Chapter 24

EP.24 The Berserker Who Became a Priest and the Paladin Who Became a Warrior

There is a saying, "Once water is spilled, it cannot be收回 (recovered)."

It doesn't really mean anything special;

It's just a four-character idiom that means once something is done, it cannot be undone.

The voice chat room, which had to be disconnected from the supervisor according to the rules, was filled with an endless silence.

However, just as dawn will come even if the rooster doesn't crow,

Time does not stop just because everyone is silent.

The preparation time was quickly passing by at this very moment.

The one who broke the silence was

Stad.

His deeply troubled voice echoed through the microphone and speakers.

"Phaze, where's Phaze?!"

The trembling in his voice marked the beginning of chaos that started to engulf everyone.

Holdmedic's voice was choked, as if he had swallowed something wrong and it was stuck in his throat.

"What, what do we do...?"

Parfaitino and Mohé couldn't hide their panic either.

But the one who was most panicked was the Berserker.

He was making groaning sounds like a broken machine, over and over again.

I suddenly took a look at his character.

I don't have a hobby of describing male faces,

But I won't deny that his face was so fierce it could scare away even the most vicious monsters.

His sharp eyes, nose, and a large scar that ran across his mouth and nose could even twitch at times.

Just his face alone could make someone wet their pants,

And if you met him on a dark road, even a tough man would run away as fast as he could, screaming for his life.

It was a face that would scare you even in your dreams.

And that character was now,

...wearing priest robes.

The attire that should be neat and tidy as a servant of God was so tight on his bulging muscles that it looked like it might burst at any moment.

No one in the world would call such a person a human of the church.

Rather, it looked like a bandit who had eaten the priest's flesh and bones after breaking his jaw to spread the word of God to the ignorant, and then put on the priest's clothes.

He held the Bible, which should be used to preach the word of God, but it looked more like a club than a book, given the size of his rough arms and fists.

Well, this guy, if you still don't believe, I'll engrave the words of the Bible on your head.

It would definitely be used for that purpose.

I felt a bit dizzy and checked myself.

More precisely, I checked the Paladin.

While the Berserker was holding the Bible and mace like toys,

This side was like a doll hanging from a giant sword.

The woman, who managed to hold a sword taller than herself, perhaps even taller than her height, looked so pitiful that it was natural to wonder if she could really wield it in battle.

And her body,

"..."

To be honest,

I doubt there are many players who have poured as much love into their characters as I have.

The background of the waiting screen, which shows the reason for my participation in the battlefield and my emote play, was something I made myself.

It's not surprising that I mastered the customization of all armor, not just light armor, since I made it myself.

After all, it's not like I would use it, so it's fine if it's a bit lacking in practicality.

Thinking about it now, I want to punch my past self.

Not too provocatively, because overtly obscene designs are just unappealing.

Since it's in the category of leather armor or full plate armor, there should be a difference, right? First, cover up, yeah, the legs. Not exactly the legs, but the thighs that bulge out slightly from the pressure of the armor...

I couldn't help but wash my face with my hands, feeling the heat on my real face.

As the silence continued,

The confusion in the team reached a boiling point, like water that had crossed its critical point.

The rational part of my mind, which had been flustered, suddenly snapped back to reality like it had been splashed with cold water.

My brain, which was spinning rapidly, started to recall how things had come to this.

Everything was fine up to the ban and pick phase.

It was almost perfect.

The supervisor himself said he was satisfied and that the only thing left was for us to play without regrets.

The problem came during the exchange phase.

After all the selections and bans were completed, the team could swap their main skills and equipment.

That's why I had pre-built the Berserker build, and the Berserker had also locked in my build.

But...

In response to the obvious exchange request, the Berserker remained silent.

The timer was ticking,

And the team members' voices, urging the Berserker not to joke around at such a serious moment, became more and more urgent,

But the Berserker still didn't respond,

So in the end,

The game started.

"My internet, it, seems to have, disconnected for a moment. I couldn't hear your voices, and I pressed the exchange request, but it didn't go through."

The Berserker, whose mouth was stiff from shock, spoke in broken sentences, confirming that this was not something he had planned.

Of all times, why did this have to happen at such a critical moment,

Especially since the game didn't completely crash, and the cross-selection process wasn't canceled.

"..."

"..."

"What do we do..."

"Let's request a temporary pause."

Next,

We need a solution.

There was no way to predict that things would turn out like this.

So I was just as flustered.

But I was the team leader and the main order caller.

The backbone and pillar of the team.

If I panicked, the situation would become uncontrollable.

Driven by a surge of intuition, I opened my mouth.

"Calm down."

"Paladin, where's Phaze..."

"It's impossible."

"Then, a rematch..."

"Probably not."

This tournament was just called a tournament; it didn't use the official server and client provided by the developers.

All players were using their own accounts on the regular server.

So, unlike a real tournament, there was no pause function.

The preparation timer was still ticking down at this very moment.

In professional games, when such an incident occurs, the team that made the mistake often forfeits a few ban cards to have a rematch.

But I knew.

Having read the terms and conditions multiple times, I knew.

This was only the second Streamer Cup, and there was no manual to deal with such mishaps.

I did have an idea.

It might seem forced, but we could switch accounts and log in again.

But even if we used the same weapons and builds, the differences in height and physique from the customization would definitely affect our original playstyle.

Worse, we might be accused of using a proxy and have our accounts suspended, since this is a regular client game.

So it was a solution I was hesitant to suggest.

"No, no, I'm sorry."

"No, it's okay."

I shook my head at the Berserker's words.

What did you do wrong?

While client lag has improved compared to before, it still happens occasionally, and internet connection issues are not something you can control.

You didn't do anything wrong,

The result is what's wrong.

It just so happened that the internet glitched right before the game started,

And the user didn't disconnect, so the cross-selection process wasn't canceled,

All these coincidences led to this worst-case scenario.

Just like spilled water cannot be recovered,

Blaming him wouldn't solve anything.

So the next words I had to say were already decided.

"It's okay."

There was no tremor in my calm voice.

"It's okay."

Like patting a baby's back to stop its crying,

I repeated it to convey my meaning.

The calmness in my voice, even to myself, helped me regain my composure,

And the noisy voice chat room naturally returned to silence.

Everyone seemed to have calmed down a bit.

Now, as the main order caller, it was time to give them orders.

"Let's try it. With this build."

"Is that possible? It's a greatsword Berserker build..."

Of course, I've never used such a build before.

The deepest part of my heart was screaming that it wasn't possible, contrary to my confident words.

But if I showed my hesitation, the victory that was already slipping away would vanish like a mirage.

Someone had to cut off the seeds of doubt that had sprouted in the team.

And that someone could only be me.

So,

I started communicating with each team member without showing my anxiety.

"Mr. Mohé, we'll go without chat orders this time."

"Okay!"

"Don't leave the voice chat and listen to the orders."

"I'm a bit nervous..."

"If you don't follow the orders, you'll get a beating."

"...What's a beating?"

...He just turned twenty this year.

I'm not in the military, so I shouldn't say anything.

"If you don't straighten up, you'll get a beating later."

"Ah! I'll do my best!"

Next, Holdmedic.

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