Silas was on the ground, lifeless.
A bunch of loud voices were coming from his surroundings.
His eyes opened up a bit, vision still blurry.
'Ugh...I'm still too sleepy.'
He rubbed them as he tried to open them up completely.
But before he could think of doing anything else, someone grabbed him by his shoulders.
A loud voice fell into his ears, which made him snap out of it. "My liege, are you okay?"
'My liege!?'
'Is he calling me a young master?'
The air was filled with the stench of gunpowder. Loud noises of blasts roared around him.
He looked at the man, trying to figure out who it is.
'Who is h-... Damien!?'
A sudden realisation fell upon him, which pulled him out of his confusion.
'WHY AM I HALLUCINATING ABOUT THE FORT OF ENDLESS DEFENCE?'
His face got completely covered with sweat as he grabbed his hair.
A young man was leaning in front of him, his handsome face was full of worry.
He wore war gear, a black uniform which had embroidery of golden colour.
"D-Damien..." He muttered under his breath.
"Yes, my liege," Damien replied, voice still had the pinch of worry in it.
"What's my name?" He asked,
Damien's face turned slightly pale, and he said in a shaky voice. "D-did you lose your memories, my liege?" He said
He lifted his hand and put it on Damien's shoulder. "What year is it, and what's my name?" He said, ignoring Damien's word.
"Your name is Emil Raventhorn." He took a small pause and then continued.
"It's year 568th and today is 31st Jan of the Empyrean Calendar."
'I-I'm... Emil!? That useless character!?'
He pulled his hair with his full force, as he fell onto his knees.
Damien instantly leaned in and grabbed the wrist of his. "Don't hurt yourself, my liege..." He said, his voice full of worry.
"I know that times are not that good for us, but losing sanity is never an option."
'What the fuck is this bitch talking about... I'm in the body of a crazy, psychotic brat, who's good for nothing... and you want me to stay calm!?'
He looked around himself. They were in the middle of a battle, castle walls were broken, and corpses of monsters and soldiers were on the ground.
"Get a grip, my liege," Damien said out loud, eyes fixed on Emil.
"You're the battle commander, you can't lose your sanity at this crucial time."
'It's 31st Jan... and it's the day on which Emil Raventhorn died.'
'Let's leave the transmigration aside for the time being... I can't die here... I can panic later. Right now, I need to survive this game.'
'This game is renowned for its difficulty, but it's still clearable... but this stage? The tutorial is the most difficult stage to clear.'
Before he could continue thinking any longer, a system panel appeared in front of his eyes.
═══════════════════
◇ TUTORIAL ◇
═══════════════════
[Combat Overview Initialized]
───────────────────
[Monster Classification]
└ Normal Monsters
->Goblins: X200
•Level: 35
->Hob Goblins: 10X
•Level: 45
└ Boss Monster
->Goblin Champion: X1
•Level: 55
───────────────────
[Danger Difficulty]
└ EXTREME
• Near-certain death
• Engagement not recommended
═══════════════════
'What's wrong with their level!?'
'More importantly, why the hell are these monsters in the tutorial!?'
The tutorial was designed so that you would fail it, no matter what.
Because the actual story starts only when Damien, the main character of this story, escapes alone.
And in this game, which lasts for 10 years.
The Hob Goblins and Goblin champions are the monsters that you face in your fourth year.
A thought curled up in his mind. 'The tutorial stage in this game had always been absurd, but this? This is... something else.'
His finger touched the eyelids, taking deep breaths. 'I'm fucked... no shit.'
"Damien," He said, eyes drifted towards him.
"Yes, my liege?"
"How many soldiers do we have right now?"
Damien's face went blank for a second.
Emil waved his hand in front of Damien's face. "Hello??" He said.
Damien bowed instantly. "I'm sorry, my liege." He said out loud.
'Yeah... this guy who's the main character of this game... is actually way too loyal to this stupid good-for-nothing Emil.'
He waved his hand lightly, ordering him to get back up. "Tell me how many soldiers we have right now?"
Damien didn't waste a second. "We have a total of 100 soldiers, my liege." He said, voice firm.
'I'm doomed... I genuinely am doomed.'
"Damien, can you summon the main squad that's directly under my command?" He said.
Damien gave a quick nod, left from there, steps were steady.
---
After a while, Damien came back, and he was accompanied by two more people.
All three of them bowed and showed their formal greeting towards Emil.
"No need to act like that during wartime." He said.
The people who just come looked at each other, their expressions were gloomy.
One man whispered to Damien. "Hey, Damien. Is young master not well today?"
Damien didn't reply for a while, but then said. "Don't talk, you're in the presence of a commander."
Emil directed both palms toward them. "You both calm down, don't pick up a fight."
'Both of them are familiar to me.'
'That big guy with huge muscles, he's Bard. The guy whose silver hairs are covering his forehead is Rex.'
Rex was a bit upset, standing alone on the side.
"What's wrong with that guy?" Emil asked.
Damien came closer, and whispered. "My liege, that guy lost his older brothers in today's battle... let's not pressure him a lot."
"Oh!! I see." He said.
' I wasn't able to use this character in my tutorial stage. Was this the reason behind it?'
'These guys are the ones that I saw dying countless times when I was trying to clear my tutorial stage...'
'At that time, I didn't care for even a single bit, but now? Now I myself am stuck inside of this shit ass game, there's no way out...'
His facial expressions got serious. 'I have to survive, no matter what happens.'
A/N
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