“Lemon, you idiot! You didn’t even try to save me!”
Still getting dragged away, Laura shouts. She’s very angry at Clara, who didn’t do anything to save her from the invisible tentacles… instead of helping her, she just shrugged her shoulders and turned her head away.
“Don’t think I’ll ever forget it!”
Of course, she doesn’t mean it, but she still says it because it’s better for both the roleplay and the audience.
She tried to escape a few more times with Blink but got caught again every time she tried.
If only she could see her aggressor, she could teleport away and attack it with everything she got... But it’s very hard to wield the whip while getting dragged away, and even harder to do so against an enemy that’s behind her back. Furthermore, she has little MP because most of it was used to heal herself or the other two when they were running inside Ricard’s Whirlwind.
The monster drags her to the bottom of the lake. There are spiky and irregular rocks everywhere, but no sign of life at all. It’s a very desolate scenery.
The monster slows down when they get close to what looks like a small mountain and drags Laura toward it.
“Why is there a mountain at the bottom of the lake…?”
It’s very easy to differentiate it from the rest of the lake’s bottom because, contrary to everything else, the mountain is completely smooth. This, and it’s rounded.
Laura’s blood freezes at what happens next. On one side of the mountain, right next to her, the rock splits and a gigantic eye stares at her. Then the mountain trembles and a part of it starts to move. It’s similar to a landslide, but instead of being affected by gravity, the mountain slides upwards, and a gigantic cavern appears.
After the tremors stop, the invisible monster resumes his movement and drags Laura to the newly opened hole.
“No, please! Anything else, but not inside a monster!”
She struggles once again and even uses Blink in a last struggle to avoid being eaten, but the monster catches her one last time and drags her inside the mountain’s mouth.
“Are you stupid? If you drag me inside, both of us will be eaten! I-I promise you, if you release me now, I’ll show you something good, ok!?”
She shudders imagining herself having to pleasure a tentacle monster, but… is still better than being eaten alive. Again. She had enough the first time it happened in the match against Andreu, and she also had to bear with it when the Hunter slimes targeted her. She got enough of ‘being eaten alive’ for the rest of her life.
Of course, the monster ignores her and enters the dark hole.
“Aaaaagh! I hate this! Why did it have to happen to me again!”
She says her last words before the gigantic mouth closes, eating her and the invisible monster.
Only darkness remains.
“I’m still alive?”
In the pitch-dark space, big enough for her to extend her arms and touch nothing, the only thing Laura can see is her status…. and the match’s timer. So she takes a quick look and sees she’s taking constant damage.
“Great, I’m being digested.”
She says in a sarcastic tone.
“At least it’s a very little amount of damage. I can stay alive for a while like this…”
The only good thing about this situation is that the invisible enemy that dragged her isn’t grabbing her anymore. She doesn’t know if it’s because it died, because it fulfilled its job and is now idle… or if it was a skill from the gigantic monster that ate her, and has disappeared now. She doesn’t care either way.
It’s also good that she can’t feel the meaty walls, because she would feel sick otherwise.
“Now what…? If it weren’t for Mad Rat waiting for us to crush the core, I would surrender right now. I abhor this…!”
She stops to think for a moment. This place gives her goosebumps. She can try to kill the monster from the inside, but… is this feasible? A monster as big as this one must have a huge amount of HP.
As she stops complaining about her situation, she notices there’s a clanking noise coming from inside the monster. The same noise that’s produced when something metallic strikes a rock, the sound of mining.
“What’s this…? A miner, inside the monster?”
Curious, she decides to follow the noise. Not that she has anything better to do in her current situation.
*Clank! Clank!*
The noises get louder and louder. There’s still no light at all, so she can’t see anything, and following the sound is hard in this enclosed and dark space, but she does her best.
She slowly advances with her arms extended until she touches something unexpected.
“Uaaah!”
“Hyaaaaa!”
The sudden scream scares Laura and she screams too. After a moment of fumbling around, entangled with some other creature, and screaming all the time, she manages to stand up.
“W-what…? Are you a player…?”
“Of course I am! Do you think a monster can talk like me? And you are…?”
“This voice… and this stupidly annoying way of talking… is it you, Baldy?”
“Yes, it’s me! Hahaha! And you’re… Lily?”
“Yes…”
Ashamed at her screams not too long ago, she doesn’t want to be recognized at all if possible. But it will be worse if she doesn’t say it and they end up fighting, so she decides to identify herself and accept the shame.
Ricard’s manly pride, being shattered because of his girly screams? He never had something like that from the start, so why should anybody care?
“Lily, welcome to the belly of the beast!”
“Ugh… don’t remind me, please…! But why are you so enthusiastic about it!? I absolutely HATE this!”
“Oh, come on, it isn’t that bad…”
“What were you doing before I, um… found you?”
She doesn’t want to talk about the screams or the tumbling around session. Ricard notices it and decides to follow her and never mention it in front of the others. Especially in front of Andreu.
Not because of shame, but because of how Laura would react if Andreu knew about her actions because of him. She likes Andreu, and the tumbling could be considered an intimate situation. After all, there were places that were touched that shouldn’t be touched.
Maybe if he told Andreu, he would get himself killed… not only in the game, but in real life… a drastic act from a woman in love. And similar to what happened before with Clara, he won’t remind Laura that Andreu can watch the replay at any time… Just in case.
“I was doing some mining!”
“Mining!?”
“Yeah, I call it mining because of how sturdy this guy is.”
“So it was you attacking the monster with the sword? Were you dragged inside this monster too?”
“Yes and yes. Well then, I’ll continue with what I was doing.”
*Clank! Clank!*
Soon, the clanking sounds fill the space once again.
“Hey, Baldy, why are you doing this…? And, more importantly, why does it sound like rock!? Aren’t we inside the monster? It should be flesh!”
“Naaah, I inspected it long ago and found out something very interesting. Remember the Tunnel Mimics inside Mad Rat’s dungeon? Well, imagine something a lot bigger, and specialized to stall time instead of killing invaders and you got this big guy.”
He continues attacking the monster and making clanking noises as he talks.
“I didn’t see it properly before being eaten, so I’m not sure about the second unit used, but the first one… I’m almost sure it’s some kind of earth elemental. I’m sure you know, but they’re stupidly sturdy when staying still thanks to their innate skill. They’re the best units if you want to block the enemies and stall for time… And this guy doesn’t move at all, so the passive skill is activated all the time.”
| Earth Elemental (Innate passive skill) |
| While not moving, reduce all damage dealt and received by 50%. |
“The problem is this guy’s high HP and defenses! And because it doesn’t move at all, the damage I deal is negligible. See for yourself and inspect this monster: I’ve been attacking it for more than a minute and he still has around 90% HP!”
Laura looks around in anguish. Although there’s no light at all and she can’t see anything, nothing prevents her from trying it. She doesn’t like the idea of being inside a monster and continues to look for an exit.
“Um… aren’t you worried about dying?”
“Dying? Oh, you mean the acid damage from being digested? Don’t worry, I heal faster by attacking it than the damage I take from the acid. The Earth Elemental innate skill is a double edge one: we deal almost no damage, but we also receive close to none from it. Try it, I’m sure you can stay alive too with your Guilty Pleasure skill.”
“That’s true… I-i think I must do it too…”
She reluctantly rises her whip and attacks the monster with it. She really doesn’t like the idea of attacking the monster from the inside. What if it suddenly releases something disgusting on top of her? Like blood, or flesh chunks…
The monster is supposed to be made out of stone, but who knows what can happen.
*Swish! Plash!*
“Hey! Don’t hit me, hit the monster!”
“...I’m sorry, I can’t see shit.”
*Swish! Plash!*
“I told you to attack the monster and not me!” *Plash!* “You’re doing it on purpose, aren’t you!?”
“....maybe?”
Like this, the long and arduous task of slowly whittling at the gigantic monster’s HP proceeds without trouble. Well, without much trouble.
“Auch! Another time!? Now you’ll see…”
“Hey! Why did you hit me? You can’t miss with the sword, I’m not close enough!”
“Aaah, sorry. It slipped away from my hand…”
At this rate, it’s going to take a lot of time. Longer than when Ricard was alone.
Meanwhile, in another match…
“Arthur, help! Help! It’s an emergency! If we don’t do anything, we’re going to lose!”
A well-dressed knight bursts through the door, surprising the man inside. Both the man originally occupying the door and the one who just entered have sturdy and tall builds and handsome appearances. They also wear the most famous knight armor and capes from a certain historical period.
The stone room is decorated with tapestries and a golden chandelier hanging over the table, the most important piece of furniture in this room. Several chairs are next to the table, with a standard right behind each one.
The room is made out of polished stone and is illuminated by several torches. This is, clearly, a room from some medieval castle, probably the most important room in it.
Arthur, sitting in one of the chairs surrounding a circular table, raises his head and stares daggers at the newcomer. On top of the table, right at the center, there’s the dungeon core. He must be in charge of protecting it.
“Calm down, Lancelot! We’re the Knights of the Round Table, we must stay calm and maintain decorum at all times! Did you forget about it already!?”
Arthur pauses for a moment and looks behind the newcomer. It looks like Lancelot, who’s currently nervously looking at him, came alone.
“So, why did you burst inside like this?”
Finally being allowed to talk, Lancelot explains the situation they’re in.
“It’s an emergency! The enemy managed to destroy the outer walls, crossed the city, and is now inside the castle! They’re advancing very fast and killing everything in their path!”
“WHAT!?”
“And that’s not all, Sir! The defense systems are down, and most of our defense units have already fallen!”
“Why did you take so long to come and tell me!? And what about Morgana and Mordred? If we’re in this situation, why didn’t you call them back!?”
“I called them back, but the enemy somehow predicted what we were doing and they got ambushed inside our own castle! I’m sure they’re dead by now… It’s as if the enemy knew the layout better than we do! And that player… it’s a monster! I couldn’t come back because I was chased all the time, and almost died a few times.”
Arthur can’t believe what he’s hearing.
They might not be the best team around, but they’re good enough to hold their ground. At least, they should be. If so… how can they lose like this against another team that should have a similar skill level as they do?
“Sound the alarm! I’ll go with you and try to stop them before it’s too late! I just hope Morgana and Mordred managed to get deep into their dungeon before retreating because otherwise we’re done for.”
At Arthur’s order, Lancelot shyly rises his hand.
“Um… sir…”
“What!?”
“We can’t sound the alarm. The first thing the enemy team did was block the way there…”
“How can this be…!?”
Arthur wipes his nonexistent sweat. Have they lost already? It certainly doesn’t look good.
“Even if everything’s lost, we’re proud knights! And as knights, we’ll face our enemies with everything we have! Let’s go, Lancelot! This might be our last battle!”
“Yes, Sir!”
Arthur unsheathes his sword and readies himself for combat before leaving the room, followed by Lancelot. They run through the castle passages, illuminated by torches on both sides.
“Where are they right now?”
“The last time I saw the enemy, they were assaulting the castle gates. But I’m not sure where they’ll be right now…”
“Then let’s go there first, and decide what to do depending on what we see.”
The two knights run in the castle gate’s direction.
On the way, they don’t see anything unusual, which is weird… unless the enemy didn’t come this way. Because there should be one or two corpses somewhere if they did.
“It looks like the enemies didn’t pass through this place. Maybe they’re still struggling near the castle’s gates?”
“...I don’t think so, Sir.”
“Huh, why?”
“Because… well, you’ll see it soon.” Lancelot shudders as he continues talking. “That monster of a player was there… there’s no way our defense units could have stopped her for a long time.”
“Monster of a player…?”
“Yeah, it was as if she knew everything that was going on! I fought against her with the support of ten knights and we barely managed to touch her! It was as if she knew every attack before we made it, and parried or avoided all of them!”
“Then why didn’t you use the mage squad? Even if she can predict the attacks and avoid or parry them, she can’t avoid wide-area ones!”
“And I did order them to attack, but…”
“But what!?”
“...but they were already dead! They were the first units targeted during the fight, I didn’t even see their assassins attack them!”
“Fuck!”
Arthur knows a knight shouldn’t swear. But it’s very hard to stop himself when the enemy not only predicted everything but also has a veteran player in their team, one who actually knows how to fight… unlike most players who just randomly swing their weapons around.
Arthur and Lancelot finally reach the castle’s gates. And any hope they had to turn around this situation, vanishes as soon as they see the scene right before their eyes.
First of all, there are the corpses of their own units strewn all around the floor. Counting their numbers, they realize almost all units assigned to the castle are now laying there, as corpses. There are a few from the enemy team too, but there’s no comparison between their numbers.
But what makes Lancelot tremble in terror and drop to the ground on his knees is the player standing in the middle of the battlefield. She’s standing there as if nothing happened at all, with her eyes closed, and resting her body’s weight on her unsheathed longsword.
“...i-it’s her! S-sir, it’s her! The monstrous player!”
“So that’s the player you were talking about…”
The woman hears the other two talk and slowly opens her bright golden eyes. She looks at the two knights in disdain.
“Hoh? So you’re finally here? I was tired of waiting, you know?” She yawns. “You see… I had some fun time with your two friends before… Let’s see if you can entertain me as much they did.”
Lancelot trembles uncontrollably when she looks at him.
“Lancelot, stand up.” Arthur raises his sword, ready for combat. “I now understand what you meant… we haven’t clashed yet but there’s a special aura around her, something only the best players have. Before we fight, can I know your name, lady?”
“Hoh, a true knight!” She analyzes Arthur with her eyes. “Sure, my name’s Makarel. And yours?”
“Arthur.”
“Like the legends, huh? Then, is that sword Excalibur?”
“This one? It’s a shame, but no.”
She grins at his answer.
“Not like there would be any difference… Well, let’s start then.”
She raises her sword up and then slowly lowers it again. Following her sword’s trajectory, a powerful light is released, quickly reaching the two knights.
They try to avoid the attack, but it follows their movements. It’s as if she predicted how, and when, they would try to avoid the attack.
This was the end of the second round match of the Knights of the Round Table team. They got unlucky because they had to face the audience’s favorite team, the one expected to win this tournament: the Dragon Knights. As expected, they lost the match.
“Lemon, you idiot! You didn’t even try to save me!”
Still getting dragged away, Laura shouts. She’s very angry at Clara, who didn’t do anything to save her from the invisible tentacles… instead of helping her, she just shrugged her shoulders and turned her head away.
“Don’t think I’ll ever forget it!”
Of course, she doesn’t mean it, but she still says it because it’s better for both the roleplay and the audience.
She tried to escape a few more times with Blink but got caught again every time she tried.
If only she could see her aggressor, she could teleport away and attack it with everything she got... But it’s very hard to wield the whip while getting dragged away, and even harder to do so against an enemy that’s behind her back. Furthermore, she has little MP because most of it was used to heal herself or the other two when they were running inside Ricard’s Whirlwind.
The monster drags her to the bottom of the lake. There are spiky and irregular rocks everywhere, but no sign of life at all. It’s a very desolate scenery.
The monster slows down when they get close to what looks like a small mountain and drags Laura toward it.
“Why is there a mountain at the bottom of the lake…?”
It’s very easy to differentiate it from the rest of the lake’s bottom because, contrary to everything else, the mountain is completely smooth. This, and it’s rounded.
Laura’s blood freezes at what happens next. On one side of the mountain, right next to her, the rock splits and a gigantic eye stares at her. Then the mountain trembles and a part of it starts to move. It’s similar to a landslide, but instead of being affected by gravity, the mountain slides upwards, and a gigantic cavern appears.
After the tremors stop, the invisible monster resumes his movement and drags Laura to the newly opened hole.
“No, please! Anything else, but not inside a monster!”
She struggles once again and even uses Blink in a last struggle to avoid being eaten, but the monster catches her one last time and drags her inside the mountain’s mouth.
“Are you stupid? If you drag me inside, both of us will be eaten! I-I promise you, if you release me now, I’ll show you something good, ok!?”
She shudders imagining herself having to pleasure a tentacle monster, but… is still better than being eaten alive. Again. She had enough the first time it happened in the match against Andreu, and she also had to bear with it when the Hunter slimes targeted her. She got enough of ‘being eaten alive’ for the rest of her life.
Of course, the monster ignores her and enters the dark hole.
“Aaaaagh! I hate this! Why did it have to happen to me again!”
She says her last words before the gigantic mouth closes, eating her and the invisible monster.
Only darkness remains.
“I’m still alive?”
In the pitch-dark space, big enough for her to extend her arms and touch nothing, the only thing Laura can see is her status…. and the match’s timer. So she takes a quick look and sees she’s taking constant damage.
“Great, I’m being digested.”
She says in a sarcastic tone.
“At least it’s a very little amount of damage. I can stay alive for a while like this…”
The only good thing about this situation is that the invisible enemy that dragged her isn’t grabbing her anymore. She doesn’t know if it’s because it died, because it fulfilled its job and is now idle… or if it was a skill from the gigantic monster that ate her, and has disappeared now. She doesn’t care either way.
It’s also good that she can’t feel the meaty walls, because she would feel sick otherwise.
“Now what…? If it weren’t for Mad Rat waiting for us to crush the core, I would surrender right now. I abhor this…!”
She stops to think for a moment. This place gives her goosebumps. She can try to kill the monster from the inside, but… is this feasible? A monster as big as this one must have a huge amount of HP.
As she stops complaining about her situation, she notices there’s a clanking noise coming from inside the monster. The same noise that’s produced when something metallic strikes a rock, the sound of mining.
“What’s this…? A miner, inside the monster?”
Curious, she decides to follow the noise. Not that she has anything better to do in her current situation.
*Clank! Clank!*
The noises get louder and louder. There’s still no light at all, so she can’t see anything, and following the sound is hard in this enclosed and dark space, but she does her best.
She slowly advances with her arms extended until she touches something unexpected.
“Uaaah!”
“Hyaaaaa!”
The sudden scream scares Laura and she screams too. After a moment of fumbling around, entangled with some other creature, and screaming all the time, she manages to stand up.
“W-what…? Are you a player…?”
“Of course I am! Do you think a monster can talk like me? And you are…?”
“This voice… and this stupidly annoying way of talking… is it you, Baldy?”
“Yes, it’s me! Hahaha! And you’re… Lily?”
“Yes…”
Ashamed at her screams not too long ago, she doesn’t want to be recognized at all if possible. But it will be worse if she doesn’t say it and they end up fighting, so she decides to identify herself and accept the shame.
Ricard’s manly pride, being shattered because of his girly screams? He never had something like that from the start, so why should anybody care?
“Lily, welcome to the belly of the beast!”
“Ugh… don’t remind me, please…! But why are you so enthusiastic about it!? I absolutely HATE this!”
“Oh, come on, it isn’t that bad…”
“What were you doing before I, um… found you?”
She doesn’t want to talk about the screams or the tumbling around session. Ricard notices it and decides to follow her and never mention it in front of the others. Especially in front of Andreu.
Not because of shame, but because of how Laura would react if Andreu knew about her actions because of him. She likes Andreu, and the tumbling could be considered an intimate situation. After all, there were places that were touched that shouldn’t be touched.
Maybe if he told Andreu, he would get himself killed… not only in the game, but in real life… a drastic act from a woman in love. And similar to what happened before with Clara, he won’t remind Laura that Andreu can watch the replay at any time… Just in case.
“I was doing some mining!”
“Mining!?”
“Yeah, I call it mining because of how sturdy this guy is.”
“So it was you attacking the monster with the sword? Were you dragged inside this monster too?”
“Yes and yes. Well then, I’ll continue with what I was doing.”
*Clank! Clank!*
Soon, the clanking sounds fill the space once again.
“Hey, Baldy, why are you doing this…? And, more importantly, why does it sound like rock!? Aren’t we inside the monster? It should be flesh!”
“Naaah, I inspected it long ago and found out something very interesting. Remember the Tunnel Mimics inside Mad Rat’s dungeon? Well, imagine something a lot bigger, and specialized to stall time instead of killing invaders and you got this big guy.”
He continues attacking the monster and making clanking noises as he talks.
“I didn’t see it properly before being eaten, so I’m not sure about the second unit used, but the first one… I’m almost sure it’s some kind of earth elemental. I’m sure you know, but they’re stupidly sturdy when staying still thanks to their innate skill. They’re the best units if you want to block the enemies and stall for time… And this guy doesn’t move at all, so the passive skill is activated all the time.”
| Earth Elemental (Innate passive skill) |
| While not moving, reduce all damage dealt and received by 50%. |
“The problem is this guy’s high HP and defenses! And because it doesn’t move at all, the damage I deal is negligible. See for yourself and inspect this monster: I’ve been attacking it for more than a minute and he still has around 90% HP!”
Laura looks around in anguish. Although there’s no light at all and she can’t see anything, nothing prevents her from trying it. She doesn’t like the idea of being inside a monster and continues to look for an exit.
“Um… aren’t you worried about dying?”
“Dying? Oh, you mean the acid damage from being digested? Don’t worry, I heal faster by attacking it than the damage I take from the acid. The Earth Elemental innate skill is a double edge one: we deal almost no damage, but we also receive close to none from it. Try it, I’m sure you can stay alive too with your Guilty Pleasure skill.”
“That’s true… I-i think I must do it too…”
She reluctantly rises her whip and attacks the monster with it. She really doesn’t like the idea of attacking the monster from the inside. What if it suddenly releases something disgusting on top of her? Like blood, or flesh chunks…
The monster is supposed to be made out of stone, but who knows what can happen.
*Swish! Plash!*
“Hey! Don’t hit me, hit the monster!”
“...I’m sorry, I can’t see shit.”
*Swish! Plash!*
“I told you to attack the monster and not me!” *Plash!* “You’re doing it on purpose, aren’t you!?”
“....maybe?”
Like this, the long and arduous task of slowly whittling at the gigantic monster’s HP proceeds without trouble. Well, without much trouble.
“Auch! Another time!? Now you’ll see…”
“Hey! Why did you hit me? You can’t miss with the sword, I’m not close enough!”
“Aaah, sorry. It slipped away from my hand…”
At this rate, it’s going to take a lot of time. Longer than when Ricard was alone.
Meanwhile, in another match…
“Arthur, help! Help! It’s an emergency! If we don’t do anything, we’re going to lose!”
A well-dressed knight bursts through the door, surprising the man inside. Both the man originally occupying the door and the one who just entered have sturdy and tall builds and handsome appearances. They also wear the most famous knight armor and capes from a certain historical period.
The stone room is decorated with tapestries and a golden chandelier hanging over the table, the most important piece of furniture in this room. Several chairs are next to the table, with a standard right behind each one.
The room is made out of polished stone and is illuminated by several torches. This is, clearly, a room from some medieval castle, probably the most important room in it.
Arthur, sitting in one of the chairs surrounding a circular table, raises his head and stares daggers at the newcomer. On top of the table, right at the center, there’s the dungeon core. He must be in charge of protecting it.
“Calm down, Lancelot! We’re the Knights of the Round Table, we must stay calm and maintain decorum at all times! Did you forget about it already!?”
Arthur pauses for a moment and looks behind the newcomer. It looks like Lancelot, who’s currently nervously looking at him, came alone.
“So, why did you burst inside like this?”
Finally being allowed to talk, Lancelot explains the situation they’re in.
“It’s an emergency! The enemy managed to destroy the outer walls, crossed the city, and is now inside the castle! They’re advancing very fast and killing everything in their path!”
“WHAT!?”
“And that’s not all, Sir! The defense systems are down, and most of our defense units have already fallen!”
“Why did you take so long to come and tell me!? And what about Morgana and Mordred? If we’re in this situation, why didn’t you call them back!?”
“I called them back, but the enemy somehow predicted what we were doing and they got ambushed inside our own castle! I’m sure they’re dead by now… It’s as if the enemy knew the layout better than we do! And that player… it’s a monster! I couldn’t come back because I was chased all the time, and almost died a few times.”
Arthur can’t believe what he’s hearing.
They might not be the best team around, but they’re good enough to hold their ground. At least, they should be. If so… how can they lose like this against another team that should have a similar skill level as they do?
“Sound the alarm! I’ll go with you and try to stop them before it’s too late! I just hope Morgana and Mordred managed to get deep into their dungeon before retreating because otherwise we’re done for.”
At Arthur’s order, Lancelot shyly rises his hand.
“Um… sir…”
“What!?”
“We can’t sound the alarm. The first thing the enemy team did was block the way there…”
“How can this be…!?”
Arthur wipes his nonexistent sweat. Have they lost already? It certainly doesn’t look good.
“Even if everything’s lost, we’re proud knights! And as knights, we’ll face our enemies with everything we have! Let’s go, Lancelot! This might be our last battle!”
“Yes, Sir!”
Arthur unsheathes his sword and readies himself for combat before leaving the room, followed by Lancelot. They run through the castle passages, illuminated by torches on both sides.
“Where are they right now?”
“The last time I saw the enemy, they were assaulting the castle gates. But I’m not sure where they’ll be right now…”
“Then let’s go there first, and decide what to do depending on what we see.”
The two knights run in the castle gate’s direction.
On the way, they don’t see anything unusual, which is weird… unless the enemy didn’t come this way. Because there should be one or two corpses somewhere if they did.
“It looks like the enemies didn’t pass through this place. Maybe they’re still struggling near the castle’s gates?”
“...I don’t think so, Sir.”
“Huh, why?”
“Because… well, you’ll see it soon.” Lancelot shudders as he continues talking. “That monster of a player was there… there’s no way our defense units could have stopped her for a long time.”
“Monster of a player…?”
“Yeah, it was as if she knew everything that was going on! I fought against her with the support of ten knights and we barely managed to touch her! It was as if she knew every attack before we made it, and parried or avoided all of them!”
“Then why didn’t you use the mage squad? Even if she can predict the attacks and avoid or parry them, she can’t avoid wide-area ones!”
“And I did order them to attack, but…”
“But what!?”
“...but they were already dead! They were the first units targeted during the fight, I didn’t even see their assassins attack them!”
“Fuck!”
Arthur knows a knight shouldn’t swear. But it’s very hard to stop himself when the enemy not only predicted everything but also has a veteran player in their team, one who actually knows how to fight… unlike most players who just randomly swing their weapons around.
Arthur and Lancelot finally reach the castle’s gates. And any hope they had to turn around this situation, vanishes as soon as they see the scene right before their eyes.
First of all, there are the corpses of their own units strewn all around the floor. Counting their numbers, they realize almost all units assigned to the castle are now laying there, as corpses. There are a few from the enemy team too, but there’s no comparison between their numbers.
But what makes Lancelot tremble in terror and drop to the ground on his knees is the player standing in the middle of the battlefield. She’s standing there as if nothing happened at all, with her eyes closed, and resting her body’s weight on her unsheathed longsword.
“...i-it’s her! S-sir, it’s her! The monstrous player!”
“So that’s the player you were talking about…”
The woman hears the other two talk and slowly opens her bright golden eyes. She looks at the two knights in disdain.
“Hoh? So you’re finally here? I was tired of waiting, you know?” She yawns. “You see… I had some fun time with your two friends before… Let’s see if you can entertain me as much they did.”
Lancelot trembles uncontrollably when she looks at him.
“Lancelot, stand up.” Arthur raises his sword, ready for combat. “I now understand what you meant… we haven’t clashed yet but there’s a special aura around her, something only the best players have. Before we fight, can I know your name, lady?”
“Hoh, a true knight!” She analyzes Arthur with her eyes. “Sure, my name’s Makarel. And yours?”
“Arthur.”
“Like the legends, huh? Then, is that sword Excalibur?”
“This one? It’s a shame, but no.”
She grins at his answer.
“Not like there would be any difference… Well, let’s start then.”
She raises her sword up and then slowly lowers it again. Following her sword’s trajectory, a powerful light is released, quickly reaching the two knights.
They try to avoid the attack, but it follows their movements. It’s as if she predicted how, and when, they would try to avoid the attack.
This was the end of the second round match of the Knights of the Round Table team. They got unlucky because they had to face the audience’s favorite team, the one expected to win this tournament: the Dragon Knights. As expected, they lost the match.
