I had climbed to a high point overlooking the Ash Dragon’s territory.
There was an old, half-collapsed watchtower on the mountainside. Its roof was long gone, but the stone walls that remained gave me somewhere to hide while allowing me to see most of the valley below.
I crouched Vharos behind the broken edge of the wall and looked through my scope.
The Ash Dragon wandered among the black rocks in the center of the valley. Its enormous body was covered in ash-gray scales, while the bony protrusions along its back scraped against one another with every movement. Orange sparks occasionally spilled from its mouth.
Its health bar appeared at the top of the screen.
ASH DRAGON
[Health: 100%]
"It’s pretty big."
[MoonBun: Come on, attack it!]
[RedScale: You need to kill it if you want your donation.]
"I know."
But I had no intention of attacking the dragon immediately. If I opened fire by myself, I would reveal my position and draw all of the boss’s attention toward me.
I had a much better plan: I would hunt the people coming to fight the dragon, including those who didn’t even realize the battle had already begun.
The other players would weaken the dragon, and I would kill them one by one from a safe distance. If I was lucky enough, I could even steal the boss with the final hit.
This wasn’t cowardice. It was a sniper tactic.
There was a very important difference.
I aimed my scope toward one of the paths leading into the valley and began waiting.
Within a few minutes, Vharos’s Hunter’s Eye activated. A faint purple trail appeared in the distance, moving between the trees.
"Someone’s coming."
A player soon entered my field of view.
They were a tall warrior wearing light metal armor, running toward the dragon with a double-edged axe in hand, completely unaware of my presence.
I placed the crosshair over their head but didn’t fire immediately.
The player was constantly moving, and I still didn’t fully understand the rifle’s bullet velocity or drop. If I missed the first shot, I would warn them and reveal the direction I was hiding in.
So I waited for them to stop.
As the warrior approached the dragon, they paused beside a rock. Then they crouched and began scanning the area.
They were probably checking whether any other players were near the boss. It was the right idea, but they were looking in the wrong direction.
"There’s my chance."
I held my breath, placed the center of the crosshair directly over their head, and pulled the trigger.
Bang!
The bullet traveled through the air like a red star.
A bright spark burst from the warrior’s helmet the next moment. Their character froze in place before dissolving into blue particles a few seconds later.
[Player killed.]
[Kills: 1]
"I did it!"
I nearly jumped out of my chair as I shouted.
"Oiii! Did you see that? I told you I was a professional!"
[MoonBun: Headshot!]
[Rook47: The guy was standing still, but that was nice.]
[caramel: Congratulations on being a professional coward.]
My smile faded slightly.
"What do you mean, coward? I’m a sniper."
[AshCrow: Only 1 kill.]
Just as I was about to move my scope and search for another target, an unfamiliar username appeared in the chat.
[Crimson: Check your phone!]
My eyebrows drew together.
A second message from the same person followed.
[Crimson: I’m going to laugh when you lose.]
"Huh?"
They wanted me to check my phone? Who was this person, and did they actually know me?
I stared at the username for several seconds.
Crimson meant red.
Only one person immediately came to mind.
"Could that be Eris?"
She knew I was a streamer. In fact, Eris had been the person who supported Noctis’s streaming the most, so it wouldn’t be surprising for her to know about this account.
I swallowed involuntarily and looked at my phone, which was lying facedown in the far corner of the desk.
It was still on silent.
I reached over and opened the notification screen.
9 missed calls
23 unread messages
My hand froze in midair.
"What should I do...?"
If I opened the messages now, I would have to deal with Eris while streaming. The best option was to pretend I hadn’t seen anything.
I placed the phone facedown again and returned to the game.
"I don’t know anyone named Crimson."
[Crimson: Is that so?]
I didn’t like how those two words felt like a threat.
I ignored her.
When I looked through the scope again, I noticed another player entering my range. This time, I was already too late because they had begun fighting the dragon.
They attacked the Ash Dragon’s front legs with a long spear, rolling aside whenever the creature swung its claws.
"Stand still."
I moved the crosshair to follow them.
"Come on... Just stay still for one second."
The player refused to stop.
I fired the moment they jumped to the right to avoid the dragon’s flaming breath.
Bang!
The bullet passed a few centimeters from their shoulder and struck the rock behind them.
"Damn it!"
I had missed the first shot.
When the player noticed the red trail left by the bullet, they panicked and began looking around. They couldn’t tell which direction the shot had come from, and even worse, the dragon was moving toward them.
The player ran behind a large rock for protection, but they had hidden on the wrong side. They were out of the dragon’s sight, not mine.
"Thank you."
I placed the crosshair over their head again.
Bang!
This time, I hit them.
The player’s health bar instantly dropped to zero, and their character disappeared.
[Player killed.]
[Kills: 2]
With no other targets nearby, the Ash Dragon stopped fighting a few seconds later. As it walked heavily back toward the center of the valley, its health bar began regenerating rapidly.
"So the boss’s health resets."
That made my plan to slowly weaken the dragon by myself more difficult, but it didn’t prevent me from hunting players.
Another person arrived soon afterward, followed by someone else, and the same thing happened every time.
The players focused on the dragon and stopped checking their surroundings while trying to avoid its attacks. I simply waited until they were at their most vulnerable.
A mage was shot in the head while drinking a healing potion.
A knight carrying a shield blocked the dragon’s claws, only to be knocked down by my bullet.
A group of two tried hunting the boss together. After I killed the first one from a distance, the other tried to hide, but Hunter’s Eye allowed me to see their footprints. I shot them before they could escape.
The counter continued to rise.
[Kills: 4]
[Kills: 5]
[Kills: 6]
When the seventh player finally dissolved into blue particles, I proudly reloaded my rifle.
[Kills: 7]
"Incredible..."
I had killed seven players without moving from my position. Even the viewers who had called me a coward at the beginning were now discussing my shots instead of mocking me.
[MoonBun: She’s actually playing well this time.]
[Rook47: Seven kills from the same spot hahaha.]
[AshCrow: Does no one ever look up?]
[PeachMilk: One more!]
Even caramel hadn’t written anything for a while. They must have finally accepted my skill.
I quickly checked the stream dashboard.
So far, I had gained thirty-four new followers. The stream hadn’t even been live for half an hour yet.
I was still far from my goal of three hundred, but it wasn’t a bad start.
While waiting for another player to arrive, a donation notification appeared on the screen.
CRIMSON DONATED!
[Noctis, you’d better be ready for what’s going to happen to you tomorrow.]
My eyes widened.
The System panel updated immediately afterward.
[Donations received during stream: 1/5]
"Damn it... Has this girl lost her mind?"
What did she want from me when she knew I was streaming? All I had done was ignore her messages.
I swallowed.
"What could possibly happen to me?"
Noctis and Eris had never seriously argued before. However, there were several memories of Eris trapping him under her arm, pulling his cheeks, and jumping onto his back to force him to do what she wanted.
Eris called it playing around.
Noctis called it physical bullying.
What was I supposed to do if she really came looking for me tomorrow?
I had become so lost in thought that I noticed the red warning indicator behind my character only at the last moment.
Someone was approaching—and they were extremely close.
"What—"
I quickly turned Vharos toward the stone stairs behind me and raised the rifle.
The red mark created by Hunter’s Eye moved behind the wall. I aimed at the corner where my opponent should have appeared and waited, but the mark suddenly vanished.
"Huh?"
Where had they gone?
The next moment, my screen turned red.
Slash!
A long sword pierced Vharos’s back.
My health bar dropped to twenty percent from a single attack.
[Health: 17%]
Without the Thornhorn Talisman, I probably would have died instantly.
"WHEN DID YOU—!?"
An assassin using invisibility was standing right behind me.
Without even realizing what I was doing, I whipped the mouse around in a sudden panic. The screen spun into a blur as I pulled the trigger.
BOOM!
The rifle’s barrel was almost touching the assassin’s face.
The moment the bullet fired, their character’s head snapped backward. Their health bar dropped to zero, and their body dissolved into particles before it could even hit the ground.
[Headshot]
[Player killed.]
[Kills: 8]
I stared blankly at the screen for several seconds.
"Holy shit..." I whispered.
What I had done was a complete accident. I had turned around in a panic and fired without even aiming.
From the outside, however, it looked incredible. I had killed an assassin at close range with a single headshot from a sniper rifle.
The chat flooded with messages.
[MoonBun: WHAT WAS THAT!?]
[Rook47: 180-DEGREE HEADSHOT!]
[AshCrow: The guy died the instant he came out of invisibility!]
[PeachMilk: CLIP THAT!]
[SnakeVictim: Maybe she really is a professional...]
[caramel: Just luck.]
Everyone except caramel was impressed. The viewer count had also passed one hundred ninety.
No one needed to know that the last move had been an accident.
I straightened my back and tried to laugh like a demon king.
"Hahaha!"
The high-pitched laughter coming from my avatar’s cute face wasn’t as intimidating as I had imagined. Still, I continued.
"You mortals have finally witnessed the talent of Great Noctis!"
I proudly spread my arms.
"I told you I was a professional!"
At that moment, a roar rose from the valley.
I looked at the Ash Dragon’s health bar.
[Health: 7%]
"What?"
While I had been dealing with the assassin, another player had begun fighting the dragon and had nearly killed it.
The character in golden armor stood beneath the dragon’s wing, repeatedly swinging the enormous sword in their hands.
The boss’s health dropped first to five percent, then to four.
"MOTHERFUCKER!"
My scream was loud enough to make the microphone peak.
"THAT DRAGON IS MINE!"
I aimed my rifle at the dragon.
There was no time to target the player because they would finish off the boss within seconds.
I activated Vharos’s ultimate ability, which could only be used once per match.
FADING STAR’S RADIANCE
[Bullet power increases with distance traveled.]
[Deals wide-area damage at the point of impact.]
Vharos braced the rifle against his shoulder.
Crimson energy began gathering around the barrel. As the edges of the screen darkened, the dragon in the center of my scope was surrounded by a red target marker.
The player raised their sword again.
The dragon’s health dropped to two percent.
"Come on..."
The moment the ability finished charging, I pulled the trigger.
BOOOOM!
The entire screen shook as the bullet left the barrel.
This time, it didn’t resemble an ordinary bullet. It tore through the sky like an enormous star surrounded by crimson flames, leaving a long trail of fire behind it as though a meteor were descending into the valley.
The player in golden armor noticed what was happening and looked up, but it was already too late.
The bullet struck the Ash Dragon directly in the chest.
BOOOOOOM!
A crimson explosion engulfed the entire valley. Rocks flew into the air, and the dragon’s enormous body disappeared amid the flames.
Two notifications appeared on the screen one after another.
[You killed a player.]
[Kills: 9]
[You killed the Ash Dragon.]
"Holy shit..." I whispered.
I knew the ability dealt more damage over greater distances, but I hadn’t expected it to be this powerful.
It was incredible.