Chapter 43: Crushing Defeat

"Fuck..."

I couldn’t remember the last time I had regretted a decision this quickly.

This girl had completely played me.

The information displayed on her profile was more than enough to show me how terrible my situation was.

[Player: Caramel]

[Global Rank: 24]

[Ice King Rank: 1]

[Ice King Win Rate: 91%]

[Overall Win Rate: 73%]

I blinked several times and refreshed the page, but the numbers didn’t change. I wanted to believe I had opened the wrong profile or that the game had made some kind of mistake, but the player ID was identical to the one she had posted in chat.

Only minutes after winning two matches and declaring myself a professional, I had challenged the twenty-fourth-ranked player in the world.

And I had done it in front of hundreds of people.

I clasped my hands beneath my chin and stared at the screen with the most serious expression I could manage.

"Oiii, this isn’t fair."

The chat was already filling with laughing emotes.

[Her voice changed the moment she saw the profile.]

[Supreme Noctis’s soul just left her body.]

[Wasn’t she saying she wouldn’t show mercy a minute ago?]

[Caramel is going to eat you alive.]

[She’s already preparing an excuse to run away.]

Caramel’s response appeared among the messages.

[Caramel: Are you scared?]

"B—"

I noticed the curse about to escape my mouth at the last second and covered my lips with one hand. My avatar glared angrily at the screen while I took several deep breaths and tried to calm down.

I couldn’t forget that hundreds of people were watching me.

After removing my hand from my mouth, I spoke in the most serious voice I could manage.

"This isn’t fear. Putting a beginner against a globally ranked player is ridiculous."

[Caramel: It’s just a 1v1. You don’t need to be so nervous.]

"It might be just a 1v1 for you. I don’t even know all my character’s moves yet."

[Caramel: I can wait if you want. Go finish the tutorial.]

[Hahahaha!]

[Caramel already feels sorry for her.]

[Supreme Noctis got sent back to training.]

Gritting my teeth, I continued staring at Caramel’s profile.

If I backed down now, the chat would never let me forget it. I had no doubt they would remind me that I had gotten scared and run away during every future stream.

Besides, how did I know she would definitely beat me?

Yes, she was ranked twenty-fourth in the world. She was also the highest-ranked Ice King player, and her win rate was high enough to drain a person’s will to live.

However, I had won both of the two matches I’d played.

Statistically speaking, that meant I had a one-hundred-percent win rate.

There might have been a small problem with my logic, but I didn’t need logic right now.

After a long sigh, I accepted the friend request and sent her an invitation to a private match.

"Fine, come on. Don’t make excuses after you lose."

[Caramel: I like that confidence.]

[Supreme Noctis’s final words.]

[Someone clip this moment.]

The moment Caramel joined the lobby, I started the match. When the character-selection screen opened, I chose Chain Executioner without hesitation.

Caramel’s portrait remained empty for several seconds before becoming surrounded by icy blue light.

Ice King.

The character had long white hair and a crown made of ice. He opened his eyes as a freezing wind billowed the edges of his blue cloak.

"Cold, isn’t it...? Just like my soul."

As the character finished his line, I tightened my grip on the keyboard and mouse.

"He doesn’t look that frightening."

[The last words of everyone who faced Ice King.]

[Caramel picked her main.]

[Will Noctis manage to hit her even once?]

"Once? I’m going to win the match."

The fight began in a vast, snow-covered arena. The moment the countdown ended, I launched Chain Executioner’s chain forward.

Before the scythe could reach Caramel, it struck a wall of ice rising from the ground.

While I was still trying to understand what had happened, a blue symbol appeared beneath my character’s feet. A pillar of ice erupted upward and launched me into the air as Ice King closed the distance between us.

For the next several seconds, I didn’t touch the ground.

Caramel first pinned me against the wall with an ice spear, then launched me back into the air with three shards rising from the ground. The moment I pressed the escape button, she predicted my move, froze my character, and erased the rest of my health with a long combo.

[PERFECT VICTORY]

I stared silently at the screen.

I hadn’t landed a single attack.

"I was testing the controls."

[Of course.]

[You tested them with your entire health bar.]

[She couldn’t hit Caramel even once!]

[She’ll definitely win the second round.]

When the second round began, I waited for Caramel to make the first move instead of attacking immediately. The moment Ice King moved, I jumped backward and threw the chain diagonally.

As though she had already predicted it, Caramel ducked beneath the scythe.

Before the chain could retract, she covered half the arena in ice. When I jumped to avoid it, an ice arrow appeared in the air and struck my character.

What followed was almost identical to the first round.

I tried to defend myself and used every option I had to escape, but Caramel seemed to know what I would do before I did. When Chain Executioner finally fell to the ground, my health bar was completely empty once again.

Caramel still hadn’t taken the slightest bit of damage.

[PERFECT VICTORY]

[2–0 DEFEAT]

The chat began moving so quickly that reading the messages became nearly impossible.

[Hahahahahaha!]

[Zero damage!]

[Not Supreme Noctis—Supreme Ice Statue.]

[Show her a little mercy, Caramel.]

[Our professional player can’t speak.]

Just as I parted my lips to say something, a translucent screen unrelated to the game appeared before my eyes.

[Mission Complete!]

[You have reached 1,000 followers.]

[Rewards]

[Four-Star Mystery Card]

[3 Eclipsie Points]

Normally, I should have jumped out of my chair with joy the moment I saw that notification.

I had reached one thousand followers.

I had earned a four-star card and increased my Eclipsie Points from three to six. A reward I couldn’t even have imagined obtaining a few days ago was now waiting inside my System inventory.

I didn’t care about any of it.

My eyes remained fixed on the humiliating defeat displayed on the results screen.

Caramel hadn’t merely defeated me. She hadn’t allowed me to deal a single point of damage.

"Again."

[Caramel: Are you sure?]

"I didn’t know the character’s moves before. Now I understand how you play."

[Caramel: All right...]

We entered another match.

This time, instead of attacking immediately at the beginning of the first round, I embedded my chain into the arena wall and pulled my character forward. When I managed to get behind Caramel, I swung my scythe, but she escaped at the last moment by leaving an ice clone behind.

At least I remained alive longer than I had during the previous match.

Unfortunately, the result didn’t change.

[2–0 DEFEAT]

"One more."

[Caramel: Sure.]

During the third match, I learned how to avoid Ice King’s attack from beneath the ground. I came close to catching him with my chain, but Caramel froze the tip of the scythe in midair and stopped my attack before leading me into another defeat.

[2–0 DEFEAT]

"Again!"

[That’s enough, Noctis. Stop.]

[You’re not going to win.]

[Caramel turned her into a training dummy.]

[She’s getting stubborn.]

Ignoring the messages, I sent another match request.

During the fourth match, I finally managed to damage Caramel. When the tip of my scythe grazed Ice King’s shoulder, his health bar decreased by a tiny amount.

I leaned forward excitedly as though I had won the entire match.

"Did you see that?!"

My celebration lasted two seconds.

Caramel trapped me against the wall and performed two long combos in a row to finish the round. By the time I lost the second round as well, my hand had unconsciously curled into a fist.

[2–0 DEFEAT]

"Again!"

[Caramel: Should we make this the last one?]

"If you’re tired, you can say so."

[Caramel: I’m worried about you.]

"I’m sending the invitation."

During the first round of our fifth match, I managed to reduce Ice King’s health by half. I was beginning to notice the subtle movements that appeared before certain attacks and could predict when the ice wall would rise.

Just when I thought I might finally win, Caramel completely changed her playstyle.

She used an ability I hadn’t seen before and covered the arena in a snowstorm. My vision became limited to only a few meters, and Ice King appeared behind me and froze my character.

I lost the round.

During the second round, I only managed to remove a quarter of his health.

[2–0 DEFEAT]

When I slammed my fist against the desk, the nearly empty soda can fell over. The remaining lemon soda spilled across the surface and began spreading toward my keyboard.

"Damn it!"

I quickly lifted the can and wiped the desk with the tissues beside me. The people in chat were laughing at both my defeat and the thud picked up by the microphone.

[What did the desk ever do to you?]

[Save the soda!]

[Caramel dealt real damage to Noctis’s desk.]

[Supreme Noctis couldn’t handle the defeat.]

Once I made sure the keyboard hadn’t been damaged, I threw the wet tissues aside.

A new message from Caramel was waiting.

[Caramel: Do you want to continue?]

I was certain she had written that to mock me.

I leaned back in my chair and took several deep breaths. I knew I should stop. I hadn’t won a single round in five matches, and every defeat was making me angrier.

But if I stopped now, I would have been completely defeated by Caramel.

"One last match."

[Caramel: All right.]

When the sixth match began, I focused entirely on the screen. I stopped looking at chat, forgot about the microphone, and watched nothing but Ice King’s movements.

The first round lasted longer than any of our previous fights. I avoided Caramel’s attacks and used my chain only when I was certain she had left an opening.

As Ice King’s health steadily decreased, I could feel victory approaching.

I needed only one more attack.

I trapped Caramel in the corner of the arena and launched my chain, but the moment it reached her, Ice King’s body shattered into pieces of ice.

The real character appeared behind me as white light filled the screen.

His ultimate.

A massive dragon made of ice swept across the entire arena and swallowed Chain Executioner. When my vision returned, my character’s health had been completely depleted.

Caramel didn’t even give me the same opportunity during the second round.

[2–0 DEFEAT]

I stared silently at the results screen for several seconds.

Caramel had won six matches.

I hadn’t taken a single one of the twelve rounds.

The chat was overflowing with messages, but I no longer wanted to read any of them.

I moved the cursor to my streaming program and ended the stream without even thinking about what I was doing. I didn’t say goodbye to the viewers, tell them I would see them tomorrow, or even display the closing screen.

The stream window suddenly went dark, leaving only the sound of my computer fans inside the room.

I covered my face with both hands and lowered my head.

"What am I doing?"

I had originally started the stream only to complete the System mission. I had reached one thousand followers, earned the four-star card, and should have been celebrating my victory.

So why had I become so obsessed?

Caramel’s profile made it obvious that she had far more experience than I did. Losing to a player like her was completely normal, yet I had challenged her again after every defeat, gotten angry in front of hundreds of viewers, and finally ended the stream without saying a word.

"I’m such an idiot..."

I rose from my chair and went into the kitchen. After filling a glass with cold water, I drank half of it in one go. As the cool water ran down my throat, my anger slowly began to fade.

I placed the glass on the counter and opened the System screen again.

[Mission Complete: Rising Streamer]

[Follower Goal: 1,000/1,000]

[Eclipsie Points Earned: 3]

[Current Eclipsie Points: 6]

The four-star card sat in my inventory, purple light radiating from its edges.

Only hours ago, I had been desperate to obtain it. Now, I felt as though I needed to clear my head before opening it.

The anger inside me hadn’t completely disappeared, and sitting in front of the computer wouldn’t help me suppress it.

After drinking the rest of the water, I looked through the window at the dark street outside.

It was time to go to the park.