The Red Dragon Lord is OP, but Insists on a Pop Culture Invasion!

Toto. Just who was this Half-Elf?

She was the heavy hitter of a single-player speedrunning group and the number one game guide author on the forums. A legend in the account boosting world for her premium rates, she was also the record holder for topping the auto-chess ladder for forty straight days.

In fighting games, it was a victory for her opponents if they could even see her third character. She was a true King of Games, routinely performing one-on-three sweeps while casually taking a sip of water.

Her friends in the gaming community were full of praise, respectfully calling her Toto God.

While auto-chess was a game where luck played a significant role, that was only true when players were of similar skill.

When there was a skill gap, luck alone couldn’t bridge it.

At Bane’s current rank, players still just built whatever lineup their first random augment dictated. They would never pivot mid-game, instead collectively dragging the game out to level nine to see who got luckier with their five-cost units.

The alternative was to go all-in at level five, gambling on three-starring low-cost units. They paid no mind to whether they were being contested or what their items were. If the gamble paid off, great; if not, it was an instant loss.

Then there was the "just for fun" crowd, represented by the boss, Zog, who would plug their ears, ignore all advice, and just force goblins. Once they got the golden egg, they’d lose their minds.

It was no exaggeration to say that at this rank, Toto could take first place in nine out of ten games without a problem. The tenth loss was just her way of showing the RNG gods some respect.

However, her start was inauspicious. She took second place right off the bat, which was somewhat unexpected.

Toto God had a reputation to uphold, after all.

When you took people’s money to boost their rank, and you wanted to command the highest rates, it was all about efficiency. Second place still earned points, but it was a subpar result.

She quietly memorized the account name of the player who’d taken first, planning to sit up straight and play for real to get her win back the next time they met.

As an outstanding employee of the Zog Group, Toto naturally had a company-issued small Treasure Chest Monster. She didn’t mind it; she kept a beanbag chair inside, ready to plop down and lounge wherever she went.

The next two games went smoothly, and she easily took first place in both.

Toto felt she was getting her groove back. She had played the new version of auto-chess a lot during the closed beta but hadn’t touched it much in the last few days. Apparently, that first-game loss was just due to some rust.

The group of Dwarves who had run off to get their cards appraised returned, having happily received a score of 9, and were now celebrating wildly.

A young Dwarf summoned his Platinum Secret Rare Blue-Eyes White Dragon, its Illusion shimmering with a brilliant, sparkling effect.

This was a brand-new form of Illusion Technique. The Zog Group claimed they were all crafted by master illusionists.

In reality, though, the difficulty of creating a Platinum Secret Rare Illusion was no different from that of an Ordinary one. They hadn’t existed before simply because there was no demand for such flashy Illusions.

As for the "masters"? The work was done by the interns they supervised, which was basically the same as being master-crafted.

The onlooking Dwarves gasped in admiration.

"Wow, that’s so cool!"

"I told you there was a reason it’s worth a Hundred Gold Coins!"

"I’m buying a round for the house!" the Dwarf who’d pulled the rare card declared, waving his arm magnanimously.

A drink was placed on the table in front of Toto.

Just as she raised the glass to take a sip, she spotted a familiar name in the new game lobby.

It was the player who had beaten her earlier.

Toto immediately put her glass down, sat up straight, and switched to serious mode. Drinking before a match against a potentially high-level opponent was obviously a bad idea.

She would use this drink to celebrate her victory in the upcoming game.

’Time to show them my real skills.’

"Bane, I’ll need you to coordinate with me this game," Toto said sternly.

In duos mode, teammates could send units to each other. Toto hadn’t used this feature yet, figuring she could get by with casual play at this rank.

"Oh, okay," Bane replied.

He had just been having fun the past few games, single-mindedly trying to build his Blacksmith composition.

Previously, when Bane learned the new season had no Dwarf synergy, he had protested on the forums, threatening to quit if they didn’t add Dwarves back in.

But then he discovered the new Blacksmith synergy, which still included plenty of Dwarves.

To his pleasant surprise, there was even a new five-cost Dwarf hero, a whole gold coin more expensive than last season’s Sate Furnace.

And just like that, he was sold.

"What do you need me to do?" Bane asked.

"On key rounds, help me roll for units, then just send them to me," Toto said.

"You got it."

Soon, only their two teams remained. Both were one loss away from elimination.

Their board strengths were neck and neck; a minute difference in positioning could decide the outcome.

During a creep round, as the monster Zog fell to the combined assault of her heroes, it dropped a golden chest.

Toto had her character open the chest, and four choices of equipment appeared on screen.

Among them was an extremely insidious item: Zephyr.

Zephyr’s stats weren’t particularly strong, but it had an incredibly useful effect.

It would lift the enemy unit in the mirrored position off the board, preventing it from joining the fight for the first few seconds.

As it happened, Toto’s main carry and frontline tanks were already fully equipped, making Zephyr a very cost-effective choice.

She decided to go for a surer strategy: wait until the final moments of the planning phase to select the item, then equip it in a flash.

That way, her opponent would have absolutely no time to react, and she would successfully disable their key unit.

’I’ve won. I can declare victory now. The game is mine.’

She admitted her opponent had some skill, but compared to the one and only Toto God, there was still a clear gap.

Toto smiled confidently.

To be safe, she kept her eyes glued to her opponent’s board, watching to see if they made any adjustments.

With one second left in the planning phase, Toto quickly switched back to her own board, selected the Zephyr, and used her lightning-fast reflexes to equip it on the corresponding unit.

Perfect timing.

She picked up her celebratory drink, about to take a sip.

"PFFT!"

She spat out her drink. She couldn’t believe her eyes.

Her opponent’s entire board positioning had changed. Her meticulously placed Zephyr hit nothing but air.

Lacking a combat-effective item, Toto lost the final round.

Another second-place finish.

’How is that possible?’

Toto couldn’t understand. It had only been one second, yet their entire board positioning had changed.

’How?!’

’Even if Zog himself were using a speed hack, he couldn’t make that many moves so quickly! There’s input lag!’

Toto clicked on her opponent’s avatar and initiated a private chat.

"How did you do that in the last round?"

Then she crossed her arms, staring intently at the pulsing ellipsis in the chat box as she waited for their answer.

A few seconds later, however...

"Hehe."

"Agh! ’Hehe’ your ass!"

Bane watched from the side as Toto tore at her hair in a rage, completely baffled.

’Our record is two first-place and two second-place finishes. Isn’t that pretty good? Why is she so mad?’

"I’m playing another game against them on your account."

Toto decided to resort to her ultimate strategy: she would play duos mode controlling both accounts herself.

Soon, she was matched against the opponent who had already beaten her twice.

This was no longer about a bag of Gold Coins; the reputation of Toto God was on the line.

Unfortunately, even though she gave it her all, she was still soundly defeated by her opponent.

What drove her to further despair was that her opponent had carried a partner who barely knew how to play, and they had still beaten her while she was dual-boxing.

’So sorry I couldn’t make you use your full strength, my lord.’

Toto ground her teeth.

"Something’s wrong. There’s definitely something wrong!" she exclaimed, shooting to her feet. "I’m going to see the boss. I refuse to believe that account is being played legitimately."