Chapter 12: Last Stage (3)

Silverhair’s sudden move.

Instead of taking the relatively easier path, she dove straight onto the booster pad.

“Why take the spiky road on purpose, lololol.”

“Those booster pads are fast as f*ck.”

“It’s accelerating even more than I expected, lol.”

“But I guess you need that much speed to dodge the pursuit drones.”

“The scenery’s just whizzing by, lol.”

A new problem had emerged.

Maybe it was because the pursuit drones had sped up—

But now, even the speed from the booster pad was significantly faster than usual.

Sure, if the drones were faster, it only made sense that you’d need more speed to outrun them.

But with the scenery rushing past in a blur, Raidel felt like closing her eyes and giving up.

“Silverhair, wait! Stop!”

Raidel yelled desperately.

But Silverhair wasn’t even watching her stream to begin with.

And trying to say something through chat… well, Silverhair had told her to just hold down the forward key.

“No need to press forward if you’re on a booster pad.”

“Say what you want, Delbung.”

“You don’t have to hold forward during max acceleration anyway.”

Chat messages from viewers—some watching another stream, some who’d played the stage themselves.

“Oh, really?”

During booster acceleration, letting go of the forward key didn’t change your speed.

Plenty of other streamers had encountered booster pads before.

It was just that none of them had ever faced this kind of triple-trap combo.

Raidel carefully took her hand off the arrow key.

[Raidel: Silverhair.]

[Raidel: I, um, I don’t mean to be a pain.]

[Raidel: But could we maybe slow down?]

[Raidel: If we keep this up, we’re gonna die~]

It wasn’t that she didn’t trust Silverhair’s skill.

But this was the final stage.

One slip-up, and it was straight back to the beginning.

Why force a risky play when they could just play it safe?

[Silverhair: If we don’t use the booster]

[Silverhair: My ramen will get soggy.]

[Silverhair: And soggy ramen is gross.]

[Silverhair: This is precious ramen……]

“Wait—she was serious about the ramen? lolol”

“I thought that was just a joke.”

“Nah, respect. Ramen’s sacred, lol.”

“It really is gross when it gets soggy.”

Raidel’s hands went limp on the keyboard.

The track was ridiculously long, probably to account for the booster speed.

But still… for that reason?

“…She’s not even joking, huh.”

It didn’t feel like dealing with a normal person anymore. It felt like watching a mad genius.

Anyone else and Raidel wouldn’t believe it—but if it was Silverhair? Yeah. She probably meant it.

《₩5,000 donation from user “HwanggapYellowy”!》

• Ramen’s best when it’s all mushy… like porridge… hehe

“Ugh, gross.”

“Okay, that username checks out.”

“Please leave the stream, sir.”

“How is he even typing right now?”

“Yeah, seriously, how is she typing mid-dodge?”

“Honestly more curious about Yellowy at this point.”

“Right? How is she managing to dodge buzzsaws and type at the same time?”

The scenery around them streaked by like afterimages.

Even at this insane speed,

Silverhair was avoiding every single buzzsaw that popped up from the ground.

That alone was impressive—but typing chat messages while doing that?

It felt like watching a circus act.

“Well… guess I don’t need to worry about her ramen going soggy.”

Whatever else you said, her skill was real.

As long as nothing went wrong, a hyper-speed clear wasn’t out of reach.

As long as nothing went wrong.

“…Wait. Am I seeing things? Didn’t those drones explode earlier? Why are they back…?”

At this point, the game should’ve let them clear.

But clearly, the developers had no such intention.

At the finish line, something shot toward them, crackling with blue sparks.

The pursuit drones—ones they thought were totally wrecked.

“Resurrected drones, lolol.”

“The devs really don’t know when to stop, huh.”

“Were there always this many?”

“Looks like there are more than before.”

“No, c’mon, this is just too much!”

“Zapping drones charging in again, yeah this is overkill.”

“Seriously, lmao.”

Whether they respawned or were just scripted to appear again—

They definitely looked more numerous than before.

‘Let’s try the brake strat again…’

The technique that took out the first wave of drones.

Force a sudden stop so they crash into each other.

Unless the drone AI had been updated in real time, it should still work.

“Wait, is that a whole second wave?”

“They’re coming in staggered now, lolol.”

“Bro that’s just evil.”

But the devs had something worse in mind.

The drones didn’t charge in all at once.

They came at them in waves, spaced out just enough to be a nightmare.

“How are you even supposed to dodge that?”

“There’s no way, man…”

“That’s just messed up.”

‘If it’s staggered like that…’

Then the brake trick wouldn’t work.

The brake technique only worked with some momentum—not during full acceleration.

Even if you dodged the first group, the next wave would zap you mid-reset.

And more importantly—

There was a bigger problem.

“Isn’t there any way to brake out of this?”

“They’re literally still on the booster, though?”

“How would you stop?”

“You literally can’t brake right now.”

‘Oh—crap.’

In all the chaos, she’d forgotten:

If you were just cruising at mid-speed, you could still pull off the drone crash trick.

But they’d hit the booster pad.

Now they were moving at max velocity.

At this speed, slowing down fast enough just wasn’t possible.

‘This is… kind of bad.’

The drones were coming head-on. Dodging was out of the question.

The brake trick wasn’t going to work either.

And even if it did, the next wave would fry them.

A complete trap.

An unsolvable scenario.

A stage where dodging was literally impossible.

“At least make it possible to clear…”

“Are they just telling us to roll dice and hope we win?”

“Just get shocked and pray the buzzsaws miss, huh.”

“Right? Isn’t this a bit much?”

Sure, people liked difficulty. Watching streamers suffer was part of the fun.

But people also wanted to see them eventually succeed.

Even the viewers were getting annoyed.

And then—

‘She’s… moving backward?’

Silverhair began to reduce her speed and drift back.

Even while on a booster pad, you could slow down slightly.

You couldn’t brake by letting go of forward—but pressing ↓ did reduce your speed a little.

A kind of soft brake.

Slowing down like that,

She began to form the same V-formation they’d used when she destroyed the first drones.

“Is she gonna make them crash again?”

“But like, how is she gonna stop this time?”

“They’re moving way too fast now.”

“Wouldn’t that just cause a head-on crash instead?”

‘Yeah, seriously…’

Even the chat—and Raidel—were confused.

Silverhair was slowing down and falling back.

But at max velocity, slowing down still took time.

This wasn’t like the first time.

‘Even if they crash, she’ll still get stunned.’

The brake technique she used earlier was basically a miracle.

Perfect timing, so the drones collided just before touching her.

But if she mistimed it even a little now—she’d get shocked.

And a 10-second stun meant losing all control.

With no way to dodge the incoming buzzsaws.

That’s what made this a checkmate situation.

‘What if all three of us braked at once?’

Raidel had a thought.

The only chance they had.

Last time, it was Silverhair alone who pulled the brake.

This time, all three of them could do it together.

Silverhair braking behind, while she and Delbung No.3 slowed down in front.

If all three worked together, maybe they could reduce speed enough.

‘It’s a long shot.’

Even she knew it was a stretch.

Could they even stop in time?

And even if they did manage to stop and blow up one wave—

They’d still get zapped by the next.

But right now, this was the only strategy she could think of.

‘She said I had an important role.’

Silverhair had told her she had a job to do midway.

Maybe this was it.

‘It’s not even anything fancy…’

No amazing moves, no elite skills. Just one brake tap.

Just hit the ↓ key at the right time.

It didn’t feel important—but maybe…

‘The last scene is the highlight, after all.’

The drones rushing in now had to be the final obstacle.

If she did something in that last moment—even if it was small—maybe it’d still look cool.

Expecting a signal from Silverhair, Raidel waited for the cue.

When to hit the brake. Anything.

‘But… why is it so quiet?’

The drones were nearly on top of them.

But the game chat was dead silent.

Silverhair said nothing.

“10 seconds till impact!”

“Wait—she’s not dodging?!”

“They’re gonna crash!”

“Did Silverhair give up?”

It looked like it was over.

ZZZZZING!

A buzzsaw popped up right in front of her.

Before the drones could get her, the buzzsaw struck Raidel square in the body.

ZZZZZZZT—!

She was launched into the air the moment it hit.

“AHHHH! WE’RE SCREWED!”

Raidel screamed.

She’d been at full speed when she got hit.

Thankfully, it was a small buzzsaw, not a giant one.

So while she got airborne, it wasn’t enough to knock her totally off course.

‘So she is human after all…’

Silverhair had made a mistake.

That thought crossed Raidel’s mind.

After all the miracle-level moves—was this the limit of her focus?

She was lucky it wasn’t a huge buzzsaw, or else it would’ve been game over.

If this was a concentration slip, though…

Then there’d be no way to avoid the incoming drones.

CLANG—!

A metallic clink behind her.

She was airborne and couldn’t move—but Silverhair, who was behind, still had control over the chain.

She must be trying to keep her from drifting too far off-track.

Or so Raidel thought—

Until the chain yanked tight, and her character whipped to the side.

Right into the middle of the incoming swarm of drones.

“Wait—what?!”

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TL Note:
“예토전생” (ye-to-jeon-saeng) is a slang term referencing the anime Naruto, where a forbidden jutsu brings dead characters back to life. Here it’s used sarcastically to describe the drones’ return, like they’ve been magically resurrected.