It’s a sniper.
Honestly, I never expected it at all, and I guess I was that complacent. Why couldn’t I think of this problem? My short broadcasting experience is no longer an excuse.
It’s probably because I had never dealt with sniping while playing the Abyss. The other games I streamed were none of the types where sniping was possible.
In fact, it was bound to happen at some point. Haven’t I heard that sniping is like a daily routine for streamers?
When a bunch of different people gather, there are always oddballs who want to appear on the broadcast without even bothering to get the streamer’s consent.
Anyway, my initial impression of the sniper was… just curious. It was my first time, after all, so curiosity was inevitable.
To confess, I too went through a phase where I used to snipe other streamers, so it hit me that now I’m on the receiving end of sniping.
However, it seems the viewers had a different impression. They were fundamentally uncomfortable with the sniping.
At the same time, they were worried about me. Just like with other streamers, they thought I would be violated by the snipers too.
Sure, they looked like a lot, but when you think about it, not that many actually came.
The number of people who gathered on my side hardly reached 10.
Out of those, three actually talked to me through their mics. Considering the farming area was not that wide, I can’t blame the viewers for their concerns.
They were probably worried I wouldn’t even be able to farm properly and would get wiped out here and there. I suppose viewers want to see their streamer perform.
Still, while they usually enjoy teasing me, I found their concern pretty cute at times like this.
It’s a survival game with 100 participants. Among them, it’s not like 99 are snipers excluding me, so I should be able to handle this just fine.
Since I had already told the viewers I would win, I’d better keep my word. I can’t be a liar constantly throwing empty promises around.
*
The man was holding his breath.
Even though there was no connected mic, he was being careful, as if worried that any sound of his breathing might slip through.
He was different from the idiots blabbering away on open mic under the guise of sniping. After being a sniper for a while, he had his own set of rules to follow.
“Why does the sniper make it so obvious?”
The man clicked his tongue in annoyance. From Kayak’s perspective, it seemed like he thought he was special compared to the other snipers, even though they were no different.
Meanwhile, a refreshing voice that he always wished for tickled his ears.
“I’ll win.”
The man turned to glance at the dual monitors. It was Kayak, confidently making that statement during a live broadcast.
“There shouldn’t just be one or two snipers…”
The man deemed Kayak’s confidence as arrogance. As a pro sniper, his instincts screamed that there were at least dozens of snipers in this game. The moment the matchmaking was set, the distinct smell of sniping was already thick in the air.
No matter how skilled Kayak was, there was no way he could handle so many snipers. So, the man shrugged off Kayak’s comment as newbie bravado.
“Winning on the first try… what kind of confidence is that?”
What a mystery! Just yesterday, the beta service of Eternal had begun. The man wasn’t exactly a veteran either, but he had already played over ten matches since the beta started.
He had already experienced essential elements like the overall map structure, job-specific skills, and neutral monster characteristics. His starting point was miles ahead of Kayak, who was just beginning.
This wasn’t Kayak’s home turf, the Abyss. It wasn’t an AOS game where one could dominate solo; it was a massive survival game, and it was impossible for a newbie like Kayak, lacking game knowledge, to take down snipers.
Ultimately, it would be settled by the man’s skills. He had just landed on a block adjacent to the zone that Kayak had entered. If he quickly finished his looting and rushed in, Kayak wouldn’t stand a chance.
As the man continued to loot, casting glances at Kayak’s stream, he thought, “Here it comes!”
The moment had finally arrived. Kayak, having looted his building, was now headed toward his direction.
They say experienced players loot faster than novices, and it was certainly true this time. Kayak was quick; he had already cleaned out an entire building.
The farming speed was quite impressive. Already cleared out one building.
I couldn’t help but wonder if she had categorized essential items from useless junk while farming, though.
Anyway, the prey had walked right into the hunting ground. With things like this, there was no way to avoid catching the kayak.
Originally, the man’s plan was to let the kayak live a little longer, then ambush her when she took down a neutral monster and steal the reward too.
He had intended to revel in the thrill of a backstab while also teaching the kayak about the harshness of survival games, but her sudden actions had thrown that plan off track.
‘Did she not see me come in here?’
After finishing one building, it would have been better to go for the neutral monsters instead of heading to another building. Especially since the man had already finished farming over here.
If he weren’t a sniper but just a regular user, he would’ve left long ago. Coming this way was a waste of movement.
As the man saw the kayak getting closer through her broadcast, he completely froze.
In this game, the man’s class was a carpenter. Having finished farming, he was ready behind the door with a reinforced crimson axe.
‘Come on in…’
But contrary to the man’s expectations, the kayak didn’t walk straight through the door where he was. Instead, what came through her broadcast was an unusual voice.
– Ah, hold on a sec. The game crashed? Just a moment, folks.
“Crashed?”
The man muttered, turning his gaze from the game screen to the connected dual monitors.
Was the kayak’s claim not a lie? Her broadcast screen was showing the standby screen of her usual streams instead of Eternal.
This unexpected situation of crashing was quite alarming. The kayak’s voice clearly reflected this feeling, and the chat was flooded with questions and confusion.
“What the….”
With this, I’d have to snipe again.
The man felt a deep sense of emptiness. He finally matched with someone, was happy about it, and now it just crashed.
Just as he was licking his lips in disappointment and about to refocus on the game screen, it happened.
Bang!
A sudden loud noise echoed.
It was… something he was very familiar with. It sounded like the noise made when breaking down doors in Eternal.
It was a familiar kind of thing. In other words, it felt like it made the same sound when breaking down the door in Eternal.
“Could it be…!”
The man quickly grabbed his mouse, denying a single possibility that popped into his mind. But by the time he realized it, it was already too late.
Thud, thud, thud, thud, thud….
On the game screen, a white-haired female character had suddenly appeared, mercilessly slashing his character.
…That character was familiar to the man’s eyes, it was a character he knew all too well.
The character, whose health bar was utterly depleted, was getting poked repeatedly by daggers, looking like a total newbie. Or maybe it was on purpose to mock him.
“I got you, you little rascal.”
From her calm but somehow excited tone, it appeared that the latter was more likely.
Realizing he had been duped, the man chuckled bitterly at the already-dead character.
*
[??? What the?]
[Kayak! Kayak! Kayak! Kayak! Kayak!]
[Great Kayak ㄷㄷㄷㄷㄷ]
[Wow, was it not a disconnect but pretending to disconnect?]
[Sniper got cut right away, huh? Bugger ㅋㅋ]
[Reading the sniper’s mentality and pretending to disconnect is pure genius;]
[How did they know there’s a sniper here?]
[I got fooled too!]
[Teacher, that’s already a dead body!]
[Look at the blood splatter, ew.]
[Even mutilating the corpse;;]
[No need for corpse etiquette with snipers ㅇㅇ]
[To deceive the enemy, first deceive your allies….]
[Sniper education!!]
Suddenly, Kayak, who had shown a Windows screen claiming she had disconnected, seemed to have come back to her senses, and the screen had switched to her excitedly saying she caught someone.
There was Kayak slashing at the fallen enemy character’s corpse. The sharp-eyed viewers quickly figured out what was going on.
Kayak had caught the sniper. She had purposely pretended to disconnect in the broadcast to fool the sniper.
“Um, um, I’ll take a nice credit for that, buddy. Watching the stream, huh? You’re such a good friend, bringing me credits just so I can craft my gear?”
With the chat going wild and humming a tune while looting the corpse, the viewers thought: maybe Kayak really would wipe out all the snipers like she promised.
Support me by donating at least $10, and you'll have the right to request any novel from Novelpia (excluding 19+ content) using a newly developed tool.
