chapter 21: The Challenger’s Trial: A Clash with a Hidden Pro

I changed the room title to something I had used recently.

[Challenger Seed’s Diamond Massacre Show]

Didn’t I say I was a newbie before?

Even a mid-tier rookie is still a rookie.

Let’s all overlook the woman’s past.

“<Eternal World> is indeed the first time I’ve played it.”

Then why call yourself a Challenger Seed?

They say your skill is that of a Challenger.

Leaving the viewers’ guesses behind, I entered a solo ranked queue.

The queue was quickly matched.

Currently, my tier is Diamond 1.

It was a tier close to Master.

If I had just put in the effort with my broadcasts, I would have hit Grandmaster by now, Is it really possible to still be in Diamond with this win rate?

I picked Thierry as usual.

Main Carry (5 picks): Ah

Main Carry (5 picks): Thierry

It seems my pick stimulated the trauma of the main carry.

There was extreme opposition.

I first calmly tried to persuade my opponent.

Core (1 pick): I play well with Thierry.

Main Carry (5 picks): Where in the world is the concept of playing well with Thierry?

Main Carry (5 picks): Pick something else.

Core (1 pick): I really play well. Look up Han Yurim.

Usually, this would resolve the issue. But this opponent was different.

Main Carry (5 picks): Anyone dodge.

The main carry suddenly made a strange pick and then stopped chatting.

It was an appeal that they went to the bathroom.

Immediately, all the teammates cursed, but of course, there was no response.

Determining that communication with the main carry was futile, the teammates turned their attention to me.

Support (4 picks): Core, can you please dodge?

I refused.

Usually, it’s the scared person who backs down in situations like this.

I calmly picked Thierry and cracked open a highball.

Real madness doesn’t make such an obvious troll pick. They don’t even chat.

It was clear that the main carry’s movements indicated a frightened person wanting to dodge.

The same went for the teammates. Judging by what they were saying, they were all about dodging.

The countdown began.

5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 0.

And the game started.

Tough guys.

Is it because they’re Diamond 1? I was finally meeting the ‘real’ players.

Most team games are like this. When the barrier of talent begins to emerge, monsters start to inhabit the area.

“Still, we have a chance to win.”

The main carry, at least, had the decency not to pick a support character.

They primarily used an outer solo role, but they were still a dealer.

Once the game started, they played as well.

You might wonder why they don’t just pick properly if that’s the case, but I wasn’t a psychology major to analyze the complexities of a person’s mind.

If I level up, I should be able to win.

I just needed to focus on what I had to do.

Diamond 1 is a top-tier rank.

It’s one level lower than Master, the starting point of talent, but at this tier, the scent of a Challenger remains in the play.

Perhaps because of that, the enemy Core was farming moderately while pushing.

It was a completely different movement from the lower-tier Core that had recklessly charged in and lost their head.

・In fact, it didn’t make sense. To refrain from early skirmishes against Thierry?

The opposing character was weak in the early game, but still, how could anyone play comfortably against Thierry?

Is it a counter-snipe?

To play disregarding the character matchups, you needed to know who the opponent was.

It seemed there was a high probability of it being a counter-snipe.

To think I already had a counter-snipe against me. It warmed my heart.

The fact that they liked me meant they had bought my game. In other words, they were my customer.

It seemed a direct fan service visit was in order.

As soon as I hit level 6, I dashed into the enemy’s core area.

To be honest, the so-called enemy area was not much different.

It was so narrow that your land was my land and my land was your land.

“I found you!”

I shouted, feeling like I had found a childhood friend playing hide-and-seek.

Although I described the enemy Core as smartly farming, looking at it objectively, they were simply being pushed back.

In the cramped core area, their actions were limited?

They made predictable movements.

Reading those movements was incredibly easy.

Perhaps having given up on several objects, the enemy Core was one level lower than me.

Usually, Core players are weak in the early game, but now they were even lower in level? It was almost a sure win.

In an instant, I beheaded the enemy and monopolized the nearby objects.

I feasted on the resources and stopped by the base to draw items.

Having quickly returned to the core, I made a narrow entrance.

The enemy changed their movement.

“How cheap, bringing in a Guardian.”

Guardians are the position that defends the base.

In a way, they were players who played solo even more than those in outer solo roles.

Outer solos at least engage with the enemy outer solos.

The Guardians didn’t have any of that.

They were just players doing tycoon work inside the base.

They were truly solo players in a different genre.

That was what a Guardian was.

Bringing in the Guardian to stand together in the core was one of the strategies.

However, it wasn’t very efficient.

For a Guardian to grow, a base was essential.

There were specific farming elements just for the Guardian there.

Of course, to play the Guardian well, they had to help their allies during the farming cooldowns instead of just staying in the base…

But if they kept wandering around instead of occasionally intervening, there would eventually be leaks.

Therefore, if you used that strategy, you had to secure an advantage in the core fights.

If you farmed in such a half-and-half manner, you were bound to incur losses.

Moreover, I wasn’t just sitting around.

Every time it was the right moment for the Guardian to return to the base, I went to find the enemy Core and happily tormented them.

About 8 minutes passed like that.

When I joined the team fight over the Tier 3 object, I frowned.

The state of my allies seemed strange.

Who? The main carry? No.

Surprisingly, the troll-picking ally main carry grew normally.

It wasn’t them that was the problem.

I checked the kill-death ratio of the ally scout.

[0/3/0]

With such a clean kill-death ratio, I checked the enemy main carry’s kill-death ratio.

[4/0/1]

A kill participation of 5. This meant that the enemy main carry had come to kill not only the scout but also our carry duo.

That was a destructive play that usually wouldn’t happen.

At least there should be a difference of 2 tiers or more for such plays to occur.

If the main carry was already covering, the game couldn’t hold up.

The main carry is a position that carefully grows while avoiding the enemy scout.

How could such a position have accumulated so many kills?

It meant that they had already become a celestial horse that nobody feared.

Typically, the choice would be to evade such a truck for a while and plan for the late game.

I would have done that under normal circumstances.

The problem was that the situation didn’t allow for it.

The current ally main carry had chosen a strong outer solo character for the early to mid-game.

Going for the late game here would only worsen the situation.

We had to make our move now.

I turned on the voice chat and opened my mouth.

“Let’s fight in a team.”

The ally main carry took the front line, as if agreeing with my order.

Given they had picked an outer solo character, their positioning was appropriate.

A suffocating standoff ensued.

Meaningless poking went back and forth.

And then.

Without anyone saying it first, we closed the distance.

A brawl broke out.

Spheres of lightning fell from the sky, plants sprouted from the ground, and waves sliced through the air.

In the chaotic situation, I approached the enemy main carry.

The enemy main carry was ‘Metatron.’

It was a character with a mechanism to stack in various ways, and when a certain amount of stacks was accumulated, it would ascend.

Having consumed many kills, they had already completed the 2nd stage of ascension.

That was 10 minutes faster than normal circumstances.

A sword of light materialized in Metatron’s hand.

• This was their first normal skill, [Sword of the Contract].

[Sword of the Contract] increased damage based on stacks and added effects according to the ascension stage.

The effect of the [Sword of the Contract] at the 2nd stage of ascension was mana burn. It burned the enemy’s mana.

Additionally, there was extra damage, making it an extremely annoying skill.

I closed the distance and brought Metatron within range.

With a flash, the condensed flame blade flowed along the sword, and in time, I swiftly swung my sword.

The flames sliced through the air, engulfing Metatron.

Right after that.

A keening sound. Armor of light appeared and deflected the flames.

Seizing the opportunity, Metatron swung the sword of light.

I calmly dodged as well.

It was a light skill exchange, but from that alone, I could gauge the opponent’s skill.

I was slightly surprised.

It was the first time I’d encountered a skilled player while playing Eternal World.

Even their basic attacks were unusual. Those strikes considered every move the opponent could make.

After a long time, my neurons were on fire from the heat of battle.

Entering a state of extreme focus, I cleared my mind.

The teamfight dynamics, the enemy’s condition, current positions, upcoming objectives—all unnecessary information was eliminated.

Only the enemy main carry’s movements remained.

Wings appeared on Metatron’s back—an ultimate skill. They were determined to go all in from the start.

I summoned lightning to my hand as well.

The fight between two players, with their souls on the line, was about to begin.

It was about to begin.

CarriesTakeTheBus (Main Carry): “Ah…”

DisownedByFamily (Support): “This is why you shouldn’t play a new character, smh.”

The main carry let out a sigh after dying in just one second due to a ridiculous mistake.

The support cursed them, but it was too late—everything was already over.

I was killed by the free-roaming support, scout, and urban core working in perfect coordination.

A surrender vote popped up.

I pressed no immediately, but it seemed my teammates had already lost hope.

[Defeat]

The base crumbled, and the game ended.

Back in the lobby, I stared blankly ahead, feeling disappointed.

It was like accidentally knocking over a cup of instant ramen right before eating it.

What was the name of my instant ramen again?

Curious, I checked the nickname of the enemy main carry.

<PaePae (Main Carry)>

PaePae?

Just in case, I opened the chat.

“PaePae LOL.”

“Whoa, meeting PaePae here, huh?”

As expected, the enemy main carry was PaePae, the king of the VR gallery and a major streamer on V-TV.

I heard they usually ranked first in Challenger as easily as eating a meal.

Why were they in Diamond?

“Maybe they didn’t play during their extended streaming break? LOL, got demoted for inactivity.”

That made sense. From Master rank and above, if you don’t play, your score decreases.

But wait—MMR also drops, so most players avoid inactivity.

Getting demoted so coolly must mean they were confident in their skill.

And they deserved that confidence.

It was a shame I couldn’t face them properly.

But…

Something about it felt odd. I tilted my head, puzzled.

Whenever I saw the nickname PaePae, it bugged me for some reason.

Why, though? It was a name I’d never heard before.

PaePae. PaePae. Main carry. PaePae.

Metatron. Angel. Challenger.

…Angel, Challenger?

Suddenly, a nickname flashed through my mind.

“FailureProtagonistFailureConsolation.”

I mumbled to myself.

“Could PaePae be my friend?”

“How the hell are we supposed to know, you lunatic?”