‘Something is very, very wrong.’

  Lemohought this as he watched Rafael, who walked a short distance ahead of the group.

  ‘He’s not even twirling his spear anymore.’

  A short while ago, Gun had taken out aire horde of hobgoblins on his own, massag them like their bodies were made of tofu. After the event, Rafael simply gratuted him with a series of ptitudes, before urging the group to keep moving. Even when Max had announced he was actually one of the rare ‘clearers’, Rafael’s response was simply:

  “Oh, that’s cool. No wonder you’re so good with the bow.”

  ...Hearing this line e out of Rafael’s mouth shocked Lemonade more than any of the archery he’d witoday.

  Rafael and Lemonade had known each other for a fairly long time, as they lived in the same city and gamed together frequently, occasionally eveing up in person to hang out. By now, they were close friends, so Lemonade had a very good grasp of his personality.

  Rafael wasn’t just a bit petitive, like normal people, who would merely feel a little upset if they lost a game or petition; no, he was extremely petitive.

  Sometime st year, a top esports pyer had mocked Rafael for perf poorly in a shame he rarely pyed, calling him ‘trash’. Sparking troversy, the publisult caught tra and circuted throughout social media. A few weeks ter, Lemonade happeo open up Rafael’s friend profile on a whim:

  [Delt0id]

  [Pying A Game: Valorant; for 19 days]

  Some days after that, he saw a news article of that same pro having been utterly thrashed by Rafael during a 1v1 duel; broadcast live with the title ‘Mouthy idiot discovers trash be recycled’.

  This was the essence of the pyer known as Delt0id.

  ‘So why...’

  Rafael plodded along down the corridor, dragging his feet slightly. His usual fident demeanour was o be seen, and he even looked down at his feet occasionally.

  ‘Why is he ag like this?!’

  Lemonade was baffled. He wasn’t even sure how to hahe situation, as he’d never seen Rafael act like this before.

  Gun seemed to pick up oramosphere, as he occasionally gnced over at Rafael, looking slightly troubled. Just as the archer was about to say something, Jasmine asked him another question, as she had been doing for the past while.

  “What about the double arrow thing you did before; when you shot two at once?”

  “Hm? Oh, multi-shot. Yeah, that only works at cle.”

  “How do you do it?”

  “...With this bow it’s a bit easier. This is a traditional longbow with no arrow shelf cut out, so you actually shoot from either side; left ht.” Max took two arrows out of his quiver to demonstrate. “What I like to do sometimes on thin bows like this, is to actually nock two arrows, and shoot from both sides of the bow at once.” Max pced arrows oher side of the bow. “It’s very sistent because the two arrows will fly at a fixed separation aer leaving the bow.”

  “Oh!” Jasmine pretended she uood. “Then, have you thought about making a tutorial for this?”

  “I have, actually.” Max smiled. “That’s what I pn to do with my el; I’m going to make videos for pyers who are trying to learn archery.”

  Max had formuted a career pn st night; his goal was to attract attention to himself before the game’s top archers stole the spotlight and create tutorial videos on his VidTube at. Newbie archers could watch his videos to traieique, while he could moise the videos to make an ine. If things went well, he might even be able to give paid archery lessons inside of the game.

  “Woah, that sounds awesome!” Jasmine grinned as she imagined Gun as an instructor. “Wait, won’t it interfere with your levelling though?”

  “Ah, well it would, but the levelling isn’t as important.”

  “I see. But then, how will you bee the stro pyer?”

  “The stro pyer hahaha~” Max ughed.

  “...”

  “...Wait, you weren’t joking?”

  “No...”

  Max shook his head, “I would o be among the most skilled pyers in the world to bee the stro. Sihere are a few million people pying the game, I’m not even thinking about that right now.”

  Jasmine narrowed her eyes and scrutinised him. ‘...Does this guy have an inferiority plex or something?’

  Just as she was about to follow up, Rafael called out from an uping bend in the corridor.

  “Big room ahead. Probably the boss room.”

  ‘Eh? Already?’ Max was surprised. They had only fought about 50 or 60 eo get here. He hadn’t even started funnelling kills to the others, so they didn’t get any EXP (Experience Points) yet.

  He also realised that this meant he’d wo from earlier, and subtly g Rafael. Only a short while ago, this guy had been gung-ho about challenging him and seemed quite sure of himself. Only, after Max revealed himself as a clearer, the guy suddenly became retit and fot about the challenge.

  ‘Did I misjudge him before?’

  Max wasn’t really sure what to make of this, so he decided to just wait until someone else brought it up.

  The boss room was slightly rger than the one iarter dungeon. A rge hobgoblin with a cleaver-like on stood in the middle of the room, snarling at them.

  “It makes sense for the archer to lure it over.” Lemonade suggested and nudged Max.

  “Alright. Do you guys mind if I test something?”

  “Nope.”

  “Sure, you do that.”

  “Go ahead.”

  Max went into his settings and turned his damage indicators on. Grabbing four arrows from his quiver, he nocked all four of them into his b before approag the boss.

  [ Hobgoblin: ‘Skabruk’, Level: 15 (Dungeon BOSS) ]

  As the boss noticed him and charged, he drew his bow... and released.

  [ 176 ]

  [ 160 ]

  [ 336 ]

  [ 336 ]

  Upon receiving the arrows, the boss wobbled and pathetically fell over, colpsing into the cold stone floor. A faint sound of crag gss could be heard before the boss faded into red pa-

  “WHAT THE F*CK!!” Rafael couldn’t take it anymore and yelled suddenly.

  ‘??’ The others turo him.

  “How are you doing that?! It doesn’t make any sense???” Rafael held his head in sheer disbelief. “You’re 1-shotting the F*G BOSS MONSTER?!”

  [ gratutions! You have cleared the dungeon ]

  “Oh piss off interface!” Rafael smacked the notification hologram away with his hand. “You!” He pointed his index fi Max. “I don’t know what hacks you’re using, but it doesn’t matter, because hacks or not, I’m going to figure out how to ter archers, and after that, no amount of cheating will save you! Got it?!”

  [ You have cleared this dungeon. You will be evicted in 10s ]

  “F*CK OFF SYSTEM”

  Rafael grabbed the notification box with his hands and smashed it into his knee, somehoing it into two pieces, which dissolved to white particles in the air.

  “Urghh!!! I’ll be back!”

  Rafael logged out, causing his body to vanish.

  “...”

  “...”

  “Um,” Max decided to break the awkward silence, “he’s actually n in some sense.”

  “What, you’re hag?” Lemonade was shocked.

  “No, no, of course not. But I’m pretty sure I exploited a bug.” Max fiddled with an arrow fletg. “In real life, when you pull the b back to shoot an arrow, the full force of the draw goes into that arrow, so it’s shot at full power.”

  Seeing the other two were listening attentively, he tinued, “However, if you shoot multiple arrows at ohe force is divvied up between the arrows, and they leave the bow with less power. In the game, that should trao less speed and less damage per extra arrow.”

  “But it didn’t do that?” Lemonade asked.

  “No, it didn’t. These physics worked properly in Hero of Liberation, but they must’ve somehow stuffed it up in this game. I was suspicious when I mao instakill two hobgoblins earlier and I just firmed it now; no matter how many arrows I shoot at ohey fly out at full power.”

  Jasmine poi the bow. “So effectively... your bow work as a shotgun right now?”

  “Yeah exactly; it’s a bit like a shotgun bst... or a burst-fire rifle.”

  —So then… he’s using exploits on top of the cheats

  —Lol shotGun firmed

  —That’s f*g terrifying

  —Reported

  —Archers are so OP wth

  —BREAKING: Delt0id is weeping and g in his bedroom rn

  “Is your friend angry at me?” Max scratched his head. “I didn’t mean to piss him off or anything.”

  “No, he just does that.” Jasmine answered blithely. “Anyways,” she ged the subject, “I’m meeting up with Ruby for lunch soon, so I don’t have time for another run.”

  “Oh, okay. I’m sorry for stealing all the kills…” Max said guiltily.

  “Pfft, don’t be. It was fun to watch.” Jasmine smirked. “I sent you a friend request; let’s do this again sometime.”

  “Alright, sounds good.” Max smiled.

  As Jasmine logged out and disappeared, he turo face Lemonade.

  “So uh… you wanna go shopping?”

  …

  …

  “F*CK!”

  Rafael came out of his capsule swearing and flung a chair onto its side. “F**CCCKKKKKK.”

  It was a modern, multi-bedroom apartmeremely messily anised with items strewn across the floor. Rafael kicked one of these items with his foot and it became airborne, flying through the nearby kit and narrowly avoiding a light fixture.

  “GHHhhHhHhhhh!!” Rafael gritted his teeth and grabbed a tablet puter from the kit ter. Quickly swiping his finger, he navigated the tablet while walking to his bedroom.

  He was angry. Very angry.

  Was it because he lost the duel for most kills? No.

  Was it because Gun seemed way too powerful? ly.

  What truly pissed off Rafael, more so than anything else, was his own helplessness.

  ‘How the f*ck am I meant to pete with that?’

  Having pyed tless PvP games, Rafael had a tremendous amount of battle experience. Just from watg Gun’s archery just now, he could tell that if they fought... he had almost no ce of victory. When Gun used a skill, his arrows flew faster than cars on a freeway; there was no ce of dodging that, and blog arrows with only a thin spear was basically impossible.

  Rafael jumped onto his bed and did a sear his VidTube app.

  [ Showis for: ‘World of Heroes Archer Css ters’ ]

  He doubted there would be any good strategy videos when it had only been a day sihe game’s release, but he might as well look.

  Videos:

  [ Why the Archer Css is so Bad | World of Heroes ]

  [ Should I Reset My At?! World of Heroes Archer Css Gamepy Pt.1 ]

  [ Archer Css Test Fail pition (Funny) ]

  [ Why The Archer Css Will Probably Be Buffed! ]

  [ Virtek Executive Responds to Statistic That Only 2% of WoH Pyers are Archers ]

  Rafael subsciously scowled while looking through the results. These people clearly had no idea what they were talking about.

  Eventually, he found a video title he liked, from a el called ‘The Armoury’.

  [ Sniper Archer vs Orcs ]

  The video opeo a wide forest clearing filled with rge tree stumps. Without any entary, the camera sed around the area, giving a panoramic view from the treeline of peared to be an abandoned logging facility.

  Rafael didn’t have time to admire the nice sery, as a group of creatures suddenly burst out of the trees from behind the camera. He instantly reised them as orcs.

  ‘They’re the same as in Hero of Liberation...’

  The orcs were just as huge and tanky-looking as they were in the prequel game. He remembered having immerouble with these guys when they came all at once.

  Suddenly, there erspective ge, and Rafael found that the camera was now moving incredibly quickly, bordered by green arms swinging oher side.

  ‘...Huh? The orc’s POV?’

  Rafael never expected the video to be from the perspective of an orc, but now he was even more intrigued and decided to give the video his full attention.

  When the orc broke into the clearing, it instantly saw one of its brethren rolling along the ground, screaming. The rolling orc quickly picked itself up and ran back to the treeline, nearly hitting the camera as it fled.

  At the same time, Rafael heard abrupt cries of pain from nearby. His orc turs head to find a warrior clutg at its trachea with wide eyes. Half an arrow poked out of its throat, apanied by spurts of blood.

  ‘Woah!’ Rafael was amazed. The archer was already shooting at them, but where from?

  As if in response, his orc raised a hand over its eyes to block out the sun gre and looked further into the camp. The camera zoomed in slightly, to where a small silhouette could be seen perched on a distant rooftop.

  “No way; you’re kidding.” Rafael squi his tablet s. “That’s over a hundred yards though?”

  “A-archer!” The orc shouted. “On building roof-”

  WOOSH.

  An arrow came into vision just as the orc was finishing its sentend it quickly jerked its head to the side. The arrow shot past with a terrifying whistling sound.

  ‘Wow... that’s hard to dodge.’

  Due to sun gre, by the time the arrow was visible it was only a short distance away. The orc heaved a sigh of relief, but Rafael khat the arrow had made its mark.

  Sure enough, the orc massaged its neck, before bringing a palm in front of the camera; bloodied and dripping with bright red liquid. The ork to ground and the camera turned dark momentarily.

  ‘This is brutal,’ Rafael thought. Having an archer like that hunting you would be terrifying! This guy seemed to be even more skilled than Gun was.

  The camera flew through the air until it locked onto a much rger orc at the rear of the troop, wearing bck pauldrons. An orc tried to run past it but was seized by the neck.

  “Coward!” The orc was dangled in front of the camera. “You would flee from a single human?! Turn around before I kill you myself!” The orc was thrown further into the clearing, filing its limbs in the air.

  Rafael watched the ensuing charge with astonishment. The orcs tried to run toward the archer’s building but fell helplessly like ants.

  He watched as one or particur fell face-first into the ground but kept its momentum, skimming headlong into a tree stump with a resounding *crack*.

  Rafael’s orc stood all of this until an arrow came flying at it.

  Immediately, the video went into slow motion. The orc smoothly tilted its head, narrowly avoiding the arrow, which sailed past harmlessly.

  The se returo normal speed and the orc turo ihe building roof, close enough now for the archer to be seen more clearly. It was a handsome man in his 20s with red hair. A pyer, still wearing his beginner gear.

  ‘.....’ Rafael paused the video and gnced over at his fragile bedroom window.