I Have a Reason to Hate Streamers

Suddenly, it felt like my vision went dark, and I caught a salty whiff right at the tip of my nose.

Before my covered eyes even opened, I sensed the rain pouring down.

The ground beneath me seemed to sway strangely, accompanied by a kiiiiiiing as the wood creaked and cried out.

My instincts hinted at the battlefield before a system message popped up.

And sure enough, as my eyes opened, a gloomy dark blue sky welcomed me.

[Infinity Arena 1st Qualifier – Round 3]

[Battlefield: The Place Where the Storm Sleeps]

[vs Unknown Adventurer (Witch)]

[The battle will start in 3 minutes.]

[Warning: Please check your equipment, traits, and skills. Changes cannot be made once the battle begins.]

“The Place Where the Storm Sleeps” was a battlefield where you fought on the wreckage of shipwrecks.

Like any field over the sea, waves continually crashed, and the debris often tilted the ground.

Plus, with this rain, the pouring downpour and the darkness of dawn made it hard to spot hidden enemies.

It wasn’t a bad environment for an Assassin.

The more restricted the battlefield was, the easier it is to launch surprise attacks.

The problem, however, was that the opponent had some significant advantages too.

“Of all places, I run into a witch here.”

In a different battlefield, I would’ve completely devoured them.

But this rain-soaked sea was like the witch’s home ground.

I stood on the remnants of a broken ship, and the rain pouring down had already soaked my clothes.

In this state, getting hit by her signature lightning magic would likely cause my health bar to vanish in an instant.

For an already fragile Assassin, each hit would be fatal.

“As always, if I don’t land a hit with the first surprise attack, it’s going to be tough.”

But well, this is just perfect.

I actually had something I wanted to test out.

*

[Title: Taking the Last Train to the Black League!]

[‘SylphieRose’ is streaming.]

[Notification: Automatic translation feature is activated.]

Splash, splash.

With every step the girl took, the sound of water echoed.

The light from the tip of her staff danced across the deck like a graceful fish.

It seemed as if there was nobody on the shabby ship, but her blue eyes scanned the surroundings just in case.

Only after securing the sides and back did she speak up.

“The battlefield seems to be in my favor. The spawn point doesn’t look bad either. I’ll check if there’s a wider area first to secure my spot.”

– If she’s an Assassin, she just needs to be careful with her timing.

– Once she secures a position and sends out her minions, I doubt she’ll lose.

– Aren’t all the good Assassins already in the qualifiers?

– Sylphie, please clarify the house-looting controversy.

“House-looting? Come on, how could it be an empty house with me here? It’s now a fully occupied house!”

Giggle. Her playful laughter spread lightly.

She showed no signs of concern about losing, radiating confidence in her skills.

Of course, it wasn’t unfounded confidence.

Sylphie, a witch master from the European League.

Due to issues with the character pool, she often couldn’t secure the starting role, but when able to use a witch, she consistently performed up to expectations.

When it comes to witches, she was world-class.

Moreover, most of the professional gamers and streamers who declared participation in the arena had already progressed to the second round.

It was no wonder that none of her viewers were predicting a loss.

– In the sea, even if it’s against an Assassin, it’s manageable.

– I’ll rack up 3 wins to 0 losses and qualify right away.

– But who’s the opponent now? Some foreign noob?

– The fact that there’s no global broadcast probably means they’re just playing for fun.

– Of all opponents to meet in the qualifiers, it just had to be Sylphie, lol.

Amidst such vibes, Sylphie began to feel uneasy.

The Place Where the Storm Sleeps isn’t a very large map.

While the wreckage generates randomly, the size of the battlefield remains constant.

Given an Assassin’s mobility and stealth abilities, they should’ve discovered her by now.

If that’s the case, they should have engaged right away, but her opponent remained oddly quiet.

“That’s strange. Why aren’t they coming?”

The longer this situation dragged on, the worse it was for the Assassin.

If the opponent wasn’t a rookie completely clueless about the witch-Assassin dynamic, there’s only one conclusion left.

It means there’s some suspicious trick up their sleeve.

Right. Everyone has a plausible plan until they get hit.

Sylphie directed her staff toward the ship’s bow.

[Minion ‘Number 3′ has died. Location marked.]

System message notifications were unnecessary.

She had already checked her minions’ health and positions.

Before a red dot even appeared in her peripheral vision, a lightning bolt came crashing down.

– Their reaction is quick.

– Didn’t that just dodge some damage?

– Seems like they killed my minion and immediately escaped.

In the darkness, the silhouette of the Assassin flashed briefly.

Much nimbler than she’d anticipated. Were they just really well-statted? Or focused heavily on mobility?

Either way, it was far from a typical setup.

Sylphie raised her wariness in her mind.

She moved slightly more to the side from the position she had initially aimed for.

She scattered magic to match that quick pace,

Powerful electromagnetic fields spread through the air, and cold mist froze the rainwater below.

She didn’t achieve much.

It seemed she was just a moment too late because the Assassin, maneuvering through the debris, appeared to sustain little damage.

The sight of them gliding across the frozen ground annoyed her unnecessarily.

“Your movements aren’t bad. Who the heck are you? I’ll have to check your username after this.”

Sylphie shifted slightly further back.

Maintaining distance from the Assassin was a basic rule.

It’s crucial not just to think, ‘This should make it hard for them to approach,’ but to keep the very edge based on her range.

Especially since her opponent seemed particularly quick.

Considering a stealth duration of 5 to 10 seconds, she couldn’t afford to measure the distance overly optimistically.

So, Sylphie held onto the smallest bit of vigilance.

“They used stealth. I’ll shoot as soon as it wears off.”

Human perception relies heavily on sight.

Disguising oneself using “Stealth,” which could be considered the most powerful utility in this game.

However, if one maintains concentration, it’s not entirely impossible to notice.

For instance, in this rainy environment, one could detect a stealthy person by the splashes of raindrops.

While gauging distance was tricky and making a skill shot right now was difficult, she could at least confirm the opponent’s presence.

Let’s just maintain our distance and wait this out.

Given that the nature of this battlefield required traversing a ship’s deck, there wouldn’t be many hiding spots from here on out.

At most 4 seconds… 3 seconds. Sylphie flashed a triumphant smile.

The magic on her staff was ready to fire at any moment.

Then came the 1-second mark. No matter how many traits she invested in, the duration would end.

Sylphie’s eyes widened as she estimated the Assassin’s position.

“What the? Where are they?”

She couldn’t see the Assassin where they should’ve been.

Had it been a mistake to think they used stealth for the first time?

No way. Sylphie had earned her reputation as a witch master for a reason.

She had faced Assassins in The Place Where the Storm Sleeps more than enough times to not make such mistakes.

If the opponent was absent from where they should be, they had to be somewhere they shouldn’t be.

As Sylphie’s thoughts reached that point, she hastily shifted her gaze.

Just as her eyes scanned the surroundings and turned skywards…

She felt something wrap around her neck, and the world turned upside down.

“Keck, cough?”

She felt herself being tugged by some overwhelming force.

Normally, her body would skitter painfully across the ground, but the Infinity Black system filters out excessive pain responses.

Thanks to that, Sylphie could calmly assess the situation.

What she felt in her grasp… Was it a… chain?

So, was she now being pulled along with a chain wrapped around her neck?

They say confusion arises from ignorance.

But the more she learned, the more bewildered she seemed to become.

Before she could finish pondering, her body, thrown over the ship’s edge, caught a fleeting glimpse of an Assassin with a similar height and fluttering silver hair.

And then there was the blade of the scythe closing in from the end of the chain.

[You have been defeated.]

[vs Gawol]

Gawol? Who the heck is that?

*

Sylphie spent over an hour browsing through professional gamer databases and internet streaming platforms.

She found no satisfactory results.

A few mentions were confirmed, but it seemed they hadn’t participated in any broadcasts or pro leagues.

So there was only one thing she could do.

Review the replay and determine what had led to her defeat.

“Ha, that’s clever. A chain scythe? I didn’t know that was a weapon a person could use.”

From the very beginning, the Assassin hadn’t moved across the deck.

After imprinting themselves in her view, they simply set the chain scythe down in a corner of the hull and approached alongside the hull.

Once the stealth wore off, they launched themselves high into the air using centrifugal force without coming into her line of sight.

They wrapped a chain around her neck.

From there, the conclusion was something she was all too familiar with.

The chain tightened suddenly as they dashed away, leaving the scythe’s blade clinging to her.

Taking a critical hit to her vital point caused her health bar to vanish in an instant.

“That was fun. I had no idea there were stealth masters left in this game. Surely this person makes it to the main event, right? I really want to meet them again.”

─And at the same time, Da-eun was watching a video of Gawol.

“What the heck is this…?”

Across galleries and even typical strategy sites,

There was a thread that had inevitably risen to the top, collecting popular posts.

It was a video of her that looked as if she was “acting cute on top of a male character.”

In fact, there seemed to be multiple threads with the same content, some even having two or three of them.

Da-eun’s eyelids fluttered after reading through hundreds of comments.

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