I Have Reasons to Hate Streamers

For a moment, my vision went dark, and then I smelled a salty scent at the tip of my nose.

The rain was felt before my obscured eyes could recover.

The ground that seemed to sway strangely and the trees screaming “Creeeeak-” as they twisted.

My senses made me anticipate this battlefield even before the system message appeared.

Sure enough, as soon as my eyes opened, a gloomy dark blue sky greeted me.

[Infinity Arena 1st Preliminary – Round 3]

[Battlefield: Where the Storm Sleeps]

[vs Unknown Adventurer (Witch)]

[Combat will begin in 3 minutes.]

[Caution: Please check your equipment, traits, and skills. You cannot change them once combat begins.]

‘Where the Storm Sleeps’ was a battlefield where you fight on the wreckage of shipwrecks.

Befitting a field on the sea, waves constantly crash, and it’s not uncommon for the floor to tilt as debris gets tangled.

Moreover, this rain. The pouring downpour and the darkness of dawn make it difficult to find hidden enemies.

It wasn’t a bad environment for an assassin.

The more a battlefield restricts senses, the easier it is to ambush.

The problem is that the advantages the opponent has are not to be underestimated.

‘Of all things, to meet a witch here.’

If it were a different battlefield, it would have been a completely favorable matchup for me.

But this rainy sea was practically the witch’s home ground.

Where I stood was a fragment of a broken ship, and the rain that had been falling since earlier had already soaked my clothes.

If I get hit by the witch’s signature lightning magic in this state, it’s obvious my health bar will evaporate nicely.

For an assassin with an already weak body, each hit would be fatal.

‘As always, if I can’t score in the first ambush, it’ll be tough.’

But well, this is just perfect.

I had something I wanted to test anyway.

* * *

[Title: Catching the last train to the Black League!]

[‘SylphieRose’ is streaming.]

[Notice: Auto-translation function is active.]

Splash, splash.

Water sounds were made each time the girl took a step.

The light from the end of the staff glided across the deck.

Though the shabby ship seemed empty, blue eyes scanned the surroundings just in case.

Only after securing the safety of the sides and rear did the girl speak.

“The battlefield luck is on our side. The spawn location doesn’t seem bad either. First, I’ll check if there’s a wider area and secure a position.”

– For an assassin, just be careful of stealth timing

-If you set up and deploy familiars, you shouldn’t lose in most cases

-Aren’t all the good assassin players already promoted?

– Sylphie, explain the empty house controversy

“Empty house? Come on, how can it be empty when I’m here? Now it’s a full house.”

Giggle. A playful laughter spread lightly.

An attitude that doesn’t seem worried about losing, even if not completely off guard.

The slight upward curve of her lips exuded confidence in her skills.

Of course, it wasn’t groundless confidence.

‘Sylphie’, the witch specialist of the European league.

Although she couldn’t always be in the starting lineup due to character pool issues, she was evaluated to perform as expected in situations where she could utilize the witch.

To the extent that she could be discussed as world-class for the witch character alone.

Moreover, now most of the pro gamers and streamers who had declared participation in the Arena had already advanced to the 2nd preliminary.

It was natural that none of her viewers predicted defeat.

– Even against an assassin, it’s manageable in the sea

– She’ll go 3 wins 0 losses and pass the preliminary right away

– But who’s the opponent now? A foreign novice?

– Looking at global broadcasts, it seems they’re just trying it out of boredom?

– To meet Sylphie of all people in the preliminary ㅋㅋ

Amidst such an atmosphere, Sylphie began to feel a sense of discomfort.

‘Where the Storm Sleeps’ is not a very large map.

While the shipwrecks themselves are randomly generated, the size of the battlefield always remains consistent.

With an assassin’s mobility and detection ability, they should have found her long ago.

If so, they should have come to challenge immediately, but the opponent was too quiet.

“This is strange. Why aren’t they coming?”

In this setup, the longer it drags on, the more disadvantageous it is for the assassin.

If the opponent isn’t a complete novice who doesn’t know the witch-assassin dynamic, there’s only one conclusion left.

It means they have some suspicious scheme.

Right. Everyone has their seemingly good plan.

Until they get hit, that is.

Sylphie’s staff pointed towards the bow of the ship.

[Familiar ‘3’ has died. Marking the death location.]

There was no need for the system message’s guidance.

She had already been checking the health and positions of the familiars.

Before a red mark could appear in her field of vision, lightning struck down.

– The opponent’s reaction is fast

– No damage just now, right?

– Seems they killed the familiar and dodged right away

The silhouette of the assassin briefly flashed in the darkness.

Much more agile than anticipated. Is it just good specs? Or traits focused on mobility?

Either way, it was far from the common setup.

Sylphie raised her level of caution inwardly.

A little more to the side from the position where she was originally going to follow up.

She scatters magic to match the fast speed,

A powerful electromagnetic field spreads in the air, and cold fog freezes the rainwater on the ground.

There wasn’t much of a harvest.

It seemed like she was a bit late, as the assassin moving between the debris didn’t take much damage.

The sight of them sliding across the frozen ground was even irritating.

“Their movement is not bad. Who could it be? I’ll have to check the nickname after this is over.”

Sylphie moved a bit further back.

Maintaining distance from an assassin is the basics of basics.

It’s not just about ‘This should be far enough to make it hard for them to approach’, but the key is to maintain the very edge of your attack range.

Moreover, this opponent’s movement was particularly fast.

Considering stealth that could last 5 seconds at shortest and 10 seconds at longest, she couldn’t measure the distance optimistically.

So, Sylphie didn’t let her guard down even for a moment.

“They used stealth. I’ll shoot as soon as it wears off.” senses rely most heavily on vision.

‘Stealth’, which hides one’s appearance from sight, is one of the most powerful utilities in this game.

However, if you maintain focus, there are ways to detect it.

For example, in a rainy environment like this, you can confirm stealth by the way raindrops bounce off.

It’s difficult to immediately land a skill due to the ambiguous sense of distance, but at least the opponent’s existence itself was confirmed.

Let’s just get through this time while maintaining maximum distance.

Given the characteristics of this battlefield where you have to cross the deck of the shipwreck, there weren’t many places to hide from now on.

At most 4 more seconds… 3 seconds. Sylphie smiled with confidence.

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

And 1 second. The timing when the duration limit should come even if they invested in traits.

Sylphie’s eyes, which were estimating the assassin’s position, widened.

“What? Why aren’t they here?”

The assassin’s figure that should be visible was nowhere to be seen.

Was it a mistake to think they used stealth in the first place?

That can’t be. Sylphie isn’t called a witch specialist for nothing.

It’s not like this is her first or second time facing an assassin in Where the Storm Sleeps, and she wouldn’t make such a mistake.

If the opponent isn’t where they should be, then they’re where they shouldn’t be.

As soon as that thought occurred, Sylphie hurriedly moved her gaze.

As her eyes scanning the surroundings looked up to the sky.

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

“Kek, keheuk?”

A sensation of being pulled by some powerful force.

Normally, her body would be dragged along the ground, accompanied by terrible pain, but Infinity Black’s system filters out excessive pain sensations.

Thanks to this, Sylphie could calmly assess the situation.

The sensation in her hand was… a chain?

So, is she being dragged along with a chain around her neck now?

They say confusion stems from ignorance.

Somehow, it seemed the more she understood, the more confused she became.

Before her questions could finish.

The last thing her body, thrown outside the hull, saw was – an assassin of similar height with fluttering silver hair.

And the blade of a scythe approaching from the end of the chain.

[You have been defeated.]

[vs Gawol]

Gawol? Who on earth is that?

* * *

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

She couldn’t find satisfactory results.

She confirmed a few mentions, but it seemed they hadn’t debuted in broadcasts or pro leagues.

So there was only one thing she could do.

To watch the replay and see what went wrong.

“Ha, it’s quite ingenious. To think a chain scythe could be a weapon usable by people.”

From the beginning, the assassin had never walked on the deck.

After imprinting their appearance on her, they hung the chain scythe in a corner of the hull and approached along the side of the ship.

After the stealth wore off, they leaped high into the air riding centrifugal force from the edge of her vision.

They wrapped the chain around her neck without ever entering her field of vision.

The rest was a conclusion she knew well.

As the chain was quickly unwrapped, the scythe at the end went “thwack”.

It was processed as a fatal wound to a vital point, and her health bar disappeared in an instant.

“Interesting. I didn’t know there were still stealth masters left in this game. This person will surely make it to the main tournament, right? I’d really like to meet them again.”

─ And at the same time, Da-eun was also watching Gawol in the video.

“What is this…?”

From galleries to general strategy sites.

There was a post that invariably appeared in places that collected popular posts.

It was the video of herself that “looked like she was flirting on top of a male character”.

There were even cases where two or three posts with the same content were uploaded.

Da-eun’s eyelids trembled as she saw over hundreds of comments.