Side Story: Another World – 4
After the You died message that had appeared on the blood-stained screen vanished, the game restarted as the character stood up from where they had fallen, but the room was still enveloped in silence.
Not only had Kaiquilia met a gruesome end as her doppelgänger, but the others were wide-eyed and staring, seemingly shocked at the unexpected situation.
The only two who weren’t flustered were Minerva and me. Minerva found Kaiquilia’s expression amusing, while I knew it was just a game character, not a real doppelgänger.
“…Why?”
Kaiquilia, staring blankly at her resurrected character, muttered with wide eyes. Then she jerked her head and looked at me, her gaze filled with indignation.
“Why couldn’t I dodge? I clearly realized that the last attack was a trap. But even if I pressed the space bar as you said, I still couldn’t avoid it! If it were me, I definitely wouldn’t have been hit!”
Kaiquilia, confronting me in anger, resembled a child throwing a tantrum for candy from their parents. It felt less like genuine anger and more like a complaint born from overwhelming frustration.
Minerva seemed to feel the same way and covered her mouth with her hand, trembling as she stifled her laughter.
“Well, if it were you, Kaiquilia, you could have dodged, but the characters in the game don’t move as fluidly. They can’t perform the next action until the previous one is fully completed.”
If it had been the real Kaiquilia, the moment an odd attack came, she would have stopped whatever she was doing and countered.
But this was a game, and characters couldn’t act until the previous movement was finished. Even if she recognized the strange attack, if she got knocked down, she had to take the hit.
Kaiquilia pouted in dissatisfaction.
“Are you saying that I have to match my movements to that doppelgänger?”
“That’s right. You need to act according to the character’s movements, not according to your own experiences and combat instincts.”
I never imagined I’d find myself giving such advice to a newbie in Brightest Darkness 4. The reality of her physical abilities being significantly superior to those of a game character made adapting quite a challenge.
I guess living this long was useful.
‘…Is 10 years really that long?’
Well, if the game has a lifespan of 10 years, then yes, I suppose it is.
After a moment of groaning, Kaiquilia placed her hands back on the keyboard and mouse. The golden glint in her eyes, focused on the monitor, determined not to make a mistake the next time.
But that willpower wasn’t all that helpful.
“You’ve only avoided a few attacks! Why aren’t you moving?”
She rolled to dodge the pattern but ran out of stamina and died.
“I swear I pressed that space bar! So why didn’t I dodge?”
After forgetting her combat fatigue and trying to roll, she ended up dying because the dodge didn’t activate.
“I clearly parried that just now! So why!”
In a maximum combat fatigue state, she mistimed a rapid-fire parry and died to a follow-up attack.
After her fifth resurrection at the fall point, Kaiquilia, with a hint of venom in her expression, controlled her character.
Phhh… Kkhh…
Every time Kaiquilia let out an indignant scream, Minerva burst out laughing, now leaning against the wall, chuckling helplessly.
It was fortunate for me that the involved party was too busy trying to defeat the Human Butcher to notice her state.
Aurora and the Knights Commanders were also preoccupied with watching Kaiquilia’s comical indignation. This was probably the first time she had expressed such intense emotions in a positive manner.
‘Not that this is a positive emotion for her, though.’
As the uproar continued, I noticed the Pope, Stella, and Selene approaching from another room. I quietly moved aside to approach Minerva, who was still giggling against the wall.
Her tears of laughter were glistening in her eyes. Sweat glistened on the cleavage revealed through her bathrobe.
“What’s so funny?”
“Of course, it’s the sight of that child getting angry. It’s the first time I’ve seen her express such whining rage; how could that not be entertaining?”
Though she appeared angry on the surface, Kaiquilia wasn’t genuinely furious.
Her annoyance while playing the game proved that, because if she were truly upset, she wouldn’t be so engrossed in Brightest Darkness 4.
I’ve had my moments of serious anger while playing Darkest Light Mod, so I get it.
Though I usually didn’t last a day before coming back to it.
“I have no idea how to adequately thank that child. I never expected such an ordinary life to be possible before she died.”
Minerva took my hand and gently stroked the back of it.
“That child was so isolated that she spared my brother, who is practically inhuman, simply because he had no connection to any demons. If that child is now expressing her emotions so vividly, it’s clear who deserves the credit.”
The once bright silver eyes, now devoid of laughter, were gazing longingly at Kaiquilia, who had been snagged by yet another odd attack, causing a You died notification to appear again. I too wiped the smile from my face.
‘All this time, I thought I was just enjoying the sight of Kaiquilia getting angry.’
Was there really this kind of backstory?
It turns out Minerva’s laughter had a fair share of joy mixed in as well.
Kaiquilia had truly been unpredictable since our first meeting. She could swing a sword near someone’s neck with such ease for the sake of satisfying her curiosity.
Comparing the old Kaiquilia to the current one, you could say she’s not just softened but had completely transformed. And it was certainly a positive transformation.
“Oh, what a shame about that last attack. I feel like I could have taken it down with just a couple more hits.”
Aurora’s voice pulled me from my thoughts. I checked the remaining HP of the Human Butcher while watching Kaiquilia’s trembling hands gripping the mouse.
The death animation of the Human Butcher was the longest of them all, so she barely managed to succeed. Right after that, her health was nearly depleted.
‘Since she was wielding a longsword… probably just two more hits would have done it.’
Considering how thick the remaining HP was, it seemed so based on my rough estimate; my guess should be accurate.
“You shouldn’t be greedy, Kaiquilia. Prioritize defense over offense. This is the first lesson that holds true in this game, so engrave it deeply in your mind.”
If she charged in thinking she could just land two more hits, she might miss that last strike and end up having to start all over again.
The Brightest Darkness series had always been a game that prioritized defense over offense. If she thought about it like a typical glass-cannon scenario, she could end up giving away flesh only to have her bones shattered instead.
“Why didn’t you wear armor? If you had put on some armor, you would have been able to tank that last hit.”
Since we were playing the vanilla version of Brightest Darkness 4, without the Darkest Light Mod, even wearing the medium armor provided by her knight lineage would have allowed her to withstand the Human Butcher’s attacks pretty well.
But Kaiquilia recklessly charged at the Human Butcher with nothing but a longsword and her uniform. Being unarmored definitely contributed to her faster deaths.
“Why wouldn’t I wear armor? It’s quite obvious, isn’t it?”
Returning to the fall point, Kaiquilia calmly defeated the mobs as she advanced.
“With the goddess directly creating my doppelgänger, it would have been meaningless if I broke without resembling myself.”
She seemed deeply immersed in her game character. I quietly observed her from behind, marveling at the extraordinary focus she displayed while meticulously taking down the Human Butcher.
Though this was her sixth attempt, the fact that someone who had never even played games before had gotten so close to defeating the Human Butcher in just six tries was impressive in itself.
Hardcore players like the Forsaken might be able to tap-dance while taking down bosses, but the Human Butcher was a boss designed primarily to run away from you.
‘…Or is he?’
Given Kaiquilia’s physical capabilities, the fact that she had died five times might suggest she was relatively underperforming.
Still, it was good to see she was having fun. If she had given up due to boredom, I would have been left wondering what else to give her to do. If Brightest Darkness 4 wasn’t her thing, the only other game I could offer was Brightest Darkness 3.
“It’s done!”
Kaiquilia exclaimed, her voice a bit higher as she dealt the final blow. The Human Butcher, gazing up at the sky, let out a loud cry before crashing down.
That was it. If you defeat the boss in a hallway rather than a plaza, it wouldn’t use its skull bomb pattern. Of course, this was only for the vanilla version.
Kaiquilia, having defeated the Human Butcher, looked back at me with sparkling eyes. Her hands subtly clapped together.
“Congratulations, Kaiquilia. You did an amazing job. Ah, now the drop item will appear, so get closer to collect it.”
Kaiquilia didn’t show much of a reaction, but she couldn’t hide the smug smile that crept onto her lips after receiving praise. Seeing that, Minerva smiled warmly.
As her character approached the corpse of the Human Butcher and pressed E in front of the white orb, a small tooltip popped up, revealing a familiar red sword and the text ‘Blood-Stained Sword.’
For a moment, she was confused by the very familiar appearance, but then a knight clad in silver armor emerged from nowhere.
“That sword is….”
Iris, who had already been bewildered by the sight of the Human Butcher, let out a soft gasp. An all-too-familiar prison, a familiar enemy, a well-known character appearance, and familiar silver armor.
All of them existed within her memories.
As the silver knight began speaking almost the same words she had first directed toward me, Iris looked at me with trembling eyes. Kaiquilia, reading the tooltip, muttered softly.
“I remember this sword. Delta, wasn’t it the weapon you used?”
“That’s correct.”
“Really?”
As I calmly affirmed, all eyes were suddenly on me. Given that it was impossible to hide such information after witnessing the NPC based on Iris appear following the defeat of the Human Butcher, I was already prepared for this moment.
“First, I should tell you how this game was created.”
“Do you all remember those guys who used the same techniques as you? Those are the ones that appear in this game. The Creature that Devours the World absorbed all of my knowledge.”
By the time my explanation ended, even Minerva, who had been listening with keen interest, was left staring blankly.
It wouldn’t be easy to accept that this game was modeled after their world and that its sole purpose was to serve me.
‘It’s best to keep quiet about the fact that my past actions were also turned into a game for a while.’
Unless they noticed and asked me first, I had no intention of revealing that. Having embraced my memories for the sake of True Death, the first three games only served as a trauma feedback device.
“…So the child knew exactly where the Ancient Scroll was?”
“Yes. It’s thanks to this game. Except for the most minute details, it’s practically equivalent to the goddess’s world.”
Upon hearing that the knowledge of the scroll’s location came from Brightest Darkness 4, Minerva’s eyes sparkled. Her expression made it clear what thoughts were running through her mind.
“I understand completely. If this has perfectly recreated the empire I once ruled, there’s no reason not to investigate. Just the right opportunity has arisen.”
“Investigation, you say? What is it?”
“Let’s save it for later enjoyment. If I achieve my goal, I’ll be sure to tell you first.”
As Kaiquilia grasped the keyboard and mouse, she focused on reading the dialogue. I wondered what kind of goal she could possibly be aiming for.
“Um… Delta. Can I try it out too?”
“Aurora, you too?”
Aurora shyly nodded.
“Yeah. Since you said it perfectly replicated the world I lived in, I became curious. I also have some things I want to try out.”
I glanced around to see if anyone else was interested, but besides Kaiquilia, Minerva, and Aurora, no one else seemed eager to try. The others were just wide-eyed, amazed.
Nix was laughing softly from her corner, wrapped up in her blanket, regardless of our chatter.
‘…Should I go for a total overhaul now?’
I pondered briefly over the rapidly increasing demand for the computer. Although it was still only a notch below high-end, a man’s never-ending ambition for computers was a given.
While daydreaming about a computer completely outfitted with high-end components, my smartphone vibrated in my pocket. I pulled it out to check.
The sender of the message read as ‘Mom.’
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