A three-way clash erupted in front of the Abyss Shark. Team Five and Team Six had originally planned to gang up on Almond’s team, who were now missing Bubblegum, and knock them out quickly.

‘Still, four of them are easier than the other side...’

‘Once our ultimate skills are back up, we’ll take Team Six first.’

Each side was already thinking ahead. Up to that point, it was just another familiar scene in Survival. Whether those thoughts would actually be acted on was the only unknown.

“Charge~!”

Almond’s team surged straight toward Team Five. The marksman sprinted out first with the tanks scrambling to match his pace. To the others, it looked... wrong.

‘What?’

‘He’s insane.’

Almond moved with absolute certainty. That alone crushed the enemies’ momentum.

Team Six came to a decision.

‘Damn it. We need to pull back.’

This charge wasn’t normal. They couldn’t just dismiss it because there were only four enemies. It was better to retreat first and see how things played out.

At that moment, Team Five shouted, “Hey! You crazy bastards, where are you going?!”

Team Six tossed out another flimsy excuse. “W-We’re late entry, remember?!”

In that brief window, Almond’s team closed the distance to Team Five.

BAM!

They hit Team Five head-on.

“F-Fuck!”

Gigant Machine’s hooked greatsword dragged them in, and Almond rained down arrows. The precise shots drove in the nails embedded all over their bodies one by one.

Wrapped in stone shields, Almond barely even took damage.

[Enemy Eliminated!]

[LazySoldier → SoraSora]

One member of Team Five went down first.

Team Six, who had already pulled back, jolted in shock.

“Help! Kill her! Kill Sori!”

They had to kill Sori. Her Rope Movement instantly reset after securing a kill. If left unchecked, things would spiral completely out of control.

“All in!”

Whoosh!

Every assassin lunged forward at once.

“So now you’re charging?!”

Their so-called late entry had finally begun.

“Stop right there!”

Gigant Machine blocked them head-on.

BOOM!

— LOL he’s loving this

— He’s actually tanking so well

— This is his calling, isn’t it?

“The path is clear, my lord!”

[Rope Movement]

Almond slipped free and confidently drew his bow.

Kreeeak...

“The enemy marksman has a clear shot! Watch out!”

There was nothing to watch out for.

BOOOOM!

[Wind Arrow]

The health of Team Six’s tanks melted away in seconds.

— No...

— Oh god...

— They’re winning this too?

— This is insane

Viewers who had put a little mission money on Bubblegum started to feel a sense of impending doom.

— Why is this guy so good at shotcalling?

— He’s actually commanding the fight

— He’s leading with his body lol

Almond’s teammates had become true believers. They faithfully threw themselves into battle on the false myth of the Smart Young Man.

MeowMeowPunch, the very Hammer Paladin who once said he didn’t trust that smart young man, charged in. He scattered nails with no regard for his own life.

“If you seek death, then you shall live!”

His presence resembled that of a general on the battlefield. He looked moments away from death, yet didn’t fall.

[HP: 7%]

His health scraped rock bottom before surging back up again because Almond kept driving the nails in.

[HP: 53%]

The nails had riddled enough enemies.

MeowMeowPunch roared, “Conversion!”

“You who bleed, may the Lord watch over you."

Wooooong!

The Paladin’s ultimate skill activated.

“Rise...!”

— LOOOOOOOL

— LOL

— They’re having way too much fun

— Arise...

[Conversion]

[Enemies with embedded nails are converted into Zealots for 1 second per nail. Their attack power and attack speed will greatly increase, and they will indiscriminately attack Ulte’s enemies.]

“W-We’re screwed.”

Out of the ten players across Teams Five and Six, three had been converted. The tanks and bruisers turned and began attacking their own damage dealers.

Thud!

Smash!

“T-This won’t work! Everyone on Sori!”

“Burn everything!”

Thinking this was the final fight, every enemy assassin used their ultimate skills and dove straight at Almond.

Whoosh!

‘Ah!’

‘Damn it.’

Gigant Machine lost them for a split second. Hammer Paladin was also busy controlling the converted enemies. At this rate, every assassin would reach Almond.

“N-No!”

Then, it happened.

“A contract that reeks of blood... You’re confident, aren’t you?”

Slice!

Blood scattered as Almond activated his ultimate skill.

[Wind Possession]

Wooooosh!

The wind rippled, and Almond vanished completely.

“Huh?!”

“What the hell?!”

“Where is he?!”

Slash!

A rope assassin lashed out blindly where Almond had been. Nothing connected.

“D-Damn it?!”

The Fisherman tried next, whipping his line through the air. Only the sound of the wind answered.

“Where is he?! Emily! Emily has to find him!”

True to her title, the champion called Pursuer Emily excelled at tracking vanished enemies. She could effectively counter Sori’s ultimate skill.

[Wind Arrow]

BOOM!

An arrow slammed straight into her head.

“Guhk!”

“W-Where did that arrow come from?!”

“It’s Wind Arrow! You can’t see it!”

Three more hits followed, then another Wind Arrow.

[Wind Arrow]

The full damage combo landed cleanly, and an assassin dropped.

[LazySoldier Double Kill!]

[LazySoldier → Mayday]

Of all champions, Pursuer Emily had died.

“T-This is insane.”

— Wow

— Ooooh

— Sniping Emily first, the one who can find stealth

— Is this guy actually smart?!

— Smart Young Man! Smart Young Man!!

— Fact: He killed her just by reading faces

At the exact moment it was needed, Almond had eliminated the correct champion.

[Rope Movement]

Ziiiiip!

His rope show truly began.

“Uh, uhhh!”

“We’re screwed. Just run!”

Ping!

Emergency pings lit up the map as the assassins tried to scatter.

“Is this it?!”

[Stone Shield — Release]

The stone shield clinging to Almond peeled away, and Kutan returned to his original form.

“Let’s gooo!”

Kutan activated his ultimate skill and blasted every enemy into the air.

BOOOOM!

CrispyCrispy, who hated tanking because it was boring, laughed wildly as he slaughtered enemies. “Wahaha! LIL is fun!”

[LazySoldier Triple Kill!]

[CrispyCrispy Double Kill!]

Bubblegum watched all of it as a rune spirit. “Woooo! Let’s win, team! You’ve got this!”

— Cheer captain lol

— Did he contract with the rune spirit or something?

— This is actually insane

— But Gum did great too, he pulled all the aggro and died...

— LOL the cheerleader

— Is this that invisible something?

Even Bubblegum still had a role to play.

[LazySoldier is rampaging!]

Only after completely driving off the enemies did the team come back to revive him.

Woooong...

Almond asked, “Who gives the orders?”

Pop!

Bubblegum revived and shouted immediately, “The Smart Young Man!”

— Holy shit LOL

— LOL

— They’re actually Team Rocket

— Smart Young Man launcher, damn it

— Is this... really okay?

— Almond totally revived him just to make him say that LOL

— Almond... he’s your senior

Bubblegum spread his arms wide and shouted, “Smart Young Man.”

There was a certain weight to him now, and it wasn’t the weight of sandbags.

— The weight of being a breadwinner...

— Gum... you’ve gotta make a living

— He is working hard though

***

After that overwhelming team win, hunting the Abyss Shark became effortless.

[The Abyss Shark has been defeated!]

“Okay~”

“Wow, we got everything. Seriously.”

With the Abyss Shark buff secured and countless runes from the defeated enemies, Almond’s team was fully loaded.

“Alright, I’ll distribute the runes.”

They finally began rune distribution, which they had delayed in case another team tried to steal the Shark.

“An attack power rune... I’m the only damage dealer, so I’ll take it. A range rune? No one but Sori can use it. I’ll take that too. Next, oh, a hero grade defense rune...”

The tanks subtly perked up. After all, everyone here was technically a tank.

“This one should probably go to Stone Lord since he has defense scaling, or to me, the only damage dealer who absolutely has to stay alive.”

“...?”

“I have more kills, so I’ll take it.”

— What the hell LOL

— LOL

— Why even call it distribution?

— Is he doing this on purpose?

— Discipline is terrifying

“This is a health rune. Sori has the lowest health, so I’ll take it.”

— Almond rune mukbang

— Why are they listening? Just do whatever

— LOL what is this

— Shareholders in tears

After stuffing himself with runes, Almond finished with a single line. “This is all for the team. Me taking them gives us the highest win rate mathematically.”

— Honestly...

— He’s not wrong

— Who would give runes to Bubblegum anyway

— LOL can’t even argue

— If the math demon says so, that’s that

Viewers found his reasoning convincing. They could also feel that Almond’s desire to win this placement match was unusually intense.

— He’s bringing math into it, he must be desperate

— Why does Almond want to win this so badly? LOL

— Is the mission really that big, nut guy...

Almond was competitive, but he wasn’t the type to play this hard in a mere placement match. Even with a mission on the line, he rarely stepped up and made the calls like this. He usually avoided these things out of sheer laziness.

‘I have to win. We’re almost there.’

He had no idea what was happening in the Knight Order group chat.

‘Gold is not an option.’

With that thought, Almond began moving toward the final battle.

MeowMeowPunch walked up beside him. “Mr. Smart Young-Man... are we... hunting the Whale?”

— ?

— ...?

— LOL hunting the whale

— Is that flirting?

Some players casually called the final epic monster the Abyss Whale. In truth, teams almost never hunted it. It was usually better to farm other monsters and collect more runes. The Abyss Whale was on an entirely different level.

If a squad had enough bodies to endure, the reward was just as absurd as its power. If they could kill it, first place was practically guaranteed.

‘With four tanks, we might be able to outlast it.’

Almond’s team boasted four tanks. With enough damage output, their composition surprisingly suited hunting the Abyss Whale.

Almond checked the mission payout.

[Five placement wins in a row]

[640,000 won]

The mission originally started at 500,000 won for five consecutive first-place finishes. It had grown by about 140,000 won. The real problem was the next mission.

[Win this match. BubbleGum must survive.]

[1,030,000 won]

He had to win first place with Bubblegum alive. Even if they won, it would be mission failure if Bubblegum were a rune spirit at the end.

‘He’s been a rune spirit every time so far.’

Every fight they had won, Bubblegum always died. The final fight would be the fiercest yet. Was this even possible?

‘Maybe if we kill the Abyss Whale...’

Almond found himself in a dilemma.

‘Because we’re at a disadvantage, do I have to play even more recklessly?’

Disadvantaged teams usually lost if they played normally, so they played recklessly. However, reckless plays usually led to losing. It was hard to break out of that loop.

‘How many teams left?’

[10/50]

Ten players remained. He didn’t need to think any further. A notification had already announced that the other side had killed an Abyss Shark too. One team versus another, it would be a true head-on showdown.

“The Whale hasn’t spawned yet.”

“Right.”

“I think we should first see what kind of team we’re up against.”

“You want us to go look for them?”

“Yes.”

“B-But that’s dangerous. We’ll get spotted first and take hits...”

Survival had very few ways to recover health. Taking a few hits early could put them at a disadvantage in the final fight.

“It’s fine.” Almond calmly assured them. “Because we’re tanks.”

— Holy shit LOL

— That’s... because you’re tanks

— That’s literally your job

— ###$@&

— You’re a tank because it hurts

— ??? You were born to get hit, weren’t you? That’s why you were made

— &@#$

— He treats them no differently than bots, my lord

— LOL this is insane

— The fact that there’s zero malice makes it scarier

[The Shadow of the Abyss descends.]

Shhhhaaa!

A dark, murky shadow rolled in like waves. Only a few safe areas remained on the map.

***

[Beginner’s Tip]

[When all Abyss Sharks are defeated, an Abyss Whale will appear. It is an extremely powerful lifeform, and a single mistake can wipe out the entire team. Proceed with caution.]