The moment Black Tea landed on top of the dragon’s head, the ghosts in the sky began screaming her name.

“Black Tea! Black Tea! Black Tea! Black Tea!”

“Black Tea!!!”

Everyone chanted for her.

Messages appeared in Black Tea’s vision.

[NutTea is cheering for you.]

[Ube is cheering for you.]

[Brrr is cheering for you.]

All their support switched to her. Donations poured in from the supporters.

[Attack Power Increased!]

[Attack Power Increased!]

[Attack Power Increased!]

[Attack Power Increased!]

...

A massive stack of buffs layered onto her.

Fwoosh!

“Die!”

She thrust her spear, packed with overwhelming chakra.

KWA! GRAAANG!

A huge explosion erupted at the back of Knight Terror’s head. For an instant, it pierced through his skull.

Knight Terror was still alive. “Y-You insolent...!”

His arrogant, icy eyes flared with savage light.

Knight Terror’s rage exploded. “How dare a mere insect climb onto my body?”

Black energy burst from his body.

KWAANG!

This spell shoved everything out from his center. The vicious magic scorched everything nearby with electricity.

Maid Black Tea managed to survive. “Guhh...!”

She held on with her spear still embedded in the dragon and didn’t even get thrown off thanks to the extra shields from the supporters.

Thunk.

“WAAAAAAH!”

Cheering sticks glittered in the sky. A surge of strength flooded Maid Black Tea.

“GRAAAAH!”

Despite her giant head and stubby limbs that made movement awkward, she twisted her whole body and climbed back onto Knight Terror’s neck. She stabbed wildly, thinking this was her last chance.

KWANG!

BANG!

KWANG! GRAAANG!

The violent impacts made Knight Terror’s head jerk.

The dragon genuinely panicked. “Guhk!”

“SKREEEEE!”

Beneath Knight Terror’s jaw, Treeana steered the Mega Hawk and dove in. Almond braced himself and drew his bow.

Giriik...

‘That.’

One single scale among countless others, a reverse scale, rose against the grain. The production team had planted a dragon’s classic weakness there. It was impossibly faint against Knight Terror’s massive body.

Almond’s aim wavered as the Mega Hawk bucked wildly through the air. He was approaching his limit.

Even so, he exhaled a thin breath and released his arrow. “Phew.”

Everything shook and reeled around Almond, but not his aim. The result was a direct hit.

BOOOOM!

Knight Terror’s wings sagged. “GRAAAAH!”

A deafening roar of triumph swept across Cheese Village. “WAAAAAAAAHHHH!!”

***

Meanwhile, Potato Servant faced two dragons alone. He wasn’t really fighting them, but just drawing their aggro and running.

“Die!”

“You... I’ll kill you... I’ll kill you...”

Two dragons the size of fortresses pursued Potato Servant. Thankfully, the ancient golem moved faster than expected and understood him.

“Run! Run!”

“Piiii?”

It wasn’t a real conversation. The golem just made strange noises.

Potato Servant one-sidedly barked at it. “Left!”

The golem moved as he commanded. It cut hard to the left and narrowly avoided Saint Kaiser’s Meteor attack.

BOOM!

A meteor struck nearby, spraying rough debris and blinding the view.

— DAMN

— He’s dribbling them?

— Nice

— Potato Servant carried, honestly

— Whoa!

Potato Servant lasted surprisingly long against enemies this strong.

“R-Right! Straight! Right!”

He often played the role of drawing aggro in games. Just running wasn’t enough. If the aggro felt like it would drop, one had to turn back and throw something to keep it up.

“Over here, you bastard!”

Pop.

The aggro snapped back again.

‘Survival Craft really is Survival Craft. This AI is worse than I expected.’

From what he could tell, the dragons didn’t like straying too far from where they had spawned. Monsters like this tended to suddenly turn back if lured too far. He had to hit them again to pull aggro, run again, and repeat.

‘This actually works?’

When the Dragon of Streaming Destruction had split into three, they looked so powerful that he hadn’t even thought of them as monsters.

‘The Saintess told me to... and it works.’

Treeana’s plan was working perfectly. These dragons were ultimately just monsters built on Survival Craft’s flimsy AI. Compared to enemies in modern games, they were easy to trick.

‘Okay. This is doable.’

Potato Servant’s confidence surged, but he was mistaken about one thing. Not all three dragons had the same level of AI.

Saint Kaiser was different.

At some point, it realized it was being toyed with and murmured, “3G.”

Suddenly, its speed increased. The dragon, drifting lazily through the sky, instantly overtook Potato Servant.

A massive tail lashed out and smashed the golem’s waist.

KOO! WOONG!

Potato Servant swayed and barely clung to the collapsing golem. “U-Uaaaah! Holy shit...”

Right in front of him, Saint Kaiser’s gaping maw awaited. A red beam glowed inside. It flooded Potato Servant’s vision as the dragon fired.

KWA! AAAAAAH!

Potato Servant squeezed his eyes shut, thinking it was all over. “Guhk!”

He was still alive. The ancient golem’s arm had turned into sand and vanished. It had shielded him.

“D-Damn it! Servant Golem!”

The golem’s core dimmed. “Piiii...”

It dropped to one knee without landing even a single proper punch.

Potato Servant screamed, “NOOOOO!”

Losing all reason, he raised his club and charged at Saint Kaiser.

“Y-You! I’ll...!”

Then, Lady Grudge’s poison cloud rolled in from behind.

BOOOOM!

[User SweetPotato’s data has been deleted.]

After holding out so long, Potato Servant died brutally fast and simple as the poison melted him.

— No...

— No way

— What the hell

— Oh no...

— Ah...

The viewers felt stunned. Potato Servant’s soul rose into the sky. At last, he became another spectator.

A familiar face greeted him up there. “Welcome to the Noobs Club, Potato Servant. I’m the club president, Bubblegum.”

‘What even is this place?’

— LOL

— No way lmao

— ?

— Ghost meetup

Ding.

[Story has donated 10,000 won.]

[A long, long time ago, a legend said that you can meet Bubblegum when you go to the heaven of noobs.]

***

Maid Black Tea climbed back onto the dragon Lemon Servant was piloting. “Knight Terror... Cut!”

Thud. 𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂

— Nice

— For real LOL

— Whoa

— Bug(?) deleted!

Just as Maid Black Tea declared, Knight Terror crashed down to the ground and vanished completely. It was a meaningful victory, but like all wars, every victory demanded sacrifice.

Radish Servant, eyes wide, shouted, “S-Saintess!? P-Potato Servant is dead!”

He had seen Potato Servant’s golem collapse.

Treeana nodded calmly as if it were nothing. “I know. I sent him to die.”

“What!?”

— No way LMAOOOO

— That was the mission from the start!!

— Damn it, loyal Potato Servant!

— LOL what

Potato Servant had been sent out with his death already decided.

She likened the situation to chess. “We traded one pawn to take a knight. It was a favorable exchange.”

— A pawn LOL

— Potato Pawn

— Sweet Pawn

— HAHAHAHA

Radish Servant was left speechless.

‘She’s right.’

It was painful, but they had sacrificed Potato Servant to take down one of the three dragons. This would have been impossible while fighting all three together. Someone had to be sacrificed to open the board.

“Then... what do we do next?”

“If possible, we strike the weaker one first.”

“If possible...?”

Her statement didn’t inspire confidence.

“Those two haven’t separated since earlier. We’ll likely have to fight two-on-one.”

For that reason, she had targeted Knight Terror first.

— Oh

— That makes sense

— Damn

— That observation though

— Is it because she’s the emperor’s daughter? LOL

“First, we pull back and create distance.”

At Treeana’s order, Lemon Servant retreated as well. The two remaining dragons glared at them, but didn’t give chase. Instead, they devoted their time to further destroying Cheese Village.

KRAAANG!

They had reduced Cheese Village to a sea of fire. Melting blocks continued to vanish.

Treeana turned to Almond. “Almond.”

He remained silent.

“Are you all right?”

She had noticed a change when he’d drawn his bow earlier. Almond had taken longer than usual to aim. If it were his normal self, his arrow would have flown a beat sooner.

Treeana caught that tiny difference, probably because they were alike.

“I can still go a bit longer.”

‘A bit?’

Radish Servant panicked when he heard that.

‘Come to think of it... the Lord isn’t supposed to play this long.’

Everything had been happening too fast for it to sink in.

[04:33:17]

Almond had been logged in for nearly twenty hours. Long sessions weren’t unheard of for streamers. For Almond, this was an extreme forced march. He had only endured because the actual combat time was relatively short.

“Hitting the reverse scale is key. No one but you can do it. It’ll be a problem if you exhaust yourself after a single shot. They’ll attack together. It would be best not to begin if you cannot finish. Can you truly do it?”

Almond felt surprised that she had noticed his aim waver, but she was asking again even after he said he could. This was the same person who had sent Potato Servant to die without hesitation.

He met Treeana’s gaze. It felt as if she understood the exact state of his arms.

Still, Almond nodded again. “I can do it.”

Treeana answered flatly, “That is a lie.”

“What?”

“I can tell. Lies.”

Radish Servant expressed his surprise this time. “Huh?”

‘Is she really doing character work right now?’

Treeana wasn’t an actual Saintess, but just an actress. What did she mean she could tell lies in a situation where Cheese Village was on the brink of collapse?

Almond suddenly stepped back. “What is this? Are you a real Saintess? How can you tell?”

His eyes wavered wildly.

Radish Servant also felt dumbfounded.

‘This has to be acting... or... What is this?’

It felt too sincere to be acting and too ridiculous to be sincere. Treeana knew exactly what they were thinking.

She smirked and nodded. “You didn’t know? I am a Saintess. Don’t lie to me.”

Almond confessed, “Hmm. Honestly, I can’t guarantee that I can keep going.”

Radish Servant’s eyes shook.

‘So it really was a lie!?’

He couldn’t tell where the acting ended and where the truth began.

Treeana crossed her arms and surveyed the situation. “Hmm.”

Potato Servant had died, and two dragons remained.

‘If only we had one more person to draw aggro.’

She looked down at the villagers to find the next sacrifice.

‘Anyone?’

It didn’t have to be the Knights. Anyone could fight even without a relic, but their data would be deleted if they died. They needed courage.

Treeana tapped Radish Servant lightly. “Tell them.”

“Yes.”

“Tell them they’ll make a lot of money if they fight.”

“What...?”

“Tell them that donations will pour in if they fight.”

Radish Servant looked completely lost, unable to understand why she had suddenly dropped the act again.

— LOL she’s not wrong

— Religious groups run on donations, after all

— True though

— She’s telling him to advertise

— Recruiting soldiers LOL

“We need one more person. Hurry.”

“Y-Yes.”

Radish Servant nodded and shouted at the crowd below, “If you join the fight, donations will pour in for you!”

From within the tunnels, players began emerging one by one.

“Fine. I’ll devote this body to Cheese Village.”

“For Cheese Village!”

“My life for Cheese!”

Each declared a noble cause, their faces filled with resolve.