Chapter 11: Last Stage (2)

“Just hop on the carry bus, lmao.”

“Why do you keep trying to do stuff, lmao.”

“Never seen Raidel act like this before.”

“So cute.”

“Delbung’s adorable, lol.”

“I mean, still, I should be doing something, right? I have, like, a little pride as a game streamer too…”

Raidel scratched her head awkwardly.

The viewer count had skyrocketed, surpassing thirty thousand.

Her average viewer count was about two thousand. Even in Stage 2, it had only reached five thousand.

But thanks to pulling all the aggro across every community imaginable, people had swarmed into the stream.

Plus, the five-minute ramen break Silverhair took helped boost the numbers too.

If the stage had ended too quickly, there wouldn’t have been enough time for this many viewers to gather.

That bit of idle time was just enough for the crowd to pour in.

‘Still, I am the host, you know!’

But the flood of comments was all about Silverhair.

It’s not like she was jealous.

She really hadn’t done anything, after all.

The whole reason they had this kind of viewership was thanks to Silverhair.

So it only made sense that the spotlight would go to her.

‘But… is a stream like this even okay?’

What bothered her was that she’d done almost nothing.

Up to now, her only input was pressing a single keyboard key.

Sure, she’d shouted dramatically a couple times—but in the end, all she did was press an arrow key.

‘This is just straight-up freeloading.’

Even if she couldn’t be the main character, she wanted to at least help a little.

That’s why she typed in chat asking if there was anything she could do.

“No no,” came the reply.

“You’re definitely essential to clearing the stage.”

“There’s a key moment where we’ll need your help too.”

It was like Silverhair had read her mind.

She promised to assign her something important.

Whatever it was, it didn’t feel like just lip service.

[Silverhair: Get ready.]

[Silverhair: Just like last time, just hold forward, please.]

[Silverhair: We’re going right away, go go go go go]

This time, there was no stage marker or lead-up.

The main point of this stage was dodging the buzzsaws popping up from the ground.

It didn’t require the tight, precise timing of Stage 2.

Since the pattern was random, it was all about watching carefully and reacting on the spot.

“???”

“Wait, she’s staying in the back this time?”

“Didn’t Silverhair usually lead from the front?”

What was different this time:

Raidel and Delbung No.3 were taking the lead.

Silverhair, who always led the way, was now running behind them.

The trio was moving in a V formation—Raidel and Delbung in front, Silverhair trailing behind.

“Ugh, why does this feel so weird? Leading the way like this feels… off.”

She had just said she wanted to contribute somehow, but now that she was in front, it felt awkward.

“I bet she has a plan.”

“The master’s painting a bigger picture.”

“Actually, controlling from the back probably makes things easier?”

And that was true.

Tugging on the chain worked just as well from behind.

If anything, it was easier because you could just focus on what’s ahead.

Zzzzzing—!

“Eek?”

As they moved forward, buzzsaws started to pop up from the ground.

There was variety—from ones that slowly and barely rose up, to huge ones that shot out at high speed.

Whatever the case, touching one would send you flying.

The big, fast ones were especially dangerous.

The smaller ones might allow you to recover your balance, but the big ones? Definitely a trip back to square one.

Clank—!

But Silverhair, pulling the chain from behind, made them avoid every trap like she had some auto-dodge hack enabled.

Even just holding forward, all the traps were being avoided like magic. It almost felt like cheating.

“How did she even see that buzzsaw coming?”

Raidel squinted and focused on her screen.

She used to think she could clear this part by carefully avoiding the buzzsaws without using the speed boosters.

But after seeing them pop out in real-time, her thinking changed.

‘The indicator shows for way too short a time.’

You could see a sliver of the buzzsaw before it fully popped up—but the warning was so brief, it was basically useless.

No human could realistically react that fast.

‘Even a bot couldn’t dodge that.’

By the time you saw the warning, it was already too late.

Even dodging instantly wouldn’t work with their current movement speed.

But Silverhair hadn’t been hit once.

Rather than reacting, it felt like she predicted every buzzsaw several seconds in advance.

“She’s dodging everything, lol.”

“How’s she even doing that?”

“Just joined and Raidel’s cracked right now.”

“It’s not Raidel dodging though; it’s Delbung.”

“?? Then who is it?”

New viewers were completely lost.

Beep—beep—

[Reflective light from bald head detected]

[Initiating pursuit]

A message popped up onscreen.

“Here come the drones.”

“It’s gonna get wild from here…”

Just dodging the buzzsaws was already impressive.

But now the pursuit drones were joining the party. That’s where things got really hard.

They must’ve entered the detection zone, because the drones spread their wings and came flying.

This part, they had expected.

“What the—aren’t these too fast?!”

What wasn’t expected: the drones’ speed.

Sure, they figured drones would be faster than the players…

But these drones were way faster than anticipated.

“Why are they this fast, lmao.”

“Did the drones get a speed buff too?”

“????”

“How are we supposed to dodge that?”

“F*cked, it’s an emergency!!!”

“Red alert!!!”

“This is a real emergency~!”

The blue-lit drones came charging, crackling with electricity.

“Silverhair, you predicted this too, right? Right?!”

“Delbung’s panicking, lol.”

“No but seriously, that looks dangerous…”

“They’re gonna get hit!”

“Shouldn’t they dodge that?!”

Sweat rolled down the back of Raidel’s neck.

She knew they had to dodge it around this time.

But even though the timing to dodge had come…

Silverhair still wasn’t making any move to avoid the drones.

‘Shouldn’t we be going left or right by now?’

The drones were swarming from all directions.

Silverhair had told them to just hold the forward key. Was that really okay?

Should she dodge before it’s too late—

‘No. Just trust her.’

So far, everything Silverhair had done was the correct move.

And always in ways that completely defied expectation.

Sure, that meant all the attention had gone to her…

But messing up the plan just for screen time wouldn’t be cool.

‘Still feels like we’re about to crash, though…’

Just as Raidel’s trust was starting to falter—

CLANG—!

A sharp metallic rattle echoed.

Suddenly, Raidel and Delbung’s speed dropped sharply—like someone had slammed on the brakes.

ZZZZZT—!

At the same moment, the drones charging in to fry them smacked right into each other mid-air.

“Ah! So that’s why you stayed behind!”

“It was all part of the plan.”

“Told you she was playing 4D chess, lol.”

“She had to be behind them to brake like that.”

“That was way too close.”

Raidel and Delbung had been in front, so naturally, they were the ones that drew the drones’ aggro first.

Silverhair, seeing this, timed the perfect pull on the chain.

That yank acted as a kind of emergency brake.

No player could’ve done that alone.

Everyone was effectively wearing roller skates—once you sped up, stopping was a whole ordeal.

That kind of abrupt stop was impossible solo.

But if you slowed down behind them, waited until the chain went taut, and then used a pull-skill—

“Lmao the drones crashed into each other.”

“So even the drones can collide, huh.”

“Even this janky game thought of that.”

The drones’ wings shattered as they collided.

Off-balance, they plummeted to the ground.

They bounced once…

KA-BOOM!

A massive explosion shook the screen.

Fragments of the shredded drones rained down, tapping gently on the characters’ bald heads.

“The drones exploded, lmao.”

“Never seen them blow up before.”

“Wait, does that mean no more drones?”

“One less obstacle to worry about, lol.”

“Right? Did she seriously calculate even that?”

Crashing two in-game objects together to blow them up.

Raidel had only ever thought about dodging the drones.

Now they were gone.

“Guys, this is huge. Without the drones, we don’t even have to use the boosters anymore!”

Speed booster pads.

If you stepped on one, you’d launch forward—making it nearly impossible to dodge the ground buzzsaws.

Up till now, they’d been forced to use them.

The only way to escape the drones’ crazy pursuit speed was to force a speed boost.

But now the drones were gone, their wreckage still smoldering.

Unless they pulled some resurrection trick, those drones weren’t coming back.

Which meant two of the three obstacles were basically eliminated.

With no drones, there was no reason to step on the boosters anymore.

Only the buzzsaws remained.

And if Silverhair kept up her current level of play—

They could totally clear this.

Or so they thought.

“Wha—why are you doing this?!”

Silverhair ran straight into the booster pad.

Dragging Raidel and Delbung’s characters along.

VROOOOM—!

As soon as they hit the pad, all three characters rocketed forward at max speed.

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TL Note:
“버스 타다” (lit. “ride the bus”) is slang in Korean gaming that means getting carried by someone else—i.e., doing nothing while someone more skilled clears the game for you. This running gag is part of the humor throughout these scenes.