It’s not that kind of malicious broadcast

I thought I would need to play as a knight for four to five rounds. However, the time required to adapt was shorter than expected.

It must be said that the blessed physical abilities truly shone when the body was put in direct action. As I waited for the opposing mage to return, I took a moment to appreciate the surrounding scenery.

Bare branches and the gray sky visible through them. Blood scattered on the brown grass and the occasional corpse lying around.

The headgear, which covered my entire field of view, provided a fairly realistic landscape. The recent battle had also been quite immersive.

Yeah. With this level of realism, it was understandable why people would abandon the traditional keyboard and mouse for the physically demanding VR.

… When will “The Rogue VR” come out again?

-Thump

-Thump

-Thump

The sound of plate armor. It seemed the mage had called for reinforcements to join for an escort. This temporary numerical advantage would put them at an upper hand.

“Knight Tower. Push the center.”

The shield-bearing knight in front of me looked rather relaxed. Well, our opponents were rogues. He probably thought the mage’s request for an escort was a bit over-the-top.

In contrast, the mage behind, about five steps back, was turning his head anxiously, scanning the surroundings.

Nothing wrong with that.

I cast stealth with a hand gesture and slowly slipped out of the grass.

It was now a waiting game. Standing by the roadside, waiting for the knight to present an unguarded flank in front of me.

It would be better if he passed me entirely, exposing his rear… but since the mage was a human, he’d likely use a detection spell as he advanced. Overreaching would result in losing even the first strike.

-Thump

-Thump

The knight, who had approached quite close, was rather large. It could have been due to the plate armor’s enhancements… but more likely, it was because I had adjusted my character’s height to match my real-life stature. This part I didn’t like.

About five steps behind, the mage still followed, on full alert. The range of his detection spell… seemed to still have some distance left.

Three steps.

Two steps.

One step.

Half a- now.

I kicked off from the ground, moving with a speed that blurred the edges of my vision. It took less than a second to get close enough to identify the crumpled parts of the plate armor.

As I swung my arm, a chilling sense of foreboding struck. Had I made eye contact with the knight inside the helmet? Had their stealth been compromised?

Perhaps it was too intense a movement. The thought that I might need further adaptation to achieve finer control flashed through my mind. But it didn’t really matter.

At this point, nothing would change.

The first move against a sword-and-shield knight was always aimed at the waist. It was extremely difficult to parry, challenging to block, and even if the opponent dodged by throwing their entire body backward, it wasn’t easy to counterattack.

*Thud*

A thrilling sound echoed in my ears. The dagger had struck true. If the knight had neither parried, defended, nor dodged, I would pay the price. By now, the knight would probably be staring at a field of red.

Twisting the deeply lodged dagger out from the knight’s waist, I flattened myself to the ground.

*Whoosh!*

The sound of a sword whizzing overhead. A hasty horizontal slash aimed to create distance, typically swung by startled knights reeling from an unexpected injury.

Yet, for a mere “get away” maneuver, it was louder and faster than expected. The attack carried the desperation of overspending stamina just to retaliate.

If I had scrambled backward in fear, I would have been caught by the pursuing sword. Despite evading downward, it had been a close call. However, the result remained the same.

To recover from such an overcommitted attack, the knight needed at least three seconds.

It was the perfect window to catch the mage who might come to the exposed tanker’s aid.

I reversed the grip on the dagger, as if targeting the knight’s foot. Just as I appeared to dive towards the knight’s leg with my whole body—

I abruptly executed a dash maneuver aimed at the knight’s back. The developer designed it as a survival skill, but used as a forward movement ability, it functioned as a dash—when used backward, as a survival tactic.

*A small crystal of ice appeared and then vanished in front of the knight’s feet.*

This meant I had successfully dodged the mage’s quickest casting crowd control spell.

The most guarded spell had been nullified. In other words, it was the moment to establish an overwhelming advantage in this strategic battle.

With the tanker incapacitated and the mage having lost their crowd control spell, the mage was now merely prey. Likely he was anxious about when to use their survival skills to save their life or perhaps preparing a powerful spell.

Yet, no matter the intention, the underlying emotion was the same—the conclusion also remained the same.

I quickly snapped my head towards the mage.

The mage flinched and trembled. Had he canceled the spell he were casting? While the system didn’t reveal which spell it was, it was obvious.

If it had been a survival skill, there was no reason to get tense just because a rogue showed signs of a dash. I had aimed for a game-changing strike.

“Ha—”

I wanted to explain the flow of actions, but moving my body to demonstrate made it challenging to speak.

“Vision is crucial.”

Still, I felt the importance of conveying how much could be achieved just with one’s vision. While not a commonly mastered technique, personally, it was hard to understand why this wasn’t widely accepted.

In fact, there had once been a heated debate about it in the forum. Some argued that turning your vision pointlessly wasted time and risked catching stray arrows, declaring that one should simply focus on swordplay without showing off, and that those who read martial arts novels couldn’t be trusted. In the end, a sacred duel seemed to have settled the matter.

It was a duel of honor. In other words, the honor of the defeated was mine to command, to do with as I pleased. A delightful memory.

Anyways.

Though it was already a fairly effective technique, its destructive power in VR was beyond imagination.

While the mage, who had canceled their spell, froze for a moment, I gently, almost as if cutting through soft pudding, slid a dagger shallowly into the knight’s knee, which his plate armor couldn’t fully cover.

The three seconds were almost up. The knight must be preparing for a counterattack now.

But the mage standing far away didn’t know. He didn’t know how long the knight’s stiffness would last, or how deeply that rogue might have driven the dagger.

I turned my head first. The mage stood there, his hands moving and his lips murmuring as if casting a spell. He must have decided that he needed to save the knight whose leg had been attacked.

How thoughtful. Drawing upon the force I used to pull out the dagger, I spun 180 degrees and flung my arm.

-Thud!

A cheerful sound. The sight of the mage crumpling with the dagger handle protruding from his forehead was quite a spectacle.

“Ugh, ah.”

But still…

… Was it too, too much of a spin? Even with compression clothes on, it hurt too much…

Ah, I hate VR.

* * * *

『Wow lolololol LOLOLOL』

『What was that just now』

『???』

『Yeah, yeah, that’s just typical GetDevoured』

『No way』

『Wow』

『???』

『What was that sound just now』

『Amazing…….』

『Glad I recorded that…!』

It was a habitual recording.

GetDevoured FanTube. The roundhouse kick villain. Recently known by various nicknames, she no longer had the courage to leave a comment or a donation for Lee Yena anymore.

Yet, she found it difficult to give up operating FanTube. She had too strong a sense of responsibility to run away from the sins she had committed.

『Thank you for the meal once again, teacher ……』

『Phew, I’m breathing thanks to you』

『Wow, the editing quality LOLLOLOL, you’ll be official G-Tube soon』

『Please, if you contact Tenryun, ask them to please start streaming』

『Teacher, please edit more Lore too ㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ』

『??? Is this really FanTube??? I love you』

『Thank you……thank you……』

The comments on her videos were generally like this. It was because of Lee Yena’s broadcasting culture. A forum of accusations was needed… and there were too many hungry souls.

Past broadcasts were nothing but flowing memories, an unwanted philosophy held by Lee Yena. Unpredictable broadcasts with no replays… no official G-Tube either.

But—

‘At least let it be boring.’

To simply let it flow away, the plays were just… too amazing. If she hid her ID and claimed to be a pro alt, no one would doubt it.

From a rogue persistently harassing the backline, to a longsword knight breaking through the front like a tank. Playstyles that encompassed extremes and—an incongruous, soft voice.

Drawn by that disparity, she started watching the live broadcasts… recording them to watch later when busy with studies… sharing them with other fans…and while sharing, editing to make it more interesting…

‘……I’ve come too far.’

If only ‘CravingWarmAmericano’ had an official G-Tube channel. If that had been the case, she would have comfortably returned to being an ordinary viewer. Anyway, monetization-free FanTube was merely a time-consuming hobby.

Yet, due to the broadcaster predictably doing nothing… her FanTube channel had now nearly 50,000 subscribers.

With seven different FanTube channels flourishing like an era of warlords, their combined subscribers reached about 100,000. Of course, many of these were duplicated subscriptions…

Despite this, it was an unimaginable number of people. How could she abandon so many viewers now? There were even people who discovered the live broadcasts through G-Tube.

During the days she spent trembling, waiting for an actual lawsuit from the law firm LOG, the only regret was missing out on recording some broadcasts.

‘……She did read my apology email, though.’

Should she resend the apology through the older brother she seemed to be getting close to recently? While Lee Yena contemplated that, a yellow message popped up at the bottom left of the broadcast screen.

“……Huh?”

It was a whisper. Because of not setting up hidden processing in the VR version client, it was revealed when Lee Yena first logged in.