"Iris Lizer? She's actually in a master-servant relationship with this question-mark NPC? I'm jealous."
"Why is she covered up so tightly without showing even a hint of skin?! Isn't this rated 16X? Where are the thigh-highs?!"
"Those legs, that waist, that figure—though she's a little flat, I could worship her for a whole year!"
"One day. I want to see fanart of this cute girl on P-site within one day!!"
When they saw the young woman following behind Linton, the male players instantly shook off their exhaustion from staying up all night. Each of them seemed pumped full of adrenaline, howling excitedly and making the female players beside them scoot away in disgust.
Of course, if they had not been scooting toward Linton, Mr. Necromancer would have been perfectly happy to watch the show.
"Looks like while ordinary people fear you, non-humans are just as fond of you."
Following behind Linton, Iris occasionally glanced at the bizarre-looking humanoid creatures that had been trailing them all the way and could not help complaining to him.
"They just look strange. They're definitely all human," Linton replied, torn between laughter and tears.
He could not explain what players were to Iris, because anything related to the real world was blocked by the game system from reaching an NPC's ears.
Iris wanted to say something else, but a voice from behind cut in before she could.
"Um, um, how much farther are we from our destination now?"
"We're already here, actually."
Linton turned around and answered Greninja's question.
"Didn't you notice? The sun is about to rise, yet there isn't a shred of light in this forest."
The players immediately snapped out of their excitement and looked around.
They were currently deep within a dense forest, but the light around them did not come from the sun or moon. Instead, it was the faint glow emitted by bluish-green grass-like plants.
Once they fell silent, the surroundings became deathly quiet, making the scene extremely eerie.
"Are you ready, travelers?"
Linton asked pleasantly.
"They're here."
The next second, the plant-covered ground suddenly began to heave, and skeletons burst out one after another like newly hatched chicks breaking free of their shells.
"Eek—"
Linton had clearly overestimated the players, especially the female players who had come solely for him.
The moment the skeletons appeared, at least two or three players logged out and vanished on the spot.
Fortunately, there were enough players. After the initial fright, their collective mood quickly turned fervent.
"For experience points! Kill!!"
"For the Alliance!!"
"For hubby!!"
"For—aren't you a fucking guy? Why are you yelling hubby?"
"..."
"Where did you find these people?"
Iris cut down a small skeleton with one slash and looked doubtfully at Linton, who had both hands in his pockets as though none of this concerned him. "Aren't they afraid of dying?"
It was no wonder Iris asked.
Aside from the few male players Greninja had organized with his "Send me 500 and help me win the championship" method, who fought with some semblance of coordination, the other players were practically hardheaded kids. They only knew how to charge forward with beginner weapons, and even the healers fought as fiercely as Berserkers.
Of course they weren't afraid. If I could revive infinitely, I wouldn't be afraid either. Linton answered Iris in his mind, but what he said aloud was something else. "They are indeed brave, but if they keep fighting like this, they won't last long."
After all, the players had not leveled up yet. Their starting attributes were low, and their health was only a little higher than those small skeletons Iris could shatter with one strike. If they were careless with their controls, they would soon be teleported back to the dungeon entrance.
"Then what do we do? The place you're going should be dangerous, right? Without these... mercenaries, how are you going to get there?"
"Isn't that what you're here for?"
Iris rolled her eyes at him. "Stop joking. My stamina is limited. I can't deal with so many skeletons, even if they're weak."
"I'm not joking." Linton said, "Those skeletons aren't our target. Their mission is only to clear a path for us to meet the real boss. When the time comes, I'll need to rely on you to deal with him. Let's go while their attention isn't on us."
Following his instructions, Iris sheathed her knight's sword and silently disappeared into the cries of battle with Linton.
The instant the two of them vanished into the mist, a player who had been watching them closely kicked the skeleton in front of him to the ground. Rather than finishing it off for experience, he quietly followed after them and activated the system's built-in recording function.
"Doesn't this count as deceiving them?"
Listening to the battle cries drifting farther and farther away, Iris asked, "They're fighting monsters to the death because of your orders, but we've left them behind."
Faced with the young woman's question, Linton could not help chuckling teasingly. "It seems our Miss Knight really is as kind as she is beautiful."
Iris raised a brow disdainfully. "I'm not worried about their safety. Whether they live or die has nothing to do with me. I'm only worried that if they find out you abandoned them, their mercenary group will blacklist you. Fearless mercenaries are incredibly rare, you know. You should establish a cooperative relationship with them so you can use them again."
Linton did not explain Iris's misunderstanding and merely said with a smile, "Don't worry. However many people came, that's how many will leave."
"Not letting them follow us is also for their own good. They're too weak. The person we're about to defeat is someone they aren't even qualified to serve as cannon fodder against. No matter how many there are, it would be useless." After a pause, he continued, "Wait a moment. I need to take off some clothes."
Linton removed the "Concealer," exposing his face to the fresh air without reservation for the first time in a long while.
"Wait, wait!!" Iris felt that intimate aura again and hurriedly turned her head away, asking nervously, "Why are you suddenly taking off your clothes?"
Linton found Iris's reaction rather strange.
She had clearly said that she felt neither fear nor dislike toward him, so why had she suddenly turned away and become too afraid to look at him?
After giving it some thought, Linton assumed his words had made her misunderstand.
"Don't worry, I'm not a pervert. I'm just changing out of the robe I wear over my clothes."
"..."
That's not what I meant!
Damn soul resonance!
Iris took several deep breaths, forcibly suppressing the strange feeling in her heart. Still unwilling to look at Linton's face, she awkwardly changed the subject. "You still haven't answered me. Why are you taking off your clothes?"
"Didn't you think of it earlier?"
"What?"
"While I'm feared by humans, I'm also liked by non-humans." Linton spoke softly. "Especially bizarre creatures that wander along the boundary between life and death."
"I wouldn't say they like me, but fully exposing my aura will at least keep strange things from suddenly pouncing on us while we walk."
"If that's the case, why didn't you take off your hood from the start? Why make the mercenaries clear out the skeletons?"
Linton raised one finger. "First, skeletons are controlled creatures without souls, so they can't sense anything unusual about me. Second, we have to disrupt this area's peace before we can meet the skeletons' master."
"You said earlier that you needed me to solve the problem. You don't mean you want me to purify them, do you? Let me make this clear first: I've never received the title of knight, and I don't know any of those skills only holy-class professionals possess."
"You don't need to purify him. You only need to shove your sword into his throat and send him to meet his master. Follow behind me. We're heading back."
"Hm?"
Only then did Iris realize that they had somehow followed the path they came from all the way to the edge of the forest.
"Didn't we enter by this road just now? Why are we walking the same way again?"
Linton glanced at her and asked quietly, "Do you really think we're still walking the same road?"
"The Adventurers' Guild once recorded that many people walking through the wilderness, especially while exploring dim environments, would experience a certain decline in their perception. They would walk for half a day only to discover they had been circling in place. In truth, this is the mind becoming muddled after humans are deceived by a homogenized environment. Of course, it can also happen under the influence of a powerful external force, and people usually call this phenomenon—"
"—Ghost Hitting Wall!"
Iris abruptly looked up.
The path was still the same path, and the scenery was still the same scenery, yet she felt as if something had changed.
"What's that sound?"
Iris's gaze suddenly sharpened.
On their way in, apart from the players' chatter, there had been no other noise. Now the players' voices had long since disappeared, yet it seemed as though the sound of clashing metal had been ringing around her ears all along.
"Why do I feel like... we've barged into a battlefield where people are fighting?"
"You're right." Linton slightly raised his eyes and looked toward the empty valley not far away.
Upon blood-blackened earth, knights carrying silver lances charged again and again, relentlessly launching assaults against warriors holding swords and shields on the other side.
"The name of this Secret Realm is—"
"The Forgotten Flesh Battlefield."
Before you continue