I Didn't Know That (2)

KWAANG!

The blade leaked streams of pitch-black energy — an ominous, razor-edged menace. Knowing it was a Demon Knight skill, though, you couldn't have asked for a more fitting effect.

"Khgh!"

"Cowering behind that shield like a little turtle…!"

"You bastard…!"

My taunt made the priest grind his teeth. He lifted his mace.

"God stands with me!"

Radiance suddenly scattered through the night-locked forest. The mace itself seemed to become a light source, cradling a fierce white glow.

I couldn't remember the skill name. Attack buff? Defense buff? Either way, getting hit still hurt about the same as before. Thanks to the type disadvantage, a priest's attacks dealt 1.3 times damage to me.

So I retreated at once. I didn't know how many levels separated us, but a single mistake could cost me half my health or more. Better to be careful from the start.

Thud. Thud.

Instead of chasing me down, the priest lightly rapped his mace against his shield and let the light bleed into it.

Broken. In the original you could only buff your weapon.

"Hup!"

He slammed his massive rectangular shield into the ground, advanced, and swung the mace.

Not a hard attack to dodge. Priest classes favored strength over agility, so their speed was abysmal.

But just because he couldn't hit me didn't mean I had the advantage.

None of my attacks landed. All because of that oversized shield.

"You coward…!"

The real coward was the one hiding behind a shield with a hundred-percent guard rate. Unless I smashed the shield aside or got behind him, I couldn't put out any damage at all…!

And the moment I tried to circle around, he spun with the shield still raised, tracking me the whole way. Full plate underneath for ridiculous defense, and he wouldn't even allow a single backstab.

A thoroughly disgusting priest.

What if I aim for the head?

I glared at that walking wall of pure frustration and weighed my options.

He wasn't wearing a helmet. A targeted strike to the head would at least land a critical.

But how was I supposed to get past that giant shield? I couldn't. Not a chance.

If I crush him with raw force…

A skill… maybe a skill would work? Even with a hundred-percent guard rate, stacking enough stagger would force the shield down.

"Tsk."

Ah, whatever. Dragging this standoff out was exhausting.

Better to throw a gamble right now.

"I will cut off your head and offer it to ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠those you have wronged!"

"Hah…."

I tightened my grip on the sword.

The plan was to vault the shield and attack. The kind of move you could only dream of because this was virtual reality, not a regular PC game. It still needed the skill to back it up, of course.

But looking at myself, I wasn't a terrible player, and I wasn't short on challenge-seeking spirit either. On second thought, it was worth a try.

And if I failed, it was still a game. I could just start over.

With that in mind, I swallowed a breath, then kicked the zweihander I'd planted at an angle in the dirt. The rebounding blade spun smoothly into my hands.

Tung!

I smashed the upper edge of the shield. It tipped slightly, and a groan slipped through the priest's clenched teeth. The hit hadn't even gone through, but the reaction was excellent.

"Think you can beat me?!"

He charged with the shield leading. It felt exactly like a bull barreling straight at me — but I was prepared to eat one death if I had to, so it wasn't particularly frightening.

Instead I mechanically recovered the zweihander, shifted one of the hands that had been on the grip up onto the ricasso, and raised the blade overhead.

Kung!

At the same time I launched myself upward like a jump. My boot soles found the slanted face of the shield, as if I were running up a wall.

"…!"

Realizing what was happening, he tried to ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠shove me off with the whole shield — but I didn't go flying in some cartoonish arc.

In the split second my body clung to the shield, I spun the blade I'd raised overhead. Using the hand on the ricasso as a pivot, I rotated the sword and drove the edge downward.

The blade's new angle let it reach past the shield.

A white length of steel came down on the far side.

"Kh—!"

Kaddeuk!

I'd aimed for the head. What the blade finally bit into was the shoulder. The armor plate there kept me from even scraping skin. Disappointing.

I wanted to press the attack, but gravity was already reclaiming my body. Feeling myself start to slide off the shield, I thought fast.

Hmm. If I fall straight down, the mace coming from the left is going to catch me.

Just in case, I triggered the skill Survival Instinct. A translucent arrow pointed to the right side of the shield — a path that would let me evade even if the mace swung.

I threw my weight sideways. A very wise choice. Landing off to the side let me slip the follow-up downward smash of the mace.

Whoa. That was close. The moment I hit the ground I rolled again, putting myself completely outside the priest's reach.

"You demon—."

Still, a decent result. No damage dealt, but I'd gotten as far as a near-successful attack. That counted for something.

At the very least I'd pulled one proper scene. Everything was being recorded, so I could review the footage later.

"You damned zealot…!"

I barely managed to keep a smile from tugging at the corners of my eyes, barked the line with as much savagery as I could muster, and rolled again.

That put me on the priest's diagonal rear.

And he had planted his shield against the ground and driven his mace into the dirt in front of it, leaving him sluggish.

"Pay the price for that wagging tongue!"

An opening this good? Oh, I was not missing this. This time I'd land a proper—!

"Flame, burn my enemy!"

I was about to activate a skill and bring the sword straight down. I would have, if not for the chant that rang out from deeper in the forest.

"So there was another rat!"

Wow. Another one, right now, at this timing?

This progression had zero mercy. Was this an event designed to force me through?

I didn't bother hiding the scowl as I backpedaled. A sphere of flame slammed into the spot I'd just vacated and a pillar of fire erupted skyward for a moment.

Definitely a mage-class skill.

What was I supposed to say. Even a casual player would be a little rattled by this.

Story or event or not — suddenly throwing a heal-tank and DPS combo at me as enemies? Higher level than the player, no less?

Wasn't that a little… against industry etiquette? I couldn't even claim I'd wandered into a high-level zone first; the quests out here connected straight out of the tutorial.

"Archmage!"

"My, I never expected the Inquisitor to be put through such hardship."

I was mid-frown when the voices hit, and my brows nearly smoothed out on pure reflex. Archmage and Inquisitor were the third-tier job names for mage and priest, respectively.

"Late as I am, allow me to assist as well."

Of course, with the genre shift the old class system had been stripped of meaning — the trailer had made that clear enough — so for now they were basically just titles.

"Archmage? Hah, so even a Sage is nothing special! Running with madmen and attacking passersby on a whim!"

So I threw every shred of self-preservation overboard! I would have done the same even if the class system still meant something!

"Passerby? A piece of trash who contracted with a demon, playing the innocent?!"

And the priest kept delivering lines that stoked the roleplay fire perfectly. I could not let that stand.

"Contract? Did you say contract?"

Judging by the dialogue alone, it was as if I'd been accused of making a deal with the one who murdered my family.

When I was already throwing my life into hunting demons because of that very incident, being misunderstood like this was enough to make anyone snap.

"Hah! So devoted to the light of your god that even your eyes have gone blind!"

I dragged my voice raw and let out a sharp laugh, trying to pour that feeling into the sound.

Self-congratulatory as it might be, the fury rising from deep in my chest seemed to come across with a satisfying, hollow weight.

If only the expression could match. I couldn't see my own face, so I had no idea. It was too dark for them to make it out properly anyway.

"A halfwit who spouts garbage like that is of no use even to God! I'll tear you to shreds and throw the scraps to the wild dogs!"

"How dare a traitor—!"

"…? Wait…."

The Archmage started to say something, but the two of us readjusting our grips on our weapons was faster.

Sssssssss—!

And faster still than either of us taking a step was the bone-chilling metallic hiss that burrowed into my ears.

The floating alert window stopped my feet on pure instinct. The priest seemed the same — the glittering light of his aura had frozen still.

"You vile thing. Called your allies, have you?!"

I ignored the priest and tuned my ears to the surroundings. With the knowledge of enemies nearby, every sense went taut. Multiple presences registered — up in the trees, under the earth.

And those dozens of sounds converged on a single point. Even the darkness couldn't hide that presence.

"…I wondered what manner ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠of demon could remain so unseen. A Medusa, is it."

The mage muttered. Loud enough that it reached his own ears. I already knew what it was without him saying so.

As the window explained, a Medusa was a colony of snakes. That made its appearance thoroughly repulsive, and it came with the annoying habit of scattering when near death and then reforming around the red snake to revive.

"Hah."

But was that the important part? Not really. It was a mob that existed to be hunted, so of course there was a method.

What I needed to note was the fact of its appearance itself — and the fact that it was a demon.

"A demon…!"

I knew it. This was story content! No way an enemy drops in at this exact timing otherwise!

So was the original scenario to use this as an excuse to team up with them?

"Come out, you vermin!"

I refuse!

The concept I had interpreted and set for myself was that of an extremely antisocial, uncooperative type. And if the would-be allies were people I'd just been beating each other half to death with, cooperation was even less possible.

"I shall gift you death!"

The reason I turned my blade anyway was pure character analysis: my hatred for demons would outweigh the anger aimed at those two.

At the end of that thought I dove in, fully immersed, and painted a look of pure mania across my face.

Naturally I spun my body without the slightest hesitation, as if the priest and mage no longer existed. They were second priority now! Uhhahah.

"Victory to my blade, glory to the heavens above!"

Unlike the glowing priest, I had no confidence fighting snakes in the dark without light of my own.

I bellowed and switched on my lantern. With a Medusa you especially needed light — you had to tell the colors apart.

"What in the…."

Some stunned noise drifted from behind me, but I couldn't care less. As long as they didn't stab me in the back right now, that was enough.

And even if they had… well, I'd already resigned myself to death. My only reaction would have been something like, Not bad, Father. Backstabs are the golden rule of a fight, after all.

But would they even do it? That would break the story. And even if nothing went wrong right now, the me of a few minutes from now was probably going to wreck everything anyway.

Sssssssss—!

Anyway. I drove the zweihander into the Medusa's body first. Dozens of snakes were sliced and split, tumbling free with wet thuds.

But new ones immediately filled the gaps. The ones still alive shoved their tongues and fangs at me.

I ignored them. My pain threshold was low enough that it didn't even hurt. The displayed HP wasn't dropping much either.

A gauntleted hand tore through the swarm of snakes.

Sssit!

Ah. How many times had I wished I could do this when I played the original.

A snake bite only did two damage, five damage — that kind of chip. Better to tank a few hits and go for the core. In the original you had to shave its health down first and then hunt for ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the red one once the snakes scattered….

"So it was you…!"

Snakes dangling from my neck and limbs, I finally found the red one. The red snake I yanked free thrashed, trying to escape my grip.

But like this I couldn't really attack properly either.

I flung the red snake hard in another direction, then seized the zweihander still buried in the swarm.

The long blade tore free of the mass of snakes, dripping crimson blood and the reflected gleam of the lantern at my waist.

Seogeok!

Before the red snake could flee, the blade came down on its body. The long torso split in two and spilled blood.

But just in case. The cut was a little close to the tail — it might still be alive.

Kwak!

I yanked the sword free and brought it down again. Whether it was postmortem spasms or the will to live, the writhing snake's head was sheared clean off.

Puk!

I cut it horizontally, then vertically. But hatred for demons wouldn't end with that.

I stirred the blade around for good measure. Looking at the crushed head, I felt a swell of satisfaction. Taking care of even little details like this was what real roleplay was about.

In the meantime the quest updated.

With the core dead, the snakes that had formed the Medusa's body were beginning to scatter in every direction. The sensation of them peeling off my body was cool and clammy.

"Hah…."

I looked at the dead Medusa and lifted the corner of my mouth. No mirror, so I couldn't be sure, but it probably wasn't a pretty smile. Closer to manic laughter than anything that came from genuine joy.

And smiling while covered head to toe in blood — how pretty could that even look? I'd be lucky if I didn't just look insane.

Ah. Then again, when it came to demons I was insane, so looking the part might actually be a good thing.

Anyway. That finished the quest. Which left the mage and the priest….

I'd just killed a demon, so I'd be in a heightened state. And I had a grudge against those two for mistaking me for a demon. A fiercer reaction than before was only natural, right?

Good. Immersion: on!

Crack. Crack.

I rolled my stiff neck side to side and settled the sword across my shoulder with a flick. Then I wiped the smile away, leaving only the thirst for demons and the madness, and fixed my gaze on the two of them.

"I'll give you credit for not interfering while I slaughtered those damned rats. Even a zealot has a shred of sense left at the end, it seems."

I knew full well this might get in the way of the story a little.

But if I ran my mouth and the story broke, wouldn't that be entertaining in its own right?

If they were giving this much freedom to begin with, the developers must have been confident they could cover for it.

"Then now — that mouth of yours. I'll tear it open, just as I promised."

So I would do as I pleased. The concept was something I would never surrender, not even if it killed me.