Season 2: Chapter 189: Icarus (3)

After a while, OrangeKing's stream turned on. Considering his usual pattern, it was at an odd time with an odd title.

[Almond vs JeonJaPa! Watching the Recovery of Orange Juice]

— ??

— What's this?

— Did OrangeKing's stream start already?

— Is it because today is the day he's teaming up with Almond?

— Hi there.

"Ah~ Ah~"

After a brief mic test, OrangeKing cheerfully greeted his viewers.

"Hello!"

— Hello.

— Hi there.

— Hello~

Viewers gradually trickled in.

"Ah. Today, I turned on the stream a bit early at Almond's request."

He started talking about today's content.

"Actually, I'm planning to stream Almond’s showdown against Flashy Blade, the story's last boss, who is also using JeonJaPa’s data."

— ??

— Haha, so that's why you were talking about the orange juice.

— You need to retrieve that juice...

Orange juice was a meme mocking an incident when OrangeKing cried profusely after losing during his pro days. He cried so miserably that it was still frequently used as a meme in the community. The opponent who caused those tears of defeat was the rookie JeonJaPa. In other words, JeonJaPa stole his juice.

OrangeKing always dreamed of revenge and promised to reclaim the juice.

However, JeonJaPa conquered every series that year and never lost.

"Yes. Well, I'd be happy to reclaim the juice myself, but now I'm in a position to foster talented newbies..."

To summarize this lengthy excuse, he entrusted Almond with the mission and announced that he would stream the showdown.

— That's typical OrangeKing sneakiness, haha.

— That's what being a man is all about! haha.

— Typical man: Paying someone to do the job. Is that right?

Despite the numerous mocking comments in the chat, OrangeKing didn't care.

"Yes, yes. Let's get into it then. Ah!"

Thus, OrangeKing's stream began.

Almond briefly paused the game after receiving Ju-Hyeok's message.

[Sang-Hyeon: OrangeKing is also streaming this?]

[Ju-Hyeok: Yeah, isn’t that cool?]

[Sang-Hyeon: Yeah, it's fine. Then... explain it to the viewers.]

[Ju-Hyeok: Okay, okay.]

Ju-Hyeok had made a reassuring move. The person who just set up the mission was the real OrangeKing, who said he would also stream the final battle of the story mode today.

— ?? What's this?

— Is he going to end his stream right now?

— What's going on? Why all the secrecy?

— Are you really ending it here?

Since the messages Almond exchanged with Ju-Hyeok weren't visible on the stream, viewers still didn't know what was happening. They even thought Almond was about to end his stream.

"Ah. Everyone..."

Almond explained what Ju-Hyeok had just mentioned.

— ?? Is it really OrangeKing?

— Was it for real? Lol.

— This is hilarious, already changing the stream for the Orange Juice retrieval operation, lolol.

— Amazing!

— Seeking revenge only now, haha.

“Ah. Hello, members of the Nut Club. It's OrangeKing.”

OrangeKing's voice began to reach the viewers. Since Almond couldn't hear it, he could only tell the stream had started by looking at the viewers' reactions.

— OrangeKing Hi~

— Is it real? lol

— ???: You shouldn't have taken the orange juice from me...

— WTF, lol it's crazy!!

"Everyone, if you can hear OrangeKing's voice, I'll start. This is the setup from Civil Empire. Is that okay?"

— Yeah.

— Go, go, go.

— Nice.

— Let’s goooo~

Since he used the same settings from Civil Empire, there was no need to complicate things further and adjust the current settings.

"Then, here we go."

Almond resumed the game.

***

The bird blazed with transcendental power. It had now turned into the form of a masculine man with black hair, a straight nose, and sharp eyes.

He looked quite handsome with white wings behind him like an angel and resembled a lion descending from heaven.

[So that's the last boss. I've put a whopping 200,000 won on his neck... Huh? No, the money has increased?]

A total bounty of 700,000 won was now on the angel's neck.

— He's earning a lot, yet puts up only 200,000 won, haha.

— PettyKing.

— ShyFox bet more money than you, haha there's no juice to reclaim for him.

OrangeKing quickly changed the topic.

“Ah. By the way, doesn't it seem like that bird will come down?”

As OrangeKing said, there was no sign of the bird descending from the sky.

'It's out of reach.'

Almond was also pondering the same thing. Even from his perspective, it was impossible to hit such heights. This bow was a weapon with definite range limitations.

“Huh? What's happening?”

Swoosh.

The enemy raised his right arm as if commanding something. The blades that formed his wings all lined up. They seemed ready to be fired at any moment and pointed toward Almond and Luna, who had wide-opened mouths.

The blades would soon be fired.

“What's this!? Is it a blade barrage!?”

Swoosh.

When the boss pointed down with his index finger, numerous blades began to fall.

Shhhlshlshlsh!

'Blade barrage?'Rread latest chapters at n/ov(e)lbin(.)co/m

Almond realized this skill was similar to the blade barrage used by Valkyrie, a divine messenger. He had survived this blade barrage multiple times and could either hit them with arrows or simply dodge.

The angel appeared behind Almond and was persistently only targeting him.

“Does he feel that Almond's combat power is superior? Is he only targeting Almond?! Or is it because Luna, who uses Flash, is difficult to catch?!”

He tried to cleave Almond in half with his sword.

“Almond blocked it...! He blocked it! It's amazing! It's even hard to follow with your eyes!”

Booom!

Almond blocked the sword with his bow instead of getting divided into two.

“But he blocked it with a bow?!”

— Damn..

— Wow, so fast, damn.

— Teacher, the pace is too fast!

“Is the bow okay?! This isn't how it's supposed to be used, right?!”

Crack!

"!?"

Almond’s bow began to crack down the middle. No, it didn't just stop at cracking.

“Huh!? Is the bow breaking?”

Boom!

Almond's bow split into two and the angel’s sword continued coming toward him. However, Almond dodged by leaping back.

“Almond managed to survive, but what now?! The boss is still coming!!”

Thump!

The boss flapped its wings once and stuck to Almond.

Swoosh!

[Flash]

Luna appeared and blocked the angel’s sword instead.

Bang!

"Almond! Quickly grab a weapon!"

While Luna bought some time, Almond grabbed one of the many knives scattered around. It was one of the weapons that belonged to the kids.

Meanwhile, Luna fought the angel to buy some time for Almond.

“Ah! Lu-Luna! She’s being a huge help?! There wasn't an NPC this helpful if I recall. Was there?”

— That's because of your face.

— Because she recognizes the face of a god, LOL.

— For real, LOL, Luna isn't that kind of character.

However, that was the problem.

“Ah! She worked hard, but it's futile! The problem is too difficult for a repeat student to handle! JeonJaPa!!!”

For some reason, her sword gradually fell behind and she couldn’t flash due to the cooldown.

Shooaaack—

The angel deeply sliced diagonally across Luna's upper body.

"Uh, uh..."

Luna collapsed with her mouth open.

“Thankfully, Almond is holding a weapon now! He's rushing in!”

"Luna!!!"

Almond grabbed a sword and leaped into the fray.

Bang!

Almond intercepted the angel's sword that was trying to finish off Luna.

“Oh, Almond blocked it!”

Ssrrk!

Almond smoothly deflected the angel’s sword, causing it to crumble. Meanwhile, he raised his sword again to strike.

Swish!

The angel immediately withdrew its wings.

“Is this also impressive?! Is it swordsmanship trained from playing Civil Empire?!”

Although Almond successfully drove the angel back, the angel rushed in again to kill Luna.

Whoosh—

“What, what's this!? This is like a high school ghost story! How can you blo... block this!!!”

— A high school ghost story, LOL.

— LOL!

— Yeah, that's it, haha.

Kagakang!

Kaang!

With tremendous concentration, Almond deflected all of the angel's sword attacks. He only had one thought: to protect Luna. It wasn't for some great benefit.

'I should escape with Luna.'

Although she was an NPC, he had grown attached over time. The scene where Luna took a blow for him left a deep impression. Her story was somewhat pitiful even though he still couldn't completely understand her inner thoughts.

He continued to block the angel's attacks.

"Haa... haa... Ah, Almond..." Luna rose from the floor and spoke.

"Luna. Stay still. You can't fight right now."

"No. That's not it."

"?"

Luna grabbed Almond's leg.

"Kill me... You... Kill me."

Luna was asking Almond to kill her.

Almond felt his strength momentarily drain from the hand holding the sword.

"What...?"

"Kill me. Stab me with that sword."

He couldn't believe what he just heard and he couldn't understand it for a moment.

"Kill me and take my skills and sword! It's meaningless if I die by his hands! You can leave if it's you. I... I..."

"What are you saying? We should leave together!?"

“Hahaha,” Luna burst into laughter.

"I can't leave anyway. After repeating this much... Even though I had countless opportunities, I couldn't even touch him."

Tears fell from the corners of her laughing eyes.

"Kill me."

"What...?"

Luna screamed as if she was frustrated, “Just kill me!! I engraved all those tattoos on your body! You still don’t get it, you dumbfuck?!”

“...!”

"I’ve just been using you! Every time! You just moved according to what I wanted! That's why—"

Thwook.

Almond's sword finally pierced Luna's heart.

***

[Beginner Tip: In the abyss, no one can be trusted and everyone must be trusted.]