The Villainess VTuber Tears People Apart

Anna reconnected to VR for now.

It wasn’t to play the game but to share the screen with Laura. Since the in-game time in Labyrinthos moved five times faster than real-time, it was nearly impossible to watch in real-time through a phone or PC.

‘Now that I think about it, this is my first time watching the Teacher play directly.’

She had seen the videos on the forum and those edited by Rion, but that was it.

To be honest, she didn’t fully grasp Laura’s gameplay from the videos.

As a beginner, Anna found it impossible to see through the underlying intentions or judgments.

The gameplay was simply flashy when it needed to be flashy, delicate when it needed to be delicate, and plain when it needed to be plain.

The only thing that bothered Anna was that Laura never lost her smile.

She had watched pro gamers’ matches and broadcasts before, but they rarely smiled.

Perhaps it was because smiling might come off as rude to the other players, or maybe it was because they needed to focus and be cautious.

That’s why Laura, who always wore a smile, seemed strange to her.

‘It might be because she practiced smiling.’

Meeting her in person, it was rare to see Laura without a smile. Anna guessed she must have been trained to make her face naturally smile.

Maybe she received some kind of actor training or practiced for the service industry.

It didn’t seem to be either, but the strong impression she gave certainly deserved a perfect score. Every one of her actions left a lasting memory.

It was this one thing that led Anna to take Laura as her Teacher. Truly, she was an extraordinary person.

And this extraordinary person was currently,

[I’ll be the deserter.]

[No way, how can a Technomancer desert?]

[Deserting as a Technomancer? Wasn’t that researched briefly in the past? But does that still work nowadays?]

[Deserting as a DPS? Ugh… We lost this round again, damn it~.]

…trolling.

“…Teacher, is this really okay?”

Anna couldn’t help but ask.

Even as a beginner in Labyrinthos, she knew some things. In terms of an AOS game, wasn’t it like a DPS player trying to jungle?

However, Laura’s voice remained bright.

[Actually, a Technomancer isn’t very suitable for solo queue. Party members often get in the way.]

“In the way?”

[The basic rule for a stealth character is not to reveal your position to the enemy while hidden. But sometimes, support characters carelessly buff or shield you. If the enemy notices the support’s actions, it’s very, very troublesome for a stealth character.]

“…Teacher, you’re not angry, are you?”

[Oh my, how could I be? Where else can you find someone as benevolent as me?]

There seemed to be some bite to her words…

In any case, Anna understood the point.

To fully utilize the Technomancer’s skill, , it was better to play solo, hence why Laura decided to take on the role of a deserter.

[If there’s no place for you as a DPS, you should try being a deserter too.]

“That’s a bit…”

After all, Anna was a publicly recognized VTuber.

If she messed up, she could end up being roasted in the forums and ruthlessly mocked on social media. She couldn’t just troll recklessly.

With that, the game started in earnest, and Laura confidently deserted the main force to farm neutral mobs.

Surprisingly, it looked pretty effective.

-Brrrratatata!!!

The sound of continuous gunfire echoed.

What appeared on the screen was a turret spewing bullets. It was the Technomancer’s skill, .

Using the turret as cover, Laura fired at the neutral mobs.

The horde of neutral mobs was shredded by the rain of bullets.

‘The hunting speed is incredible.’

Laura continued to hunt neutral mobs. The more Anna watched, the less she understood.

Was she always this fast?

Of course, turret placement and kiting seemed crucial.

But looking at it another way, if one had good control, this seemed fairly stable. The turret took care of tanking, so there was hardly any HP loss.

So why don’t people use Technomancers as deserters?

It seemed really good just for farming while moving around.

[The fundamental reason Technomancers aren’t used as deserters is that their ability to disrupt the enemy’s main force is weak.]

Did she read Anna’s thoughts? Laura suddenly explained.

Listening to Laura, it made sense.

If a Necromancer appeared with an undead army, it’d be terrifying. It would take forever to break through, and the team would lose a lot of health.

But what if a Technomancer appeared alone?

You could just focus fire on them with a tank in front.

If it were an Assassin, they could at least escape with their mobility, but a Technomancer couldn’t even do that.

Even if they tried to escape using , they would likely be tracked and killed by an Archer’s detection skill.

As Anna understood all this, another question arose. …Then why is the deserting as a Technomancer?

[That’s why a Technomancer has to play differently from other deserters. Focus solely on charging your ultimate.]

Laura’s eyes on the screen sparkled. It was a sign that she had activated her ultimate.

In Labyrinthos, ultimates didn’t have cooldowns, but they required a full gauge to activate.

There were various ways to fill the ultimate gauge, but basically, it charged when you hit or got hit. It was similar to how you charged special move gauges in fighting games.

This applied even against neutral mobs. As you defeated them, the ultimate gauge filled up.

A brief moment of 10 seconds.

By now, Laura must have grasped the map’s layout, the neutral mob locations, and the positions of both allies and enemies.

Once she had this understanding, Laura immediately started moving.

After running for a while, she suddenly stopped and hid behind a pillar.

There, Laura’s allied team members were gathered, whom she had seen at the beginning of the game.

[Archer, could you use your detection skill, please?]

[One moment. Ah, I got a detection signal. It seems like the enemy’s main force is headed this way.]

[Looks like it’s the enemy’s main force. Should we engage them here?]

[Let’s do it.]

[Lancer, you initiate.]

[Got it.]

Laura’s allies were having such a conversation.

But Laura didn’t join the main force.

She didn’t participate in the conversation, simply leaning leisurely against the pillar. She didn’t seem to care whether her allies were preparing to ambush or not.

Soon, the enemy appeared just as her allies had said.

Among the enemy, there was a character with a detection skill. Given that, it was almost inevitable that they would gather in one spot.

Both sides wanted to engage in a team fight.

The enemy cautiously advanced.

Seeing this, the Lancer immediately initiated the fight.

[Ah, that was a bit too early.]

Laura, watching secretly, muttered to herself.

It was a common occurrence. The initiator would engage without considering their allies’ situation.

This was precisely one of those situations. The Lancer had engaged too far ahead, outside the attack range of their allies.

Naturally, the allied team, who were still preparing their skills, couldn’t follow up.

They couldn’t reach the enemy, nor did they have the mobility skills like the Lancer to keep up.

[What the hell! I initiated, why didn’t anyone follow up??]

The panicked Lancer shouted, but that didn’t change the reality.

The Lancer, who had rushed in, was beaten up by the enemy Barbarian, and as if on cue, the enemy Bard applied crowd control, rendering the Lancer immobile.

8 seconds.

That’s how long it took for the isolated Lancer to become a corpse.

[Damn it, can’t believe they couldn’t follow up….]

The allied Martial Artist cursed.

With the Lancer dead, the enemies began advancing.

Laura’s team was now down to four members, while the enemy still had all five.

The enemy had the numerical advantage, so they probably thought they could continue the fight without issues.

And they were right.

A tank’s role was to hold the frontline.

The tank was supposed to block the enemy’s advance and act as a ‘wall’ to protect their team.

Originally, the Lancer would have filled this role, but now he was gone. With the allied team’s reduced crowd control, they could no longer block the enemy’s advance.

They were getting pushed back helplessly.

The Martial Artist was struggling to hold the line, but in the first place, the Martial Artist was a bruiser, not a pure tank.

With a numerical disadvantage, there was no way they could hold out.

‘…But why isn’t the doing anything?’

Her allies were getting crushed, yet Laura just observed with a relaxed expression. Was she really planning to just accept defeat…?

Fortunately, that wasn’t the case.

It was only after the Martial Artist died that Laura finally started moving.

[Anna, you’re watching, right?]

“Ah, yes… I’m watching.”

[There’s one thing you must remember. The Technomancer shines the most when you use your allies as decoys.]

“…Pardon?”

Anna didn’t understand what that meant, but Laura didn’t say anything further. She quietly activated .

With activated, Laura was invisible to both her allies and enemies as she circled around to the enemy’s rear.

-Click

Laura swiftly set up a turret.

Then, she leisurely raised her gun, aiming it at the enemy Bard.

-Brrrratatata!!

Laura’s gun roared to life.

Her recoil control was effortless, and her aim was flawless, with the bullets pouring into the enemy Bard’s head.

The Technomancer was already a character with strong basic attacks, and on top of that, she had grown from farming neutral mobs.

Even more, it was a headshot, and the target was a Bard. As a support character by nature, the Bard wasn’t very durable.

【The allied Technomancer has eliminated the enemy Bard.】

[? What the heck?]

[Behind! The Technomancer is behind us!]

[When did they get there?]

[Tank!! Tank, go block that! We need to stop them!]

The enemies belatedly realized Laura’s presence, but it was too late.

The frontline characters of the enemy team were already too far forward.

It made sense since Laura’s team’s Lancer and Martial Artist had died, leaving only the damage dealers and supports.

If they could eliminate the damage dealers, they could secure the win for this round.

With that clear objective in mind, no one would hold back their skills. That’s why the enemies had already used their ultimates and mobility skills.

With the enemy frontline characters’ skills on cooldown, there was no one left to deal with Laura, who had secured a free-fire position.

Moreover, Laura had circled behind the enemy.

In other words, from Laura’s perspective, the enemy had exposed their backline, where the squishy damage dealers stood.

-Click

Laura aimed her gun at the enemy damage dealers and pulled the trigger.

***

[Wow, that backdoor play by the Technomancer was insane.]

[Phew, I apologize for the earlier insults. I didn’t realize you were so skilled.]

[If you were going to carry like this, you should’ve said so! You made me look like a jerk for nothing~.]

The players who had insulted Laura as a troll earlier were now eating their words.

That’s what overwhelming power does.

[I’ll desert again in the next round.]

[I’ll trust you one more time, as if taking a leap of faith.]

[I still think DPS is better than deserting, but if you insist, I won’t stop you~.]

[Ha, if you DPS, I swear I’ll protect you with my life.]

Even so, they still didn’t like the idea of deserting as a DPS.

Seeing this, Anna chuckled to herself.

‘…But wait, didn’t the Teacher call me Anna earlier?’

That’s odd. I only told her I was a streamer, not that I was a VTuber.

Did I ever introduce myself as Shiroki Anna?

Maybe I misheard…?