Chapter 3
Chapter 3
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 1
Chapter Title: Rotten Knight, Veronine (2)
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“Grgh...”
The knight twisted his head toward me. His body was still facing the opposite direction, but his overheated head had rotated a full 180 degrees, revealing a contorted expression.
He looked to be in agony. Or maybe he was just furious at the puny insect that had dared to strike him three times.
But this wasn't mere theatrics to instill fear.
The knight's body was clearly far from normal. The muscles exposed through gaps in his armor bubbled and boiled like they were infested with maggots.
He was being forced to move. He couldn't die yet. That's why he was directing genuine killing intent at a mere human who dared oppose his will.
But I was the same.
I had no intention of dying. I remembered how the others had screamed after respawning from death earlier.
The death voice that clawed directly at the heart and brain with its fingernails.
Chills raced down my spine, and my mind went blank white at the sound of those screams.
“Come on. Hurry up and come...”
That's why I waited patiently. I wouldn't make a reckless move until he came at me first.
I had to strike at openings and pull back, repeating the process.
“Grargh!”
The knight attacked again. This time, it wasn't a mindless charge—he swung his greatsword as he advanced.
If it hit, my body would surely be cleaved in two. But if it didn't, there'd be no problem at all.
Scenes from the monitor—jumping, rolling—flashed through my mind. Right now, I was facing off against this massive knight head-on...
Clang—!
I timed my strike for the end of his pattern. No greed. I kept taking deep breaths to stay calm.
Even as the putrid stench vibrated with each exhale, my body burned hot.
The knight no longer slowed down. His greatsword swings grew faster.
Even rolling away, sharp gusts of wind sliced through the gaps in his armor and helmet. A bad hit would shatter bones and rupture organs.
Fine by me.
Roll, dodge, exploit the opening, and drive in another attack.
Damage accumulated steadily on the knight's body. The building fatigue and impacts began to restrict his movements.
Clang!
I didn't need to gouge his flesh—my attacks were steadily eating away at his life.
No need to swing with all my might. My body already knew how to wield the longsword.
Eyes locked.
Body light.
Steps quick.
Attacks simple.
No greed.
Swing the longsword only at precise timings.
“Graaagh!”
All his heavy blows glanced off me. He swung with full power, intent on killing, but I dragged it out into a war of attrition.
Tang! Clang!
Clinging blood flaked off his armor. Now, every clash of metal sparked and screeched.
I could win this. His patterns were readable.
No tricky attacks. All his moves were straightforward.
First boss fight, but if I kept this pace—
“Grgh...”
...I could've definitely won.
The knight suddenly halted. The red glow in his eyes faded.
His health had dropped below half.
Shit.
Only then did I realize how brutally difficult this tutorial boss was designed.
This knight had a phase 2.
At half health or below, he regained his sanity and completely changed his attack patterns.
A tutorial boss with newbie-slaying attack power and, as if it were natural, a phase 2.
“Kuhk—”
But something was off.
The knight spat out thick, blood-mixed phlegm, then dropped to one knee.
The greatsword he clutched fell into the mud, and his helmet—which had hidden his grotesque face—rolled right to my feet.
“Y-You there—”
He even tried to speak to me.
“Get out—”p>
He seemed to be telling me to run. In this brief moment of clarity, he wanted to evacuate me.
Maybe he never intended to kill humans in the first place.
“H-Hurry...”
But I couldn't move my legs.
Not out of fear.
Something boiled inside me, making it impossible to leave like this.
If I could win, I wanted to. Right here, right now.
Beyond that iron gate was surely an easier path. But unless some event forcibly dragged me out of this cave, I always had the [Challenge] option.
I might die. I might scream like the others earlier.
Fine by me.
This was the souls-like world of Deathcall.
Players never truly died. Instead, each death chipped away at soul and mind, causing permanent damage to my real body outside...
But I wouldn't die, right?
Opportunities were endless.
And entering phase 2 meant...
I'd already shaved off half his health?
Only half left!
It was like my first souls game.
A boss you could just dodge quietly, but I got mesmerized by its huge frame and shining armor...
Died over 50 times. I was a total newbie back then, just a kid. Tough game for an 8-year-old.
But I was happy. Even when I could've thrown the controller in frustration, each death fueled my determination.
I still remember that day. My first souls-like game, spending all day on the first boss.
Die, die again...
Cry and rage, then finally beat it.
I could never forget that memory. My first experience.
“...”
That's why I gripped my longsword tighter. This moment—maybe etched in my memory forever, my first Deathcall experience—would become a beautiful, bloody keepsake.
Running wasn't an option.
I'd kill it.
I would kill it.
I'd kill it no matter what.
Defeat the first boss I encountered in Deathcall. In this place where reality and game blurred, I'd bring that knight down.
Fear? Tension?
Didn't matter. Once I decided to take it down, I'd do it—even if it took hundreds or thousands of deaths.
“...”
The knight stared at me. Red light slowly returned to his eyes, beastly howls beginning, but...
“Grkek!”
For some reason, a faint smile lingered on the knight's lips.
“Kek—Krkek!”
Before phase 2 fully began, he gripped his greatsword and stabbed it into his own abdomen.
As if sealing himself. Strangely, the golden light beams he'd swung now wrapped around his body in reverse.
“Ahh.”
His eyes gained vitality. Even as he died bit by bit, he smiled faintly through his ruined face.
“Warm...”
But that was the end.
His blood-soaked armor tore away piece by piece.
All the rotten muscles and organs festering inside burst outward.
And then...
“Graaaaaagh!”
Phase 2 truly began.
Twisted muscles and warped form evoked a wolf.
A wolf forcibly sculpted from human flesh.
Pristine white bones protruding from its body completed the grotesque mane. Hideous to behold, yet somehow awe-inspiring.
Flash!
But what mattered wasn't the appearance—the patterns completely renewed in phase 2.
Bounding on four legs, kicking off cave walls for momentum, then charging me.
“Kruuuk—”
That's how I experienced death for the first time.
Facing new patterns, I rolled more than usual—uselessly so. Inevitably, I got hit.
This was my first full-dive game, too, so the roll sensation and timing felt slightly off from staring at a monitor.
One mistake was fatal, and newbies make mistakes...
“Keurghk—”
All those long years playing souls games couldn't save me from death on my first step into Deathcall's world.
“Aaaagh! Kkuk, uueuk...!”
What felt natural in games hit different when it was me dying and respawning. My body trembled from the vomit-inducing agony.
But.
“Kkhup, huu... huuuh...”
My heart raced instead.
Standing in the same spot as the protagonists I'd loved, rolling endlessly in those games...
Wasn't this moment a dream come true? Pain and death meant nothing.
“Uuheuk... Heup!”
Was I laughing? Or was ragged breathing making weird noises? Rib fragments piercing my lungs?
Didn't know. But even in this torment, I memorized the [clue]: this boss fought me in phase 2 from the start.
No need to redo phase 1. But its health bar refilled completely.
Fair enough. I could beat it.
Just 50 more hits. Only 50.
“Try 2...”
Rotten Knight Veronine's split wolf head tilted to both sides. As if my attitude and actions bewildered him.
A boss with no reason left, yet he flinched at the sight of me.
“Try 2 cooooooming!”
...His instincts recoiled from me.
Just as I'd been wary seeing his phase 2, instinct-only Veronine warily eyed me too.