Outside, in the rainy night.
Accompanied by flashes of lightning and thunder, non-human creatures were approaching.
A Giant Bat flapped its wings in the air, its terrifying silhouette revealed by the lightning.
Unlike a normal bat, its body looked very human-like in the light.
It was like a Bat-man type of creature from a fantasy setting.
Below it, on the town's streets.
Two hunched creatures, Ghouls, were crawling on the ground.
Every now and then, they would stand on two legs, seemingly sniffing the air for something.
“One Giant Bat, two Ghouls, a classic combination.”
“What?” Aliris asked, a little confused.
Although they had been fleeing for their lives and had fought these monsters, they had never seen them before and still referred to them generically as monsters.
“The monsters' names. Wait, don't move.”
Karna suddenly said, pressing down on Aliris beside him, and then he too pulled his head back, remaining perfectly still.
It happened so suddenly that Aliris, though puzzled, obeyed the command, becoming as still as a wooden dummy.
An invisible wave passed through.
Their ears rang amidst the thunder.
The manifestation was a little different from the game, but the difference was not significant.
Karna thought.
This was a method of detection used by the Giant Bat; if one's movements were even slightly too large when the wave occurred, it would be extremely easy to be discovered.
Even in such a lightning-filled, rainy night.
The manifestation was that it would cause a slight ringing in one's ears.
The ringing in the ears gradually faded from strong to weak, indicating that the probing sound wave had passed through the person without being detected.
If the ringing in the ears suddenly appeared and then suddenly disappeared, like an illusion, and you happened to be moving, then you would be detected.
Without understanding how this mechanism worked, no one would notice anything unusual, and then their hiding place would be discovered by the Giant Bat.
Especially since these monsters had only just appeared.
“Hao!”
In a lull between thunderclaps, the howl of a Ghoul from below could be heard.
It seemed those three Soldiers were doomed.
“You can move now. We need to get out of here. First, take off your armor; it will give away our position.”
Aliris's armor was severely damaged and made a very clear sound, making it easy to expose them.
Moreover, she was currently having difficulty moving.
“But…” Hearing this, Aliris wanted to refuse.
“Listen to me, Aliris, we have to escape from here.”
“…Yes.”
Aliris compromised and nodded.
Her left leg was already fractured, and wearing such a full-body armor would indeed be very inconvenient.
She then began to take off her armor.
After a short while, Karna, who had been watching the situation outside the window, noticed that the movements behind him had stopped.
“What's wrong?”
“I'm sorry, Your Highness, I can't take it off by myself.”
Right, this wasn't a game where you could change outfits with a single click. Karna came back to his senses.
“Then I'll help you.”
Karna didn't waste any time and immediately started to act.
But as soon as he laid hands on it, he discovered the problem: how was this thing supposed to come off?
The game wouldn't be so realistic as to require him to slowly put it on himself.
“Your Highness, from here…”
Aliris directed him, watching Karna's actions, wondering what she was thinking.
Soon, the outer armor was removed, and Aliris was still wearing light inner armor underneath, which offered a little bit of defense.
“Let's go, we need to leave this building first.”
Saying this, Karna helped Aliris up from the ground and handed her the sword nearby.
Aliris, once on her feet, pointed to a corner nearby.
“Your Highness… your sword.”
“Oh.” Karna nodded in realization, then went and retrieved the sword from the corner.
Looking at the sword in his hand, Karna's eyes lit up.
【Crimson Dance】
However, judging by its appearance, this should be the version not yet corrupted by the Crimson power.
Without the dark effects of the Crimson, it actually looked cooler.
He pulled his thoughts back; now was not the time to think about these things. He fastened the sword to his waist.
He quickly helped Aliris down the stairs.
The old wooden building creaked loudly as the two moved quickly.
“Your Highness, we're making too much noise; it might attract enemies.”
They had fled all the way from the royal palace to here, and along the way, they had encountered these never-before-seen monsters.
Aliris also knew that these monsters had very keen hearing.
“Don't worry now; they've been drawn to the Soldiers. Let's take advantage of this opportunity.”
Saying this, he quickly went downstairs. Just as they reached the broken opening nearby, ready to go out, they heard screams from a distance.
They could only tell that they were male.
“It's Matt.” Aliris recognized whose screams they were.
So it was that foul-mouthed Soldier?
If they had followed them, perhaps their survival rate would have been higher. Of course, this was only from Karna's current perspective.
“This is an opportunity.” Karna said, immediately helping Aliris as they quickly splashed through the muddy water and pouring rain, moving through the town's houses and alleys.
“Which way?” Karna asked. He had some vague memories in his mind, and the closer he got to the time he transmigrated, the clearer his memories became.
But the original owner was just the original owner; his mind contained no useful information, only various panics and curses.
“That way, that way is the town's exit.” Aliris pointed to the other side of the town.
Well, it turned out they had hidden as soon as they entered the town.
Thunder rumbled.
Suddenly, Karna stopped, pressing hard on Aliris's shoulder.
Aliris instantly understood, and the two stopped in the shadows.
The ringing in their ears returned.
Two consecutive instances of remaining still accompanied by a slight ringing in the ears—even in her current extremely poor state, Aliris instantly grasped important information.
Ringing in the ears meant they were being detected.
But the problem was… she looked at the unmoving Karna.
After a while, Karna's voice spoke up.
“More than one squad? This is troublesome.”
If it were before, even at just level two or three, he would have been confident in clearing out these two Vampire scout teams in this town.
Although he didn't have a personal stat panel, he could still feel, based on experience, that this body's level was at most one.
And it was just the basic stats that a 'Nobody' would have.
This feeling was too familiar.
After all, when he participated in the internal testing, that shocking feeling of first contact with a virtual game, he would never forget it for the rest of his life.
Later, after the public beta, he had also played several accounts, so he was very sensitive to the feeling and stats of a novice body.
However, it would be great if there was a data panel or something.
They continued to move faster.
The square was ahead; there was no cover, making it too easy to be caught.
He looked at a nearby house with a hole in it and decided to go around through there.
As soon as they slipped inside and entered another room, a whooshing sound swept down from the side.
“Crack!”
The sound of a wooden stick breaking.
“Monster, die!”
Someone behind the door attacked them, but the wooden stick was blocked by Aliris.
The wooden stick shattered against her arm, and Aliris countered with a punch, striking the enemy.
And that person, presumably a town resident, was slammed against the wall by the punch and knocked unconscious.
“Ah!”
A sharp scream.
It was over; they had been discovered.
There were actually still people in this town.
They hadn't followed the main group and remained here, and they hadn't been caught by the Vampire's reconnaissance unit.
And they just happened to encounter them.
“Your Highness, you go quickly; I'll cover the rear.” Aliris said, drawing her longsword and leaning against the wall on one leg.
Karna glanced at her, thought for a moment, and didn't refuse, nodding: “Then be careful.”
He turned and slipped out through the inner door.
Aliris looked at Karna's retreating figure, her eyes showing no desolation or sadness.
Right, this was how His Highness should be.
She thought.
After Karna woke up, his behavior along the way made her think she had been subjected to an illusion.
Now that Karna was acting as he once should have, it actually put her at ease.
Gripping the sword in her hand, she looked in the direction of the sound.
She had never thought that she could escape from here in her current state; she only thought that perhaps she could continue to help His Highness before she died.
It wasn't because she was so loyal to Karna, but entirely because she was loyal to the Queen and grateful to Karna's mother.
And just a few days ago, when the capital fell.
The Queen had even found her in the end, hoping she would protect Karna well.
For the request made by her savior, the kind, perfect Queen.
She naturally agreed and swore allegiance.
She would die before His Highness.
A loud crash.
The wooden wall was smashed, and the enemy rushed in.