It’s not that kind of malicious broadcast

*Plop. Plop.*

In the disturbingly silent stillness, the sound of water droplets echoed sharply, as if piercing his ears.

The distant growling of monsters, his own footsteps, and even the approaching sound of the axe trap—those he could tolerate. But hearing the water droplets falling from the ceiling indicated something crucial: under the KoK system, he could not detect any footsteps from the underground opponents at all.

This could mean that their paths had intersected, or that they had already aimed for the surface and made a run for it.

Normally, he would have given a briefing on the surface and sped up the hunt without a moment’s hesitation.

However, raquel, Kim Taeho calmly moved forward, shield up front, taking slow and measured steps, ready to respond to a surprise attack at any moment.

It was all because during the random character selection process, the god of chance had handed a rogue to Lee Yena.

“That crazy woman who slashes around even after taking the silent footsteps trait as a rogue.”

No amount of caution was ever enough.

*Plop.*

Silently cursing to himself, he quickened his steps as the tiny sound of a dripping drop touched his ears again. By now, they should have been close enough for the goblin pack’s giggling to start masking other noises. Yet, the water sound still tormented his ears, which meant—

“Ah… As expected.”

The goblin pack’s camp they reached a few seconds later no longer held any corpses. This indicated that the goblins had died a long time ago. It was almost as if their opponents knew he would crawl like a coward and wiped out the monsters long before leaving.

It wasn’t a major setback, but it felt like being jabbed in the face. Raquel exhaled quietly through her gritted teeth and briefed the team.

《Goblins are cleared. Watch out for mid.》

《Roger that. The surface’s clear, so let’s take it slow.》

《Bot! Focus healing on Verze-nim’s bot. We can break through this.》

《I’m stepping back from top a bit! The pressure here feels off.》

《Don’t retreat too obviously; bait them. Mika, as soon as you see the rogue in the top lane, use all your cooldowns on bot for a heavy attack.》

《Okay, their bot knight’s low on health and retreated. Mage used one CC skill. Pushing in.》

Still, it was fine. Hearing the situation from the surface reassured him that the strategy they devised to counter “GetDevoured Devoured and the Five Rogues” (then known as “Team C”) was effective.

The strategy had been crafted after countless espionage on all their individual streams, including CravingWarmAmericano’s.

Firstly, if a rogue emerged from the enemy’s random dice roll, it meant Lee Yena would go underground. Hence, raquel, a master knight user, would lay low underground. By avoiding direct combat and just occupying space, he could keep the rogue effectively tied down until the game ended.

Their build, focused exclusively on defense and counter-attack, was specialized to overcome skill gaps and turn the tables if the enemy grew impatient and attacked first.

Secondly, if the random dice did not yield a rogue for the enemy, it meant StarPork would go underground. In this case, challenger-level warrior user Esmaki would descend and massacre them. There were some who’d argue that taking out bronze players in the underground was excessive, but what could be done? This was the nature of this tournament.

The intricate strategies continued endlessly beyond that. Strategies for when the opponent forced a rogue onto us, or when they demanded we use two priests, or even when the opponent used two rogues…

It was due to Esmaki, who took the role of team leader, tirelessly spouting out meticulously planned strategies.

At first, the team had their doubts, thinking, “Will it really work with bronzes like us?”

But when the mentees discarded their own egos and mechanically followed the planned movements, the team’s overall power began to rise at an astonishing rate. In some sense, it was a method perfectly optimized for the tournament rules.

An enormous amount of joint practice was needed, but it wasn’t a problem at all. Coincidentally, all six members were broadcasters transitioning from “small fry” status to “small business” level in full-time KoK, staking everything on the promotional effect of this tournament.

As a result, team “Bombs Away!” gradually began to acquire the competency to properly execute strategies, and everyone eagerly awaited the tournament day, filled with dreaming grand dreams together.

“Grab the Skull Pack, confirm the trap chest route, and then regroup on the surface.”

“《Confirmed.》”

“《Bot lane cleared! Move forward!》”

Listening to the victory reports, adrenaline surged once more. They were going to win. Win easily, crush PadaPada, and claim the championship.

Two steps behind Raquel, who moved forward as planned, filled with tension, desire, hope, and fear tightly packed in his heart, a black silhouette started to appear faintly in the distorted empty space above.

It was Lee Yena.

She had rushed in as soon as the game started, cleaned up the goblin pack in mere seconds, and instead of moving to the next hunting ground, she camped. The same psychological tactic that once struck Revan’s nape successfully again.

-Thunk.

With the sound of a blade piercing the body, the effect of red splattering blood lightly obscured Raquel’s lower-right field of vision. Though his sight remained, it was a sufficient hindrance to make his reaction delayed.

-Thunk.

Following that, another flowing movement of consecutive attacks. With the second attack sound, his entire right field of vision was drenched in red.

“Underground rogue!”

Although it was a desperate engagement, his role was just to be a barricade. He could be broken and pushed past, but it would cost time and stamina.

Raquel quickly rotated backward, firmly guarding his right blind spot with a large shield. The rogue was nowhere to be seen.

‘Below? An ambush from the right? If she attacks—then now!’

Matching the instinctual timing, he slightly moved backward, causing his tank character to agilely backstep, throwing its heavy body backward.

She narrowly dodged the rogue’s chained attack with a perfectly timed “just dodge” judgment.

However, the expected effect didn’t appear. At that moment, raquel gritted his teeth, thinking he had fallen victim to a psychological attack. However, for some reason, he didn’t hear the expected attack sound.

Regaining his senses and looking around, raquel finally realized that the rogue was nowhere to be seen.

“Invisibility? No, the cooldown wouldn’t have ended. Did they run to the next camp? No. Considering GetDevoured’s play style… it must be an ambush. Read my movements… damn. This means I can’t go to the Skull Pack; it’s too obvious. Where am I supposed to go…?”

After just two attacks, he had only 60% of his health left. If he let his guard down while hunting and got caught off guard again, he wouldn’t even be able to serve as a barricade.

Raquel once again moved cautiously with his shield raised, now more guarded than before. He knew all the common ambush points preferred by Lee Yena. Esmaki had thoroughly checked and shared Lee Yena’s personal screen.

Feigning to expose his back to a potential hiding spot, raquel quickly spun around with his guard up—

Pretending to hunt a monster pack near a blind spot, he waited for the invisibility duration to run out.

But unfortunately, while Raquel was so preoccupied fighting an imaginary rogue, Lee Yena had long since run off to the surface without looking back.

It was inevitable. At that moment, ‘CravingWarmAmericano’, who had analyzed the situation, had been fervently looking for reasons to praise her disciple. She teased Revan, watched Ark’s broadcast on one screen, and lazily observed the chat window while playing conservatively.

Now, Lee Yena was filled with the thought that she had to kill a specific class repeatedly, multiple times, to overcome this shame.

* * * *

“Ah, what is this! GetDevoured targets not the priest, but the Warrior again! Esmaki falls for the third time! The team leader! The lynchpin! Has fallen once more! This is significant!”

“Esmaki is doing his best to avoid it. But you can’t forever block a rogue who is determined to ambush! How many times is this now! GetDevoured! She has isolated the Warrior again successfully! GetDevoured! Is this even possible for a rogue? Rogues aren’t usually like this!”

“Again! Again, GetDevoured lunges at the slightly exposed Esmaki! Just as Gorabox’s shots limit the Warrior’s movements, she lands a critical hit! Esmaki, he’ll be seeing rogues in his dreams tonight!”

“This is why special forces are feared in war. One rogue infiltrating the enemy lines can disrupt strategies and formations- Ah, esmaki once again! Verza’s heal couldn’t reach in time. Focus, focus is needed!”

“The team Bombs Away can’t crumble like this! They can’t fall this easily! It’s a series of matches. Even if you lose, you must fight back hard to muster strength for the next game!”

“Here comes Revan! Showing that GetDevoured isn’t the only one in their team, he takes down three enemies consecutively! But all three were mentee-tier, making it look like an adult bullying three kids.”

“And thus, the match concludes! Wow, what an incredible game. Those who thought the Untouchables were just a fun tema event must be stunned.”

“Before the match, GetDevoured declared, ‘I will kill them.’ We were wondering who she intended to kill, and it turns out she meant to kill everyone. Especially her persistent and relentless attacks on Esmaki made it seem like she had a personal vendetta.”

“Team Bombs Away must quickly recover and prepare. The second set is about to begin. They need to regain their focus!”

* * * *

『Author: ㅇㅇ』

『Title: If This Person is the God of KoK, then Huge Upvote』

『Random forum photo

Random forum GIF of cutting Esmaki’s throat x 4

Random forum highlight video

(First broadcast exposure capture)』

– Great suggestion

– Good one

– Why did you put a real photo at the end… Thanks

– No, seriously

– Really freaking good

– She ignored both Master and Bronze tiers and went straight for the Challenger’s neck. LOLOLOL LOLOLOL LOLOLOL Is she truly insane?

– Is the Warrior vs. Rogue matchup supposed to work like that?

– Was this crazy woman always this good? Wasn’t she?

– Yes, she was always good

『Author: ㅇㅇ』

『Title: The second set is already over』

『The entire Bombs Away team just lost their minds. LOLOLOL LOL

Is this how an infantry unit feels when they meet a tank?』

– But what can you do when a Rogue pierces through and slices a Warrior’s neck, not even a Priest’s?

– If the Knight or the Mage had just marked the Rogue better, LOL

– But both of them are Bronze…

– Bombs Away just mishandled their Bronze allocation

– Please, what then, send Bronze to the top? Or underground?

『Author: ㅇㅇ』

『Title: Oh, our forum MVP』

『Wowwwwwww!』

The pride of KoK Forum, GetDevoured!』

– Really an unfitting title

– She used to be the troublemaker of KoK Forum…

– Fact: She is still the troublemaker

『Author: ㅇㅇ』

『Title: ??? What did that crazy woman just say in the interview?』

『?????』