#004
=YggON SYSTEM ON=
Target Info:
Chaos Dark Knight
-
Appearance: [World of Fantasm].
A knight blessed by the Demon God of Chaos, Khaos.
Awaiting the strong on the upper floors of the Demon God's Tower.
=SYSTEM OFF=
Get back to the tower.
Why the hell is it here?
It's said that many gamers spewed complaints when they saw the monster appearing at the tutorial point.
Their complaints were only natural, as it was positioned somewhere completely off from the setting.
If this were an action-oriented game, one might try fighting with flashy controls, but World of Fantasm is all about levels.
There was no way to survive from the starting point against a mid-to-late-game boss.
That is why the vast majority of gamers who started World of Fantasm experienced a game over here.
A new alert appeared in Ryu Hwi's vision.
=YggON SYSTEM ON=
Emergency Mission:
Chaos Dark Knight Hunt 0/1
Rewards:
10 YggON Tickets
1 Guaranteed SR YggON Ticket
=SYSTEM OFF=
"An emergency mission… so these existed too."
Ten YggON Tickets and one guaranteed SR Ticket.
It was a generous reward.
It was also a statement that the Chaos Dark Knight was worth that much.
Ryu Hwi took a deep breath, facing the Dark Knight.
This was a challenge, and an experiment.
The first step to confirming how far the YggON system reached, and whether he could accomplish what he intended to do going forward.
"Dark Knight!!"
The Dark Knight, clad in black full plate, reacted. Red light flared between the slits of its black helm.
With a single step, the Dark Knight reached Ryu Hwi and brought the greatsword down.
It wasn't a simple attack.
It was a wide-area attack that unleashed a wave of dark energy alongside the slash.
Each and every one of the Dark Knight's attacks was both an area-of-effect skill and a finishing move.
Most gamers couldn't even properly handle this first attack and died.
But.
Ryu Hwi swung his gun sword the moment the Dark Knight brought down its blade.
The instant blade met blade, Ryu Hwi's skill activated.
SR - Parrying Lv.3
As the skill's effect activated, the Dark Knight's attack was forcibly blocked.
'As I thought, if Parrying succeeds, you can ignore the difference in strength.'
Ryu Hwi had once analyzed information about 'Parrying' appearing as a skill in Game Labyrinth.
There, parrying was the most fundamental of fundamentals, boasting a difficulty level that made the game impossible to play if you couldn't do it properly.
In gameplay footage, a gamer had deflected the attacks of a monster several times larger than themselves using parrying.
The moment parrying succeeded, the Dark Knight's attack was blocked, and Ryu Hwi's reflexes were heightened.
Capitalizing on that speed, he attacked the Dark Knight, which had exposed an opening.
"Kuh?!"
The gun sword failed to cut the Dark Knight's armor and bounced off.
'The attack isn't working?'
It had been a strike utilizing the enhanced abilities from Sword Mastery, yet it couldn't deal proper damage.
'As expected, I can't break through the level correction?'
When levels rise, all stats rise.
No matter how much you hit them, if the opponent's defense is high, damage won't go through.
It was an obvious fact in RPGs.
Ryu Hwi had supposed that since the system of World of Fantasm didn't apply to him, he might be able to ignore the status corrections from levels.
But contrary to his expectations, his attacks didn't work on the Dark Knight.
The Dark Knight swung its sword again.
Each time, it was a wide-area attack with the power to kill instantly if it hit.
Ryu Hwi once again deflected the Dark Knight's blade, cutting off its attack.
[That is a keen observation.]
YggON's voice rang out.
[It is as Master predicted. You can ignore the level status correction of World of Fantasm.]
"If that's the case, why isn't my attack working at all?!"
Ryu Hwi aimed for the opening created when the Dark Knight's attack stopped and counterattacked again. Yet once more, he couldn't pierce the armor.
[Are you a fool? It's only natural because the opponent is wearing full plate armor, is it not?]
"Ah."
At YggON's pointing out, Ryu Hwi realized he had been thinking only in system terms.
This world was clearly a world created with a 'game' motif.
A world inside a game, affected by an arbitrarily designed system.
But 'Ryu Hwi' was different. To Ryu Hwi, this place was another world, not virtual reality.
"Then!"
Boom!
Ryu Hwi's sword and the Dark Knight's sword clashed.
Once again, parrying stopped the Dark Knight's attack, and Ryu Hwi's reflexes spiked instantaneously.
The world seemed to slow for a moment.
In that world, Ryu Hwi boldly drove himself into the Dark Knight's chest.
His target: the gaps between the armor plates!
Even full plate armor had gaps at the joints.
A technique bordering on acrobatics.
But his swordsmanship, physical ability, and reflexes enhanced by skills made it possible.
Ryu Hwi's gun sword stabbed into the Dark Knight's shoulder.
There was a reaction.
He pulled the trigger of the gun sword right there.
The energy loaded in the gun sword's cylinder exploded, amplifying its power.
The next moment, the Dark Knight's arm flew far away. The impact was so great that the Dark Knight staggered.
Ryu Hwi was certain.
The concept of HP that existed in World of Fantasm also operated under the system correction of 'Game Labyrinth'.
In other words, since he was a 'gamer of YggON,' his attacks didn't reduce HP—they could deal damage to the physical body itself.
If he aimed for a vital point, it wouldn't be a critical hit; he could kill in a single blow.
Ryu Hwi didn't miss the opportunity and tried to attack the Dark Knight again.
Like this, the head…
[Master, danger.]
"?!"
The instant he heard YggON's warning, Ryu Hwi threw his body aside.
That split-second reaction saved his life.
Where Ryu Hwi had just been standing, numerous blades were embedded.
Shadows had burst from the Dark Knight's severed arm, splitting into dozens of branches and transforming into countless swords.
"What the hell is that now?"
Ryu Hwi swallowed his breath at the Dark Knight's changed form.
No case of a Chaos Dark Knight subjugation had ever been reported in World of Fantasm.
The reason was simple.
The Chaos Dark Knight did not appear in the 'Demon God's Tower,' where it was originally supposed to, but only in the Forest of Beginnings.
Moreover, the Forest of Beginnings was an area one could never return to after leaving once.
Most gamers met a game over at the end of the Forest of Beginnings at the hands of the Chaos Dark Knight and resurrected at a nearby village.
Even if they raised their levels to seek revenge, there was no way to return to the tutorial area.
Therefore, it had never been subjugated, and no strategy existed.
Naturally, there was no information about the Chaos Dark Knight mutating like this in a dangerous moment.
After all, the Dark Knight had never been in danger until now.
"Damn it!"
Ryu Hwi batted one blade away.
Parrying activated, stopping the Dark Knight's attack, but only for a fleeting moment. The next attack followed immediately.
"Why isn't parrying working properly?!"
Ryu Hwi continued deflecting the raining blades one by one.
'No, it's not that it's not working!'
The effects of Parrying—the power to block an enemy's attack and the power to sharpen reflexes—were definitely activating.
The problem was that the Dark Knight's attacks were too fast and too numerous.
Because the next attack poured in right after a brief moment of rigidity, it felt like parrying wasn't working.
If the effect of Parrying hadn't activated, he wouldn't have been able to block the simultaneous, pouring attacks and would have been finished in a single blow.
"Kuaaaaaaaaah!!"
Ryu Hwi swung his gun sword without rest.
Deflect, deflect, deflect, keep deflecting.
There wasn't even room to attempt a counterattack.
If he allowed even a single hit, he would die.
Ryu Hwi didn't have the concept of HP either. One wrong hit meant the end.
Boom! Crash! Boom! Craaash! Boom!
His arms were numb. The shock transmitted with every attack he deflected.
Ryu Hwi did not answer. He didn't have the room to. Simply blocking the attacks was overwhelming.
'Focus!'
Boom!
'Focus! There has to be a pattern.'
He pulled himself together. Surely, this attack couldn't continue infinitely.
Every time he deflected the Dark Knight's attacks, old memories suddenly surfaced.
Boom! Crash!
—A time when hope still overflowed. A foolish period when he believed his dreams would come true someday.
Kruung! Kung! Chaang!
—When his name was stolen. When he fell to the abyss of his life.
"Kuuaaah!"
—When the last remaining precious person left forever. When he betrayed all hope.
"I…"
—When he merely prolonged his life without hope, without a future.
"I!!"
He had sworn retribution on them all.
He had sworn to trample them all.
He had reclaimed his name in Yggdrasil. But he hadn't yet properly taken his first step.
The Dark Knight's attacks poured down like a rainstorm.
Those attacks looked like a massive wall blocking his first step.
If he couldn't surmount this, there was no next.
It would be a regression to the days of living in despair, having lost all hope.
"I will escape this abyss!"
He would escape this terrible abyss and trample every last one of those bastards!
Ryu Hwi swore thus.
Facing the endlessly pouring attacks, he boldly stepped forward.
"Uwoaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!"
Blade clashed against blade.
Ryu Hwi endured and endured the Dark Knight's fierce onslaught.
Enduring was familiar. He had continued to endure in a despair without even hope.
After enduring, enduring, and enduring.
For an instant, the seemingly endless attacks stopped.
It was truly a momentary instant.
The single moment of an opening he had barely found.
Ryu Hwi squeezed out every last ounce of his strength and plunged the gun sword into the Dark Knight's head.
The gap in the helm protecting its head.
The gun sword stabbed into the part where that red eye gleamed.
Without hesitation, he pulled the trigger.
The gun sword's cylinder had six shots total. He had used two of them now.
Four remained.
He continued pulling the trigger.
The energy in the cylinder caused the blade's power to explode instantaneously.
Each time he pulled the trigger, the blade dug further inside the helm.
Eventually.
A monster that awaited the strong in the Tower of the Void.
Originally, those words were left for gamers who climbed the Demon God's Tower.
For some reason, it had been placed in this tutorial area, but still.
"Pass through the void and move forward."
Ironically, those words were the most fitting for the current Ryu Hwi.
Because his life up until now had been utterly empty.
=YggON SYSTEM ON=
Combat Report:
-Victory
Chaos Dark Knight x1
Acquired 15,000 Exp (Powerful Enemy Correction - MAX). Converting experience points to RP.
Acquired 1 Dark Knight Magic Stone.
Acquired Dark Knight Armor.
Emergency Mission:
Chaos Dark Knight Hunt 1/1 (Clear) Rewards:
10 YggON Tickets
1 Guaranteed SR YggON Ticket
Achievements:
-Hunted a Unique Monster for the first time. (Complete) Reward: 10 YggON Tickets.
-Subjugated the Chaos Dark Knight. (Complete) Reward: 1 Guaranteed SR YggON Ticket.
=SYSTEM OFF=
Emergency Mission clear.
He had also achieved a new achievement.
20 YggON Tickets and 2 guaranteed SR tickets.
And he had obtained enough points for a hundred consecutive draws.
His hard work had paid off.
The rewards weren't limited to that. The greatest of all was gaining confidence.
The confidence that he could fight through the labyrinth.
That was a huge step for Ryu Hwi.
"Just you wait, you bastards."
A step he hadn't even thought to take for the last several years.
"I'll be coming for you soon."