-Why is that Level 6 acting so cocky?
-Here we go! A troll trying to play politics!
-LOL, this is a perfect setup for the stream.
-Even after he showed his Status Window, I can’t believe it. How did a Level 6 get matched into a game for the Level 20 range?
-Taeya, just slit that bastard’s throat cleanly.
-Who does he think he is, saying he’ll be leader? LOL.
[‘HananaKick’ Has Created a Mission!]
[Smack the Level 6 Troll on the Back of the Head: 300C]
While everyone poured their anger and irritation onto the Level 6 Warrior—
Taeya’s eyes lit up instead.
‘The god of streaming is helping me!’
Lately, he had been trying various approaches because he felt that his stream had become too repetitive.
And just in time, a walking content opportunity had appeared right in front of him.
People liked rewarding good and punishing evil. They also liked seeing people who caused inconvenience or provoked anger receive their punishment.
The sort of thing commonly called a ‘proper lesson’ or a ‘cathartic release.’
In that sense, the Level 6 Warrior was a perfect villain.
Of course, it was clearly the others’ fault for unilaterally choosing a leader among themselves and ordering him to stay back.
If he showed no activity at all, he would only waste time and receive no experience or rewards. In severe cases, he could even receive penalties.
But such a minor truth did not matter at all.
-If Level 20s are going to carry you, you should be saying thank you~.
-At Level 6, he just became a Player and is all puffed up with pride, LOL. Cute.
-Cute, my ass. Just imagining running into someone like that in a Ranked Match already pisses me off.
-Taeya, please give him a proper lesson.
-He really thinks being a leader is a joke, LOL. Does he know Underground Prison that well?
To the viewers, that Level 6 was nothing but an obnoxious nuisance who strutted around without knowing his place.
‘Refuting him right away and crushing his spirit would show I don’t understand streaming.’
The other side had even made an enticing proposal first.
He would skillfully lead five rooms, and then the Level 6 would somehow muddle through five rooms in a mess.
‘Then I’ll be chosen as leader, subtly mock him and needle him bit by bit, and finally act generous by giving him a few Credits...!’
That would make for perfect, cathartic comeuppance content.
Taeya swallowed the saliva gathering in his mouth and began preparing for the clear in earnest.
After all, the content began with him leading five rooms perfectly.
‘Underground Prison... Honestly, this is a little tricky.’
Still, he was confident that he would perform better than a Level 6 no matter what.
“It seems I spawned as an Archer this time. Then, Swordsman, hold the monsters at the front. I’ll intercept them with daggers from the rear, and when necessary, I’ll move up to the front and cover you.”
“Sounds good!”
“Mage, stay in the back and signal as soon as your casting is complete. We’ll pull out of the way so you can launch a wide-area attack right away. Supporter, keep applying buffs while watching the situation.”
“Understood!”
“Okay.”
“And Jaeha, sir....”
Taeya’s eyes twitched slightly.
“Stay beside the Mage and prepare for any monsters that the Swordsman and I fail to handle!”
“I’ll do that.”
-LOL, he’s practically telling him to stay in the back.
-As expected, a little bait-and-switch is classic Taeya.
-A. Rea-lly. Im-por-tant. Role!
Calling it staying beside the Mage was nice, but it was little different from telling him to do nothing and stay put.
However, Taeya was the leader right now.
“Yes, understood.”
Unlike before, Shin Jaeha nodded and accepted his role.
“Then, let’s go!”
Once every role had been assigned and the strategy put together—
they finally entered the first room.
CLANK!
The entrance they had come through locked, and monsters appeared in the room.
[Underground Prison Sewer Rat]
Fifteen or so rats half the size of an adult man glared at them with glowing red eyes and bared their sharp front teeth.
“SQUEEEAK!”
The Sewer Rats charged at terrifying speed.
As they had discussed beforehand, the Swordsman stepped forward and swung his blade.
“Hyaaaah!”
The forceful sword strike sliced one rat in half.
Gray fur was stained with dark red blood.
“Squeak!”
“Squeak!”
The other rats leaped threateningly and opened their maws wide, but—
THUNK! THUNK!
Daggers flying from somewhere pierced their foreheads in a single strike, killing them.
“Keep drawing their attention in front!”
“As if I wasn’t going to!”
The Swordsman hardened his muscles.
[Bulk Up (Bulk Up)] (D)
The Sewer Rats’ front teeth, which sought to tear through his flesh, were stopped by his hardened muscles.
After a while of that back-and-forth—
“It’s ready!”
The Mage gave the signal.
Her magic casting had been completed.
As the Swordsman hurriedly retreated, a pack of Sewer Rats chased after him.
“Burn!”
A spell erupted.
[Small Bless (Small Bless)] (D)
A skill whose power had been increased by the Supporter’s buff.
[Fire Boom (Fire Boom)] (D)
WHOOSH!
Red flames surged in an instant and burned every rat to ash.
A pungent burning smell brushed against their noses.
[Rooms Cleared: 1]
The clear count rose.
“Phew... We did it!”
“Nice! Great work, Mage! You too, Swordsman.”
“Ahem, this much is basic.”
After clearing the room, the team’s atmosphere was warm.
Except for the generally quiet Supporter and Shin Jaeha.
“Jaeha, sir, you did well too. Thanks to you, the Mage was able to cast comfortably.”
-LOL, look at Taeya feeding him.
-Right, our Level 6 did everything, LOL.
-What are you doing? Bow your heads before our future leader!
It was an obviously pointed compliment.
But Shin Jaeha did not rise to the provocation.
No, perhaps it was more accurate to say that he could not.
Cold sweat was actually trickling down his forehead.
‘This... is a little....’
This team was far more of an uncoordinated rabble than he had expected.
The clear continued.
Up through the second room, as before, nothing unusual or dangerous occurred, and everything proceeded smoothly.
The problem began with the third room.
[Rampaging Sewer Rat]
From this point onward, stronger variants appeared, and there were more of them.
“Urgh... Agh!”
It was too much for the Swordsman to endure alone at the front.
Taeya had no choice but to leave the Archer Position and move to the front.
It was a flexible tactical adjustment that took full advantage of a Multi-Position... though calling it that was a little generous.
“I came to help!”
“Urgh... You saved me.”
Fortunately, it worked to some degree.
But the problem did not end there.
“Nngh... Ngh...!”
For some reason, the Mage’s casting speed became dramatically slower.
Since their strategy relied on sweeping everything away with the Mage’s one attack, the slower casting speed accelerated the team’s resource consumption.
“Mage! Are you still not ready?!”
“J-Just a little longer...!”
The Supporter then switched from the ‘Power Enhancement’ buff to a ‘Skill Activation Time Reduction’ buff.
It was Taeya’s order, as he had judged that they could not let their Stamina drain any further.
“It’s ready!”
At the signal, the two fighters swiftly retreated.
WHOOSH!
The prepared magic erupted, and flames swept through the room again.
The Sewer Rats crackled as they burned.
“Phew, this was a little harder.”
“Damn Underground Prison... Still, it’s fine since we cleared it without any injuries.”
The two fighters relaxed.
At the same time, the Mage held her slightly throbbing head and smiled faintly.
“…….”
But Shin Jaeha remained on guard.
‘These bastards. They’ve completely let their guard down.’
After all—
[Rooms Cleared: 2]
The clear count had not risen yet.
“Squeak...!”
Something moved amid the blazing flames.
“SQUEEEAK!”
Several burning Sewer Rats leaped high and targeted the Mage.
They had used an unbuffed spell against creatures with greater defense and attack power than before.
The problem was that they had prematurely assumed the monsters would continue dying in one blow, just as before.
“W-What?!”
“Mage!”
Taeya and the Swordsman could not react in time and hurriedly turned around.
The burning Sewer Rats’ eyes gleamed red.
A venomous intent that said, Even if I die, I’m taking you with me.
“K-Kyaaaah!”
Just as the Mage was about to be devoured by the rats—
THWACK!
A club flying in from the side smashed all the rats away.
As though he had known exactly where and when they would fly in, he moved with practiced skill.
-????
-Oh....
-LOL, his form is good.
-Wait, didn’t they catch them all?
-Underground Prison is fucking scary... Rats half the size of a person flying at you while on fire is real horror.
-They almost lost the Mage in the third room.
The chat’s reaction became a little strange.
The Level 6, whom everyone thought would contribute nothing, had done about 0.3 of a person’s worth of work.
“Are you okay?”
“Y-Yes...? Ah, yes... Th-thank you....”
“Get up.”
Without another word, Shin Jaeha helped the fallen Mage to her feet.
At the same time, he briefly examined her face, which had become paler than before.
The hand he held was soaked in cold sweat as well.
‘As expected.’
Shin Jaeha frowned slightly.
“Wow... Jaeha, sir, I see you in a new light! You can really do it when it counts!”
Taeya forced out praise while concealing his fluster.
“Ah, yes. Well, that’s my role.”
Shin Jaeha gave a perfunctory answer and let the matter pass.
Now was not the time to focus on that.
Meanwhile, Taeya wiped away a cold sweat internally.
‘The rats not dying in one blow was a variable.’
He had underestimated the Sewer Rats’ vitality.
He would never repeat that sort of miscalculation.
With that resolve, he headed toward the fourth room.
CLANK!
For some reason, the sound of the door locking felt more burdensome than before.
“Grrrraaa....”
A low groan slowly drew closer.
Pale corpses carrying weapons such as swords and spears appeared throughout the room.
All of them wore shackles on their feet and ragged prison uniforms.
[Prisoner Ghoul]
Like the Sewer Rats, they were monsters that appeared in Underground Prison.
And among them, they were fairly troublesome opponents.
‘Tsk... Of all things!’
Determined not to let his guard down, Taeya gripped his daggers tightly.
“This time, I’ll take the main Warrior role!”
“W-What?! If you suddenly change Positions...!”
“You can’t handle those things at your level, Swordsman!”
Taeya’s Dagger Rogue was a Second Advancement Class.
In firepower and speed, it was worlds apart from the Normal Sword User, which was only a First Advancement Class.
“Damn it, I don’t know what’s what...!”
Forced to follow behind, the Swordsman clicked his tongue and rushed in after him.
Taeya leaped into the enemy lines and, with his two daggers, felled Ghouls one after another as though dancing.
[Consecutive Slash] (D)
A Dagger Rogue Class Skill.
Mana-laden blades sliced through the Ghouls’ skin in clean strokes.
If the team was lacking in ability, all he had to do was step up himself.
‘This is more manageable than I thought?’
A relaxed smile formed on his lips.
But that only applied to Taeya.
The Swordsman, who faced the other Ghouls, was in utter misery.
With no Archer, there was no one to harass the enemies or provide suppressive fire. He had to hold them off alone.
His Stamina and Mana were draining by the moment as he used every Skill he had.
“Hold on a little longer! I’ll deal with this side and come help you right away!”
“Damn it... Hurry up!”
All he could rely on was Taeya’s support or the Mage finishing her casting.
But Ghouls were far from easy opponents.
As Undead, they were not easily killed. Unless they were properly killed, the team would have to face them again and again.
WHOOSH! SLASH!
Their combat ability was also influenced by the humans they had been while alive, so it was by no means low.
“Urgh...!”
A spear swung by a Ghoul grazed Taeya’s side.
It was not a serious wound, but a chill ran through his gut at the fact that he had allowed an attack through.
“M-Mage, are you still not ready?!”
He desperately turned his gaze toward the Mage.
“Haa... Haaah...!”
The Mage was preparing a large spell with trembling legs.
It looked as though it would take quite some time before it was fully ready.
‘The Supporter...!’
Even a Skill Acceleration buff would have helped.
But the Supporter was not in a position to worry about the Mage right now.
“Aagh! You fucking corpse!”
Healing the Swordsman, who was being attacked by Ghouls from all directions, was more urgent.
“Grrraaah!”
“Uoooh....”
Naturally, the Ghouls that the two fighters could not block shifted their attention toward the Mage and Supporter.
“H-Hiiik...!”
As the Ghouls approached, the Mage flinched, her concentration broke, and the magic she had been casting dissipated.
“Ah...!”
It was a predicament with no way forward or back.
Taeya bit down on his lip.
Should he rush over now and protect the Mage and Supporter?
But if he abandoned this place, the other Ghouls would all swarm the Swordsman.
He would surely die.
At the same time, he could not abandon the Mage and Supporter.
All things considered, those two were far more valuable than the Swordsman.
‘It’s only the fourth room!’
It was bad luck that Ghouls had appeared.
No, this had been disadvantageous from the beginning.
A Team Match was built around five people, but they had barely four.
The Level 6 had been outside their fighting strength from the start.
‘Right. If not for that Level 6...!’
They would not have been stopped here.
As he vented inwardly and was about to leave the Swordsman behind to run toward the Mage and Supporter—
the troublesome Level 6 walked in front of the Mage and Supporter.
“Haaah....”
“I didn’t ask for much. I told you to clear just five rooms, and you’re stuck on only the fourth?”
Shin Jaeha scratched his head and stood before several dozen charging Ghouls.
Then—
[Gravity Field] (D)
He spread a violet force field.
BOOOOOOM!
As the field formed, the advancing Ghouls’ speed visibly slowed.
Then, one by one, their rotten joints shattered and they collapsed to the floor.
“Grrk!”
“Grrrgh!”
A corpse was still just a corpse.
Crush it under enough force, and its decaying body could not bear its own weight. It would crumple.
THUMP...!
After forcing every Ghoul in the area to the ground, Shin Jaeha deactivated his Skill.
CRAAASH!
He swung his club at high speed and smashed every Ghoul’s skull.
Rotten blood and brain matter flowed thickly across the floor.
“All of you.”
Having settled the situation in an instant, Shin Jaeha spoke with irritation written all over his face.
“Just listen to me.”
Forget the bet and everything else.
This was not a competent enough team for him to worry about such things.