The Broken System Chose the Antagonist

"Everyone, follow me!" Ross took the lead. With everyone, including the armoured Scoundrels, they exited the workshop. And by the time they got out, an intense battle was already taking place outside the warehouse.

"Hold them back!"

"Keep them away from the line!"

"We mustn’t let them through!"

The people outside had brought out the lamps, situating them in every corner of the battlefield. Those who wore sets stood at the front of the fight, enveloped in Vitality. They hid behind the countless spiked barricades and stabbed and slashed over them, in hopes of deterring the Predicaments that were now suddenly upon them.

Those without armour stood behind them, doing their best to assist the fighters in any way possible.

SWISH.SNAP.

"Damnit, my sword broke. Get me a new one!"

"Y-yes!"

The Predicaments had them surrounded on all sides, numerous in number, though more so on the north side — fortunately, the barricade on that side was doing well in holding them off.

There were approximately 25 of them, all empowered by the darkness of the night.

They scampered around the spiked barricades like rats and pounced like tigers with ferocious roars. When they landed on the spiked barricades, they continued crawling over them without a single cut or hole in their skin — it was clear that the barricades were ineffective against the Predicaments of the night.

Fortunately, since the barricades were either welded, nailed, or buried into the ground, they still played their part in keeping back the Predicaments. Because of that, it bought the front-lining Vitalists enough time to fight back.

Though that didn’t mean a seed of fear hadn’t begun to take root inside their Heart.

A Vitalist imbued his sword with Vitality and aimed for the head of a Predicament.

SWISH.

When his sword landed on the Predicament’s cheek, it didn’t even break the skin. He was immediately taken aback.

"What the—!"

’I swear I used Vitality in that swing!’

In response to his pathetic attack, the Predicament instantly lashed out, swinging its intimidating claw at him. But it was then repelled by a blonde knight wielding a silver longsword.

With cutting-edge Vitality, Nadia managed to leave a deep wound on the Scoundrel’s wrist, who instantly flinched back.

After she repelled it off the barricade, she stated, "You have to sharpen your Vitality if you want to do anything to them."

"S-sharpen it?" He had never heard of such a technique before. Despite having awakened his Heart 6 years ago, he only knew how to perform Circulation and basic Imbuement!

As he was about to ask how to do that, another Predicament lunged towards the barricade, landing harshly and causing it to creak.

Just when Nadia was about to repel it again, an armoured Scoundrel suddenly appeared behind them. It swung down and clawed at the Predicament’s face, causing it to jolt off the barricade.

Soon Ross’ voice resounded across the battlefield, "Pay attention! Ordinary Imbuement won’t work against these Predicaments! You must sharpen your Vitality if you want to leave even a nick on their skin!"

The Vitalist listened to him intently. Those who knew what he was saying immediately sharpened their Vitality. While those who didn’t looked towards him or others for support on how to do it.

Eventually, everyone managed to pick up the technique. And because of that, the blood of Predicaments had begun to be spilt, albeit in small amounts. They were making progress!

Ross continued to observe the battlefield on the back of an armoured Predicament, taking command of the situation. As he did this, he kept an eye out for the key figures in the fight.

He looked at Elias, finding him faring well, albeit struggling with the range of his knives. ’He should’ve picked a different weapon.’

He then looked over at Roxy, who was in the middle of repelling a Predicament with her {Power Wall} and sword. Although her Gift did crumble under 3 hits from a Predicament, Ross felt satisfied with her performance.

Ross twisted his head and observed Beatrice, who was standing slightly behind Roxy. Since the start of the battle, he had yet to see her fire out any Talismans, presumably for when there was a better time/opening.

’It does take a while to complete a Spell, and it requires a lot of Vitality to cast.’

Although he had seen her use the gun he gifted her occasionally.

He then glanced back to take a look at Seraphine and Callum, who were situated up on the roof, having used a ladder to climb up.

BANG!

An ear-ringing sound of a gunshot resounded from all the way at the back, followed by a frustrated shout:

"Shit, I missed again!" Seraphine cursed. This was her second shot already!

She was lying flat on the ground with the rifle positioned right in front of her. And crouched down beside her was Callum, who was tweaking the barrel of the rifle slightly.

"You’ll get it next time! Third time’s the charm, right? Let’s just adjust your stance."

Ross mused. Originally, he didn’t plan on fixing up the rifle, as he had believed it was too far gone. So he didn’t have many expectations when Callum suggested they repair it for Seraphine. And it shocked him when they actually succeeded in repairing it.

’He definitely has a talent when it comes to putting things together,’ Ross thought.

Without Callum’s help, it would’ve been near-impossible to put it back together. And if they did, he doubted the gun would even be able to fire.

’Even so, our efforts in repairing it will be useless if she doesn’t get it down fast.’ He looked towards Seraphine, who was preparing for another round. He had high expectations for her, given all he had heard from Elias and Callum.

He then turned his head again and tracked down a swift yellow blur that darted across the battlefield.

Nadia continued to hack at the Predicaments from behind the barricades, occasionally saving people who stood too close to the line. Even from where he stood, he could tell her swings were strong—strong enough to parry a Predicament all on her own.

He had a captivated and impressed look in his eyes. ’As expected of someone, who managed to catch the eyes of an LRM officer. She’s pulling around a considerable amount of weight in this fight...’

Unfortunately, he couldn’t say much for the others. He turned his head and looked towards the side, where an argument had erupted between two front-liners.

"What are you doing! Don’t go after the eyes, we still need them!"

"It’s a weak point! They’re the squishiest part of a Predicament!"

The fighters were divided into two groups. People who were reluctant to attack the eyes and people who attacked regardless of what it was, as long as it got them away from danger. Partially because of this, they had yet to kill a single Predicament.

He wasn’t sure why, but whenever the Predicaments suffered even the slightest cut, they would pull away and retreat to allow another healthier one to take its place.

As the two were distracted by their argument, another Predicament had landed on top of the barricade, immediately catching their attention. Unfortunately, due to where they stood, they were right in range of its claws.

But right when the Predicament lifted itself up to attack—

BANG!

—The sound of a gunshot responded, followed by a splatter of blood in the air.

The arm the Predicament was going to use suddenly went limp.

Although its shoulder was still intact, the joint inside was completely destroyed by a sharp piece of metal lodged in its muscles. Blood quickly poured out of its wound like a broken tap.

Seraphine quickly celebrated. "Hell yeah!"

’Although I was aiming for the centre of its head, that still works too!’

She quickly reloaded and prepared to fire again, but was beaten to it by Ross.