Samurai Hearts – Tutorial (6)
Seung-yeon, Do-hyun, and Tatsuki immediately retraced the path they came from and returned to the castle.
Unlike earlier when they walked leisurely, perhaps because they were now running in a hurry—
Before long, they reached the place they had departed from, and what they saw was the Atsuragi Castle engulfed in blazing flames.
Around the castle lay the bodies of soldiers wearing armor engraved with the crest of the Atsuragi family.
It was a scene that clearly signaled something terrible had happened to the castle.
"The castle is burning…! How could such a thing be?!"
Tatsuki cried out in shock.
Gritting his teeth, he shouted, "Ei-ya!" and spurred his horse toward the castle.
Watching from behind, Dohyun's eyes widened.
The castle already looked like it had fallen, and yet he was charging in alone like that.
Was he suicidal or something?
Dohyun tried to rush forward and stop Tatsuki, but his body didn't move the way he wanted.
Only then did Dohyun realize.
Ah, it's an event sequence.
It had felt so natural that he didn't notice, but he and Seung-yeon were already inside an event cutscene.
If that weren't the case, then Seung-yeon—who already knew part of the scenario—would never have let Tatsuki suddenly dash off like that.
He suspected the cutscene probably began the moment they saw the burning castle.
"Little lord! It's dangerous!"
Seung-yeon shouted, chasing after Tatsuki, and Dohyun followed as well.
Of course, this was only the event cutscene moving along its predetermined route.
Meaning Dohyun didn't need to manually control his running body—and meaning he was free to do other things while being dragged along.
So Dohyun rolled his eyes, observing the surroundings.
There are quite a lot of enemies. Is this fine?
The dead around the burning castle weren't only soldiers of the Atsuragi family.
There's no effect without a cause.
The ones who appeared to have killed those soldiers were wandering around the castle grounds.
He saw many warriors wearing armor marked with the symbol of the Nagamatsu family—the same emblem as the enemies he fought in the forest.
Most of them carried spears, but some were armed with bows and matchlock guns.
Charging in recklessly like this and getting surrounded would make survival unlikely.
Well, there must be some way to clear this.
After all, it was a game.
Even in a harsh situation, there would surely be at least one path to victory.
Even if he failed, it just meant game over—so Dohyun simply observed.
"Who is that…?"
There was no way the wildly galloping Tatsuki would go unnoticed forever.
All the enemy soldiers were on foot, and he alone was on horseback, so it was even more conspicuous.
A warrior in armor—likely the commander of a group of enemies roaming near the castle—spotted Tatsuki and voiced his confusion.
Atsuragi Castle had already fallen.
All that was left for the invaders was mopping up the stragglers.
Meaning there was no reason anyone should be sprinting toward them like a madman.
As the commander watched closely, his eyes suddenly grew wide.
Because he held a fairly high rank, he was able to identify who Tatsuki was.
"Atsuragi Tatsuki…! He's one of the enemy's key figures! Capture him!"
Hearing the commander shout, the enemy soldiers all rushed toward Tatsuki.
Tatsuki, still urging his horse forward, yelled back at them.
"Fine! I am Atsuragi Tatsuki! Come at me, you filthy invaders!"
But despite roaring like a lion, Tatsuki's swordsmanship was not particularly exceptional.
He was not a warrior—he was a young lord.
He had only learned the bare basics of swordsmanship, spending the rest of his training studying how to govern a domain.
Naturally, it was impossible for someone like him to defeat dozens of enemy soldiers alone on horseback.
He had only just reached adulthood—sixteen.
Far too young to have honed any advanced swordsmanship.
The only reason he wasn't instantly captured was because he was still on a horse.
"Ugh!"
Surrounded by enemies, Tatsuki fell into a defensive struggle and was in grave danger.
His horse collapsed after being snared by an enemy's rope, sending Tatsuki rolling across the ground.
"Little lord…!"
That was when Seung-yeon and Dohyun finally reached the battlefield.
Despite the distance Tatsuki had created by spurting ahead on horseback, they had managed to catch up by sheer running.
"You bastards! Get away from the little lord!"
Seung-yeon and Dohyun joined the fray, clashing swords with the enemies, and their fierce momentum forced the enemy soldiers to hesitate and fall back slightly.
But the encirclement was not broken.
The enemies merely widened the circle a bit, surrounding them from all sides.
At any moment, if they showed a gap, the enemies looked ready to pounce.
Seung-yeon and Dohyun stood protectively over the groaning Tatsuki.
And at last, the event cutscene ended.
Wait, it ends like this?
Dohyun murmured in disbelief as he regained control of his body.
Enemies in front, enemies at the sides, enemies behind.
Surrounded on all sides, burdened with someone to protect—and the event abruptly ended just like that.
Was the game purposely trying to shove the player into a death trap?
But why would a game intentionally push players into game over?
Still flustered, he glanced at Seung-yeon, who was also frowning.
"Ugh, even though I've seen this already, it's so damn stressful. What on earth was this brat thinking, coming all the way here alone?"
—Honestly, she's kinda right tho—Bro lost his mind and dashed in—Early-game cancer plot, classic cliché!
While chatting with her viewers, Seung-yeon answered Dohyun's question.
"Is this okay?"
"Huh? Oh, it's fine, it's fine. You won't get game over here."
"You won't? Then what happens?"
"The event keeps going. Whether you keep fighting or get taken down, the event moves forward."
Hearing her explanation, Dohyun understood.
Basically, this was an event where losing is allowed.
You could survive if you were skilled enough, but you didn't have to.
"Ah, I see."
"Yup. So what do you want to do? Just get taken out right away, or try holding on until reinforcements arrive?"
"Hm. Then—"
Dohyun considered for a moment, then suddenly swung his sword.
Chaaang!The metallic ring echoed as he deflected a spear thrust sneaking in from his blind spot.
He slipped his blade naturally into the exposed opening of the attacker and spoke.
"—Let's hold out. I don't feel like dying right now."
"Okay! Then let's endure. Time to show off how much I've improved!"
Seung-yeon raised her sword confidently.
Her attitude was full of self-assurance.
And not without reason.
As mentioned earlier, she had repeated this tutorial many times for practice.
Naturally, she had become somewhat proficient—and during practice, she had even managed to survive until the reinforcements arrived.
Even if it was just once…
But success was still success.
If she made good use of that experience, she should definitely be able to endure until the reinforcements showed up.
Besides, wasn't her reliable ally—her younger brother—right here with her?
With Dohyun, the once-in-a-generation prodigy, holding out would surely become far easier.
Everything about the situation was smiling upon her.
There was no reason she wouldn't feel confident.
"No-mic full focus, let's go!"
— Whoa! Full-focus declaration!— "that statement"— Pretty sure last time she said this, she died instantly— Bringing that up gets you banned; careful fam
Seung-yeon forced down the rising memory of that dark, embarrassing moment thanks to the chat's teasing.
Now was the time she really needed to focus.
Gritting her teeth, she silently concentrated on deflecting the enemies' attacks.
Was it because she had practiced multiple times already? Or because she had a trustworthy ally at her side?
Whatever the reason, she displayed performance well beyond her practice runs, breaking the momentum of the enemy assault.
She hadn't slain any of the soldiers, but she hadn't allowed a single attack to land on her either.
A skill level clearly surpassing her limits.
In truth, it was something anyone with normal physical ability could manage with practice.
But who was Seung-yeon?
She wasn't just bad at physical tasks—her physical ability was catastrophic, borderline horrifying.
For her to withstand things this smoothly was nothing short of astonishing.
Bet the viewers are freaking out.
As Seung-yeon shoved back an enemy and found a brief moment of respite, she glanced at the chat.
— Wow… insane, for real— Is that skill level even real?— So it was actually possible lol wtf
The viewers were indeed shocked.
But contrary to her expectations, what shocked them wasn't her improvement.
What had driven them into stunned disbelief was her younger brother, Dohyun, fighting behind her.
Their attention was fixed solely on Dohyun.
A few viewers still watched her, but they were a tiny minority.
Just how good is he?
Curiosity rising, Seung-yeon stepped back and glanced behind her.
There lay the corpses of eight enemies—and Dohyun stood among them, his sword naturally lowered at his side.
An utterly overwhelming sight!
Even the enemy soldiers surrounding Dohyun visibly hesitated, as if struck with fear of him.
Of course, AI that only followed scripted behavior couldn't possibly feel emotions like fear.
He took down eight in that short time?
Barely a few minutes had passed, yet he had already killed eight enemies.
It wasn't even comparable to Seung-yeon, who had at best only managed to deflect attacks and survive.
No wonder the viewers doubted their own eyes.
— Two sword swings per guy, absolutely crazy insane— I watched closely—he hasn't failed a single deflect— And this is someone playing VR for the FIRST time?? I'd cry from the inferiority complex…
The chat wouldn't stop going wild over Dohyun's performance.
His physical ability had made that strong an impression on them—and reading their reactions made even Seung-yeon curious.
"Wow… I didn't see it myself, but was it really that impressive?"
— Yep yep insane. Completely nuts.— Among VR gamers, no one even comes close to him.— And he's literally playing for the first time? Once he optimizes his device settings he'll go feral.
I want to see how he did it.
Just as she thought that, an enemy soldier charged fiercely at Dohyun.
A thrust-forward spear attack.
It was the most common pattern among basic grunts, and even Seung-yeon could deflect it without much trouble.
Under normal circumstances, it would hardly be a threat.
But this isn't normal.
This wasn't a one-on-one.
He was surrounded by dozens of enemies, attacked from all sides in an overwhelmingly disadvantageous situation!
The encircling soldiers were poised to lunge the moment the slightest opening appeared.
Even if the attacking soldier's thrust was easy to counter, if Dohyun deflected it the usual way and tried to kill the attacker afterward, he'd leave an opening—and another enemy's spear would surely skewer his flank.
That was why Seung-yeon, despite successfully deflecting attacks, had been unable to kill a single enemy.
And he's killed eight in this situation?
While Seung-yeon gazed at him with rising anticipation, Dohyun faced the charging enemy.
His movement was minimal.
He lifted his lowered sword to the correct height, drew it back slightly, and thrust it toward the spear tip.
That was all.
Chaeng!
That alone was enough to break the soldier's charge.
"Guh!"
The soldier, his spear knocked aside by Dohyun's deflect, lost his grip, though his charging momentum didn't vanish.
Do-hyun turned his blade and sliced across the soldier's neck as he stumbled forward in shock.
The blade traced a chilling single stroke.
Slice—
After the sound of cutting flesh, the enemy soldier collapsed onto the ground with a thud.