Not My Comrades...? The Surface Does Not Belong to Humanity

‘Nakama’ weren't they...? The surface world does not belong to humanity. The resting lands permitted to humanity were but a tiny fraction. The rulers who dominated most of the surface refused to accept the very existence of humans. If the god they believed in hadn't bestowed grace upon them, humanity would have vanished beyond extinction long ago. The god they worshiped granted humanity a sanctuary called the City. Yet humanity was not content with the City. It was far too cramped for them. That human desire reached the god, and the god sent weapons to drive out the rulers and hand the surface over to humanity. And now———

That weapon was showing panties to hundreds of people.

# Sexually Open Korea. At first glance, you might think what the hell is that nonsense. A year ago, I would've told you not to spout bullshit. But astonishingly, this was an objective fact. It wasn't a change limited to Korea. It was a global shift. Satisfying sexual desires isn't shameful. In fact, suppressing them can lead to crime, so the common view is that people should fulfill them in various ways. The most universal method was venting through creative works with minimal real-person involvement. Thanks to that, otaku culture could become something everyone enjoys on this Earth. That's what I think. While staring at panties.

"...This is a real game? What the hell have I been playing until now......"

"The protagonist's modeling is so spot-on that the panties hit even harder. ...Whoa, damn!! They even modeled the slight flesh indent??!! These devs went all-in here too?!! Can't zoom more? Wanna see it bigger!"

"How could I not be happy! They made a tightly wrapped princess knight this tantalizing. Guys, black panties. Plain black panties!!"

Don't these people know why it's hot...? ...Ahh. Is this place full of half-baked normies? I could only shake my head with a sigh of lament.

No helping it. Guess I'll kindly explain.

"Listen up. Princess knights are pure, innocent, naive characters. To express that, they always wear pure white dress-like armor. So normally, princess knights wear pure white panties too. But this character's a princess knight with black panties. Get it? It's her shy little rebellion—she wants to doll up a bit but not too flashy! Too timid for lingerie! Still not hot? Can't relate?!"

Otaku culture becoming mainstream is great, but now that it's for everyone, the deep-diving otakus seem fewer. Not one person in a stream of hundreds with this level of insight. I vented my regret passionately.

I stared at the chat flooding in and fell into shock. Blaming me? Defending Night Rise even as a joke? No, none of that.

"You don't get it, can't relate...? Don't tell me our viewers aren't 'nakama'...? They never were?!"

The realization that my audience might not be 'real ones' but normies in disguise hit me hard.

...Gotta test this.

"...Anyway, back to the game."

The game seemed like a hot open-world RPG lately. Climbable, swimmable, stamina bar, even levels—basically confirmed. Just a simple Ichikami-like? The protagonist mutters about heading to the nearest City, and the map unlocks naturally.

"...This the map?"

Just a shiny dot, nothing else?

Thinking that, I moved toward the nearest City, and naturally ran into an enemy—combat starts. Combat controls pop up naturally.

Attack. Parry. Roll.

...Parry and roll?

"This feels souls-like?"

Souls-like. A subgenre of third-person action RPGs. Known for...

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Infamously brutal difficulty.

...Oh shit.

Never touched a souls-like. Barely any control-heavy games. FPS once or twice? Aim sucked, quit immediately.

...No choice.

"Going serious. BRB."

I enabled controller settings and stepped away. To grab my secret weapon.

"Didn't wanna pull this out... Saved it for a dramatic crisis reveal, but oh well."

Ignoring the baseless haters, I plugged in the pad. Impulse buy from dipping into Ichikami and Breaker, unused since quitting quick—my ace was finally time to shine.

"Alright! Let's do this!"

Combat tutorial skimmed: Parry key. Parry builds gauge, fills to make enemy vulnerable—stuns, big damage amp. Rewards parry bursts over poke-dodging.

But not parry-spam. What tricked me into thinking Raider open-world RPG? Character skills exist. Skills cooldown on enemy hits.

Gotta play more, but mix parry/attacks to win, probably.

Eyes locked on enemy. Mantis-like, scythe hands.

Enemy swings arm. Fingers reflex-parry. Princess knight raises sword to brow.

Metal clashes, ears ring. Sword deflects scythe. Pad vibrates perfectly—feels like I deflected it.

Enemy stance wobbles—burned into brain. Attack reflex. Once. Twice. One more slash to kill.

But back off. Caught stance recovering post-hit.

Not sure if real. First souls-like, maybe psyching self.

Truth revealed quick.

Swing, near-miss dodge. Parry would've failed by a hair.

No proof, but felt it. Attack instead. Sword cleaves.

Enemy vanishes, no corpse. Finally unclench jaw.

"What. It's easy?"