One hour before the national championship battle for the virtual reality game [The World Invasion Online], Lance's neck was craning behind the stage to look at the audience.

His phone vibrated in his hand. A new message pops up. He opened it and saw his girlfriend, Alice, taking a selfie with other fans holding banners.

Alice: Good luck with your game! Go get it, Lancelot!

Lance chuckled at the cute flying hearts emoji after 'Lancelot'. His full name is Lance Acosta. But Alice loves to call him Lancelot and tease him about that knight from King Arthur's story. Purposely saying he was as valiant as a knight every time she watched him play.

Valiant as a knight, huh?

If his teammates heard this, they would laugh at his face.

Especially when he acts as a rogue and ruthless demon in the game who will rush to the frontlines and is incredibly reckless. If it wasn't for his teammates' excellent support in cleaning up behind him, they would not be standing on this stage today.

Lance began his career as a professional player six months ago. He's only seventeen. He was a rookie with great potential. And his captain often praises him face-to-face but ruthlessly kills him multiple times in training.

By the way, this was his first official game representing his guild in this league. Three months ago, one of the original players for the team was rushed into the hospital. His illness was not determined, and the company released no news, so the team was entirely in the dark.

What's even weird is the fact that the company prevented anyone from visiting him.

Lance, who was still training in camp, was suddenly contacted and recruited by the professional team as that player's stand-in. This was a big opportunity every rookie like him dreamed of.

At first, Lance was delighted. He started working hard to earn recognition from his teammates and captain. But as he spends time with them, he notices the disadvantage of working in a team.

For example, Lance is a rogue player who prefers to act first and think later. And on the first game with the team, he was severely reprimanded. The captain looked down on him, and he was discriminately targeted. His little actions will irk the captain, and he will be scolded in front of the team and other people in the office.

Lance tried to change his play style and follow the captain's advice. But as days passed, he began to lag behind the team and drag them down. And their treatment of Lance worsens.

For a while, Lance endured the mockery and public shame. Until his bottom line was crossed, and he decided to rebel. In the game, he began to act as if he was an independent player. Ruthlessly charging forward and taking down strong enemies one after another. His assassin and regeneration skills significantly improved, and he earned the most significant score points in the game.

This earns him a new name, and his teammates are looking at him in different light. Even his captain praised his methods and changed the team's strategies to include his.

Lance was satisfied.

For this national championship, he decided to give it his all and make Alice proud. He won't bother to care what others think. As long as Alice is happy with his performance, he's satisfied.

The virtual reality game [The World Invasion Online], is different from the other multi-player virtual games most youngsters play. The game focuses more on apocalyptic settings with horror elements. It also has strange rules when it comes to battles.

Most tournaments are players versus environment. A tournament of player versus player will only happen once a year. The rest are PVEs.

The game's background story is that the world was invaded by aliens. They evolved and started to attack humans and rule over them. When the aliens invade a human body and begin to gain control, this state is called 'Corruption'.

Of course, corruption is not limited to NPCs. It could happen to players as well. And once the character a player use is 'corrupted', that character can no longer be retrieved. And the player must use another character again and start over.

If one team member is corrupted, even a small percentage of 1% will kill that player instantly and remove him from the game. The cleansing of 'corruption' takes 24 hours before a player can be logged back into his character.

When Lance spotted Alice from the crowd, his face beamed, and he frantically waved at her. Alice waved back. Before he could open his mouth and shout, 'Wait for me!' he was smacked at the back of his head by his captain.

"Let's go, idiot." His captain grabbed him by the collar of his jacket and was dragged to the player room.

Lance took his place. He had already changed into his nerve connection suits and entered his gaming cabin with the others.

The championship round was extended from three hours to seven hours due to a stalemate against the other guilds.

By the eighth hour, the situation was nowhere ideal. The opposing team was moving faster than them. The goal of clearing the monster base was halfway achieved. Suppose Lance and his teammates want to make a breakthrough. In that case, they must invade the base and destroy it from the inside rather than continue shooting against the base's defense and fighting against monster aliens that came out.

"Leroy, take the front and cover for Lance." The captain urgently ordered.

Lance is being reckless again. He did not stay behind the circle defense of their team and charged head on. Lance was great at his assassin and regeneration skills. Both his attack and defense were top notch.

A pool of black water mud suddenly materializes at Lance's feet. He immediately leaped to the side and avoided the sticky, slimy substance that tried to swallow him down. Leroy, who was running after him, could not avoid the slimy substance in time.

Lance caught Leroy's wrist while the slimy substance wrapped itself around Leroy's waist.

The black slimy substance tightens its grip on Leroy's waist. Making him cry out in pain. In a full-dive setup game like this, the sensation of pain is so real it's as if they are in the game itself. Suffering from the torture of their enemies.

Lance's shifting unspecialized weapon, the [Endless], immediately appeared in his hand and sliced the slimy slick substance in half. Leroy was freed. Lance used his leg and kicked Leroy to the side. Slamming him against the nearest team member.

"The fuck Lance!" Leroy cursed. He long hated this brazen kid who didn't have an ounce of respect toward his elders. Always attacking straight on, without thinking of any consequences! In the end, who will suffer because of his recklessness?!

In the next second, all the complaints in Leroy's heart were forcibly swallowed down. Everyone on the team watches with bated breath as the slimy substance that attacks Leroy spreads on all sides. Like mud water from the rain.

Except that a stinky irregular creature with vicious tentacles sprang out from the puddle. It surrounded Lance on all sides. Making his escape impossible.

"Lance from the Golden Raven Guild is now immobile. What will the Golden Raven Guild do? If Lance is corrupted, he will be forfeited from the national championship, and the guild's chances to win will be close to 0!"

Outside the game, the viewing platform for the national championship battle was an open square shape. Many giant screens were hovered to display the battlefield to the audience, letting everyone see the bleak world of the game.

Despite the dark, gloomy surroundings of the game, the audience's cheers were not affected. Especially the fans of the Golden Raven guild. Alice is at the center aisle on the left side of the platform. Watching intently at the screen.

"It seems this is the end for the Golden -"

Before the host could finish what he had to say, on the giant screen, a huge long spear protruded from the monster alien's back. The sharp blade of the spear rotated 180 degrees and sliced downward.

With a sharp, crisp sound followed by the disgusting shlup shlup sound of the monster's flesh disintegrating, Lance's figure emerges at the center.

His back was upright, and a faint glow of purple crystal was seen from his hand.

It was the core of the monster he had just killed.

"Unbelievable! Lance from the Golden Raven guild managed to survive and took the monster's core! What's even amazing is that no corruption happened to Lance's character!" The host exclaimed.

In the crowd, murmurs broke out. "Not a single percent of corruption? Impossible!"

"How can that be?! He was trapped by that monster! Corruption should have started -"

The host cleared his throat and decided to explain. "Ehem, I believe everyone is confused. Usually, the player's in-game characters that was in direct skin-to-skin contact with the monster aliens in the game for more than ten seconds will be corrupted. However, Lance from the Golden Raven Guild possesses the rare 'Regeneration skill'. Making him immune from any monster alien's touch. However, being immune is only available for one minute. Exceed that, and Lance's in-game character will be corrupted and automatically be killed!"