Most of Team TBC's members were military enthusiasts from South Korea.
The team had around three hundred members in total, but only the more skilled players were assigned animal codenames and allowed to represent the team in official matches.
Lee Seung-ho was one such fanatic. Calling him a military otaku wouldn't be an exaggeration.
His codename was **Gopher**.
This time, he had been monitoring the Asian servers, waiting for Sora to log in.
After enduring weeks of tedious stakeout duty, his patience had finally paid off.
The moment Sora appeared, he immediately notified the rest of Team TBC to organize the challenge match.
In this battle, his role was that of a sniper, responsible for suppressing Kamiyā Sora from extreme range while gathering battlefield intelligence.
Swallowing nervously, Lee Seung-ho stared at the screen.
"No abnormalities in Sector C1."
"Fox, two random players are advancing east through C2 Street. They'll enter the combat zone in about ten seconds."
"Rabbit, Mouse, Giraffe—keep the crossfire going. Leopard, be careful when flanking. Don't reveal yourself until I give the order."
"Wolf, eliminate the random players. Reduce their combat strength as much as possible."
The commander, codename **Lion**, issued rapid-fire instructions over voice chat.
He was also a sniper, positioned atop a skyscraper with binoculars, calmly observing the battlefield.
The overlapping fields of fire created by his teammates provided him with excellent protection.
Their formation, designed specifically to counter Sora, was proving extremely effective.
Slowly but steadily, they were whittling away at Sora's team.
Although the randomly matched players possessed solid individual skills, the absence of effective command meant they had no understanding of the battlefield.
Some were killed by enemies who suddenly appeared from impossible angles.
Others stepped into the street only to be instantly headshot by a sniper.
Still others gathered together, only to be blown apart by support drones called in by the enemy.
To make matters worse, Kamiyā Yuu, the team's medic, remained motionless inside the safe zone, unable to provide timely medical support.
There was no way to organize an effective counterattack.
...
Meanwhile, on Fakebook's 'Modern Battlefield 3' livestream, the number of viewers continued climbing.
Before long, it surpassed one hundred thousand.
Many players familiar with Sora's reputation rushed over to watch.
Whether Sora could defeat another professional team had long become one of the hottest unanswered questions in the game's competitive community.
Fortunately, both the livestream and spectator mode used delayed broadcasts, so there was no concern about players stream-sniping.
Comments beside the stream refreshed at the speed of several pages per second.
"At least that newbie had enough self-awareness to pick Medic. I mean, he can at least trade his own lives for revives. Sending him into combat would've been hopeless."
"As expected, they can't win. Team TBC's formation is too solid! They're practically cheesing the match by slowly grinding out an advantage."
"They already lost the information war. TBC controls the highest point on the Washington map. Every move Sora makes is completely exposed."
"Sora should've picked Recon first and dealt with TBC's spotter. Otherwise, they have no chance."
...
More than ten minutes passed.
The score became **23:101**.
Most of Kamiyā Yuu's teammates had exhausted all ten of their lives and were now reduced to spectators.
With fewer and fewer teammates remaining, the battle became increasingly one-sided.
Kamiyā Sora herself had already been forced back to a concealed position not far from the safe zone.
Every attempt to break through was suppressed by overwhelming enemy fire.
Her character had already died nine times due to being relentlessly focused.
Even so, fifteen of her team's nineteen kills had been earned by Sora alone.
That achievement alone astonished many high-level players watching the stream.
A notification appeared on Kamiyā Yuu's screen.
**Safe Zone unlocks in one minute. ****
At almost the same moment, Kamiyā Sora's character was once again blown apart by an enemy support drone.
She respawned inside the safe zone—
Only to discover she had exhausted all of her remaining lives.
Putting down her controller, Kamiyā Sora let out a yawn.
She watched the screen with tired eyes that showed almost no emotion.
She had never been particularly interested in this match.
Truthfully, she had only accepted the challenge because Kamiyā Yuu suggested it.
Even though more than one hundred thousand people were watching on Fakebook, to her it was merely a more boring version of an ordinary match.
Her opponents simply relied on well-established, carefully refined strategies.
From the very beginning, she had known her team had no chance of winning.
"Yuu, it's about over."
She spoke calmly.
Kamiyā Yuu nodded with a smile.
"Then I guess it's time for me to get some fresh air."
His character finally walked out of the safe zone.
Kamiyā Sora looked over in curiosity.
Then her eyes widened slightly.
The route Kamiyā Yuu chose didn't look like that of someone playing the game for the first time.
It was concealed.
Safe.
Most importantly, because the enemy's attention had been focused almost entirely on her, he slipped through every gap in their surveillance network.
...
On Team TBC's side, everything remained orderly.
"So the enemy medic finally decided to come out."
"...A medic?"
"Now that you mention it, I don't think I've even seen their medic until now. So he's been hiding at spawn the whole time? What's that supposed to accomplish?"
"He's the newbie who entered together with Sora. The match is basically over anyway."
"Wolf, deal with the medic."
"No problem. The moment he steps onto Z1 Street, I'll kill him."
Wolf answered confidently.
Only a few minutes later—
Bang!
Bang!
Bang!
Bang!
His screen suddenly went black.
**Headshot.**
"What?"
Wolf stared blankly at his monitor.
"WTF!?"
"How did I die?"
"He's behind us! It's that medic! He's flanked around to the C3 high-rise! He's using an SG1 sniper rifle!"
"Wasn't he supposed to be a beginner?! What's going on?!"
The members of Team TBC were momentarily stunned before reacting immediately.
Lion urgently shouted into voice chat,
"I don't know! Giraffe, fall back immediately! Get to the high-rise and eliminate him! Leopard, reinforce Gorilla and continue suppressing Sora!"
Four shots.
Less than two seconds apart.
Four enemies were killed.
From that single attack alone, they could tell the medic possessed top-tier sniper skills.
More importantly...
How had that damned medic bypassed every sniper observation point?
As the commander responsible for the team's formation, Lion knew exactly where their blind spots were.
But how did the enemy know them?
Just thinking about it sent a cold sweat down his back.
...
The livestream erupted.
"Oh, my God! What just happened? Where did that medic's aim come from?!"
"Is he really a beginner? Medics don't get any bonuses with sniper rifles! Even so, he killed four enemies in one second!"
"What!?"
"Team TBC should recover quickly, but if that medic is this strong, why didn't he choose Sniper? Why didn't he join the fight earlier?!"
...
So what had Kamiyā Yuu been doing during the first twenty minutes?
Watching Kamiyā Sora play.
Testing every weapon.
Adjusting the controls, including the controller's stick sensitivity.
All of it had been part of gathering information.
Finding the weapon best suited to himself.
Finding the weapon best suited to this particular battle.
Finding the control settings that fit him best.
Learning everything he could about the map, the game mode, and his opponents.
In short—
Kamiyā Yuu had been learning.
His awareness—his mental strength, or perhaps more accurately, his cognitive ability—far surpassed that of ordinary people.
Three years of using his Mind Space had gradually altered even his real-world mind.
The reason he could go days without sleeping and still never feel tired was because of that transformation.
His extraordinary mental strength didn't merely eliminate the need for sleep.
His logical thinking, learning ability, reaction speed, and overall cognitive processing were on an entirely different level from those of ordinary people.
That was why he had confidently claimed he could contribute at least as much as Yūki Chinatsu.
Kamiyā Yuu understood his own abnormal mind better than anyone else.
Once he became familiar with the game, his neural reaction speed alone was enough to completely dominate a match.
To put it in the simplest possible terms—
Kamiyā Yuu's character might as well have come with an aimbot that automatically locked onto enemy heads.
If he fired a thirty-round magazine from a submachine gun, then all thirty bullets would hit the enemy's head.
Taking the battlefield situation into account, however, he chose the SG1 sniper rifle, which excelled at medium- and long-range engagements.
Switching it to full-auto mode, he continuously sniped enemies.
Anyone who exposed themselves—
Died.