“DUEL!”
“Wh-what?”
The declaration of a duel came from behind—English, yes, but I didn’t for a second think she was just randomly deciding to say an English word at that exact moment.
In BHAO, duels could be triggered either by voice command or by tapping the transmitter.
Of course, there weren’t many restrictions on language, but under normal circumstances, a duel only took effect with the consent of both parties.
Unless it was—
“Forced Command Duel?”
Haa.
I let out a long sigh.
I really was cursed with the worst luck—two days in a row, running straight into this “extremely rare” Forced Command Duel. I didn’t even know whether to feel proud of hitting such improbable odds or just exasperated.
No—wait!
Right after the sigh, I realized something was seriously wrong.
Right now, I was completely in the state of the Night Witch.
Both my real-world body and my in-game avatar—no need to double-check; it had to be.
But the Night Witch was not the Unknown Name Warrior.
That frail character with only 1,000 points—even if you multiplied it by ten, it would only reach 10,000.
The Night Witch, on the other hand, started with a base of a full 200,000 points—
To force a Command Duel on me, the other party would need at least 2,000,000 points!
That was enough to take a Tier 0 player straight to Tier 8.
I turned around.
The girl who entered my field of vision imprinted herself into my mind in an instant.
A high-IQ academic from the era of peace?
She looked about my age, maybe even a little older. From height alone, she was noticeably taller than me right now.
Her frame was slender to the point of fragility, clad in clothing accented with black buttons.
A single ponytail tied neatly at the back emphasized her quiet, studious aura.
The glasses perched on the bridge of her nose didn’t diminish her appearance at all; instead, they hid her eyes, making it impossible to read her true thoughts.
…A scholar?
No—in the age of peace, she was probably closer to a researcher.
While I was still dazed, trying to figure out who she was, my vision was suddenly overtaken by countless data cubes.
Ah, so BHAO’s combat system couldn’t wait another second, huh?
When the data cubes finally dispersed, a bone-chilling wind sliced across my skin.
WELCOME TO THE ARENA
This time, the words were formed from blood, accompanied by an unsettling array of pale white bones.
The letters hovered in midair for several seconds, as though they had exhausted all their power—
The blood gradually evaporated.
The bones lost their support and clattered to the ground at my feet with a dull clack.
“Ah, so this time the stage is the Horror Forest… Looks like my home field~”
Without the voice modulator, the witch’s voice came out soft, childish, and clear.
I ground the sole of my shoe into the dirt.
The dark crimson soil parted, and the thick scent of blood rose through the air and straight into my nostrils.
Hey, isn’t this already rated-R content? For a game…?
The duel arena was called Horror Forest.
Its background story went like this:
A mad alchemist developed a potion called the “zombie virus.”
In an instant, the virus swept through every village surrounding the forest, turning all the inhabitants into walking corpses.
As part of BHAO’s lore, stories like this were always a favorite topic of discussion among casual players.
But for me, the Horror Forest had only one real value—
Darkness.
This time… maybe I can actually…
“It really is dark. The perfect home field for the Night Witch.”
The girl’s voice rang out calmly.
“That’s right. Her energy continuously grows in an environment like this.”
Just as I was secretly gloating over drawing such a favorable duel KEY, that self-mocking tone made me whip my head around.
The opponent was a virtual avatar holding a book.
Almost identical to the girl in reality—except now she held a book whose contents were impossible to make out.
PROGRAM TAMPER…
I slowly read the name floating above her green HP bar.
But more than the name, what drew my attention was the three evenly divided, dull gray tubular energy gauges beneath her health bar.
Each segment was marked in the center with a bright red question mark.
What’s her goal? Just my points?
The girl stood quietly among the twisted trees, showing no sign of taking the initiative to attack.
“Not going to strike first? —How foolish not to seize the advantage.”
She closed the book, tilted her head slightly, and muttered as though speaking to herself.
“Hey, I can hear you, you know!”
Fuming, I sank into two-dimensional space and completely vanished from the three-dimensional world.
This was an ability even stronger than ordinary invisibility for the Night Witch—
Blend into Shadows.
“I see… breaking through the three-dimensional barrier and entering two-dimensional space.”
The girl’s voice remained perfectly calm.
“So this is the power that man needs? —DEATH LORD.”
Under the cover of darkness, my speed reached its absolute limit.
Closing in on PROGRAM TAMPER should have been effortless.
Yet she still hadn’t made a move.
Given my fighting style—needing to kill in a single strike—I had to wait.
Wait for the instant she showed an opening.
Too much unknown information. Rushing in blindly would only dig my own grave.
“Still not going to act? —Your caution has already evolved from mere provocation into something worthy of praise.”
PROGRAM TAMPER closed the book once more, pushed up the glasses that had slipped down the bridge of her nose, and slowly extended her right hand.
What is she doing?
Even while hidden in two-dimensional space, I maintained a safe distance.
Because—three-dimensional attacks could still reach me.
TAMPERING WITH THE TARGET: FORCE ATTACK
“No way—!”
My body instantly lost all control.
My right arm rose against my will. Both hands gripped the Witch’s Scythe out of thin air.
I was forcibly dragged back into three-dimensional space and began walking toward PROGRAM TAMPER like a marionette.
“Wait…”
This was complete control over the character—BHAO’s deepest level of domination.
Just as the skill name suggested, she had directly rewritten the lowest-level attack command, turning it into passive behavior.
Aside from my limbs, the only thing I could still control was my breathing.
I took a deep breath.
I raised the Witch’s Scythe high and brought it down in a slash.
But what greeted me was PROGRAM TAMPER’s second snap of her fingers.
That single motion consumed every last one of her question-marked energy segments.
TAMPERING WITH THE TARGET: ATTACK TRANSFER
Transfer? Transfer to who? There’s no third person here—
The question flashed through my mind, only to be answered in the very next instant.
The Witch’s Scythe, mid-swing toward PROGRAM TAMPER, passed through empty air…
…and then came slashing down from directly behind me…
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