The chat screen suddenly exploded. The viewer counter ticked up wildly, and a massive wave of completely new usernames of people who had been silently lurking the entire broadcast flooded the blue projection with absolute degeneracy.

[Lurker88: WOOF WOOF WOOF BARK BARK BARK!]

[SilentKnight: I never comment on streams but PLEASE STEP ON ME!]

[GoonLord: I LOST. I AM LITERALLY ON MY KNEES. PLEASE RUIN MY LIFE!]

[DownBadAnon: I will actually drink her bathwater. Look at those proportions!]

[MommyIssues: ARF ARF ARF CHOKE ME PLEASE!]

[LongTimeLurker: suddenly this stream is Stream of the Year. look at how tight that armor is.]

[User9948: SPITTING IN MY MOUTH WOULD BE A BLESSING!]

’The fuck is this?!’ Solomon rubbed his eyes to make sure he was reading his chat, and not someone else’s.

Solomon ignored the sudden explosion of chaotic, down-bad text flooding his upper vision. He kept his iron sword raised and pointed it directly at the golden-haired girl.

"Back off," Solomon warned, his eyes darting between her and the looming undead knight. "You are completely disrupting my fight."

The girl rubbed her jaw where his boot had connected. Her eyes scanned his dusty academy uniform, the cheap iron sword in his hand.

Then finally, she let out a sharp, dismissive scoff.

"That is a corrupted undead knight, you amateur," she said, her voice dripping with absolute condescension. "Someone running around with a basic starting kit has zero chance of defeating it. Back away immediately and let a real professional handle this before you get yourself killed."

"I was handling it just fine until you kicked me," Solomon shot back.

He dismissed her entirely, shifting his stance and sprinting directly back toward the undead knight.

"Hey! I told you to stop!" the girl yelled.

She drew a glowing silver rapier from her hip and dashed forward, matching his speed perfectly. The stone corridor was already incredibly narrow. With both of them rushing the exact same target simultaneously, there was absolutely no room to maneuver.

They collided shoulders right as they reached the knight. Solomon swung his iron blade toward the creature’s exposed arm joint, but the girl’s rapier flashed across his vision, completely blocking his swing as she attempted a thrust of her own. T

hey tripped over each other’s footwork, completely ruining their respective attacks.

The undead knight roared and swung its heavy greatsword horizontally.

Solomon and the girl ducked simultaneously, bumping heads hard enough to see stars. They scrambled backward just as the massive blade sparked against the stone wall.

"You absolute idiot!" she yelled, rubbing her forehead. "You are going to get us both killed! Get out of my way!"

"Then step back!" Solomon yelled back. "You are the one who jumped into my fight!"

She completely ignored him, shoved his shoulder hard to push him aside, and lunged straight at the undead knight alone. She moved with incredible grace, her silver rapier becoming a shadow of rapid thrusts aimed directly at the microscopic gaps in the knight’s armor.

Solomon clicked his tongue. He refused to let this arrogant adventurer steal his five-thousand-point bounty.

He took two quick steps backward, utilizing his Basic Parkour skill to launch himself directly up the adjacent stone wall. He planted two solid steps against the vertical masonry, defying gravity for a fraction of a second, and launched himself horizontally over the girl’s head.

Right as the undead knight brought its massive greatsword crashing down in a brutal overhead strike, the girl raised her rapier and caught the blow perfectly on her reinforced crossguard.

Solomon capitalized on the locked blades instantly. He dropped from the air, planted his boots directly onto the flat of the knight’s immobilized greatsword, and used the weapon as a springboard. He launched himself completely over the towering creature and landed smoothly behind its heavily armored back.

"Are you insane?!" the girl screamed from the other side, her arms shaking as she held back the massive blade. "Get off the sword!"

Before Solomon could turn around and strike the knight’s exposed back, a terrifying chorus of clanking metal echoed from the dark tunnel ahead of him. The horde of corrupted undead soldiers had finally regrouped.

They flooded the narrow corridor, raising their rusted spears and chipped swords directly at him.

"You have got to be kidding me," Solomon cursed.

He was forced to turn his back on the massive bounty. He gripped his iron sword with both hands, abandoned the knight entirely, and charged headfirst into the rotting infantry.

Solomon tore through the remaining undead soldiers. His impatience fueled his strikes. He abandoned defensive parries entirely, relying on his footwork to dodge while driving his iron sword through rusted breastplates and severing the corrupted joints.

He shattered a rotting skull with the pommel of his blade and kicked the final headless corpse into the stone wall.

He spun around to check on the massive bounty.

The golden-haired girl was holding her own against the towering undead knight without breaking a sweat. Her silver rapier deflected the heavy greatsword with calculated angles, redirecting the massive force rather than blocking it outright.

She possessed actual talent and the refined skills to back up her arrogant words.

But that Diamond Crown, worth exactly five thousand points, belonged to him.

Solomon sprinted forward and attacked the knight directly from behind. He swung his iron sword violently against the back of the knight’s knee joint. The blade failed to pierce the dense chainmail, but the impact successfully threw the creature off balance.

The knight let out a hollow roar, completely abandoning its assault on the girl, and spun its heavy greatsword around to face Solomon.

The girl did not complain. She immediately used the sudden opening to take a few steps back, lowering her rapier and taking a deep breath to recover her stamina.

She watched Solomon fight. Her eyes widened as she observed his barbaric, yet undeniably incredible, combat choreography. He wasn’t using a specific, elegant school of swordsmanship. He blended dozens of basic techniques together.

She watched him bend his wrists at extreme angles to slide the heavy greatsword off his guard. He used his entire body weight, twisting his waist and pivoting on his heels to generate massive torque for his counter-attacks.

He fought like a street brawler who had memorized the textbook of human anatomy. Every dodge was calculated to the millimeter. Every strike utilized his raw momentum. She realized quickly that if he actually possessed high-tier gear instead of a basic, chipped iron sword, he would have completely dismantled the knight by now.

[GoonLord: I am completely ignoring the fight. please step on me.]

[User12: SOLO MAN IS COOKING RIGHT NOW!]

[GamerGuy: look at that footwork! absolutely insane!]