The Uncanny Discomfort

I don’t care what kind of looks others give me. If I don’t use these spare moments to raise the levels of miscellaneous non-combat skills, I’ll lose time that should be focused on more important skill leveling later.

After some time passed, we arrived at the second village.

It was a bit larger than the previous one. I liked the detail that the towns grew bigger the closer we got to the capital.

But strangely, something was grating on my nerves.

Looking around, there were countless people walking the streets of the village. I wasn’t sure exactly what was bothering me, but a powerful sense of uncanny discomfort pricked at my senses.

“Andrealphus? Is there somewhere you wish to stop?”

As I stood blankly in the middle of the road looking around, Azrael, who had been walking ahead, turned back.

I shook my head and followed him. The unpleasant feeling didn’t vanish, but it wasn’t strong enough to justify slowing down the group to search for its source.

Despite all the fuss the knights had made, there was nothing particularly special about the teleportation circle.

If I had to point something out, it was that the coordinates for the destination were not written on it.

It seemed they had intentionally hidden the coordinates by writing them slightly below the surface, covering them with dirt, and then constructing the magic circle on top.

This was likely to prevent anyone who didn’t understand the mechanics from using it recklessly.

After using the teleportation circles about four times, I began to wonder intensely how the users of this game normally travel.

Is it only this slow because I’m moving with NPCs, or is it this tedious for players too?

We aren’t even moving to another country; is it really this slow just to get to the capital?

In The Hunters, if it’s an area I or a party member has visited, we can just grab the coordinates from the map, draw a teleportation circle, and move instantly.

I missed that god-tier system.

Since I could technically be considered in a party with these knights, I wondered if we could teleport together.

I opened the map several times with a faint hope, but seeing that only the areas I had already passed through were active as teleportation zones, I quietly gave up.

But it’s weird.

Knights of Dark Ages isn’t a game like The Hunters where you can raise multiple professions on one character.

Naturally, there should be teleportation circles or movement items for users.

At the very least, once you enter a village, it should be possible to move directly to the capital using an internal transport system.

I decided I’d have to ask another user if I met one, and I let out a long yawn.

“Haaaah….”

I’m bored.

The logout function is still stubbornly locked, and the travel is long.

The monsters we encountered occasionally during the journey fell quickly to the knights’ swords.

My only consolation was not having to directly confront the monsters that resembled humans in a truly unpleasant way.

I quietly pulled my mount alongside Azrael’s horse.

Azrael looked at me through his helmet.

“Azrael, how much longer do we have to travel?”

Azrael tilted his head before answering.

“Are you very bored?”

“…Yes.”

It would be ridiculous to lie after acting like this the whole time.

I nodded. I heard a chuckle from behind Azrael’s helmet.

“I am sorry. I am taking a long detour because I am conducting a regional inspection at the same time.”

“Inspection?”

For an inspection, he was passing through the villages quite casually and didn’t seem interested in the locals.

When I asked with a tone carrying that nuance, Azrael nodded as if in affirmation.

“Recently, monsters we have never seen before have been increasing. Reports say that monsters with no previous records are stronger than existing ones, and even monsters that have been around for a long time are showing changes in their shape or attack power.”

Is it a new large-scale update?

I thought nonchalantly as I listened to Azrael’s serious voice.

“Actually, I think I saw something like that before I joined up with you, Prince.”

“What you saw was likely it. According to the reports, stronger monsters appear the further you get from the capital. In fact, as we head toward the capital now… the monsters are gradually becoming weaker.”

Is that because the starting area for beginners in Knights of Dark Ages is the capital?

I let Azrael’s words drift past me like that.

“Your Highness, enemies have appeared!”

And then, just when I was completely off guard, thinking only of monsters, it happened.

I stared at the enemies standing before us with a pale face.

The enemies, standing on two legs, silently pointed their swords toward us.

The opponents, numbering about a dozen, were clearly humans.

As if to hide their identity, the backs of the blades and the ends of the hilts were messily broken; nothing could be seen of their swords other than their basic features.

Those whose entire bodies were bound in black cloth so that not even a sliver of skin was revealed looked enough like monsters to be mistaken for them, but their movements were human.

Watching their ribcages rise and fall naturally, I gritted my teeth.

“Prince, are these people the enemy army…?”

In this tense state before the battle began, I hurriedly changed my profession.

As I gripped my wand, the Dullahan let out a faint horse-like sound and collapsed like crumbling ash.

The men wrapped in black cloth took a step back at that sight.

Flustered by the emergence of an unexpected variable, they quickly exchanged glances.

The one who seemed to be leading them frowned and readjusted his grip on his sword.

“Rather than an army… they look like assassins.”

“It is not a surprise. Even if it is not the enemy army, there are countless people who harbor hostility toward the Commander.”

What on earth does that mean?

Azrael appeared normal at first glance.

I opened the status window to check the stats of the unknown enemies, but I was blocked by the system.

[Due to the effect of an item held by the target, the information window cannot be viewed.]

What is this now?

I swallowed hard with discomfort, gripping my wand so tightly it felt like it might break.

Once the battle begins, someone is bound to die.

It will surely be a blood-drenched situation.

…I might vomit and be forced to disconnect again. Even now, my stomach was already churning.

“Andrealphus, are you alright?”

As if he heard my unusual breathing, Azrael shifted his gaze toward me.

Instead of answering, I gestured for him to look at the enemy.

This was no time to be distracted.

Whether I was forced to log out or not, the battle would proceed, and Azrael could be seriously injured in the process.

“—Where do you think you’re going!”

Taking advantage of the moment our group’s attention was divided, the enemies lunged at us.

Azrael’s knights barely managed to block their swords.

They did not seem to be easy opponents.

It was a relief that Azrael’s knights didn’t crumble in a single exchange.

If I stepped in to handle it, I might be able to suppress them quickly.

If I used a spell to put them to sleep or an ice spell to momentarily stop their feet, I could handle them without seeing blood.

Just as I thought that and raised my wand, red blood splattered before my eyes.

It was the blood of a knight who had allowed an assassin’s attack to land.

I almost dropped my wand because of the warm liquid that suddenly splashed onto my cheek.

Managing to catch the wand I almost lost, Azrael suddenly pulled on the hem of my clothes.

As I was dragged along, stumbling, a broken sword grazed the tip of my nose.

While I was trying to triple-cast a knockback spell, a freezing spell, and a sleep spell, being pulled caused me to barely succeed in casting a single knockback spell on the opponent in front of me.

As the man in black who swung the sword at me was pushed far back by the intangible force, another person approached me at high speed.

Frightened by that terrifying momentum, I habitually uttered an attack spell I frequently used.

It was a light explosion spell.

Bang.

And that person collapsed just like that with a terrifying sound, their head crushed like tofu.

Blood, the same temperature as a human’s body, soaked me.

It was the result of massive over-damage compared to their health.

“…….”

At that gruesome sight, everyone present—friend and foe alike—stopped moving.

My knees lost their strength, and I collapsed onto the ground.

Even though food intake in the game doesn’t actually go through the stomach, a surge of nausea rose from deep within my throat.

My vision was blurred.

This is why I hate this game.

Why do they need to implement people so realistically?

I hate the impact feel when attacking a person, and I hate the graphics that make wounds after someone is hurt look horribly realistic.

Aren’t damage indicators and a decreasing health bar enough?

Isn’t a graphic that makes the injured area glow red sufficient?

As I vented my frustration toward an unknown target internally, my extreme emotions calmed down slightly.

After retching a couple of times, my breathing was ragged.

As I stumbled up while gripping my wand, the men bound in black cloth slowly backed away, then vanished at high speed following the command of the one who appeared to be their leader.

“Calm down, Andrealphus.”