Titus barely had time to register the goblin leaping straight for his throat, claws outstretched and mouth wide open in a snarl that showed rows of sharp yellow teeth, when something inside his head clicked like a switch being flipped all the way on.
The faint, glitchy HUD in the corner of his vision suddenly flared brighter, the percentage bar for the binding streamer core shooting up from 34% to 67% in a single heartbeat, then jumping again to 89% as the goblin's momentum carried it closer.
Pain exploded across his shoulder where the creature's claws raked through the cheap leather armor, but it wasn't the deep tear he expected, instead, the numbers kept climbing until they hit 100%, and the whole interface exploded into full, crisp clarity right in the middle of the chaos.
A calm female voice, sounding almost bored like a customer service recording, spoke directly into his mind.
[STREAMER CORE BINDING COMPLETE. PASSIVE SKILL ACTIVATED: DIRECTOR'S EYE].
Titus didn't have the luxury of stopping to question what the hell that meant because the goblin was still coming, its weight slamming into him and knocking him back against the pillar.
He twisted on instinct, the same way he'd dodge a swinging boom mic on a rushed shoot, and shoved hard with his free hand while swinging the rusted sword in a wild arc that somehow connected with the creature's side.
The blade bit in with a wet thunk, and the goblin screeched, staggering sideways just enough for Titus to scramble away on all fours for a second before forcing himself back to his feet.
His breathing came in ragged gasps, the cheap armor feeling even more useless now with fresh claw marks across it, but the new interface was fully there, floating translucent blue in his peripheral vision without blocking his sight completely.
View Count: 187. Live Chat now visible, scrolling with simple messages that looked like they came from bots or maybe very bored people.
"Extra still alive lol"
"Low rank trash, boring"
"Nice dodge, keep going".
The words kept sliding up the side of his vision, some fading out after a few seconds, others lingering a bit longer. Titus blinked hard, trying to make sense of it while another goblin lunged at him from the left.
He saw glowing lines appear in the air around him, thin golden outlines that highlighted different angles and positions, almost like framing guides on a camera viewfinder.
One line suggested dropping low and rolling right, another pointed toward a cracked section of the pillar beside him. It felt completely natural, like his brain had suddenly gained the ability to see the best way to film a scene even while he was living inside it.
"What is this crap?" he muttered under his breath, voice shaky as he sidestepped the next attack, the Director's Eye passive making the movements feel smoother than they should have for someone who had never held a real sword before today.
The other hunters were still fighting their main pack a little further down the corridor, their voices carrying back in frustrated shouts and quick commands.
Klaus, the big guy in plate armor, was barking orders again while swinging his mace in wide arcs that crushed goblin skulls with heavy thuds.
"Push them back! We can't let them bottleneck us here, Rina, arrows on the ones trying to climb the walls!"
Rina loosed another shot, her bowstring twanging sharply. "I'm on it, but these things keep coming. Jax, stop playing around and actually help instead of showing off!"
Jax, the cocky dual-wielder, laughed as he spun between two goblins, daggers flashing. "Relax, this is easy. We're D-rank, they're just fodder. The trial throws these packs at us to warm up. Hey, what about the F-rank kid back there? Still breathing or did he already get eaten?"
One of the other hunters, a quiet woman with a staff who hadn't said much before, glanced back briefly and called out, "He's still up. Somehow. Don't know how an F-rank lasted this long against three of them alone."
Titus heard the conversation but couldn't focus on it because the goblins were pressing him hard now, two of them circling while the third one he'd wounded earlier shook off the hit and rejoined the attack.
His heart was racing so fast it felt like it might burst, but the Director's Eye kept feeding him those glowing suggestions, little golden arrows and frames that showed him exactly where to position himself for the "best shot."
It was insane, like the system was treating his survival like some kind of movie scene he needed to direct on the fly. He spotted one particularly promising angle: a tall, cracked pillar to his right that looked unstable, with a golden overlay suggesting a strong impact would bring it down in a dramatic way.
Without thinking too much about how crazy it was, Titus feinted left like he was going to run, then lunged right and slammed his shoulder into the pillar with everything he had.
The stone cracked louder than he expected, dust and small rocks already starting to fall, and he followed up by kicking hard at the base where the glow was brightest. The pillar groaned, then toppled with a heavy crash, sending up a thick cloud of dust and debris that filled the corridor like a cheap smoke machine effect on a low-budget set.
The goblins got caught in the middle of it, coughing and swinging blindly in the sudden haze, which gave Titus the breathing room he needed to scramble back a few steps and catch his breath.
The dust cloud created a perfect "cinematic reveal" moment, silhouettes of the creatures flailing around while he emerged from the edge of the cloud, sword still in hand, looking way more heroic than he felt.
His view count, which had been sitting at 187, suddenly started climbing faster: 245… 312… 478.
The live chat picked up too, the messages coming in quicker now and sounding a little less bot-like.
"Wait, that pillar drop was actually cool"
"Extra pulling tricks? Interesting"
"Dust cloud effect nice, more like that".
Titus wiped sweat and dust from his eyes with the back of his hand, the rusted sword feeling a bit lighter now that adrenaline was pumping through him.
He could see the other hunters staring back at him through the settling dust, their expressions shifting from dismissal to actual surprise.
Klaus lowered his mace for a second, frowning as he took in the collapsed pillar and the goblins stumbling around in the debris. "What the… the F-rank actually did something useful? How did a nobody like you manage to drop a support pillar like that without getting yourself killed?"
Rina notched another arrow but held her shot, looking at Titus with narrowed eyes. "That wasn't luck. You moved like you knew exactly where to hit it. Most low-ranks freeze up and die in the first wave. You just created an opening for us. Who are you, really? Some hidden talent pretending to be F-rank?"
Jax wiped goblin blood off his daggers and grinned, though it looked more mocking than friendly. "Or maybe it was a lucky break. Don't get cocky, kid. One pillar drop doesn't make you one of us. Stick to being bait and let the real Awakened handle the heavy lifting. We're here for the Holy Trial, not babysitting some rookie who got dropped in by mistake."
The staff woman, who Titus overheard someone call Lena earlier, spoke up more calmly, her voice carrying a hint of genuine curiosity.
"Still, that was clever. Most people in your rank would have been torn apart by now. If you can keep that up, maybe you'll survive long enough to reach the boss chamber with us. Just don't slow us down."
Titus wanted to snap back at them, to tell them he had no idea what a Holy Trial even was, that he'd been filming a storm five minutes ago or however long it had been, and that this whole thing felt like the worst isekai plot he'd ever heard of.
But before he could get the words out, the system voice spoke again, clear and official this time, echoing in his head loud enough to make him flinch.
[DIVINE STREAMER SYSTEM ONLINE – YOU ARE NOW BROADCASTING TO THE MULTIVERSE].
The words hung there for a moment, and then the live chat exploded with new activity, more messages scrolling rapidly as the view count kept rising.
Titus stared at the interface, his mind racing to catch up with everything that was happening. He was broadcasting? To the multiverse? Like some kind of live reality show where his life was the entertainment?
The glowing camera angles from Director's Eye were still floating around him, suggesting new positions and moves even as the dust settled and the remaining goblins started regrouping for another push.
The other hunters had already turned back to their own fights, but their occasional glances back at him showed they were paying more attention now, shocked that the supposed cannon fodder was still standing and had actually contributed something.
Titus tightened his grip on the sword, feeling the weight of the rusty blade and the strange new system layered over his vision, and wondered how deep this rabbit hole actually went.
The view count kept climbing steadily, hitting numbers he never expected to see in a place like this, and just as another goblin broke free from the pack and charged toward the group, the counter jumped sharply upward to 1,200 as more minor viewers seemed to suddenly notice the "glitch extra" who was somehow still alive and pulling off trashy but effective camera tricks in the middle of a deadly fight.
View Count jumps to 1,200 as minor viewers notice the "glitch extra."