Chapter 54 - The World’s Laughingstock
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[Broadcast] They’re getting ripped apart way worse than expected.
How can they not catch Laura even once? LOL
[Comments]
– Without Rinco, who else in EYEAI can even take Laura down?
ㄴ (Author) Exactly, they can’t even catch her in a 3v1 LOL
– But Chel put up a good fight.
ㄴ (Author) Not that Chel’s even good at Gladiator LOL
ㄴ That’s why she’s not playing Gladiator LOL
– After seeing the Winter Team play, they’re going to get wrecked in the tournament LOL
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[Broadcast] Isn’t the Winter Team the weakest?
No other team could possibly be this bad.
[Comments]
– The 2nd Gen might give them a little trouble?
– Unless Aurora shows up, there’s no way they win.
– They don’t even have the roster to win LOL
– The fact that someone on the team hasn’t played Labyrinthos at all is a huge issue.
ㄴ Who are you talking about?
ㄴ Sora.
– Why did Sora even join the tournament?
ㄴ She probably just joined to fill out the numbers.
ㄴ It sucks that the 6th Gen had one less debut compared to the other gens LOL
ㄴ That’s on the CEO.
===
[Broadcast] Oh, they’re running a 3-man queue without Laura.
Will they win?
[Comments]
– Not likely.
– Just peeked in, they’re getting wrecked LMAO
– Well, as long as they’re having fun…
– Shouldn’t Laura come in for Sora to balance things out??
===
[Broadcast] At least they’re prepping hard.
It’s nice to see them taking the tournament seriously, but…
When’s Ahwhatshisface gonna do a horror game?????
Isn’t it an obligation for a virgin to scream her lungs out in fear????
[Comments]
– For real, this is dereliction of duty.
– Now that I think about it, why aren’t the Terrorarist doing horror games?
ㄴ Anna said she’d do one with Laura.
ㄴ What a scaredy-cat LOL
– Is Sora even a virgin?
ㄴ (Author) I’m a PhD in Virgin Studies, and her voice has the virgin vibe.
ㄴ Bullshit LOL She’s probably got a boyfriend LOL
ㄴ (Author) [No, she doesn’t.]
ㄴ Isn’t Sora dating Laura???
ㄴ Fact: Sora’s purity belongs to Laura, as written on Watermelon Island.
===
[Broadcast] So when does this end?
It’s 1 a.m. now, guys…
[Comments]
– Didn’t Rion scold them about streaming for too long?
ㄴ Since there are four of them, they said they’d stream for 8 hours, 2 hours per person.
ㄴ Since when did collabs add up the hours LOL
– Labyrinthos Demons LOL
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【Ghost Town Map / Information Gathering Battle】
【Use the camera to record the ‘clues’ scattered throughout the map.
Gather as much information as possible about the past events or eliminate the other team to win.
‘Clues’ can be in the form of camera data or photo items.
The team with the most ‘clues’ at the end of the time limit will win automatically.】
The desolate town was completely empty.
The walls of the buildings were cracked from how long they had been left abandoned, with spiderwebs and ivy decorating the scene.
On the screen, three figures appeared.
The three cautiously climbed to the rooftop of a building.
[It seems to be over there….]
Inagika spoke from within the screen.
Inagika, playing as an Archer, seemed to have discovered something using her tracking skill.
Sora crouched down and moved in the direction Inagika was pointing.
Half-crawling to sneak a peek, she saw a burly, muscular man below the building.
[What’s up with that character? He’s got a massive beard! And he’s shirtless… is he a pervert?]
[Hey, it’s probably a Barbarian.]
“Calling a Barbarian a pervert seems a bit much.”
“S-shut up….”
When I pointed it out, Sora, sitting beside me, blushed a little in embarrassment.
The 6th Generation group was currently reviewing their replay.
Technically, it wasn’t an actual in-game replay, but footage Sora had recorded from her point of view.
The replay provided by Labyrinthos didn’t include voice recordings, and since the camera used an omniscient perspective, some crucial details were missed.
I needed to know what emotions Sora had during the game, as the Coach of the Winter Team.
[What should we do…?]
[What do you mean, what? We fight.]
In the video, Sora and Inagika were discussing their next move.
Sora then glanced at Chel, who nodded in agreement.
Seeing that, I pressed the stop button.
“Can I ask why you made that decision?”
Taking my eyes off the monitor, I looked at the faces of them seated next to me.
Inagika still looked nervous, and Chel had a vacant expression.
Naturally, it was Sora, acting as the team leader, who answered my question.
Perhaps because she was called on, Sora seemed a little tense as she responded.
“…Well, there was only one of them, and there were three of us.”
“Can you explain in more detail?”
“If we had split up and moved separately, we’d have been picked off one by one…. Plus, since the winning condition was ‘Information Gathering,’ we needed to stick together.”
That’s what Sora said.
In an ‘Information Gathering’ battle, it’s advantageous to cover the map extensively, much like in an ‘Elimination Battle,’ since the goal is to gather as much data from around the map as possible.
However, there’s one major difference between an Information Gathering battle and an Elimination battle.
The ‘clue’ data was stored either in the camera or as photo items.
What this meant was that if they could steal the Barbarian’s camera and photo items, they could steal the enemy’s game progress.
“So you thought it was best to use your numerical advantage to take down the Barbarian.”
“Exactly. Thank you for listening.”
I nodded and pressed play again.
It wasn’t like I didn’t already know why. I just wanted to test how well Sora could explain her reasoning.
After all, Labyrinthos is a game that requires just as much brainpower as physical ability.
Conversely, while it’s true that my juniors, including Sora, lacked physical skill…
They could make up for it if they focused on their brainpower.
[Eek?! Y-you’re initiating now?!]
Inagika on the screen was visibly startled.
I stopped my train of thought and returned my focus to the screen.
The Barbarian had placed his weapon down on the ground.
Normally, Barbarians wield a pair of axes in each hand. But right now, he had set down his right axe and was grabbing a camera hanging from his belt.
It seemed like he had discovered a ‘clue’ and was preparing to take a picture.
Having caught that, Sora picked up her great hammer.
The character Sora was playing was called ‘Battle Priest.’
The ‘Battle Priest’ was known in Labyrinthos as an aggressive support character.
In fact, it seemed like Sora initially wanted to play a backline support like Saint or Bard, but they weren’t very effective in Arcade Mode, so she had given up.
Sora threw the great hammer, the Battle Priest’s weapon.
-Thud!
The great hammer, thrown from the rooftop, landed on the ground with a heavy impact.
Then, with a loud roar, a blinding white flame burst from the hammer.
-Kaboom!!!
A light explosion.
The Barbarian, who was standing right nearby, was engulfed by the light.
This was the Battle Priest’s second skill, Holy Explosion.
The hammer causes an explosion at the location it lands, stunning and blinding all enemies caught in the blast and leaving them with the ‘Mark of Light.’
It was a high-value skill despite not being an ultimate, as it came with a ton of added effects.
The downside was the long cooldown, which meant that if it missed, you’d get cursed out by your teammates.
Fortunately, Sora’s skill landed perfectly.
Unfortunately, that was all.
-Watch your team’s position before you initiate, LOL
-Is she for real initiating from that distance?
-What kind of initiation was that? LOL
-Sora, what are you doing…
The Barbarian was on the ground floor.
The 6th Gens were on the rooftop.
Even though the crowd control hit, the distance was too great for them to follow up.
[Uh….]
Sora realized this as well, visibly flustered, but someone moved immediately.
Chel.
A horse whinnied, and Chel, who was playing a Cavalryman, leapt off the rooftop.
There was no hesitation in her action.
The ground rumbled beneath the Barbarian as the horse stomped the earth. It was the Vanguard’s Ground Tremor skill, the Cavalryman’s crowd control.
Following up on Holy Explosion with Vanguard’s Ground Tremor.
Thanks to the hours of practice running 3-man queues, the 6th Gens were syncing their crowd control combos quite well.
The problem was that they didn’t understand the Barbarian’s special traits.
Among the tanks in Labyrinthos, the Barbarian had the highest resistance to crowd control.
[Uwooooarrrrr!!!]
The Barbarian roared, his eyes glowing bright red.
He broke free of all the crowd control effects on him and grabbed the axe he’d left on the ground, charging at Chel.
Sora’s original plan had likely been to chain crowd control and overwhelm the enemy with ease.
But with a single press of a button, the Barbarian had broken the combo, and before they knew it, the fight was even between him and Chel.
[I-I need to join in too….]
Seeing that, Sora, perhaps feeling desperate, also jumped off the building.
Thud!
[Ugh….]
Sora let out a short groan as she somehow managed to land. However, the impact seemed to have been too much for her, and she struggled to stand up straight.
Her vision momentarily turned red. The fall damage had left her with just a sliver of health.
But she was still alive.
Sora quickly rushed forward to assist Chel, but something else flew ahead of her.
-Swish!
An arrow.
It hit the horse Chel was riding.
The arrow pierced the horse’s neck, causing Chel to fall off.
[S-Sorry! My bad!]
-Aiming issues, for fuck’s sake LOL
-Inagika just killed Chel…!
-Stop jumping off the roof!!!!!!
-They’re so goddamn bad, LOL
A Cavalryman can’t do much after being dismounted. Chel’s head was promptly split open by the Barbarian’s axe, and she was killed.
And then, there was Sora, with barely any health left.
The great hammer she’d thrown to initiate was still stuck in the ground, yet to be retrieved. There was no way a support like her could go head-to-head with a Barbarian.
Sora was killed too.
The Barbarian, after dealing with the two of them, casually began climbing the building.
Barbarian Triple Kill.
“A world-class embarrassment.”
That was the only way to describe it.
It’s not easy to get slaughtered by one person when you’re fighting with a team of three.
Even if you had a pro gamer go up against three Bronze-tier players, it’d be hard to guarantee a win. Honestly, I’m not sure I could win in a 1v3 either, even on level ground.
But the fact that the Barbarian wiped them out was partly because it wasn’t level ground.
“World-class embarrassment, really? Isn’t that a bit harsh?”
“Well, it’s true. Anyway, let’s move on to feedback. First off, Sora, you’re too impatient. Try to play more calmly.”
“…Got it.”
“Inagika, you get too nervous in important situations. Try to be more relaxed.”
“S-Sorry….”
“But the strategy wasn’t bad, so let’s focus on playing more carefully.”
That’s how I wrapped it up.
I could have pointed out way more issues, but if you only focus on the negatives, people won’t improve.
In fact, the bigger problem is when people get more hesitant after harsh criticism. I’d rather someone rush in and make mistakes, because that means they’ll gain more experience.
It’s easy to understand if you think of it like a Souls-like game.
When you aggressively take on challenges, those losses turn into experience, and you’ll eventually defeat tough opponents. But playing too passively only drags out your playtime.
‘Of course, mindless playing doesn’t help you gain anything, no matter how aggressive you are.’
Sora has a bit of a tendency to act without thinking, but it’s not to the point of being reckless, so it should be fine.
If I give feedback with the right balance of praise, it’ll be more effective, and it won’t bring down the team’s mood.
Besides, this isn’t a tournament where we need to be super strict.
– “The tournament doesn’t really matter.”
-“The reason you’re coaching the Winter Team is mostly just for appearances. Since you’ve taught Anna before, it’s like, ‘Wouldn’t it be fun to teach your peers too?’ That kind of feeling.”
– “But really, it doesn’t matter who wins this tournament.”
– “There’s no special prize for winning; it’s just for fun.”
– “I already told you. The goal of this tournament is to share subscribers.”
That’s what Rion had said.
So, it seemed like we didn’t need to be overly concerned about winning and losing.
What viewers wanted was to see VTubers having fun together, laughing and enjoying themselves.
Excessive competitiveness, on the other hand, was something viewers didn’t like.
There was a risk of the atmosphere becoming too harsh.
– “Once, there was a Mafia game between VTubers.”
– “A VTuber playing as a civilian completely cornered the VTuber playing as the Mafia. It was like they dismantled their logic piece by piece until the Mafia player couldn’t say anything.”
– “The civilian VTuber carried their team to victory, but they got the most hate that day.”
– “That’s because the Mafia player’s fans felt like the civilian was bullying them.”
– “If you’re playing alone, maybe you can be thorough, but not when it’s with other VTubers.”
– “So, just focus on the event matches.”
That’s how things were.
“Let’s call it a day for now. We’ll announce the next collab schedule on social media, so let’s wrap up.”
-Noooo
-Don’t go
-What are you saying, my lady?!
-I just sat down
-My chicken hasn’t arrived yet, 10 more minutes!
-We’re gonna die at this rate!!!!
-Don’t say goodnight, my lady
Broadcast ended.
As soon as the broadcast was over, Chel simply said, “Goodbye,” and logged off immediately.
“Uh, s-see you next time…!”
Inagika logged off as well.
And then, so did I.
“Teach me more about Labyrinthos.”
Just as I was about to exit VR, Sora grabbed me.
“I want to practice some more. What should I do?”