Translator: Dreamscribe

The Northern Grand Duke's scream, laced with despair, echoed in vain. Her outstretched hand, blocked by the door, could not reach Hans.

Whoosh!

Her body moved before her mind could.

I have to go up. I have to go up...!

That thought filled her mind, piercing through the blank whiteness that had overtaken her head, and by then, she was already sprinting up the stairs leading to the stone wall. She skipped steps and desperately leaped, landing atop the stone wall.

The Northern Grand Duke looked down beneath the stone wall, gasping for breath. In that moment, her breath stopped, and her pupils trembled violently.

Hans was in the grip of the Death Knight. Holding his neck with one hand.

Thud!

The Death Knight thrust its hand into his chest.

"Ah...."

The Northern Grand Duke's expression went blank.

What is this?

She couldn’t grasp what had just happened. The other players who had climbed the stone wall belatedly were equally dumbfounded.

Thump!

The Death Knight threw Hans’s body forward like it was garbage. Hans’s body rolled along the ground, pushed toward the door.

“No, no!”

She jumped down from the stone wall and ran to Hans.

She clutched his body and looked down at him.

“Ghhk!”

“H-Hans, stay with me! I-I’ll do something... somehow....”

A potion?

What should I do? A cleric? Is there a cleric around?

She took a potion from her inventory and poured it in, but a purple current surged from the wound and instantly evaporated the potion.

"I-it's okay."

“Don’t talk! I-I’ll heal you, I will....”

"I'm... just going... to Ella-nim’s side..., that’s all. So..., someday again....”

Hans said, trembling, with great effort.

When an NPC dies, their soul returns to Ella’s side. NPCs at the Adventurer’s Guild or inns would say such things.

‘He’s just an NPC.’

She wasn’t interested.

At the time, it had just been useless information. NPCs were merely beings who assisted players. That’s definitely what she had thought.

She tightly held Hans’s hand.

‘Just an NPC....’

The blood flowing from Hans’s body stopped.

It wasn’t that the wound had healed. It was the opposite.

The spilled blood gradually turned lighter, then changed into golden particles and scattered. Even the hand she had tightly held was starting to fade.

NPCs die and return to the Goddess Ella's embrace.

The moment she understood those words, her body began to tremble.

‘NPC....’

Hans’s body turned into golden particles, and crumbled like collapsing sand. Even the hand she had held tightly crumbled, and turned into golden particles slipping between her fingers.

The scene was cruelly beautiful.

Crrrrk!

The Death Knight, who had been silently observing, moved. The sound of armor scraping echoed.

A terrible noise, like nails on a chalkboard.

The sound seemed to mock her.

[You cannot go to Ella.]

The Death Knight’s voice echoed.

A horrifying voice, as if hell itself were speaking. The voice was so clear that not only the Northern Grand Duke, but all the players in Gron could hear it. It felt as if it were speaking directly to their souls.

You cannot go to Ella.

That was the Death Knight’s cruel verdict.

Hans’s body, which had been crumbling into pieces, suddenly stopped. The golden particles that had been ascending into the sky also froze, as if time itself had stopped.

"What...."

The golden particles that had been slipping through the Northern Grand Duke’s fingers began to tremble violently.

Whoooosh!

And were sucked toward the Death Knight.

She raised her head and looked at the Death Knight. The Death Knight was extending its hand. Hans’s body, now turned into golden particles, was being completely drawn into that hand.

Roooar!

The golden particles that touched the Death Knight’s hand began to turn purple, accompanied by a dreadful sound.

[All shall be corrupted and become part of the army of Erosion.]

The golden particles swirled around in the Death Knight's hand and condensed into a violet orb. The Death Knight swallowed the violet orb whole.

The Death Knight trembled.

Its crimson glowing eyes shook fiercely, and the violet flames flowing between the armor grew even more vivid.

[Ah! Truly delicious. Hah, hahaha! More, give me more! I will devour all your souls! Become my slaves, all of you!]

Why?

'Oh? Amazing! As expected of a hero.'

‘It’s a relief you’re in Gron Village.’

'Be the light of Arsilan. Well, then I'll buy you a drink.'

At that moment, she recalled her conversations with Hans.

‘NPC....’

Whether he was an NPC or not didn’t matter.

Hans... died.

Hans was dead.

Grind!

The Northern Grand Duke gritted her teeth. In her eyes as she glared at the Death Knight, murderous intent flickered.

“You fucking bastard!!”

The Northern Grand Duke gripped her two-handed axe and charged straight toward the Death Knight.

“H-Hans...!”

“That fucking...!”

“Noona!!”

The players watching from atop the stone wall could not hide their fury.

* * *

Was I too immersed?

‘Hmm.’

Jinwoo thought that as he watched the players charging in with immense fury. Though he was going with the flow of the moment, truthfully, he was more immersed than when playing the role of Leon.

[Your acting has improved! When you laughed while delivering the lines, it gave me chills!]

Tia gave high praise.

The Skeleton next to Jinwoo twitched. It was the Skeleton being controlled by Tia. Looking to the side, he saw Hans, cloaked in an invisibility spell.

On Hans’s face was an expression that was hard to read, whether it was relief or bitterness was unclear.

[Good work.]

Hans was originally the knight who was supposed to play Leon’s role. He quietly watched the players.

For the first time in a while, he could laugh and enjoy himself, forgetting his duties as a knight. There certainly were vile heroes, but the companions who punished those heroes were also the heroes he had been with.

The heroes, engulfed in rage, fought the Skeletons. Even though the door was firmly closed, they jumped down from the stone wall and charged at the Skeletons. The Northern Grand Duke’s guild members also all descended and fought fiercely.

He felt both touched and guilty.

[I must apologize later.]

[If the day comes when Erosion completely disappears from Arsilan.]

[It sounds like a dream, but... I want to believe that day will come. No, it will surely come.]

Jinwoo teleported Hans away using Rainsword.

When an NPC dies, they scatter into golden particles and return to the embrace of Ella. That was the lore of Arsilan Saga. But the Death Knight devoured that and turned it into part of the army of Erosion.

He would show them the Death Knight killing and devouring NPCs with high average Affinity one after another. It was fine to commit acts more vile than even the worst players.

‘Rage alone is not enough.’

The emotion of rage granted immense strength. But to not be consumed by it, hope was necessary.

Jinwoo also held on to hope.

The hope that someday he could destroy the Erosion and free his companions who had been swallowed by it; the dream that they could meet again.

That was what allowed Jinwoo to remain rational.

'If we defeat Erosion, we might be able to reunite with the dead NPCs.'

He planned to spread such hope through various routes.

The greater the tragedy, the greater the joy and emotion that came after earnest effort.

Jinwoo briefly checked the situation.

[Gron Village Notice Board]

Jinwoo (Death Knight): Ready to die?

└Naria (Receptionist, Lonta’s childhood friend): Yes, I’ll do my best!

└Tia (Skeleton 1): Sir Hans, you kicked off the start wonderfully. I award you Best Actor of the Year. (Emoticon: Tia praising)

└Lonta (Guard): All the guards have finished preparations. I’m confident I’ll do better than Hans sunbae. I’ve done special training!

└Hans (Dead): ㅋ.

Thanks to Tia, the acting direction had already been completed.

Any lacking parts could be filled in with Illusion Magic, so there was no concern about it looking off.

“You, you assholes! Move!”

“Aaaah! Fuck!”

The players fought the Skeletons, struggling to reach Jinwoo.

"Hans, give Hans back!"

The Northern Grand Duke shouted in fury.

[…]

Hmm, I guess I won’t be able to go home for a while.

Jinwoo thought so as he looked at her. His noona had immense potential. Perhaps this event could become the trigger that would let all of that potential explode.

Since things had come this far, he might as well push further.

‘The hard work was worth it.’

He was simply grateful that the players were getting so angry for the people of Arsilan. In return for their gratitude, it might be only right to put on an even greater show.

[Kuhuhu!]

Jinwoo laughed toward the players who were fighting almost desperately.

All the emotions those players were emitting.

[A hero summoned by Ella… pathetic! So very pathetic! I will trample on everything you cherish. I’ll rip apart and devour the flesh of the Arsilan people right before your eyes.]

Would all feed the Erosion.

[Welcome the army of Erosion!]

So he decided to dive even deeper into the role.

Jinwoo fully immersed himself in becoming the Death Knight.

‘Now then…’

Jinwoo had become a truly wicked Death Knight!

* * *