Ch. 6

Still Alive (4)

[Switch to manual operation].

I don’t mind the hologram that blocks one side of my vision.

Ariant turns swiftly, moving toward the source of the attack.

The wind rushes past me, its subtle unreality chilling me to the bone.

“It’s just a game.”

A game that mimics the reality of virtual reality.

The thing that attacked me was just a character in a game.

She’s no longer herself in the world of the Dark Ark, in the midst of an adventure, feeling pain that threatens to knock her out.

Zzzz!

Zzzz!!

The projectiles, bathed in a brilliant blue glow, flew toward me, emitting a massive sound that tears through the air.

“….”

I stare at them, twisting my horse’s reins in an all-too-familiar grip.

It’s as if I’m piloting my Ariant in the real world of the Dark Ark. I control it with ease.

It follows my hand, turning and flying at odd angles.

My body, which has been idle for days, performs acrobatics, holding the horse as if by instinct.

The horse flies through the air, dodging projectiles that keep coming at us.

As the wind rushes by me, a piercing whistle fills my ears. My silver hair dances in the air, drawing my attention away from the moment.

Zzzz!

Wind from a projectile that barely misses me.

Even that isn’t realistic.

It’s like a breeze, nothing compared to what I actually feel.

I flew through it all without blinking, leading Ariant through the air, and spotting a red glowing figure.

Swish.

I stroked my cheek absentmindedly.

The wound on my cheek has healed since I touched it, and it’s no longer bleeding.

It’s painless, and I barely noticed it, but I felt a tiny tingle where I’ve been grazed as if the game has some sort of safeguard to prevent me from feeling too much pain.

Even the fact that the wound heals in minutes is… unrealistic.

Yeah.

It’s definitely a game.

I’m not killing real people, even if I’m reaching out relentlessly.

I remember the day I killed my first person in the world of Dark Ark. I remember my hands shaking and laughing out loud.

“Dodging all that, are you? What kind of Ranker do you think you are?”

A man mutters incoherently, not bothering to close the distance.

He looks like a high-level user with good equipment.

[Outlaw ‘Assholedestroyer’]

As I look at the man, a hologram appears above him, labeling him an outlaw.

Ding!

The warning beeps are still staggered, alerting me of danger.

Slowly, I step off Ariant and onto the ground.

Thud.

Perhaps this is what it feels like, I reflect, gathering my thoughts.

The memories are vague, but that’s to be expected in an online game. I figure there must be some players who enjoy PKs.

That’s why I don’t think much of the man’s ambush earlier.

After only a day or two of playing the game, I can grasp the system intuitively.

The word outlaw probably refers to a user who enjoys PK (Player Killing).

He’s pretty vicious about it, which is probably why he’s marked with that red border.

Boom!

The flail resonates through space as I swing it with my arms.

Zzzz!!

I twist my head, dodging another barrage of projectiles.

I haven’t taken my eyes off the man’s form since I dismounted, so it’s not hard to predict the direction the massive crossbow is aiming. “Crazy… asshole.”

The man’s tired voice keeps asking what’s so strange.

Judging by the huge decorated crossbow, the opponent is a ranged class.

He didn’t even try to close the distance, even though he was so close.

It was as if he had no real-world experience at all…

I wondered if he was just someone who trusted only the specs in the game.

Tap tap.

I tap the ground with my foot and gradually get a feel for my body.

I had just joined the game, so I didn’t even know what my class was or what the exact specs were yet.

Today was definitely the first time I had moved this character properly.

I wasn’t too scared.

Once again.

Zzzz!!

A projectile enveloped in a swarm of blue light.

It wasn’t like an arrow. I could only sense it as I watched.

Something like a blue glow.

It seemed to have no substance.

I gripped my flail and slowly brought my hand in the direction of the projectile, straining my hand.

I could have dodged it, but how closely does this game resemble the Black Ark I knew?

For now, I pondered.

Clang!!

The flail clashed with the blue swarm of light, and another burst of light erupted.

I felt a small recoil and simultaneously took a step back.

I had been preparing myself in advance, and my entire body was tensing up, so it didn’t feel too awkward.

I could sense the repercussions of the encounter and the weight descending upon me, each one distinctly felt.

“What the? This bitch is using hack.”

I shook my head, dumbfounded by the male voice right in front of me.

He was evidently a PKer, judging by the red mark, and I found it puzzling that he didn’t comprehend the system I had just observed.

Parrying was one of the more difficult skills in Dark Ark’s system.

It was one of the skills I had to master to avoid dying.

Blocking the enemy’s attack or projectile with my weapon allows me to nullify 100% of the attack level’s damage. This means I can consistently block the enemy’s attacks.

If I miss the timing to catch it or simply place my weapon against the enemy’s attack, the parry, even if activated, becomes an ‘imperfect parry.’

In such cases, it’s worse than avoiding the attack altogether.

Attempting to block the enemy’s attack when avoidance is possible holds little merit, especially with long-range attacks, even if successfully parried.

It was something I tried as a check, but I never felt like it was going to work.

In the first place, the Dark Ark world was populated by a group of scum they commonly referred to themselves as the “Victorious Cat”.

The worst of the worst, who would rather hunt people than monsters for personal gain.

There were so many of them that you could find wanted postings for their capture in every city.

However, after learning this parry, I no longer feared them.

Those beings who lived their lives as ‘Victorious Cat’.

They were just a bunch of losers who were afraid to face monsters, who had stunted my personal growth.

I learned to parry so I wouldn’t die against them.

Now, it was even funnier if I couldn’t parry a basic outlaw’s attack.

I could see my opponent’s attacks and predict where they were going to go and when they would arrive.

Then there was the system of different stamina consumption based on level differences or equipment differences. Does that still apply in this virtual reality?

Right now, I was only one step back.

It meant that the opponent’s level was similar to my own, so after I felt a little more comfortable with the sensations of my body, I leaped towards him without hesitation.

Clang!

Bang!

Bang!

Bang!

It was like a continuation technique, shooting out a series of blue bolts of light.

Facing them and consistently parrying in the air, I experienced no recoil forcing my body backward.

Unlike standing still, where I would recoil, parrying allowed me to move forward as if unaffected by the recoil.

The system instructed me to leap to my feet and advance if I aimed to do more than just block my opponent’s attack.

Even these small details felt very similar to the Dark Ark I knew.

“Shit… Fuck!”

The man kept cursing at me as I closed the distance. He was only about two meters away.

I had already swung my arm.

The pendulum swept across the flail.

I could see its curve so clearly.

But I didn’t draw any red energy from my body to increase my destructive power.

I didn’t even know myself yet, let alone the game in general.

So it was just a basic attack.

“Maybe I can’t take him down in one hit.”

I thought that as I struck.

Thwack!

With an eerie sound, the man’s face was crushed.

But it was a game, and it wasn’t as brutal as in real life.

It was a subtle sensation, like the familiar feel of something being crushed in my hand.

[You have defeated Outlaw ‘Assholedestroyer’].

“…Huh?”

How could he be killed so easily, no matter how accurately I hit him in the head?

Whoosh!

I retrieved the flail out of habit.

Was there a system that killed you if you got hit in the head?

I wondered if there was such a thing as realism in a game with specifications.