The Protagonist Already Knows

At that moment, snapping me back to reality, Carissa’s voice sounded.

"Hey, how does your gift work?"

Did she have an idea?

"...?"

"Do items like your weapons and clothes turn intangible with your body?"

Nodding my head, I answered.

"Anything on my person that doesn’t have mana turns intangible with me."

At my words, Carissa’s whole demeanor seemed to shift, as her previously clenched palms opened and her eyes sparkled; however, she remained silent.

Letting the curiosity get the best of me, I asked.

"Even if we get to the Dreg Castle...are you even going to leave? You came all the way here to find him, didn’t you?"

Clicking her tongue, Carissa shrugged and vaguely answered.

"Don’t talk about him."

"..."

"Hey, why did you come here, anyway?"

Avoiding her gaze, I simply said.

"Who knows."

Her cheeks inflated like a balloon as she held in a laugh, Carissa continued.

"Don’t tell me you were seriously trying to sacrifice yourself to close the portal!?"

Scoffing, I just responded.

"Do I look like the type of person to do that?"

"..."

After a few moments of silence, Carissa once again posed a question.

"Hey, if we could escape, what would be the first thing you would do?

Marking Carissa and feeling a sense of anxiety immediatly overwhelm me as if I were on a stage in front of millions of people, I decided to play along and thought seriously.

But...what would I do?

The first thoughts that came to my mind were: train, find a martial art, and study for the theory exam.

All those things...seemed so boring and unimportant now, though.

Recalling the nights I had stayed up reading the very novel this world centered around, I smiled for a moment as fond memories flooded through my head.

Seeing me thinking, Carissa added.

"I think I’d sleep for a long time and then...tra-"

"Eat at Kobu."

Her face lighting up, Carissa instantly responded in an enthusiastic tone.

"The star restaurant? That’s my favorite spot! I went there for my last birthd-"

Seeing her force an excited voice and grin, I sighed and cut her off.

"What are you trying to do?"

Finally looking away from the air where I assumed her status menu was, Carissa paused before answering.

"I have an idea...but we have to be in sync. So I’m trying to understand you."

Feeling her feelings of anxiety, fear...and a tinge of excitement through my mark, I sighed.

We were already in sync.

Meeting my eyes, Carissa paused for a moment before finally explaining.

"My gift allows me to swap places with any object I choose beforehand. There is only one condition...the object has to stay in motion for the entire period before I swap places."

"If I shoot an arrow at full speed...and you perfectly catch it and simultaneously activate your ability, you can use the arrow’s momentum to fly fast enough to the Dreg Castle with it...and then, I can swap places with the arrow."

Hearing her plan, I couldn’t help but say.

"Catch the arrow...you mean let it impale me?"

Purposely avoiding my gaze, she muttered quietly.

"...yeah."

"..."

If I were impaled by the arrow and simultaneously activated Anubis’s Ferry, the arrow would send my intangible body flying backward at an incredible speed, with it impaled inside.

After a moment of awkward silence, I couldn’t help but say.

"You really...came up with something."

Narrowing her eyes, as if trying to determine if I was being sarcastic or not, Carissa nodded her head.

"So you’re fine to try?"

Shrugging my shoulders, I stood up and walked toward the rightmost corner of the room, where the feeling of dread was the strongest.

Looking at her as she slowly nocked an arrow, I asked.

"Do you hate me?"

From insulting her brother and declaring him dead to criticizing her for her obsession, I knew it was unlikely that, if we escaped, the two of us would speak like this again.

Tilting her head as she pulled back her bowstring, Carissa just tilted her head and opened her mouth

"T-"

At that moment...

*WAAA~WAAA*

*WAAA~WAAA*

The sound of a familiar alarm blasted through the room, completely overshadowing Carissa’s voice.

Taking the overwhelming feeling of confusion and annoyance flooding my mind as an answer, I looked down.

*WHOOSH*

The arrow flew forward at an incredible speed, and normally, it would have been impossible for me to follow.

But...perhaps because of our conversation earlier or my mark resting on her, a faint crimson-red piece of silk appeared from the tip of her arrow, stretching all the way to my chest.

Her intent was to survive, shoot me...just fast enough that if I failed, I’d still somehow survive, and finally to find her brother.

I instinctively understood, when looking at the piece of silk, when the arrow would reach me.

As the tip of the arrow grazed my shirt, a sharp, tickling sensation flooding throughout my body, I waited.

*BANG*

Behind Carissa, the doors to the room flew open, revealing three Dreg Demons with jade-green horns.

3 A-rank Dregs...ah.

The arrow broke through the soft fabric of my shirt...and then finally, its cold metal tip struck my bare skin.

As the pain spread throughout my body, I instantly activated Anubis’s Ferry...and was immediatly sent flying straight up and back, phasing through the room’s stone-brick wall

Everything went dark as I flew upward through countless layers of dirt.

Then, I blinked once, and, in the next moment, I found myself at least twenty feet above in the air, thousands of Dreg Demons below me, walking through the sandstone streets of the capital.

The capital reminded me of ancient Greek cities, with countless small quartz houses in rows and small streets leading to a massive, empty, square-shaped center where countless booths were set up.

Then, I blinked again.

A massive tan-colored castle...no more like a palace, made of sandstone, stood below me, stretching on for miles.