Knight Order Entrance Exam – 4

The combat system in Brightest Darkness 4 is largely divided into two main categories.

Dodge and parry, generally used against humanoid enemies, and block and roll, generally used against monster-type enemies. Finally, there’s parrying, a special counterattack.

Of course, you could use dodge and parry against monster-type enemies, or block and roll against humanoid enemies. It wasn’t something strictly enforced by the system either.

It was purely a matter of efficiency.

“As expected, Iris really has an eye for things!”

For example, if I had used a roll in front of a boss that uses a ridiculously long combo pattern, capable of up to 13 consecutive hits like now, I’d get hit during the roll’s post-delay, get staggered, and then it would be perfect for getting butchered and dying from the ensuing attacks.

The twin daggers covered in ice and the sword with a red blade continuously clashed, creating sharp metallic sounds. My hands tingled. Much more than when I parried the Human Butcher’s giant blunt weapon.

Her arms were slender, looking like they’d break with a flick, but her strength was immense.

As I parried her final, 13th attack, she took a few steps back and immediately showcased her next pattern. It was a stance where she lowered her body sharply forward, crossed her arms in front of her head, and charged.

‘7-hit combo.’

After recalling what pattern it was, I also prepared to counter.

The 3rd and 6th attacks in that pattern were subtly off-beat, and if I got caught by them and parried on-beat, my combat fatigue would explode, leading to certain death.

An ice path was laid behind Rije. The path made of ice seemed to hold for a moment, then scattered frosty particles and caused an explosion. A thick fog made of frost settled everywhere.

Being careful not to enter the area covered by the frost fog, I parried the swinging twin daggers.

Right hand, left hand, then an off-beat right hand again. And two right hands followed by one off-beat left hand. The last was a diagonal slash with the right hand.

After parrying every single attack, including the final diagonal slash, I seized the moment Rije hesitated and launched my own attack. As my sword sliced across her arm, a shallow cut appeared, and a few drops of blood trickled down.

‘It definitely felt like it landed properly this time too.’

Even though the sword struck her exposed, bare arm while she was defenseless, the only injury was a shallow cut. A cut so shallow it only caused a few drops of blood to flow.

I had landed quite a few attacks before, but they all only inflicted minor injuries. It seemed the game’s HP concept was applied in this manner.

Rije glanced down at her arm, which was covered in numerous scratches, and exclaimed in a joyful voice.

“Yes, that’s right! That’s how it should be! A man should have that much backbone, shouldn’t he? The more I see you, the more I like you!”

Then she kicked off the ground once more and charged at me. The expression she gave me clearly held enjoyment. It wasn’t enjoyment of the combat itself, but rather interest and pleasure directed solely at me.

It felt like getting her arm cut didn’t bother her at all. It was expected anyway, as she didn’t die from a single hit in the game either.

The figure before me leaped high into the air. Ice and frost gathered on her body. She held the daggers in both hands in a reverse grip, turning them so the tips pointed downwards, preparing to strike.

It was an unblockable attack.

I quickly created distance and rolled backward. Kwadudududuk! A chilling sound of an ice meteor colliding with the ground was heard right nearby. Even though I rolled as soon as I saw it, was it still that close?

‘If this were vanilla, I could have just walked away from it.’

Sharp ice spikes had sprouted in all directions around where Rije landed. Their tips were horrifyingly sharp.

The person who created them, however, casually broke the spikes and walked out. Well, if she got injured by her own ice, that would be a comedy in itself.

The next attack followed immediately. Once, by crossing her arms, once, by swinging the dagger in her left hand from lower right to upper left, and then a 4-hit combo.

I parried all of them and raised my sword to my chest, preparing to counter the final attack. Rije pulled one arm back, leveling her dagger.

It was a thrusting attack that couldn’t be guarded with a weapon block.

To counter it, I either had to parry it at the right timing, or dodge it with a roll or evasion, or use a shield. One of the three.

-CHA-AENG!

The method I chose was, of course, parrying.

The blue blade, lengthened to the size of a typical longsword due to the ice growing from its hilt, met the red blade of the blood-stained sword.

My body couldn’t withstand the recoil and was pushed back significantly. I barely managed to stop myself by digging the tip of my sword into the ground. Rije looked surprised, as if she hadn’t expected me to parry even that.

“Wow, you blocked even that? Where did Iris find such an excellent recruit?”

Taking advantage of the opening, I shook off the frost clinging to my arm and lightly flexed my tingling hand.

Since my sword didn’t have a frost resistance enchantment, even if I parried perfectly, the freezing gauge would slowly accumulate. The question was whether I could finish this before then.

Although Rije had quite a few minor injuries on her body, I couldn’t check her HP, so her health had to be estimated purely by guesswork.

When I used to do speedruns, I memorized all those minor details, but later, as I focused more on Level 1 bare-handed runs than speedruns, I quickly forgot them all.

“Didn’t you say you’d hold back?”

“No, I intended to go easy. I intended to, but what am I supposed to do when you block so well? It makes me curious how much more you can handle. Iris and Erica probably think so too, don’t they?”

I glanced back at the two of them, who were watching our sparring from a distance.

As Rije said, Iris was watching us motionless, arms crossed beneath her chest, and Erica was watching us with an intrigued look in her eyes.

Whatever the case, it seemed to be true that neither of them had any intention of ending the sparring match.

“Iris, isn’t this enough for the exam? How long are you going to make me fight?”

Just in case, I subtly probed Iris. From my perspective, what did I have to lose? If it worked, I could skip Rije’s final pattern, which would be good, and if it didn’t, there was no real harm done.

After all, even if it ended here, Rije or Erica probably wouldn’t fail me.

Iris seemed to ponder for a moment, then gave a small nod.

“Your skill demonstrated thus far is sufficient proof of your qualifications. From the perspective of the exam, there would be no issue ending it now. If both of you wish it, I will conclude it here. Is that alright with you, Rije?”

“What? Wait. End it here? Are you serious?”

“You should have confirmed his skill sufficiently by now. I told you to conduct an entrance exam, not a fight to the death.”

“No, I still have so many techniques I haven’t used! Don’t you have any romance, Iris?”

“Find romance elsewhere. This is an entrance exam, not romance.”

“Ugh… Then just one! Just one more technique, and I’ll let you pass! If I unleash so many attacks and can’t even hit the recruit once, what happens to my dignity as the Captain-nim? And honestly, Iris, aren’t you curious how much more the recruit can handle? Aren’t you? Huh?”

“……”

Iris clearly showed signs of hesitation for a moment. From my perspective, it was utterly absurd.

‘That kind of excuse actually works? Really?’

“……Do as you wish.”

‘It worked.’

Was this also because common sense had been altered, like with the clothes? Why did that work?

Regardless of my bewilderment, with Iris’s permission granted, Rije, now emboldened, raised her daggers again. I, too, who was now fated to fight one more time, reset my stance.

Anyway, she said it would end after just one more technique-

‘……Wait a minute. Just one technique?’

Suddenly, a chill ran down my spine. I had a very, very bad feeling.

“Alright, recruit! I’m a little sorry, but I have to uphold the Captain-nim’s dignity!”

“You said you’d hold back, but what kind of stunt is that for an entrance exam? And what are you going to do if I block even that? Then there won’t be any dignity or anything left!”

“You’re going to block this? Our recruit is audacious! Well then, fine! What the hell, if you block even this, recruit, I’ll grant you one wish! Even something lewd is fine! How about it, does that give you some resolve?”

“I don’t need anything like that, so I’d appreciate it if you’d stop!”

“Sorry, that’s impossible! Instead, really, anything is fine, so think carefully!”

Rije gave a bright smile and covered her twin daggers in ice. White frost coated her entire body, and the surrounding air began to rapidly cool. As soon as I saw that, a deep sigh escaped me.

‘It ended up like this after all. What was the name of that technique? Frost Storm Barrage, was it?’

Frost Storm Barrage was the final combo of Rije’s boss fight added in Dark Lord Mode.

It had 20 hits, each hit dealt ridiculously high damage, and its homing capability was so wild that it was a hellish difficulty to avoid with rolls.

Because of this, it was a crazy pattern that practically forced you to either use a greatshield or parry every single attack. If you were really unlucky, you’d get frozen mid-combo and be done for.

Moreover, it was incredibly malicious; it was a pattern used only twice throughout the entire boss fight, requiring an extremely long time to study.

As Rije lightly swung her arm vertically, an ice path was laid between us. Now I had to concentrate. I cleared all distracting thoughts and focused my consciousness solely on the daggers in her hands.

Leaving a blurry afterimage, Rije’s body shot forward swiftly.

‘First, the initial 4-hit combo.’

She spun her body counter-clockwise, and from that position, two rotational hits flew at me. As soon as the sword and dagger clashed, a tingling electric sensation ran through my hand. I almost dropped my sword.

But there was no time to feel the pain. A storm of frost swirled around the dagger. I parried the first two hits and immediately pulled my blood-stained sword up to my chest.

As soon as I raised my arm, two powerful impacts grazed my chest. My body, having received the shock, was pushed back significantly. It was a speed I absolutely couldn’t have blocked if I had tried to react visually.

As if that wasn’t enough, frost and cold air thickly covered the surroundings, making Rije’s body, which was barely an arm’s length away, appear blurry.

In the game, there was at least some visibility, but not now. Honestly, even the outline of the dagger was faint now.

I gave up trying to follow with my eyes and instead moved as my body remembered, not my head. Recalling the memory of using parry with a right-click of the mouse, I swung my arm as if riding a rhythm.

‘Next, the 8-hit combo.’

As soon as I thought that, the sound of swords clashing was heard exactly eight times, and my body was pushed back a long way again. Rije immediately lunged. I wasn’t given any time to adjust my stance or catch my breath.

Now, frost clung thickly to my arms and legs, making it difficult to even move. There was a limit to forcing my limbs to move. It felt like I would get frozen on the 19th or perhaps the final attack.

‘I can’t endure this. I need to hit her once in the middle to cancel her attack.’

As I was thinking that, the 16th attack flew in. I parried it and racked my brain. After parrying the next, 17th attack, there would be a very brief window to land a hit.

It was an attack that required extremely precise timing, but if successful, it could stagger her and cancel the pattern. I made my decision and prepared to counterattack the incoming dagger.

As soon as I did, my body suddenly felt heavy.

My legs stumbled greatly, feeling as if something was pulling my entire body downwards. Because of that, the tip of my sword hesitated for a moment.

‘Combat fatigue…!’

I steadied my rapidly heavy body. The combo hadn’t continued yet, so I had time. Just before I swung my blood-stained sword again, I saw Rije’s lips curl into a smile.

I examined her stance. At first glance, it looked like she was standing awkwardly. But I knew what that meant.

If I attacked now, my sword would be immediately parried, and I would be hit by a counter.

Before I, realizing that fact, could forcibly twist the trajectory of my sword, someone with a blurry afterimage cut in between Rije and me.

“Stop!”