Chapter 112: I’m determined to win

Tamurek was his other face. He existed under that name, both in the community and in the game.

He had pride.
A conviction in his rational judgment.

Even in communities overflowing with lies and manipulation, he could always gather information, filter it, and make sound judgments.

And his confidence in his top-tier Ori skills was also a source of his pride.

From his perspective—

There had been concerns recently about ‘Esmi Leah’ occupying too much space in the gallery.

The hacking accusations… were a settled matter.
The game company had made an official judgment, and he respected their decision.

However, he couldn’t help but feel a lingering sense of dissatisfaction. The original video, which could have been crucial to the decision-making process, had not been released, and the explanation remained somewhat abstract.

But he was a rational person, and for now, he had to accept it.

However, the skill issue was a different story. In his opinion, Esmi Leah was definitely overrated. As many had said, she fell short of Challenger level.

Her unusual play style simply took opponents time to adapt to. That was the more rational explanation for her recent high win rate.

Crucially, he had seen her giving feedback during a collaboration stream. Leah lacked a structural understanding of Ori, and she focused on irrelevant aspects instead of the core mechanics.

Well, even if he conceded that she possessed a certain level of skill, the validity of her success was a separate issue. Leah was a Vtuber.

The Vtuber format itself was predicated on anonymity and fantasy. Without revealing their face or identity, without even appearing before the public, they acted out emotions and manipulated relationships.

The essence of it was selling sexual fantasies.
Some called it ‘character,’ but ultimately, it was a cleverly packaged consumption structure.

And yet, there was no risk.
Within that framework, they could avoid judgments on their appearance, exposure of their private lives, and direct criticism.

Without bearing any of the burdens that real streamers faced, they reaped even greater attention and financial rewards.

That wasn’t fair.

So, Tamurek acted.

It was a form of feedback.
An act of directly intervening and balancing out incorrect standards and distorted perceptions.

He wasn’t new to this.

He’d tracked the gameplay of high-tier streamers who were excessively glorified or overrated relative to their actual skill, joining their teams to verify their weaknesses. Sometimes, he faced them as opponents to confirm their objective skill level.

He didn’t call it sniping. It was observation, experimentation, and an act of teaching a lesson.

And in this process, he didn’t bother hiding himself.

Of course, he used multiple accounts.

It was difficult to disrupt things if he only used the same ID in the same time slot.

But the name was always ‘Tamurek.’
Whether followed by numbers or hyphens, he never concealed the core.

It was a kind of message.
That he could speak his mind, revealing who he was, without hiding behind anonymity.

Any criticism, any observation,
He always did it under the name ‘Tamurek.’

That’s why he was reliable and consistent.
Or so he believed.

○ Cubaver (Blood Knight/Protector): If you’re just going to feed, could you please open your own window and do it…
○ RapidBilly (Musketeer/Executor): What a f*cking
*sshole.
○ Donggeurico (Alchemist/Originator): Should we go next game?

The game was slipping away.

Their Berserker ally, ‘Tamurek19,’ wasn’t just mindlessly throwing himself into danger. There were flashes of brilliance.

He’d sneak in and steal kills that allies had almost secured. He’d identify the location of the under-leveled enemy Tracker and offer himself as prey. He’d disrupt the flow of battle at the most crucial moments in large-scale fights.

With a precision unbefitting his rank, he was trolling in the most devastating way possible.

“Haa… You just saw. On the battlefield… judgment often takes precedence over skill. Within range… I identified the priority target… that’s why the Water Spirit’s power could dwell in my leap…”

• Wow… That escape was crazy.

• How did she survive? ㄷㄷ

• Can’t the enemy team catch that? lol

• They probably didn’t expect her to get a kill and run away with that sliver of health.

• If it’s that hard, just say the skill name lol

• Why add extra words when “Springwater Leap” is only two words lol

• There’s a reason she goes silent when playing Spirit Ranger lol

• But it looks hard to win ㅜ

• Ha… Sniper, let’s try to play properly now.

Leah had barely escaped with her life. It was hard to see it as a turning point. Soon, the defeat notification sounded once more.

[Gloomy has slain Tamurek19.]

• Ah….

• What a guy you want to kill.

• Doesn’t he get banned for that?

• Can’t a Master carry with a troll?

• What more can Leah even do here…

“Huu…”

Leah took a ragged breath.

Nominally, it was a lecture stream. Winning wasn’t strictly necessary.

But she wanted to show victory to the many new viewers seeing her play for the first time. She now knew that when viewers judged skill, they looked at the result before considering the technical aspects of gameplay.

There was also a touch of anger. That Tamurek guy was desecrating the battlefield.

Back when she used the Archer, she hadn’t avoided dangerous close-quarters combat either. But those had been choices made in the heat of the moment, driven by immersion. Her fighting spirit had been genuine.

Further in the past, she’d faced demons who used underhanded tactics. But at least they fought. From the flanks, from behind, they still moved to defeat her.

But to choose death without even fighting, like Tamurek,
To treat the match like a toy under the pretense of being skilled,
It wasn’t even a fight; it was meaningless destruction.

So, she resolved to seize victory.

Sensing that someone on her team had a premonition of their final moments in the next engagement—Leah focused even more intensely.

The weight of the battle shifted.

She parried sword strikes, redirected magic, and disrupted timings.

One by one, she pushed back against the relentless pressure.

The elemental attributes imbued in her arrows flowed organically, scattering the enemy’s skills to no effect.

While everyone else fell, she remained standing,
And with each step, she advanced.

The tide of defeat halted.
Momentum began to shift.

Her allies, who had been holding the last line of defense, gradually pushed forward… and now, they stood at the enemy’s inner defenses.

“Haa… Heut… When there are many enemies, it’s about rhythm; when there are few, it’s about… breathing. Rhythm comes from clashes with external forces, and breathing starts with your own pace. Just now… From the start of the battle, I had to keep in mind not one, but three steps… One as I entered, one as I turned, and a final one for the enemy who stopped…”

Her mouth was dry. Her breath was ragged, and the surface of her consciousness wavered.

But she didn’t stop.
She had to give the lecture.

Even now, countless people were watching her every move.

So, she spoke.
But coherent sentences wouldn’t form.

She simply followed the flow she was accustomed to.

She wasn’t even looking at the chat window now.

“Heut… That’s how you disrupt the enemy’s balance… and in that gap, you breathe life. Awakening is the moment the spirit raises its head. But it doesn’t linger… So you have to move one beat faster, and turn one beat earlier…”

An explanation of how to maintain Awakening, something many Spirit Ranger players struggled with. It would have been very helpful.

• Lol

• Ha… Leah, do you want to see me lose my mind?

• You tempted me first, you tempted me first, you tempted me first.

• I have no f*cking clue what she’s saying, but it sounds nice so thumbs up lol

• I think Spirit Ranger should always be played with lectures…

• Real-time lecture evaluations skyrocketing.

• Uh-huh….

• 1. Thoroughly cleans Leah.

• Ah… I just came back, and Leah is doing this again?

• Kyaaaaaack Come here~ Come here~ Come here~

• The newbies will be surprised by the level of Pia comments lol

• Yoon Chaedam newbie here, does she always do this while gaming?;; She’s good, but… She’s better at lecturing than gaming…

• Seems like she’s blending in well with the Pias lol

• Even newbies can’t resist ASMR lol

• What if she does this the whole game, Leah? Let me live… It’s too much for me…

The tide of battle had completely turned. The fight now raged deep within enemy territory.

The Gladiator with the greatsword charged first.

With a roar that tore through the air, he dominated the field of vision without hesitation.

The Dark Knight followed, shield raised, trying to block the angles of Leah’s arrows, and the Puppeteer’s threads were cleverly positioned on the left side of the battlefield.

On one side, a Mystic wreathed in starlight. A Rogue and a Musketeer darted between them, preparing to disrupt.

Their momentum, their positioning, it was all perfect.

…But now, Leah knew.

The crack in this formation—
Stemmed from Tamurek, whose patterns she had now completely grasped.

He would die at this timing. He would intentionally expose himself to the enemy Musketeer.

He always did that. Aiming for the moment most detrimental to his allies, disrupting their center of gravity. That was his method.

Leah changed direction. Towards where he was.

The Gladiator’s sword whistled past her.
Just then, Tamurek fell.
Exactly as predicted.

The enemy Musketeer aimed their scope behind his corpse, and the Puppeteer pushed their puppets into the newly created gap.

At that precise moment, Leah threw herself into the line of fire.
The single point of descent, momentarily opening up on the battlefield.

“Now.”

The Water Spirit responded, and like gliding across the surface of water, she slipped between them.