The Protagonist Already Knows

The mana formation now on the brink of collapse, I stumbled forward, my consciousness slowly slipping away.

However, my thoughts, my body, my mind...were in sync.

They all said one thing.

Fight.

But...my goal had already been completed, right? The mana formation would soon be destroyed.

I could just drop my sword, be eliminated, and escape this world of pain.

An odd sense of clarity washed over my mind as Han Li charged straight at me, perhaps understanding that saving the mana formation was no longer an option.

What was all that training for if I lost? Those days without sleep and all those times I risked my life just to grow a tiny bit stronger.

They meant nothing if I dropped Dao now.

Why had I been so alright with doing the bare minimum in the past?

At that moment, a shout suddenly resounded from behind me, snapping me back to reality.

"RIGHT!"

*WHOOSH*

*WHOOSH*

Instinctively, I leaped to the right, watching as two arrows flew right past me and at the charging Han Li.

Confused, I glanced backward; however, Carissa simply met my gaze, clicked her tongue, and nocked two more arrows.

Why was she not taking out the last few students holding the mana formation together...?

Not giving me any more time to think, Han Li easily parried the arrows with his blade, sending them straight to the crowd, and slashed his sword at me.

*CLANG*

Holding my sword horizontally in front of my body, I managed to parry the slash, our two blades meeting.

His eyes wide, Han Li glanced at our clashing swords, neither of them budging an inch.

"You have this much strength left...?"

Ah...it seemed he was misunderstanding something.

It wasn’t that my strength had increased...it was just that every fiber of my body now served my Dao.

My blood ignored the fatal wounds on my chest and leg and, instead, supported my right arm, ensuring it had adequate strength to parry.

*WHOOSH*

*WHOOSH*

As Han Li retreated to the left to avoid the two incoming arrows, I immediately raised my sword and jabbed it diagonally downward at his waist with pinpoint accuracy.

*CLANG*

Slicing his sword horizontally through the air, Han Li hit the side of my blade, throwing it off course

However, simultaneously, his left hand surged forward at my chest.

*BANG*

As I was thrown backward by the punch, my entire world turned pitch-black, my eyes involuntarily closing from the pain.

However, one thing remained.

In the pitch-black void, the silver blade of my Dao shone in my right hand, like a star in the night sky.

*CRACK*

*CRACK*

"AHH-"

"T-THE LA-"

"R-RUN!"

In the next second, all the sounds...all the voices vanished.

Suddenly, the shining blade of my Dao tilted in my hand.

As I mustered up the last of my strength and pushed my Dao to the left, I felt a shockwave immediatly course through my body as the blade met something else.

Then, my Dao was tilted correctly, so that its blade was pointing at my right leg.

Ah...it was telling me where to put it, wasn’t it?

Unfortunately...I couldn’t.

I wanted to...but my body simply refused to listen...or more like it couldn’t even listen in the first place.

"I’m sorry..."

...

...

...

Glancing at Han Li standing over a stack of glass fragments, Carissa couldn’t help but pause her shooting.

Till the end...even when his eyes were closed, he had fought, even blocking a single slash while blind.

Her arms trembled...in anger as she stared at his departing body.

Why couldn’t people just fight their own battles?

Why did they have to go and challenge people stronger than them for no reason?

In the end, the result was the same.

The stronger person always won. Another weak person died for no reason when they could have been at home, allowing another stronger person to fight in their stead.

Beside his body, Carissa saw another corpse, one with the same short brown hair as her.

"I have to go."

"B-but, you’re not even a top hero! Let The Grove fight and stay home. It w-won’t make a differ-"

The corpse titled its head and smiled at her.

"Carissa, what use is there in living if you let others fight for you? I can’t stay here and watch the raid...I have to be there."

"b-b-"

"Sometimes...there are just things you have to do. You’ll understand when you’re older."

In the end, the raid on the Dreg Dimension had failed, with all members of the party never returning and pronounced dead.

Carissa was now older...and she still never understood.

She was sure that whether her brother was there or not, the result of the raid wouldn’t change.

So, she hated it.

When useless people intervened in matters above them, they inevitably ended up dead.

Their deaths would rest on the shoulders of the stronger people, weighing them down.

No...they weren’t useless; those people were a detriment, a net-negative to society.

A burden.

That’s why she wanted to become stronger.

So, those useless people never felt the need to needlessly sacrifice themselves.

Watching as hundreds of people on the lake fell into the water, Carissa clicked her tongue.

Across from her, Han Li groaned and scratched his head.

"I guess there’s no need for us to fight anymore...I should focus on my individual grade."

Without mercy, Han Li turned around, ignoring Carissa, and swung his sword at the students who had just been maintaining the ice-lake formation.

Gazing at the bizarre sight of Han Li fighting the very people who had just been helping him, Carissa...suddenly pulled back her bowstring.

For a moment, she wondered why.

Her advisory was guaranteed first now, and she already had plenty of eliminations.

But...the sight of Han Li attacking his own teammates was so revolting...so hideous that she felt she had to do something.

And what was all her power worth if she didn’t do anything with it?