309. Heard? Who Did You Hear That From?
309. Heard? Who Did You Hear That From?
***
[?????????????]
[What what?]
[What's going on all of a sudden?]
[lmaooo no but that's so random fr]
[H E R O A P P E A R S, damn]
[LMAOOOOOOOOOOOO]
[The timing is actually insane lololol]
[When the black hole thing showed up I was like no way, but an actual hero is appearing?]
[They say you never know when or where a hero will show up, but showing up now of all times is really lololol]
[There's a streamer who runs into a hero right before leveling up!?]
[People would kill to meet a hero and Rin just runs into one like this lolol]
Serin had been checking chat, trying to make sense of how things had gotten to this point, but eventually she let out a deep sigh.
She now understood that a being called a hero could appear without any warning, in any place.
'Why...'
But she couldn't understand why it had to be now.
If she'd simply leveled up and then run into a hero, she wouldn't be feeling this complicated.
Whenever Another World's unique systems—things that hadn't existed in Black Ark—manifested like this, I honestly couldn't help but be thrown off.
"This is really disconcerting."
She muttered in a troubled voice, then checked the hologram she'd pushed to the edge of her vision again.
【Grade: A+】
More than anything else, the grade caught her eye first.
Thinking back to Daji's status window from when they'd met before, Daji was an S+ Great Hero.
At the very least, this wasn't on the same level as Daji.
The category was also just hero, so compared to Daji the Great Hero, the tier was lower.
'Is this doable?'
Honestly, even as I looked at the hero called Aizen, I wasn't sure.
The fight with Daji before—frankly speaking—had been against an opponent beyond what I could handle.
At the time, I hadn't been at full strength, and there'd been gaps in gear, differences in passive stats and skills.
Objectively, there'd been an overwhelming gap.
Back then, she'd only managed to win by borrowing the power of Cheon Ryuhwa, the Heavenly Demon of Black Ark. But thinking about it now, she had a lot of doubts about that result too.
Hadn't Daji simply not gone all-out against me?
Now, with the memory of Daji handing Moonlight to me still vivid, that question sometimes filled my mind.
The Mythic Crescent-Moon Weight, Moonlight.
Moonlight's Moonlit Night effect—originally Daji's item—had been overwhelming.
Daji's power while wielding Moonlight would surely have been far more destructive. Even Cheon Ryuhwa, the Heavenly Demon, probably couldn't have beaten her then. That thought was strong.
And now, even if this old knight was lesser than her, he still clearly belonged to the hero category.
His level didn't look easy.
"Rin, Aizen of Chevalanche challenges you to a duel."
The old knight's voice rang out boldly, like a declaration of war. Serin wore a subtle expression, thinking that what had to come had come.
Had she ever avoided a duel with anyone in Black Ark?
At least after she'd reached a certain level of power, she could swear she'd never once willingly avoided an opponent who challenged her.
But the current situation was just too bad.
—99.99%
The yellow gauge bar, completely filled to the brim of her experience gauge, was far too vivid in her vision.
Why did it have to be now? It felt like someone was playing a prank on her.
'Should I accept this duel?'
Judging by the fact that he'd phrased it as a duel request, it seemed I could refuse.
As she was mulling it over, she saw the chat scrolling up rapidly.
[lololololol no but this is actually crazy]
[How about just running?]
[I heard knight-type heroes let you avoid it if you refuse the duel. Let's just dodge it.]
[I want my chicken!!]
[Honestly, isn't dodging the right call here?]
[But it's Rin, so she could probably win?]
[Nah but lolol this is a bit different from the Cave of Trials, isn't it?]
[Rin beat even Daji though]
[She beat Daji, who's in the Great Hero category, so fr there's no reason to avoid a regular hero]
[Everyone's just throwing out chat opinions because it's not their problem lolol]
[Aren't there plenty of heroes who are still insanely strong?]
[Heroes vary depending on the hero... but Aizen or whatever looks strong as hell?]
[She's right at level 66 and if she dies here she loses over 10% of her exp, so why would she do this?]
[fr going from 65 and gaining 10% would take at least a few weeks]
[Let's just run. Refusing is the right call]
[Honestly the situation is really something lololol]
The chat was split too, between whether I should accept or refuse the hero's duel request.
"...Hah."
Letting out a small sigh, I finally made my decision.
No—the choice had already been made the moment she'd received the duel request.
She calmed her stirred-up heart and looked again at the hero in her vision.
The figure of an old knight clad in silver armor, his hair white with age.
From his appearance alone, he seemed to have reached a certain realm where his skill couldn't be guessed.
The fact that he possessed the title and trait of Unity of Body and Sword—something ordinary knights couldn't even dream of—already proved his level.
A duel against a strong opponent, without a doubt.
After scrimming against pros, I'd been doing nothing but hunting lately to level up. To me, this was an irresistible temptation, an offer I couldn't refuse.
"I'll accept that duel request."
The smile that had been on Serin's face until now faded as she answered calmly. The hero Aizen smiled and raised his sword high.
"I have no intention of testing you, nor of trying to teach you anything. As a single knight, I simply wish to cross swords with you, Rin, and see whether you are the existence the rumors claim."
The old knight's resonant voice, speaking calmly, shook the earth once. As that voice echoed loudly across the space, Serin nodded and immediately activated a skill.
—Moon Princess.
Whoooosh!
Against the backdrop of the pure-white snowfield, an even more brilliant and dazzling light burst from beneath Serin's feet, instantly beginning to dye her white.
Her red light armor was dyed pure white, and even Moonlight, her Crescent-Moon Weight, reacted, its appearance becoming sharper and more menacing.
She shifted her stance to properly answer an opponent who wanted a full-power duel. She could feel a presence that seemed to prick at her skin.
Even though they were still far apart, from the moment she'd answered that she would accept the duel, the pressure had been bearing down on her whole body.
'Is this also the presence of a hero?'
Serin thought that absently, then moved her feet.
Step!
Compared to how light her footstep looked, the aftermath was shockingly violent.
The space where Serin stepped burst outward, scattering snow, and her body surged toward Aizen in an instant, hurling herself forward.
Step.
Serin landed within range of the Crescent-Moon Weight, close enough to see each other's faces clearly, and looked at her opponent.
Ding!
[Due to the 'Grand Knight' trait, all stats are reduced by 10%.]
She glanced at the stat-reduction notification she'd anticipated, then studied the old knight standing his ground like a mountain. As expected, he showed no intention of taking the first move.
'So chivalry still holds in Another World too.'
A knight who issued a duel request would not move first, unconditionally yielding the opening attack to the opponent.
As the old knight's figure brought to mind the countless knights she'd faced in Black Ark, Serin slowly took her stance.
With the tension of a long-awaited duel filling her chest, Serin slowly turned off the chat window too.
'...'
The 99.99% experience gauge kept needlessly entering her vision, but she shook it off.
This wasn't an opponent she could afford to let chat distract her against. She felt that more acutely than ever now, facing him like this.
The thrill of the duel she'd felt during the scrim against the pros.
The excitement of meeting a worthy opponent she could go all-out against.
Honestly, she hadn't had many opponents she could face at full strength.
Rather, there'd only been one sudden appearance of an irregular existence like Daji.
'Daji really did go easy on me.'
And now, one suspicion she'd been carrying had turned into certainty.
The presence of an A+ grade hero who'd come looking for her felt this murderous.
Daji, who belonged to the S+ Great Hero tier, must not have shown her true face while facing her.
Step.
The moment Serin erased those small thoughts and lightly stepped forward, she was already activating a skill.
—Moon Princess's Step.
As white light settled over her legs, Serin's figure vanished from space like an afterimage.
Then, her body moved, carving afterimages across the snowfield, leaving clear footprints of moonlight in the snow as she surged toward Aizen.
"Hmm!"
Aizen watched with interest as Serin's light-like movements made it seem as if she were appearing all across the space, and he held his ground.
Swish!
Then, a trajectory of white light cut across the entire space, and suddenly that moonlight erupted from behind Aizen. Aizen's body rotated as he swiftly brought his sword down.
Clang!
Thud!
The ring of steel rang out along Aizen's blue jeweled sword as he precisely struck away the blade of the Crescent-Moon Weight that had thrust in like light.
As a result, the Crescent-Moon Weight was driven into the snow as if buried. Aizen's eyes narrowed slightly at an attack that had been blocked more easily than expected, and then—
—Moon Kick.
Another white light was already cutting through space, surging toward him.
'Was that a feint?'
He judged that swinging his sword again to strike away that light would leave the timing subtly off. Instead, the corner of his mouth lifted as he activated a skill.
—Blue Wave.
Aizen's hand gripping the blue jeweled sword underwent an incomprehensible change, and immediately, a massive blue circular wave began to envelop his entire body.
"...!"
Serin, who had been swinging her leg toward Aizen, suddenly widened her eyes. She gripped the cord connected to the Crescent-Moon Weight buried in the snow with both hands and twisted her body to its limit.
Slip!
Just before her moonlight-clad leg touched the blue wave, Serin's body sharply changed direction, striking empty air instead as she put a large distance between them.
Boom!
Moonlight burst from her leg as it struck the empty air, and Serin tumbled across the snowfield from the shockwave.
Just as she'd desperately twisted the direction of her attack—
Whoosh-whoosh-whoosh-whoosh!
The blue wave surrounding Aizen gradually expanded its area, instantly blasting apart the snowfield where he stood, displaying the skill's destructive power.
"As I'd heard, your instantaneous reactions are truly remarkable."
He hadn't expected her to escape the skill's range. He admired Serin, who had already gotten back to her feet.
Her movement in recovering the Crescent-Moon Weight was flawless enough to be called a perfect response, not just a split-second reaction.
"Heard? Who the hell did you hear that from?"
Serin, who had quickly righted her stance after tumbling through the snow, voiced her confusion. Aizen twisted the corner of his mouth beneath his white beard and spoke.