My fingers twitched against the edge of my desk, nails tapping like they were trying to dig through the wood... Of course, I’m not being a compassionate viewer who cheers for the streamer and hope the win their encounter with a mercenary, no, I’m more like... What do you say, curious, and stalking Hailie.
As the arrow didn’t do anything, they knew that they needed more extreme measures, so Pearl turned around and asked Rina to use Hail of Arrows, one of the Archer’s skill that has very good damage against armored/tanky opponent.
But even through the shaky stream and adrenaline, the stream all saw Rina hesitation flashing through, her bowstring quivering.
Of course she couldn’t, that move rained arrows down in a spread. Marc was practically chest-to-chest with the stranger in cloak, Mei was crumpled on the ground just a foot away, and even Hailie wasn’t far. Friendly fire was most definitely guaranteed into the package deal.
Rina’s voice finally cracked out.
"Pearl, do you have anything... anything at all to single her out?"
"No." Pearl’s reply was instant, cold, and too honest, "My spells will hit all of them. Mages’ kit are best used for PvE, not PvP"
The figure moved her hand, and I saw she changed the way she held her broadsword back to reverse grip. ᴛʜɪs ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ɪs ᴜᴘᴅᴀᴛᴇ ʙʏ novęlfire.net
Oh fucking god... That confirmed it.
The playstyle, the movements, the weapon of choice, her grip choice. It wasn’t some random cloaked mercenary. It wasn’t just another idiot hungry for a handful of coins...This was her.
There was only a handful of players ever matched me in hand-to-hand VR combat. This woman was one of them, maybe the only one who scared me when I thought about facing her in an actual duel.
She had made her name breaking the system. While everyone else used Paladins as tankers with partial healing and shielding, Valerie tore the class apart and rebuilt it as a frontline disruptor.
She stacked speed and damage until she turned the tank archetype into a predator, even though it was not optimized, she still managed to make herself known... Only god would know how tough she would be if she ever uses a real class.
She was the #12 all-time best player of all time, nicknamed Souls Player.
And now she was here, dressed as some dime-store mercenary, probably grinding gold to fund her insane playstyle.
I started typing fast into the stream chat.
[Don’t fight her, run.]
[Just fucking log out]
[What a fucking waste...]
Most of the chat were booing me off, and before I knew it, it was too late, Rina didn’t read my chat, too focused on the battle it seemed.
The cloaked woman’s gaze fell back on Pearl.
Her intent was unmistakable, a predator sizing up its prey. And to make it worse, she bent down, seizing his sister, Mei, who was still writhing on the ground, shin mangled and bleeding in a way that was too real. The sound of it made my stomach churn. Valerie didn’t hesitate. S
he drove her blade into Mei’s other leg.
The scream tore through the stream like it was right in my room, raw and ugly and painful to even hear, jesus christ... Just log out, where’s your shame, people?
Chat exploded into a frenzy of outrage that felt excessive but understandable.
[REPORT THIS MONSTER]
"Pearl," Valerie said, calm as ice, voice vibrating through my headset, "Turn yourself over. This can end quickly, I just need the money."
"We can pay you double the price." Pearl explained.
"That would be unprofessional of me." Valerie spoke.
After a long pause of consideration, Pearl’s eyes darted to Rina, his voice clipped and low.
"Marc, Mei, and Hailie are all over there. If I were to move in close then I will get her attention. That’s where you come in, " he jabbed a finger at Rina "... You must swoop in and save them, Hailie can heal Mei and after that, we run back to hideout, does that make sense?"
Rina nodded, lips pressed tight.
"I’m coming over! Leave my sister alone." Pearl raised both hands, stepping forward slow, deliberate, his staff lowered like a peace offering.
"As promised." Valerie shifted, loosening her grip on Mei, ready to shove her forward as collateral.
Alright, hostage trade, it’ll be over soon, I thought.
Hailie of all people, tiptoeing in behind Valerie like a schoolgirl trying to prank her teacher. She lifted her healing staff high and smashed it sideway against Valerie’s hood.
"No no no... Noooooo, urggg." I groaned and practically screamed at the monitor, hands clawing at my own hair.
The sound it made was pathetic, like hitting a rock with a stick, Valerie didn’t even flinch.
The chat lagged, everyone spamming strings of crying emojis, disbelief, clipped videos already being made of how crazily stupid Hailie acted.
"Oh... Um-" Hailie stammered as she spoke, voice shaky as we let out an awkward smile, "M-my heal’s on cooldown, I just... Mei’s in pain, and I was scared... Are you okay? I’m sorry, I just, did I hurt you?"
Her words was cut off with a sharp edge.
Valerie’s broadsword glinted through the screen, so fast the stream didn’t quite catch it, as. Hailie’s head rolled free from her shoulders, and her body dropped forward straight onto her staff.
The screams were ear-screeching, that of Marc’s, Rina’s, Mei’s flooded my headphones. The chat erupted like a riot, a storm of protest [WTF SHE’S DEAD?!] and [YOU TOOK THIS WAY TOO FAR] as the viewer count climbed past four fifty.
I didn’t panic, of course... I saw her recovering from worse injuries. After all, Hailie was invulnerable, she was Sonder’s little princess, the one no one could touch because her sister had coded her safety into the world itself. We (mostly me and enemy NPCs) had tested it dozens of times, she couldn’t die, not even get a scratch.
Her body lay there on the stream, limp, headless, blood pooling in grotesque detail. And then, like any other corpse in Darkmoon Adventure, her body shimmered, dissolved into faint particles of light, and vanished.
Only her clothes and items clattered to the ground.
My legs gave out before I realized I was standing. I hit the floor hard, chair rolling back. My whole body shook, mouth open but silent, because what sound could I possibly make when the impossible had just happened?
Hailie Sonder was dead.
"Eirlys... EIRLYS!" I yelled as I ran to leave the room.