NOVEL NEXT Chapter 9
Chapter 9: I Won
[Breaking News) That Amazing Custom Avatar Just Appeared on Yena’s Stream jpg.]
Author: LilyLily
(A picture of Lily looking bewildered after receiving gold coins)
A stream made possible by spending a whopping 500 gold coins, lol.
I thought they were a guy, but their voice is amazing. Definitely a girl, right?
Even their flustered reaction is cute, lol.
Upvotes: 2,720 / Downvotes: 121
Comments: 470
─ Holy sh*t, they’re insanely pretty, lol.
─ Wow… that’s incredible.
─ This guy already changed their username to Lily, lol.
└ From today, I’m a member of the Lily gang. The rest of you, get lost.
└ ? Are you insane? I was here first.
└ Bullsh*t. I created this account when DeoEn launched three years ago.
└ The three of you above, take this to Streaming Gallery.
└ Lily isn’t even a streamer, just a regular player.
└ What’s the problem with discussing DeoEn in Devil of Angel Gallery?
─ Is Yena a goddess? Is Yena a goddess? Is Yena a goddess? Is Yena a goddess? Is Yena a goddess? Is Yena a goddess? Is Yena a goddess? Is Yena a goddess? Is Yena a goddess? Is Yena a goddess? Is Yena a goddess? Is Yena a goddess?
─ But damn, the money flex is unreal. Spending ten million won just to appear on a stream, lol. Is this even normal?
└ Honestly, it felt a bit excessive. Even Yena looked like she regretted it a little.
└ Yeah, she kinda panicked and just threw money at it. It was hilarious, though, lol.
└ For real, lol.
─ Starting today, I’m researching custom avatars.
[Breaking News 2) Lily Cleared the Tutorial Without Combat Assistance jpg.]
Author: LilyLily
(A picture of Lily sitting in a chair, looking up blankly)
Apparently, they defeated a wild boar with just the garbage sword you get at the start.
So it seems like they cleared the tutorial without any combat assistance at all.
Hasn’t this only been done once before, by someone named Cross? And even then, wasn’t it just pure luck with rerolls?
Upvotes: 5,430 / Downvotes: 820
Comments: 717
─ ???
─ ?
─ No way, that has to be a lie.
└ But it doesn’t feel like a lie.
└ Can’t you see the pure innocence in her eyes?
└ But still…
└ Honestly, it sounds impossible. Their trait seems to be movement-related. How the hell did they block attacks and win?
─ Even Cross wouldn’t be able to do it again if they tried now.
└ Didn’t it take them like five hours back then? People called it legendary at the time.
└ Honestly, that was more about sheer persistence than skill, lol. Who the hell fights a wild boar for five hours without getting hit?
─ Don’t slander Lily. If Lily says they did it, then they did it! Stop doubting!
└ Please, for the love of god, take this to Streaming Gallery…
└ Nope~ The Baby Lily Gang has already claimed this place~ If you don’t like it, go make your own forum~
─ As expected of Ye-natang. Now that’s a ten-million-won storyline, lol.
─ I heard there’s going to be a match.
■
A match.
I’ve had my fair share of those.
Celestials were revered by many races, but they were also a target of countless challenges.
Of course, those challenges weren’t directed at Celestials themselves.
The challenges were always aimed at those with Celestial blood or those who had some connection to them.
Naturally, as someone with Celestial blood, I received countless challenges.
I grip my spear.
“...What are you doing?”
“Ah! Since it’s your first time, I thought you might hesitate a bit.”
A modern person experiencing virtual reality for the first time wouldn’t just swing a weapon at someone recklessly.
Most people hesitate when attacking others.
Yena put on some weird bear mascot costume, saying, “This should help!”
It was purely decorative, with no special stats or magic attached.
Inside the bear costume, Yena waved a dagger around.
“Let me know whenever you’re ready. Seriously, no pressure. Take your time.”
“Let’s start.”
“Then just give me a sec… huh?”
I raise a plain, unmarked spear.
“Let’s go right now.”
“...Oh.”
Caught off guard, Yena nodded.
The veil completely covered us, and a message echoed through the room: "Battle Start!"
A number appeared in the air—10:00.
It was probably ten minutes.
Even as the timer hit 09:50, Yena didn't move.
Was she giving me the first move?
‘I won’t refuse.’
It had been a while since my last fight.
And this was my first battle after becoming significantly weaker.
Being strong was great, but being weak didn't mean I couldn't fight properly.
"Ah?!"
After all, I had always been the ‘weak one’ there.
■
I used Dash and instantly closed the distance between me and Yena.
Yena, though slightly flustered, calmly avoided the spear thrust.
She sidestepped as if vanishing in an instant, but instead of attacking with her dagger, she nimbly moved behind me.
She wanted to see how I would react.
I retracted my spear and struck backward.
Yena dodged.
Even with equal stats, she was an assassin, an agility-based class.
Assassins, who excel in ‘movement’ and ‘evasion,’ don’t pair well with combat assistance.
Their class gains an advantage by moving unpredictably and taking superior positioning over their opponents, but combat assistance makes their movements too uniform.
Simply put, their irregular movement stops being irregular.
That’s why assassins are especially vulnerable against opponents accustomed to combat assistance.
An assassin with predictable movement is no different from a swordsman with a short blade.
"...?"
But an assassin who doesn’t use combat assistance is different.
Instead of following preset patterns, they create their own movement routes, allowing for endless unpredictability.
"Pretty fast, huh?"
Yena didn’t attack; she simply weaved through my spear strikes.
Even when I deliberately left an opening, she didn’t attack and only observed my reactions.
I suppose this was her way of being considerate...
‘So, it’s fine to attack her?’
More than anything, I was wondering whether it was really okay to stab her with my spear.
No matter how virtual this was, was it really fine to kill someone here?
It wasn’t like I had never killed before, but I wasn’t some pleasure-driven murderer.
Unless someone directly showed hostility toward me, I had never taken a life.
‘Might as well test her skills while I’m at it.’
"It’s fine! You can go all out!"
Yena shouted at me as I hesitated.
Was that so?
"In that case."
I swung my spear toward Yena’s movement path.
Or rather, ‘the spear was already there’ before she could move.
"Ugh!"
That’s how fast it was—ignoring the limits of human movement and striking at an unnatural speed.
Clang!
With a loud metallic sound, Yena barely blocked with her dagger, but she was sent flying backward.
She crashed straight into the blue barrier.
She actually managed to block that.
That was a proper attack, too.
Inside the bear costume, Yena’s eyes widened in shock as she stared blankly at her trembling hands.
Then, as if fired up, she gripped her twin daggers and charged at me.
‘The left... is a feint.’
"…!"
Ignoring the illusion left by her skill, I deflected the real dagger coming from the right with my spear tip.
A sharp metallic ring echoed through the arena.
Yena retreated again.
Then, once more, she moved behind me.
‘That’s a skill.’
She moved ‘behind me’ without any force or weight shift—just a guaranteed repositioning.
It must have been a skill that teleports her behind her opponent.
Its name was probably something like ‘Backstab.’
That was what it was called where I came from.
Instead of letting her take my back, I turned the tables and positioned myself behind Yena.
Her eyes widened in shock.
She had a skill that allowed her to move behind her opponent, but I had Celestial blood.
Thrust.
"...What..."
"I won."
My plain, unadorned spear pierced through Yena.
Instead of green blood or exposed organs, a blue effect replaced the impact.
Only a single voice echoed throughout the arena.
[RED WIN!]
So I was the Red player.
■
[?]
[?]
[?]
[Held my breath watching that.]
[…Holy sh*t, what did I just witness?]
[That’s supposed to be a newbie?]
[What was that speed just now? They countered Shadow Leap in reverse, lol.]
[??????????????]
[What the hell is this?]
[What is going on?]
[A spearman just beat an assassin. Is this even real…?]
[And it wasn’t just any assassin, lol. It was a ranked assassin vs. a newbie spearman.]
[Info) Not even a spearman, just a beginner using a spear.]
[Whose alt account is this?]
As each exchange of attacks unfolded, the chat exploded.
When Lily started moving seriously, the stream fell silent.
And when the match finally ended, the chat went into complete chaos.
Viewers from the community and Twitch, having heard the news, flooded into Yena’s stream like mad.
Yena, still in shock from the unbelievable battle result, sat dazedly, staring at the rising viewer count.
The number climbed in real-time.
27,901.
31,400.
35,217.
39,5…
“Ah!”
“What’s wrong?”
“The stream crashed.”
The stream crashed.
Yena let out a hollow laugh.
Everything that had just happened felt like a dream.
Otherwise, there was no way such absurd events could happen in a row.
Instead of restarting the stream, Yena turned to look at Lily, who was idly fiddling with her spear.
“Lily.”
And one thought settled firmly in her mind.
“Have you ever considered streaming?”