The Count’s Youngest Son is a Player

Chapter 84

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The entire palace seemed as if it could crumble at any moment, shaking violently.

“Your Majesty, you must evacuate now!”

Maverick, the Commander of the Royal Knights, urged with a stern look on his face.

However, King Thadeus II of the Ruben Kingdom, seated upon his throne, appeared to have no intention of doing so. His pale face and the way he slumped weakly on the throne revealed his poor health.

‘Ah, why has it come to this…’

Boom. Crash!

The tremors spread once again, and a vase shattered, breaking apart.

“Cough. The, the one…?”

“He’s holding back the monster that was released from the seal. We have no time!”

“What about the Crown Prince and the princes?”

“They are already being evacuated. Your Majesty, you must hurry as well…”

However, both the king and the captain knew that wasn’t entirely true. The Crown Prince had led troops to the sealed area beneath the palace shortly after the anomaly began. Yet, the seal had been broken, which meant…

Where did it all go wrong? They had thought they could sufficiently defend against the attack, but the enemies had breached the palace’s defenses as if mocking their efforts.

‘Ah, what should be done about this…’

But King Thadeus II could no longer continue his thoughts. Unable to bear his chronic illness and immense stress, he lost consciousness.

“Quickly, carry His Majesty!”

The Royal Knights swiftly picked up the unconscious king, with Captain Maverick leading them with a fierce look etched on his face.

Rumble~ Bang! Crash!!

Outside the windows of the blazing palace, the sounds of large vibrations and collisions continued unabated.

* * *

Clippity-clop, clippity-clop.

A group of ten knights galloped through the wide-open road.

“Squeeek!”

Although monsters and demonic cavalry rushed towards them upon hearing the sounds of the horses.

Swoosh! Slash.

They were no match for the knights’ swordsmanship, their bodies sliced apart and left to roll on the ground. Thus, painting the road with the blood of monsters, the knights finally reached the massive city walls.

“It’s strange. How come there are no monsters here at all?”

As Jake noted, there were indeed no monsters near the city walls, nor were there any signs of battle.

“There’s no one on the walls. What should we do, Master?”

Despite their approach to the city gates, no one appeared to greet them. And as Philip said, there were no signs of life whatsoever on the walls.

[It’s a barrier.]

Raul heard Rabel’s voice in his mind.

[A barrier, you say?]

“Right. It’s a massive defensive barrier that blocks off the inside from the outside. Looking at the magical structure, it seems to envelop the entire fortress,” he said.

This meant that it was likely our allies who had activated the barrier. Even the formidable group known as the Imperial Hounds would find it impossible to secretly install a magical barrier that covered the entire fortress without detection.

Raul dismounted from his horse and approached the fortress gates. The moment he lightly touched the gate, a system message appeared.

-[Alert] This area is undergoing a Forced Scenario.

-You cannot log out in a Forced Scenario area.

-Powerful monsters and NPCs beyond the scenario’s stage may appear in a Forced Scenario area.

-Some monsters and NPCs in Forced Scenario areas are granted [Invincibility] to player attacks.

-[Warning] The Forced Scenario does not get affected by players’ voluntary play.

“Did you see that? It looks like a warning message meant for Raul.”

“I’m aware.”

It was a situation he had experienced plenty in his past life.

In Connect, a game spanning across various settings, a [Forced Scenario] was an element players couldn’t interfere with.

It was akin to story progress shown through cinematics during old PC or console games, where the player couldn’t control the outcome.

However, unlike those past games, in the real-time virtual reality game Connect, being in a Forced Scenario didn’t entirely strip away control.

Naturally, many players had attempted to change the course of a Forced Scenario.

All attempts had inevitably failed.

As the messages indicated, irregular monsters couldn’t be handled with mere swarming tactics by players, and key NPCs were protected by the system.

“What will we do? It seems best not to enter.”

“Can you open the barrier?”

“Hmm, thinking of going in, huh? Just a moment…”

Rabel placed his hand on the barrier and tried infusing mana before speaking again.

“It seems possible, but only for a short while.”

Hearing Rabel’s words, Raul turned and headed towards the knights.

“We’re going in. We’ll have to cross the fortress walls.”

“Are you sure it will be okay? What if something goes wrong later…”

Philip cautiously asked, to which Jake patted Philip’s shoulder and confidently replied,

“Ah, the commander worries too much. The master must have a plan. Besides, who would care about that in this chaos?”

Though Jake spoke thus, his real desire was just to see what was beyond the wall.

‘When else would I get to climb over the capital’s fortress walls?’

Raul, too, seemed unconcerned.

“Let’s worry about what comes after later. For now, let’s just go in.”

Just then, a small crack appeared at the top of the wall. Raul stepped on a psychokinetic platform to scale the wall, and the knights followed, gripping the cracks with their hands.

As Raul and the knights threw themselves into the crack in the air, the front of the fortress walls once again fell into a deep silence.

* * *

Clang! Bang!

“Block it!”

“Hold on! Reinforcements are coming!”

Boom!

Captain Marco of the Royal Knight pushed back a huge silver wolf charging at him with a solid tower shield. With a crash, the wolf fell below the 8-meter-high wall, staggering momentarily from the impact before slowly picking itself up.

However, Marco had no time to worry whether the wolf would rise again. Dozens of similar wolves were eyeing him eagerly from the steps in front of him, and fiery balls were being hurled from below the wall, accompanied by a roaring sound.

When he blocked the incoming fireball with his tower shield, the burst of intense heat made even breathing difficult.

“Keep firing! Even if we can’t penetrate their hides, a hit to their vital spots will still do damage,” he ordered.

The archers and crossbowmen atop the wall were relentlessly shooting arrows, though it was doubtful how effective these were.

“Huff, huff,” gasped Centurion Jackson, breathing heavily behind his shield next to Marco.

“Damn it. Is the reinforcement really coming?” he grumbled, but in reality, no one knew what would happen.

Commanding officers and knights of the legion level had long been absent, having gone to retake the king’s castle, and the best the remaining captains could do was to endure until the knights returned.

With a whoosh followed by a thud, a spear launched from beside the wall pierced a wolf. Though slightly enhanced with mana, it penetrated the skin but didn’t inflict a fatal wound. Yet, as more spears struck its body, the wolf unable to evade let out a mournful cry and fell down the stairs.

‘Really despicable. How much longer can we last? None of this would have happened if those fiends hadn’t invaded the castle…’ Although only D-Grade creatures were attacking them at the moment, there was no telling when C-Grade or higher monsters would join the fray.

And soon enough, his fears became reality.

“It’s a Blood Fang!” Among the Silver Fangs (silver wolves), a monster with fur as if drenched in blood, a Blood Fang (blood-red wolf), slinked up the stairs.

It seemed to have thoroughly assessed their strength, as it approached slowly with a cocky ‘Can you really stop me?’ look.

“Stay calm and push back! If they breach us, we’re all dead!”

All captains of the Royal Knight were mana-using sword wielders or better. Even if the Blood Fang was a top C-Grade monster, it wasn’t something they couldn’t stop if they resolved to do so.

The problem was their exhaustion. Despite trying to conserve mana, most were nearing complete exhaustion. ‘Sly creature,’ he thought. The monster must have been waiting for this moment.

As it suddenly quickened its pace, charging straight at Marco. Thunk, thunk! The captains’ spears pierced the Blood Fang’s body, but it momentarily turned its form into a pool of blood, making the attack nearly harmless.

Then, a blood-red claw swung through the air, tearing Marco’s shield as if it was paper, reaching right before his eyes.

‘This is the end,’ Marco anticipated his final moment, closing his eyes. Then, suddenly –

Slash!

Splatter!

A searing energy zipped over Marco’s head and sliced Blood Fang in half from top to bottom. Blood Fang, now reduced to a pool of blood on the ground, attempted to revert back to its wolf form, but…

Shhhk.

A blade, flown from nowhere, pierced through the blood, destroying the core hidden within it.

“…?”

Startled, Marco heard a somewhat youthful voice behind him.

“Let’s clean up the monsters first.”

“Yes, Master.”

Then, knights clad in shining armor leaped down the stairs and off the walls, beginning a massacre of the monsters.

“Who’s in charge here?”

Raul and the First Knight Order appeared.

* * *

“Hmm. What to do?”

After hearing the situation from Marco, the chief knight, Raul found himself at another crossroads. Before his eyes was a quest window brimming with options.

…

“Wow, so much to do?” Rabel, alongside Raul, couldn’t hide her astonishment as they reviewed the quest window.

“Well, this is to be expected.”

A [Forced Scenario] area, due to the magnitude of unfolding events, allowed for a selection from a variety of quests.

Although there wasn’t a rule stating one must only select a single quest, due to time constraints and the daunting difficulty level, most opted to concentrate on one quest.

Rewards were quite substantial, enticing many players to attempt the scenario quests, yet actual participation was low.

“One wrong move and you’re dead.”

In a C-Grade quest, an unexpected intrusion by an A-Grade monster, or getting wiped out by a scenario NPC out of nowhere, were among the absurd occurrences that could happen in a [Forced Scenario] area.

Raul had ventured here willing to take such risks because there was something he had to verify, and he had also taken the precaution of securing an adequate insurance.

“Never thought they’d actually give this as a reward.”

[Instant Resurrection Ticket]

Grade: EX

Effect: If the player dies, they will be immediately resurrected. The player can choose to revive at a predetermined checkpoint or right where they fell.

Additional Effect: Invincibility for 1 minute after resurrection. All injuries are healed, and the cooldowns of skills and items are reset.

This miraculous item, carefully kept in Raul’s inventory, was the top individual prize from the . There were user reviews that resurrection tickets worked on hardcore players and NPCs alike, and it was an issue officially acknowledged by the game administrators.

“I can’t blindly believe it’ll work…”

Still, it was true that it provided some comfort.

After contemplating the quests for a moment, Raul finally made a decision.

“I should head there first.”

(To be continued)