The Undefeated Champion vs. The Bugged Duo

【Awakener ‘BerserkerCriesAriver’, welcome to the Legacyth continent.】

The #1 ranked player across all classes in the high-difficulty RPG simulator, ‘Legacyth Chronicle’.
‘BerserkerCriesAriver’.
Also known as ‘BerserkerCries’, he headed straight to the Coliseum as soon as he logged in today as well.

Participating in the Coliseum, which rotated through each city every week, was a long-time hobby of his. It was a good place to loosen up his hands without thinking too much before a raid, and he could also see many newbies who came to enjoy the content.

The city hosting the Coliseum this time was the ‘Neutral City Midvalen’.

【Waiting in line: 181 people】

But strangely, there were many people waiting today.

• Wow! Isn’t that the rank 1 BerserkerCries? I saw him in a Shorts video.

• Crazy, look how undergeared he is. He said he was doing a ‘bare-handed challenge’, I guess it’s true.

• Is he here to see the Unknown bug?

…Damn it. My small and precious Coliseum.
Hissing, BerserkerCries stormed out of the waiting room, plopped down in Midvalen’s Eve Square, and browsed the free board of the official Legacyth Chronicle cafe.

Title: What’s the name of the female NPC in the Midvalen Coliseum?
Nickname: Musttard
Content: I was wandering around because it’s been a while since I’ve been to the Coliseum, and she appeared and explained things to me? It looked like a bug because her nickname was weird. Is she a new NPC?

[6 Comments]
▷OnlyPlayOPChars: You mean the pink-haired one? I saw her too. What is it, a stealth patch?
▷WhyDontIHaveDemonBlood: Whoa, I thought she was a user; she had a nickname? ‘Shinbi-jui’.
▷WalkingTheUnknownDog: That’s an old bug. An NPC having a user’s nickname and customization. If you click on info, didn’t it say ‘UNKNOWN’?
▷WhenIsHunterBuff: But she explains things better than those shitty official tooltips.
▷DotDotDot: I saw her exactly once and have been grinding the Coliseum continuously, but I can’t see her again… Is there a specific time she appears…
▷TaejoShotgun: I thought they fixed the Unknown bug, but it’s still there. Dead game.

A bugged NPC? Why haven’t I ever seen it?
BerserkerCries suddenly became curious, but he didn’t have the intention of changing instances repeatedly just to meet that bugged entity like other people did. But then.

【Shinbi-jui】

“…It’s real.”

Sometime around dawn. That bugged NPC was beyond the waiting room he entered.
She had the user nickname ‘Shinbi-jui’ above her head, but when he tried to talk to her, he only heard strange static noise.

• ▒ ▒▒▒ ▒▒▒▒ ▒▒. (Why are you so restless?)

• ▒! ▒ ▒ ▒▒▒. (Shh! Cover me.)

They said you could talk to her if you were lucky, but unfortunately, he didn’t seem to be able to hear her. Only meaningless noise echoed.

BerserkerCries looked at the female character standing in front of him.
Pink hair reaching her waist, and large, innocent-looking eyes of the same color.
Pink hair and pink eyes. It was a customization you could easily find if you looked, but strangely, his eyes kept being drawn to her.

Was it because of those eyes that looked like they were about to cry? When she met his eyes, she flinched and mournfully lowered her gaze.

…Why is a mere NPC making such an expression?

Without realizing it, he approached the glass barrier as if possessed to get a closer look, when a huge figure blocked his view.

“…….”

A male character with near-gray silver hair and a height easily over 2 meters. He had a scar across his eye and started glaring at him.

It felt like facing a lion through the bars of a zoo cage. Even knowing it couldn’t attack, his knees felt weak upon making eye contact.

“…What are you glaring at, punk.”

That piercing gaze was somehow terrifying, so he got angry for no reason.

“Are you a couple? Why are you two whispering to each other. Being mere NPCs.”

When he spoke bluntly, the male character’s ash-gray eyebrow twitched.
Oh, so you’ve got some temper for a mere artificial intelligence?

Let’s see about that when we get inside. I’ll crush you so hard you won’t even have bones left.

Crack, as he cracked his knuckles and engaged in a staring contest with the guy through the glass barrier, the female character lightly tugged at the male character’s sleeve.
She seemed to be stopping his actions.

• ▒▒▒▒ ▒▒▒ ▒▒▒. (You promised to behave.)

When she whispered something into his ear with her eyes wide open, the male character, who had a face that looked like it wouldn’t bleed a single drop even if stabbed, chuckled.

• ▒▒. ▒▒▒ ▒▒ ▒▒▒▒. (Yeah. I should listen to my Master.)

He stroked the cheek of the female character, which seemed barely half the size of his hand, and it felt as if cherry blossoms were blooming only around the two of them in the bleak waiting room.

…Oh, really?
The moment BerserkerCries, who was inexplicably triggered by the sight, looked on in disbelief, his body was sucked in with a whoosh.

【Awakener ‘BerserkerCriesAriver’ has challenged the Midvalen Coliseum. …You will be teleported inside the arena in 3 seconds.】

As he stepped onto the platform in the center of the waiting room, the platform glowed red, and with a pop!, he was teleported somewhere.

It was an arena modeled after a circular coliseum.
Beyond the round dome-shaped glass wall covering the ceiling, ‘Nameless Spectators’ watched him.

【In 60 seconds, the <Fair and Square> special status ailment will be applied. (※ Skill changing and equipment window will be locked until the duel ends.)】
【Once the duel begins, skills and weapons cannot be changed, and the use of resurrection-related artifacts and all potions is prohibited.】
【Awakener, please make your final preparations.】

There was nothing to prepare. BerserkerCries always did the ‘bare-handed challenge’, fighting without weapons anyway.

Waaaaah! As he stepped off the platform, cheers from the spectator NPCs erupted from all sides.
While he stood there twisting his neck from side to side, the floor opposite him split open with a whirrr, and his matched opponents rose up.

Coincidentally, it was that pink-haired bug NPC and the ash-haired male character from earlier.

【Nameless Monster and 1 other】

What, they weren’t even NPCs, they were both just mobs?

BerserkerCries used a ‘Scouter’ artifact to scan the detailed information of the monsters.

【Shinbi-jui (UNKNOWN)】
【Karvan Baharga (‘Wolf that Swallows Gods’ Varg)】

It was strange that they both had individual names attached like high-ranking monsters despite being mobs, but what was even stranger was the male character’s race.

“…Varg?”

BerserkerCries muttered in bewilderment.
Varg. It was the name of a monster that was deleted early on, a few years ago, because they couldn’t fix its skill bugs.

And in his memory, they were ‘wolf beast-kin type monsters’, so how could that guy with no ears or tail be a Varg? This dead game seems to be getting more and more bugs as the days go by.

“Hey punk, where did you pour out from, being mere dummy data.”

• ▒▒ ▒▒. (You talk too much.)

“Hah, truly this bug-ridden dead game.”

But what was even more annoying than that was the state of those two.

• ▒▒▒▒ ▒▒▒▒, ▒▒▒? (We’re doing it according to plan, right?)

• ▒▒. (Yeah.)

Especially that gray-haired male character.

Just a moment ago he was glaring as if he wanted to gouge out his innards, but now his eyes are dripping with honey as he looks at the female character who barely reaches his chest. If left alone, he looks like he would just pop her in his mouth and roll her around.
That sickening sight was all too visible to BerserkerCries standing opposite them.

…Now I even have to watch mobs dating? This dead game!

Hissing, BerserkerCries equipped his exclusive SL-grade gauntlets, which he had polished to endgame stats. It was the first time he had ever pulled out his main weapon in the Coliseum, having always fought bare-handed to warm up.

【Round 1 duel will begin shortly. (Challenger: BerserkerCriesAriver)】
【3… 2… 1….】

“Bare-handed challenge my foot, I’ll make sure neither of you even has bones left! How dare you act all lovey-dovey in this sacred Coliseum?! You insolent bastards!”

Ding!
As soon as the bell rang, BerserkerCries charged like a brown bear.

【’BerserkerCriesAriver’ casts <Chain Wave Bullet>.】

He swung his fists, glowing blue with condensed mana, whoosh, whoosh, but both of them dodged nimbly.

However, they didn’t particularly use skills or counterattack, which made BerserkerCries suddenly feel something was strange.

“Huff, huff…. How are these guys not getting hit even once?”

Originally, the Coliseum was all about the overwhelming taste of smashing things, but now it felt like playing PVP (Player Versus Player), where you have to use your head and fight a battle of wits.

…Especially that female character.

BerserkerCries frowned and glared at the pink-haired female character.
When their eyes met, she realized she had drawn his aggro and immediately started adjusting her distance.
It was the exact same footwork of a ranged DPS commonly seen in PVP.

…Oh really?

BerserkerCries started to find this interesting. The reason Legacyth veterans rarely participated in Coliseum content was because the artificial intelligence patterns were obvious and boring.

But this was a bit interesting. Monsters moving as if they had perfectly learned from users.

“Not bad for a mere mob? Good. I’ll take you on properly.”

BerserkerCries pounded his chest thump, thump and let out a roar that seemed to come from the depths of his being.

【Awakener ‘BerserkerCriesAriver’ casts <Roar of the Battlefield>. (※ Roar of the Battlefield: Lets out a mighty roar to provoke enemies. The caster’s defense increases.)】

When a red aura indicating a ‘buff skill’ was active began to surround his body, perhaps sensing something unusual, the silver-haired male character stepped forward, and the pink-haired female character fell back.

Seeing that, BerserkerCries smirked.

“Aha. Anyone can see it’s a ‘melee DPS’-‘ranged DPS’ combo. Okay, figured it out.”

The counter strategy for such a combination is simple. You just have to beat the crap out of that male character presumed to be the melee DPS.

Then the female character, the ranged DPS, will inevitably move unreasonably to help him and break her position, and you just exploit that opening to counterattack her, and it’s over. Because ranged DPS usually have ridiculously weak melee defense and strength.

【Awakener ‘BerserkerCriesAriver’ casts <Bear’s Claw>.】
【Awakener ‘BerserkerCriesAriver’ casts <Beast Rush>.】
【Awakener ‘BerserkerCriesAriver’ casts <Blitz Knuckle>.】

As expected, when he relentlessly cornered only the male character, he saw the female character, who had been strictly maintaining a safe distance, slowly trying to approach.

• ▒. (Bi.)

Perhaps that bothered him, it was a moment when the gray-haired male character briefly looked away.

【Awakener ‘BerserkerCriesAriver’s <Shadow Warrior> skill has hit ▒▒▒ ‘Karvan Baharga’. Critical!】

…Smack!

With a loud noise, the male character flew back and crashed into the wall. As if his lip had burst, blood trickled down his expressionless mouth.

The decisive skill he unleashed after popping out from among dozens of phantom clones had hit the mark perfectly.

“Punk, you were all talk. You’re nothing special, are you?”

BerserkerCries smirked and approached the male character sitting leaning against the wall.

• ▒▒▒! (Karvan!)

• ▒▒▒ ▒▒. (Stay there.)

The female character, who had been about to run over crying out quite mournfully, paused.
Perhaps understanding it meant not to come closer, she stopped dead, her pink eyes wavering.

• ▒▒▒ ▒▒. ▒ ▒▒▒▒ ▒▒. (Do as you wish. Don’t worry about me.)

Standing there with her large eyes wide open, looking as if she had never been in a fight, fidgeting and nodding obediently, she looked even more fragile than he thought. She looked like she would be knocked out by a single normal attack.

“Hey punk, your lover is going to die at this rate? Don’t hesitate and come help him quickly.”

Cracking his knuckles crack, crack while delivering a line that sounded like a third-rate villain even to himself, her face turned pale as if she had understood his words perfectly.

• ▒, ▒▒▒▒ ▒▒▒ ▒▒ ▒▒▒. (I, I don’t want to fight you.)

He almost felt weak at the face that looked like it would burst into tears at any moment, but he still couldn’t go easy on them.
You held out pretty well for mobs, but now it’s time to exit together nicely!

BerserkerCries raised his fist over the expressionless male character’s face. …However.

“Urgh!”

His fist caught by that ‘fragile female character’ who had instantly blocked his path, BerserkerCries was kicked right in the abdomen.

Crash! Thanks to that, he was also ungracefully smashed into the opposite wall.

“…Crazy, what the….”

There was no pain thanks to the pain dampening system, but he was flustered that he couldn’t dodge it.

【UNKNOWN ‘Shinbi-jui’ casts the <Berserk> skill.】

…Just now, what was that. That reaction speed and strength?

Sitting amidst the brick debris, BerserkerCries blinked at the status window that popped up next.

【The W▒lf t▒at Swa▒lows Go▒s: Inherits the will of the ▒ar▒ and goes ‘Berserk’ in beast form. When Berserk, melee attack damage and movement speed increase by 300%.】