Season 5: Chapter 141. The Knight Order Comes Alive (2)

Despite their name, Team Magical Girls was evaluated as one of the stronger Cheese teams. Some teams performed worse than in scrimmages. Conversely, others performed better than expected.

Magical Girls was neither. Their initial evaluation carried through intact.

Miho boasted a Platinum rank in Siege and Diamond tier 1 in Survival. StrawberryShooter was Master in Siege and Diamond in Survival. CutiePie, despite being Silver, showed surprising Survival talent. Cream Puff was a Grandmaster. Plus, Soboru was ranked Platinum.

They possessed very stable LIL skills, which was their team’s defining characteristic. So far, their scrimmage results against unknown opponents were quite good.

Magical Girls placed first, third, second, and fourth in their matches. They'd taken first place in the opening game. After that, their rank never dropped below fourth. Their stable rankings exactly matched their initial predictions.

The team's coach, Sardine, was reasonably satisfied.

'If we just topple the Nonghyup team, we might go first overall.'

If they could knock down the Nonghyup team, which was (very surprisingly) playing the best right now, maybe they themselves could win first.

"Oh NOOOOO!!" Sardine screamed while watching game five.

Bang!

[First Blood!]

[DumbYoungMan → StrawberryShooter]

The Knight Order had caught them in a flanking pincer. Magical Girls was heading toward near-total annihilation. Almond had killed StrawberryShooter, their damage dealer. This was the first indication of just how impossibly twisted the situation had become.

[Miho: Oh!? O-oppa!!]

[Soboru: Damn when did they die??]

[CutiePie: KYAAAA! ANOTHER! ANOTHERRRR!!]

The voice chat had no calls, just screams.

— lmaooooo

— CutiePie cracking LOL

— Another one??

— Done...

— It's not another...

— Is that the whole Knight Order?

This team wouldn’t normally panic in combat. They thought two different teams had flanked them and were overreacting.

[Cream Puff: Another! Ano... hm!? It's not a different team! It's a split!]

The only one keeping her head was Grandmaster Cream Puff. She noticed it was the same team, but it was already too late.

[Miho: A-Almond! Almond oppa came! We're...]

Bang!

Almond pushed forward almost like a bruiser and kept landing arrows.

Bang!

[DumbYoungMan Double Kill!]

[DumbYoungMan → Miho]

'Damn.'

Coach Sardine clicked her tongue.

'The raw combat power makes no sense.'

She could feel it as she watched her own team get destroyed. Slipping that one big magic attack at first, then diving into the formation together and creating complete chaos. At minimum, the physicality alone was not at an amateur level.

'Could other Challengers do something like this...?'

Was there a player who could do this? The thought even crossed her mind. This sharpness hadn’t been seen in previous scrimmages.

Takoyaki watched from beside her. "The Almond from the streamer tournament is coming alive."

"... Is, is that right? Ha. Damn. Troublesome."

Those words were too frightening for anyone from another team to hear.

"Hm?"

Takoyaki scoffed. "Just the streamer tournament Almond and that's troublesome?"

"?"

"Be grateful the world champion Almond isn't showing up."

— ?

— Does he think he's Almond?

— Almond's dad?? lmaooo

— lmaooo Almond pride lmaooo

— What lmaooo

Viewers laughed at Takoyaki's exaggerated tone, but it was true. Takoyaki had expertise in Civil Empire too, so he understood the difference clearly.

'Almond at the world championship was a completely different person.'

The resolve he’d brought was on a different level. That degree of skills probably wouldn't emerge in an event match like this.

'But you never know...'

Almond had come alive this much through Sa-Rang's adjustments alone. If something else stimulated him, that Almond could appear. No, actually, Takoyaki wanted to see it once.

'This man... what would he be like in LIL?'

If that Almond came to LIL, how much would he do? As someone who genuinely loved LIL, he was curious.

"Oh? Is that right? World champion Almond?"

Someone cut in while the two were talking. "I've always wondered what the world champion Almond would be like in LIL? I would love to see it."

Green Beans, the coach of Nonghyup & Partners, was (astonishingly) leading the overall rankings in the current scrimmage. His nickname, Green Beans, was simply because he was short.

"You just thought I was short, didn't you?"

"No?"

"Really? Funny, I was thinking you were bald."

"What the..."

— What the?!

— LOL

— This is a classic variation

— Bean man!

— lmaooooo

Green Beans approached with his small frame, crossed his arms, and raised his chin. "Anyway, I want to see it. That famous world champion Almond."

Seeing Green Beans posing dramatically, Takoyaki said, "You won't get an edit cut doing that. Too small to be seen."

"So you WERE thinking I was short!"

— One shot to shut him up

— Beating down short people is something Almond also has a knack for...

— You have to watch out for bald guys

— Too small lmaooo

— ??? Small, genuinely small

"Ahhh!" Sardine clutched her head and collapsed.

[Team Magical Girls Out!]

Magical Girls had been eliminated in 10th place.

— Wow

— 10th lmaooooo

— Wow...

— What the?!

— This...

— One game is fine

— Give what you've gotta give~

— Tough luck

Magical Girls fans took it lightly, saying one game was fine.

The coaches were different. They recalled someone's earlier declaration.

Green Beans, in particular, fanned the flames first. "Wow. Saying you'll get first place and then getting first place isn't easy."

Coach Sa-Rang had declared getting first place in advance. Then, she changed the entire team composition and positions.

"It might actually happen? They got kills in a split run. Something definitely changed, clearly."

Without even an adjustment period, the Knight Order was dominating from the start.

"This is a bit of a threat."

Everyone silently swallowed because they agreed with Green Beans's words on multiple levels.

'A coach who's not even playing directly declaring first place... That's no ordinary level of boldness.'

Sa-Rang's first-place declaration was a psychological threat to every coach here.

'Their momentum right now is insane.'

'That battle just now was... on another level.'

'Is the Knight Order finally revealing itself...?'

They felt threatened that the dormant high-tier team was awakening.

***

"INSANE! Knight Order!"

"That was beautiful! Bro!"

"This is the split!"

Clap!

The Knight Order wiped out the first team they encountered. Like long-separated family members reuniting, the two-person and three-person groups happily high-fived each other.

"Hey! Gyuri! That magic was sick!"

"Unnie~ your magic was sick too~! I have no idea why we're doing magic though..."

— Wow what a total wipe

— LOL she said “why magic? I have no idea”

— Almond lmaooo

— Magical girl OUT!

— King God Split

— This is the split

Before even fully savoring the great victory, Almond said, "Now, let's scatter again."

"Oh, yes, sir!"

Their brief regroup had been for combat. That engagement was raw combat with no rune harvesting beyond the experience.

Lemon and Almond separated and ran off again.

[Lemon: Two-person team already at level 2.7.]

[Sweet Radish: Okay. We're right at level 2.]

Soon, the two-person team would quickly hit level three.

[Lemon: We'll go this way. They said to develop the Red Turtle side.]

[Sweet Radish: Okay~ good call~]

Almond wanted to eat big and go in. Sweet Radish wanted to take measured steps. With the early game going well, their judgments increasingly overlapped.

[Lemon: We're level 3! But there's no rune monster on the route! Did you contract on your side?]

[Sweet Radish: Yeah! We killed the rune monster. Sweet Potato will do it.]

[Sweet Potato: Oh! Damn! Iron Ball!!!~]

— lmaooooo

— Even the luck LOL

— This is working!

— Bubblegum byebye

The three-person team quickly acquired a lower ranked rune from the Vault. Sweet Potato contracted as Iron Ball. It went fairly smoothly.

[Lemon: Ah! Almond oppa! Where are you going!? You guys come quick! Quick!]

The second he heard the Iron Ball contract news, Almond bolted as if he'd become Iron Ball himself.

"The Red Turtle is getting eaten!"

Shockingly, other enemy teams had matched their speed and were attempting the Red Turtle. Its health was getting chipped away at an unusual rate.

The enemies had also reached level two. The secret was their champion.

'A carry first?'

The enemy teams had contracted carries that Almond hadn't seen in a while.

Carries generally couldn't deal damage in the early game, except for two. Those who dealt damage specifically when hunting monsters in the early game. One enemy champion was Biker Gang Paul. This aggressive alpha male used a shotgun up close, barely appropriate to call it a carry.

The other enemy champion was Raina.

'Raina!'

Raina entered Almond's vision.

— Wow

— Raina?

— Why is the ex-girlfriend...

— Uh oh

— The lip thief is going out~

— LOL

— They're playing Raina!?

Almond's viewers all got excited because Raina was difficult to use due to proficiency issues. In a game against Almond, someone else had picked Raina?

'The two-person group was told to avoid combat...'

However, this was a challenge.

Flash!

A spark lit in Almond's eyes.

"Picking Raina?"

— Touching the alpha's roster!?

— What the?!

— Too good to give away!

— Then why don't you pick her yourself lmaooo

— A bit annoying

— She's laughing with another man...

Almond considered avoiding this challenge, but decided against it. No, he judged that he couldn't.

[Red Turtle]

[HP: 19%]

The Red Turtle was about to be taken. Raina's combo had stacked quite high.

"Oppa! R-Raina's combo is...!"

Lemon, who'd followed, was also flustered. Not only had she not anticipated Raina, but the combo being stacked that high meant the Red Turtle was nearly dead. That was even more surprising.

"What should we do? Should we wait for the others to join?"

"No, no time."

Almond judged that they couldn't lose the Turtle. No matter how good the early start was, it was meaningless if they couldn't parlay that advantage to include the Red Turtle.

"I'll break the combo."

Lemon was flustered. "Hm? How!? Freezing doesn't break it either!"

'Ice? Wind? Wh-what do I use?'

Even after blowing Raina far away or freezing her, Raina could resume her combo with the next arrow. Raina had to miss the target.

"Ugh. Then what do I..."

"Handle it." Almond slid down on one knee beneath the bushes.

Hissssss!

He drew his bow.

Creeeak.

He pulled the string taut, his target reflecting in his pupils. It wasn't Zelo.