Zelo and Acorn Jelly had appeared out of nowhere. Some viewers realized it long ago.

‘What... is this...?’

Almond couldn’t help but be shaken.

— Almond.exe has stopped working LOL

— LOLLLL

— The Trumond Show returns

— Zeluto at the shrine!

— What is this, everyone’s here??

— Almond, this is the Matrix. It’s fake. Log out now.

— This Avengers line-up is hilarious

Was he still suffering from the aftereffects of The Trumond Show? By Almond’s reckoning, he’d been trapped in the Truman world until just that morning. Now, another coincidence like this occurred?

“What is this, Gum?” He had no choice but to doubt. “Did you trick me?”

“Huh? Trick you how? No, how would I even do that?”

Seeing Almond like this only made the viewers stir the pot harder.

— Gum is fake too, kid

— LOLLLL how would he even trick you?!

— He’s fallen into Gum-trix

— This is the fake timeline, Almond! Escape!

— How would Gum even pull this off LOL

— Bubblegum Domain Expansion

— Chaos LOL

“I mean, how do I meet you, Zelo, and Acorn Jelly...?”

“Oh. That? We queued at the same time.”

“We?”

“Yeah, we’re on the same Platform War team. You don’t know about B.Z.F.A.C? They say it’s a hopeless team.”

B.Z.F.A.C. was short for Bubblegum, Zelo, ForeverAlone, Acorn Jelly, and Choco Shroom.

Even Almond clicked his tongue at that nightmare of a roster. “No way.”

— “No way” LOL

— Gum is like 70% of the reason they’re hopeless

— Hopeless team LOL

— LMAO

“Anyway, we ended up togeth...”

Not all questions had been answered. They didn’t have the time as the other side cut in.

“Oh? Bubblegum?” Zelo grinned ear to ear. “I thought this round was doomed when I saw Almond, but I’m relieved if Gum is here! Looks like even in this cursed game, the god of balance still exists! Hahaha!”

Bubblegum was being brutally humiliated.

‘So, that’s why he wanted simultaneous queueing.’

Almond roughly understood the picture now. He could tell by how excitedly Zelo kept throwing out remarks.

“And where did the rest of your team go? Into Bubblegum’s stomach? Did the devs eat them all up for dinner? Something like that~?”

More than anything, Zelo wanted to prove something to Bubblegum.

— LOLLLL Zelo is having so much fun

— Insane LOL

— Ahahaha

— They actually died because of Almond though...

Almond’s team had split up for no reason and got wiped out. It had been Almond’s call to split, yet Bubblegum got mocked for it.

“No, that was because Almond said we should split. Hey, Almond, explain a bit. Huh?”

“I’m not sure.”

— LOLLLL

— LMAO

— King behavior

— He really forgot

No further discussion followed.

“We just need to win, right?”

Giri-rik.

Almond immediately drew his bow.

“Whoa there, Mr. Almond?” Zelo raised both hands, stopping him. “It won’t work with Sori. And we have more in numbers.”

It was four versus two. Zelo was a contractor too, and this was right in front of the Sanctuary of Resurrection. Another team could intervene at any moment. It would be bad for both sides.

“We’ll revive first. Just one person. Then we’ll go far away, and you can use it afterward.”

Almond fell silent for a moment. His eyes flicked down briefly, and he muttered, “Two seconds.”

Bubblegum had no idea what that meant. “Huh?”

“One second...”

The countdown was for Rope Movement’s cooldown, but Zelo was also waiting for his cooldown.

“Smoke grenade, one second.”

Storm Ninja’s smoke grenade had a long early cooldown, so he had deliberately talked to stall.

Almond didn’t know that.

‘The Sanctuary of Resurrection is single use.’

He simply believed it wouldn’t activate twice.

Pahng!

The moment Rope Movement came off cooldown, Almond loosed his arrow.

KWAANG!

Zelo released his chakra into the ground and charged. Almond’s arrow struck Acorn Jelly in the head. Bubblegum quickly raised his shield to block Zelo.

KANG!

Blade and shield clashed, sparks flying.

[Smoke Grenade]

At the same time, smoke spread everywhere. Now, Almond couldn’t snipe anyone other than Zelo.

Pop!

[Rope Movement]

As a counter, Almond escaped with Rope Movement.

‘Just as expected.’

Zelo had calculated up to this point.

‘Now, kill Bubblegum and isolate him.’

His target had been Bubblegum, who had no mobility skills. Every kill increased Storm Ninja’s chakra output, which meant more speed. If he killed Bubblegum here, he could face Almond in a much stronger state.

“Fire everything!”

“Yes!”

At his command, the rest of the team fired into the smoke. Allies were visible inside it, so they used Zelo as a reference point. After all, Zelo and Bubblegum were locked together.

[Fireball]

Fwoooosh!

The mage’s strongest damage spell came crashing in.

Bubblegum couldn’t move. “Huh?”

Wasn’t Zelo’s blade still pressed against his shield? He took the fireball head-on.

KWAANG!

Even blocked, it dealt massive damage. Flames and smoke swallowed the area.

“Almond!?”

Almond was nowhere to be seen.

Thuk!

Zelo’s blade stabbed into Bubblegum’s abdomen.

[HP: 71%]

“Senpai, rest in peace!”

Shraaaak!

Another quick slash came.

[HP: 50%]

Sword contractors used a kind of auto-cancel technique to minimize the interval between strikes. Zelo’s flow was extremely smooth.

‘He really was skilled back then.’

Bubblegum wasn’t about to lose. “Damn it!”

He smashed his shield down toward Zelo’s head.

[Chakra Release]

Zelo’s form dispersed, and the swing missed. Instead, a blade struck Bubblegum from behind.

Shraaaak!

[HP: 29%]

“Urgh!”

When he looked back, Zelo calmly said, “Too slow.”

— DAMN

— Kyaa!

— LOLLLLLLLL

— Zeluto! Zeluto! Zeluto!

— The way he uses chakra is hilarious LOL

— Instant discipline check~

“Hraaah!”

Whooom!

Bubblegum spun back around and swung his shield again.

[Chakra Release]

KWAANG!

Zelo shot up into the air.

[Chakra Adhesion]

Thud!

Like a magnet, he snapped onto a tree.

“What the hell? This is busted.”

“It’s just a difference in skill, isn’t it?”

— Overpowered?

— New to this? LOL

— First time seeing Storm Ninja?

— Losing and calling it OP LOL

After all, this was a contractor versus a regular player. There was no contest.

[Chakra Release]

KWAANG!

Zelo kicked off the tree and slashed down like lightning.

“Guhk!”

Kang!

Bubblegum blocked with his shield, but the chakra acceleration greatly boosted the damage.

[HP: 12%]

Ssssss...!

A red line shimmered before Zelo’s eyes.

[Ninja’s Instinct]

This line appeared when he could finish an opponent in a single blow. Following it to land the kill would further strengthen his chakra.

“I see it... I see the line... Heh heh heh.”

— LOL

— It really does show

— Poor Gum...

— So that’s why they call him Storm Ninja Zelo...

— At least give him Iron Ball before making him fight

— Storm Ninja Zelo! Storm Ninja Zelo! Storm Ninja Zelo!

Then, it happened.

[LazySoldier Double Kill!]

A notice popped up saying that LazySoldier had killed two players.

“Mr. Zelo! Behind you!” Acorn Jelly shouted, but it was too late.

[Frost Arrow ]

PANG!

An arrow flew in and instantly froze Zelo. Storm Ninja relied on mobility. Without it, he was nothing.

[Frozen]

Zelo froze solid for two seconds.

“H, how...?” He strained to turn his neck to look back, but couldn’t. “Damn it, what the hell just happened!?”

Almond had killed two players. Then, he used Rope Movement back toward Zelo. While flying in, he fired a Frost Arrow and kept shooting.

Pung!

Puh-bung!

[HP: 31%]

Zelo’s health dropped into the low thirties. As Almond landed, he also released the fourth arrow.

[Frost Arrow]

Another Frost Arrow struck Zelo.

[Frozen]

Since it chained with the previous freeze, the freezing shortened to 1.5 seconds.

“W, what is this? Some insane broken character!?”

— LOLLLLLLLLLLLL

— The same line again LOL

— How is this different from Bubblegum’s LOL

— Broken as hell

Thud!

Almond landed right beside Zelo and drew his bow.

Puhng!

Arrows slammed into Zelo again.

Zelo started blaming others. “What is Mr. Acorn Jelly doing!?”

Acorn Jelly was busy reviving the fallen rune spirits. “N-no, I have to revive the dead ones!”

“What good is setting up a funeral feast after they’re dead!? Stop reviving and kill him!”

— LOL

— LOLLLLLLLLLL

— The trash talk

— Funeral feast LOL

— So true LOL

Those were Zelo’s last words.

“Gum! Under! Zelo!”

Bubblegum smashed down with his shield.

KWAANG!

“Huh?” Zelo knew he was about to die.

‘I didn’t expect this.’

He thought Almond would kill him.

[Bubblegum has slain an enemy!]

[Bubblegum → Zelo]

Bubblegum got the kill.

— Gasp

— WTF LOL

— Ahh LOL

— An unexpected opponent has arrived!

— No way

— Is this why Almond froze him twice?

— Insane

— The birth of Zelu...

— Only the Lord boosts Gum’s morale~

— Kyaa!

Seeing this, Acorn Jelly froze. “This... this can’t be...”

He lost all will to fight.

“Bubblegum beat Zelo.... What have I been fighting for all this time...?”

— Losing to Gum with his main LOL

— So real LOL

— Zelo losing to Bubblegum is crazy

— I fought for that guy?

Still dazed, Acorn Jelly pulled himself together. His teammates had all revived. Maybe they could revive Zelo?

“S-still, there should be a rune spirit! We can revive him!”

— They’re gonna kill it instantly...

— All day reviving LOL

— Undertaker Acorn Jelly

— It’s still three versus two

— But Almond’s Rope Movement cooldown should be up

Escaping as a rune spirit wasn’t easy.

“With Mr. Zelo’s skills, he can survive!”

Rune spirits were small and surprisingly hard to stomp accurately. Skilled players could survive a long time as one.

Strangely, Zelo hadn’t turned into one. “Huh? Why don’t I have a rune spirit?”

Bubblegum and Almond felt confused too.

Zelo’s body hadn’t disappeared. He was still frozen in place, trembling faintly. Only his mouth moved. “Why didn’t I turn into a rune spirit?”

— LOLLLL this is hilarious

— Isn’t this a bug?

— WTF LOL

— Bug?

— ??

— Bubblegum domain expansion caused a bug LOL

— Huh?

— Maybe dying exactly as freeze ended messed it up

— Huh LOL

— He became a frozen corpse LOL

“What is this? Am I actually dead?” the dead man asked.

Even Almond stared at him for a while, fascinated.

— WTF LOL

— What is that face LOL

— The corpse is talking...

— Is it a bug LOL

Ding.

[Su-Yeon has donated 10,000 won.]

[Who are we? Ghost Bug-busters~!]

— LOLLLLLLLL

— Bug-busters~!

— That fits LOL

— So true LOL

— Ah, that lineup

— Su-Yeon has appeared!

— Bug collector Bubblegum

Seeing Zelo’s horrific state, Acorn Jelly and his teammates had no choice but to retreat.

“R-run... Let’s run. That... that thing is...” Acorn Jelly invented yet another theory to understand what he was seeing. “Perfect Death.”

— LOLLLLLLLLLLLL

— Perfect Death is back!

— Is that really a perfect death? Looks like the most awkward one LOL

— Conspiracy theorist LOL

— Now he’s gonna say this forever

“Huh?” A teammate expressed disbelief at the mention of Perfect Death.

Acorn Jelly shook his head. “There’s no helping it.”

“So... we’re running?”

“Yes.”

As they withdrew, the Sanctuary of Resurrection’s area turned green again.

Tiiing!

Tiiiiing!

Almond’s team’s resurrection countdown restarted.

***

[Beginner’s Tip]

[Did you know? You can execute enemies who have become rune spirits immediately. Just stomp on the adorable rune spirit and crush it underfoot.]