Nightfall - First Broadcast (3)
"Uh… so the game's actually starting for real now? But where am I supposed to go?"
As Yujin muttered to himself, having just regained control of his body, Winter's voice rang out from thin air.
"Just keep walking straight. We're still in the tutorial zone, so there's only one path."
At those words, Yujin glanced back — and there was Winter, looking for all the world like someone settling in to watch a movie, wearing a thoroughly relaxed expression as she let out a huge yawn.
"Excuse me? Have you all forgotten that if my brother dies, I'm taking over and playing right after?"
When one viewer dropped that loaded remark, Winter — reading the comment — found herself wearing a rather complicated expression.
"Ah… right. I thought I could coast a little, but I might need to start warming up from here?"
As the chat exploded with talk of "that thing" showing up, Yujin — who had been silently watching the chat window — finally asked a question.
"That thing? What exactly is 'that thing'? Don't tell me a tutorial boss is already spawning?"
"So basically, there's a monster up ahead that's extremely difficult for beginners to take down."
Reading those comments, Yujin didn't shrink back at all — instead, a faint smile spread across his face.
Just how strong was this monster, for people to be this excited talking about it?
It probably won't be on the level of a demon from the other world… but it'd be nice if it were pretty strong.
Carrying a strange sense of anticipation, Yujin strode forward — and before long, a brick suspension bridge came into view.
And there, as if standing guard over the bridge, five wolves prowled restlessly near the entrance.
"Awooooo!"
The moment the wolves locked eyes on Yujin, they howled — then reared up onto their hind legs and began walking on two feet.
"Werewolves?"
No sooner had the words left Yujin's mouth than all five werewolves charged straight at him.
"GRAAAARGH!"
Yujin took a single step back, and a werewolf's claws raked through the air right where his head had been a split second earlier.
CRAAASH!
The instant the werewolf's talons slammed into the ground, the brick floor shattered outright.
Had those claws connected with Yujin's body, it would have been an instant game over.
"Awooooo!"
The moment he dodged one werewolf's attack, others from different angles swung their claws at him in sequence.
In other words, their attacks came in a relentless relay — leaving him no opening to strike back.
If Yujin so much as tried to attack one werewolf, the other four would shred his body to pieces with their claws.
"Mm…"
A sound almost like a groan slipped from Yujin's lips, and the viewers gleefully hammered out comments at the sight.
For an ordinary player, breaking through the assault of five werewolves and hunting them all at once was next to impossible.
That was why the standard method of dealing with the five werewolves was nothing other than luring them one by one and taking them down sequentially.
Werewolves reacted extremely sensitively to a player's aggro — but at the same time, if you left a certain area, they had the habit of returning to their original territory.
And so, people who played Nightfall died to the werewolves over and over until they automatically learned this strategy, coming to understand that this was not a musou-style hack-and-slash game.
Even the Nightfall developers had said in interviews that the five werewolves appearing in the tutorial were placed there as advice — a message telling players to act carefully throughout the entire game.
"Don't be scared! They're just tutorial monsters! You don't have to fight them head-on — just take them down one by one, nice and steady!"
Winter, apparently convinced that Yujin was terrified of the werewolves, kept throwing advice at him to calm down.
"Awooooo!"
But whether he heard Winter's advice or not, Yujin didn't pull back — he kept facing the werewolves head-on.
So far he'd managed to dodge their attacks somehow, but even that looked like it was only a matter of time.
Anticipating her brother's first death any moment now, Winter squeezed her eyes shut tight.
"…Huh?"
But only for a moment — Winter and the viewers soon realized that something about the situation was unfolding very strangely.
No matter how much time passed, Yujin simply would not die.
He looked so precarious that it seemed his body would be torn apart by werewolf claws at any second — and yet, no matter how long it went on, not a single attack landed on him.
No — by now, even to an outside observer, Yujin was dodging the werewolves' attacks with movements that were almost absurdly relaxed.
So this was all they amounted to.
Meanwhile, Yujin clicked his tongue inwardly as he watched the werewolves charging at him.
When he'd first taken the coordinated assault of five werewolves, Yujin had felt a slight thrill of excitement.
Because the "werewolves" he knew were among the most tenacious and vicious enemies in the other world.
In particular, one of the Four Heavenly Kings Yujin had subdued in that world — Kazan, the Savage Wolf King — and the werewolves under his command had a reputation even among demons for being ferocious, relentless, and utterly vicious.
By contrast, the body of this "Hunter" that Yujin was currently using was a frail, pathetic vessel that couldn't begin to compare to his days as a Hero.
So his plan had been to first study the enemies' patterns and specs, then methodically work out how to take them down…
This is… honestly an insult to even compare them to that Savage Wolf King bastard.
The werewolves before him couldn't begin to match Kazan's clan — who could freely shift between beast form and half-human form, whose hides were tougher than steel, and who could draw sword aura from their claws.
All they could manage were crude, beast-like claw swings, and even those attacks were sluggish and utterly unimpressive.
There was no longer any value in observing them to see if they were hiding something.
Which meant it was about time he cut them down.
SHING—!
In the next instant, a streak of light flashed from Yujin's hip — and the head of the werewolf directly in front of him went flying in a single stroke.
Needless to say, it was a perfect instant-kill.
"I-Instant kill? He just one-shot a werewolf?"
And Winter, who like the rest of the viewers had been quietly watching Yujin's play, went wide-eyed.
A werewolf got instant-killed? How?
Was it even possible to deal enough damage to one-shot a werewolf in the tutorial?
No — before that, how had he even managed to attack a werewolf in the first place?
Just a moment ago he'd looked so busy dodging their attacks that he shouldn't have had any opening to strike…
Leaving Winter's confusion behind him, Yujin casually leveled his blade at the remaining werewolves and murmured softly.
"…That's one."
And the number of werewolves left.
Four to go.