The Broken System Chose the Antagonist
Chapter 21: Dangerous at Night

Chapter 21: Dangerous at Night

Before Seraphine and Callum were suddenly attacked by a Scoundrel...

’How far did she go...?’ Nadia thought to herself, holding her sword in front of her.

The streets were incredibly dark, despite the moon’s light, which made it rather difficult to navigate due to all the broken debris. On top of that, it was frighteningly cold.

So much so that Nadia now felt grateful that Hilda had left behind her coat for her.

Nadia paused for a split second as she briefly remembered that moment. Then, her cheeks turned a bit pinkish from embarrassment.

’Cold? I’m never cold. I didn’t need her coat!’ She thought.

Her expression then became stiff and complicated as she looked down at her chest, staring at the buttoned-up coat that wrapped around her torso.

It was warm... and unreasonably comfortable.

’Those in the military really do get the best quality of things...’ Nadia internally remarked, feeling a tinge of envy.

She then shook her head, remembering the reason why she came outside.

Nadia continued to trek on through the night. And when she did, she stumbled onto the corpse of a Scoundrel not long after.

The Predicament’s body was a complete char. Its skin had turned as black and dry as coal, its fur all singed off, and its eyes were expertly extracted from its skull.

Her nose wrinkled at the smoky smell.

’It must be Hilda’s doing...’ Nadia concluded.

Although she had more of an impression that the Predicament crossed paths with a beast made of flames rather than a person, safe to say, the way this Scoundrel went, it definitely wasn’t painless.

She poked the corpse with her sword, checking to see if it was really dead or not, despite how it looked. And when she did, she found the tip of her blade did not even leave a scratch on its skin, which she was only able to do so after using Vitality.

Gulp.

She gulped at the monster’s durable hide.

After being sure it was definitely dead and not acting as one, she continued down the road; her sword still raised in front of her.

Eventually, she stumbled upon another corpse.

Then another...

And another...

All with similar fates as the one she stumbled upon first.

’Amazing...’ Nadia thought, her eyes widening in admiration.

To say that Nadia wasn’t the slightest bit intimidated would be a lie. It took her, at least, 15 minutes to kill just a single Predicament.

But here she was, not even 15 minutes into her walk, already discovering three dead Scoundrels strewn along the road.

’She’s... so much stronger than I thought she was...’

How much did Hilda hold back against her in their fight?! And if she did go all out, would she turn her into charcoal as she did to these Scoundrels?

Nadia shivered at the thought, but it was difficult to say whether that was because of it or from the cold.

’Uncle told me Spells takes a lot of Vitality to cast...’

Unlike simple enhancement or imbuing items, which steadily drain your Vitality, the casting of Spells would subtract the required Vitality from the Vitalist’s reserves.

This meant that, if the Vitalist wasn’t keeping an eye on their reserves, they might actually kill themselves by casting too many times. Or would wind up on death’s door.

’But to think she casted so many spells, and in such short span of time!’

Nadia now felt even more bitter over her duel with Hilda, but also rather relieved that the German went easy on her.

’Although it’s a bit humiliating...’

She was going to use her failure against Hilda as motivation to grow stronger. Now that she knew this was the level of the average LRM soldier, she was at.

The Heroine was unwilling to let this setback define her strength for the rest of her life. She’ll definitely grow stronger, so that she can stand on equal footing with Hilda and eventually beat her!

Nadia smirked as she clenched a fist. The cold look in her eyes melted as flames of determination lit deep in her pupils. She could feel her Heart throb with anticipation for the future!

As she was busy imagining herself growing stronger, something lunged out from the rubble beside her; its jaws were wide open with rows of sharp teeth and wet with saliva.

It was a Predicament!

And it was moving a lot quicker than usual!

With trained senses, Nadia moved to block the strike with her sword, knowing that she was too slow to dodge in turn.

Although she knew that she was going to take a strike head-on, she was confident in repelling considering how much Vitality she had recovered from her battle with Hilda.

And it was for that same reason that she became confused.

BAM!

When the Predicament struck the side of her blade with its palm, it completely lifted her off the ground, sending her flying towards a hill of rubble.

Crash!

"Kuagh...!" Nadia coughed as her head spun a little from the landing.

Fortunately, she was able to recover fast enough from the daze to roll out of the way, dodging the Predicament that fell from the sky.

THUD

Nadia coughed as dust from its landing washed into her mouth.

After spitting it out, she furrowed her brows with a grim expression.

’This Scoundrel feels different... it’s much stronger than the ones I fought before!’

Both of her arms were completely numb from the monster’s strike. If it wasn’t for the fact she could still grip her sword, she would’ve believed they had become paralysed!

She gritted her teeth.

’Is this the reason why we’re not allowed to go out at night?’

Nadia was unable to dwell on this theory for long, for the Predicament initiated another attack.

Fortunately, she had already foreseen this coming!

SWOOSH!

She immediately rolled out of the way, just narrowly dodging the Predicament that barreled towards her like a missile.

Luckily, in that brief moment, she managed to slash at the Scoundrel’s side. But unlike what she had expected, her sword only glided against the monster’s hide.

She scowled.

’I didn’t sharpen my blade with enough Vitality!’

The two of them then played a fierce game of cat and mouse for a few moves.

Nadia gritted her teeth as she stepped to the side. Then winced when she felt the claws of the Predicament graze through her sleeve, cutting into her skin.

Fortunately, the wound was shallow.

Stepping back, Nadia moved to avoid another swing.

But then—

BAM!

—The Predicament adapted to her movements.

She was sent flying against, crashing into another heap of rubble.

"Argh...!"

When she eventually managed to get out of the rubble, she had to hastily move again to dodge.

She then began to quickly rack up shallow injuries.

Although she was being played around with, her endurance from training under the LCEO helped her resist the Predicament’s near-endless onslaught of attacks.

It was also because of that same training—

SWOOSH!

—That allowed her to dodge yet another lunge.

Nadia gritted her teeth as she steadied her stance. Then, without waiting for the Predicament to land, she imbued her sword with Vitality, causing its blade to glow ominously.

She then slashed at the air, manifesting a light blue arc made of pure energy.

"{Resolution}!"

The blue arc swept through the air and landed on the fiend’s back, inflicting a shallow cut.

Nadia’s eyes glimmered at this.

Despite the fact that she barely charged her attack, which affected the slash’s size and strength, it still made a noticeable impact!

’I have a chance!’ She thought with a hopeful look in her eyes.

She then began to charge up another energy slash, but was rudely interrupted by the monster’s pounce.

The two went at it for a while, reaching the 10-minute mark. Even though Nadia was beginning to tire, she was making considerable progress on bringing down the Predicament.

"Haa... haa..."

Nadia leaned against her blade a bit, somewhat drained from the continuous energy slashes. But unfortunately, the Predicament didn’t look tired; only pissed off.

With its claws opened and its jaws baring at her, it stepped forward.

But then, it stopped and glanced back.

And when it did...

It had a resounding voice echo towards it:

"{Firebolt}."