Traffic finally began to move.
Cam took his foot off the brake and started driving again, eyes flicking between the road and the map hovering in front of him. The time on it ticked down: 44 seconds left.
Roy sighed and leaned back in his seat, curling a lock of his hair lazily. "Ugh, this event is so boring now. Do we really have to do another 20 minutes of this?"
"Ask the King, not me," Cam muttered, keeping his hands steady on the wheel.
3… 2… 1.
The countdown ended. In an instant, the creatures vanished into thin air. So did their swords. It was like they'd never been there.
A new pop-up materialized in front of them:
"The previous situation has ended. Please choose your selection: ARMORED BOX or HOLY SWORD."
Cam groaned. "Can it stop doing that while I'm driving?"
He turned briefly to Roy. "Well? What are we picking?"
Roy didn't answer right away. He stared at the timer, deep in thought.
"Hmmm… there's a 50/50 chance the King picks the Holy Knights," he murmured. "But there's a 25% chance he picks the Shadows again."
Cam raised an eyebrow. "Okay… numbers."
Roy continued, "If I'm right, this guy's a showoff. Egotistical. He wants to see his twisted creations come to life. So, I think… he's going to pick the Knights this time."
"Cool. I'll just trust the math goblin," Cam said.
Roy smirked. "Let's go with the armored box."
He tapped the Box option. Cam followed suit, tapping the same just before slamming the brakes—anticipating what was coming next.
"The pop-up appeared once more. The king has selected holy knights good luck...,"
WHAM!
From above, an armored shell came crashing down, encasing their car like a coffin. A small peephole opened in the metal.
"Great," Cam muttered, glaring at the peep hole. "This is just gonna slow us down. We still have three hours left."
He shoved his phone toward Roy. On the screen, a GPS route flashed in red: Destination: 3 hrs away.
Roy knocked the phone out of his face. "Yeah, yeah. But hey—we weren't wrong," he said, shrugging.
They both peered through the slit in the armored shell.
Outside, others had also stopped in traffic—but they didn't have boxes. Instead, they climbed out of their cars, clutching glowing Holy Swords in the rain.
From the sky, suits of radiant armor plummeted down, crashing into the pavement. Lightning cracked through the clouds, striking each suit with divine fury.
With each bolt, the armor filled with humanoid bodies—Knights, glowing with the same light as the swords.
"Whoa," Roy whispered, eyes wide. "That's… actually kind of cool."
Farther down the road, in a different car without armor, a man sat gripping the wheel tightly. His Holy Sword lay in the passenger seat beside him.
"I have to get out of here," he muttered, fear creeping into his voice as he stared at the Knights descending ahead.
He turned to the passenger seat—and froze.
One of the Knights was sitting there, holding the Holy Sword and inspecting it with curiosity.
The man's breath hitched.
"This," the Knight said, turning the sword over in its hand, "…feels familiar."
Then the Knight looked at the man.
And swung.
SCREEEEEAM!
Back up the highway, outside their box, Cam and Roy could hear the faint echo of the man's scream.
A group of survivors gathered in front of the newly arrived army. One of them—a buff guy covered in tattoos, wearing a tank top despite the rain—stepped forward with his sword raised.
"You don't scare me," he growled. "I killed some of those shadow beasts already."
One of the Knights tilted its head, its brow crackling with blue electricity. "What are 'shadow beasts'? We are new to this world."
The man charged, swinging wildly.
The Knight dodged every blow with mechanical precision. Then it reached forward, grabbed the sword mid-swing, and ripped it from the man's grip—even though he'd been holding it with both hands.
The man stumbled back. His legs shook. "I-I'm sorry," he stammered.
The Knight stepped forward, raising one glowing hand.
"No," it said with eerie calm. "I'm sorry."
It drove its hand straight into the man's chest.