Unintentionally, you glance outside the window.
It's pitch dark—night remains.
Yet on the far horizon, you vaguely see the first hint of dawn.
...
——Fast.
Too fast.
Like a sapphire-blue meteor, the petite faerie knight's magic trail erupts behind her, propelling her forward at blinding speed. In an instant, she's directly before Guinevere. Her velocity is beyond human sight. Though Guinevere sensed it and raised his longsword in defense, he was just fractionally too slow. Her scabbard—flung from her arm—pierced him on the spot.
By now, Guinevere has died twenty-three times.
...
——Powerful.
Too powerful.
Simply overwhelming.
This can no longer be called a duel; it has become a torture without mercy. The sheer pressure presses Guinevere's lungs shut—and Lancelot's attacks are not merely fast. After Guinevere scrambles and rolls to evade two consecutive slashes, he glimpses with his peripheral vision Lancelot vaulting forward in a perfect front flip. Her slender legs, like twin blades, sweep downward from midair, a two-meter-long wave of lake-blue magic coalescing at her feet. With that single downward swing, she cleaves Guinevere in half.
Her unpredictability and audacity remind Guinevere of that free-spirited Wind Country sword saint.
Then time rewinds, and the battle resumes.
...
Once more, the speed-enchanted faerie knight comes crashing at Guinevere. This time, Guinevere barely erects his sword in time, intercepting her fist. But the tremendous force driving that blow is like an iron hammer slamming his blade into his own chest, sending him—including his sword—flying. The brutality and ferocity of her technique surpass even the legendary Wildfang Hollair.
Guinevere slams into the edge of the stage, his neck snapping instantly.
Then the battle restarts.
...
[Because you have died against this single opponent more than fifty times, you discover one of Faerie Knight Lancelot's skills.]
[Dragon's Heart: B]
[Refers to the 'Dragon's Core,' also called the Dragon Jewel—Lancelot's mana circuit.]
[In Pan-Human history, classified as 'Mana Release,' a manifestation of surplus bio-energy.]
[Rebuilt her being as a 'Dragon Faerie,' Lancelot, though not a true dragon, possesses biologic functions akin to a dragon.]
When Guinevere swings his sword to strike Lancelot, a torrent of azure magic suddenly erupts behind her. It propels her petite form with hummingbird-like lightness to the side, where she appears behind Guinevere in a flash. A heavy iron fist smashes into his spine, snapping it instantly.
The ease with which Lancelot moves makes Guinevere feel as if he's confronting the third phase of the horror known as the Plague-Wolf Koss.
Then the battle restarts.
...
——Impossible to breathe.
Attacks rain down like a hurricane—swift, violent, and utterly erratic, capable of striking from any angle. A mighty fist that arrives in the blink of an eye; a sudden counter-slash from her scabbard; even a random kick, once imbued with her explosive magic, would kill instantly.
Her assault frequency is that of a mad dog, her strength utterly overwhelming—a suffocating pressure.
Thank goodness for Lancelot. Guinevere rediscovers the fear once instilled in him by his teachers Gale and Manus.
He cannot win. He simply cannot.
Guinevere thinks to himself: He had believed that in Gloucester—where everyone is forced to LV1—he might triumph over Lancelot. But even here, unofficially powerful beings remain powerful. He, an ordinary man, is no match for her.
His chances were only theoretical.
[Because you have died against this single opponent more than one hundred times, the system will now offer advice to assist you.]
[After calculating your odds against Faerie Knight Lancelot, your win rate is only 0.0001%.]
[System Recommendation: Surrender at the start of combat; this gives you a chance to survive.]
"…Indeed."
For a moment, Guinevere falls silent, then acknowledges the system's advice. A part of him—even at that moment—feels relief at the prospect of surrender. It seemed reasonable to cease his futile struggle. He had thought Wood the Mighty was undefeatable, yet Lancelot towered even above him. This absolute disparity—despite Gloucester's rule reducing everyone to LV1—meant that Lancelot's cheat-like Dragon's Heart still granted her unfair speed and power. He was simply not on her tier. Guinevere's earlier belief that he could beat her was laughable.
So, he had no choice but to give up.
Guinevere lets out a long sigh. He truly cannot fault himself for insufficient effort—he has fought a hundred times nonstop, losing nearly two hours. Dawn is nearly here. If he doesn't seize the chance to pack up and escape, he's finished—Tristan will find him and kill him.
As Guinevere prepares to close the display and switch to auto-run, new text appears on the screen:
[Because you have died against this single opponent more than one hundred times, you have uncovered another skill of Faerie Knight Lancelot.]
[Unlimited Martial Mastery: EX (Hidden Skill)]
[(No one but you can know the specifics of this skill; it will masquerade as something reasonable to all others.)]
[You may target any opponent with this skill. When activated, you gain infinite attempts to challenge that opponent. If you die, time resets to before the fight—as long as your resolve remains.]
"Hah… what is this? Even the insult has a limit, apparently."
Guinevere forces a bitter smile. Indeed, Lancelot is a being born supremely strong. He is merely a frail human—no wonder he cannot defeat her. But still, that smile on his face is tinged with sadness.
He shuts the simulator's display and packs his belongings again.
Yet when he glances up, he freeze. The sky is still pitch black—only a faint glimmer of dawn on the distant horizon.
How is it possible? Guinevere frowns.
He clearly saw the same scene two hours ago—yet logically, dawn should have come by now. How…?
A thought strikes him. He hastily reopens the simulator and peeks at the AI still struggling against Lancelot in auto-run. Then he opens his own skill panel and reads:
[Skill 3: Endless Trial of the Undying: EX (Hidden Skill)]
[(No one but you can know the full details of this skill; to others, it appears as a reasonable concealment.)]
[You may target any opponent with this skill. Upon activation, you can challenge them infinitely. If you die, time resets to before the fight—
only if your belief remains.
"Resets real time too?"
Realizing this, Guinevere is stunned.
He has boundless time to challenge this boss, no regard for the real world—he can fight forever.
What kind of thing is this?
Just when he thought he had a perfectly reasonable excuse to escape, the simulator yanked it away.
So what must he do? Continue fighting a foe he cannot defeat—like an idiot?
He will not be allowed even a shred of dignity.
Guinevere leans against the bed, then sits, pressing his head onto the nightstand and staring blankly ahead.
Outside, the sky remains dark, as dim as his prospects.
He cannot win—he just can't. He tried with all his might, only to be laughed at, cut down, shattered, and killed again and again like a fool.
No hope remains. His pathetic longsword never even reaches Lancelot's cloak—his cherished Heavenly Fire cannot draw from its scabbard before he dies.
The gap is too vast.
Guinevere reopens his display and rereads the system's message:
[Because you have died against this single opponent more than one hundred times, the system offers advice to help you.]
[Your win rate against Faerie Apocalypse Lancelot is only 0.0001%.]
[System Recommendation: Surrender at the start of combat—for survival.]
Even the cheat system says so. How, then, can anyone blame him for not trying anymore? Lancelot is a dragon, a hero, a legend—the ancient kind combining every possible strength. Even reduced to LV1, her baseline is on a different tier. With her cheat-like skills, she can treat him like an insect.
Metaphorically, if he compares her to video game bosses, she's more unpredictable than the Sword Saint from "Sekiro," more savage than Hollair from "Elden Ring," more manic than the Orphan of Kos from "Bloodborne," more feral than Manus and Gael from "Dark Souls"—all combined into one grotesque, merciless entity. She is the epitome of an impossibly difficult boss—designed without the slightest intention of being beaten.
In Faerie Britannia, Lancelot is not a scripted boss with exploitable patterns; she is simply a creature whose overwhelming strength defies all reason. Even unlimited retries cannot overcome such disparity—no matter how many tries, he cannot win.
The simulator is a game-like interface, but the simulation itself is life.
Life often throws unbeatable adversaries at you—circumstances so unreasonably one-sided that despair is the only response. After all, some are born to wield the knife; others are born to be the meat.
Only here in Gloucester, where everyone is forcibly pulled down to LV1, does there remain a sliver of theoretical hope for Guinevere.
"Nevertheless, I don't care if you're faerie, knight, or dragon—"
This time, as the poised faerie knight readies her next assault, Guinevere's lips curve into a genuine smile:
"As long as it's here, my chance to defeat you is no longer zero!"