Arknights: I became an NPC in the online game

The players completed the twenty required tasks far quicker than Felix had anticipated. With the conditions met, the dungeon crystals in his personal store were unlocked and distributed as rewards.

The dungeon instance used a 24-player format: six teams of four players each.

The Dynasty team had been working tirelessly from dawn till dusk. This time, the entire team entered the dungeon, including several high-level players like Yang Yan XF, Magic ZX, Dandao Dantart, and Qiu Muyu. As the first group to enter the trial dungeon, they naturally aimed to perform at their peak.

The team's captain, Huang Tian Houtu, was capped at level 24. According to him, three of those levels were invested in secondary professions and thus didn't contribute to his combat strength. Among the many players, only Kabus—another professional gamer—matched him in level.

Having already spent a full year in Terra's Ark, their progression was quite reasonable.

The dungeon crystal resembled a strange hybrid—part mother crystal from Fei Fei, part teleportation crystal from Sword Art Online. When Huang Tian Houtu touched it, a prompt window appeared before the players:

[You have triggered Memory Crystal: [Type-0 Rainy Night Knight]. Recommended Level: 25. Party Size: 24/24. Do you wish to enter?]

Without hesitation, the players all clicked "Yes." None of them even bothered to look at the recommended level. They were here to explore. Overthinking it would just spoil the fun. As they confirmed entry, they felt their bodies being enveloped and transported—similar to the sensation of logging into the game world.

They landed in a different space, greeted by biting, cold rain. Looking around at the cityscape and the wet pavement beneath their feet, they were struck by familiarity.

"Isn't this Kawalerielki, in Kazimierz?" Magic ZX quickly pointed out.

Everyone nodded, recognizing it from the Magic ZX's video. The sleek, modern city in front of them stunned most players—especially those who hadn't followed the Pioneer storyline. All they'd seen until now were scorched wastelands. The sight of a clean, bustling urban landscape was a breath of fresh air.

But their admiration was short-lived, interrupted by a system message:

[Please choose a faction to join — ]

Two options appeared before them: Pioneer / Black Knight… and a mysterious ?.

"What's this about? Is the question mark just an option we haven't unlocked yet?" one of the high-level players wondered aloud. But as he clicked the question mark, it became selectable.

A moment later, a number appeared beneath it: (1/24).

"It's a voting mechanic," someone observed. Most of them had played countless online games and recognized the function immediately.

"Huang Tian, which side are we going with?" a veteran player asked their leader.

Without hesitation, Huang Tian Houtu replied, "The dungeon can be triggered repeatedly each day. We've all seen the Magic ZX's video and we know how powerful the Black Knight and the Pioneer are. Let's start with the Pioneer first."

Everyone nodded in agreement and, without any further discussion, selected the Pioneer and Black Knight option.

Everyone's vision went dark. When they opened their eyes again, they found themselves inside a high-rise apartment. A TV in the room was broadcasting tonight's Kawalerielki' Arena Championship Finals. Through the window, the arena could be seen in the distance, illuminated by sweeping spotlights.

A new task notification appeared in their interface:

[Objective: Escort the Black Knight to the sewer. The Black Knight's health must not fall below 70%.]

[Countdown: 5 minutes — ]

Having experience with large-scale dungeon mechanics, the players immediately recognized the setup. Side quests were often interlinked, and this one was clearly no exception.

Huang Tian Houtu cleared his throat. "This looks like an escort mission. The Black Knight is obviously heading to the arena for a match, but there's a high chance she'll be ambushed by hostile forces along the way. That's why we need to preserve her health during the escort."

He continued calmly, "Our objective is to get her to the destination while keeping her above the required health threshold. Otherwise, the mission will fail."

"Same strategy as always. Defender units up front, medical and snipers covering them. The rest of us will move as needed."

Magic ZX nodded silently, his recording already in progress since the start of the dungeon.

There was a reason this was called a Memory Crystal—it was a reconstruction of an NPC's past experience. He remembered watching the championship match at the arena with Dandao Dantart, and Qiu Muyu. At the time, they'd simply thought the Black Knight had been delayed by some minor issue. They never expected it had been an assassination attempt.

Now, given the objective description, it seemed that the Pioneer would assist the Black Knight. The thought of what relationship had developed between them—and how such a bond had formed—made Magic ZX's heart race with anticipation.

And it wasn't just him. Many high-level players shared the same curiosity, including Dynasty's vice-captains, Cheng Wang Bai Kou and Yang Yan XF.

The room's door wasn't locked. Huang Tian Houtu opened it and found that the corridor outside wasn't the hotel-style hallway he had imagined. Instead, across from them stood another building, and once more, the cold rain poured down in sheets.

The narrow corridor made maneuvering difficult. Just then, the door next to theirs swung open.

It was the Black Knight herself. She wore a streamlined outfit—light armor with a single shoulder guard. A long sword and a weapons case hung across her back.

She glanced over at the players. Standing at the front, Huang Tian Houtu felt a sudden chill. In that brief glance, her aura sent a cold edge slicing across his senses. When he snapped out of it, she was already descending the stairs without a word.

Such terrifying presence! The Black Knight was no ordinary NPC.

"Follow—"

Before he could finish the command, a sharp, piercing sound cut through the downpour.

The next moment, a medic walking at the rear collapsed with an arrow lodged in her chest. Her body dissolved into white light.

"Damn it! Is that a sniper? Get downstairs—now!" Huang Tian Houtu cursed loudly. These assassins were utterly shameless, attacking without warning. He thought they were still in the story phase—he didn't expect the assassination attempt to start this abruptly.

The group rushed down the stairs in a frenzy. The apartment, being an older building, had its staircase built on the exterior. That meant they were completely exposed—vulnerable to attacks from all directions. By the time they reached the ground, only 19 members remained. Including the medic who had fallen first, four unfortunate players had died during the descent.

The Black Knight led the way, cutting down several assassins who tried to engage her in close quarters. Huang Tian Houtu didn't even have time to analyze how they had managed to reach the previous phase without injury. He could only bark orders: "Protect the Black Knight! Tanks, move to both sides. These assassins are all damn snipers—absolutely vile!"

Cheng Wang Bai Kou had a thought about reminding everyone that professional players weren't supposed to curse, but quickly brushed it aside. Well, it's in-game—it should be fine, right?

Three heavily armored players stepped forward. Their shields weren't large enough to provide full coverage, but their high defense made them capable of absorbing about 56 arrows each without dying outright.

Cheng Wang Bai Kou glanced back at the remaining medic, who was struggling to keep up with the healing. It was a rough start—three of their four healers had been taken out early. The last one could barely keep three people alive. At this rate, they'd all die before the Black Knight's health dropped to 70%.

Huang Tian Houtu glanced at the Black Knight's health bar. So far, she'd only lost about 5% to 6%—if things kept up at this pace, maybe they could actually pull through.

That hope didn't last long.

Suddenly, he spotted a silver-blue glowing arrow streaking down from above.

"What the hell—"

Boom!

An explosion ripped through the front line, instantly killing two of the tanks. But that wasn't the worst of it. A steamroller, likely parked nearby, was launched into the air by the blast. It flew over Huang Tian Houtu's head and crashed violently into a player behind him.

In the blink of an eye, more than half of the remaining avatars turned gray. Only four players were left standing—Huang Tian Houtu, Cheng Wang Bai Kou, Magic ZX, and Yang Yan XF. Dandao Dantart had fallen just a moment later, crushed by the airborne steamroller before he could even shout his signature line, "Ora!"

"Wha—"

"What kind of monster is this...?"

They could only watch as the Black Knight's health dipped to 85%. A few more hits like that, and the mission would be a failure.

At this point, success seemed impossible.

All medics had been eliminated. The last tank collapsed and vanished into light. The guards and special units, left without support, were promptly picked off by a flurry of arrows.

A flash of white light signaled their forced exit from the Memory Crystal.

What greeted them were stunned, shell-shocked expressions all around.

"Damn... that was brutal. I don't even know how I died."

"This difficulty's insane. I'm starting to think we can't beat it even at level 25."

"We need to rethink our approach. If we lose four players just getting down the stairs, we won't have a team left for the rest of the mission."

Huang Tian Houtu stood in silence for a while, listening to the players' complaints. After more than ten minutes, he finally spoke again.

"The difficulty of this dungeon is indeed beyond imagination—but have you all noticed two things?"

He held up a finger. "First, the Crystal World dungeon map is massive. We can split into multiple teams. I believe that's the original intention behind this dungeon. It's not just about protecting the Black Knight. The level requirement is only 25, and most of us are above level 20. It shouldn't be this hard. But think about that explosive arrow near the end. I guarantee even a team with full tanks and healers wouldn't survive that. Two tanks just dropped instantly."

He raised a second finger. "Which leads to my second point: all items are interactive, just like in the Ark world. There will never be a mechanic that players can't overcome, and this wasn't a scripted, unavoidable death. So, combining this with the first point—what if we split the team and send a group to eliminate the assassin who fired that explosive arrow before they shoot?"

As expected of the Dynasty Team's captain and a leading pro player—everyone mulled over what he said and had to admit it made sense. Speaking of interaction, the explosion that launched a steamroller and wiped out over a dozen people was something none of them could forget.

Everyone sighed deeply. This dungeon was just too hard—and it didn't provide any hints. Was this really Ark? Not only was the world realistic, but the dungeon mechanics were unforgivingly real as well.

Huang Tian Houtu thought for a moment, then suggested, "Let's try switching to the Question Mark Force. We had a lot of difficulty playing on the Black Knight's side. Maybe things will be easier if we're on the assassin side?"

The players nodded. Those who had just been tormented by assassins perked up immediately, energized like they'd just been injected with adrenaline. If we can't beat them… why not join them?

Twenty-four players entered the dungeon interface again, this time choosing the question mark faction at the faction selection screen.

It was the same familiar rain again, but now they spawned in a dilapidated, abandoned building—not the apartment from earlier. A few players peeked outside and quickly recognized the terrain. Wasn't this the same road they had just walked down?

[Objective: Do your best to kill the Black Knight]

[Failure Condition: Black Knight enters the arena]

[Countdown: 5 minutes]

Everyone's spirits lifted when they read the objective. If the good guys can't win, maybe the bad guys can!

Yang YanXF glanced at a "friendly" assassin stationed on the neighboring rooftop. The information pop-up read:

[? Assassin Lv.25]

He looked around the building they were currently in but saw no one else—and suddenly froze.

"Wait… are we not replacing all 24 assassins?" he muttered.

"Huh? What do you mean?" someone asked.

Seeing all eyes on him, Yang YanXF explained, "I mean, when we were protecting the Black Knight, there were assassins on both sides of the street. But now, there's only us in this one building. That means… we've just replaced the assassins who were originally positioned here."

"…"

The players fell silent.

They had assumed they were being handed an easy win—but now they had to handle everything themselves? Worse still, the assassins they were replacing had clearly been much stronger. At the very least, they didn't have the original assassins' bows or crossbows. The few snipers they had now were only equipped with light crossbows.

Just as everyone was racking their brains on how to break the deadlock, the Black Knight stepped out—and arrows immediately flew toward her. However, with only one building firing this time, the Black Knight cleverly stuck to the opposite side of the street, weaving swiftly between parked vehicles, taking minimal damage in the process.

Big sister… how are you this smart?

The players were stunned.

Even the explosive arrow that had previously wiped out several players failed to inflict serious damage—thanks to the Black Knight taking cover behind a car. Her HP only dropped to about 92%.

"God, what now?" someone asked.

"Go! We can't let her enter the sewer!" Huang Tian Houtu shouted.

Everyone responded immediately, hurrying down the stairs. Three tanks raised their medium shields and moved to block the Black Knight's path. Huang Tian Houtu gave the command: "Ranged DPS—fire!"

Crossbow bolts and Originium Art Skills flew through the air toward the Black Knight. But with a casual sidestep, she dodged everything. The scene left even seasoned players like Huang Tian Houtu and others speechless.

Does the Black Knight not realize she's a boss? She's already this powerful and hasn't even used any of her skills yet!

[Black Knight Lv. ?] (Red Name)

[Danger Level: WARNING! You have no hope of survival] (Red Text)

"Everyone, Charge!" Huang Tian Houtu shouted, following behind the shield bearers with his longsword ready. Snipers continued pulling their crossbows, while Magic ZX threw down traps to draw the Black Knight's attention.

The Black Knight cast a cold glance in their direction. Her golden eyes, devoid of emotion, flickered with firelight in the dark, rainy night.

Then she slightly turned her body—and swung her sword.

Before the stunned eyes of Huang Tian Houtu and the others, the three heavily armored tanks at the front—supposedly the highest in defense—were instantly cut down, disintegrating into white light.

Both Huang Tian Houtu and Dandao Dantart charged forward in desperation. Huang Tian Houtu was kicked flying, his HP dropping to just 5%. Dandao Dantart exchanged two blows with the Black Knight, only to be cleaved in half, vanishing into white light.

Facing the expressionless Black Knight, and hearing nothing but the cries and screams of his teammates, Huang Tian Houtu suddenly realized—he had made a terrible mistake.

A moment later, a teammate's body was hurled at him by the Black Knight with sheer brute force. His HP dropped to zero on impact. It was the first time he understood that being thrown could deal damage. Both players disappeared in a flash of white light.

"Damn…"