Popular NPC in a Gender-Reversed Game

Chapter 133

Recently, Hanbyeol had been having a rather fulfilling day.
Of course, by her own standards.

It wasn’t like her experience points were increasing significantly day by day, nor was there any noticeable growth in her abilities.
But... she had recently had more chances to meet the NPC she had been carefully observing.

She had been wondering how she could meet him naturally, and now that opportunity was presenting itself.

To be honest, she and Yor weren't particularly close.

Their first meeting had started with a fight, and the reason for that fight wasn't particularly friendly either.
She had wanted to try fighting just once, but it was also because of the bounty hunting mission. It was bound to be awkward.

Still, under the pretext of exchanging holy water, they started meeting regularly, but... recently, that reason was becoming increasingly irrelevant.

He had recently started hanging out with the knights and was replenishing his own supply of holy water.
Thus, the excuse of ‘holy water exchange’ was gradually losing its meaning.

So, Hanbyeol had been thinking about how to meet him more often...

She hadn’t expected the casual suggestion of a sparring match to turn into such a long-standing arrangement. She was a little surprised herself.
Thanks to that, Hanbyeol had been going to the arena with him every day recently.

Originally, one could buy several tickets for the arena, and they could transfer them.
But she didn’t do that.

Doing so would only reduce the frequency of their meetings, after all.
It was a bit of a hassle to have to visit the cave every day, but it was a sacrifice she was willing to make.

Of course, when making the round trip, there were times when she felt a bit disillusioned.

‘What the hell am I doing… just because of an NPC...’

It was hard to believe she was going through all this trouble for just an NPC.

What would someone who knew her think if they saw this?
They would probably think she was a total weirdo, someone way too immersed in a game.

Even if the NPCs felt almost as real as humans, to most people, they were still just fake characters in a computer game.

Of course, there were people who spoke about the game's realistic world like it was some other world, but... Hanbyeol wasn't foolish enough to believe in such nonsense.

But even so, there was no denying it.
When she was with him, her lower abdomen tingled, and her cheeks often flushed.

Looking at his face brought back memories of when she was held captive and stroked by him, being called "Happy" back then.

And strangely enough, those sensations often felt pleasantly warm.

So, this situation, going to the arena together, was one Hanbyeol couldn’t resist.
Of course, there was one thing that bothered her.

‘When will the barehanded combat come out?’

Even though he was gruff and had a rather unpleasant personality, Hanbyeol was still a ‘woman.’
A woman in her twenties, full of vitality. She had desires within her.

When he first came out to the arena and pressured his opponent with his body, Hanbyeol felt something inside her tingle.

The sight of him without even removing his clothes was more stimulating than any adult video she had seen. She had even imagined herself in such a scenario, replaying videos and placing herself in his position.

What would it feel like to make such close contact with him?
What would it feel like to be bound by him like that?
Would the pain come first, or would some mysterious sensation take over her before that?

Though she often felt like a pervert for thinking such things, she couldn’t stop her aroused imagination.

Since then, Hanbyeol had been working hard at the arena.
She had met him many times, but... unfortunately, the barehanded combat still hadn’t come up.

Lately, the arena had been crowded with people, so getting a match with him was already difficult, and it was even rarer to get barehanded combat at the same time.

‘Sigh…’

Thinking about it always made her sigh, but she didn’t show it outwardly. It would be odd if he noticed.

Right now, there was no time to waste thinking about that.

"Where are you looking?"

Screech—!
Even though she had limited her stats, he was not someone to let his guard down against. He was the kind of person where, to even have a chance of winning, she had to go all out.

With two curved swords wrapped in energy, she blocked the incoming spear.

Clang—!
A clear sound echoed as a heavy shock hit her body.
It was time to focus on the fight.

Clash—! Clang—!
Weapons collided, and blades cut through each other.
This wasn’t the first time she had faced him in the arena. In fact, it had already been more than three times.
Every time, the conclusion was the same—it wasn’t easy.

‘So this is what it’s like to be ranked number one.’

His flashy techniques, sharp judgment, and dual wielding were all part of his skill.
He was quick and flexible. And, perhaps because his hair was long, there were times when his movements were disorienting.

‘I heard he used to do gymnastics.’

That seemed to have been a huge help.
It wasn’t a big difference now, with her physical abilities being restricted. She was at a level where the gap was hardly noticeable anymore.

Because of that, there were times she was at a disadvantage in the battle.
Perhaps she was a quick learner because she adapted fast during the fight.

Actually, there was a time when she had to forfeit after being weighted down with sandbags. In short, he was a tough opponent.

But that didn’t mean she couldn’t win.

Unfortunately, she felt like her spear skills hadn't improved much.

‘Well, it’s only been a week.’
In such a short time, it was hard to feel much improvement.
But, in return, she had learned a few tricks.

Actually, it wasn’t even fair to call them tricks.
They were pretty useful techniques, ones that could actually be used in real combat.

With that thought, she quickly thrust her arm into the path of the attacking sword.

"!?"

For a moment, Hanbyeol’s eyes widened in shock. She hesitated, wondering if she should pull her sword back.

Even though it was a sparring match and her life was guaranteed, feeling pain was still very much a possibility.
If she was unlucky, she could get seriously injured.

In that sense, pushing her arm into the path of his sword was like asking for her arm to be chopped off.
It was clearly a dangerous move, but, of course, she hadn’t done it recklessly.

Swish—!
Hanbyeol’s sword dug into her arm. After a brief moment of hesitation, she chose to strike.

She trusted herself to handle it. In a sense, that was the trust she had in herself.

With a sharp pain, red blood started to spill from the split skin.
Seeing that, she immediately used her blood technique to harden her blood.

It created a kind of shield made from her own blood.
Though it took some effort, it was a very practical shield with a remarkably fast formation speed.
It would block any half-hearted attack.

Clang—!
Right after, her sword came to a stop at her forearm.
Without hesitation, she drove her spear toward her opponent’s body. The dark, sharp spearhead lunged toward her opponent’s neck.

“Ha, I surrender!”

Realizing she couldn’t escape, Hanbyeol quickly declared her surrender.
As soon as her form vanished, the spear passed through the air.
Another victory for her.

“…Phew.”

She let out a light sigh.

[Every time I watch, I think the way he fights is so damn reckless.]
[Why the hell is he sticking his arm out in front of a sword with energy?]
[Can he also adjust his integration rate like us?]
[They say virtual characters can't feel pain!]
[Really now?]
[Tough guy, our big bro... He’s kind of cool, but sometimes he can be really scary...]
[Today, barehanded combat came up... once…]

After the fight with Hanbyeol, Yor immediately left the arena.
He had fought enough for the day and was ready to head back to the cave.

Upon returning to the cave, he saw Chaerin sitting there, looking displeased.

While many players enjoyed Yor's sudden arena tours, there were also some who viewed it negatively. Chaerin was one of them.

She immediately asked him,

“Looks like you’ve been enjoying the arena lately. You've been there for a long time.”
“Of course. Want to try it out? It’s fun.”
“Wow, you’re recommending it so casually! At least turn off the barehanded combat option.”

Honestly, she was a little worried.
Fighting in the arena was fine, but that barehanded combat...

She could see that the intentions of the participants were a little... suspicious.
No matter how much of a game it was, seeing a ‘man’ and a ‘woman’ fighting so closely wasn’t something she felt comfortable with.
If they were complete strangers, maybe it would be fine, but the two of them had gone through the '19 mode' together...

It didn’t seem like he minded the close contact, though.
Yor innocently asked,

“Was it possible to block that?”

[Fact) Impossible.]
[You can choose the match type, but you can't block the match itself.]
[This game doesn’t have that feature, haha~]
[It's a small game, so they didn't make such a feature~]
[Small game) A game played by more than half of the world's population.]
[What will you do if there’s no such feature? Just quit the game if you’re mad, haha.]

“Sigh...”

Chaerin let out a small sigh.
Well, since he wasn’t bothered by it, she couldn’t say much.
She figured if he felt something was too much, he would quit on his own.

For now, Chaerin decided to watch from the sidelines. The first-place player was a bit annoying, but she’d let it go for now.

“What’s going on, though?”
After thinking for a moment, Yor asked.
Chaerin replied,

“There’s an update coming soon, so I thought you should return a bit earlier.”

It was almost the second anniversary. Most games had big updates once a year, so players were expecting something big.

Though the game company hadn’t made any official announcements, there were plenty of players who were eagerly anticipating it.

“You could go to the arena, right?”
“There are too many people there, so I doubt we’ll be able to meet. ...But I’ll think about it.”

Yor nodded casually.
Chaerin chatted a bit more before returning to the city.

A few days passed.
As expected, there was an update, but it wasn’t the exciting one players were hoping for.

“Wait, hold on, this is a bit surprising...”

Chaerin hurried to tell Yor. It was an unexpected bit of news.

“Did you hear? The Russian server went down...”
“...Huh?”

In Demons Saga, “server” refers to a country where otherworldly beings reside.
So, when a server goes down, it means something more significant.

The game had been open for two years.
One of the countries, somewhere out there, had fallen.