Chapter 23: Who Are We?

Thousands of soldiers.

Hundreds of knights.

Hundreds of mages and dozens of priests.

And Holy Water filling quite a large box to the brim.

On the day the demon was said to appear, the gathering place was literally packed with people like grains of sand.

Fortunately, they had roughly figured out where the demon would appear. Thanks to that, they could gather in one place like this.

No matter which direction you turned your head, your view was filled with people.

All of them were combat personnel in full equipment.

"...wow."

Chae-rin let out a small exclamation at the sight.

Even though this was the first raid, she hadn't expected this many people to gather.

And this was after filtering out participants.

The requirement for participation was having at least C-Class adventurer level abilities.

And for Otherworlders, the minimum level for C-Class adventurer was 60.

You needed to be at least level 60 just to participate in this raid.

From their perspective, that was quite a strict requirement.

Because of this, there was some complaint in the community.

Saying this was showing too much favoritism to high-level users.

Of course, since the game company barely communicated with users anyway, it didn't make much impact.

[There's a shit ton of people]

[No lag with this many people?]

[Can the server handle this?]

[Damn, that's impressive]

Of course, Chae-rin was currently streaming.

As a streamer, she couldn't miss such a large-scale event.

Though with so many broadcasters gathered here, viewer counts weren't inflating much.

While looking around in wonder, Chae-rin suddenly noticed something new.

Most of those positioned at the very front of the deployed army were players like herself.

Well, NPCs didn't volunteer much since they valued their lives.

So most of the volunteer soldiers were players anyway.

But even accounting for that, there were too many players at the front.

Even mage and priest classes that should be in the back lines could be seen at the front.

Viewers who noticed the same thing as her started commenting.

[They're using us as meat shields since we revive anyway lol]

[I get it but still feels kinda shitty lol]

[Considering they give back items and 50k gold isn't this actually great?]

Well...

Chae-rin internally disagreed with the last comment that popped up.

Not being able to log in for 3 days after dying was a big deal. Especially for game streamers like her.

A 3-day gap was quite significant for them.

Sure, she could do just chatting streams, but with [Demons Saga] being so popular right now, simple chat streams weren't getting much attention.

Even those needed to be done while logged into this game.

The reason she participated in this subjugation despite the risk was because it was worth challenging even with that risk.

She could show the raid to her viewers, and maybe even earn greater rewards by achieving something notable.

Of course the chances were slim... but you never know what might happen, right?

While she was running those hopeful circuits in her mind.

Suddenly someone she knew entered her field of view.

"Oh?"

Chae-rin approached the person with visible delight.

"Unnie!"

It was her editor.

Someone who mainly went by the nickname 'Black Cat' online. Name, Im Ha-neul.

Wavy black hair, black eyes, rectangular glasses that looked high-prescription.

And a chest noticeably larger than other people's.

Some viewers who recognized her greeted her. Though not frequent, she had appeared on stream like this occasionally.

By the way, she also worked as Chae-rin's manager.

[Oh it's the manager hi]

[This bitch should beediting instead of gaming here lol]

[Wait if she's here...?]

[Oh?]

[sexysexybeautydaddy]

[wtf lololol]

Viewers who realized she was in-game started stirring things up.

Some dangerous comments that could get them banned started sneaking into chat.

Ha-neul's brow furrowed briefly.

[Yor let me bear your child!]

[ㄴ You have been banned by the manager.]

[Oof]

[So the stream's on huh..?]

[o7]

[o7;-;]

Of course, such sparks of rebellion were extinguished in mere seconds.

Chae-rin let out a sigh of relief.

This happened occasionally.

Ha-neul, being conservative by nature, was quite strict with chat moderation.

The oppressed viewers would occasionally stage rebellions.

So Chae-rin hung around chatting while waiting for the raid to begin.

After waiting a bit, things suddenly got busy up front as an alert popped up.

[The demon, Andromalius, has appeared!]

Finally, the demon had shown up.

"Don't be afraid, everyone! Fight bravely! The lives of our citizens rest in your hands!"

The commander stepped up to boost morale. Mages coordinated to prepare grand magic.

Priests were praying to apply buffs.

Chae-rin also focused and drew out her pair of daggers.

Her latest equipment made from the fangs of a mutated wolf.

With these, maybe she could achieve something great!

"Waaaaaah!!!"

Hearing battle cries erupting all around, she charged at the demon.

It took less than 5 minutes for her to die to a single hit from the demon.

*

+

[Everyone repeat after me]

We are trash

+

[We are trash]

[ㄴ You are nothing]

[ㄴ I am nothing...]

+

[Users who joined raid with smiles all wiped in 10 mins lol]

Now we know why they only took high levels lol

+

[We've decided to suspend all high level users for 3 days to help late-comers catch up lololol]

[ㄴ lololololol]

[ㄴ Hey at least we got 50k gold, cheers]

[The streamer I was watching ended stream 3 mins in, was wondering what happened]

[ㄴ Who are we?]

[ㄴ NPCs' extras]

+

[What's even more ridiculous is this demon was supposedly a relatively weak boss]

In the end we died whittling down its HP and the Fifth Knights' Order Commander just went and cut its throat

And then he says "This one ended quite easily..." like fr wtf;

(video)

I managed to survive by hiding like a coward so I saw the subjugation scene

Watch if you're curious

+

Tok-

At a bar near home.

Having dinner with her editor, Chae-rin clicked on the video posted.

She died way too quickly. Might as well finish all dinner plans while she was at it.

The subjugation video she played was showing the final moments.

The Fifth Knights' Order Commander stepping up to duel Andromalius after players had whittled down its HP.

With a chilling swish- sound, Andromalius's left arm falls off.

The snake coiled around that arm writhed for a while before stiffening.

Having received a grave wound, it shouted something incomprehensible.

-Damn you, Seere! Wasn't it your turn to manifest!? That child's blood was yours too, how dare you sacrifice me as the vanguard!?

Those words seemed directed at someone else rather than the opponent before it.

Come to think of it, its attacks looked more like desperate struggling to survive than attempts to conquer the world.

After fighting desperately like that, its head was cut off by the Commander's sword.

That was the end.

Zero casualties except for Otherworlders. Even among NPCs, while there were serious injuries, none were life-threatening.

It was literally a perfect victory.

Accordingly, the expressions on those shown in the video looked bright.

Everyone was hugging nearby comrades, rejoicing in their survival.

After watching the video, Chae-rin scrolled down to look at the comments.

[It really does seem weak fr;]

[ㄴ And we all got wiped by that weak one lol]

[But isn't rank 72 like super trash?]

[ㄴ This bitch thinks she knows what the ranks mean lol]

[ㄴ ???]

[ㄴ Oh it wasn't? Damn]

[ㄴ Oh everyone didn't know, my bad]

Honestly, this raid was more like spectating than participating.

How to put it, rather than users directly participating to pioneer the story.

It felt more like watching a game trailer.

Of course, being a high-freedom open RPG, such distinctions don't really exist.

That's how much Otherworlders were just spectators this time.

As if saying it's not your time yet, this fight was literally on a different level.

"Sigh, what should I do for the next 3 days?"

Chae-rin who finished watching let out a light sigh.

Her character is dead so she's forced to take a 3-day break from streaming.

Having even taken a break from school, she was basically unemployed for a while.

"That's why I told you to hang back. They weren't giving money just for participating for no reason."

As she was lamenting, her editor sitting across spoke up.

Unlike Chae-rin who got wiped in 5 minutes, Ha-neul was a survivor who watched the battle to the end.

That wasn't because she hid like a coward... but because her class as a mage was relatively safe.

And being naturally quiet and level-headed, she knew how to ensure her own safety.

"I was planning to visit Yor this week, but that's not happening now."

While taking sips of alcohol, Chae-rin spoke as if complaining.

Hearing those words, Ha-neul couldn't help but comment.

"Why do you visit that NPC so often these days?"

"Weren't you the one telling me to get closer to him before?"

"Well, that's true but..."

These days Chae-rin was literally living in the game.

As an unnie close to her before being an editor, she wanted to tell her to live in reality a bit.

Though even Im Ha-neul saying this was a hikikomori who only did editing in her room...

Still, she couldn't help but worry a bit.

There were cases like this sometimes.

Users having their hearts stolen by NPCs who seemed too human. Almost like a modern-day Pygmalion.

With synchronization rate adjusting sensations and 18+ mode available, it was inevitable they'd grow attached.

That was understandable, but you shouldn't give your whole heart to it.

Reality and fantasy need to be distinguished.

Getting too deeply involved with NPCs will only hurt yourself in the end.

But she was also curious.

The NPC called Yor she saw in videos was certainly charming.

So it was natural for Ha-neul to have such thoughts.

'Maybe I should visit once?'

Her money source was suspended for 3 days anyway so there was nothing to edit.

Didn't seem like a bad idea.

Her eyes grew deeper as she tilted her glass.