Light of Arad: Forerunner

Chapter 7

“Se, Seria-. She got hit? There was a hit detection?”

He had never seen Seria’s HP drop before.

Moreover, when Jinseong himself was leveling up the character, he just swept through, so he had never even seen the Ghoul Guishi swing his staff at Seria.

But now, right before Jinseong’s eyes, Seria had been hit.

She was even groaning in pain.

“Uh… wait a minute. Then, how….”

Jinseong alternated his gaze between the male Ghost Knight and Seria, who were both standing there dumbfounded.

All the other monsters, except for the Ghoul Guishi, were approaching the male Ghost Knight.

‘What is he doing? Why isn’t he killing them? Is he eating ramen? Of all times, now?’

‘But what happens if a player dies?’

What would happen if the male Ghost Knight character died?

More specifically, what would happen to Jinseong himself?

The death of the male Ghost Knight character, or the player, might not matter.

He could resurrect with a coin.

Of course, it would take a very long time for the player to die from those attacks.

Even if he was eating ramen, he would have plenty of time to react once he saw his character getting hit on the screen.

But another problem remained.

What if Seria died from Ghoul Guishi’s attack?

What would happen then?

“Seria dies… Seria…”

Jinseong knew the story of Dungeon Fighter Online.

Could Seria die here?

‘No, even so, if I go outside-. She’ll be there. Seria dying isn’t in the story-.’

It wasn’t.

Originally, it wasn’t.

But looking at the current situation.

If, by some million-to-one chance, such a thing happened!?

“No way…”

Even though he thought it couldn’t be, Jinseong’s body had already started moving.

A feeling that Seria shouldn’t die here.

A feeling that it would be more than just restarting the quest.

An instinctive sense that only someone who had dedicated their life to Dungeon Fighter Online could feel, ultimately moved Jinseong.

“Grr?”

“Gu…”

At the same time, the faces of the monsters attacking the male Ghost Knight character, as well as the Ghoul Guishi attacking Seria, turned towards him in a synchronized, chilling movement.

“Ha… haha.”

What was the current situation?

Jinseong felt as if his heart was about to jump out of his chest.

What if the player returned now? How would he appear?

Or how would his muttered words be perceived?

Jinseong still hadn’t realized.

This was a battlefield. And idle thoughts shouldn’t dominate his mind.

There was only one outcome that could result from that.

“Kyaaaaa-!”

Something suddenly sprang out from the grass that had grown up to Jinseong’s thighs.

He realized that the grotesque face was actually a mask and that what was swung at him were claws.

“Kk-aah!”

Instinctively, he retreated, but Jinseong realized that he had been ambushed by a Kurogarru of the Lugharru race.

Not just because he saw it visually, but because of the long claw marks on his left arm, which had turned pitch black, and the blood seeping from there.

“A, ah… pain?”

What he felt was a searing pain.

A pain incomparable to the minor scrapes modern people experience in their daily lives.

“Kyaaaa-!”

“Gu… fire…”

That pain brought Jinseong back to his senses.

This was inside the Dungeon Fighter Online game.

But to Jinseong, this was reality.

Death.

“A, aah… ah-.”

What could he say in front of that terrifying thought?

Hesitantly retreating, Jinseong eventually began to flee.

Crack, crackle-!

“Haa, haa…”

“Gu…”

“…fire…”

Contrary to his racing heart and urgent mind, his tense and stiff body slowly pushed through the dark forest.

His body trembled with instinctive fear and pain.

Looking back, Jinseong shouted.

“Get lost! You weren’t even supposed to come after me, damn it!”

“Kyaaaa-!”

He narrowly dodged another Kurogarru that leaped at him.

Stumbling and retreating, Jinseong knew.

Where could he run?

‘No, I don’t even know if I can run or return…’

If an ‘incident’ happened because he ran away?

Jinseong saw it.

The light, virtually the only one left in this dark forest.

And the few silhouettes barely visible around that light.

Ghoul Guishi wasn’t chasing him.

It was attacking Seria.

Jinseong bit his lower lip.

Seeing the monsters clearly in his sight, Jinseong had to make a decision.

“Damn it… this isn’t even my job originally!”

As his trembling left arm calmed down a bit, his pitch-black right hand reached for his waist.

The sensation was unfamiliar and even strange, but one thing was certain.

“I… I may look like this, but-. I’ve ranked 8th as a Dark Knight before!”

Jinseong drew his sword.

Gathering all his strength in both arms gripping the sword, he shouted at the approaching monsters.

“!”

A powerful slash imbued with all his strength.

Jinseong’s sword, charged with the dark attribute’s purple energy, cut through the approaching zombies and Kurogarru simultaneously.

“Gu-?”

“Kyar…”

The surrounding monsters hesitated for a moment as they saw their comrades being sliced apart in an instant.

Although they seemed to have some level of intelligence or perhaps just an instinctive reaction, the most surprised person there was Jinseong himself.

“It… worked. Did it?”

What was the longest blade he had ever used up until now?

A utility knife he barely managed to pull out two or three sections of?

If a plastic knife used to cut cake could be considered a knife, that would be the extent of it.

But what was the weapon Jinseong just used now?

A sword. With a blade length of at least 80cm on one side!

It was surprising enough to handle a weapon he was swinging for the first time better than expected, but what about the result of the gamble he took moments ago?

“Kyark-.”

Another Kurogarru lunged at Jinseong.

Jinseong felt it.

Should he retreat at this moment?

If it were another character, another class, he might have.

But Jinseong’s choice was different.

“!”

He was familiar with the movements when using this skill, having seen his dot character perform it on the monitor countless times, so he moved accordingly.

As he leaped low and fast to meet the Kurogarru charging at him.

Whish──────!

He executed a rapid downward slash from above!

“-Kya…”

Jinseong winced for a moment as he saw the Kurogarru’s right arm completely severed and falling off.

In the game, it would have just sprawled on the ground and disappeared after a death verdict, but that wasn’t how it appeared to Jinseong.

However, that wasn’t the important point right now.

“Ahhk!”

Seria’s fragile groan, struck again by the Ghoul Guishi, brought Jinseong back to his senses.

He needed to focus on what he had to do.

Jinseong tightened his grip on his sword.

“Damn it, if only I could see the skill window! Where do I check my items and info? Not that automatic combo settings would mean much-…!”

Perhaps it was still typical of Jinseong to express his deep frustration amidst the chaos.

But one thing had certainly changed.

Even though he felt fear, the tip of his sword no longer wavered.

“I told you, I’ve ranked 8th as a Dark Knight. You’re all dead meat.”

And beyond the tip of his sword, his gaze was burning as he looked at Seria floating in the air to restore the magic circle.

“, !”

It was different from just being one-sidedly attacked.

Since realizing his attacks worked, it could be called an awakening, literally.

“Guu…”

“Fire… must stop…”

“I can’t even see the cooldown! You know, this is the basic combo that goes out when you press A, A. Well, even if I can’t see the cooldown, my body remembers it-. Right now!”

More importantly, once Jinseong confirmed that the ‘knowledge he knew’ was being utilized, his movements were entirely different from the guy who could only barely run away a moment ago.

“, ! By the way, that’s S, S, you jerks!”

Jinseong was literally running rampant in ‘Dungeon: Dark Thunderland.’

Running movements, light sword swings, basic attacks that would have been triggered by pressing the X key in the game.

There were several monsters, but none could stand against Jinseong.

“The magic circle must be restored…”

Ghoul Guishi had already left Seria and was approaching Jinseong.

Even swinging his staff heavily at Jinseong’s back as he was about to use against a zombie.

But Jinseong felt it.

Though it was different from watching the game on the monitor, he could clearly grasp the information.

With Ghoul Guishi’s muttering and the subtle blue glow of magic forcefully emanating from behind him, how could he not notice!

“No matter… the sacrifice!”

Swoosh-!

“Gah?!”

When the staff slashed through the air, Ghoul Guishi let out a startled sound.

At that moment, Jinseong’s voice already came from behind him.

“Don’t you know this?”

Ghoul Guishi hurriedly turned around.

Facing the boss monster, Jinseong’s lips curled into a grin.

“Cancel backstep during basic attack.”

It was a basic control technique that a former ranker might shrug off, but doing it with his body instead of a keyboard was an entirely different achievement.

In addition, considering that Jinseong was facing a completely defenseless Ghoul Guishi, his expression was understandable.

Ghoul Guishi tried to utter its repetitive incantation.

“Magic circle restoration-.”

“!”

However, Jinseong’s skill was faster.

Jinseong’s sword, imbued with dark energy, slashed Ghoul Guishi from the shoulder blade to the abdomen in a long cut.

───────────……!!!!

At that moment, a light so bright it was blinding began to emanate from the magic circle.

‘Is it over? Is everything going back to normal now?’

Jinseong squinted as he examined the fallen body of Ghoul Guishi in front of the magic circle.

From the wound he had inflicted, some objects had fallen out.

One was a necklace. Another was a lump of dark purple.

But the problem was the next item.

Another item that had fallen beside those.

Something unknown yet familiar to him.

‘A card? Ah?!’

Jinseong instinctively grasped the card.

It was a sort of habitual looting, but unlike the necklace and the dark purple lump, he felt compelled to pick up the card.

Instinct was faster than deliberation or decision.

‘Ugh, let’s get out of here first.’

As the light from the magic circle began to fade, Jinseong quickly threw himself into the forest and hid.

Only then did something reach Jinseong’s ears.

“ㅇ뫠ㅓㅏ러ㅙㅑㄹ”

It was the incomprehensible, barely audible mutterings of a male Ghost Knight character.

And from the subsequent sounds that followed, Jinseong could vaguely grasp the situation.

“Ah, are you out? Is it okay? Lag? Lag lag lag.”

They were probably entering consecutive chat commands to check for server connection delays, commonly known as ‘lags’.

Though Jinseong was bewildered, he knew he couldn’t, and didn’t need to, talk to the character, so he just hid in the bushes, still feeling floored.

Most importantly, the situation of ‘lag’, which he had considered a problem, seemed to be resolved now.

“Adventurer…! Are you okay?”

At some point, Seria, who had collapsed on the fairy’s magic circle, got up and was running towards the male Ghost Knight character.

However, Jinseong swallowed dryly.

‘…Lag?’

The ominous feeling from that one word flashed through Jinseong’s mind.