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Chapter 4

—–CROW—– 

“Uhhh! Mmm!”

Matching the strange groans, Kang-seok’s waist and hips moved in a bizarre fashion.  The way he twitched forward, then back, then up and down repeatedly was a pitiful sight.

He had been trying to shift his center of gravity according to the directional inputs, but it seemed that wasn’t how it worked.

‘Well, there’s no guarantee the special move would even work anyway.’

Trying to soothe his embarrassment, he looked around.  Fortunately, or unfortunately, there was no one to witness his awkward movements.

“This can wait too.”

It wasn’t something he should give up on entirely, but it wasn’t something to obsess over either.

He picked up two scabbards lying on the floor that seemed to fit the swords and sheathed them.

Supreme King’s Backsword and Flying Swallow Phoenix Sword.

Dark Destiny Lord’s top had numerous loops and straps for attaching pouches, so there were plenty of places to hang weapons.  Having equipped both swords on his back, Kang-seok picked up another torch.

He returned to the place where he had first woken up.

He was quite curious about the dead monster and the skeleton lying on top of it—which definitely looked like it had slain the monster—but he still couldn’t bring himself to examine them closely.

Swallowing hard, he walked past the corpses and back into the corridor.

He had woken up in a completely unfamiliar place, and his body had transformed.

How would a normal person react in this situation?

It would be rare to be completely paralyzed by panic.  There might be a delay, but eventually, they would move.  They were a living being, after all.

In truth, he was also uneasy.  Waking up as a superhuman was a pleasant delusion, and it would have been great if it were true, but the reality of being transformed into an unexpected form in an unknown place was a different story.

The corridor wasn’t that long. It seemed he had initially collapsed about halfway down the corridor.

Looking again, he could clearly see traces of battle in the corridor as well.  The fight between the monster in the room and the warrior—that’s what he decided to call him for now—must have been incredibly fierce.

At the end of the corridor was a wide staircase.  At least fifty steps, maybe? He could barely see the top by raising his torch high.

He carefully started ascending the stairs. His body felt incredibly light and full of energy.  He experimentally hopped lightly and cleared more than seven steps at once. Considering it was a standing jump, it was an unrealistically powerful leap.

“Could it be that I can also double jump and air dash?”

The double jump and air dash were basic moves in Fighter Online.

A double jump, as the name suggested, was jumping a second time in mid-air, and an air dash was propelling oneself forward or backward in mid-air.

They were techniques only possible in a fighting game that completely disregarded the laws of physics, but perhaps, with this body, they might be possible.

He bit his lower lip slightly.  He felt strangely nervous and excited at the same time.

‘Okay, I’m jumping.’

He fixed his gaze on the top of the stairs. Lowering his stance, he put strength into his legs.

“Kyaaaaaah!”

It wasn’t him. The scream came from beyond the door at the top of the stairs.

He reacted instinctively. He bounded up the remaining stairs and threw open the door.

It was a square room.

Thanks to the torches placed on the walls and corners, and the relatively small size of the room, there was plenty of light.

A monster was dragging a woman away.

It was black and bulky.  It had the head of a bull, and one of its two white horns, which curved upwards, was broken.  There were severe wounds all over its body, and it was bleeding profusely.

The monster held the woman’s ankle in its hand. The woman, being dragged across the floor, was excessively flamboyant.

A large, dark red officer’s cap sat atop her shimmering platinum blonde hair. She wore a black officer’s coat that looked like leather, but ridiculously, she wore a white bikini underneath.  The fact that she also wore proper military boots added to the incongruity.

That was all he could process in that instant.  He had no time to observe further or to think.

“Graaaah!”

The monster roared loudly and threw the woman it had been dragging towards him.

Dodge.

Catch.

In that split second, he chose the latter.  He managed to catch the woman, who had been flung towards him without a scream. She was heavy. Not because she was a large woman, but because the monster’s throw had been so powerful.

“Huh?”

His body floated up as if weightless. He had been standing in the doorway, so the moment he was pushed back, he was right at the edge of the stairs.

The steep stairs. The empty space beyond.

A situation where, according to the laws of gravity, he should have tumbled down the stairs.

He kicked at the air. As if kicking off an invisible floor, he soared upwards, and the anomaly didn’t end there.

His body shot backward. Like a powerful backward leap, he moved several meters.

And then a stable landing.

Landing on his feet about halfway down the stairs, he gasped for breath.  He couldn’t even comprehend what he had just done.

Double jump and air dash.

He looked up. The bull-headed monster poked its head out from the top of the stairs. Seeing Kang-seok standing on the stairs, it roared again and began charging down the stairs.

He jumped.

Instead of turning and running, he leaped. He kicked off the air again and moved backward.  Twice in a row.

He landed on the floor with a stylish somersault. The woman in his arms, her face pale, hiccuped repeatedly, and the monster, seemingly surprised by his movements, stopped at the top of the stairs.

He made a quick decision.  He set the woman down and drew the sword from his back.

The monster was tired. Injured.  It was already severely wounded.

So, I can win.  With Dark Destiny Lord’s body, this body capable of double jumps and air dashes, it was definitely possible.

Of course, he was scared. It wasn’t that he wasn’t afraid. Just looking at the monster’s face, gasping for breath, made him want to run away. But he couldn’t retreat.  This was a dead end, wasn’t it?

He exhaled slowly, as if to calm his nerves.  The monster, having shaken off its initial confusion, raised the brutal-looking axe in its right hand.

Dark Destiny Lord was a speed-type character specializing in quick attacks.  His greatest advantage over the monster was undoubtedly speed.

He charged straight ahead. The monster raised its axe-wielding hand high.

The distance closed in an instant. He could see the monster’s eyes.

The narrow staircase.  The bulky monster.  Dodging to either side would still put him within the monster’s reach.

The monster swung its axe. He jumped.  Leaping vertically, he spun his body higher than the monster’s head.  He brought his sword down on the monster, whose back was completely exposed due to its axe swing.

“Khah!”

An unexpected sensation traveled through the tip of his sword.  The monster’s back split open, and dark red blood gushed out.

But the monster didn’t die. He quickly lowered his stance.  The monster’s axe cleaved through the space where his head had just been.

He hadn’t dodged consciously.  It was pure luck.

“Whoa!”

He lunged forward, swinging his sword.  The monster, its balance broken from swinging its axe backward while on the stairs, stumbled greatly and finally tumbled down to the bottom.

He pursued it. He had to strike a fatal blow now and finish it off.

As he quickly descended the stairs, the characters of light appeared in his mind once again.

←↖↑↓→←↑↓+HS

Supreme King’s Backsword

‘Not that one! The small one!’

The most basic skill. The universal command present in every fighting game.

Something flashed through his mind.

↑↖←+S

Flying Swallow Slash – Down

A downward slash.

The motion naturally formed in his mind. He knew how to use the skill.

His gaze locked onto the monster.  Charging towards the creature as it scrambled to get up, he swiftly swung the sword he had flipped behind his back.

The tip of the sword didn’t touch the monster. But a streak of blue energy followed the trajectory of the sword.  The monster’s chest split open with a cracking sound.

“Whoaaa!”

Landing awkwardly, he threw himself forward, stabbing the monster’s chest.  It was an attack that relied more on his body weight than strength.

The sword plunged deep, piercing through the already open wound. The monster couldn’t hold on any longer and collapsed backward.

“Haah, haah…”

Panting heavily, he raised his head. The monster wasn’t moving.  Its vacant, glassy eyes confirmed its death.

“Hah.”

Exhaling deeply once more, he stood up. He heard hiccuping sounds.

The woman was sitting huddled nearby, trembling and hiccuping repeatedly.

A dark red officer’s cap and coat, a white bikini underneath, flamboyant platinum blonde hair, and a beautiful, pale face with striking blue eyes.

There would hardly be any women walking around dressed like that in the real world.  But Kang-seok knew a place where women dressed like this were commonplace.

Excessively flamboyant appearance.

An outfit that a normal person would never wear.

He lowered his sword.  After sheathing the blade, which was surprisingly clean despite being plunged deep into the monster’s body, he slowly approached the trembling woman.

“Um, are you okay?”

He tried to speak as kindly as possible, but the woman flinched and tensed her shoulders.

She had been dragged away by a monster, not a thug, so it was natural that she couldn’t respond properly.  Moreover, if his guess was correct, she was probably already in a state of confusion.

“O-Okay, o…hic.”

She hiccuped repeatedly.  It was a relief that she wasn’t sobbing uncontrollably.

He patiently moved a little closer.  Holding out his empty hands, he said,

“My name is Choi Kang-seok. What’s yours?”

The woman’s eyes widened at the clearly Korean name. He focused on her reaction, waiting for her answer.

“S-Sung Yoo-jin. Sung Yoo-jin.”

Having barely managed to answer, she looked at him cautiously.

‘As expected, Korean.’

Instead of replying, he gritted his teeth.  His prediction had been correct, but he couldn’t be happy about it.

A woman transformed into a game character, just like him.

What was going on?

Who was behind this?

He took a deep breath.

He was also very confused right now.  He was still agitated from the fight with the unknown monster.

But he tried to remain calm. He looked down at Sung Yoo-jin, who was crouched on the ground, looking up at him.

Choi Kang-seok.

Sung Yoo-jin.

They had at least exchanged names.  So, what should he say next? What should he say first?

He reached behind his head.  Even he thought it was a crazy thing to do, but he felt a sudden urge to check.

After a moment of hesitation, he abruptly held out his sword to her.

“Here, try holding this sword.”

“Huh?”

Startled by him suddenly drawing his sword, Sung Yoo-jin blinked with a dazed expression.  She seemed to have trouble understanding what he said.

It was a natural reaction.  A man who had just defeated a monster had suddenly approached her, introduced himself, and then asked her to hold his sword.

He knew his actions were strange. Perhaps his mind was scrambled from experiencing actual combat for the first time.  But he had already started, so he held the sword out a little further towards Sung Yoo-jin.

“Please.”

“Uh…okay.”

Reluctantly, she took the sword.  Crouching down to meet her eyes, he asked,

“Doesn’t something come to mind? Like arrows?”

He wanted confirmation.

He had woken up looking like his game character.  Moreover, he had gained abilities like his game character.  Was the same true for Sung Yoo-jin?

She didn’t answer immediately. After looking around in confusion, she finally opened her mouth.

“Um…this might sound crazy, but…”

She raised the Supreme King’s Backsword in front of her face, her eyebrows furrowing.

“I can see the weapon’s attack power.”

—–CROW—– 

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