Parrying is one of the most powerful techniques.
The concept of this technique is to deflect attacks, so if it succeeds, you can fully block the attack regardless of the gap between you and your opponent, and even cause a brief stun to them.
That’s why I never thought that such a convenient skill could break through the system’s limitations and be realized.
“What? Weren’t you losing? How did you suddenly start winning?”
“Were you going easy on them like the others, even against students bound for the advanced class?”
“Wow, that’s insane. At this rate, you’re practically guaranteed to be the top student in our grade.”
It seemed like misunderstandings were piling up, but that wasn’t the important thing right now.
The fact that parrying actually existed was surprising, but since countering after a parry was instinctively ingrained in me, I couldn’t afford to miss this chance. Missing it would be a disgrace, both as an experienced player and as a gamer.
So I immediately rushed in, swinging my shield.
Why a shield instead of a fist, you ask? Who says you only use a shield for blocking? The sturdy edge of this thing is also great for striking.
Thanks to moving without hesitation, I managed to strike Harold before he could regain his stance.
Thud! Thud!
After hitting his face twice, Harold started swinging his hammer wildly, groaning in pain.
Recognizing this as an unparriable attack pattern, I quickly jumped back to dodge.
I was lucky a moment ago, but parrying isn’t foolproof. If it’s not the right pattern, it doesn’t work at all, and most boss-level enemies are designated as unparriable.
In terms of the previous situation, Harold’s hammer combo consists of five motions, and only the second and fourth motions are parriable. I parried the fourth motion.
Still… as long as you succeed, there’s a huge advantage, so I memorized all the possible and impossible patterns. Whether it’s difficult or not, the mere fact that it’s possible is important. After all, there’s a world of difference between something hard to do and something impossible.
While I was thinking that, Harold had already regained his stance. He was bleeding from his nose, but I pretended not to notice.
He seemed more cautious, probably due to the unexpected situation, but I had other things on my mind.
‘If this works, maybe other things will too.’
Maybe because I successfully parried, I suddenly felt confident that dodging would work as well.
If parrying works, then there’s no rule against having invincibility during dodging, right?
So, I deliberately provoked Harold to attack.
Instead of charging in, I circled around, waiting for the right moment, and dashed forward when I deemed his attack appropriate.
When I executed the dodge move like in the game, my body momentarily blurred, passing right through Harold’s hammer.
It was exactly like the dodges I’d seen in games, where the character phases through the attack.
“What the?!”
Harold looked dumbfounded, as his attack, which should have hit, passed through empty air, and the target he should have struck passed right through his attack. It was understandable that he couldn’t grasp it.
“What did I just see?”
“What? I was looking at a girl passing by, so I missed it.”
“No, he passed right through an attack!”
“What are you talking about?”
“He dodged the hammer like a ghost!”
“You probably just saw it wrong. If you’re going to talk nonsense, just look at the girls passing by like me!”
I couldn’t hear what they were saying, but seeing the commotion in the audience, it seemed like they were shocked by what just happened.
Of course, they would be. Unlike parrying, which could somewhat be explained as deflecting an attack, dodging like that would seem absurd from both the opponent’s and the spectators’ perspectives.
Anyway, with everyone else flustered, I figured I might as well try a dash cancel just in case. It’s a basic but tricky move for experienced players where you cancel an action with a dash and then cancel the dash with another move, and so on.
Shuffle-shuffle.
In an instant, my vision shifted right next to Harold.
I’d done it. It was so simple.
Though it looked silly, just like in the game, this move continuously accelerates with each dash cancel, giving it an undeniable edge over a normal dash, which is just straightforward running.
It was so effective that even Harold, who’d easily reacted to my earlier openings, couldn’t keep up.
In theory, this doubled my agility stat, so it made sense.
Anyway, seeing me closing in with such a strange movement, Harold looked flustered and prepared to swing his hammer again, but at this range, punching would have been more practical.
Of course, I kicked him instead. A light tap to his shin made him howl with delight.
“Arrgh! You vicious bastard!”
“Watch your words. You tried to squash me with a hammer.”
Honestly, I was only safe because I managed to parry it. If not, I’d have been knocked out by that swing, so all this fuss over a single kick to his shin?
So, he thinks his attacks are fine, but mine are cruel? What a selfish guy.
Anyway, I dodged, and he got hit, so that means I won, right?
“…Damn it. Fine, I lost.”
“I like how you accept it so gracefully. Still, I learned a lot thanks to you. Thanks.”
“Jerk, that’s a lousy way to console me. You think I’m gonna believe that?”
But it’s true.
Thanks to you, I’ve realized something really important. I’ll owe you a big one someday.
“Sorry for underestimating you. And… I’ll make sure to redeem this disgraceful display next time.”
Even though Harold didn’t believe me and walked off alone, it didn’t really matter whether he believed me or not.
Thanks to his basic tutorial, I made it through a tough spot and felt a lot less worried about the future.
Ah, thank you, Cropped Top Suspender Sensei.
“…But really, why is any of this even working?”
I couldn’t help but wonder.
From parrying to dodging, and even dash canceling.
Judging by the reactions, it seemed like no one else could do this, so what was going on?
In games, I’d brush it off, but here, where everything feels real, it made no sense.
“Oh. Could it be…”
After thinking about it for a while, something suddenly came to mind.
[Irregular]
[Experimental feature. Please ensure this trait is not accessible to actual players.]
The Irregular trait that I possessed. Maybe it had something to do with this?
There’s no detailed description, but… if I had to guess, was this some experimental attempt to transfer player traits to an NPC? Like for PVP bots or NPCs that players could control…
The growth limit on my stats, if intended to limit variables in this game with its diverse growth conditions, made sense.
I thought of various possibilities, but they were ultimately pointless. The only thing I knew for certain was that none of this was ever mentioned in the game.
If it wasn’t mentioned, it probably meant it failed.
So to sum it up, I was designed for testing but ultimately discarded as an extra, and for some reason, I ended up possessing this experimental trait that lets me utilize the game’s system.
Hmm. Quite a stretch. Nowadays, fiction would get criticized for a story like this.
‘But that’s actually happening.’
Is it for real? Am I allowed to be this lucky?
But come to think of it, without this trait, I could’ve just grown normally and dominated the game. So in a way, it’s like giving me an illness only to provide the cure. Ugh.
Still, it’s better than nothing. Honestly, this trait? I’m confident I can make the best use of it.
Dodging in this game isn’t foolproof. Just using it doesn’t make you invincible; only a perfectly timed dodge grants invincibility, a “just dodge” system.
If you recklessly spam it, thinking of it like the convenient dodges in other games, you’ll just get hit and knocked back mid-animation. This upped the difficulty level, and a lot of players ended up quitting.
But that was never a problem for me.
Who do you think spent hours analyzing every attack pattern in this game frame by frame and compiled dodge timings in an Excel file?
The reaction when I shared that file on the gaming site was, to put it mildly, sensational.
[Are you seriously insane?]
[Wait, you can dodge that pattern?]
[The game devs responded.]
ᄂ[What did they say?]
ᄂ[They called him a lunatic.]
[Fair enough.]
[ㅋㅋㅋㅋ Even the devs acknowledged he’s crazy ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ]
It was tough, but since it had such a huge impact, I don’t feel like it was a waste.
Especially now that I’ve figured out dodging works in this new life too.
My confidence as an experienced player, which had felt lost just a while ago, was fully restored. Whoever comes next, I’ll win.
So, who’s my next opponent?
“Wow, who’s that? She’s stunning.”
“I heard she’s from another country. Apparently, she’s fallen royalty.”
“Wow… So her and Rubetia, royal bloodlines really do look different.”
What is she doing here?
I honestly don’t understand any of this.
“Nice to meet you. I’m Lilith Lafi… no, just Lilith.”
Aren’t you supposed to be hiding in a convent, waiting for your saintly awakening?
What happened to special admission for saints? Why are you here taking the entrance exam?