"3, 2, 1!"
Sol ignored the others' smugness, silently beginning a countdown.
The three-second timer ended, bringing them to the thirtieth second of the match.
At the thirty-second mark, spike-ball traps spawned. Any snake that collided with one would reset to zero and drop a pile of orbs.
One of the spike-balls was falling diagonally, right into the path of Belle and Ruby.
Ruby quickly shifted direction, leaving a gap in the encirclement—but Sol's snake wasn't nearby enough to escape through it.
Then came Belle's turn. She nudged her joystick slightly to adjust.
It had to be said, Belle truly lived up to being a veteran. Her quick reaction created only a two-cell gap from the spike-ball.
Belle felt deeply satisfied.
Leaving just two cells gave Sol almost no chance of slipping through. For most people, such precise control would be impossible.
Whereas Ruby earlier had left a gap of at least five cells—that would have made it easy for Sol to escape.
"Two cells… that's enough!"
In that moment, Sol seized his chance. His snake darted cleanly through the two-cell space, without touching the spike-ball.
And then—
Right, right, boost, left, left. With hand speed at the very limit of humanity, Sol executed a U-shaped maneuver within half a second, trapping Belle's snake head inside.
Her snake collided headfirst into Sol's body. The U was so tight she couldn't even turn back, and her snake reset instantly.
Most of the orbs she had gathered burst out in the process.
Sol's little snake quickly devoured a green cube, activating boost mode, and then swooped in like lightning to swallow up most of Belle's dropped haul.
In an instant, the underdeveloped runt of a snake transformed into a long, winding dragon.
Seeing it unfold, Ellen felt the pressure on her mount heavily.
Too fast. His hands are too fast, and the precision is terrifying.
If he had slipped even slightly, Sol would have been the one wiped out by the spike-ball—or worse, dragged the blue-haired girl down with him.
It was nothing short of extreme.
And from the looks of it, Belle's skills had still been sharper than Ellen's. Yet she was the first to fall.
Not Ruby, the weakest of the group. Not the white-haired girl, who was only slightly stronger.
The first eliminated was the second strongest player—the one who had posed the greatest threat to Sol.
Even under siege, he had chosen the hardest point to break through.
Ellen's impression of Sol shifted. He really has the spirit of a champion who wins on the narrow path.
Worthy of being a Void Hunter-tier powerhouse. Worthy of being the Dragon of Destruction of Snake Duel. His skill and courage weighed heavily on her.
"Damn it! Hands that fast—are you even human?"
Belle stared at the gray game-over screen, her face flushed red like an apple.
She had left only the smallest opening, and yet Sol had seized it.
In less than a second, he threaded the gap, devoured her entire snake, and grew massive.
And what infuriated her most was that he had ignored Ruby's gaping weaknesses, choosing instead to punish her one tiny slip-up.
Clearly, he was targeting her on purpose.
Damn him—too damn hateful!
"Nothing much. A trifling trick."
Sol smiled at Belle, his snake gliding with ease across the field.
Ten times the human limit of reaction speed—you think I'm joking around?
Freed from the encirclement, and empowered by both speed and reflexes, Sol's snake grew at an astonishing rate.
Inheriting Belle's haul and consuming fresh orbs, his once-stunted snake had already become the longest in the match.
"This is bad… this is really bad. Boss Sol actually broke free!" Billy exclaimed, watching Belle exit the game. "Didn't expect him to take out you, the strongest of us besides him, first."
Among the six of them, Belle had absolutely been second only to Sol.
Yet she was the first to be eliminated, caught by one mistake.
"Billy, Anby, don't panic." Belle's voice remained steady. "It's on you now. Don't give up."
Anby nodded firmly, her pale hands moving constantly on the joystick. "Manager, I'll give it my all."
"Count on me, Manager! A Starlight Knight fights to the very last moment!" Billy roared with chuunibyou spirit. "Activating hidden backup energy!"
"Sorry, Boss Sol, but I've got a reason I can't lose!"
As he shouted, the tuft of white hair on his head stood on end, as if he really had switched on some hidden power source.
With the promise of infinite-ammo tech in sight, there was no way he would back down!
After riling up her teammates, Belle turned to Ruby and Ellen, giving a thumbs-up. "You two as well—fight hard. I believe in you. Don't lose face out there!"
"Got it!" Ruby's body surged with determination. "I won't let idol win so easily!"
"I know. I need to get serious too."
Ellen's expression hardened, a cold azure aura radiating from her.
Something about Belle's words rubbed her the wrong way. She didn't want to lose in front of her friends, and besides—this was a rare challenge.
Energy-saving was meant for times when it mattered most. And she felt this was the time.
At that moment—
Energy-Saver Shark exploded forth, burning through reserves to enter overclocked state.
Her reflexes and speed multiplied several times in an instant.
To the naked eye, Ellen's snake visibly became more agile. She grabbed a green cube, triggering boost mode, maximizing her limited overclock duration to grow her snake as much as possible.
"That's… Ellen's entered that state!" Monna and Lynn gasped, hands covering their mouths in awe. "Didn't think she'd get so serious just over a game!"
"What state?" Belle asked, confused.
"Normally, Ellen always looks half-asleep. But she's just conserving energy," Lynn explained.
"Once she releases it, she becomes her true form," Monna added. "Physical abilities maxed, academics flawless, and her gaming skills skyrocket."
"In that state, she's like the perfect genius high schooler—just like a manga protagonist!"
They spoke with absolute reverence. It had been so, so long since they'd last seen her like this.
"Whoa, that amazing?!" Belle's eyes sparkled with hope. "Go Ellen! Defeat the Dragon of Destruction!"
Sol's lip twitched. Overclock wasn't some minor trick—it was enough to slice through rocket salvos.
In this state, Ellen's speed had to be breaking a hundred meters per second, comparable to his own base level.
And in Snake Duel, her skills were now nearly on par with his.
"Phew~ now this feels like pressure."
Sol could clearly feel the intensity of the match rising.
If standard single-player was difficulty level 0, and being besieged by five had been level 5, then losing Belle had cranked it up to level 9—maybe even 11.
On screen, one snake surged forward like a savage shark, while the other danced gracefully like a painted streak of light—the two clashing as equals.