Chapter 271 – Harmony Inbound
“Ugh, lost again! Come on!”
Dice, a professional gamer under SSM Entertainment, placed 5th in her first match on the third day.
Her action of kicking off the thin blanket while screaming as she got up from bed was truly a sight to behold, but she couldn’t help it. The matchups in top-tier battles were literally determined by luck.
The Final Championship was an overwhelmingly large tournament, and everyone naturally played it safe. As a result, there were often 30-40 players swarming before reaching the second-to-last kill zone, but by the time they reached the final kill zone, only about ten players remained.
At the point where death itself was approaching directly from behind, there was no time to choose an opponent, and in the midst of a bloody fight where the victor of one skirmish could become a corpse within seconds, Dice managed to claw her way through.
‘…I was really startled when I suddenly heard a sound from the balcony above my head.’
Of course, she calmly fired nanites above her head, melting the platform and causing the enemy to scream and fall, whom she then knocked out with her rifle butt and used as a meat shield.
Anyhow, after successfully overcoming a battle that was a challenge in itself, she returned to the main topic – this match was unlucky for her.
With only five players left, Dice encountered Yoo Jin, who was armed with a foam launcher.
“I thought I had a good chance to win, but… seriously, this is ridiculous.”
Lying sprawled on her bed, Dice began to replay the match in her head.
Saying she had a chance wasn’t entirely wrong. The nanite launcher Dice had chosen could dismantle the artificial cover created by Yoo Jin’s polyurethane foam within seconds.
But there was no way Yoo Jin didn’t know this. The fact that the person who taught Dice everything was now pointing a gun at her was already disastrous enough.
The summary of their acrobatic combat spectacle was as follows.
“Seriously, how am I supposed to beat Yoo Jin in a brawl without any skills….”
Yoo Jin created cover, and it was effective.
Dice fired nanites at it, and that too was effective.
But Yoo Jin had foam grenades, while Dice didn’t have nanite grenades. In fact, such things didn’t even exist. Ultimately, Dice ran out of her canisters, and the ensuing result was predictable.
Despite fighting desperately, the cover she could hide behind had long been mostly melted away by her own hand, and it was challenging to withstand the barrage of attacks that followed.
And if that were the end of it,
“Shooting a gun and throwing grenades at the same time, isn’t that too much of a cheat?”
Holding her gun firmly with both hands, Yoo Jin deftly threw a grenade she had wrapped around her tail. The metallic sound of the pin being pulled was drowned out by the gunfire, and the trajectory was obscured by the muzzle flash spewing in all directions.
The next thing that happened didn’t need much explanation. The tremendous explosion and shockwave shook her body. If she had saved the nation in her previous life, she might not have been knocked over, but unfortunately, she wasn’t that fortunate.
The last thing Dice saw before she was flung sideways as if punched in the side was Yoo Jin approaching up close, and at that moment, she lost all will to live.
Of course, it wasn’t like reality or scrim where she could chat comfortably.
Dice was hit in the head with a lead bullet and ejected to the lobby, finding herself in this situation.
“I couldn’t respond properly, that’s my fault.”
She had seen people use foam grenades quite a few times.
Although she had considered countermeasures, if she couldn’t respond properly in the actual tournament, it was meaningless. The only consolation was that there was no need to waste time on pointless debriefings. The reason for her death was clear to anyone who saw it.
Feeling groggy from lying down for so long, Dice got up thinking she should drink some water, and various notifications popped up on her terminal.
One particular notification caught her eye.
-[Notification: Partner Streamer Showdown! Starts in 10 minutes!]
“…Oh, right, there was that.”
Recently, Harmony hadn’t been preparing… not really.
In fact, she’d been scrimming with the five Korean representatives, always serving as an excellent reference material. Although this time she crossed over to the U.S. as a partner streamer unrelated to the Korean team, as Yoo Jin’s top disciple, she had never been completely overwhelmed in scrims.
In that regard, there was no need to doubt Harmony’s skills. Even Dice occasionally fell victim to the traps Harmony set. The real curiosity was the skills of the partner streamers from other countries.
But this wasn’t something to think about too seriously. Just a simple thought that they would do well enough.
What she needed to check was when it started and ended.
“They’re doing it right after the Final Championship.”
So there was no worry about missing it.
Having placed all the puzzle pieces in their original positions, Dice leisurely lay down and fiddled with the holographic projector, which then displayed the Final Championship match on the wall.
There were only three players left. Dice glanced over at Yoo Jin, still lying in bed.
On the screen, Yoo Jin was fighting Logan.
If she couldn’t win, she would at least cheer for her. If it were a streaming match instead of a tournament, she’d have donated about 50,000 won and threatened, “If you lose, I’ll touch your tail,” but unfortunately, that would have to wait until the next match.
First, she needed to inform Harmony that she would soon be participating in the Partner Streamer Showdown.
“So, good luck. Hurry up and get first place.”
Did that encouragement reach her?
“Excuse me, are you by any chance the Korean streamer Harmony?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
“I knew it! I’ve been watching your videos on Yourspace whenever they come up. I even watched the edited version of the main missions you played with Yoo Jin until I memorized them.”
“Oh, uh, thank you…?”
The Partner Streamer Showdown.
A friendly match where partner streamers from various countries gathered in New York. Following the terrifyingly intense Final Championship, this event smoothly absorbed the viewers who were trying to leave after watching the main event.
Of course, given the grandeur of the main event, the number of viewers for this was less than 10% of the total viewers of the Final Championship, but that still amounted to tens of millions. The number of viewers gathered here was comparable to the total population of some countries.
With colorful advertisements plastered everywhere, about a hundred streamers mingled, chatting with acquaintances – in this sense, the Partner Streamer Showdown was akin to a festival.
And among them was Harmony.
She was receiving numerous requests for handshakes, something she hadn’t expected.
“What the heck is going on….”
Only the person herself didn’t know. Harmony was one of the most spotlighted streamers at that moment.
With an Omega Rank insignia and a Domination Mode TIER 1 badge on her shoulder. While the former carried more weight, the latter was also something Harmony couldn’t even dream of before meeting Yoo Jin.
Anyway, the countless footprints she left behind had caused a strange chemical reaction, placing Harmony right at the center of attention today.
Of course, such attention didn’t always flow in a good direction.
“How does she look on the outside? She doesn’t seem that special.”
“You never know. Guessing the contents before opening the box is foolish… but I’m not entirely against it.”
People tend to be most confident and prone to drawing unfounded wrong conclusions when they have limited information about a specific area.
And Harmony had already scattered enough preliminary keywords to trigger such reactions everywhere – to those who knew nothing about the process or didn’t care, it might seem like Harmony was simply lucky to ride a bus to this point.
Like all origins of the world’s events, that statement wasn’t entirely wrong. When she broke the Omega Rank and was hanging out with Yoo Jin, her skills weren’t that outstanding.
But the truth was always a few steps away from what people firmly believed – and that was something people easily overlooked.
And Harmony had no reason to correct that fact.
She was ready to remove any obstacle in her way.
-Ladies and gentlemen, we hope your favorite streamer performs well over the next three matches that will run until Friday! The game starts now-!
A hundred users boarded a transport plane crossing the skies of the port city Tannhäuser, waiting to drop. With a heavy BGM, the lower hatch of the transport plane opened, and many people jumped one after another. Harmony joined the line, stepping towards the gradually approaching ground.
There was no tension. She had already practiced hundreds of times with the Korean soloing representatives. Probably none of the 100 users scattered across Tannhäuser could match Harmony’s amount of practice.
Barely a few minutes after touching down, gunshots and rising kill logs could be heard from all directions.
Ignoring all of that, she fought at her own pace.
‘…It’s hard for me to show explosive moves like the representative players….’
Yoo Jin had chosen Harmony as a whetstone to sharpen the Korean representatives, and through that process, she herself became an incomparable quality whetstone.
Harmony started moving in earnest when the Skill Activation Zone appeared.
-[Notification: Skill Activation Zone is now operational.]
-[Notification: Distance to the current activation zone – 162m.]
Inside the multipurpose pouch, grenades were securely fastened to Molly’s grenade pocket.
However, there were 8 grenades, double the standard carrying amount of 4. Grenades were justice, and Harmony was ready to use them more correctly than anything else.
And this fact shone more each time the hyenas slowly gathered towards the Skill Activation Zone.
-Clatter!
“What the, suddenly-”
Boom!
The lives of users settled near the Skill Activation Zone in Tannhäuser slowly but surely flickered out like candle flames.
Harmony’s disadvantage was her difficulty in rapid movement compared to Korean users, but this conversely meant she could play with precision and stealth. Combining this advantage with her thorough knowledge of the map, Harmony became a reaper, and this was the result.
──Boom!
“Aaah-!”
Another unfortunate victim crossed the river to the lobby.
The green cat perched at the best vantage point to observe the users coming and going from the Skill Activation Zone. The fishing line in her hand glimmered eerily under the dim light.
From the door.
From the floor.
From the window frame.
Grenades, which could be detached from the safety handle with a slight movement, could appear from anywhere.
As the grenade kill count with Harmony’s name on it continued to rise, all the users safely observing the kill log started chuckling one by one.
“…Where is she causing all this chaos?”
But those witnessing the facts were far away from Harmony, and those who needed to realize it were too close to Harmony.
By the time a warehouse overlooking the Skill Activation Zone had turned into a massive monster’s nest devouring people, a user stepped inside.
His movements were swift and unhesitant. The shield from the ICARUS Gear could thoroughly protect against any physical impact below its threshold, so he began his search operation without considering possible traps.
And mint-colored eyes watched this scene from a safe place.
“They’re all so careless.”
Normally that would be expected, but Harmony never intended to become ordinary.
And that was her goal.
If sending one person to the lobby might result in complaints, sending five people to the lobby would amplify those complaints.
Then she just had to eliminate those who would voice such complaints.
Her sharp gaze scanned the user treading on metal scaffolding, searching the warehouse. He probably didn’t even realize his footsteps were echoing throughout the warehouse.
But there was no need to inform him.
All he would learn was his death notice and the nickname of his killer.
And suddenly, a smile crept onto Harmony’s lips.
At the end of her gaze was the same user she had been watching.
He cautiously opened a warehouse door, slowly scanning the room from outside according to the principles of CQB, a movement called pie slicing. But it didn’t take more than 4 seconds before he carefully stepped inside.
Countless thoughts flashed through Harmony’s mind, and within a few seconds,
──Boom!
“Hehe.”
Another kill count displayed on the UI.
The fishing line attached to the doorknob twisted as he opened the door, loosening the safety handles of three grenades. As soon as he stepped inside, they all detonated.
Hundreds of fragments rained down on the shield that could normally withstand a single grenade without issue. The barrier shattered instantly like a candle flame in the wind, and the power of three grenades was more than enough to rip through the delicate polygons beneath the shield.
The entire process happened in an instant, returning everything to square one.
As the explosions died down, Harmony cautiously descended.
Smiling faintly at the remains of the evaporated body and the scattered loot, she muttered.
“It’s time to replenish the grenades.”
Explosion maniac.
It was a long-forgotten instinct of hers.