Chapter 00019: Youthful Little Bird
# Youthful Little Bird
Chapter 19
Novel: AFK Game: Portal to Another World
Chapter 19 - Youthful Little Bird
From a third-person perspective, Roy's movements were as swift as a tempest.
His attacks came from uncanny angles, and it was as if his entire body had no bones, bending and twisting at will.
That made the trajectory of his blade extremely difficult to predict.
“Lord Demon God, please grant me strength!”
Roy no longer tried to clash head-on with Shelly.
Instead, with a swift motion, he slid his blade and leapt away.
“The Demon God? Oh, you mean that legendary being? My men said it was Him who repelled them.”
“That’s right! My Lord is watching me now. I will carry out His will and destroy His enemies!”
“Is that so? You sure that thing really exists?”
“Silence! How dare you insult My Lord!”
Clang! Clang! Two blades met.
With a light step, Roy landed before Shelly and said with a crooked grin:
“If He doesn’t exist, then why don’t you call Him now and have Him crush me?”
Before his words had even finished echoing, Roy vanished once more.
Caught unprepared, Shelly failed to block fast enough.
A chill spread through her left flank, followed by a sharp, stinging pain.
Her supposedly reinforced Royal Guard chestplate might as well have been made of paper—it offered no defense at all.
The blade ripped through it effortlessly, leaving a gash behind.
Shelly tensed her body, using her muscles to clamp down on the wound to prevent excessive bleeding.
The good news was that no vital organs were harmed.
The bad news—she had no idea where that last slash even came from.
Roy’s specialty was his speed and tricky angles.
Shelly was a by-the-book practitioner of traditional royal knight swordsmanship.
Against such an unorthodox and unpredictable opponent, she was completely at a disadvantage.
“Even though you’re a bit short, you’re still pretty cute,” Roy said, licking the blood off his blade with a smile.
“How about becoming my lover? It’s a lot safer than tagging along with some hunted-down princess.”
Shelly didn’t answer right away.
Instead, she placed both hands on the sword hilt, raising the blade level with her eyes.
“I already have a lord to whom I’ve pledged my loyalty. This body has long been offered to the Lord Demon God. You—are not worthy!”
“Hah! Haven’t seen a woman with this kind of guts in a long time. Then I’ll beat you until you change your mind!”
Since it was too difficult to match Roy’s speed, Shelly switched to a defensive counterattack strategy.
The moment Roy disappeared, she felt the blade approaching from her left—the injured side.
It was expected her reaction would be a bit sluggish there.
“You’re coming from here!”
She swung her blade sharply to the left, confident in her read.
But then—
“Guess what? That was just a feint.”
The voice came from her right.
Shelly turned her head, trying desperately to bring her blade back across to defend—but it was too late.
The tip of Roy’s sword was already aimed straight at her abdomen!
At that exact critical moment, a surge of brilliant divine light erupted around Shelly’s whole body.
The sudden burst of radiance momentarily blinded Roy.
With cautious instinct, he immediately withdrew his blade, bounding backward to widen the distance.
The light shrouded Shelly like celestial robes, tracing the edges of her armor and gathering above her head into a glowing, hand-shaped Holy Emblem.
Then the light slowly sank into her form and vanished within her body.
Roy stood frozen at the sight.
“Divine Art? Don’t tell me… the Demon God really exists?”
——
“You bastard! Of course I exist!”
Li Chengxi muttered angrily, holding a bowl of instant noodles close to his chest as if ready to dive into the screen himself.
But at the moment, the screen was no longer in strategy-mode.
Instead, it showed a side-vs-side fight, complete with health bars displayed across the top.
The characters were still pixel-style, but not the usual chibi two-head-tall versions—they were now rendered in standard proportions.
This setup looked exactly like a fighting game.
Apparently, whenever a one-on-one duel occurred, the screen automatically switched to fighting-game mode.
Li Chengxi could clearly read every line of dialogue exchanged.
The little green-haired Royal Guard knight had already left a strong impression.
Not long ago, her prayer had read: “I wish to grow taller, especially with a more attractive figure.”
Even among a flood of bizarre prayers, that one still stood out.
Of course Li Chengxi remembered her.
That said, even though Li Chengxi hardly ever played fighting games, it was obvious Shelly was losing.
From his perspective, it was like Shelly had severe lag—she couldn’t keep up with Roy’s movements at all.
If this went on, she’d definitely lose.
So, Li Chengxi decided to cheat.
He opened Shelly’s stat list and added a new Divine Art under the “Divine Arts” tab called “Holy Grace.”
The effect was instant.
On the screen, Shelly lit up like she was going Super Saiyan as golden light flared from her body, and she launched herself at Roy in a flurry of slashes.
Now it looked like there was no lag at all.
The two fighters clashed fiercely—left to right, right to left.
The laptop’s cheap built-in speakers exploded with back-and-forth crashing sounds.
But it didn’t last long.
After just one minute, the holy light around Shelly faded, and she struggled again to fend off Roy’s attacks.
No surprise. “Holy Grace” was the lowest-tier enhancement Divine Art—it only lasted sixty seconds.
Li Chengxi had overestimated how powerful it would be.
He had hoped Shelly could kill Roy within that minute.
Now, the two combatants pulled apart.
Roy braced in place to gather power.
On screen, the classic King of Fighters-style charge-up animation appeared.
Seeing this, Li Chengxi set down his noodle bowl and scrolled his mouse wheel to zoom in on Roy.
Then, with a flick of his finger, he gave Roy a good flick.
This kind of divine interference consumed a high amount of Faith Points, but the smaller the target area, the less expensive the usage.
He initially zoomed in on Roy’s groin, but after a second thought—finding himself a little grossed out—he moved the target to the leg.
Just in time, he saw Roy leap into the air, legs pulled in tight.
Seeing this chance, Li Chengxi reached into the screen and grabbed.
He could even feel that familiar ankle texture in his hand.
With a firm tug—
——
“Well, that scared the hell out of me, little lady.”
Seeing the holy glow vanish from Shelly’s body, Roy smirked.
“Didn’t expect you to actually know how to use Divine Arts.”
Shelly looked flustered, holding up her sword with shaky hands, panic written all over her face.
“Well then, let me share something with you. Holy Grace only lasts a minute. I was just running you in circles to buy time.”
Since only Viola had been granted Divine Arts, and the Avarus Demon Kingdom had no Priests to begin with, it was natural that they wouldn’t know how Divine Arts worked.
That’s what you call the gap in experience.
“I was thinking of taking a wife… but since you’ve already sworn yourself to a god, I won’t push it.”
Roy raised his sword in front of him, holding it like a spear.
“Well then, I still have a princess to decapitate.”
A roar of battle aura burst out from under Roy’s feet, forming a visible cyclone of energy.
“Agility Boost!”
“Ability Boost!”
As his Battle Techniques activated in quick succession, Roy was enveloped in layers of divine radiance.
Though Shelly lifted her sword, she knew in her heart—she wouldn’t be able to block this one.
“Don’t worry. I’ll send Princess Viola to join you in no time,” Roy said, leaping into the air.
“Flying Dragon Flash—?!”
Just as he was about to unleash his finishing blow, something yanked hard on his ankle.
Having accelerated to his limit, Roy lost his balance from the unexpected pull.
He couldn’t control his trajectory anymore, and he couldn't slow down either.
Shelly, stunned, watched as Roy whooshed past her—flying by like some crow hit by an airplane—and smashed headfirst into the ground.
As luck would have it, the terrain was damp and slippery from the rain—and it just so happened he had landed on a downhill slope.
“No no no! Stop! STOOOP! Aaaaah!”
Roy tried to slow down by spreading his legs wide, but all that did was cause him to crash directly into a thick patch of brush.
A whole series of unfortunate groin impacts followed.
The pain made his eyeballs practically bulge out of his skull.
—THUNK!
A dull thud echoed through the woods.
Roy, having slid all the way down the slope, slammed headlong into a cedar tree.
“Ugh… oof!”
His eyes rolled back white, and he passed out cold.
A few rain-drenched birds flew up from the treetop.
They heralded that Roy’s youthful little bird... had flown away, never to return.
(End of Chapter)