Season 4: Chapter 126. Fire Watching (3)

The Paprika villagers returned home in triumph. The atmosphere felt like a festival. They built a campfire in the square, chatted merrily, and roasted meat. Now that they would be supplied with food from Cheese Village, they could afford to feast on what remained.

“Did you see them? They were totally scared out of their minds.”

“

Hahaha!

Making just one little shrimp into a Lava Shaman was the best call ever!”

“Genius plan, Orange~”

Orange had been the mastermind behind the operation.

“One was all it took to scare them.”

With his long experience in competitive RPG guild wars, Orange understood something vital.

‘There’s no need to fight directly.’

Between guilds, victory didn’t always mean battle. Humans naturally avoided extremes, especially in organized clashes. Negotiations commonly took place, and the leader’s gear usually set the tone. Others saw the leader’s equipment as the guild’s true strength.

Orange had exploited this psychology with the sudden appearance of a Lava Shaman in a battlefield dominated by cold steel.

“They must have been terrified.”

“Bet they nearly pissed themselves!”

“

Wahaha!

”

An asymmetrical force inspired fear and couldn’t be ignored.

“Cower in fear, yellow mold bastards!”

However, they didn’t know that maybe they had set the bar for fear far too low.

***

Horn Ramen remembered it clearly when the invaders appeared in the square, and the Lava Shaman instantly melted Bubblegum. It was terrifying, but now?

‘This is too much!’

“Chikicha!”

Thud!

A boot shot out from the flames and kicked Horn Ramen over. The other Union members, lined up behind him, fell like dominoes.

“

Ugh!?

”

“What the hell!?”

They landed hard and saw a man’s silhouette when they looked up. A helmet hid his face. His grin, whether they imagined it or not, felt devilish as he looked down on them.

‘Huh?’

‘What...?’

‘No way.’

Shock froze them as the Knights unexpectedly emerged from the flames, which seemed impossible.

Horn Ramen trembled. This was real fear, bleeding through the capsule and into his body.

‘These maniacs...’

The Knights had set everything on fire just to trap the Union. They had burned down everything around ForeverAlone’s house. This was madness, true madness.

— Holy crap

— These psychos lol

— Are the Knights actual sociopaths??

— WTF hahaha

It didn’t stop there. They lit more fires and closed off every retreat.

“Fire release[1]! Fiery Flask Art!”

Thunk!

Potato Servant spat as he hurled a handmade firebomb. Flames roared from his mouth like a fiery breath as the bomb burst.

Fwoooosh!

The exit path disappeared in flames.

— Potato Servant is insane hahaha

— This dude is crazy

— Calling it Fire Release lol

— ??? Pulling this off with zero chakra... legendary

— Uchiha Potato Servant!

‘If this keeps up, we’re finished.’

Horn Ramen shook his head and snapped back into focus. “Break through! Toward them! That’s the only way!”

Surely, a way out existed from where the Knights came.

“Run!”

“

Waaaah!

”

Clang!

The Knights shoved them back with shields. The passage was narrow and the crowd dense.

“Fire jutsu! Fire jutsu! Fire jutsu!”

Clash!

More firebombs rained behind the Union members.

Boom!

Crack!

“Push harder!”

“Break their wall!”

Almond shouted, “Shield wall!!”

Clang!

The unyielding iron shields locked together.

Thud!

Crash!

The Knights counted aloud. “One... two...”

Potato Servant lobbed another firebomb right in front of the shield wall.

“Three!”

BOOM!

Flames flared up from the blast, swallowing every gap. The Knights turned and vanished into the inferno.

“Wh-What!?”

“The exit!?”

“Just run through the fire! It’s only for a second!”

— Yeah just run lol

— Seriously, just go

— It’s a game, right??

— Why so hesitant? hahaha

Some Union members quickly decided to dash through, but that was the worst mistake they could make.

‘What the?!’

Fwoooosh!

The fire clung to their bodies. Then, it leaped from them to the dry grass beneath their feet.

‘Wait...’

They had become carriers of the blaze. The wildfire spread even faster and fiercer.

CRACKLE! FWOOSH!

— They’re screwed lol

— Amaterasu

[2]

— Oh no...

— This is how it ends hahaha

— Who told them to run?

The crimson flames swallowed the sky.

“

Ugh!

”

“

AAAAHHHH!

”

“Insane...”

The Union had no way out. Smoke filled the air, and flames sealed every path.

Donuts’s eyes shook.“H-How is it spreading this much!?”

It made no sense. The flames, the heat, and the chaos all blurred his vision.

Crack.

“Huh?” Donuts looked down at what he’d stepped on.

It looked hard and white like solidified white chocolate. The candle wax had melted and hardened again.

‘Se... seriously?’

Donuts realized the truth. The flames hadn’t spread by chance. It had been by design. This was no wildfire. It was a maze of fire, meticulously engineered.

“These maniacs... they laid down candle wax?”

— LMAO

— What the hell? hahaha

— So it was a trap...

— ??? Now who’s the econ major?

Donuts waved frantically to stop his comrades. “Stop! Don’t go! If the wax sticks to your feet, it’s over...!”

He was far too late.

“

AAAAAHHHH!!!

”

[HornRamen has turned to ashes.]

[WhiteChicken has turned to ashes.]

The first deaths broke the dam. The burning bodies added to the fuel, and the fire only grew more violent. The Union members screamed and wildly ran, but every step they took only spread the inferno.

“D-Dammit!!”

The safe ground shrank by the second.

“President! What do we do!? Hel...

GAAAHHH!

”

One by one, they fell into the fire’s grasp.

“Shit! Dammit all!!”

Whoosh!

Flames licked up Donuts’s boots.

— ??? Welcome to Cheese Village!

— This “healing game” burns people alive lol

— Campfire: when you burn an entire camp

𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞

— These devils hahaha

— This is fire watching, right? I feel healed!

“Damn you, Knights!!!”

Those were Donuts’s last words.

[Donuts has turned to ashes.]

Five knights had annihilated thirty Union members.

“Uhahaha! Uhahahahahaha!!”

From afar, Radish Servant laughed hysterically as he looked down on the blaze.

The monsters, the Nonghyup Union... The Knights had gotten rid of all the enemies.

He threw out his arms and laughed louder, drunk on victory. “

Hahahahahahahaha!!!

”

There was no going back anymore.

— Method acting???

— Radish Servant is terrifying lol

— The strategist’s descent into madness

— Dark Hero vibes hahaha

— So many camera cuts of Radish Servant incoming

Moments later...

[ForeverAlone has turned to ashes.]

ForeverAlone, the true target, finally fell as well after all the monsters died.

The Knights had successfully completed their plan.

***

“T-The Knights are scarier than Paprika,” Park Oh-Hoon muttered dumbfoundedly at the screen.

“

Ahem...

Well, things rarely go as planned. That’s the beauty of it.”

This chao had long drowned out the Paprika raid, which had been a scripted event. Would anyone watching even remember that Paprika had attacked? The top trending posts on Streamer Garden quickly changed.

[1. Paprika Village raid at last!]

[2. The Knights are insane lol]

[3. Radish Servant’s fall into darkness (gif)]

[4. Overhead view of the fire maze!]

The number one post about Paprika didn’t last long.

[1. ??? Why even bother with Lava Shaman?]

==== ====

(Image)

Unemployed Pyromancer here.

==== ====

The image showed Almond booting Horn Ramen into the fire.

— LMAO

— Why bother getting a job? Just stream lol

— Pyromancer with dragon’s breath hahaha

— Uchiha clan revived!

— Some grind all day for Lava Shaman... and this guy plays with matches and wipes them all out lol

The Knights’ pyromancy left a stronger impression than Paprika’s Lava Shaman ever could. They hadn’t just used a simple gimmick. They had slaughtered an entire group of players and reshaped the power balance.

[7. Isn’t this the Eight Gates Formation?]

==== ====

(Image)

Looks like Almond learned it from Worlds.

==== ====

The overhead view of the fire maze spawned a new meme.

— Radish Servant designed it, not Almond lol

— Everything is the Eight Gates these days hahaha

— Hey, they won. Sure, let’s call it that

— Reminds me of the China match from Worlds, when everyone screamed “Eight Gates” and got stomped 3–0 hahaha

In truth, it wasn’t the Eight Gates Formation. It was just a well-planned fire maze.

“

Uh...

Wait! Look at the screen!”

“They’re going in!”

The Knights weren’t done. Almond and the others stepped into the flames while the servant squad circled the perimeter to prevent anyone from escaping.

“What are they... Why go in there!?”

They had to because they had set everything on fire for this in the first place.

[Fertile Soil]

Patches of Fertile Soil lay scattered across the ground.

“Quickly! Grab it all!”

“Hot! It’s hot!”

“It’s fresh out of the oven!”

They ignored the heat as best they could and stuffed Fertile Soil into their inventories.

“Start with ForeverAlone’s land!”

“Yes, sir!”

1. A

Naruto

reference to the fire-breathing techniques commonly used by the Uchiha and Sarutobi clans ☜

2. From

Naruto

, inextinguishable black flames used by Uchiha Itachi and Uchiha Sasuke with their

Mangekyo Sharingan

. ☜