An arrow flew in from the central bridge on the opposite side.
One second passed as the piercing sound buzzed through Friede’s ears.
She twisted the face of her sword at an angle, deflecting the incoming arrow.
‘That’s already the fourth one…’
Judging by the equipment, it seemed the enemy was using a rapid-fire bow.
Instead of a high-powered longbow or a piercing-type weapon, they had opted for a setup focused on rapid shots.
As she deflected the arrow and moved about six steps forward, she caught sight of another arrow slicing through the air from a distance.
This time, the chilling sound aimed for her legs.
Friede dodged by rolling forward, continuing her advance.
‘Was it just her imagination, or was she being targeted more than usual?’
‘No.’
With every step she took, another arrow was loosed her way.
It wasn’t something she could dismiss as paranoia or overthinking.
The enemy was undeniably fixated on marking Friede alone.
‘Why?’
‘Did they not need to worry about the other side?’
When she finally reached a position where the marksman no longer had an angle to suppress her with arrows, the reason behind their relentless attacks became clear.
Two figures stood in her path.
But their equipment was… strange. Unfamiliar.
***
“Oh, what the hell?”
Her rabbit-like ears twitched over her headset as she let out a groan.
Anyone in her position would have reacted the same way.
They were clad in armor as thick as Haldir’s, but what truly stood out were the massive shields in their hands—shields so absurdly large they resembled fortress gates.
“Greatshield walls…?”
A setup designed purely for defense.
Defense through defense, for the sake of defense.
Even their combat skills were all about unwavering protection.
They were, in essence, immovable boulders.
The two of them blocked the passage so thoroughly that she couldn’t even see what lay beyond them.
[No way, is STK really pulling off this kind of lame strat?]
[Is this… the People’s Wall?]
[The passage disappeared? Is this a bug?]
[Aah… aah…]
The chat was just as chaotic as the battlefield.
There were gaps, but with two of them covering each other, there was little room to exploit.
A near-perfect blockade.
And now, she understood why she had been targeted so aggressively.
To drag that heavy gear all the way here, they had to sacrifice their mobility.
‘Well then…’
Might as well test how tough they are.
Tightly gripping her holy sword, Friede lunged forward, swinging with all her might.
There was no need to worry about parries or counters from such bulky shields.
This was a pure test of brute force—a full-bodied, stamina-burning strike.
Swinging her sword horizontally to prevent the second defender from intervening, she aimed for the greatshield wall of the STK duo.
— Bang!
It felt like striking solid ground with a blade.
Instead of breaking through, Friede was knocked back by the recoil.
Her opponents didn’t even react—they just stood firm, holding their ground.
Frowning slightly, she shook her head, her rabbit ears twitching.
“This is ridiculous.”
Even if it was an unconventional choice, it wasn’t as hopeless as a broken greatsword.
It was a niche weapon, sure, but its concept and performance were solid.
If there was only one of them, it might be manageable.
‘But two?’ That would take an eternity to break through.
[These guys are tankier than a damn turtle.]
[Yo, look at Friede’s stamina dropping.]
[How do you even break through that? The other team needs to do something so Friede can at least parry.]
[They’re just shoving their shields in like asses. I kinda wanna lick ’em.]
[From now on, the ‘S’ in STK stands for ‘Shield-walling degenerates.’]
[Go ahead and rage, loser. Hahaha.]
[If we don’t let you in, you can’t do anything.]
STK, the most aggressive team in the game, choosing a hyper-defensive strategy was as unexpected as it was frustrating.
The spectators were losing their minds over the bizarre tactics, but just then, Friede’s team voice chat erupted with urgent shouts.
[Aah! We’re getting overrun here!]
[No way! Two of them are wrecking us!]
[Block them! Stick together and stall for time!]
‘What?’
The shouting came from the other side of the labyrinth.
The first voice—Gunder.
“What’s happening? Someone, give me a briefing!”
“Warden and Lotus are leading the charge! They broke into our side of the labyrinth! We can’t stop them! They’re wiping us out!”
Oh.
So that’s what was going on.
They really thought this through.
Blocking one side while overwhelming the other.
A classic Encirclement & Annihilation strategy.
‘They actually used their brains for once.’
There was no time to waste here.
She had to break through. Fast.
“We’ll break through on this side immediately. If necessary, retreat and regroup. If you get dragged in one by one, we’re finished.”
No time to waste.
Raising her holy sword high, Friede focused her energy.
With each passing second, the light surrounding her blade grew brighter, more intense.
Yet the two in front of her remained unmoving.
If they rushed to intercept her, they would be caught by her attack cancellation and destroyed.
Their decision to stand firm was the logical one.
The standoff continued, neither side willing to make the first move.
Friede’s radiant sword burned with increasing intensity, its holy light spreading outward.
A power strong enough to shatter even those massive shields.
Then—
She swung down.
The enormous sword of light crashed into the corridor where the two titanic tanks stood.
Even those self-proclaimed human walls couldn’t withstand it.
At the last moment, they were forced to step back.
[How the hell is that fat lump rolling around like that?]
[If you tried that in real life, your spine would shatter ^o^]
[Damn, military nerds, history nerds, how did you end up becoming gaming nerds?]
[Those two are STK’s infamous Mad Dog duo… but dressed like that, they look ridiculous.]
As the torrent of light subsided, the STK duo hurriedly tried to return to their positions.
Just as they reached the passage entrance and were about to brace their shields—
***
“What?!”
“What the hell?!”
The two gasped in shock.
Friede, moving with an unnatural, almost physics-defying rhythm, weaved through the battlefield in unpredictable, random steps.
It was as if she leaped several meters in a single stride.
Before they knew it, she had kicked off the wall, soaring into the air, her golden cape billowing behind her.
For a moment, it almost looked like a graphical glitch.
Just watching it was enough to make one’s head spin.
Then, like a mythical beast, the golden figure gracefully landed behind them.
‘What now? Turn around and block her?’
No… if she started causing chaos inside the labyrinth…
They had planned to block her completely, not to let her slip through like this.
“Hello.”
Her rabbit ears twitched lightly as Friede greeted them with a cheerful smile.
And then—
“Well, goodbye.”
She disappeared into the labyrinth.
They had been completely outplayed.
***
Dayoung absentmindedly chewed on a piece of popcorn, watching the match with fascination.
Friede—Sehee unni—had pulled off an insane play, breaking past the human wall and now running rampant inside the labyrinth.
Dayoung clenched her fist slightly, then coughed and reached for more popcorn.
If Sehee had chosen to fight the two tanks head-on, she would have wasted valuable time.
After all, their job wasn’t to defeat her.
Their job was to keep her stuck in place.
But now that she had broken past them, they wouldn’t even be able to keep up with her, let alone suppress her, with all that heavy armor slowing them down.
‘Nice call.’
So far, so good.
But then the screen shifted, and the situation became far less optimistic.
***
Led by Warden and Lotus, STK’s strike team was utterly demolishing the streamer team’s labyrinth.
“Hey, dumbass, isn’t… isn’t this bad for unni?”
“Huh? Oh… yeah, it kinda is.”
Even Ajin, who barely understood the game, could tell they were at a disadvantage.
“Yeah, this is bad. Who would’ve thought Gunder and Bisu would get wiped out so easily?”
“So… does that mean unni is gonna lose?”
“It’s still early. If they win a big team fight and steal some points back, they can turn it around. Let’s wait and see.”
Even as she said that, Dayoung wasn’t entirely convinced.
The worst part was that the ones who got taken out first were Gunder and Bisu.
They weren’t weak players by any means, yet they had been crushed like they were nothing.
The strategy itself had made sense.
They had assigned their strongest fighter, Friede, to one front, while the rest of the team concentrated on defending the other.
But STK had capitalized on the slight delay, seizing control of the match.
Even among Challenger-ranked players, Warden and Lotus were on another level—and they were proving it right now.
One of them alone would’ve been formidable.
Together, they were as destructive as Friede herself.
And it wasn’t just them.
While Warden and Lotus pushed back the enemy players, their teammates were securing objectives and rapidly racking up points.
“Damn, their farming speed is insane.”
A newly spawned Aldrich, a major objective, had just appeared.
STK wasted no time, taking it down with near-flawless efficiency.
Dayoung swallowed hard.
No matter how well Sehee played, this was a team game—she couldn’t carry everything alone.
Team coordination and strategic execution were what made the real difference.
‘Unni… how are you going to turn this around?’
If nothing changed, the streamer team’s loss was all but certain.
Ajin just stared blankly at the screen, oblivious to the game’s deeper mechanics.
But Dayoung, understanding the flow of the match, couldn’t help but feel uneasy.
***
[Oh? Wait! What’s the streamer team doing?]
[Grouping up is good, but shouldn’t they focus on reclaiming their labyrinth first? The Ancient Dragon is spawning soon—are they really going to ignore it?]
[Wait, Friede has rejoined them?]
[??? What are those guys doing?]
[Uncles, where are you going?]
[Screw this, we’re going to the Blue House.]
[Is this the Protoss Expeditionary Force that can never return home, yet marches forward with maxed-out hearts?]
The commentators were taken aback, the crowd buzzing with speculation.
And then—
“Wait… are they…?”
The camera zoomed in on the streamer team.
They had all gathered mid.
[Mid, gather up?]
With Friede leading the charge, all seven of them had grouped together.
[Yeah? You think you can just take our labyrinth?]
[Fine. We’ll just push mid instead. ^o^]
The chat exploded with reactions, perfectly capturing the mindset of the streamer team.
Dayoung blinked, momentarily stunned.
With her holy sword raised high, Friede charged forward, leading her teammates like the embodiment of Liberty guiding the people in the French Revolution.