"If you really spare me just for the scroll..." the ninja hesitated as the encirclement tightened.


    The one standing in the tree grew anxious.


    <em>''How shameless... How could he threaten to kill me from below the tree? How is he nning to kill me? It surely isn''t easy for him, yet why is my heart racing like this?’</em>


    His heart pounded relentlessly. The image of Almond easily dispatching the three clones with a single stroke lingered in his mind along with Almond''s rxed demeanor. He was undoubtedly a formidable opponent.


    <em>''Calm down. No matter how skilled he is, it doesn’t matter if we don’t fight.’</em>


    In ninja mode, the runner always had a distinct advantage. If someone decided to flee, plenty of elements made it easy to lose the pursuer. Smoke bombs, for instance, were virtually useless for the pursuer but incredibly effective for escaping.


    He concluded that regardless of skill level, he simply couldn''t get caught if he chose to run.


    "Try and kill me then!"


    He activated the chakra between his feet and the bamboo, leaping to another tree.<em>— Why so confident while running away?</em>


    <em>— ssic 36th strategy, run away! LOL</em>


    <em>— One-trick pony of confidence LOL</em>


    Almond released his chakra too and pursued him, rapidly kicking off the bamboo trees. Each tree he stepped on snapped loudly. Crashing noises drew closer and closer from behind the ninja who ran away.


    <em>''What...?''</em>


    They possessed the same amount of chakra, yet the distance between them was shrinking. This was due to the efficiency in chakra use and the routes chosen. Which bamboo trees to step on for optimal speed was a matter of interpretation, and the gap in their abilities showed.


    The escaping ninja, realizing his plight, reached for a smoke bomb.


    <em>''I was saving this forter.''</em>


    As he attempted to use the smoke bomb, the whistling of a shuriken could be heard.


    Almondunched his shurikens and struck the ninja''s wrist that was holding the smoke bomb.


    "!?"


    The smoke bomb fell through the bamboo forest below. With a disappointing puff, white smoke billowed out.


    "Ah..."


    He lost the smoke bomb and one hand became unusable with an injury to his wrist. He couldn''t form signs for the clone technique anymore.


    Then, Almond forcefully kicked off from another bamboo tree and dozens of shurikens rained down on the ninja’s legs.


    <em>"Kuk!"</em>


    <em>[Right leg injured]</em>


    <em>[Left ankle injured]</em>


    Almond had deliberately aimed at his lower body.


    <em>''I can''t jump anymore!?''</em>


    Unable to kick off the next bamboo tree, the ninja began to fall.


    Almond passed by as he fell. With a swift motion, a clean red line appeared as Almond shed through the ninja.


    <em>[1 → 33]</em>


    <em>[46/60]</em>


    Already weakened by the shurikens, the ninja eventually died.


    <em>— Shocked</em>


    <em>— Wow</em>


    <em>— Got the clone technique too~</em>


    <em>— He dominated again~ Insane~!</em>


    Almond sessfully acquired another scroll.


    ***


    "First of all, teaming up is out of the question," Almond was speaking to his viewers while rummaging through the ninja''s corpse who had used the clone technique. "Four yers teaming up is rare to begin with. It doesn''t make sense in a challenge where you can''t n ahead of time. The production team is watching everything."


    <em>— Ah</em>


    <em>— True that</em>


    <em>— Honestly, a 4 person team is too much LOL</em>


    <em>— I would''ve believed it if it were just two</em>


    He was exining how he knew the ninja was using clones.


    "So they couldn’t be teaming up. I thought it might be some other trick..."


    One advantage of battle royale games was ample downtime in the early to mid game, allowing for interaction with viewers. This was also why this genre spread quickly among streamers.


    Almond made use of this genre''s advantages.


    <em>[Questioner has donated 1,000 won.]</em>


    <em>[But why does Nutty suddenly talk so much? LOL]</em>


    <em>— For real LOL</em>


    <em>— Loves telling winning stories LOL</em>


    <em>— He talks a lot when bragging or advertising. Are you new here?</em>


    <em>— It''s cute how he talks more when he''s excited LOL</em>


    "I was just answering what was asked..."


    Almond scratched his head awkwardly.


    "Anyway, it didn''t seem like they were teaming up when I noticed their outfits and even their body shapes were identical."


    <em>— Stubbornly exining LOL</em>


    <em>— Good job, little guy</em>


    <em>— Just stick to LOL and Wow! LOL</em>


    Almond found it suspicious that their body shapes and heights were all identical. Among ninja techniques, he deduced that the clone technique was a well-known one.


    "So I noticed it was the clone technique and deliberately provoked them to reveal their trick and catch them. I thought it would be easy to catch them since they couldn''t perfectly control all three clones in front of me."


    It was a rather clever way to defeat the enemy, but the audience didn''t quite see it that way.


    <em>[Mad Dog has donated 10,000 won.]</em>


    <em>[Almond special: ims he used his brain to catch them after defeating them with his insane physical abilities]</em>


    <em>— LOL</em>


    <em>— LOL</em>


    <em>— Right on LOL</em>


    <em>— As if, he just overpowered them LOL</em>


    <em>[FactStormNinja has donated 3,000 won.]</em>


    <em>[Fact: Even if they were really teaming up, he would''ve beat them all]</em>


    <em>— Facts</em>


    <em>— LOL</em>


    <em>— That''s true LOL</em>


    <em>— That''s actually better, farming times four!</em>


    <em>— LOL</em>


    <em>"Ahem..." </em>Almond cleared his throat once in response to the donations. "The farming is done. Other than acquiring the clone technique and a smoke bomb, there was nothing much of note."


    Now, he proceeded further with the game.


    <em>[The encirclement has tightened.]</em>


    He had to move again now that the encircled area encroached on this bamboo forest.


    ***


    Almond was unstoppable after acquiring the clone, substitution, and transformation technique.


    "What, what?!"


    Enemies screamed in dismay as Almond''s clone deceived them. That was usually theirst words.


    <em>[1 → 31]</em>


    <em>[41/60]</em>


    The number of survivors continued to decrease.


    <em>[1 → 11]</em>


    <em>[36/60]</em>


    <em>[1 → 9]</em>


    <em>[31/60]</em>


    Almond''s kill count kept rising.


    <em>[11 kills]</em>


    He had killed one-third of the thirty deceased, a remarkable number considering the encirclement hadn''t tightened much yet.


    <em>[ModestLuBu has donated 50,000 won.]</em>


    <em>[Are you nning to stop after just that?]</em>


    <em>— LOL, attempting to negotiate LOL</em>


    <em>— Nutty is sobbing LOL</em>


    <em>— Hey, are you sneaking out?</em>


    "Thank you, but no. I can''t stop~"


    Nutty''s mission continued, and Almond began ying what seemed more like a pursuit game than a survival one. He enhanced his skills.


    <em>[Collecting 3 Disguise Techniques has evolved it!]</em>


    <em>[Disguise Technique → Transformation Technique]</em>


    <em>[Now you may transform into anything, including objects, for a certain period of time.]</em>


    The disguise technique transformed into the transformation technique, allowing Almond to be unimaginable objects like a broom or arge rock.


    <em>[Collecting 3 Substitution Techniques has evolved it!]</em>


    <em>[Substitution Technique → Position Exchange Technique]</em>


    <em>[The casting time has be much faster. You may now swap ces with objects and other NPCs or yers.]</em>


    The substitution technique could now be used on more than just logs or shurikens, including NPCs and other yers.


    <em>— What an arsenal of ninjutsu, wow!</em>


    <em>— Incredible</em>


    <em>— The position exchange technique is insane LOL</em>


    <em>— From an opponent''s perspective, it''s baffling;</em>


    The importance of farming scrolls shone even brighter than farming in the normal <em>Battle Large</em> because owning more scrolls invariably led to a significant advantage in battles. Of course, Almond wasn''t the only one who realized this principle.


    ***


    "Wow, yer number eighteen! Bubble Sniper is killing aggressively, showing no intention of ying like it''s a survival game!"


    "Yes, not just yer eighteen but yer number one too! Actually, all the remaining ninjas who are skilled aren''t hiding anymore!"


    "Maybe because scroll farming is too crucial?"


    The encirclement was tightening, and only the strong had survived.


    "Ah! yer number four is down!! Now the top ten have been decided!"


    With yer number eleven and yer number four''s death, only ten ninjas remained.


    This top ten situation changed the game''s nature significantly. Battles were unavoidable, often involving one against many or many against many.


    "The top ten in ninja mode. I’m really curious what will happen!"


    "Shall we see how many kills everyone has so far?"


    Among the sixty participants, the ten who remained were unquestionably skilled, yet disparities existed among them. Two notable yers had achieved quite high kill counts. One was yer number eighteen, BubbleSniper.


    "yer number eighteen has fourteen kills! Why isn''t this person streaming instead of sniping?!"


    "Exactly! What about yer number one?"


    The other notable yer was yer number one, Almond.


    "...!"


    Everyone became speechless when the observer switched the screen to show his record.


    <em>[27 kills]</em>


    His kill count had reached twenty-seven, which was effectively half of the fifty yers who had died so far. Rather, it was nearly half of the total sixty participants including himself.


    “!?!”


    “No, no. I knew he had killed a lot, but this amount… Does it even make sense?”


    Gasps echoed throughout the audience.


    <em>— ????</em>


    <em>— Is he really from the Hidden Leaf Vige? LOL</em>


    <em>— He’s not human.</em>


    <em>— Is he an actual ninja?</em>


    "In <em>Battle Large</em>’s normal mode with one hundred participants, twenty-seven kills would be unimaginable. This is twenty-seven kills with sixty participants! He practically killed half of them! This is astounding!"


    "The ninja mode''s pace might allow for such a feat, but still, it''s incredibly impressive. Right?"


    "Yes, impressive! But remember, this game isn''t just about racking up kills. It''s about surviving! Anything could still happen! It''s still fifty-fifty!"


    <em>— A draw, LOL</em>


    <em>— Saying it''s 50/50 about the guy who killed half of them, LOL</em>


    <em>— What 50/50? Prepare the half-half chicken already, LOL</em>


    While thementator was correct that high kill counts didn''t necessarily win the game, having a higher kill count often meant better items. Hence, his statement about the situation still being fifty-fifty wasn''t entirely urate.


    Indeed, thementator suggested an even match to entertain the audience.


    “Ah! yer number fifty-five is down! Now we only have nine yers left!”


    “Almond just got another instant kill on yer number thirty-nine!!! Eight yers remain! The encirclement is tightening! They might start seeing each other soon!?”


    As the game intensified, viewers started taking sides either for or against Almond.


    <em>— Are we going to let the alpha male take the game too? Go BubbleSniper!</em>


    <em>— Ah, BubbleSniper, please! Anything but that insider kid winning...!</em>


    <em>— Go Almond!!</em>


    Finally, only seven yers remained.


    “Ah! Another instant kill from yer number one! Ruthless! If you catch his eye, you''re dead!”


    “Only seven of them left now!?”


    The remaining area shrunk to within five hundred meters.


    <em>[Town Alleyway]</em>


    Many winding alleys lined the straw-roofed houses.


    “Finally! They see each other!?”


    Almond and BubbleSniper spotted each other.