Masina and Vincent, despite putting up a fierce offensive, had ultimately cornered Laura with a calculated surprise attack. However, their concentration wavered, and they lost rounds two and three in spectacular fashion.
Masina, promotion match failed…!
"Aaaagh!! Lost again! Aaaaaaagh!!!"
"Oh, shut up, lol"
"Did you get wrecked again?"
"Officer! We have a public nace here!"
"Ugh… I’m a baby unicorn… I love this stuff."
"Give so sympathy, damn it! Aaaaaagh!!!"
Masina, whose wits had clearly suffered from the defeat, was throwing a tantrum. She was definitely acting below her age.
Vincent, on the other hand, was the picture of composure, staying silent.
"Not bad," he thought.
He was taken aback, and he was surprised that he was so taken aback.
Vincent had faced pro gars before when he participated in the Strear DAG event last year. He’d been awed by their skills at the ti, but what he was feeling now with Laura was different.
"What’s different here?"
He pondered over the question.
Then, he found the answer: Laura, compared to pro gars, was more… raw.
He couldn’t quite explain it, but she felt like a wild beast—rough and unrefined. She was supposedly a disgraced noble duchess, and yet she fought like an animal.
She was a wild beast with a hint of intellect. That was the impression he got.
If pro gars are like humans striving for chanical precision, Laura was oddly unique in her approach.
"So that’s it. She has a different approach."
There are players in open-world RPGs who bring completely different gaming logic, like from fighting gas or soul-likes. They play and enjoy the ga differently.
In open-world RPGs, item builds and skill setups often matter more than raw physical skill, which is why top-tier players aren't always the best in combat. But when the mont calls for it, they can display incredible peaks in physical performance.
Laura was likely bringing a completely different logic to Labyrinthos.
He wasn’t sure what logic it was, but—
"I’ll see her again soday."
There are plenty of Labyrinthos tournants. Not just the Illusion League, but others too. Plenty of VTubers even host their own private tournants.
Laura was already gaining fa as a specialist in Labyrinthos.
If she wanted to, she’d get plenty of calls to join tournants. So, sooner or later, they’d face each other again, and he’d have another chance to compete.
"How can I defeat her?"
He was contemplating that question.
Was it a matter of pride? Humiliation?
No, not really.
Vincent didn’t particularly love or hate losing. It was more like a puzzle had been placed in front of him.
If you think of raid gas, it might be easier to understand. The best part of a raid ga is figuring out how to bring down the raid boss.
Countless failures and retries. When the strategy finally clicks, and you crush the boss's patterns, the rush is indescribable.
"How can I bring down Laura?"
A puzzle was sitting right in front of him, and he wondered if he could solve it.
That’s why he found himself brooding over it.
"Laura, I really hate you! Aaaaaagh!!!"
anwhile, Sina was ranting away.
Vincent, of course, ignored her.
"Congratulations on the promotion!"
In the post-ga waiting room, I was being congratulated.
The chat was flying by so quickly it was hard to read, and donation ssages kept popping up.
Narim, who had played the ga with , was also clapping in celebration.
"No need to make a fuss. It was the expected outco," I said, pulling up a virtual tea set.
I felt satisfaction and a sense of accomplishnt, but it wasn’t overwhelming. I’d achieved rank one in various gas before. Master rank was just another stepping stone on my long journey to Dominator.
If it weren’t for the Illusion League, I might have taken longer to reach this point. Achieving Master this early would probably reduce the fun moving forward.
"Ahaha… you’re such a villainess, after all!" Narim said, still clapping. Whatever she ant by that, she didn’t stop applauding. This one sure talks a lot.
Honestly, playing with Narim left a more significant impression than reaching Master rank.
I had fun—more than usual.
"She’s a lot like ," I thought.
Even though I hadn’t played with Narim for long, I’d gotten a pretty good read on her.
She’s the exact opposite of Rinco, I’d say. She has this fierce determination and hates to give up on anything.
"Not quite the sa as , though."
Whereas I would do anything for victory, Narim would do anything to avoid giving up.
They might look the sa on the surface, but they’re fundantally different. Yet, for this ga, our goals aligned, and I think we demonstrated so excellent teamwork.
There’s a unique pleasure when teamwork clicks like that, sothing I rarely feel playing solo.
It had been a long ti since I felt that kind of enjoynt. It was an incredibly fun ga.
"Since we t here, how about adding as a friend?"
It seed Narim felt the sa way.
"My contact info isn’t cheap, but since we won, I’ll make an exception. You may rejoice," I replied with a smirk.
"Thank you! I’d love to duo again soti!" she said, beaming.
"Not a bad idea. If we put together a solid composition."
"Sounds good! By the way, you’re entering the Illusion League, right?"
"Indeed."
I nodded.
I knew Narim was entering the Illusion League this year too.
She has an advantage over other applicants. After all, she has experience from last year’s league.
"Especially this year, Narim’s got an edge."
Each team is led by four captains. Two new captains replaced others this year.
New leaders often lean on experienced sub-leaders or sergeants, right?
The two pro-gars who beca captains this year don’t know the Illusion League's atmosphere, so they’ll probably want to bring in strears with league experience.
Narim, having not only participated but also perford well last year, would certainly get picked.
"If we’re on the sa team, it’ll be fun," I said.
But then—
"Not a chance!" Narim firmly rejected.
"I’m hitting Master this year, too! So I’ll be Tier 1, and you’ll be Tier 1 too!"
"True."
Each team drafts one strear per tier. They can’t draft more than one strear from the sa tier.
So if Narim makes Master, we won’t be on the sa team.
"Then next ti, we’ll be enemies."
A bit disappointing, I must admit.
Our teamwork clicked, we worked well together, and there aren’t many people on my level.
But it can’t be helped.
"Next ti, I’ll be slicing through your neck."
I left her with that thought.
After parting ways with Narim, I queued up for Duel Mode ranked matches.
Unlike Gate Conquest Mode, Duel Mode doesn’t have a ti acceleration system. It’s a single-round ga mode instead of the maximum five rounds of Gate Conquest Mode. Also, the maps in Duel Mode are smaller, so each match ends much faster.
There’s no banning or picking phase; characters are chosen blind. Duel Mode’s character tiers are pretty well established.
Honestly, if you pick a Tier 1 character, you’re almost guaranteed a decent win rate.
Of course, since everyone picks high-win-rate Tier 1 characters, so players bring out Tier 2 characters to counter them.
But there’s a reason Tier 2 characters are Tier 2. They might have a slight edge over Tier 1, but they often struggle against 1.5 Tier characters, which lowers their win rate.
If you consider whether to pick Tier 1, Tier 2, or so hidden gem, racking up rank points isn’t too difficult.
I’m only in Diamond rank, after all. At the Dominator level, things get more intense, but in Diamond, you can win without too much effort.
So after a few rounds in Duel Mode and leaving so last-minute matches for later, I climbed out of the capsule to hear…
“I wish you’d all just die~♪ I wish you’d all just die~♬ I wish everyone would die~♪”
Rion was singing a rather suspicious tune.
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