The Tin Knight

To you outside the monitor, the battle with the bandits felt like an exhilarating action game.

Striking, blocking, creating distance, or rolling on the ground to avoid attacks.

There was no particular tension.

For you, who had faced opponents like a greatsword-wielding dog, a monkey that calmly revived even after being beheaded, or a charcoal king who cheated with specs and patterns, these human traffickers were not significant opponents.¹

Of course, you couldn’t be completely careless, as the pattern of seemingly weak mobs actually being incredibly strong was surprisingly common.

However, the perspective of “you” actually fighting on the scene was a bit different.

There was an enormous gap between clicking a mouse button a few times beyond the screen and actually swinging a sword.

Your position. The opponent’s position. Surrounding obstacles.

The trajectory of your sword had to constantly adapt to these variables, and a shield wasn’t just a convenient barrier that blocked attacks when raised but required the technique to accurately receive and deflect the opponent’s attacks.

Techniques like stepping inside the opponent’s legs to throw them off balance, or using walls or furniture to deny space for the enemy to swing their weapons, were subtle skills only possible on the scene. Not in the sense of being trivial or minor, but in the sense of being too intricate to execute individually with just a keyboard and mouse.

Moreover, unlike you outside the monitor who habitually tried to avoid or block every enemy attack, you on the scene knew that it was more efficient to fight while taking some minor hits.