The War of the Stars.
This game, a blend of AOS and strategy elements, usually wraps up in about forty minutes per match.
Of course, match lengths vary, but it’s rare for a game to stretch beyond an hour.
After all, since it’s a game, it was designed to finish within a reasonable timeframe.
So, now that Vivian was approaching her second hour of play, the match should have been over long ago.
At the very least, it should have been nearing its end.
Yet here she was, still sitting in front of her computer, locked in battle.
“Damn it… damn it… damn it… damn it…”
She gritted her teeth, cursing nonstop.
Her expression was deadly serious.
Her sweat-soaked clothes clung tightly to her skin, outlining every curve.
Beads of sweat dripped steadily from her delicate eyelids.
She had been over the moon when she scored the first kill.
What on earth had happened in these two hours?
“Ughhh…!”
Her eyes, twisted with frustration, stared intently at the screen.
On it, her spider hero, Vivian, lay sprawled on the battlefield.
Worse yet, the poor figure was half-buried in the ground, utterly defeated.
No matter how intense the match, a game dragging on for nearly two hours was definitely abnormal.
There were three main reasons this could happen.
One: a fierce back-and-forth battle.
Two: someone deliberately dragging the game out for fun.
Or three: being completely toyed with and humiliated.
In Vivian’s case, it was obviously the third.
Her stats, displayed at the top right of the screen, confirmed it.
『1 / 154 / 0』
One kill, one hundred fifty-four deaths.
That was just absurd.
When a hero dies, they respawn at base after a certain cooldown.
The respawn time varies depending on how many times they’ve died, but after ten deaths, it’s fixed at thirty seconds.
By simple math, Vivian had spent nearly seventy-seven minutes of the two-hour match just waiting to respawn.
In other words, she had spent more time waiting than actually playing.
“Ah, ah, ah, ah…! Aaaah! Seriously!”
And just then, she died again.
Death number one hundred fifty-five.
The chat exploded with even more noise.
Yopi (OpOpLove): Wow, dying like crazy.
YamyYamy: 155 deaths; is this a new record?
TwoMaro: Nope. The previous death record was 156. One more and it’s tied.
HoHoKoKo2: Hang in there, Vivian ㅠㅠ
Glancing at the chat, Vivian ground her teeth.
Trying to clear her head, she shook her soaked hair, sending droplets of sweat flying.
“Get it together… I can do this…!”
She muttered to herself like a mantra.
And she wasn’t wrong.
The match had dragged on so long it was practically the late endgame.
By now, she should have finished leveling up and fully equipped her gear.
But the problem was the skill gap—it was just too extreme.
“Please… please…”
After respawning, Vivian cautiously peeked around and tried to leave base.
『Hero Mercenary Lord has slain Hero Vivian!』
“Jebuaaah…? Aaaahhh!”
No sooner had she stepped outside than the Mercenary Lord, hiding nearby like a beast, pounced and killed her instantly.
She didn’t even get a chance to resist or cry out—just collapsed.
Vivian wasn’t about to stay quiet.
“Waaahhh!”
Bang bang bang bang!
Her keyboard and desk shook noisily.
“This game is seriously messed up!”
She shouted in frustration.
Her face was on the verge of tears.
EternalFire: Ahahaha lol
CEO - SY Group: lololol
Magician Hunter: LMAO
KongChanHo: First time seeing this today, and it’s hilarious lol
Meanwhile, the viewers were loving it.
“Seriously, stop messing with her already!”
Trying hard to hold back tears and grinding her teeth, Vivian waited to respawn.
But as soon as she appeared, she dashed out—
And—
“Kyaaaaaa!”
Dead again.
More precisely, she died the moment she stepped out of the respawn zone.
The Mercenary Lord had been lurking nearby, waiting to ambush her the instant she left.
“Nooo!”
…Again, she died immediately after respawning.
“Why won’t you let me play?!”
Her scream echoed like a death cry, tearing through the silence.
Death number one hundred fifty-seven.
She had finally broken her own record for most deaths.
Cuma85: Why do you keep dying? Are you stupid?
Vivian snapped back.
“Hey! Do you think I want to die?!”
FallLight: You just have to be careful if you know what they’re aiming for.
“I don’t want to die! Forget matchups, what am I supposed to do when I’m just completely outmatched? Why don’t you try playing against me then?”
NoBigClub: You got the first kill and started acting cocky, now you’re taking it out on us lol
Summer97: Congrats! New death record!
“No, I got one kill too, so subtract that—still not a record!”
dkssudgktpdy: Yeah, yeah, okay. When are you gonna cry?
“Shut up!”
Vivian yelled, taking a deep breath.
Normally, she wouldn’t argue with viewers.
But today was different.
“Why would I cry? I’m not crying. Not ever. Never.”
After venting her anger for a while, she calmed down slightly and sniffled.
“This is seriously pissing me off…”
Wiping the tears from her eyes with the back of her hand, she suddenly glared at the screen.
“Hey, you bastard. No, you’re not even worth calling a bastard. You son of a bitch. You know that?”
She was so furious she cursed without hesitation.
“Go ahead, do whatever you want. You think me dying more will make me cry?”
With surprising composure, Vivian quickly sold all her gear.
She bought the most expensive armor in every category and moved to the deepest part of the respawn zone.
Despite what she said, she hated breaking the death record.
With her armor stacked, it was much harder to kill her.
Especially since the respawn area was designed to be unassailable, filled with invincible defensive structures.
But while it couldn’t be captured, it wasn’t impossible to enter.
Some heroes had abilities that made them invincible for short bursts.
And the Mercenary Lord was one such hero, with a cheat-like invincibility trait called Avatar.
“So I’m going out now… huh?”
What she meant was—
“W-what the hell! Using Avatar to come in?!”
The well-developed Mercenary Lord could withstand a barrage of attacks like a tidal wave when using Avatar.
Enough time to kill Vivian, in other words.
More than enough.
Vivian’s health bar started to plummet exponentially.
“Argh! Aaah!”
Every hit made her cry out as if she were the one being struck.
Though she had bought heavy armor, she wasn’t dying in one or two hits like before.
But considering the Mercenary Lord’s attack speed, it only bought her a few extra seconds.
Her health drained rapidly, and before she could even react, she let out a mournful wail and collapsed.
At the same time, the Mercenary Lord slipped out of the respawn zone, deactivated Avatar, and laughed while looking at Vivian’s corpse.
And so, death number one hundred fifty-eight.
An undeniable new record.
“Waaahhh—!”
Finally, the tears broke free.
Unable to hold back the swelling frustration and humiliation, Vivian lost all dignity and sobbed uncontrollably.
She had tried so hard not to let the death record be broken, but now there was a new dark chapter.
The viewers were delighted, showering her with gold coins.
The chat window glittered gold, but Vivian was too broken down, lying there and crying her heart out to notice.
“Waaah… waaah…”
How much time passed?
Her bitter sobbing suddenly stopped.
Her trembling shoulders gradually stilled.
Vivian kept her head bowed low.
Lying face down, her expression was hidden.
But something was different from usual.
The atmosphere, perhaps.
Then, after a long silence, Vivian suddenly lifted her head.
Her swollen, bloodshot eyes glared fiercely at the screen.
The match was already over.
“…Hey.”
Her hoarse voice held no emotion.
“Are you even human after all this? Answer me. I know you’re watching.”
Mercenary Lord Spider Vivian: Yeah, lol.
“Is it fun to toy with people like this? You think you’re better just because you’re good at the game, so you enjoy tormenting others?”
Mercenary Lord Spider Vivian: Yeah, lol.
“Who the hell are you? What gives you the right to snipe me all the time and ruin my stream? Huh?”
Mercenary Lord Spider Vivian: Yeah, lol.
“Damn it… Did I ever do anything wrong to you?!”
Vivian the Vicious Spider (Mercenary Lord): Yeah, sure.
Her voice cracked again toward the end, trembling with emotion.
“…What kind of bastard even is this?”
And that was the breaking point for Vivian.
For a grueling two hours straight, she’d been dying over and over in the match—no, it wasn’t even a match. More like torture. She spent more time dead than alive in the game.
Enduring every humiliation and insult, fighting tooth and nail, but the situation never improved.
Instead of support, the viewers only jeered and criticized her.
And when she finally tried to speak seriously, the opponent’s curt, mocking replies pushed her over the edge.
“Hey!”
Her thunderous shout shook the entire room.
---------------------------= Author’s Note ---------------------------=
Thank you all for waiting.
The serialization will resume starting today.
I’ll wrap up the remaining three chapters quickly.
Oh, and Memorize Visual Novel Season 2 has been released.
I think many of you already know, but if you visit hallplain.com, you can watch episodes 1 and 2 of Season 2 for free.
If you sign up, you can watch up to episode 3 for free as well. :)