Then, his eyes dropped again, but his thoughts didn't follow the battlefield anymore.
There was a time he had actually wanted this. Not whatever this was exactly, but something like it. Anything that wasn't the same cycle of bad luck stacking on top of worse timing in his real life.
Elslat Fantasy Online had been that escape, the place where everything had rules that made sense, where losing was still part of a system instead of just random garbage piling up in real life.
But he barely lost in Elslat.
He had wanted to stay in it forever at one point, that part was easy to admit now that he was standing inside it instead of staring at a screen.
Real life never felt like it had space for him. Everything there always moved like it had already decided where he didn't belong. Jobs fell through, people stopped calling, fights kept stacking onto records that made everything harder than it should have been. He kept moving anyway, recklessly, because standing still meant waiting for something worse to land.
Recklessness wasn't even something he thought about as a choice anymore. It just filled the space where patience should have been. If he stayed still, something bad usually found him anyway, so moving first felt like the only way to stay ahead of it, even if it didn't actually solve anything.
Silence settled for a brief moment before reality around him reminded him he wasn't alone.
Lancelot stood ahead now, close enough that Lennox could see the details in the armor, the wear, the blood that didn't belong to one fight anymore.
Sugred, Yubel, Aphrodite, and Alpam gathered around the same line of sight, all of them focused on him now instead of the battlefield.
Lennox slowly rose from one knee, eyes scanning each of them as if his brain was still deciding whether this counted as real or not.
Even through the confusion, something about it still hit differently.
"King Lancelot…" he said under his breath first, then louder, recognition snapping into place as his voice picked up. "Wielder of the War God's Blessing… Asphodel chose you, didn't he? You became the Hero of Humanity…! I'm a big fan! Big big fan! Not like that, not like in a weird way, but you're the most badass NPC in Elslat!"
'Even in a dream, it feels so real!'
Lancelot's expression changed slightly at that, eyes squinting just a fraction as he studied Lennox more closely.
'How does a mere summon know about me? Did Asphodel inform him of my accomplishments before bringing him here?'
Lennox's thoughts didn't stop to match the moment. Instead, they kept moving in the direction they always had when the game came up.
King Lancelot was the most notable character in Elslat.
Elslat Fantasy Online had lore, even if it wasn't the main focus. The Gates of Valkreig, the Ancestors, all of it sitting underneath the combat system like background structure most players didn't even bother reading. Valkreig itself was treated like a mythic afterlife for kings and warriors, something close to a warrior's Valhalla, where rulers and champions were meant to rest after death, but somehow the gates opened, that entire concept collapsed into something hostile.
The Ancestors weren't just random undead enemies like one would expect, they were the returned dead of royalty and warriors, all of them coming back through those gates with the intent of reclaiming their thrones and honor again with force and death.
King Lancelot's name was tied into that history in-game too, especially during the early event cycle. The first breach of Valkreig had led to months of constant fighting, with Lancelot channeling Asphodel (God of War) war blessing across entire battlefields, cutting through hundreds of Ancestors over extended campaigns alongside his champions. The game itself didn't lean too hard into story compared to its systems, but that event had become something players remembered anyway because of how long it lasted and how many kingdoms had fallen or been defended during it.
Developers kept pushing content around it too, live events, defensive sieges, boss rotations, all of it cycling multiple times a week thanks to how large the player base had become and how much infrastructure the company had behind it.
Lennox blinked again, then looked straight at Lancelot.
"You're the one who said you carry the burden of humanity," he said, voice steadier now despite everything. "That you'd sacrifice half of it just to save the other half. Right? Right?!"
The moment that sentence left him, the atmosphere around them changed.
People on both sides of the battlefield started turning their attention toward him, not just the champions, not just the knights, but the surrounding fighters as well, voices starting to rise from the crowd.
"How does he know that?!"
"Isn't he just some summon?!"
"Aren't summons just mindless things? I heard that somewhere…"
Yubel clicked his tongue, shifting his bow as he glanced at Lennox.
"Yeah," he said, tone edged with arrogance. "Seems Asphodel has been running his mouth to this brat."
Alpam turned her head toward him, "Show respect to the next king, Yubel!"
Yubel scoffed. "Tch. He's not king yet, is he?"
Aphrodite's voice followed next with a calm and steady tone that was almost detached from the tension.
"He is going to be. Many complications will follow. He must be observed with caution. For he is young."
Sugred said nothing at first, only staring at Lennox for a long moment.
MHow could King Lancelot result in such a method for an heir? All because his daughter refused a marriage with another noble, thus getting rid of the alternative of finding an heir to the throne. It should've been me…Good mages died to bring this summon here. He better be worth the trouble. If not…'
Alpam didn't wait for permission, she moved the second the next person blinked, boots treading quickly against the blood-slick ritual stone platform before she closed the distance in a heap of movement.
Her hand shot out and caught Lennox's collar, fingers twisting into the fabric as she yanked him forward like she needed to confirm he was actually there and not some leftover illusion from the ritual.
"Wait! Wait!" she blurted, her eyes wide, green irises catching the light from her own scepter as it flickered at her side. "You're just a summon? Is Lancelot famous even in your world?! What about me?! The Great Alpam?!"
Lennox blinked at her, he was surprised she was acting like this despite her own mages being dead around her. But he knew Kalhan wasn't a kingdom of mourning, as it was forbidden by law.
'Is she crazy?! Crazy damn dream elf!'
"Never heard of ya," Lennox said, voice flat, like he didn't feel the need to soften it.
It hit her immediately, and her expression dropped, her mouth parting as if she had been physically struck by an arrow, her grip loosening from Lennox just enough to show it.
"Y-you're serious..aren't you? FUCK!!!!"
The confidence she carried a second ago didn't disappear completely, but it cracked in a visible way like something she relied on had just been pulled out from under her.
Lennox wasn't lying either. Even in the game, Alpam barely showed up. A name tucked into background lore at best, maybe a side figure in some event text most players skipped through. Lennox never bothered digging that deep anyway.
NPCs weren't the point of the game for him. Skills, builds, mechanics, ranking up, that's what mattered. If he had cared enough to sit there reading through every bit of story the developers tucked into it, maybe he would've known her.
And he didn't.
Yubel stepped in before the silence could stretch any further, one hand resting near his bow as he looked Lennox over with open disapproval, his posture carrying that same effortless confidence he had held during the fight.
"Of course she wouldn't be known," he said, voice carrying that familiar edge of arrogance. "Alpam's influence tends to lean toward chaotic support rather than presence. My reputation, however, along with His Majesty's, would absolutely—"
"Yeah," Lennox cut in, not even looking at him fully. "Don't know you either, buddy."
Yubel stopped, and it wasn't dramatic either like Alpam's reaction. He stood there for a second, like his brain needed time to process what had just been said to him, the corners of his mouth pulling slightly as if he had bitten down on something that didn't taste right.
Then Alpam pointed at him and laughed, one hand coming up to cover her mouth while the other still hovered near Lennox like she hadn't decided whether to grab him again or not.
"Haha! You're a loser! Oh that's perfect," she said between breaths, eyes squinting as she looked at Yubel. "Look at you. Mr. Death Archer, known across all lands, and he doesn't even know your name!"
Yubel's jaw clenched, saying, "He's clearly saying that to make you feel better, damn elf. He's young, his hormones are everywhere for a female."
Aphrodite just stood where she had been, her presence unchanged by the exchange, her attention fixed on Lennox in an inspecting way. The small wings at the side of her head gave a subtle movement, barely noticeable unless someone was already looking for it, and her dark red eyes held on him without wavering.
Lennox looked back at her.
'Now her…I know. Kinda. She was always by Lancelot's side. Which was strange. In Elslat online, only her and Lancelot would temporarily aid players in boss fights if someone had a certain item to do it. And it was a one time use for everyone. She's strong, and her stats have always been in question marks. On the forums, so many people have tried to theorize what she could possibly be. But everyone mostly knows her for being super devoted to the king. But no one knows her backstory at all. People even complained to the devs if she was just put there as waifu bait. And even though that wasn't their intention, a lot of fat tubby forum mods treat her as a goddess. Yeah it's creepy. If this is a dream, then I can do whatever I want right? Can't I magically make her mine? Wait no, that's weird, stop. The hell am I thinking? I'm slowly turning into those fat mods! Plus Aphrodite is like 1000 years old, as she's part of the Angelit race.'
He didn't say anything to her, and didn't really feel like something he should test right now.
His attention dropped instead, his hands lifting slightly in front of him, fingers spreading and closing again like he was checking if they'd respond the way he expected. The skin, the movement, the weight of them, none of it felt off at all.
This was all a dream right? No way something like this was real.
'This dream is way too real now, it feels like I'm actually here…'
'Please don't wake up….'
The space in front of him filled without warning, and Lancelot stepped forward, close enough that Lennox could see the fine details in his armor, the small cracks along the edges where repeated impacts had worn it down, the dried blood caught in the lines where pieces connected..
Lennox didn't move at all; back in his world, people tried to act intimidating all the time. It usually ended the same way, someone getting dropped or bashed in the face, someone getting dragged away, the whole thing turning into another entry on a record that already had too many. He never had a reason to hesitate in front of someone like that.
This felt different, and not in a way he could easily explain. It wasn't like his body refused to move or anything, It was more like something about Lancelot's presence made the idea of swinging first feel… off. Like it wouldn't land the way it usually did.
Why would he swing on him anyway?
Lancelot looked at him, not rushing the moment, then he finally spoke. "I hate to greet you in times such as this. The Kingdom of Kalhan is in peril, young summon," he said, voice steady, carrying the weight of someone who had already repeated this reality to himself more times than anyone else here. "As so are we. Many powerful Ancestors have seized control over my territory and my capital, and my palace, and my daughter, the princess, has been locked away and sealed by me to keep her safe until I… raid my own kingdom and take it back. It will be an all out war, a war where the odds are truly against us."
Lennox laughed, "What? Haha! You're King Lancelot! Someone as strong as you would get not clobbered by a bunch of Ancestors!Sure some of them are strong, even the risen kings, but you don't lose. Haha, stop playing around, this is a dream anyway. I can just wisp it all away."
SHUNK!
THOOM!
A large greatsword had dashed in and pierced straight through Lennox, blood on blasting out of his mouth.