Ten minutes before Celli pulled up Noala’s stream, Noa opened his eyes.
Like after every death, he had returned to the closest respawn point, which was a monument dedicated to the old gods.
"So, I can’t use the pause function while against him?" Noala rubbed his tired face. "That’s brutal."
- That’s what happens when you try to cheese it.
"What do you mean ’cheese it?’ Do you even know what that means? It was just a simple break to calm my nerves."
He opened another can of energy drink and took a swig.
"Now, what to do?" he muttered to himself. "Should I change the build? He is fast, so a dexterity build, maybe?"
He opened the equipment menu, only to find himself in disbelief.
"What the hell is this?"
His sword and shield, the weapons he had equipped while fighting Allaryx, were nowhere to be seen.
"Wait, wait, wait, what?"
- Kek, funniest shit I’ve ever seen.
- Dude, that sword was a mythic rank item. Are you nuts?
- How the f*ck did you lose it?
"How should I know? I didn’t do anything."
He opened every menu and submenu, but there was no sign of his equipment.
- Ffs, you are an idiot.
- Told you you should have read about him before fighting him! I told you!
- He did, in fact, tell you.
Noala slammed his fists on his keyboard. "This dimwit destroyed my weapons! For fuck’s sake!"
- That’s not very family-friendly of you, my dude.
- I was here when Noala lost his shit. Where were you?
- Drowning in bitches.
- You are one cool dude.
- Literal bitches, man. I love dogs.
But that wasn’t the end of Noala’s misery.
Something at the edge of the screen caught his eye.
One of the markers at the edge of the minimap seemed to be moving.
Noala hastily opened the map.
"Wait—what’s happening?"
The quest marker that indicated Allaryx’s location was darting across the map.
"Can’t be," Noala whispered, his eyes inches away from the screen.
Hairs on his body stood up.
"He’s moving," he realized. "At a dangerous speed."
He zoomed out and scanned the map.
"He’s not taking any turns."
Lakes, forests, deserts—Allaryx was crossing them without a single wasted second.
- This is nuts. How is he travelling that fast on a lake? What kind of boat does he have?
- The guy must have the world’s greatest buggy.
"We are screwed." His voice was a whisper. "He is heading towards the capital."
Without a second thought, he calculated the distance between the two. He looked for the nearest respawn point to Allaryx and teleported there in the hopes of intercepting him.
- Nah, man. Can’t be. Must be a bug.
But the moment he teleported to the respawn point, his hopes were shattered as his fears came to life.
A plume of dust raged over the land, divided only by a stripe of molten minerals and stone burning the ground.
It was no exaggeration to state that the earth was scorched.
- What’s happening? Am I high?
The chat became increasingly hyperactive as more and more viewers logged in.
In the distance, Noa spotted a man running at incredible speeds, scratching the ground with his glaive.
"Is he fucking running?"
The expression he made perfectly summarized how inconceivable the sight was.
Noala had to teleport to a spot two respawn points away in the hopes of catching Allaryx.
"Shit, how is he already past?"
He quickly changed to his secondary weapon, a bow. After taking aim, he activated a skill that fired a rain of arrows.
Hundred plus arrows filled the sky, descending on Allaryx, who was getting away.
The knight in black stopped in his tracks, and with a single swing, plucked the arrows from the sky, destroying every single projectile.
"Now, I have your attention," Noala muttered, licking his dried lips.
- Why would you do that?
- You absolute moron!
- Have you lost it? Do you like getting destroyed?
- Did you forget how miserably you lost?
- Do you want more of your gear broken?
- Run, ******! Run like the wind!
For a moment, the streamer contemplated his options.
"Where can I run? He will catch up either way." He took a large gulp of his energy drink. "What the fuck is wrong with this guy anyway? How is anyone supposed to beat him?"
Noa changed his weapons to a pair of short swords.
"Time to dual wield, baby."
- He said while shaking in his seat.
- I can smell the urine leaking from his pants.
- Time to give up, man. Lay down your weapon, lay down your life. Bow to your new overlord.
- You are his little bitch now. Time to acknowledge it.
"Shut up. I don’t care. I am fighting him."
As Noa lifted his swords, Allaryx rushed in.
He began his assault by swinging his glaive horizontally out of reach of his short swords.
Seven steps away was enough distance for him to do devastating damage, and the strength of that swing was enough to make the wind sound as if it were being torn.
Noa dodged by rolling to the side.
"It may look ugly, but it is the only way to survive," Noala said, pressing the roll button repeatedly. "Roll, baby, roll."
- If this were real life, your master would have committed suicide for teaching your unworthy ass.
- The ugliness is enough to cringe even the opponent.
- If we could see the face Allaryx was making, we would see a man pitying his opponent.
- Opponent? This is a nerd-bully relationship. There’s no opponent here. Opponents fight back.
- It’s so ugly, I am profusely bleeding through my eyes.
- Look what you did to this man. You made him bleed profusely!
- If it were normal bleeding, I wouldn’t have cared. But profuse bleeding? Now, that’s real shit!
"Calm down, guys. I know what I am doing."