The Protagonist Already Knows

The palace reminded me of the Ancient Chinese Pavilions I had read about in cultivation novels, with crimson-red wood and sandstone creating multiple massive buildings spread out across the lot, each connected to the others by red pathways and stairs.

Various patches of red grass and purple ponds were placed across the palace, filling up the empty spaces, and there was even an empty plot of dirt where I could see young Dreg Demons practicing martial arts in unison.

Dozens of tall, extravagant multi-story towers appeared throughout the palace, with a massive main building standing in the very middle... infinitely stretching all the way up into the sky like a beacon.

It had to have at least...100 floors.

Reaching the apex of my trajectory, I instantly felt a surge of pain throughout my body as I rematerialized, now free-falling straight down into the palace.

In the next moment...I felt my stomach forcibly contort as something pressed against it harshly.

Looking down, I no longer saw the arrow impaling my body...but a nest of amber-brown hair stuffed into my stomach.

"..."

Forgetting about our rapidly accelerating descent into the ground, I glanced at Carissa’s bare back, dozens of bloody lines drawn through her ripped shirt.

Ah...she had been poisoned.

Feeling her shaky, warm breath rush against my chest, I gritted my teeth and glanced downward.

There...just a few meters away from our landing spot was a purple pond.

It seemed luck was on our side, this time.

Wrapping my arms around her body, I slowly pushed us, bit by bit, in the air...until finally.

*SPLASH*

*SPLASH*

Everything went dark.

Every single part of my body ached with pain as my vision turned pitch-black, and my mind throbbed.

It felt as if I had just been thrown into a stone wall at a hundred miles per hour.

As the two of us sank deeper into the pond, I desperately attempted to move my body...but it refused to listen.

The feeling of the cold water seemed...almost comforting, a calming tranquility overtaking my mind as my entire body went numb.

Only a small voice echoed in my brain, desperately kicking and screaming.

"GET UP!"

"DON’T DROWN!"

Then...I felt it.

Amidst the freezing-cold water, a small gust of warm air was expelled directly onto the wound Carissa’s arrow had left behind on my stomach.

Ah...I was still alive.

At that moment, as if on autopilot, my two legs began desperately kicking back and forth without any input from my mind.

Rising up to the surface with Carissa in my arms, my ears ringing and head spinning from the lack of oxygen, I slowly reached my right hand up and attempted to grab at something...anything.

Finally... after what seemed like an eternity, I felt the smooth and soft sensation of dirt rub against my palm.

Grasping onto the ground with my right arm while my left arm held Carissa, I pulled the two of us upward and hoisted us onto the grass, desperately grasping for air.

"Haaa..."

For a moment, our two drenched bodies lay on the crimson-red grass under the red sky, both of us motionless.

For the first time in a while...I was exhausted.

I wanted to rest...lie down for just a moment, close my eyes, and relax.

However, snapping me back to reality, a faint and hoarse voice sounded from beside me.

"I-I c-can’t move."

"ah...the poison."

Barely managing to stand up, I shivered frantically from the water and grabbed Carissa’s right arm.

Using my last bit of strength, I hoisted her onto my back, my entire body trembling uncontrollably and threatening to give out any moment as I simply stood still.

With her on my back, I commanded my body to run...seek shelter, hide...or even just move forward.

But...nothing happened.

My legs...refused to move.

At that moment...that hoarse voice sounded once again as Carissa placed her chin on my drenched black hair.

"M-my p-pocket."

Reaching backward and into Carissa’s pocket, I grabbed the first glass vial I felt and instantly dumped the green liquid inside it into my mouth.

Instantly, I felt my entire body surge with adrenaline as my head stopped ringing for just a moment, allowing me to form thoughts instead of acting on pure instinct.

Walking as fast as I could away from the pond, which had expelled a significant amount of its water onto the grass, I stepped onto one of the sandstone paths.

It was now or never.

Soon, the Dreg Demons would realize we were in the palace from the scene at the pond, and they would increase security tenfold.

We had to take a risk now.

Placing a hand on my Dao, I entered the first tower I found, the crimson-red wood floor creaking under me.

However, it was empty...only staircases that seemed to go up forever surrounded me.

Taking breaths in and out to make sure my mind wasn’t fooling me, I scanned the tower’s walls for a few moments before finding a small purple holagraphic screen floating in the air.

[Scheduled Raids]

[ETA: 22 hours] / [Eastward] / [Serpents (B)]

[ETA: 1D 22h] / [Westward] / [Hollows (A)]

...

...

Pointing at the holagraphic screen, which was visible in every single tower in the palace, I looked up.

However...at that moment, Carissa was also looking down.

As our eyes met for a moment, our amber-brown and blood-red pupils shaking in unison while the water from her hair dripped onto my forehead, I paused for a moment before looking away and saying.

"Memorize."

Just 2 seconds later, her voice sounded.

"D-done."

Without any hesitation, I sprinted out of the tower and back onto a different path.

After running on the wooden path for a few seconds, I stumbled back onto a patch of grass and toward the sandstone walls that marked the boundary of the palace.

Pushing past the crimson-red bushes in the way, I leaned against the wall and fell back to the ground, hiding the two of us behind a few bushes.