Chapter 16: Where There Are Meetings, There Are Partings

A girl lifted a long sword, almost the size of her body.

The slender girl, whose physique seemed ill-suited for the battlefield, was in a stance as if preparing for something, bending her knees and raising the sword high above her head.

It was a strange sight, reminiscent of a dance pose.

At first glance, it might have seemed ridiculous, but the knight facing her did not let his guard down.

There were already more than a couple of allies who had fallen to the girl.

He could not afford to be careless.

Beneath that innocent facade was a monster.

The moment he was deceived by her beautiful appearance, the knight would find himself face down in the dirt.

With a tense mind, the knight maintained his stance.

The girl simply stepped slowly, her face expressionless.

The bizarre standoff was broken in an instant.

While the knight was keeping a close watch on the girl’s movements, something dropped from the air with a soft thud.

The knight, who had heightened his senses, quickly recognized what it was.

It was blood.

Blood that had fallen from the end of the girl’s sword, which had already cut down his comrades.

Drops of blood fell steadily from the blade’s tip, more than was usual.

Having experienced countless battles, the knight knew this was an omen of the fight to come.

He gripped his shield tightly.

And as he had anticipated,

BAM!

The girl lunged at him immediately.

It was a swift and powerful strike, but it was manageable.

It was a light attack command.

It seemed she had intentionally eased up on her strength for the first strike, considering her stamina.

From the perspective of the initial exchange, the knight had not suffered any losses; a successful defense with his shield would have drained some of her stamina.

However, he couldn’t afford to celebrate his small victory.

What was terrifying about her was the sharp follow-up attacks that came after the initial blow.

SWISH!

The sound of the sword cutting through the air.

The flurry of rapid strikes aimed at vital points was sharp and extremely lethal.

At this point, the knight abandoned the thought of watching the attacks with his eyes and defending against them.

He had no choice but to rely on instinct.

That was the only way to victory.

In the end, the knight’s choice was only partially correct.

He managed to evade some of the girl’s flurry of attacks but allowed others to hit him.

The problem was that all the strikes aimed at critical points meant that even a single blow would significantly drain his health.

After receiving the flurry of strikes, the knight spat out blood and forced a laugh.

All of them were critical hits…

No matter how much she aimed for vital spots, it was simply absurd.

Did she have some kind of radar in her eyes?

The critical judgment in the Abyss was not something to be taken lightly.

Yet that girl seemed to handle it as if it were easy.

Now he understood why his comrades had fallen so mercilessly.

They must not have been able to withstand this flurry of attacks.

If she continued to land critical hits like this, none would have survived beyond five strikes.

However, the knight somehow withstood the girl’s strikes, which meant he had a chance to strike back.

The breath of the girl facing him was ragged.

It was clear she was in poor condition, having exhausted all her stamina.

After all, there was no way she could remain unscathed after such indiscriminate attacks.

Thus, it was now the knight’s turn.

An experienced warrior never misses an opportunity.

The knight let out a roar and charged at the girl.

He raised his shield at an angle, using it like a blunt weapon, and swung his one-handed sword forward.

The girl, with her distinctive silver hair flowing, deflected his attacks.

Parrying.

A skill that only those who could perceive time in frames could execute was unfolding before the knight’s eyes without pause.

If this assault was blocked, the turn would soon return to the opponent.

Moreover, the knight had just allowed a strike earlier, resulting in bleeding.

He was clearly at a disadvantage, yet the knight’s expression was incredibly calm.

Indeed, it was justifiable.

As he continued his assault with a gaze full of intent, the girl’s guard momentarily broke.

Her deflection of the blow aimed at her with the sword was quite impressive, but there were limits to it.

Stamina.

She must have been lacking stamina.

The reason for her lack of stamina was likely due to the earlier flurry of attacks.

The girl had planned to win by taking down the knight with her initial onslaught.

However, since the knight did not fall, her plan had fallen apart.

In turn, the knight, having successfully withstood the flurry, was poised to seize victory through his counterattack.

In the end, it was a battle of wits.

In duels between players who understood the game to some extent, the differences in builds or item trees often determined the outcome, even if it didn’t show on the surface.

The girl fell into a half-immobilized state.

It was now the knight’s turn to reap the sweet fruits of victory.

Confident in his victory, the knight calmly exhaled and thrust his sword to claim the girl’s life.

Thus, the knight’s blade penetrated the body of the girl, who could not even attempt a counterattack.

At that moment, the knight sensed a change.

His developed intuition sent a warning signal.

It was then that he realized something was wrong.

Why was the girl in front of him not falling?

Even after allowing a strike to a vital point.

A lightning bolt struck in the knight’s mind.

He raised his head in shock, but it was already too late.

The girl’s eyes were stained red.

The knight, unable to push his blade deeper into her abdomen or withdraw it, froze upon seeing the girl’s crimson eyes.

Ah, that’s right.

In the end, the essence of all battles lay in the battle of wits.

He thought he had won, but it turned out he was merely playing in the palm of her hand.

Perhaps he had been defeated from the very beginning.

As he looked at the girl, who had been expressionless until now but was now smiling, that was the last thought that crossed the knight’s mind.

“This is how you take down an enemy bruiser using the instantaneous health recovery of Zombie Camilla.”

[What was that at the end?]

[How did that happen;;]

[I wanted to play Camilla, but seeing this makes me hesitate.]

[A broadcast that really intimidates newbies lol.]

[Health copying? Camilla is overpowered.]

[The opponent also did well in countering the combos, but she still won.]

[The sight of masters flinching and gauging each other is just so cool lol.]

It was a battle that I was personally satisfied with.

As expected, the higher the tier, the higher the level of the opponents, and the recent skirmish had taken quite a bit of effort.

Fortunately, the deliberate opening I had created worked well; if the opponent hadn’t fallen for it, I might have had to engage in a prolonged exchange of blows.

The chat window was rapidly scrolling.

It seemed to be moving faster than before… I wondered if the number of viewers had increased, but I didn’t feel particularly inclined to check.

Whether there were many viewers or not didn’t matter at this moment.

The viewers appeared busy discussing the previous scene.

It was a sight that brought a smile to my face.

Among them were some one-sided praises and compliments directed at me.

“Genious who even mocks the gods,” “Camilla herself…”

The chat was both overwhelming and embarrassing to read.

Yet, at the same time, I couldn’t deny that a part of my heart felt a flutter of joy from the compliments.

After all, since I was a gamer too, it seemed I had a desire for recognition.

That desire was being satisfied in real-time right now.

Compared to the days when I had no one to appreciate my decent plays and would occasionally post in galleries, this situation was nothing short of luxurious.

It felt a bit regretful to end the stream…

But with every meeting, there comes a farewell.

As sad as it was, the moment of parting was approaching us.

After all, there’s a saying to leave while the applause is still ringing.

It’s customary to end things on a slightly bittersweet note so that one would want to carry that memory into the next time.

“It’s time to end the stream, everyone.”

[What?]

[Suddenly?]

[Just one more rank match; I’m almost at Master.]

[Don’t go, please T_T]

[Show us just one more game with Zombie Camilla.]

In fact, I hadn’t planned to stream for long today.

I didn’t expect so many people to show up in the first place.

Telling people about Camilla and showcasing various builds was somewhat hastily put together content.

I played one match for each build I developed, so I thought that should be enough for today’s stream.

[Please don’t say that.]

[Then let’s stop the game and just chat; everyone else does that.]

[Is there a part two to the broadcast?]

[That chat, that chat, that chat, that chat, that chat, that chat.]

[Please do a Q&A.]

[It’s customary to chat for about 10 minutes after finishing the game before leaving.]

Hmm, it seemed the people were satisfied with today’s stream.

As the crowd cheered, I decided to end the broadcast.

I wanted to read out each nickname and say my farewells like before, but it seemed like it would take forever to do so.

“I’ll see you in the next stream; goodbye.”

I whispered as I brought the microphone a bit closer, wrapping it up.

When I clicked the broadcast ending button, the immediate blackout on the screen was quite striking.

In contrast, the chat continued to rise steadily even after the broadcast had ended.

Most of the messages were about relishing the aftertaste of today’s stream or anticipating the next one.

A bit too much.

After ending the stream, I checked the viewer count and found that it had more than doubled compared to what I saw right after starting the broadcast, now showing over 600 viewers.

I watched in disbelief as that staggering number slowly decreased before shutting down my computer.

The moonlight streaming through the window was strangely bright.