The Villainess VTuber Tears People Apart

Breathing was painful.

Breathing shouldn’t be that hard for a human being, but once you start to become conscious of it, it becomes difficult.

In fact, isn’t breathing similar to death?

Even though we all face death as humans, we usually live our lives forgetting about it. But just thinking about death makes it unbearable, just like how becoming aware of your breathing makes it difficult.

Is this what they call the concept that life and death are intertwined?

Anna realized this, but that didn’t make her situation any better.

ThudF

Thud

Footsteps echoed from afar.

Anna’s heart started pounding like a hammer, and she pressed her face close to the gun she was holding.

‘.’

Anna recited the skill name in her mind and focused her vision.

Flash!

She felt her eyes lighten.

No, to simply say they lightened would be an understatement.

It was like the sensation of a blind person suddenly regaining their sight.

A refreshing clarity, as if she had unlocked the truth of the world, swept through her mind.

Anna understood the structure of the dungeon.

Not only that, but she also knew the types and positions of the neutral mobs.

She could even track the Dark Knight that was slowly approaching this location in real-time.

The ultimate skill of the Technomancer, .

According to the skill description, the Technomancer analyzes all the magic particles dispersed in the air in real-time and reads the structure of the world.

Simply put, it’s a map hack.

Since Labyrinthos is a game where information is particularly important, the Technomancer’s ultimate skill is powerful.

Of course, it’s not all-powerful.

10 seconds, 9 seconds, 8 seconds, 7 seconds, 6 seconds…

5 seconds, 4 seconds, 3 seconds, 2 seconds, 1 second, 0 seconds… Ultimate skill ended.

A short duration for an ultimate skill.

Still, she confirmed the information she wanted to know.

The Dark Knight had appeared.

Just as predicted through .

As seen in the forums, it had no armor. It was even barefoot.

The Dark Knight, who had entered the room, looked around.

For a moment, Anna almost made eye contact with it, but fortunately, it seemed that the Dark Knight didn’t notice her and continued walking.

Anna breathed a sigh of relief and placed her finger on the trigger.

She had perfectly positioned herself behind it.

She aimed directly at the unguarded back of its head.

She held her breath, so even the sound of her breathing wouldn’t give her away.

Confident of her victory this time──Anna pulled the trigger.

Bang!

A loud gunshot.

And then,

Clang!

The sound of something hitting metal with force.

The magic bullet that should have pierced through the head was deflected by the blade and shot off into the distance.

Only the fiercely glaring eyes remained focused on her.

“Footprints.”

“…What?”

“If there are footprints, doesn’t really mean much.”

Tock tock

The Dark Knight tapped the ground with its foot.

There, faint footprints left by Anna were visible.

No…

“How… how could you even notice that…?”

“Is that so?”

The Dark Knight slowly closed the distance.

Anna reflexively aimed her gun, but deep down, she knew there was little point since she had been spotted.

“Then, until you start noticing, I suppose you’ll need to experience death a bit more.”

Aurora smiled faintly as she said that.

***

Three days had passed since I started coaching Anna.

Today, I once again killed her with utmost care.

“You’re getting better, bit by bit.”

I muttered absentmindedly.

Anna lowered her head with a bewildered expression.

“T-Thank you…?”

“Of course, you’re still not ready for the tournament.”

I quickly added, not wanting to praise her too much.

“As I said before, the most important thing for a stealth character is not getting caught. The Technomancer, in particular, is a ranged dealer without any survival skills.”

That’s what I said.

The Technomancer has a stealth skill called .

This is quite unusual. Typically, stealth is a trait found in Assassins.

The greatest advantage of stealth is having the ‘first strike’ ability.

In any case, it allows you to land the first hit.

If you can kill at least one enemy before the fight starts, that’s ideal. Even if you can’t kill them, significantly reducing their health is still good.

Your allies will be at full health when the team fight begins, but the enemies will have taken some damage, forcing them into a ‘disadvantaged team fight.’

Stealth has such powerful destructive power, but because of that, characters with stealth typically have some risks associated with them.

Like a drastic decrease in survivability after stealth ends.

Or being slightly lacking in damage, making it hard to secure kills.

In the case of the Technomancer, it’s a ranged dealer with no dash or survival skills, making ‘kiting’ difficult.

As such, ‘positioning’ is crucial for this ranged dealer, so it’s more of a brain over brawn type of character.

So, it could be said that this character is perfect for Anna, who can’t fully utilize her physical abilities due to fear.

“Of course, in the lower ranks, no one would really care about things like footprints, but if you’re going to participate in a tournament, you’ll have to rank up, right? So, it’s better to practice the appropriate gameplay in advance. Trying to change your playstyle after reaching Diamond would be far too inefficient.”

“Ah, I understand… I’ll be more careful next time.”

“Then, shall we have another duel with the Technomancer? After that, we’ll play some ranked games, and then return to individual training.”

“Um, Teacher… Can we take a short break?”

“Hmm?”

I tilted my head in confusion.

Checking the time, three hours had passed.

It had only been three hours.

‘…Ah, I shouldn’t think by my own standards.’

During my PC gaming days, my average playtime was about 13 hours. When I was doing duel mode, I think I played for about 20 hours a day.

If I put my mind to it, I could play games for five days straight. Of course, if I did that, even I would get a bit tired. That’s why I make sure to sleep at least two hours a day.

Anyway, I’m usually healthy enough that three hours of gaming is nothing, but it must be tough for Anna and most other normal people.

“Alright. Let’s take a 30-minute break.”

“Then I’ll log out during the break.”

“Sure.”

In that case, maybe I’ll queue up for a match.

“Why don’t you log out too, Teacher? We could chat on Discord during the break.”

─That’s what I was thinking, but Anna suggested otherwise.

I was eager to queue up… but I decided to just hang out with Anna.

Come to think of it, queuing for a match for just 30 minutes would only be a tease. I’ve gotten to the point where I can’t be satisfied unless I play in five-hour intervals.

I logged out and sat in front of the PC.

[Teacher, are you here? I hear some clattering, are you drinking tea again?]

Anna’s voice came through the speakers.

Maybe Anna was lying down on her bed. I could hear the rustling of blankets.

“I just felt like drinking some tea.”

[You really love tea, don’t you? But I heard that black tea has as much caffeine as coffee. Are you sure that’s okay?]

“It’s decaffeinated black tea.”

[Oh, I see.]

“So, did you have something you wanted to talk about?”

I asked as I took a sip of my tea.

[Huh? Oh, it’s just that it’s boring to rest alone. I thought it’d be nice to chat together.]

“Really?”

[…That’s a lie. Actually, I just want to get closer to you, Teacher.]

Anna spoke in a slightly embarrassed voice.

[Honestly, I don’t usually make an effort to get close to others. Isn’t dealing with people really tiring? It’s fun to hang out with others, but it’s also exhausting.]

“You’re not wrong. But most people probably tolerate that exhaustion.”

[Right? I think they’re afraid of being alienated from the group. I can understand that, but I’m just not that kind of person. So I don’t have many friends.]

“You’re speaking quite frankly. Are you sure that’s okay?”

[I’ve mentioned this to my viewers on stream before. But when I first saw you, Teacher, I thought, ‘Wow, I want to get close to this person!’ I don’t usually fall for people’s looks, but I did with you.]

“Well, that’s only natural, don’t you think?”

I’m beautiful, after all!

I’m the noblewoman that so many admired. When I attended the academy, I even had about ten followers tagging along. That’s how noble I am.

Although I lost my status as a noblewoman when I returned to Earth, it seems I still can’t hide my noble aura.

Haha, the popularity of this body!

[Wow, that’s some confidence… Isn’t that a bit too narcissistic?]

“I’m simply stating a fact. The sun is bright, summer is hot, the sea is blue… My beauty is just as much a truth of this world.”

[Your narcissism could pierce the heavens. But I don’t dislike people like you, Teacher.]

“I’m glad to hear that. I was planning to teach you harshly, but if you like me, that means you’re willing to stick with me until the end, right?”

[…I was hoping you could go a little easier on me. Do you know that I’ve been dying in my dreams lately?]

“Even so, do you still have a reason to participate in the tournament?”

I asked.

It had been bothering me.

Anna was fearful. Excessively so.

That’s not strange in itself. Some people are naturally timid.

But typically, such people wouldn’t even touch this kind of game.

Just like someone who can’t handle spicy food wouldn’t deliberately eat it.

Like a coward avoiding horror games.

‘Especially when gaming isn’t even Anna’s main content.’

After glancing through Shiroki Anna’s channel, I found that her main content was ASMR and singing.

Of course, she doesn’t avoid games entirely. But most of her gameplays were short, one-off games, and she also played some mobile gacha games.

It wouldn’t be wrong to say she barely touched horror or action games.

So it felt unnatural for someone like Anna to be participating in a Labyrinthos tournament.

[Um… it’s a bit hard to explain. To put it simply, there’s someone I really want to meet in the tournament.]

“Someone you want to meet?”

[Yes. I really like this streamer, but there’s no other way to meet her…]

Anna said with a hint of a sigh.

[I really want to get better at the game. About the Technomancer, could you show me how you play? I think I could improve if I watched you.]