Chapter 88: Hold the Line! [2]
The Predicament, which had been shot, quickly recovered from its wound in the blink of an eye, since the attack it suffered wasn’t laced with Vitality. But as it was about to pull away and retreat, it was suddenly held in place by a metal-covered variant of its kind.
Before it could resist in retaliation, Ross commanded the armoured Scoundrel to bite down on its neck and decapitate it. With this, the first of twenty-five Predicaments was dead.
He then announced:
"It doesn’t matter if you aim for the eyes! For if we all die, it doesn’t matter how many eyes we have in the end!"
Afterwards, he pulled the Predicament he had just killed over the barricade. He then ripped out its eyes and summoned his Relic, placing the pale bone mask over the monster’s face and resurrecting a few seconds later.
The moment the process was complete, Ross felt his head fog up and his focus slip slightly. Fortunately, he was able to resist that feeling with his disciplined mind.
Pushing himself back up to his feet, he shouted:
"Continue fighting! Hold the line! We must not let them breach past the barricades! Save whatever petty disagreement or grudge you have against one another for when you’re still alive!"
Soon enough, four more Predicaments began to fall. One due to Nadia. Another due to Roxy. And the last two due to the Predicaments he commanded, alongside the fighting Vitalists and Seraphine’s assistance.
"Haha! I feel like it’s easier fighting them at night, rather than in the day!" Roxy laughed, stabbing a Predicament in the eye. "They all feel so sluggish and slow. And yet we’re constantly told to fear them when dark’s out. Don’t you think the same, Beat?"
Beatrice’s face wrinkled as she watched blood splatter all over Roxy, irked by the smell and sight. Regardless, she still responded, clutching her gut, "I’m not sure... I’ve been getting a bad gut feeling, since we started fighting..."
"Seriously?" Roxy widened her eyes before taking a more serious stance against the Predicaments, trusting Beatrice’s gut wholeheartedly. "If you say so, I’ll be sure to keep up my guard."
Nadia, who was nearby and happened to eavesdrop on their conversation, narrowed her eyes. She also couldn’t help but feel something was off.
After the Predicaments leap onto the barricades, they strangely become sluggish and slow. Sluggish to the point where it was like they were only doing the bare minimum.
’I was even able to kill one, rather easily, without relying on my Relic’s ability...’ Nadia was suspicious.
Unless the Predicament she faced on the first night was different in some way, these Scoundrels should’ve already trampled over the barricades.
In fact, these Predicaments should’ve leapt over them by now!
"..."
Nadia froze in place as she quickly processed that random thought.
Why hadn’t they been doing that?
The barricade was by no means tall enough to stop them from jumping over. They were roughly six feet tall, at most. From what she had seen, every Scoundrel she came across could easily jump over that height!
’So, why...’
Was it really a matter of intelligence to come up with that? Were these Predicament so savagely hungry that they became so tunnel-visioned at the sight of them? Or was it...
Because of the influence of something else?
Nadia had no idea, as it was plausible that it was all three. Regardless, she didn’t have the luxury to stand around and think. She still had to fight.
The blonde knight quickly rushed back in.
...
The battle continued for several more minutes. In that time, they were able to slay two more Predicaments, thus knocking the number of Predicaments they had to worry about down to 17.
Ross now had six Predicaments under his control. Although he could’ve resurrected more, he could now sense the toll his Relic had on his mind.
He was certain that, if he resurrected any more, he would be reduced to a forgetful and easily distracted fool. Like a senile old man with dementia.
’Should I escape now?’ Ross wondered, glancing around.
From what he saw, everyone, besides a special few, had grown slack. Less intimidated by the Predicaments after seeing them struggle against the barricades.
"This is easy!"
"I don’t know what the big deal is about these guys; they’re just scary-looking!"
"If we keep this up, we’ll eventually chip their numbers down!"
Hearing their naive words, Ross couldn’t help but shake their head. Because of their foolishness, he was certain the risk of his being discovered for desertion was low.
’I can also use the Predicaments I resurrected to cover my escape, which should lower the chances even more...’
If he escaped now, he was certain that he would be able to get far away from here, leaving everyone behind to fend for themselves...
Ross considered this immoral option before taking one more look around. He then caught a glimpse of Roxy, who was giving him a strange look. He even watched as she revealed a bit of the gun he gave her.
He then decided against his plan with a shake of his head. ’The situation isn’t dire enough for that yet...’
Anyway, as long as they kept up what they were doing, they were bound to win sooner or later.
As he thought, he climbed an armoured Scoundrel, which he designated as his guard, and onto its back. Then he looked over the barricades and past the sea of Predicaments gathered around their barricades.
’What a massive Conundrum...’ Ross thought, remembering what a horde of Predicaments were called.
"Ross! We got trouble!"
"Hm?"
Ross turned to look up at Seraphine and found her towards the back of the Conundrum. At this, he immediately turned his head to follow where she was pointing.
He peered past the sea of Predicaments. It then took him a moment to finally discover what Seraphine was pointing at.
Something... that was located all the way at the back of the Conundrum of Scoundrels.
Under the moonlight, the thing at the back had a broad and gorilla-like outline, with thick limbs and rock-textured armour plates. And from what he saw... it appeared to be roughly a metre taller than the Scoundrels around it.
Unfortunately, due to the angle, he couldn’t get a good look at its face.
"What is that thing...?" Ross murmured. It wasn’t a Scoundrel, that was for sure, but he couldn’t put his finger on what it was — his foggy mind impeded his critical thinking.
Though, while he was in the middle of staring at it...
It happened to sense his gaze.
Ross watched as the Predicament turned its head and locked eyes with him. That was when he discovered something that made his body shake with fear. "I-it’s eyes...!"
What stared back at him were four dark brown eyes, which immediately indicated one thing to him. An indication that was enough to dispel the fog in his mind!
It was a Soldier-class Predicament!
He immediately turned away to warn everyone.
"Everyone—!"
But the moment he broke eye contact—
"ROAHHHHHHHR!"
—A deafening roar boomed from its mouth...