted to cast was forcibly canceled.

One of my last bastions of trust had vanished.

It might be wise for me to retreat as well.

Of course, that’s assuming that thing lets me.

The twin blades aimed for my foot and drove into the ground.

Feeling a déjà vu from the skill targeting my lower body.

Instead of pulling out the twin blades, the Protector drew a new dagger from somewhere.

From the lower left to the upper right, thrusting from the opposite side.

A low kick aimed to disrupt my balance followed—while a dagger extended from somewhere I couldn’t see.

I managed to avoid it somehow but was already pulled back by several meters.

‘This is troubling. If I make one mistake, it’s game over.’

Should I be relieved by this?

Behind the Protector, I spotted a familiar shape.

A burly face of a Berserker. Dol-gwal was here to back me up.

This is good. With the uncle’s backup, I’ll leap to the ceiling.

I’d blur my vision just to re-enter the fray.

─Wait, no. That’s the wrong answer.

“Don’t! Stay back, Uncle!”

“……?”

The Protector retracted the dagger while preparing the next attack.

The new one, with bared fangs aimed at me, vanished as if it were a lie.

It looked as if it was sucked into shadows.

So familiar to me—it was the Shadow Movement of an Assassin.

The moment it re-emerged, it aimed at the sword I had planted on the floor.

The Protector’s dagger pierced Dol-gwal’s sternocleidomastoid muscles.

The crossing of the daggers was an attempt such that I had failed to execute.

An X-shaped wound appeared on that broad back, finished off with a dagger to the side.

That was what I had been trying to do earlier.

[Party member ‘Abu Mori Dol-gwal Rogue’ has died.]

With that, it became clear.

The AI of the Protector was mimicking me.

While equipped with specs far superior to mine.

*

Truly an unpleasant joke.

The Protector had begun mimicking my movements to the extent of resembling me.

Its previously massive frame was shrinking as it unraveled its slender, long hair.

Even the ash-gray body imitated my clothes, fluttering away.

“Adaptation rate 50.00%”

“Tier 2 Protector. ‘Uncle’ deployment authorized.”

“Battlefield split. Initiating the extermination of the highest threat entity.”

The spacious battlefield was split in two.

The second one I caught a glimpse of and a partition was erected, separating me from my party.

As walls aimed to confine me rose, a field exclusive just for us was created.

The Protector spun the dagger between its fingers, gazing at me with mechanical eyes.

What a rude little thing.

Who do you think you’re looking at with those eyes?

“Okay then. Let’s see how well you’ve copied me.”

How many chances does one get to fight themselves while alive?

It should be strangely thrilling, but the tightness in my throat made me want to rip it out.

The familiar dagger glinted with sharpness.

First, it aimed for an upper opening.

Simultaneously, it attempted to obscure my vision with a hand.

Usually, in games, such dirty tricks don’t work due to the size difference.

But here, since we were of similar builds, that hand obstructing my view was quite bothersome.

What a dirty player that thing is.

[You are under the effect of ‘Mangpak.’]

[Damage received from the Protector increases proportionally to layers.]

At the bottom of the interface, debuffs began stacking up one by one.

It was obviously a prompt for defensive play.

While I kept that thing occupied, the external party had to accomplish something—this was the original gimmick.

Perhaps for this reason, my party members’ statuses weren’t updating and even the chat wasn’t showing.

Not hearing voices implies that the voice channel must also be blocked.

A complete one-on-one combat situation completely severed from the outside.

If it had been someone else, it would have been troublesome, but for me, it was rather fortunate.

Especially since it was imitating me.

Assassins are inherently stronger in many-to-many fights.

In the chaos, surprise attacks tend to deal a more critical blow.

While Elderin and San-sae might be targeted on our side, the opposite side had the Assassin as the boss.

Here, it would indeed be right to settle things.

…That’s incorrect.

My true feelings were never that clear-cut.

With no one watching, there’s no need to lie to myself.

“Adaptation rate 67.54%”

As our distances closed, we both hit the exact same stance.

The dagger in our right hands crossed. Simultaneously, our wrist twists shallowly cut into each other’s hand.

As drops of blood scattered in the air, spikes erupted from the ground.

I evaded the spikes with a slight adjustment of my stance.

The spikes shot up from under my armpit, beside my neck, and between my legs, barely missing my fingertips.

In other words, the attacking hadn’t concluded yet.

Was it the same thought in both our minds as we swung our daggers relentlessly?

As our daggers missed, they aimed for each other’s fingers.

The moment their gaze turned toward the blade tip, I changed targets to their ankle.

The result? A failure. We clashed our shins against each other with the same idea.

“Ugh!”

The pain surging upwards was no ordinary thing.

It was indeed unfair. My body wasn’t as resilient as that.

Don’t pretend you’re me when you’re not even close.

I feel sick.

Fury seethed within me like a molten furnace, and I felt like I’d vomit out dark ashes.

The hand mimicking my exact grip was irksome.

In that brief moment of facing each other, the breaths we shared—though it felt like they might plunge a blade into me, I caught their gaze looking for a gap.

What drives you to desire victory so desperately? That sticky obsession was evident in every stroke of the blade.

The path of the ash-gray dagger reeked foully.

As if it bore the smell of mildew accumulated over decades left in a rotting building.

Naturally, it was birthed from those dark, cramped spaces.

It should have crumpled up and died.

Yet it flails about desperately to stay alive.

Pathetically. Like an insect.

“You’re disgusting.”

It felt like gazing at a pest that refused to die, even after being stomped on.

Maybe one part of its body resembled a crushed venomous snake.

An ugly scene, oozing a gruesome toxin from its mouth—like the appearance of a dying serpent.

Did it ever think it would become a dragon?

Maybe it believed it could one day become like those shining beings above.

What a foolish thought.

What was ever so good about that? I already knew it wouldn’t change.

Even if I won the tournament, eventually, everything would return to square one.

I had already decided to take it as a sweet dream.

“Adaptation rate 85.3…? Anomalies detected. Recalculating.”

“Adaptation rate 42.6%”

My body moved instinctively, in a primal manner.

I deflected the hand aiming for my lower abdomen, pushing it away from above.

The dagger’s grip immediately changed to aim at my wrist.

No, not yet. My blade jabbed out first.

The day I won in the Arena.

I had spent my savings to order a webcam.

I chose a pricey and good one.

Wishing my first face on screen wouldn’t look too unpleasant.

I spared no expense to make sure the picture was clear and vibrant.

I had cleaned up thoroughly and tidied my room beforehand.

Yeah. If I couldn’t make it in the game world, I’d just broadcast in reality.

Thankfully, my actual body appeared quite presentable.

Perhaps Elderin and San-sae’s excitement gave me courage.

As I picked up the box containing the camera, my heart raced.

But actually, I couldn’t bring myself to take it out.

I didn’t have the courage for that.

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