The Protagonist Already Knows

Chapter 43: Day 4 [2]

Caught off guard by the familiar voice right behind me, I slipped on the ice, but at the last moment, I managed to lunge forward and parry an incoming arrow.

Glancing backward where Ren stood, I paused for a moment as he said in the most casual voice possible.

"Hey, you mind using that ability of yours to sneak past them and disable the mana formation that froze this lake?"

"I would...but you know a beam of light is quite eye-catching."

"ah..."

Glancing to my left, where a metal sword flew through the air above Evangel, parrying arrows and knives with scary precision, I sighed.

He was supposed to request Evangel’s help with her flying metal sword... but he had come to me.

Forcing a smile, I turned around and answered.

"No thanks...I don’t particularly want to be eliminated and get an F."

I couldn’t. I couldn’t, right? A bigger tragedy could take place...and it would all be my fault, wouldn’t it?

His voice now a sullen whisper, Ren said after a moment of awkward silence.

"...yeah, it is a huge risk."

However, completely switching tones, Ren said, like a kid annoying their parents to buy them a new toy.

"Come on! Please, you’re my only option!"

"...no tha-"

However, before I could finish my sentence, a voice suddenly rang out from my right.

"He’ll do it. I didn’t fix that armband for nothing."

"..."

"..."

Both Ren and I silently turned to look at Lily, who said while a barrier of ice floated in front of her body, preventing any arrows from getting past.

"You owe me one, remember? Just end this and get me the hell out of here."

"...you can’t just call in your favor like this."

"Why? Did you ask?"

As the ice shield before her shattered into tens of icicle spears, Lily continued, looking ahead.

"Here’s your distraction."

Before I could answer, dozens of ice spears pierced through the air at the front lines of the advisory alliance.

As the students at the front raised their shields, two of the ice spears instantly shattered, creating a cloud of mist that blocked their eyesight.

The remaining ice spears, like remote-controlled missiles, flew perfectly in between the shields and hit the students with bows behind.

"AHHH!"

"AHH! HELP!"

Turning her head, Lily looked at me expectantly, like an owner telling their dog to fetch a bone.

Ren, who had been exchanging awkward glances between Lily and I this entire time, simply patted my shoulder.

"I would not keep her waiting..."

Distance?

Maintaining the plot?

How naive I was...from the moment I left Ascent, that was never possible, was it?

Even if I did nothing, the future would still inevitably change as a result of my inadvertent actions.

So...I might as well do it of my own accord.

The Dreg Trap? I’d just deal with it and the possible changes: after all, I already knew where they would be.

I felt as if the shackles restraining my body had just... shattered.

Sure, my actions here were unnecessary...but that didn’t mean they were useless.

Sometimes, there were things I wanted to do. So, why shouldn’t I do them? I could have my own desires, right?

Feeling a burst of energy surge through my body, I activated Anubis’s Ferry and flew forward, easily phasing through the semicircle of students unnoticed and heading toward the beach.

On the beach, a group of two hundred students was still crowded together, continuously pouring mana into the formation.

...

...

...

"He vanished! #3 disappeared!"

Tapping his head, Han Li smiled and unshielded his sword, standing at the outskirts of the forest.

It was obvious that they would attempt to disable the ice-lake formation: the question was just how?

Recalling the figure he had seen pass through a wall right in front of his eyes, Han Li unshielded his broadsword, hiding in the shade of the trees.

Of course, he was the most likely candidate.

Taking a deep breath, Han Li focused on his eyes, pushing the mana particles in his body up through his neck and toward his pupils.

His eyes burned as if someone had stabbed them with a knife, but Han Li gritted his teeth and looked straight ahead.

In the next sight, his vision of the ice-lake turned completely grey...except for the few thousand blue mana particles floating around in the sky.

Mana Sight.

The third level of Mana Mastery: Right after the stages of feeling mana and controlling mana to cast mana spheres. And before the fourth stage of imbueing objects with mana.

It took Han Li just a second to find the clump of pitch-black particles that formed a familiar figure.

Racing forward, Han Li raised his left hand, a small blue orb the size of a baseball swirling before it.

In the next moment, the water-mana sphere raced forward right at Ash’s intangible figure, blocking his path.

Instinctively, Ash leaped to the right, barely avoiding the sphere before re-materializing on the soft sand beach.

In an instant, Han Li appeared in front of him, his broadsword already slashing forward.

Barely managing to unsheath his Dao in time, Ash parried the slash and instantly stumbled backward.

As Ash lost his balance, Han Li stepped forward and jabbed his sword forward at Ash’s chest.

Intentionally falling backward onto the soft sand, Ash watched the sword fly right above his head, missing him by a split-second.

"Ah..."

For a moment, Ash paused on the ground, watching the movement of Han Li’s sword with his eyes wide.

His sword moved through the air...as fluid as a stream of water, creating the massive image of a rolling wave.

His sword slashes started off slow and burst forward, gaining incredible speed while maintaining precision... like a small wave slowly gathering water before reaching the shore.

As Ash looked at Han Li’s stance even now, his knees slightly bent and his weak left foot back, he swore...he could see the image of a tsunami behind him.

It was a complete weapon art...the one that Grandmaster Kim had spoken of.