342. The Silver-Haired Witch - (4)
342. The Silver-Haired Witch - (4)
***
A wave of blood-red energy rippled across the blade of the Crescent-Moon Weight, and an instant later a trail of crimson stitched a beautiful circle around Serin.
Clang!
As she knocked aside a sword wreathed in blue aura descending from above, Serin spun her body, and in her vision she could see auras pouring in from every direction.
Clang-clang-clang-clang!
With a single swing she deflected every aura converging on her from all sides, displaying a feat of skill so startling it made the knights surrounding her take a step back.
But that was all.
'This isn't going to be easy.'
I hadn't realized it at first because my attention had been fixed on Zernati, but the other high-ranking knights I could see now were also different from what I remembered.
The knights kept thrusting their swords with perfectly steady form, coordinating their attacks with meticulous teamwork. Even watching their disciplined movements, it was hard for me to find an opening.
Because of that, I could do nothing but keep deflecting their attacks and maintaining the current situation.
Clang!
I swung the Crescent-Moon Weight wide again, knocking away an aura that had been rushing at me with lethal sharpness, and my gaze drifted involuntarily to one spot.
At a distance, I could see Sua and Zernati exchanging fierce blows.
The aura surging over Zernati's sword traced a menacing arc as if it would cut Sua down in a single stroke, and Sua's rapier answered by following that arc like magic and deflecting it.
Neither of us gave a single step, and the way Sua and Zernati clashed again and again looked evenly matched. But I knew that was only possible because Sua was using her Awakening Skill.
My attention on them lasted only a moment. Blue auras surged in from both sides in perfect coordination, and I had to respond immediately.
—Swift - Single Kick.
I spun my body quickly and drove my leg out toward the front.
Boom!
Since I hadn't launched myself into the air, I couldn't expect explosive speed. But at least it was enough to evade the auras targeting me from both sides.
As the force of the Single Kick sent me flying backward, I faced the blue aura rushing toward me and dropped my upper body low.
"..."
I slid across the ground, watching the blue aura graze past my hair by a hair's breadth, and made up my mind.
'Just holding out isn't going to work.'
Originally, this was supposed to be Sua's stage.
Thinking back on Zernati's skill in my memories, I had figured it would be fine to leave Phase 3 to Sua.
But now that I could see they were somewhat different from how I remembered them, that wasn't going to be enough.
Breaking out of the encirclement that had formed around me—it was practically a gamble, but right now I needed some kind of move.
"Block her!"
"After her!"
But the moment the knights shouted urgently and threw themselves after me, I knew the gamble had paid off.
'As I thought. Their target was me from the start.'
I had wondered whether some of the knights would turn toward Sua if I broke out of the encirclement, but just as I expected, every one of them followed me.
I had suspected as much ever since the battle had failed to reach a stalemate after Sua and Yujeong launched their ambush, and relief washed over me now that things were proceeding as predicted.
The instant I broke free of the encirclement, I kicked off the ground and swung the Crescent-Moon Weight in a wide arc.
The blood-red trail carved a vicious diagonal line forward, cutting a path through the rebels blocking my way as if slaughtering them.
I put distance between myself and the knights and let my mind go cold.
'If I'm outnumbered, I just need to reduce their numbers.'
The simple fact that I didn't need to stay tied to one spot to keep the knights occupied gave me a way to turn the situation around.
If I couldn't settle things with the knights while surrounded—
Then I just had to defeat them one by one.
Every time I threw myself forward, countless soldiers tried to block me as if throwing their lives away, but I felt no resistance in breaking through them.
"Guh...!"
"Gah!"
Compared to just moments ago when I had been caught in the high-ranking knights' coordinated assault, this felt far easier—like cutting through paper with a knife.
"Coward...!"
"Stop this instant!"
All sorts of shouts came from behind me, but they only twisted the corner of my mouth.
'Even the way they talk about cowardice on the battlefield is exactly the same.'
It was uncanny how perfectly they matched what the knights in my memories had said.
From the moment you saw someone's blood, debating methods was meaningless.
On a battlefield where life and death were decided in an instant, dying meant it was over. No matter what anyone said about methods, it meant nothing.
And besides, it was absurd that I—who had been attacked from all sides by countless rebels and knights—should have to hear accusations of cowardice.
"Ridiculous."
I muttered the word flatly, then kicked off the ground again as I unleashed a skill toward the rebels ahead.
—Jeolyeon.
A line of blood-red light carved through the air as if to sever space itself, and a dozen or so rebels collapsed, their bodies split apart.
I slipped through the gap and moved quickly. I could feel the pursuing knights' pace falter.
Moving while deliberately creating more corpses was definitely effective.
A road paved with countless bodies. The knights would have to pay attention to avoid stepping on the corpses as they moved.
Could a knight just trample over the bodies of soldiers who had been their own men?
'No. There's no way.'
If this Another World had recreated even Zernati and the high-ranking knights I knew by face, then it would have recreated the very essence of what those knights were.
If they were "knights," they couldn't do otherwise.
Even if they were rebels, a knight would try to uphold that.
And the results were proving my prediction right.
Squelch!
The slick, gruesome feel of flesh under my feet as I kicked off the ground. It was familiar, and yet strangely foreign now.
Squelch!
I kept moving, killing the rebels who blocked my path. For a moment I felt as if I was standing on a battlefield again, but I moved on calmly.
How long had I been moving, cutting down rebels?
When I felt the pursuing knights' formation clearly break apart, I turned around and finally stopped.
"Die!"
The knight at the very front roared in fury and loosed a massive aura, and an involuntary laugh escaped me.
'Even this is the same.'
The past I had experienced in Black Ark. I almost felt as if I was reliving it right now.
The process was different, but ironically, the result was the same.
Just as my past self had faced the knights—
My present self unleashed the same technique.
—Ghost Dance.
The moment a chilling crimson haze settled over the pure white Crescent-Moon Weight, I was already swinging it indiscriminately through the air.
The blue aura did not lose its light even amid the destructive crimson aftermath, and it looked as though it would pierce my heart, but I paid the sword no mind.
Knowing it would never reach me, I kept swinging the Crescent-Moon Weight wildly in every direction.
CRASH-CRASH-CRASH-CRASH!
Many of the rebels caught in the technique's aftermath burst apart on the spot, and the knight right in front of me collapsed, horribly mangled.
"Dern!"
At that moment, a shrill scream reached my ears.
Was the name of the knight who had just collapsed Dern?
I turned my gaze and saw a startled female knight rushing over in a panic. But I turned away without hesitation.
In the gruesome scene left by the technique's aftermath—blood and corpses strewn everywhere—my own body seemed drenched in blood as well, but I did not hesitate to move.
No particular emotion rose in me now.
I kicked off the ground again, and now the soldiers no longer tried to block my path—they were too busy scrambling to get out of the way.
Why was it?
"..."
A breath escaped me, strangely light for reasons I couldn't explain.
***
Cherry stared at the carnage on the screen as if entranced, blinking blankly.
It was a scene of utter devastation, blood splattered everywhere.
The fact that corpses didn't turn into light and vanish—that special trait—seemed to show just how much more brutality Another World could express.
Even as Cherry stared blankly, she felt overwhelmed just from watching the stream.
No matter how much the mosaic blurred the most explicit horrors, it didn't hide all of the cruelty.
The sounds that kept ringing out were nothing short of bloodcurdling.
—Guh!
—We must hold!
The desperate shouts of the knights facing her, like screams of agony.
—Gah!
—R-run away!
The terrible death cries of soldiers being cut down one after another.
And at the center of it all, Rin looked almost composed, and the disconnect was jarring.
'How can a person... do something like that?'
At the thought that came unbidden, my hand twitched before I realized it.
Anyone who had played Another World even a little couldn't help but imagine how that scene on the screen would feel if experienced firsthand.
It would definitely be horrifying. It would make your stomach turn.
The sensation on your hands, the feeling under your feet—there was no way it felt good.
And yet Rin was unfazed.
If those were the screams of monsters, I could understand.
Because anyone could see they weren't human. You could think of them as creatures made by someone else and watch.
But NPCs like those in Another World, who looked just like people, instinctively triggered revulsion even when you knew it was a game.
No matter how much you knew they weren't real people—when they talked and breathed with such lifelike energy, when they acted so naturally you couldn't feel any difference from real people—you couldn't help but hesitate.
Could I act as freely as Rin on the screen right now?
I found myself shaking my head before I even realized it.
Maybe I could manage to some extent, but I would definitely have felt revulsion at continuing to act like that.
Then I tore my gaze away from the blood-soaked screen for a moment.
[...Wow]
[What is Rin's mental state?]
[I can't watch this stream;]
[This is seriously brutal]
[Is this really Rin...?]
[How does she not hesitate at all? Even an actor couldn't do that if you told them to]
[But why is she pretty...]
[lololol that's intense]
[Watching Rin move, she's on a whole different level from other female streamers]
[This is Rin being special;]
[Even if you told male streamers to do what Rin does, barely anyone could. What's this female streamer nonsense]
[Turning into light and disappearing definitely needs to stay]
[If there was no mosaic, damn]
[Rin's mental really is on another dimension]
"Mental, huh..."
Was that really something you could do just by having a strong mentality?
The question flickered through her mind for a moment.