“Whoa… I found you… That’s definitely you, right?”
The game of the newly started deathmatch had begun.
As I was transported to the arena in a bright light, my opponent across the way waved at me as if they recognized me.
Moreover, as they babbled to themselves, it appeared they were doing a personal broadcast.
It didn’t matter who the opponent was.
I was going in full power from the start.
“Yup. I knew it! Small stature, cute character… and the samurai class…”
Personally, I wasn’t a big fan of broadcasters.
When I needed to focus on the game, their chatter with viewers was quite distracting.
I understood they had to do it for their broadcasts…
Of course, that was just my personal opinion, so I kept my mouth shut.
“Excuse me? Yeo?”
Just as I was about to draw my long nodachi from behind, the knight user across spoke up.
Playing VRS, this situation felt a bit awkward.
In a scenario where we were supposed to kill each other, how was I supposed to react when they acted friendly?
“Yeah?”
“Are you a secondary character?”
“No. This is my first account.”
I replied that as I aimed my sword.
The long blade wobbled precariously in my grip.
The knight user didn’t seem interested in the fight at all and kept trying to engage me in conversation.
I frowned at that.
Did they come to chat while playing? I jumped into this mode to clash swords with them.
“Excuse me? Yeo? Did you switch from another game?”
This opponent had no sense of awareness.
I thought as I charged at them.
Twenty seconds had passed since the game started. That was more than enough time to prepare.
Thud—
Matching my swift run, I swung my nodachi wide.
The massive blade unleashed a blue slash, devouring the space in front of me.
I was going to cut their neck. That’s what I thought.
So far, I had defeated a total of 40 opponents. This one wouldn’t be any different.
It was only natural to expect that they would be more focused on broadcasting than the game itself.
Clang—!
But surprisingly, they blocked my attack.
And they looked quite shocked while doing it.
Only then did I check the opponent’s level and rank.
A level 30, with a large five-sided star rank badge marked with an “M.”
“E-Eh, wait! Can I ask something?”
I didn’t wait for their reply. This was the first person to block my attack.
With the anticipation of finally having a proper fight, I started moving my body intensely.
The heat built up from my body surged to my head.
The escalating heat turned into white pain, accelerating my thoughts.
“Ha!”
A blue light gathered at the knight’s sword tip.
They were using a skill to fend off my massive blade’s attack.
Kaang—!
Once again, our swords clashed.
The knight user held a stable posture and blocked my attack.
Their unwavering gaze was fixed on me. That condescending look from above was incredibly annoying.
“This guy is no joke… let me focus for a sec.”
Before their quickly spoken words even dispersed, our clashing swords were pushed apart.
Clang!
The impact jolted my body, throwing me off balance.
Their sword swung again, sending me back.
Swoosh—!
A rapid flurry of blows aimed for my head came flying in.
But I anticipated that attack. Like dodging a swiftly fading blue afterimage, I rolled on the ground.
There was no hesitation in rolling across the dirt.
My head, shoulders, and back were soon covered in dust.
I spread my sword wide in that position.
A swung blade rising from a crouching position swept upwards.
Swoosh—!
Slash—!
The wide blade of the nodachi swept away the knight’s legs.
However, the sensation at my fingertips was faint.
It didn’t land properly.
Right after that, a blue slash flew toward the spot I was sitting.
There was no thought of countering. I had to dodge since I wasn’t armored.
With both hands unrestrained, I had no hesitation in dropping my sword.
With a swift motion, a massive long sword fell where I had just been sitting.
Clang—!
There wasn’t even time to catch my breath. Realizing I had dropped my weapon, my opponent continued to swing their sword consecutively.
Swish— Swish—
I could feel their intent to end it right now.
Good. This was the kind of situation I wanted.
I calmed my pounding heart and continued rolling on the ground.
Using my small frame and 15 points in agility, I rolled faster than anyone.
Taking advantage of my quicker movements and long rolling distance, I widened the gap between us.
I didn’t stop and drew a bow from behind.
Since the knight user was fully armored, there was no place to stab an arrow in.
Naturally, I aimed for the gap in their helmet.
The gap in the helmet was where I sensed my opponent’s gaze.
They looked shocked as they saw me rapidly moving away.
Having exited the rolling position, I quickly steadied myself.
My right hand dropped down to pull the arrow from my thigh and aim.
All these actions happened in an instant.
Feeling the taut bowstring, I exhaled deeply.
I wouldn’t retreat as the enemy charged toward me.
Calmly, I prepared to make my shot.
Thwip—!
Thud—!
“Ughhh!”
I hit! But they didn’t fall.
The arrow stood wobbling precariously in the gap of their helmet.
The knight user, clutching their helmet, staggered and raised their hand.
“I-I give up! I surrender! Please wait a moment!”
With the knight user’s words, a message appeared in front of me.
[Opponent user ‘Wilhelm’ has declared surrender.]
So there’s a system like this?
I tilted my head in confusion and lowered my bow.
Then the knight user let out a sigh and slumped to the ground.
It had been quite a tense battle, but the wind was taken out of my sails.
I sighed as I approached the nodachi lying on the ground.
“Excuse me? Yeo?”
“Yeah?”
“Wow, can we talk for a minute?”
“Talk?”
“Yes… I’m broadcasting right now… and this…”
“I don’t want to.”
“Ah…”
“I have to play the game.”
I shook my head, rejecting the opponent’s request.
If I had received such a request when there was time to spare, I would have gladly accepted.
But right now, it was awkward.
Just when I had got into the swing of this game, I wanted to meet more opponents like the one before.
“Ga-game…”
“Yeah, it was fun.”
*
– So tense, right?
– What the hell, are you a pro alt?
– Has there ever been a samurai using a nodachi among pros?
– And yet the character was super cute;;
“Wow…”
Wilhelm muttered in wonder, still in a daze.
Having faced her directly, he could tell.
The pressure exerted by that small girl samurai was enough to weaken his legs.
Her icy gaze and accurately launched arrow.
He knew it was a game, but when the arrow pierced his eye perfectly…
He felt a sharp pain.
Originally, it was just curiosity that led him to this match.
Through a friend’s message, he learned that a disguised pro player was competing in regular matches.
That’s why he sought her out, to uncover the identity of the hidden pro.
But she wasn’t a pro at all.
“Ah, she’s probably not a pro.”
– Pro? How could that be? lol
– She played in the second league, didn’t she? So she must have a rough idea.
– Looks like she switched from another game?
– I feel like I’ve seen her somewhere before.
Wilhelm nodded at the chat messages.
Although her pro career was short and she had struggled in the second league, Wilhelm also had experience as a pro player. Thus, he adequately understood the habits and swordsmanship of all active pros.
That’s why he was sure.
The small samurai girl he had just met was not a pro.
“She probably came over from another game…”
If the opponent had such skills, there should be some information out there.
VR combat games aren’t limited to just VRS.
Wilhelm opened the browser in the waiting room and began searching for the recently encountered opponent’s nickname yeon1111.
However, there was no information he could find.
“Nothing here…?”
– LOL
– Seriously, not a newbie?
– A newbie wouldn’t be able to play like that.
– If you make a character this small, doesn’t that restrict the strength stat?
“No, they might be active in an overseas game. My assumption shouldn’t be wrong.”
It wasn’t time to give up just yet.
Wilhelm changed the search engine and began to look into foreign sites.
The related results revolved around all things VR games.
After searching for the term yeon, he was able to find several plausible pieces of information.
“Is this it? This seems like it…”
– Deron? Is that the game that just merged with the global server?
– That’s an RPG, right?
– Didn’t we have a collaboration with Deron in our game?
– So that person earlier is a Deron user?
He still couldn’t be sure.
It was merely posts where her nickname had been mentioned a few times.
After translating the most recent post, Wilhelm discovered that a user named Yeo was leading the Soft & Chewy Cow Guild and was at war with the Exorcist Guild.
“Soft & Chewy Cow…?”
– LOL
– Ah, I knew I’d seen that somewhere lol
– Isn’t that the girl from the Soft & Chewy Cow ad?
– The small cow girl, right?
Wilhelm and his viewers began to recall some vague memories based on several words mentioned in the posts.
Quite some time had passed, but that ad remained fresh in their memories.
It was an ad that occasionally aired on television or the internet.
The image of a small girl in a calf suit dancing around was striking.
In the end, it concluded with her adorably opening her mouth and chomping on caramel.
Wilhelm searched for that video on YouTube.
[Soft & Chewy Cow advertisement video]
“This is it…”
Yes. The face of the opponent he had just met was identical to that of the girl in the ad.
Wilhelm nodded at his stream as he rewound the video.
“This has to be her.”
He pressed play on the advertisement video.
His hazy memories slowly began to revive, and the girl in the video started shaking her little bottom.
[Soft! Chewy! Cow!]
“Gah…”
The tiny, spotted cow’s bottom swayed playfully.
Wilhelm stared at the scene, entranced.
The advertisement video was quite short.
[Nom!]
The video concluded with the small girl munching on the white caramel as Wilhelm remembered it.
– Is this guy going insane?
– Wow lol
– Oh my god lol
– Huh lol
– Whoa lol
– I’m dying lol
He felt like he was being hypnotized.
Wilhelm swallowed hard and hit the replay button for the advertisement video.
He couldn’t even keep up with the rapidly jumping chat on his stream.