In the live broadcast on UTube, more than a hundred thousand people could not take their eyes off the screen. Even those who were busy at the time stopped what they were doing and focused on the screen.
There was a dark knight on the screen. A knight in black armor standing against thousands of troops.
[We're near the end.]
[He's single-handedly challenging all the rankers.]
[We're talking about the final boss of the game. It's not called The Dark Knight for anything.]
[It's all up in the air, isn't it? It's been three years since The Dark Knight was released and it's already being raided. There's a chance they might fail with all these people].
Meanwhile, at the front of the troops, a man in silver armor approached the Dark Knight. He was the leader of the troops and the raid. The camera focused on his face.
"You think you can handle all these people? You must be like the rumors."
The Dark Knight did not answer, his black helmet shadowing his expressionless face.
"It's scary how human you can be, even though you're an AI."
At that moment, a window opened at the bottom of the live broadcast and a presenter began to introduce the leader of the union.
[He's a human with the rank of High Knight. The greatest and only master of the Sword Oath Clan. A tactical genius specializing in large-scale battles].
[Choi Ji-soo! He's the most powerful knight in the history of the game. He's also the one who led the game's last raid! The gaming genius who found the Dark Knight's Despair and started the raid a year earlier than it should have been!]
While the host was talking, the Dark Knight opened his mouth.
"Why are you disturbing the peace on the continent?"
He stood out with his thick, cold but youthful voice. The rumor that the game's final monster, the Dark Knight, was a young man not even twenty years old, had not yet been confirmed by the company. But now everyone could see that the rumor was true.
"It's..."
Choi Ji-soo hesitated as he spoke. Wasn't the answer obvious? Of course, it was to get money and fame by defeating the most powerful monster, the 'Dark Knight'. It was a game, after all, why should they care about a virtually created continent? But there was still a script to follow.
"We have come to liberate this continent from your tyranny."
"From me?"
"If you continue to resist, you will suffer!"
"Beings from another world who come here and slaughter the locals for their ambitions... Didn't you come here only for money and fame?"
The Dark Knight laughed.
"I've been looking for you guys for years, but I finally got it."
The Dark Knight laughed.
"Listen carefully."
The Dark Knight raised his gaze, his lifeless black eyes glowing beneath the helmet, shimmering with a chilling light. His gaze pierced the cameras as the screen focused on him. The millions of people watching the raid felt the Dark Knight looking at them.
"I am Jared the Dark Knight, protector of this continent! The damned gathered here today will be buried here. I swear on my name and reputation that I will avenge the innocent!"
Jared the Dark Knight was the last monster in a game called The Dark Knight. He was also the most powerful being in the game. After a short life in battle, he was enlightened and evolved into the Dark Knight, powerful enough to rival the gods.
The actors suffered a lot because of this Dark Knight. The outside world was not ordinary, humanity was in great distress. So the Dark Knight game was their salvation, where they could vent all their anger and connect with the real world.
For years, everything they couldn't do in the real world, they did here. From psychopaths who murdered innocents to perverts who raped little girls, all kinds of scum had stepped into this realm. They called themselves actors.
They were strange beings who, unlike the locals, never died, leveling up as they fought monsters. Dealing with them was impossible from the start.
"ATTACK!"
Choi Jisoo drew the sword and commanded the troops. The warriors poured into the Dark Knight in formations as the mages began their incantations.
The Dark Knight raised his sword and swung it.
"Dark Extermination!"
Boom! Trumble!
The live broadcast was interrupted when a wave of black energy erupted. A crater fifty meters deep had formed in the one-kilometer area in front of the Dark Knight. Except for a few players who remained inside, all the rest of the players were vaporized.
The Dark Knight sheathed his sword and jumped into the crater.
Choi Jisoo was lying motionless on the floor. Although he was still alive, his life bar was at its limit. If he had not become a knight by profession, he would have already met the same fate as the others.
"I expected something because you talk big, but..."
The Dark Knight came up to Choi Jisoo and looked into his eyes, which were wide with fear. Choi Jisoo's heart began to beat so hard when he locked eyes with the Dark Knight that his veins were ruptured. Even his soul was crushed under his gaze.
Could a person's eyes be so frightening?
"The Dark Knight's Desperation..."
The Dark Knight looked around and saw a black mask lying on the ground. When he looked at it, the traumas buried in his subconscious came to the surface. But he quickly regained control.
"So you were thinking of killing me with this. Not a bad idea."
When the Dark Knight bent down to pick up the mask, a sword of unknown origin pierced his armor.
Klang!
But it couldn't even leave a mark, let alone pierce. The sword bounced and fell to the ground, and when the Dark Knight turned his head he saw a skinny boy trembling with fear. His legs were shaking with fear, and tears were coming from his eyes, but he was not afraid to stand before the Dark Knight.
"Are you brave or stupid?"
The Dark Knight didn't care, he took the mask and put it away. Meanwhile, the skinny boy started to rush towards him.
"The Dark Zone."
The skinny boy had barely taken a step when invisible ropes strangled him. This horrifying scene was seen by Choi Jisoo and the game officials who were watching the battle. It was more than chilling to see the skinny boy struggling while holding his throat and unable to escape no matter what he did.
"This war is over."
...
The control room in a tall building in the center of Seoul was in chaos. Officials monitoring the war were mobilized to cope with the incessant ringing of the phones. More than three thousand calls had been made in just a few minutes.
They all came from powerful advertisers and players.
Park Joonho, the captain of the development team, returned to the center after being scolded by his superiors and got his coffee. On the giant screen was the Dark Knight. He was torturing the few surviving players, extracting information from them.
"Wasn't the Dark Knight more powerful than we expected? Who was responsible for his development? How many times have I told you that the fourth wall must never be breached?"
Being the most powerful character in the game, and the only AI that knew the truth made him a vindictive being. Somehow, however, the Dark Knight realized the truth. He didn't believe the lie of heroes from another world, he recognized the truth that he was in a game.
Park Joonho didn't know about it. Otherwise, he would have reset the character's memory and changed everything all over again. He was going to do the same now, but it was too late. The Dark Knight was going to get a huge backlash.
That's when something strange happened.
The Dark Knight who tortured the players suddenly disappeared.
As the alarms in the room began to go off, a text appeared on the screen.
[Error]
"What's going on?!"
The Dark Knight's team member in charge of development burst into the room in a panic.
"Sir, there's a big problem!"
"Explain now!"
"Sir... Dark Knight..."
Park Joon-ho's eyes opened wide.
"Disappeared."
[NPC#00000001 deleted.]