Chapter 44: Breaking the Rules (3)

Clang!

The heavy clang of metal echoed sharply through the blacksmith’s shop.

At the moment the blacksmith put their entire strength into the final strike—

[You have successfully crafted the Legendary-grade item, ‘Kraken’s Greatsword’!]

Shwaaang!

With a dazzling violet effect, a system message popped up in front of her.

Yoo Seo-yeon lifted the massive greatsword high.

Its long, sleek blade gleamed with an ominous purple hue. Squirming patterns like living tentacles coiled around the entire weapon.

Embedded just above the guard was the Kraken’s Core, glowing brilliantly with the deep light of the ocean.

Just looking at it screamed: ‘I am a cursed sword!’

‘Gross.’

Well, it was made from kraken parts.

It looked damp, squirmy—just wrong in every way.

It even looked like it would feel sticky.

[“Whoa, that quality is insaneㄷㄷㄷ”]

[“That’s sick lolololol”]

[“Kya~”]

[“Bet tentacles shoot out when you hit with it lol”]

[“Weirdly… kinda hot.”]

[5000 won donated by ‘ILoveTentacles’!]

• “God-tier design, solid upvote.”

[“Nice”]

[“Good”]

[“Gochu”]

(TL note: 고츄 sounds very similar to “고추” (gochu), which is the Korean word for chili pepper but also a common slang term for p*nis. In chatrooms or game streams, people often use it jokingly or ironically—especially when others are praising or reacting to something cool, edgy, or masculine-looking (like a cursed sword with tentacles))

But the viewers were clearly into it.

That eerie, cosmic-horror-inspired design was apparently their taste.

“Seriously, you guys like this? Isn’t it disgusting?”

[“Nah, it’s sick.”]

[“Not gross at all? Not like it’s a gore pic or something.”]

[“Just looks like a tentacle sword, why are you freaking out?”]

Since the stream leaned heavily male, taste differences often showed up in weird ways.

“Even you, Silverhair? Isn’t this kind of…”

“I think it looks awesome.”

A satisfied smile played on Silverhair’s lips.

Ha-yoon had expected her to agree, since they were both women—but nope, even she liked the design.

[“LOL”]

[“It’s just Delbungie who has weird taste”]

[“Silverhair likes tentacles, noted.”]

[“That thing is a total flex item, fr”]

“But Raidel. Why?”

“Oh, no reason. I just… it looks cool now that I really see it. But still…”

Raidel trailed off.

Creepy or not, a new weapon was a good thing.

It would definitely be strong.

And once Kreetzone forged his, only two players in the entire server would own one.

No downside to that.

It could even help defeat that demon from the stars.

But if they couldn’t even open the door to reach it, it was all meaningless.

To get the access pass, they needed to collect 10 exchange materials first.

Procrastinating was pointless.

Only first place got rewards.

No silver medals.

A sinking dread filled her chest.

“Um, shouldn’t we… get going? Like, now?”

Raidel spoke up hesitantly.

“Other teams probably left a while ago to start gathering quest items…”

Her voice was full of worry and urgency.

Most of the other teams had four to five top-tier streamers grouped into parties.

Kreetzone had gathered ten Pixelwars streamers.

No wonder he was called the server king.

Meanwhile, Raidel’s team had… two people.

Technically enough to call it a “team” in the plural, but realistically?

Pathetic.

To gather ten materials with just two people, they’d have to run like their feet were on fire…

‘Wait. Did she give up already?’

No, even if they did run nonstop, they might already be too late.

Was Seo-yeon trying to give up and switch objectives?

Everyone else was scrambling to gather materials.

Trying a different route while others were focused might not be the worst idea.

[3000 won donated by ‘PiggyBank’!]

• “Looks like she gave up? That sucks though.”

[“Honestly, weren’t they doomed from the start?”]

[“Those materials are scattered across the whole map lol. How can two people ever get all of them?”]

[“What’s the point of having a god-tier sword when numbers win?”]

[“Just switch to comedy content ㅠㅜㅜㅜ”]

Even the chat had half given up.

Objectively speaking, this mission was impossible.

Raidel sighed, staring at the ten-item quest list filling her quest window.

The names alone were dramatic.

All of them sounded like a pain to get.

How were two people supposed to gather all this?

“Alright, then.”

Suddenly.

“Shall we go get it? The event reward.”

Still examining her greatsword, Seo-yeon spoke in an absurdly chill tone.

Her eyes were fixed on the very bottom of the complex quest list.

“Raidel.”

“Yes? Silverhair, tell me you have a plan—”

“Let’s go make this first.”

Seo-yeon smiled sweetly and pointed.

The last item on the collection list:

[Unstable Magic Core Bomb]

“…Huh?”

Raidel’s jaw dropped.

That was the last thing she’d expected.

All ten quest items were newly released just now.

No one could prep them in advance.

Except for one.

[Unstable Magic Core Bomb]

The name alone screamed “sketchy,” but Raidel knew what it was.

It was the only one of the ten you could pre-craft.

‘But no one would have, obviously.’

It was released in Week 3.

A bomb the size of a human torso.

Initially, it had insane attack power.

Ridiculous splash damage. Incredible raw power.

The downside? It damaged the user and their party.

Too heavy to throw far.

Using it meant blowing yourself up.

The devs figured, “Sure, it’s strong, but if you die using it, balance achieved, right?”

But humans adapt.

And streamers got creative.

• “I’ll go first!”

They formed suicide squads.

Inspired by old strategy games where infected units would self-destruct, this meta was born.

A few low-spec players would sacrifice themselves with the bomb.

The rest hid behind walls, then swooped in to finish the boss.

Genius strategy.

Completely broke the game.

Within two days, it was nerfed.

Massive damage reduction.

But added a powerful AoE taunt effect.

And,

[Movement speed -10% when carried]

To reflect how big and heavy it was, they added a speed penalty.

No one used it after that.

Even with its massive aggro draw, crafting it required a ton of materials.

And the constant 10% speed drop? Deal breaker.

No one made it.

‘Guess they threw it into the event just to reuse the model.’

Raidel thought of Zeronix, the server admin.

He probably didn’t want that lovingly modeled bomb to go to waste.

It was so troll-y, such a cursed item, that no one had bothered to craft it.

Which made it perfect for this event.

If no one had one ready, it wouldn’t matter that it was pre-craftable.

But that wasn’t the issue.

“Silverhair.”

“Yeah?”

“You do know it lowers your speed by 10%, right…?”

You’re gonna carry a speed-debuffed bomb while running all over the map to gather the other nine items?

In a timed, speed-focused quest?

‘It’s like starting a marathon with ankle weights!’

Every other team would save that bomb for last.

Because that was the rational move.

But Seo-yeon wasn’t rational.

“Yup. I know. Still gonna make the bomb first.”

[“?????????”]

[“Is this real?”]

[“LOL she’s really gonna run from the start with a speed debuff??????”]

[“Wow! Minus start! LOLOLOLOL”]

[“Why the heck would you run with ankle weights lol”]

[“Did Silverhair have sake with her sushi today or what…”]

[“I don’t get it at all.”]

Raidel’s chat was in chaos.

There was no logical way to understand this.

She wasn’t abandoning the event—so why go with the worst possible start?

“Speed… debuff is pretty bad… Won’t it make it harder to get the rest? Wouldn’t anyone save that for last?”

But Silverhair remained unfazed.

If anything, she looked confident.

“Let’s start with this.”

No long explanation, as always.

But her lazy tone held something undeniable.

Logic? Efficiency? This wasn’t about that.

This quest was doomed from the start.

Too few people. Terrible odds.

No way to win.

And yet…

Raidel thought of all the absurd stunts Seo-yeon had pulled before.

When everyone gave up, she always found a crazy way to make it work.

Exploiting loopholes. Genius strategies.

They never made sense at the time.

But she always won.

‘…Yeah.’

Raidel swallowed dryly.

‘We’re already guaranteed to lose like this. We’ve got nothing to lose.’

‘Might as well follow her lead.’

Even if she did want to ask for an explanation…

There was no time.

Speed was everything.

Every second wasted talking was one step behind.

Raidel made her decision.

“O-okay! Got it!”

She forced her usual bubbly tone.

“L-let’s start with the bomb~!”

Screw it.

Somehow, it would work out.

At this point, all she could do was trust in Seo-yeon’s instincts.