The combat system in Brightest Darkness 4 is broadly divided into two families.
Generally, when facing human-like enemies, it employs evasion and parrying; whereas against monstrous enemies, defense and rolling are favored. Lastly, there’s a special counterattack known as parrying.
Of course, one could use evasion and parrying against monsters, or defense and rolling against humans. There was nothing systemically enforced about it.
It was really just a matter of efficiency.
“Just as I thought, Iris has an eye for this!”
For example, using rolling against a boss showcasing a brutal combo pattern of up to 13 hits meant I could get hit during the roll’s recovery period, getting stunned and then slaughtered by the follow-up attacks.
The twin daggers covered in ice clashed repeatedly with the red blade, creating sharp metallic sounds. My hands tingled. Much more than when I deflected the massive club of the Human Butcher.
Her arms looked delicate enough to snap with a gentle touch, yet the power was immense.
As I deflected the final 13th attack, she stepped back a few paces and immediately displayed her next pattern—lowering her body and crossing her arms in front of her head before charging forward.
‘7-hit combo.’
I recalled what kind of pattern that was and prepared to counter.
The 3rd and 6th attacks came at slightly off timings; if I got caught and parried incorrectly, combat fatigue would kick in, sealing my death.
An ice path spread behind Lize. The ground turned into a trail of ice that momentarily maintained its form before exploding with frost particles. A mist of frost covered the area.
As I carefully avoided entering the frosted area, I deflected the swinging twin daggers.
Right hand, left hand, then an off-timed right hand again. Two strikes from the right and one off-timed from the left. The final strike was a diagonal slash with the right hand.
I deflected every attack, seizing the opportunity while Lize hesitated momentarily to counterattack from the inside. As my sword grazed her arm, a shallow cut appeared, and a few drops of blood flowed down.
‘It certainly seemed to have landed this time.’
Even though my sword had pierced her bare forearm, all it left was a faint scratch. Just enough to draw a few drops of blood, nothing more.
I had landed several hits before, yet they all ended up as light scratches. It seemed the HP concept from the game applied in such a manner.
Lize glanced down at the scratch covering her forearm, then exclaimed cheerfully.
“See, that’s it! A man should have that kind of backbone, right? The more I see you, the more I like you!”
Then she charged at me once more, her face clearly showing sheer joy. She wasn’t enjoying the fight itself, but rather her interest and pleasure directed towards me.
It felt as if her arm being cut was nothing. After all, in the game, one hit didn’t kill me, so I expected this.
The figure in front of me leapt into the air, frost and ice swirling around her body. She held her daggers reversed, ready to slam them down with the tips facing downward.
This was an unblockable attack.
I quickly increased the distance, rolling backwards. Crash! A chilling sound resonated nearby as an ice meteor collided with the ground. Even rolling away, I barely escaped in time.
‘If it were Vanilla, I could have just walked away from that.’
From the spot where Lize landed, sharp ice spikes sprouted in every direction. The tips looked terrifyingly sharp.
The culprit, however, casually walked out, shattering the spikes. Well, it would be comical if she got hurt by the ice she created.
Immediately, the next attack followed. One cross of her arms, then swinging the left dagger from the lower right to the upper left, followed by a 4-hit combo.
I deflected all of those and prepared to counter the final attack, raising my sword up to my chest. Lize pulled one arm back, aligning her dagger horizontally.
This was a thrust attack, impossible to block with a guard.
To counter it, I had to either deflect it timing perfectly or dodge or roll away, or bring up a shield—any of those three.
Clang!
My chosen method was naturally deflection.
The blue blade, elongated by the ice sprouting from the sword, clashed against the red blade of my blood-stained sword.
My body couldn’t resist the recoil and was pushed backward. I barely stopped myself by stabbing the sword into the ground. Lize looked surprised, as though she hadn’t expected me to deflect this too.
“Wow, you blocked that too? Where did Iris find such an excellent newbie?”
Taking advantage of that moment, I brushed off the frost clinging to my arm and lightly shook my tingling fingers.
My sword didn’t have frost resistance enchantment, so even if I deflected perfectly, the frostbite gauge would slowly build up. The key was whether I could finish this before that.
Lize had quite a few minor wounds, but since I couldn’t check HP, I had to estimate her health based only on observation.
Back when I did speedruns, I remembered all those minor details, but later, focusing more on the Level 1 barehanded run caused me to forget most of it.
“Didn’t you say you’d control your power?”
“No, I wanted to take it easy. I did, but what can I do when you block so well? Now I’m just as curious about how much you can take. Iris and Erica probably feel the same way, right?”
I glanced over at Iris and Erica, who were watching our spar from a distance.
As Lize said, Iris stood with her arms crossed under her chest, silently observing us, while Erica looked on with a glint of excitement in her eyes.
Whatever the case, it seemed neither of them intended to end the spar.
“Iris, isn’t this enough to pass? How long are you going to make us fight?”
I hinted at Iris, hoping for a hint of mercy. After all, I had nothing to lose. If I succeeded, I’d be able to skip Lize’s final pattern, and failing wouldn’t really cost me much either.
No way would Lize or Erica kick me out if we ended things here.
Iris appeared to ponder for a moment before giving a faint nod.
“Based on the skill you’ve shown so far, you’ve proven your qualifications. From the exam standpoint, there’s no issue if we finish here. If both of you want, we can wrap it up now. Is that okay, Lize?”
“What? Wait. You want to end it here? Are you serious?”
“I think your skills have adequately been confirmed. I asked for an entrance exam, not a life-or-death battle.”
“No, I have so many techniques left unused! You have no sense of romance, Iris!”
“Romance can be found elsewhere. This is not romance; it’s an entrance exam.”
“Geez… Then just one! Just let me test out one more technique, and I’ll pass you! After all, I threw so many attacks, and if I couldn’t land even one hit on a newbie, what would that make of the knight commander’s dignity? Plus, honestly, Iris, you’re just as curious about how much the newbie can take, right? Isn’t that right? Huh?”
“……”
Iris looked indecisive for a moment. I found it utterly bewildering.
‘Does a lame excuse like that actually work? Seriously?’
“……Do as you wish.”
‘That worked? Wow.’
Was it like this all because of the change in common sense, similar to clothing? Why did that succeed?
Regardless of my incredulity, Lize, emboldened by Iris’s approval, raised her daggers again. Now, it appeared I had to fight once more. I got back into stance.
After all, she said just one more technique before it would be over—
‘…Wait a minute. One technique?’
A chill ran down my spine. This felt very regrettable.
“Alright, newbie! I’m sorry, but I need to maintain the knight commander’s dignity!”
“And you said you’d control your strength, what kind of nonsense is this for an entrance exam? And what if I block it all? Then there’d be nothing left for dignity!”
“Block this? Our newbie has some guts! Well then, fine! If you can block this, I’ll grant you any wish you want! Anything naughty is fine too! How about that? Feeling ready?”
“I’d rather you just stop asking for those things!”
“Sorry, that’s impossible! But really, think carefully about it!”
Lize smiled brightly as she covered her twin daggers in ice. A white frost enveloped her entire body, and the surrounding air began to cool rapidly. Just seeing that made my sigh escape heavily.
‘Well, it ended up this way. What was the name of that technique? Froststorm Combo?’
The Froststorm Combo was the final skill in the boss battle against Lize added from the Darkest Light Mod.
With a total of 20 hits in the combo, each hit dealt immense damage, and the homing capability was insane, making it practically impossible to evade with rolling.
Thus, it forced one to either employ a large shield or deflect every single attack—a completely mad pattern. Unless you had the worst luck, you could get frozen during the combo deflections and die.
To make it even worse, it was a pattern that could only be used twice throughout the entire boss fight, meaning it would take a long time to study as well.
Lize lightly waved her arm vertically, creating a path of ice. I had to focus now. I cleared all idle thoughts and concentrated solely on the dagger in her hand.
With a blur of afterimages, Lize shot forward like a bolt.
‘First up, the initial 4 hits.’
I spun counter-clockwise, and as I did so, the first two hits came at me. As the blades clashed, I felt a jolt of electricity surge through my hands. I nearly dropped my sword.
But there was no time to lament; the frosty storm wrapped around the twin daggers. I deflected the first two hits and immediately pulled the blood-stained sword back to my chest.
As I lifted my arm, a profound impact grazed my chest twice. My body was thrust backward. A speed that I would never be able to block if I had tried.
As if that wasn’t enough, a thick layer of frost and cold enveloped the area, making Lize’s figure appear hazy, and only a short distance away was the blurry image of her person.
In the game, at least there had been some visibility, but now even that was gone. To be honest, I couldn’t even see the outline of the dagger.
I gave up following with my eyes and moved as my body remembered instead. I recalled using the right-click on my mouse to parry and swung my arm as though dancing to a rhythm.
‘Next, the 8-hit combo.’
As the thought crossed my mind, I clearly heard the sound of blades colliding eight times, and once again my body was pushed back. Lize charged immediately. No time to catch my breath or reorganize my stance.
Now frost clung to my arms and legs, making movement arduous. There was a limit to forcibly moving my arms and legs. With the 19th or perhaps the final attack, I could feel the frost building up.
‘This won’t hold. I need to hit her once to cancel the attack.’
As I thought this, the 16th attack came flying toward me. I deflected it while thinking ahead. If I could deflect the 17th attack, a brief moment would open for me to strike her.
I had to time it perfectly, but if I succeeded, I could stun her and cancel the pattern altogether. I made my decision and prepared to counter as the dagger flew toward me.
Just then, I felt an immense weight pulling me down.
Something was dragging my entire body down, causing my legs to stagger. As a result, my sword momentarily faltered.
‘Combat fatigue…!’
I steadied my sudden weighty body. The combo hadn’t continued yet, so I still had time. Just before I swung the blood-stained sword again, I caught sight of Lize’s lips curling upward.
I observed her stance. At first glance, it looked like she was in an awkward position. But I knew what that meant.
If I attacked now, my sword would surely get parried, and I would be countered.
Before I could twist my sword’s trajectory, someone flashed between Lize and me, leaving a hazy afterimage.
“Stop!”
